Five Important Policies to Implement in your Photography Business
By: Jillian Kirby
I remember when I started my photography business about 7 years ago. I was sure that I was going to be the client’s photographer. I wasn’t going to be one of those business people that charged through the nose and put restriction after restriction on my clients.
Wow, was I wrong.
I learned very quickly that there were very important policies that I had to have implemented in my business not only for myself, but also for the sake of my clients. For the clients, you ask!? Yes! First of all, a comprehensive list of policies gives a professional appearance to your clients. More importantly though, how many of you have clients that are constantly emailing you asking you question after question? How many of your clients book you with no real idea how the whole process is going to go?
Well I can tell you that clients want to know what expectations they can have for you. They want to know what to expect out of the experience they are about to invest in and they want to be sure that they’re going to get what they want. The only way to ensure that you are on the same page as your client is to have a solid list of policies for your photography business.
Every business is different and every business is going to have different policies, but here is a list of my favorite 5 policies that have made my business a more polished and organized business to work with/for.
1. Copyright Information
Aside from artists, not many “regular” people are familiar with copyright laws or what copyright infringement is. They have no idea of what is expected of them and for that matter, many don’t even know that such laws exist. It’s our job to inform them. Make yourself familiar with your country’s copyright laws and put it into layman’s terms. Make that your number one policy for your clients to read.
2. Realistic Timelines
Make certain that your clients know exactly how long things will take. How long after the session, will the images be ready? How long will the images be available to them? How long do they have to order the images they want to purchase? Once they’ve ordered, how long will it take for them to receive their prints and products? Not only will these timelines give your clients an idea of what to expect from you, they will also keep your workflow going. There is nothing worse than having an overly busy week or month and then adding in the stress of past clients popping up and wanting immediate attention to their new needs as well. Keep things flowing in your business and keep the paychecks coming in at regular intervals as well!
3. Retouching
This is a policy that I was hesitant to implement but have since been very thankful I did! Make it extremely clear to your clients exactly what amount of retouching is included in your fee. These days, many of our clients have photoshop themselves. Our clients know a lot of what photoshop will do and many of them will ask you to run various treatments on their images. What is your individual limit? Personally, I will edit out any non-permanent skin or hair blemishes. I won’t, however, change hair or skin color. I won’t take weight off (hopefully I do that in my posing abilities) and I won’t change facial expression. If my clients want any of these adjustments that I don’t include, they have to pay an extra fee. But it is very clear to them ahead of time what I will and will not do. So if they want to be wearing a white shirt in the image, they better bring one to the session! ;)
4. Cancellation and/or Postponement
We are newborn/baby/children photographers. Our little clients get sick. Our new mommas have bad mornings. Cars break down. Appointments are forgotten. Things happen. But what is a reasonable expectation for you to have for your clients? We do have to look at this from a business perspective and know that if we set a morning aside to shoot, and our clients consequently don’t show, that is ultimately, a morning of pay lost. If you hadn’t reserved that morning for that client, you could have potentially had another client in that would have showed and you would have earned your pay. But as we know, our clients are little. And we have to have some flexibility. What is acceptable to you? And when you figure that out, make sure it’s extremely clear to your clients.
5. Retainer Policy
A retainer policy is simply a session fee. It is a fee that is charged in advance of the session and in general is non-refundable. This holds their date/due date and guarantees them their session slot. It also places a value on their session booking. Once they’ve booked in with you and paid their non-refundable session fee, you can just about guarantee that they won’t change their mind or search for another photographer. It also reduces your chances of no shows and in general creates a level of commitment on the part of your client.
There you have it. My favorite five policies. Now remember, these policies do you no good if you don’t enforce them, and ensure you enforce them to ALL clients, not just some here and there. That can get you in to trouble… especially if clients start comparing notes. I get asked to look past my policies on a regular basis and my line is this:
“In fairness to all my other clients, I must keep to my policies as closely as possible.”
And its true… what’s good for one, has to be good for the other. These policies will not only help your clients to know what they’re getting in to, but it will help you know too!
If you’re looking for more information on the business of newborn photography and newborn posing in general come join me in my 3 week online class: Newborn Posing Naturally. It starts up on September 16th with the video modules being released on Mondays and the live chats happening on Thursdays! Check out www.newbornposingnaturally.com for more info!!