I have a bit of a trend emerging of late. The last 3 weddings I have shot, the clients are still yet to contact me about their album. They chose the shots to appear in there (A3 coffee table book) and i go ahead and create the album.
At least 6 months has passed without contact from one client. I am not pushing it coz I figure it is up to them...
Yes it is common. I let the clients chose 20 must have and it's like pulling teeth. Some would say I should pick them all for the client but I've found that there are pictures they thought would have been obvious for me to choose and I didn't. I changed the rules since then.
I have someone from June 07 still to decide! After that I changed so that I decide the majority of the images to go in, but they still approve and make up to 5 changes. I still have a couple from June this year to approve their full design! Some people take a while to get things done, others want it straightaway!
Most of my clients take their time, which doesn't bother me, but then suddenly they all seem to look at the calendar and see Christmas is coming and the album choices pile in. I hate telling them that they won't be getting them for Christmas, but there's nothing I can do about that when the album companies are so busy and have deadlines at the beginning of November.
I had that problem last year. So I sent out emails early Oct letting them know my deadlines for xmas delivery. I put them 2 weeks before the album companies deadlines so I'd have breathing room! Worked out great, all done...dusted, just waiting on two to post out.
NMPhotography wrote:
Most of my clients take their time, which doesn't bother me, but then suddenly they all seem to look at the calendar and see Christmas is coming and the album choices pile in. I hate telling them that they won't be getting them for Christmas, but there's nothing I can do about that when the album companies are so busy and have deadlines at the beginning of November.
Ummmm, but isn't the easy solution is to give a deadline Why take the chance and disappoint when you can actually help them by pushing (use the word 'encourage' if that works better for you) them along. There is no harm in letting them know in your contract that they must decide by x amount of days after proofs are available that they must make a decision. This avoids them not getting there album before the holidays.
For the life of me I don't understand why people in business do not realize that it is for the benefit of the customer to help them speed things up. It's not hard salesmanship. It's helping keep your clients happy by providing their album as quickly as possible. This also avoids the rush that may bump someone else album that are quick decision makers.
Bottom line is it's easy if you give them a deadline. I learned several years ago when two clients took over a year to give me their selection. Now I give them 14 days after proofs are online. If they do not make a decision I decide for them and outsource the album design and there is a fee of $400....I have the option of charging this or not because if I actually outsource the design due to time someone has to pay for this 'actual cost'.
andrew81 wrote:
At least 6 months has passed without contact from one client. I am not pushing it coz I figure it is up to them...
We have a clause in the contract now that gives them six months from delivery of proofs to make their decisions. If they do not, they risk forfeiting the items they paid for with their wedding package. We cannot have hundreds of dollars of potential liability hanging around forever waiting for them to suddenly decide to order.
It's similar to the expirations on gift cards. At some point you have to be able to safely account for the money as either income or an expense. Further, your vendors' prices go up and your pricing is at least somewhat based on that, so the longer they wait, the lower and lower your profit margin gets.
We also give them deadlines if we've not heard from them in at least a couple months.
I have a clause in my contract that says you must order your album no later than 3 months after the delivery of the proofs (CD) or an additional cost will be incurred.
I would like to see any clauses if they can be posted. I used to allow the client to pick up to 30 images for their album, but it took forever and held the process up. So I just changed it about two months ago. All design is now done with out them. At the end, they can do 10 photo swaps. If they want page re-design it's 25.00 per page and 50.00 per two page spreed.
Lately I have been designing the albums and just surprising them with the design and then asking if they would like to make any image changes they can. (I do limit them to a certain number.)
My contract paragraph regarding albums.
"If album selection and final approval are not made by client within 6 months of event date, J.Guess Photography reserves the right to deliver any album products to the client without further client input and the client waives the rights to make changes (unless additional charges are paid.) Clients may pick up to 15 images for their album, others will be added per photographer's choice."
Without pulling up the contracts, I have no clue how many albums I owe brides. They are on their on time table. A couple of years ago, I added to my contract that after 6 months of the wedding date, any albums due or reorders are subject to additional cost. Yvette
Wow, maybe you just need better images cuz I get client album favs in like 3 weeks . . . JOKING
No, it's very common. Some brides are super excited and on top of it, but others take their dandy little time. It might be a simple matter of logistics. How easy is it for the bride to comb through 500+ images and pick 50? Are you using proofs, online gallery, etc, what?
Make it easier for them and they'll come in quicker. This is better for your business and your client. The quicker you are done, the better it looks to their friends and family. Don't be pushy, but a nudge every once in a while is beneficial in the long run.
I just sent an album to print last week that was a jun 06 wedding....and that was with pushing the bride(emails at least monthly) Another one just went to print that was an october wedding...depends on the client. You can force a bride to do it...
I am thinking about making a clause that if there is no revision within 6 months I will print and ship the album to them whether they like it or not.
drew.bowser wrote:
I am thinking about making a clause that if there is no revision within 6 months I will print and ship the album to them whether they like it or not.
Although I have not had to do this it is in my contract. I do not want a liability held over my head.
Why take the chance and disappoint when you can actually help them by pushing (use the word 'encourage' if that works better for you) them along. There is no harm in letting them know in your contract that they must decide by x amount of days after proofs are available that they must make a decision. This avoids them not getting there album before the holidays.