business practices

Peak Photography Experience

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The word “photography” sounds a lot like “psychology” doesn’t it? :-)

To help market their business, a photographer is always told to be different from other photographers. But most photographers misunderstand what this means.

It’s not so much about the photographer being different but rather it’s about the customer being different. That is to say that a photographer might be considered different if they can make the customer feel different (i.e. more satisfied) compared to another photographer.

Psychologist Daniel Kahneman’s Peak-End Theory says that we judge a past experience not on the overall experience but rather on our memory of the peak moment(s) of that experience and how the experience ended.
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Refunding Photography

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Photographers, what’s your refund policy?

While there’s no Canadian law that requires a business to refund a customer’s money or to make an exchange, except if a product is defective or a service is not delivered, it’s probably a good idea for a photographer to have some sort of refund policy.

The easiest refund policy is: “No refunds!” But that won’t inspire consumer confidence.

Note that “Future Performance Agreements” in British Columbia, Saskatchewan and Ontario allow a customer to cancel a contract and get a refund if the photographer fails to give the customer a written contract.
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Do you look like your business?

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Do you look like your business? Does your business look like you?

A business is judged by its various appearances: appearance of the store, appearance of the web site, appearance of the employees. A less than favourable appearance will create a less than favourable impression on the customer.

A “good looking” appearance encourages a customer to trust that business. A poor appearance makes the customer suspicious.

You look like your business:
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More is not always better

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Some photographers offer their customers a disc with all the pictures they shot on that particular job. Similarly, some customers want a disc containing all the photos taken. Why?

To me, this suggests that the photographer can’t edit, the customer can’t make a decision, or the customer doesn’t trust the photographer to do the job properly.

Certainly there may be times when having all the photos might be a good thing, for example, when the pictures are used as evidence in a trial. But quantity is not quality.
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Credibility and Trust

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While shopping in a Toronto grocery store today, a woman approached me and simply asked, “Donate?” She held up a laminated piece of letter-sized paper which had the headline “DONATE DISASTER RELIEF” along with some small, generic pictures of people who may, or may not, have been in disaster-stricken areas. I turned her down.

The woman continued walking the store aisle, asking everyone else the same thing. As far as I could see, everyone turned her down.

Although she may have been legitimate in her request, she had no credibility. The flimsy piece of paper she held was obviously cheaply printed and her “presentation” was unconvincing.
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It’s the principle

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Virgin’s Richard Branson once mentioned the importance of building a company based upon principles, not policies.

According to the Merriam-Webster dictionary, a policy is a definite course of action. A principle is “a moral rule or belief that … influences your actions.”

Let’s put it this way: a policy explains “what” and a principle explains “why”.
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