Also print your following words from your blog post on a 4X6 foot poster on the wall opposite your desk:
"Reduction of price for service will always lower the perceived value of that service to the client."
lisy78 wrote:
I wonder if I'm the only one who actually clicked your WWW to see if you were joking about having that on the blog.
I checked his blog before I posted. I couldn't believe it either. It just really paints him in a negative light.
Just the first anecdote - he agreed to a lower price, then realized that his time wasn't worth it, then tries to justify his price/perceived value... all AFTER he already agreed to a lowball offer. I'm like, "HUH??"
Tony Hoffer wrote:
Just because we have Blogs, Facebooks and Twitters doesn't mean we should post everything we're feeling. That's what having friends is for.
If I was a potential client and saw this I'd run... fast.
what iz these "friends" you speakz of?
interwebs is my friend.
anyhoo, i reacted in two ways.
- oh hey, that was a great read.
- oh hey, it's on his frikkin blog.
we all get lowballed time and time again and asked for discounts. that's just how everybody works. meeting in the middle is what i do most of the time.
i can bump a little off if they decide to get the full package and i issue a price that has my client feeling good about what they're getting and feel good that they got themselves a deal. (this was discussed somewhere about pricing your packages in a certain way where they don't differ too much)
anyways.. a blog post for complaining and outing a client. that's just uncalled for.
A. Unless you are going to give up paid people photography and start a business in photography seminars for other photographers, I agree that you should remove this from your blog. This is the kind of thing that FM was made for and even then, I would recommend a certain amount of care where particular clients are involved.
B. I think most people here are not going to argue much with your premise (if you undervalue your work, your clients will, too) although I suspect many fight the temptation on a regular basis (as you have) as competitive and market pressures mount.
C. Man, you really started off with a bad example. Even forgetting A and B for a moment, it is going to be hard for a lot of people to continue to follow your point after reading the following:
- You made a verbal commitment to the client to do her wedding.
- She was waiting on YOU to produce the final paperwork.
- You renege on the commitment.
And I'll have to say that the way you wrote up that example causes a doubt in my mind as to whether you still would have canceled if she hadn't negotiated you down in price. Because of the way you state things, one could also get the impression that you were dragging your feet on the paperwork to see if you received a better offer for that date. I'm not saying you were, only that you include items in your post that a reader (potential client) could put together to get that impression (emphasis on taking another job if the contract/retainer comes in first, her assertion of feet-dragging without a rebuttal on your part, etc.).
D. Kind of minor compared to the above and maybe it was part of your automatic boilerplate signature, but do you really use "warmest" as your closing for both a "reneging on a client commitment" email as well as for a "sarcastic kiss-off" email? Any client or potential client who reads your blog will now question your sincerity in all future communications.
Love your work, Aaron, but most of this was what should have been an "after 3 or 4 beers, steam-venting session" with a close friend or mentor - not a post on your blog.
Thanks for all the input guys and gals. I appreciate the feedback, it's what I use FM for. Just wanted to get another take on it besides FaceBook (which have all been positive). I can usually get a more realistic or slightly pessimistic slant to things on here. Great food for thought.
Dude, even the "replacement" blog entry you put up seems sarcastic and bitter. You can be REAL, and you can talk about PERSONAL things, but when you post something that is basically attacking the customer, (or even other photographers advice to you!) you are doing something detrimental to your business.
Clients want to know you. Clients want to see your photos. Clients want to know you're real. BUT, they come to you as a professional, they look to YOU to give them something they can't get themselves. Ever heard the expression, "Never let'em see you sweat?". They want the professional, they want the good, but the ugly grime they can do without.
You want to stick your head up a cow's ass to see how good the steak is, or do you just want to take the butcher's word for it? (From the wise tome of Tommy Boy)
Hey, I'll remain a fan of your work (Hey! I see you took my triptych advice for that photo and used it on your front page of your site! It looks great!) but you still have a thing or two to learn about the fine line between showing JUST enough....or too much.
