Tonight was one of my first book club meetings hosted by Victoria Canada from Victoria Canada Weddings and Events. It was a 4 hour meeting that seemed to fly by and Victoria was gracious enough to treat us to a delish, quinoa and chicken dinner. The book we discussed was Selling the Invisible, by Harry Beckwith. The subtitle is A Field Guide to Modern Marketing, and despite the fact that it was written in 1997, most, if not all of the principles still apply.
After reading most of the book, I realized that I need to re-focus on the service portion of my business. I’m not just a photographer, but I’m in the business of delivering a quality service. We always try to remind ourselves of that in the studio but it’s easy to get comfortable with the systems in place and to forgo change when you don’t think change is necessary. This book made me realize that we always need to be adapting to the market and be aware that things can always be better.
At the least, the book was humbling. It explains that when it comes to marketing our services, most of us believe we are better than average. Beckwith warns we should be cautious of the Lake Wobegone effect, that is, we should beware of overestimating ourselves. He cites that “90 percent of professors believe they are better than average and that most men think they are good-looking.” This illusory superiority is what keeps us from re-examining our habits and checking in with our clients to be sure they are satisfied.
It’s easy to think that most people hire me for my ability to shoot at a wedding or the hard work I put into editing and creating slideshows, but the truth of the matter is that most people never see 90% of what myself and my assistants do behind the scenes. They will never know how much of our heart we put into our work. All people know is how they feel when we deliver a service and when they get to see the final product…and hopefully along the way we have remembered to take care of them. The point is, we all need to pay as much attention to our delivery and service as we do to our craft.
So big take-away lesson #1: Don’t overestimate your service or your marketing. Try to stay fresh and always remember you can do better.
In response to my new revelation, I realize that there are a few areas in my business I have been sorely neglecting, ie. My blog! I have tried so hard this year to consistently turn albums and images around faster than ever before…that I have neglected to blog most of my weddings and share some of the fun and interesting insights of my business along the way.
So big take-away less on #2: Blog more! (the proof is in the pudding…so here you go!)
There are quite a few lessons which I don’t have the time to detail here…but for those of you who are in business, whether it’s a service industry or not, consider checking out this book. It will forever change the way you do business and may even get you so excited you’ll be blogging past midnight!
One of my favorite national wedding blogs, Style Me Pretty, featured a wedding I photographed at the Royal Palms Resort in Phoenix.
I must also mention that Victoria from Victoria Canada Weddings and Events did the details…who, BTW, has a new, fabulous blog at this link.
The flowers: Table Tops, Etc
Videography: Serendipity Videography
The dress is Ramona Keveza
Below features their collages of the images. To view the article and see more check out this link
Here are a few more of my faves that I wanted to add to the mix…
