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05/21/2005 07:17:58 PM · #1 |
I promised I'd try to write about what I'm learning as I go from DPC flunkie to studio owner. This is part 7 in the series.
New Studio Part 1: Starting Out
New Studio Part 2: Organization
New Studio Part 3: Plotting a Course
New Studio Part 4: Financing
New Studio Part 5: Setting Up the Shop, Part 1
New Studio Part 5: Setting Up the Shop, Part 2
New Studio Part 6: Vendors
New Studio Part 7: Advertising
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Here's a Matt-ism for you - one you won't find anywhere else. Good customer service is a short term sacrifice made for a long term gain.
Already you're itching for the reply button. "No, silly Matt! Good customer service is problem solving, and being nice to customers. Good customer service is giving answers and meeting people's needs. It's not a sacrifice."
But wait! Don't reply yet. Bear with me.
Let's go back to my definition and pick it apart.
"Good customer service is a short term sacrifice made for a long term gain."
By "good customer service" I mean that your goal should be to resolve customer problems in the way that best helps your company grow and be more profitable. Good customer service is NOT primarily about making the client happy. Everything you do in your business should be primarily aimed at pushing your business higher and further (more profits, more growth).
By "short term sacrifice" however, I do mean that it is sometimes necessary to take one step back to take 10 forward. If a customer thinks your prints are terrible, you may need to reprint the entire lot and accept the small financial loss in the short term. Sometimes customers ask for your prints, sometimes your money in the form of a refund, and sometimes they ask for your time. What you give should depend on how much of a sacrifice is required.
By "long term gain" I mean simply that your service efforts result in a benefit that you see as a boon to your business. If today was the last ever day of your business and someone wanted $5.00 of reprints, it may be worth not ending on a bad note to provide that. If they want a 4 hour shoot redone, is it worth the hassle when you no longer want referrals or repeat business? Probably not.
This type of equation, also known as a cost-benefit analysis, tells you to give to the customer until it can no longer help you as well. If a customer places a $500 order and orders 80 wallet sized photos but wants 3 5x7s reprinted, you MUST do it. You will gain respect by providing quality products and you will gain referrals. In this case, the customer ordered 80 wallet photos. That is a large referral base to throw away over $2.50 in reprint fees. (Those 80 wallets are going to someone....)
If the same customer demanded a $500 refund, then what? To do so would be a substantial loss to you. To fail in this would be to lose the 80 potential friend and family referrals. Good customer service forces you to try and help your customers without feeling like you have been taken advantage of.
I read scenarios on Internet forums all the time - people asking for advice. Here's a common one:
Scenario 1
"I shot my first wedding last week and all the pictures are yellow. I corrected them the best I can but the couple won't accept them! Help!!"
What is the good customer service solution to this problem?
*He shot his first wedding so he needs the referrals.
*Yellow pics can be fixed QUITE a lot in PS.
*He has lots of TIME but few CUSTOMERS.
My suggestion to this post was to learn PS and fix the pictures. There is NO excuse not to. Your first customer is important - do the best job possible and you are supposed to be learning at first, so LEARN.
Scenario 2
"One of my brides just called to cancel. Her fiance was killed in Iraq and so there's no wedding. She asked for her deposit back, but it's non-refundable. What should I do?"
This actually happened to a photographer near Denver. Did the photographer:
1) Refund the entire deposit?
2) Refund part of the deposit?
3) Refund none of the deposit?
If you chose 1, that's because you thought the photographer would realize what a sensitive situation this is and what could happen to him if he refused to do 1.
If you chose 2, you hoped the photographer called and spoke to the bride, explained that it was non-refundable and they agreed half was fair and went on their ways, both sort of happy.
If you chose 3, you're probably a cynic or you've heard this somewhat famous tale before. The photographer stuck by his non-refundable policy. The story made Denver newspapers where the photographer was trashed and our industry given a bad name. At a PPA convention, photographers collected enough money to give the b ride back her deposit plus some. This photographer does NOT have good customer service skills. (Obviously)
Again, good customer service is a short term sacrifice made for a long term gain. How does that apply to #2? What did he miss in the cost-benefit analysis?
One last area not to forget is that anytime you are serving a customer, you can "serve" better. Being friendly at a portrait shoot costs nothing, but is done for long term business gain. Occassionally we throw in "an extra 8x10" that we think is good, but they didn't choose. Our cost is $2.50 but the gesture is worth a lot more to the couple.
In truth, my version of customer service is just one of many out there. If you have a good story or idea, please share it below. What is good customer service to you? What businesses have you dealt with when you had a problem and how did they handle it? Good and bad!
