Most clients will think you are trying to squeeze extra money from them as soon as you mention printing services, in truth you’re a photographer and just want your work to be shown to the world! This article will help you put some good points across to clients and help you navigate the pitfalls of post-wedding follow-ups.
The First Post Wedding Contact….
After the big day is done and you have laboured over the digital negatives to create your client’s final images the next step is to contact them and deliver the final product. No matter how you may present and deliver them it’s a nervous affair for both parties. My only advice here is to hand deliver them when possible. If you can’t do this then mail them, here packaging is everything. Put little extras in to make them feel special, a wee packet of fancy sweets, a complimentary print and most importantly a hand writing thank you!
At this point, you may have already discussed printing services and sorted everything out, if not this is the last chance you will normally get to organise this. I am going to explain how I approach this and why convincing clients to use your printing services isn’t just about extra income for you!
But won’t I have all the files……I can print them myself right?
This is normally the first thing I hear as soon as I mention printing services. Now you can swerve this comment and continue on trying to push a sale to them here like the majority of photographers out there or you can be completely honest. For me I always use the honest approach. Basically I explain that I’m a vain photographer and I want to see my work being showcased rather than sitting on a USB in a desk drawer or gathering dust in a shoebox somewhere.
So yes it’s true, you have the images and I have given you printing rights. But how many times have you had a great image and thought “I gotta get that printed for the wall”, I’m a professional photographer and I have a stack of external hard drives full of images I must get printed. More importantly most printing services open to the public won’t have the same quality of albums, printing paper and wall products that professional labs do so your job great captures may end up looking mediocre.
After the wedding, celebrations, honeymoon and back to mundane Monday to Friday work-life routine most people leave the images on the USB/CD with good intentions to get them printed but never do. Here’s the thing, technology is amazing and progresses all the time but nothing lasts forever…..USB’s can get lost or it may just stop working no matter how high tech it is. This could result in the one thing that documented the most important day of your life being lost forever!
Prints, on the other hand, will always stand the test of time… unless lost in a house fire or a naughty son or daughter with a sharpie. So be selfish and be honest, tell your client the truth. You want them to have an prints, albums and whatever else you can do with the images because you want to see the images being put on a show. Most importantly for me is I love capturing emotions and you want your couple to be able to feel the emotion they see in your image flood back to them as much as possible.
Tips by Iain Waterston
Be honest and up front with them, don’t over charge on the products and most importantly stress how much better it is to be able to see their happy memories on a day to day basis!
Prints and much easier to see than loading up a computer to check out the USB!