Pre-invoices and Prepayments

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If you need a deposit or a prepayment before the photography takes place, you simply ask the customer for it. Easy, right?

With retail customers, this is a straightforward process. But with some corporate customers, it might require slightly more paperwork.

Some companies can’t, or won’t, issue a prepayment based only on a photographer’s estimate or quote. They may need an invoice. An invoice is a legal request for payment, a quote is not.

How do you invoice a customer for work that hasn’t been done?
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The Wronged Customer

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“The customer is always right” is a well-known saying. But contrary to popular belief, it’s neither a law nor regulation of any kind.

That phrase seems to have gotten its start at least 112 years ago as part of a customer service policy of Marshall Field & Company, a Chicago department store.

A 1905 US newspaper published an article about Marshall Field & Company in which it seemingly quoted what Marshall Field taught his employees, namely that the customer is always right.

Harry Selfridge, a department store executive who worked for Marshall Field, moved to London in 1906 and soon opened his Selfridges & Company department store. He, too, used the phrase “the customer is always right.”
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Running a photography business

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Confucius was wrong when he said:

Choose a job you love and you will never have to work a day in your life.

Running a photography business consists of short moments of photography broken up by long periods of business. But those moments of photography make it worthwhile.

While photographers do need to make money, the need to create pictures may be more important. It’s not always about money.

Making money is a job. Making good pictures is an accomplishment.

 

Credit Card Photo Scam

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Internet scams that target photographers have been around for years. Over the past couple of years, there’s another scam involving credit cards.

A scammer, posing as a customer, will ask to hire a photographer for an upcoming event but only if the photographer accepts credit cards. If the photographer agrees to the work, the scammer will mention that they also need to pay another event supplier who doesn’t take credit cards.

The scammer will offer to send extra money to the photographer so the photographer can pay that other supplier. To tempt the photographer, the scammer will promise the photographer a couple hundred dollars extra for their trouble.

The scammer will use a stolen credit card to pay the photographer’s fee, the other supplier’s fee and the extra money for the photographer’s trouble. The unsuspecting photographer will be told to pay the other supplier immediately – it’s urgent!! – but only in cash through Western Union.
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Why your company needs a photojournalist

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The British Columbia Liberal Party recently hired a former photojournalist to photograph its leader, the current premier of that province. The party is heading towards a 2017 election.

The Wildrose Party of Alberta did the same thing a year ago by hiring (on a part-time basis) a freelance photojournalist.

Almost every photographer, hired by the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) to cover the Canadian Prime Minister, has been a working photojournalist.

In the first two cases, the photographers are paid by the provincial political party, not the taxpayers.

Political parties could save a lot of money by hiring the lowest-bidder-with-a-camera, by doing the photos themselves, or by not hiring a photographer at all. But these political parties know that they need authentic, story-telling photography to communicate their message. This is marketing 101.

(Added 2018: The Ontario Liberal party hired a freelance photojournalist to photograph the re-election campaign of the premier.)
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Business Headshots at Conferences

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Are you planning a business conference, workshop or other corporate event? Would you like to add more value?

Arrange to have a business portrait studio at your next event. People could get a new business headshot while they’re at your event.

This is not to be confused with those photo booths you might see at parties and other social events. A business portrait studio has no silly props, no crazy backgrounds. It’s a no-nonsense, business photo studio with photographer, assistant(s) and, perhaps, makeup artist.
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Breakfast of Champions

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A box of breakfast cereal might cost $5 and it could contain about a dozen servings. A restaurant breakfast might cost $15 and it would deliver exactly one serving (unless it’s an all-you-can-eat buffet breakfast :-) ).

A box of cereal is fast and cheap. This is good when it’s just you or you’re in a hurry.

A restaurant breakfast costs more but you can have whatever you want and it’s made to order. This type of breakfast is perfect when you’re trying to impress someone.

Stock pictures are like a box of cereal. Custom photography is like a restaurant breakfast.

Stock photos are fast and cheap. This is okay if your web site, brochure or other usage is only for yourself. But this is not okay if you need to make a good impression on someone such as your customers.

You wouldn’t serve a box of cereal at a business breakfast, so why would you serve stock pictures on your business web site?

There’s a saying that you should write to express, not to impress. But if you do a good job of expressing then that can lead to impressing.

The same thing applies to the corporate photography on your company’s web site. The pictures must first express something positive and genuine about your business. Only then do you have a chance of making a good impression and looking like a champion.

 

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