Comments, thoughts and ideas always welcome!
Til next time,
Matt
Message edited by author 2005-05-22 15:55:00.
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05/21/2005 07:33:23 PM · #2 |
These are GREAT posts, thank you VERY much for taking the time to type them all out. I'm actually printing them out for later reference..... As a oneday hopeful, I truly appreciate all the great info in these posts.
edit: spelling
Message edited by author 2005-05-21 19:35:10. |
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05/21/2005 07:37:10 PM · #3 |
| Thanks a lot! These are basic, but very very important pieces of information. I haven't looked at your entire series, but I am sure that there are quite a few gems in there. |
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05/21/2005 10:46:27 PM · #4 |
what number would you choose?
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05/21/2005 11:53:08 PM · #5 |
Originally posted by loz1:
what number would you choose? |
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05/22/2005 12:59:52 AM · #6 |
Originally posted by loz1:
what number would you choose? |
pi
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05/22/2005 01:04:43 AM · #7 |
Mav,
Thanks again for sharing your experiences and insight. These posts are really a help to those of us considering a photography business, part time or full time.
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05/22/2005 01:16:08 AM · #8 |
Some customers like to complain, just to hear themsleves complain i think.
What i try to do as a complainer is to ask for something specific. When i was on the receiving end of complaints, it was difficult to make a customer happy unless they asked for something - "These pictures are terrible" might make it seem obvious what to do, but what is that? refund their money, take new pictures, edit them again, or perhaps they jsut think they take bad pics and nothing you can do will help that. Jumping to a conclusion as to what will make the customer happy is not the proper solution.
The last restaurant i worked at was quick to give away the meal to complaing customers. Other restaurants will give a discount or recook it or give free dessert. I suggest they give a gift certificate for anotehr meal. Here are the results from my perspective:
A) give it away free. The restaurant gave away money, and did not actually do anything to make the customer happy. The customer has learned that complaining gets them a free meal.
B)Recook it: Less cost to the restaurant, a change to make it right. If only 1 meal at a table of 4 is screwed up, most customers will decline to wait and eat after everyone else in their party has eaten. The resturant has made a gesture, the customer chose to decline. Everyone wins.
C) Discount. The customer gets something, the restuarant gives something. Not a bad solution, but see A for the issues there.
D)Free Dessert - you get the customer to try a new food they might not otherwise try. The other folks in the party might now order dessert as opposed to sit there and watch you eat. And the customer leaves with a full belly.
E) Gift cert or coupon for their next trip. They gotta come back and give you another chance to do right. Also, they will likely bring other paying customers with them, so it is not a total loss on the restaurant's part.
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05/22/2005 02:13:32 AM · #9 |
Matt, this is just brilliant. I totally agree with your line of thoughts. And thank you so very much for your input, it is so insightful.
Like Spaz said, to the ones of us who want to start a business (be it full or part time), this is extremely useful!
This so goes into 'print' and in my notebook. Quick referal and reminder of who we are and how we can do and become better is always good.
Thanks again!
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edit: Prof, this is the exact question i was gonna ask, and is very insightful. But how would you 'translate' it into a photography service?
Message edited by author 2005-05-22 02:16:24.
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05/22/2005 05:18:03 PM · #10 |
A photographer's choices:
A)Give it away free. The customer has "won" this battle and learned that complaining gets them free stuff. Do you ever want this customer to come back? You know something is going to be wrong again.
B)Reshoot it. Can't be done with weddings very easily - plus if you're the only photographer, your time is very important and you should be wary of giving it away, especially as your business grows.
C)Discount. Not bad, but see A.
D)Free "Dessert." Add something onto their package, or enlarge and enlargement - ie 8x10 to 11x14 or 16x20. Add an 8 pack of wallets - the customer gets something, so they're happy, and they can give the wallets away or display your work in larger form. They get, you get. Good.
E) Gift cert or coupon for their next trip. Next trips - yes. That's the goal. "We're sorry you had this bad experience. Here's a coupon for $10 off your next portrait session to make up for your inconvenience."
My preference is D or E here. D promotes your studio and the customer is probably happier in the end. I can see unhappy customers throwing away their coupon still upset saying "you screwed up and you want me to COME BACK?" But if you offer to give people things the worst they can say would be "I didn't like it at 8x10, I don't want it at 11x14!" Then you have to ask if E would make them happier and if not, what would.
I'd be loathe to do A or C. I want my customers to come back. I don't want to dread their return or think "they just scammed me."
