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Video meeting
Moogle Pepper
Registered Users Posts: 2,950 Major grins
If you can't meet in person, cause the client/you are on the other part of the country, do you try to do video chatting via skype or other messaging software?
I am going to be doing this soon, Tuesdayish, and I think the most awkward thing is showing the physical items- albums, my spiffy aluminum prints... {droool ... aluminum prints}....
I am going to be doing this soon, Tuesdayish, and I think the most awkward thing is showing the physical items- albums, my spiffy aluminum prints... {droool ... aluminum prints}....
Food & Culture.
www.tednghiem.com
www.tednghiem.com
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You client doesn't need any software, it's installed when they connect if needed.
http://www.danalphotos.com
http://www.pluralsight.com
http://twitter.com/d114
http://www.danalphotos.com
http://www.pluralsight.com
http://twitter.com/d114
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... not that there are adult material on it, it is just that it is pretty messy and unorganized. haha!
Honestly the only things I want to show are my studio albums and aluminum prints. It defeats the purpose if I just show them as jpgs lifted off of my desktop. They can just see the blog entries for that if I went that route.
www.tednghiem.com
I'm not trying to gloat, but I must have booked 10 out of my last 20 weddings without showing the couple a thing.
Did it last weekend.
Was at a friends place for a BBQ and met his neighbors son and his Fiancee. They are getting married in January at a pretty exclusive place. They had come from a Bridal fair that morning and dropped in to discuss some things with the parents.
Basically I got talking to them about their day and sensing an opportunity, started going very subtlety through my usual sales pitch.
The whole and entire basis of this is to ask them questions about their day and find out what they want and find some common ground.
This wasn't real hard with this couple and I found them easy to get on with and nice kids with good intelligence beyond their years. I was able to make them both laugh and that's always a real good sign.
They showed me a brochure of where they were getting married where they had a choice of 1 of 6 locations for the photos. I pointed out the one I said I thought I could work with and get the best variety of pics and put forward a few ideas just from the one pic I could see in the brochure. They got all excited and told me that was the place they had booked and every other shooter they had shown the brochure to had pointed out somewhere else.
We chatted a bit more and I actually warned them against something they were pretty much looking forward to till I pointed out some problems they hadn't thought of.
I was very careful to point out it was their wedding but they might just like to keep in mind what I said and take it into account in their planning. They seemed more impressed with my pointing out what they had overlooked than their dissapointment at their realisation of the impractacality of it.
We went our ways within the group for a bit and then the couple wandered back over to me and started asking what I thought was a fair price for wedding coverages. We chatted about this a bit and what they had been quoted. The next thing they asked was if I was available for the date and when I said i was, they asked me to book them in and how much deposit I wanted. Before I left, the father returned with $500 cash.
The couple still have not seen a single shot I have taken let alone an album or anything else. I have had a heap of people come into my studio now and never even open an album but booked me. I don't try not to show them my work, that's no problem but it's just not the most important thing to show how clever I am.
You have to understand what people are looking for first and foremost is someone that is on their level and is into their wedding as much as they are. Couples these days are in wedding example overload. They will credit you for being a photographer and you can take a pic without having to prove it. I find I'm far better painting a picture in their mind of how THEIR photos will look rather than showing them how someone else's look.
Now I'm not saying you don't need to show samples of your work or you should do away with display pics, I am saying not to put too much emphasis on YOUR work, concentrate on THEIR wedding and what you can do to give them the photos that best fit what they are wanting to get.
In your case of a long distance interview, they are going to be flexible and understand why you can't show them an album so capitalise on that and get onside with their ideas and finding out what they want.
I can't stress how important I think that is.
As I imagine YOU won't be comfortable not showing them anything, I would be trying to photograph one of your prints in a home setting such as on a coffee table in a nice lounge room or something similar to paint the mental picture of how they will look in a real world setting.
You also have the option of putting together an online ( or CD ) slide show which are highly effective as they allow you to encompass an extra sense of sound as well as sight.
That is a very Powerful tool at your disposal and one that has always worked great for me.
I really wouldn't get too concerned about showing them your work. I'd be making sure I showed them how interested and excited you are about doing their wedding pics. Once you have the pics, the creativity and packaging thereof can be done at a later time.
Showing interest and excitement in their day I believe is what will get you over the line.
Good luck with it.