Sunday Morning Reflections - Are You a Great Experience?

© Peter Atkins - Fotolia

In response to yesterday's post about our experience with the lack of service from USAirways, there were a lot of retweets and comments. One of them, from James Crossman really hit home:

"I spent today moving notebooks from old workshops I've attended into Evernote, 
and one statistic I wrote down today was illustrated by Skip's article:
1 in 5 clients will comment on a favorable experience, but 9-in-10 will complain about you to their friends and acquaintances, if they have a poor experience."

Normally I go off track on Sunday mornings, but today, I want to stay right on point. You have to make working with you an incredible experience. Let's take a few well known artists from our industry and think through what it would be like to be their client.

Here are three who come to mind: Kirk Voclain, Bambi Cantrell and Jerry Ghionis. Kirk's one of the finest senior photographers in the country. If you've heard his program or seen a few of his videos, then you know a senior walks away with a great experience. I've seen Bambi work weddings, Bar and Bat Mitzvahs and events. Without question, she's got her clients relaxed and laughing within the first five minutes and her results are stunning.

If you've seen Jerry's programs, you know right off the bat he's working to make his bride comfortable. I remember a video he showed years ago...the bride hadn't lost the weight she wanted and was depressed, feeling anything but beautiful. Within in minutes we watched Jerry work his magic and the minute she smiled was like the sun coming out, right after a storm.

It's a short post this with a few simple questions - What are you doing to make every session memorable for your clients? Is it an experience they want to share with their friends or simply underwhelming with average results?

Make working with you a fun experience. Make your promises mean something and deliver ahead of schedule. Make your technique/skill set so remarkable that you exceed client expectations every time. Make your subjects feel special and oh yeah, beautiful.

Don Blair was once asked, "It's easy for you, all your models are beautiful. What do you do when you have an ugly bride?' Don's answer..."There's no such thing!"

You've got complete control over the experience...you can be USAirways and hit those "9-10" numbers James Crossman talked about or be out front and the leading experience in your community. 

The choice is yours!