SkipCohenUniversity
  • Home
  • SCU Blog
  • Our Podcasts
  • About Us

the SCU Blog

Back to Basics for Marketing and Photography

1/5/2018

0 Comments

 
Picture© Brian Jackson
​It's a brand new year, and I'm hoping I can convince a few of you to go a little retro on your communication skills in 2018. Email and texting are great for a lot of communication needs, but if you can't meet with the client in person, the next best relationship-builder is the phone!

A few years ago I came across an article from Men's Health magazine.  It was written by Gil Schwartz and called Flex Your Success Muscles.  He shared six great tips, and number three was “Give Good Phone.” 

“We hit a tipping point a few years ago with e-mail. Once a real boon to business, email became a burden as millions of poor workers were forced to walk around like Jacob Marley in Dickinson’s A Christmas Carol, weighed down by heavy email chains. Really successful operators now know that a 2-minute phone call is far superior to a stupid e-mail chain…”

Think about how you feel when you need help, and you get a phone call from the vendor! Even more relevant is that moment when you finally get through all the default prompts on a call to a manufacturer, and you get a live body. The point is you feel great!

Now, put yourself in the shoes of a potential client who just sent you an email to inquire about your availability to photograph their family, wedding, golf outing, etc. Getting a call back from you, instead of what feels like a canned response via email, will pick up points every time.

Email has its place, but it’ll never replace your personality, your voice and your ability to start building trust with your clients with the very first building block, a fast personal response.

It’s also outstanding for the care and feeding of your network! Pick a couple of people in your network who deserve a phone call instead of an email, message on Facebook or a tweet. I’m not suggesting we all start making pests of ourselves and turn the phone into a series of business interruptions from hell. But, if you’ve got somebody you haven’t talked to in awhile, and you’re about to send them an email, think about whether or not a phone call is more appropriate.

I use the phone all the time to talk to other photographers. There's so much more you get out of the conversation. It's not uncommon for me to call somebody who's tweeted or posted something supportive and find out more about them. We all share an incredible passion for the craft - you don't need to know somebody to make a call! Over and again I'm amazed by how much we all have in common with today's challenges.

Let's make 2018 the year to get back to grassroots. It’s time to let your personal touch and handshakes beat out emails, no matter how poignant the words.

0 Comments

Your comment will be posted after it is approved.


Leave a Reply.

    RSS Feed

    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Your walk is just a click away
    Picture
    Picture

      Sign Up for Our Newsletter!

    Subscribe to Our Newsletter

    Our Partners

    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture

    "Why?"

    Check out "Why?" one of the most popular features on the SCU Blog. It's a very simple concept - one image, one artist and one short sound bite. Each artist shares what makes the image one of their most favorite. We're over 130 artists featured since the project started. Click on the link above and you can scroll through all of the episodes to date.

    Categories

    All
    Alzheimer's
    Beyond Technique
    Business
    Business Breakthroughs
    Clean Up Series
    Customer Service
    EDU10
    Excire
    F64 Lunch Bunch
    Faculty
    Fast Food Friday
    Guest Post
    Humor And Sarcasm
    Hump Day
    In The News
    Lessons Learned
    Lighting
    Luminar
    Lumix
    Marketing
    Mark's Corner
    Mind Your Own Business
    Miscellaneous
    Motivational
    One Step At A Time
    Photodex
    PhotoShelter
    PhotoTexting
    Platypod
    Podcasts
    Profoto
    Sales
    Search
    Skylum
    Social Media
    Sunday Morning Reflections
    Tamron
    Tamron Recipes
    Technique
    Throwback Thursday
    Wedding Photography
    Westcott
    Why?

Categories​

Business
Marketing
Technique
Sales
Fast Food Fridays
​

Podcasts

Tamron Recipes 
Beyond Technique
Why?
Mind Your Own Business
Pro Photographer Journey

 Partners

Tamron
Photofocus

​Lumix

Marathon Press
​Platypod
©  2019 Skip Cohen University
  • Home
  • SCU Blog
  • Our Podcasts
  • About Us