This is on Facebook too?! Wow. I see a company name change in your future. Seriously. you should never "vent" about a customer this way. The customer was right. You messed up. I'd let it go ASAP and hope they truly don't "spread the word". You may be getting "positives" from your FB friends, but I can tell you this - some of them are just appeasing you... the others don't know anything about business.
The one thing that stood out to me was the public airing of what should have been a private e-mail exchange between you and the client. This would surely have other clients concerned about confidentiality and being "outed" on your blog if there were a disagreement.
Sometimes it's best to back away from the keyboard, go for a walk, have a brew or something to cool your heels.
aaron, the topic of value was a great one - and you made some terrific points. there's no reason a post of that nature can't appear on your blog. i wouldn't do it on a regular basis because i prefer not to be a downer or lecture to my clients, but an educational post every now and then works for me. i'd guess that most people would agree with you on that. but - today's follow-up blog post? just silly.
for the "too lazy to click" crowd.
from draper's blog: So I recently posted a blog about discounts and how they affect the perceived value of services. While the article was positively received on FaceBook, it did not fare the same on a popular "wedding photographer" blog. The general consensus was to NEVER show your clients anything but pretty pictures and rave about how perfect weddings are. They didn't say this in so many words, but it was evident by their blogs that clients should only be shown paradise. I'm not sure why a client wouldn't want to hear about things that go on behind the scenes, in fact, I thought they would find it informative and refreshing. Always seeing perfect weddings displayed on sites teaches nothing except makes you feel bad if a couple of things went wrong at your own. It's the same with marriage. When everyone around you tells you how perfect and great their marriage is, it makes you wonder about small conflicts that arise in your own. I think it would be helpful to know that not every wedding goes off perfectly and that there are things we can learn from them that could help in planning our own wedding. You can't learn from a perfect wedding but you can learn from mistakes. However, to sympathize with my peers, I won't be posting anything more controversial or real on this blog. I will only post pretty pictures (like fluffy bunnies and butterflies: see below) with a positive tag line of how perfect everything was.
if FM is the "popular wedding photographer blog" you reference in the above blog post, i think you've greatly missed the point.
the discussion that resulted from your remarks isn't about keeping things "fluffy bunnies" at all. (of everyone here, i'm certainly not regarded as someone who skips through a field of tulips spewing rainbows out my ass.)
the issue most photographers here had with your initial post is not that we believe everyone should live in a fantasy world. the issue is that you use anecdotes that insult your clients, share their private email conversations, and bite back with sarcasm and taunts when confronted with an unhappy bride-to-be. you claim to have a way with people, but the relating of these circumstances certainly doesn't reflect well on you as a business person - or even just a regular ol' person!
coming across as an arrogant tool is bad business - blogging about it like you're doing the industry a favor is even worse.
i'd encourage you to read back through this thread with a little more regard and a lot less bravado. you may even try to engage in a discussion instead of a monologue and answer some of the sincere questions that have been presented.
Draper wrote:
thanks for the input you all it looks like this needs a rewrite as the goal was to differentiate the effects of discounting on perceived value. it apoears all most got was that i was arrogant! lol in need of a major overhaul and i'm back to the drawing board. i appreciate all who took their time to comment, it was helpful
your initial post succeeded in deriding clients. your overhaul succeeded in mocking photographers.
FYI to the OP, your new blog post on this topic is no better. Probably best to just leave all the drama out unless that's the kind of clients and business you want. You don't see a bank for example posting on their website about all the irate customers they deal with everyday that can't pay their mortgage. Probably a bad example but you get the point.
it looks like this needs a rewrite as the goal was to differentiate the effects of discounting on perceived value. it apoears all most got was that i was arrogant! lol in need of a major overhaul and i'm back to the drawing board. i appreciate all who took their time to comment, it was helpful