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Keeping your customers happy
Submitting Right
As you know, there's a right way and a wrong way to do pretty much everything, and this, of course, also holds true when it comes to submitting your images to a photobuyer. If you do it right, you might win a client that'll stay with you for 20 years. If you do it wrong, you might miss out on sales that could result in thousands of dollars lost over a period of several years.
Here at PhotoSource International, we always stress - sometimes to the point of harping - that the cosmetics are very important when it comes to putting together a photo submission. After all, this is a visual industry and that makes "looks" even more important.
Does your package submission arrive clean, crisp, inviting and interesting? If it doesn't, chances are it'll end up in the 'to-do-pile' for whenever, or ignored completely.
The outer packaging (a stiff, substantial cardboard mailer) should be white and it should be clean. Use a professionally printed label with your return address and a space where you can enter the photobuyer's name and address. A good place to find high quality mailers is < www.mailersco.com >.
Why not a manila or brown envelope? Most materials sent in that color of envelope tend to be regarded as "parcel post," or "third class." Stick with the white envelopes.
Do your homework before mailing. Find the name, and the correct spelling, of the individual photobuyer and send your package to that person's attention. Double check with the receptionist at the publishing house for an accurate spelling of your contact's name and title. (If at all possible avoid addressing the submission to simply a title, e.g. designer, researcher, photo editor, etc. This signals the photobuyer that you are an amateur at marketing.)
If your submission covers more than one photo need, make sure you enclose a letter describing which of your images are for which of the photo needs. It also helps to group the images per photo need, when you sort the images into slide files. If submitting digital on CD, burn one CD per group of images for the individual photo needs. Sure, it's more work and it takes a little bit more time, but the photobuyer will be very grateful that you went through the extra work for their sake. He/she will remember this the next time they're looking for images.
Good customer service and good sales efforts create what is known as positive buying impulses. You want to arrive at a place where photobuyers you work with can trust that you offer quality customer service, that you're easy to work with, and that you're a 'giver' rather than a 'taker.' When you do this, your customers will want to do business with you over and over again, and for any small business owner, that's a feather in your cap!
Photojournalist Mikael Karlsson has 14 years' experience of working for magazines and newspapers in more than 30 countries. He moved to the United States in 1998 from his native Sweden. He lives in Nebraska and is currently US correspondent for 11 Swedish magazines and a regular contributor to a wide variety of U.S. publications. Reach him at mike@photosource.com.
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