NEWSLETTER FOR AUGUST 1989    VOLUME No 100

LOOKING AFTER YOUR CUSTOMER
I have finally found a Company here in New Zealand that sends letters to their Customers thanking them for their transactions.

I recently had the opportunity of buying a car from a Company and the Company I selected was one in Manurewa after shopping around about five different Companies that sold the same car.

This particular Salesman said, "Look I want your business. What do I have to do to get it?" and of course I told him.

He finally agreed to the deal and I was the proud possessor of a new vehicle. That I expected was the last of that.

However, a few days later I received a letter from him, a copy of which I have enclosed. You will note that he is asking for names of my friends that could be interested in purchasing vehicles. There has not been a telephone follow-up for this particular item, so he does get some minus points for that.

The next thing I received was from the Service Department thanking me for letting them service the vehicle!

Have you ever heard the likes of that, a Service Department thanking their Customer for allowing them to service the vehicle? Absolutely ridiculous, but it happened and he is also telling me that if he is able to assist me or my friends, to contact him.

I would have to guess that this particular Mitsubishi Garage is going reasonably well. If they are not they should be.

BUSINESS CARDS
I am still amazed at the number of photographs who do not have Photographic Business Cards.  In these supposedly hard times where I hear people saying there are not enough people having photographs taken, I am surprised that Photographers themselves are not showing people the way to use photographs.

The First Step along this will be to have a Photographic Business Card of yourself promoting YOUR Photographic Company.

The Second Step will be to have a Personal Business Card of yourself, wife and family.

Again this you can pass out and again that will promote Photography. Display a family group of your own and let people see you use Photography.

Promote Photography every step of the way, so that you are able to stay in business.

NEWSLETTER FOR NOVEMBER 1988 VOLUME 101

PHOTOKINA REPORT
COLOUR COPY MACHINES
Naturally there was a few Colour Copy Machines on show at Photokina. If one examines the reason varying manufacturers make pieces of equipment, one soon realizes that it is to sell sensitized surfaces.

 Colour Copy Machines, now that the technology has been perfected, is obviously the next big possibility for the sales of sensitized surfaces.

 There are two machines of note at the Photokina display. One was by KISS, so they will be actively be promoting those machines to all of their outlets throughout the world and it does look like at last they have made something that is good. The other is Fuji and their machine uses a new low contrast positive paper that they have developed specifically for this machine. The copies from this machine was that while you or I could probably see the difference, I am certain none of the retail public will ever notice it.

 Talking to Kodak here in NZ. they tell me that their Copy Machine also uses a new sensitized service, which has the same characteristics.  So, now it is just a matter of time before these things start breeding like rabbits.

 An additional note on these Copy Machines. There is in an Auckland Newspaper every Saturday₁ I am told, an advertisement looking for copying and it mentions bring in your family portraits, wedding photographs etc for copying.

NEWSLETTER FOR MARCH 1989                        VOLUME 102
WEDDINGS & VIDEO
One or two Photographers are talking about how sometimes it is harder to book

Brides on high priced Wedding Fees and they are talking about a reasonably high loss rate.

 I believe that when ever you do look for the top end of the market, you possibly do have a higher then normal drop out rate from people enquiring.

However, some of the problem may be that you have failed to convince the Bride as to why she should spend the extra money. Alternatively, you sell the Bride but some other member of the family that is paying the account remains unconvinced. With all the pressures on the Bride at this particular period, it may be one that she feels like giving up on easier or can be convinced that she can save money.

A way to show the Bride what she is getting is to lend her a 15 minute video tape showing yourself at work, showing yourself interviewing, album planning, preparing, everything to do with the Wedding.

I would even go as far as to put a count-down clock in with the video so that they can see how much time you do spend on a Wedding.

I would even perhaps consider starting off with a freeze frame of the Bridal couple walking out of the Studio with their album, with words like...

"This is John and Maryanne, they have a Wedding Album that they will treasure for the rest of their lives".  Then a freeze frame of you the Photographer with the words "This is Mr High-speed Vericolour, by the time he has delivered this Wedding Album he will have spent 214 hours either with this Bride and Groom, or working on their photographs".

It would move into you greeting the Bride and Groom at the original Wedding interview and work your way right through the Album, with this clock forever ticking in the background. It should be a maximum of fifteen minutes in length and should sell the sizzle instead of the steak.

This must be Professionally done and must be brilliantly done. What you are telling in this video is why they should book you and what difference there is when they book you compared to anybody else.

ADVERTISING
We have been dealing with at the Lab, one of our Clients Customers, who called in on their way north. Their son was killed in an accident sometime before Christmas. They are now trying to make one photograph out of two photographs at an extremely high cost and I was talking to them   

I said, "Why didn't you have a family group photograph taken before the accident?'¹

They said it was basically because they had always been together and they kept on putting it off and also what they thought photographers would charge.

This leads me to believe that one of the concepts of advertising that we should have is to emphasize how little it will cost and to advertise that it must be done now for "Memory Insurance."

Incidentally this woman did have a group photograph done after the accident of the members of her family that were left and her method of choosing a Photographer was, at Christmas time telephoning round all of the photographers in the Yellow Pages as her other son was home and the first one that replied to the telephone got the job.