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Posts Tagged ‘Customer Service’

Simply good

October 7th, 2009 in People by Johannes van Kan


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rankines

On my trip to the UK I had the opportunity to visit the studio of Alan and Jackie Rankine. Their work is aimed at a high end market. Their sales are substantial. They don’t aim to be the latest newest thing. They do work to stay current but they have cleverly understood the needs of their clients.

Their formula is simple and effective. Know your clients, produce consistently good work, back up your promise to perform with the quality of your presentation (including coffee and cake), always have something bigger and better for the client to buy, and have your studio in a castle.

They don’t chase the latest trends, and in fact just strive to do what they do better each time. I enjoyed meeting them and hope they prosper in their next season.

Cheers, Johannes

 

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    • Album design – a simple tip

    October 1st, 2009 in Photography & Design by Johannes van Kan


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    While talking to photographers in the UK, I realised that what I really wanted to get across, was a simple but important message.

    The album is for the clients. Our part is to gather collateral and write a story for them.

    Here’s the tip: Step back from the design and pause deliberately… Then start  with the idea that this album is not a showpiece for you, the photographer, but is a story for the bride and groom.

    We can apply our own ‘signature’ to the imagery, but they own the love and the history that we’re writing the story about.

    We are the story tellers, and it’s our sensitivity to them that makes it (the story) so precious.

    It’s their story. Not ours.

    Peace

    Johannes

     

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    • Off to the UK

    September 17th, 2009 in News by Johannes van Kan


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    I’ve packed my bags and shed a tear (as I leave my family) and right now I’m eating airline food and watching all of the movies I can as I jet over to the UK for a speaking series for Queensberry.

    It all started with a stranger walking into my studio and being curious. Liz from the MPA was on her last days of travel in  New Zealand and happened to find our studio. We had a conversation and what do you know … I’m off to the UK with MPA.

    I’m going to talk about me and all of the things I did wrong to get to where we are now … because I know so much on that subject.

    I’m going to talk about albums … because I love telling stories and we just won another wedding album award.

    I’m going to talk about how we fixed the recession (for us) … by being respectful and disrespectful.

    I’m going to talk about business … because otherwise the rest of what we do makes no sense.

    And if there is any time I want to talk about taking/making better photographs.

    And when I’m not talking about  me, albums, business, recessions, better photographs or my family, I’m going to get in some stuff about Photojunction.

    If I’m not covering the thing you want to know about then leave a comment on this post and I’ll see what I can arrange.

    If you are coming along make sure you say Hi.

    If you want to come along but haven’t booked there’s probably room for one more.

    Ian Baugh is coming along as my chaperone … it’s going to be great.

    Cheers

    Johannes

     

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    • The next question

    July 9th, 2009 in Marketing by Johannes van Kan


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    How much is an experience worth?

    (Contains a movie plot spoiler…)

    If I said to you, “Yeah, in the end the shark gets it,” would you still go to the Jaws movie?

    I could tell you there was blood, pretty girls, lots of really stupid people in boats and a very big angry shark. It could never match the experience, just spoil it. What is that experience worth? Apparently it was worth $260,000,000 in the US alone.

    If you give your clients a good experience, what is it worth? What is it worth when they tell their friends?

    I can’t tell you enough how valuable the experience of you is to the Bride and Groom. It’s worth investing in.

    So how much would they pay for this experience with you? (complete with obviously mechanical monster shark – it’s getting late, my apologies).

    Imagine if you said, “I want you to pay me what you think I’m worth.” Most photographers, it would seem, would imagine themselves out of business.

    It becomes increasingly obvious that we need to tell our clients what we are really worth, and we need to make ourselves valuable.

    If the experience is, Some photographer turned up and took our wedding pictures and left us with a disc of images… it is worth much less than, Our photographer turned up, we had a great time, we laughed, we cried, and we didn’t want it to end.

    So how much is an experience worth?

    If you ask Apple they would say, “It’s worth everything.” They invest heavily in making sure that the user experience is the best that it could possibly be. People pay a premium for it.

    If you ask Universal Pictures they would say $260,000,000.

    So then the answer is that the experience is worth a lot – to both the client and the photographer.

    Cheers, Johannes

     

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    • Learning from Tupperware

    June 19th, 2009 in Marketing by Nigel Hicks


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    tupp1bis_01Tupperware ‘fan boys’ are everywhere. Prodding the skeptical, hosting Tupperware parties, and enthusiastically trying to convince their peers of the benefits.

    Their argument: Once you try it, you’ll understand.

    And most people do. The experience of using Tupperware’s product is usually enough to quickly switch a sceptic’s loyalties, and soon enough they’ll be passionately promoting the product themselves.

    That’s (loosely) Tupperware’s business model, and you can see how it would have a snowball effect. They’ve built a brand around positive customer experience and word of mouth marketing.  As a result, they’re different.

    There are a couple of lessons we can take from their approach. Nothing new, but pertinent all the same…

    Give your clients an amazing experience (whether it be through your service or via the products you offer) and they’ll talk (that equals referrals for you). BUT you need to be different to be noticed in the first place.

    We can only advise you about the service part, but the product bit is the reason we’re in business. Queensberry’s job is to make you look amazing in a world where too often everything looks the same.

