Going with another photographer

I ran across a post on WeddingBee today that was from brides telling vendors they are going with someone else. I had to respond, because this is a major pet peeve of mine. I want Pilster Photography to have the best customer service it can and I realize we are not for everyone.

If clients have decided on someone else but haven't told me, I will still be spending the time to market to them. This makes it harder to focus my energies elsewhere. I just want to give a big THANK YOU again!

My Response -

I just want to say THANK YOU!! Thank you very much, as a vendor this so appreciated. I want to apologize for any vendors who continue to push the sale after the fact.

As a wedding photographer I regularly get many couples contacting me every week for more information, people I meet at shows and tastings who have asked for more information, and also those who I have met with one on one. So now I have hundreds of open business. My goal is to make sure every one of them is happy and I want to give them the best customer service possible, because any one of them may be considering my company.

I try to respond quickly and to keep in touch with all of them. You never know where people are in their planning stages when they contact you and we don't want to be forgotten about. I also don't want to flood your inbox, but as long as I think there may be an opportunity, I will send an email or give a phone call.

When you want to tell me that you went with someone else, a phone call is appreciated, but a simple email works fine too. Also I would love to know who you went with. I always want to know who I am being compared to, and if it's a friend of mine, I want to congratulate them. This will also let me close the open account I have on you and focus my energy elsewhere.

You will only get one more thing from me after you tell me this. I know there is always room for improvement, so I send out a questionnaire asking a few things about what you thought about the brief interaction you had with my company. I want to be better, so that I might be the right company for the next person. I even enter you into a drawing for a gift that has no connection to my company as a thank you.

Of these hundreds of people who have contacted me only a few actually tell me they are not going with me, but this interaction is sooooo appreciated. I just want to say one more time, thank you!