Nov 09 2011

What’s Worked For Us: Setting Expectations

In our home I set the expectation that there will be no smiling 24 hours after a Syracuse basketball loss. And if it’s really bad, nobody is allowed to wear any festive colors. (Only grays, blacks and browns permitted). If I didn’t set this expectation, Alyse might confuse my bad mood for being mad at her. And that would cause all sorts of fuss… But no. She knows that when I’m staring at the wall for an hour straight like someone died, it’s not her. I’m just still in the mourning period.

Much like a good “wall stare” could worry you if you didn’t expect it, clients can become confused if we don’t set proper expectations. Here are the main conversations we have with our clients to make them aware of how things go:

Natural light: The images on our website feature natural light. In order for clients to expect similar images, they need to prioritize time spent in natural light.

How many pictures we give: We send 600-700 images on a disc via UPS.

Turnaround time: Clients can expect their images within 6 weeks.

Timeline: If a client leaves 10 minutes to shoot 20 family formal combinations, that simply will not work. We provide a timeline blog post our clients can refer to, to help them plan their day.

Upfront payment: We require fifty percent down with a signed contract to reserve a given date.

What expectations do you set with your clients? What problems do they prevent?

by Dylan

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November 9, 2011 - 9:55 pm

Jasmine - I like the point of noting the natural light thing. I have an FAQ on my site that details most of everything else, but I usually address the light thing more informally when meeting with them. For me, it’s also very important to address the issue of people feeling they aren’t photogenic, and believing that it will be more challenging for me to photograph them as a result. So silly, but so frequently communicated. So I like to set the expectation up front that if they are okay with truly being themselves and laughing and letting me in, there will be no challenge involved.

November 9, 2011 - 6:49 pm

Faye - Before clients sign our contract, we go over every point with them, and they also get a card with our most important policies (specifically non-refundable retainer, copyrights, and turnaround time). That card also wedding day timeline tips so we can get the most out of photos.

Another thing we frequently get asked about is about lost images. I tell them our wedding day story (photog lost the first memory card), so we’re hypervigilant about backing things up throughout the wedding and of course at the end of the night when we get home. As pros, clients expect us to keep their wedding photos safe, so barring any major technological failure, we’re pretty covered.

November 9, 2011 - 5:40 pm

lauren jolly - Thanks, Dylan! Great post!

November 9, 2011 - 5:10 pm

Abby Grace - I always make time during the initial consultation to tell them about HOW I shoot. That my favorite types of portraits are the kind where I just get to photograph them being in love. I explain that I lightly pose, but that it’s their natural reactions I want to capture. I wrote a couple of blog posts about e-sessions in particular, what to wear, how I work, best time of day, etc., and my brides have told me that it helped to calm some nerves before their session!

November 9, 2011 - 4:45 pm

Dylan - Hey Lauren, great question. We DO shoot indoors and at night, we just want our clients to realize that their pictures will look different from a lot of our website images if they are all indoors with no window light.

November 9, 2011 - 4:40 pm

lauren jolly - good tips! I have a question: You said that you only use natural light when shooting, but don’t you run into a problem if someone asks you to shoot a night wedding or an indoor wedding? What is your solution?

January 16, 2012 - 5:04 am

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What’s Worked For Us: Setting Expectations