    Cheers, Nigel

     

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    • Fear of commitment

    May 29th, 2009 in Marketing by Johannes van Kan


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    Is it just me or are we all (suppliers to the wedding industry) suffering from our clients’ “fear of commitment”?

    The numbers of bookings are down, the time between booking and getting married is getting shorter.

    “It’s the Recession,” we cry, and it’s almost true.

    It’s not the recession, it’s the fear of it.

    How can we overcome that fear?

    This is just a question, but … are we better to say, “We’ll give you a 20% discount” or, “We can be flexible?”

    What does “flexible” mean? It might refer to payment terms. It might mean they can start with a ‘shoot only’ package and add the trimmings later – without penalty. It might mean their non-refundable deposit is transferable.

    In every transaction at least one party takes a risk. Marketers talk about the power of taking the risk yourself, so your customer doesn’t have to.

    That’s what I’m talking about. Making commitment palatable at a time when it’s easy to fear.

    Cheers, Johannes

     

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    May 25th, 2009 in Marketing by Nigel Hicks


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    As a soon-to-be groom, here are a few questions I’ve asked myself while looking through some photographer websites…

    How do I know whether I can afford you if you don’t give me an indication of how much you cost?

    How do I know whether I can use you if you don’t tell me where you are?

    How do I talk to you if you don’t give me your phone number or email address?

    Couples looking for a photographer want to know whether you’re a possibility or not.

    And if you are… we want to talk to you (not fill out an online contact form and wait for your reply).

    Why frustrate us by hiding the precise information we need to decide whether to check you out?

    How could you make it easy for us?

    Just a thought, Nigel

     

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    • Selling my album on quality

    May 14th, 2009 in Marketing by Johannes van Kan


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    Tom Waits has a cranky, croaky voice.

    I am listening to his CD ‘Orphans Brawlers and Bastards’ as I write this post.

    You could argue that his voice lacks ‘quality’ … The words are often run together, mumbled, and broken.

    That collection of imperfections is the quality that makes his work so unique.

    It’s a different type of ‘quality’ to the one we describe to sell our albums. We talk about the personal elements in the creation of the book. We talk proudly of the craft involved and the quality of the raw materials used in the album construction.

    We do this because we are proud of their perfections and attention to detail.

    Tom Waits, on the other hand, uses the imperfections of his voice/singing  to sell his albums.

    Cheers, Johannes

     

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    • Dealing with complaints

    May 11th, 2009 in Marketing by Nigel Hicks


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    adcomplaintsWell known Auckland photographer and Queensberry friend Bruce Gabites of Fine Photography, shared some of his thoughts about dealing with complaining clients with us recently.

    He made some good points that I wanted to touch on quickly…

    Firstly, he says that complaints are often communicated as personal attacks because people usually only complain when they’re really angry. So be objective and don’t take it personally.

    Secondly, thank your customer for complaining. As well as making them feel better, it’s actually pretty appropriate. If they’re complaining about something you routinely do, chances are that other customers aren’t happy either. Think of the complaint as a positive and treat it as a great opportunity to make improvements in your business that could make all of your clients happier.

    Another interesting point Bruce made was to suggest that you ask for feedback on everything you deliver to your clients. He reckons that a simple email or phone call to check that everything is OK goes a long way towards developing an army of clients advocating for your business. Also, it gives those who might not voluntarily give you feedback the opportunity to let you know what they think. And if they weren’t 100% satisfied you can put it right.

    Usually you’ll find their dissatisfaction is to do with something small, or a misunderstanding that can be resolved very easily. So put your neck on the line and ask your clients if they’re totally satisfied.

    That’s good advice – thanks for sharing with us, Bruce.

    Cheers, Nigel

    PS here’s one more… Do whatever you have to do to put the problem right, and then go that little bit further – a little more than they expected. Under-promise and over-deliver.

     

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    • Upsold, and OK with it

    May 5th, 2009 in Marketing by Nigel Hicks


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    I was upsold to in the weekend and didn’t even know it. Now that I do though, I’m ok with it.

    Over the last few weeks my fiancee and I have been looking out wedding bands for us both. We’d again done our homework, been put off by another raft of useless sales people and ended up where we always knew we would, with the same jeweller I’d bought her engagement ring from. I blogged about that experience a while back.

    An hour later I walked out of the shop with a quote for a wedding band thicker, wider, with a bigger diamond and in higher quality gold than I’d gone in thinking I wanted.

    Kayla made the comment on the way home that the sales woman had done a great job at up-selling to us. I hadn’t thought of it that way (and if Kayla hadn’t noticed it, I probably never would have) but it was true.

    We chatted about how she’d done it and came to the conclusion that even though we’d probably ended up spending more money, we were ok with that. We still wanted to give our business to this jeweller. And here’s why…

    She’d already gained our trust in a previous sale… and reinforced it during this consultation.

    We’d a great sales experience… again … well above and beyond any other we’d experienced during this process.

    No pressure was applied to us to buy anything – just a quote.

    We felt her advice was honest, balanced and in our best interest.

    We felt she wanted to help us get what we wanted – she wanted us to have the perfect rings.

      Cheers, Nigel

       

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