Guarantee Your Work
#2: They can make things develop…
Summary: "Guarantee Your Work"
Should professional photographers offer a written guarantee of their work? Does an unsatisfied client deserve to receive a full refund if we can’t make them thrilled with our photography or if something drastic goes wrong?
Should professional photographers offer a written guarantee of their work? Does an unsatisfied client deserve to receive a full refund if we can’t make them thrilled with our photography or if something drastic goes wrong?
Consider this hypothetical scenario for a moment: You walk into a car showroom and the sales manager greets you, and offers to show you around. After some time, you express interest in one of the cars, and explain that you would like to purchase one similar to it. The sales manager smiles and explains that every car they build is unique to the client and that it will be ready in about 6-8 weeks after you pay the final balance. After some thought, you hand them your money, and then ask:
“What kind of guarantee do I get that I will like it?”
Would you rather buy from a company that says, “No problem – if you don’t like the product and we can’t make you happy, you get your money back. No hassles, no problem…”
Or, from a company that says, “Well, we can’t be held responsible if you don’t like it, so we wouldn’t be able to give you a refund.”
I know which one I would choose, and it’s a fair bet that you chose the first one too. There are few purchases we make in life that don’t come with some kind of guarantee, so why should photography be any different?
A Guarantee As A Unique Selling Point:
One of the main things that really separate my business from the others in the area is, in fact, my 100% money-back guarantee. Yet, other photographers have criticized the idea as a pure marketing ploy simply designed to get people to book. What those critics may not realize is that I would actually honor that guarantee should the need arise.
In short, I believe we should have the courage of our convictions and stand behind our work 100%.
It’s a widely accepted fact that anyone in sales needs to believe in the product they’re selling – and, as photographers, we really are salespeople at the end of the day. Without that belief in the product, it becomes very difficult to sell the product to someone else. For example, think of an exciting movie you saw and how you wanted to “sell” all your friends on it. If you didn’t believe in the movie, you wouldn’t be able to convince anyone to go see it. So, belief and conviction in your photography is essential to the selling process.
Back Up Your Word With Your Word:
Well, as far as I am concerned, guaranteeing your work says more about your own belief in it than almost anything else I can think of. It says to your client that you realize the importance of what you are doing foe them, and the responsibility that comes with it. You understand the trust that they are placing in you, and you are not going to let them down. It says that you back up your work with your word.
Call it a marketing ploy all you like – but nothing will sell a client more on hiring you than an ironclad, solid guarantee. Offering a guarantee on your photography comes with the territory as soon as you add the word “professional” into the equation.
If you feel uncomfortable with providing such a guarantee then maybe it’s your confidence in your own work that is holding you back. Study your craft, become technically proficient and a true professional – then you can state your guarantee to your client proudly and with confidence.
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A 100% satisfaction guarantee is something that I have offered from Day 1 of my photography – that takes us back to the early 70′s. In all of that time I have had to honor it twice. One was a bride that was more interested in the color of her bridesmaids dresses than in skin color. Unfortunately to get the dress the right color the skin tones were a very pretty lime green. At that time I still did previews, so it was just a matter of reproofing everything, and then making the albums to match. Not really a big deal except for the putrid color of the people which I would rather of not had out there.
The second time was entirely my fault. I shot 35mm and I misloaded the first role of film in the camera, so it didn’t advance. Because I was used to the camera coming to a stop at the end of the role, in the heat of the day I simply never noticed that I never changed film. It wasn’t until I got back to the studio and I started to unload the film that I realized what I had done. I had just over two weeks before the Bride and Groom came back from their honeymoon and I had to face the music.
After the bride and groom and their well-deserved rant, I suggested (I had had two weeks to think about it) that the only thing that we could do was restage the wedding on my dime. So we reset a date, I paid for the plane tickets and gas for all the family to get back, I drycleaned the wedding dress and the brides maids dresses, I put all the out of town people up in hotels, and paid for all the meals while they were there, got new flowers, a new cake, the list goes on. In the end I spent nearly $17,000 to restage the wedding.
The end result – some of the best photographs that I had ever done. The day was an absolute joy because we didn’t have the pressue of the actual wedding day. The photographs turned out fantastic, and in the end I even made a few dollars.
Of course it wasn’t nearly as much as I would have made if I had only done it right the first time. But in the end I had happy clients, great photos and a little bit of money.
If you are charging enough money so that you have a real profit, then you don’t have to be afraid of such a guarantee. On the otherhand if you churn and burn and give everything away at cost, then I can see why such a guarantee could be a problem.
@Dave Thielen
Thank you Dave – what a great story! I can only imagine how you felt at that wedding where it went wrong like that. Still, I wouldn’t mind betting that you got some great positive word of mouth from that couple because it would be a great story for them to tell as well. Your integrity in that situation is to be applauded.
You are right that we have to charge enough to cover ourselves so that we can offer such a guarantee with confidence.
Nigel
Well to be honest, at the time that it happened I didn’t have a formal guarantee. Actually didn’t even use contracts. But I really couldn’t think of anything else to do to make it right other than restage the wedding.
Of course this was back in the early 80′s and the internet and various forums populated by other photographers insisting that you have iron clad contracts that saved you from all harm didn’t exist.
You are right though, I incorporated it into my sales pitch, and the wedding also created tremendous word of mouth.