M
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05/22/2005 07:56:12 PM · #11 |
Ues, it depends on the event - a wedding cannot be reshot, so some other form damage control is needed for that one. In today's busy harried world, re-doing is not always what the customer wants. I can tell you from experience that getting the little ones dressed and behaved for portraits is a handful and stressful. Re-doing taht expereince would not make it better! Free pics for grandma might...
As ot giving away your time. I have mixed thoughts on this one. having been an hourly employee, having been a flat rate mechanic, your time it what is valuable. having been a salesman and CR person, time is not the important (valuable) thing. I worked as an electrician, the company owner was a third generation trademan (dad was a mason/bricklayer as was grandpa and a brother) and that family believed you could give youlagbor away free but never ever materials. it is amazing what giving of your time to a customer can do for their attitude!
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05/22/2005 08:17:09 PM · #12 |
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05/22/2005 08:32:07 PM · #13 |
Thanks Nikolai! :) I have been contacted more than once now about writing more as a book/ebook, so I am looking into putting future articles in ebook form and offering them altogether once I get done with them. I'm not sure yet which way I will go.
M
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05/22/2005 08:33:45 PM · #14 |
Sounds like a good idea to me, I personally truly appreciate the time you've put into these posts. Keep up the good work!
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05/22/2005 09:59:54 PM · #15 |
on the ebook thing, how many chapters do you think you will finish with? Do you know that ahead? I know you have a plan of what you hope to do.
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05/22/2005 11:35:47 PM · #16 |
I'm aiming for 18 chapters - I have an outline of what I'd like to cover and I'll move some stuff around and add to it. :)
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05/23/2005 01:49:49 AM · #17 |
Originally posted by loz1:
what number would you choose? |
I would have chosen #1. This was a terrible and unforeseen circumstance. If they had come in and said, "We decided to go with another photographer." I would have referred them to #3. If the bride came in and said that she found out her husband to be was cheating on her, again I would have referred her to #3 and suggested she get her half from her lying, cheating Ex. But in this case the photog should have done the right thing not only for the young lady and the families but for him/her self.
BTW Mavrik, I have to agree with you 100% on your difinition of customer service. If more people/business had this concept it would be more pleasurable to do business more often.
Mike |
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05/23/2005 03:17:45 AM · #18 |
Thanks again, Matt, for another excellent installment.
In the situation you presented, I would absolutely give back all of the deposit, but I would have first suggested that she come in and have a family or personal portrait done instead. I would have further offered some discount because of her circumstances. If she refused, then a full deposit would be the right way to go. But if she accepted, then that's more business and great karma / word of mouth.
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05/23/2005 04:33:12 AM · #19 |
I have been thinking about scenario two.
I think if it was me (not that I own a studio of course lol) my decision would be basted on the timing. Like if someone asked for their money back the week before the event, I probably wouldn't. However perhaps you were informed with enough time to rebook, I would then do something different.
I would probably go with number two as well and I would try and be consistant with this decision as well.
You always have tp protect yourself as much as possible.
I would even probably google the woman and see if she was telling the truth. Some people will say anything to get their money back.
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05/23/2005 07:56:27 AM · #20 |
I never thought of verifying if she was telling the truth! lol I guess that's a good idea, too.
I want to clarify my answer - I would choose #2 while leaning towards #1. I would call and talk to her, see what she thought would be fair and exceed that. If she said "I know it's non refundable but what if I could get say 50% back" then I'd give her 65%. I want to let her know I am running a business, but that I'm a real person and I'm fair and hopefully sympathetic.
M
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08/18/2005 01:03:41 AM · #21 |
| Thank you. This is really helpfull. Appreciate the effort and time you put in. |
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08/18/2005 01:54:47 AM · #22 |
Fantastic job on these posts, Mav! I have run a business for 4 years now and you are dead on about how to define customer service. I was a Customer Relations Management consultant before this and one thing we stressed was knowing the value of each customer. So many people think you should treat them all the same - WRONG WRONG WRONG! I have to stop myself from constantly bending over backwards for clients that have never given me any additional business or referrals and are not really capable of doing so. Many times they will entice you by saying they know people and will refer, but eventually you need to parse your time where it's most valuable.
On the other hand, some people develop rules and would lose site of the bigger picture for the sake of sticking to their policies, as in your example.
Understand the value of each client. Be flexible. Be cognizant of the bigger picture consequences or benefits of your actions in any situation ("short term scrifice / long term gain")
Again, many thanks to Maverik for these posts.
Message edited by author 2005-08-18 01:55:33. |
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02/12/2006 05:21:18 AM · #23 |
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