Professional photography is a very competitive field and finding out what you need to know in order to be successful in this business is difficult, to say the least. And it's doubtful you can call up another local photographer and say, "Hey buddy, how about telling me how to get started being your competition?" As one photographer put it, "I graduated college with just enough useful knowledge to fill a thimble and learned everything else by trial and error. Mostly error." So here's a little useful knowledge for free, and it applies to any business, not just photography. One of the hardest things you will have to do is learn to get and keep your clients.
Getting them is just as hard as keeping them, by the way. There are some people who, once they have developed a relationship with a business, will remain loyal no matter who comes along and tries to entice them away. But getting to the point where they feel that way about you is no easy and quick thing. Every small business owner out there today wanting to truly make a name for themselves and survive the highs and lows of the economy should do one thing without fail...answer the phone! Don't let the machine get it. Don't let your mom or sister or neighbor get it. Make sure you or someone who sounds professional answers the phone. Yes, I know... no one else does. All the more reason you should!
Several years ago (OK, more than several now), a study was done to rate various professions by how honest and trustworthy people thought they were. Photographers rated somewhere near the bottom of the pack near used car salesmen (sorry used car guys, but you that's what the survey said). One of the things people said most during the survey was that any business who never answered their phone made people feel that something wasn't quite right about that business. It helps people feel better about any business to hear a real person answer the phone, to not have to select a numbered option several times before they can leave a voice mail in the slim hopes of getting a return phone call as soon as it's convenient to someone who may or may not actually exist. When they hear a couple of rings and then someone pleasant actually answers, it's like a breath of fresh air. It gives them the feeling that they have done the impossible in today's hi-tech world...they have made contact! So what do you have to do in order to make certain you answer the call? Forward your phone.
Don't leave the office without making sure that call is going to get through to you wherever you are. Yes, there will be times, especially if you are a one-man show, when you simply cannot answer the phone. Like in the middle of a presentation to someone you've been dying to show your portfolio to. That is precisely the moment when the biggest client you've ever heard of will call and have to leave a message. That brings up the second most important point. Make sure you have a decent voice mail message. Not the automaton saying "No one is available to take your call right now. Please leave a message." No slick "attitude" message like "You know who this is because you called me. You know I'm not here because you got this message. You know what to do when you hear the beep." Yeah, hang up on you because you sound like a jerk.
Something that wouldn't seem too difficult is remaining professional. It doesn't sound difficult on the face of things, but sometimes it gets very hard to keep your level of professionalism up when others around you are acting anything but. You won't always get the calls from businesses who have dealt with a professional photographer before. There will be times when someone will think it is entirely appropriate to see just how low you'll go. If you're in a situation where you haven't had a decent paying assignment in weeks, you might just be tempted to lower your price to try to get the job. Don't. It makes you look like a bargain basement shop and sets a precedent for more of the same kind of thing in the future. When someone asks you your price, give it to them.
If they say, "Oh, well that's a bit high. I got a quote from another photographer that was a good bit lower" then you might want to say something along the lines of "Ok, well this is my price and it reflects the quality of the work I do. If your criteria for hiring a photographer is price, I can't match the lowest bidder because I won't lower the quality of my work to meet the lowest price. But thank you for taking the time to contact me and let me know if your criteria becomes high quality images." There will always be someone out there who is willing to beat your price, but they become the ones who look similar to the flea market vendor who will say just about anything to make a sale. You remain the professional and the one who is honest about your costs with no waffling around. When you're particularly hungry for work, this isn't easy. But in the long run, you are more likely to gain a client who will respect you, or you will avoid the kind of client who runs you ragged getting you to do more and more for less and less.
When it comes to keeping clients, it is a fairly simple matter. Treat them the way you would want to be treated. Show your appreciation by paying attention to them as a person. Ask about their children and remember who does what so that later you can ask about their child that entered an art competition, or their budding soccer star. Get to know things that they like. Do you have a client who is a golf fanatic? Give them a small gift that has something to do with golf. Simpler still, give them a gift certificate to a nice restaurant.
Everyone likes to go out to dinner from time to time, and having you pay for part or all of it will be seen as a nice gesture and a treat. You can always take them to lunch or dinner yourself, but this will give them a way to take their spouse or significant other out for a nice evening without any hint of business, but they'll remember the kind gesture for quite some time to come and you'll get to photograph their latest product line.
The bottom line is this: treat other business professionals the way you wish to be treated. Make it a personal experience rather than a technical one. It's still the best way to get and keep clients.
