Business Day Thursday: How To Make Not Just A Good, But GREAT First Impression

Good Morning Everybody,

Not much to report today.  It's pretty busy around here with my DWUC 9 hour, 5 DVD set nearly ready for release.  I figure we will have everything back in house and be shipping by around April 16, 2010.

I'm also working on some cool upcoming Business Day Thursday videos episodes that I know you are going to love - you should be seeing one next week.

And lastly, I'm packing up my gear bag, charging batteries, and getting ready to head out shortly on day 1 of my 3-day Bar Mitzvah shoot.  So without further ado, let's get right to today's post.  Here we go...

How To Make Not Just A Good, But GREAT First Impression

Hi, I'm David Ziser.  Happy To Meet You! How you say it and when is very important to your business.  Last week I received my weekly newsletter from Jeff Gitomer.  I filed it away for a later "read" but the headline title is what caught my eye - "How Are You Using The Power Of First Impressions?" 

You know it got me thinking - what kind of first impressions do we personally leave our priests, ministers, Rabbis, and vendor buddies with?  Think about it - the first time we meet most of these people is on the wedding day itself.  The day, many times, is frantic for all involved.  Is that really the best time to go up and say "HI" for the first time.  I think not. 

I think the following suggestion is a much better option with a much better "first impression" result than the above.  Tell me if this doesn't make more sense.

Hit The "Read More..." link below for the rest of the story. 

I remember years ago, we had a changing of the guard at one of our local synagogues - the previous Rabbi retired and the new Rabbi was just coming on board.  I had not met this gentleman or had the opportunity to work with him on previous events. My next event was a Bar Mitzvah coming up in two weeks at his synagogue.

Clergy people from any walk of faith have had varied experiences with photographers – unfortunately, not all good.  That can bode ill for the photographer working at his/her place of worship.  I had always made it my policy to make an appointment to meet with with the clergymen/women before the actual event and introduce myself, especially if I haven't worked in that particular church or temple.  This earlier meeting took all the wedding day uncertainties out of the anxiety filled day-of-the event  way of meeting the people I was going to be working with on that day.

In this case, I called the synagogue and made an appointment to meet with and introduce myself to the newly arrived Rabbi.  We had a GREAT first meeting and enjoyed a warm conversation for about 45 minutes.  Rabbi went on to say that no photographer has ever come by to introduce himself the way I did in all of his years as a Rabbi.  He was very impressed and appreciative that I made the effort to meet with him and check out the protocols of the synagogue.

That following Saturday we met again during the Bar Mitzvah and offered each other our very cordial "Hellos". The service began and about half way through when it was time for the Rabbi's speech, he began his talk with a 2 minute "commercial" about this wonderful photographer he had met earlier in the week mentioning me by name. Wow, what a surprise!

After the service, I certainly thanked him for his very kind words.  Needless to say, Rabbi's remarks about me were not lost on the rest of the congregation.  Yes, that experience was good for business.

Here is my point.  Each of you reading this post can and should take the same approach with anyone with which you are going to working with for the first time.  That would include the priest, minister, Rabbi, bridal consultant, florist, venue planner, and whomever else is important to know to make not just your job go smoother, but everyone involved job go smoother.

The power of that "first impression" is sooo... important for your continued success.  You need to make it a great first impression.  You want your name first on their lips as the recommended photographer for upcoming events.  This should be your ongoing policy as you build your business.  And remember - I don't care how many years you have been in business, we all are ALWAYS building our businesses - me included!

Oh, I almost forgot to mention it - you can find Jeff's complete article right here. He "fine tunes" how you should prepare yourself for that first meeting to assure that it certainly results in a GREAT "first impression."  Definitely worth the read.

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Hey gang, that's it for me today.  Today is the first day of my 3-day Bar Mitzvah shoot.  This is actually the 4th Celebration I have photographed for the family so it will be good to hang with them this weekend.  Today is what I call the "Temple shoot" where I spend about 60 minutes getting some great shots of the young Bar Mitzvah without the distractions and nervousness of the actual day intruding into the photography session.

I've been doing it this way for years and always come back with some great images.  I'll share a few of them with you over the next few days.

On that note, I'm going to run.  My session begins shortly.  See ya' tomorrow for another episode of "Keeping The Faith - When Shooting A Bar Mitzvah"

See ya' then,  -David