Photographers, you already have a way to handle client complaints hidden in your business
Image by: @silverkblack
A dreaded complaint email is waiting for you in your inbox
You see it as a terrible thing; reframe to a perfect opportunity, with the help of something you already have.
Business can never be 100% smooth and that has been the case since the dawn of time. It's not a matter of if, but when.
And then your heart pounds, your feelings are triggered, your impostor comes for a loooong visit, and you're left emotionally paralyzed not knowing what to do and how to respond to that client.
The next step is usually to head over to your favourite Facebook photography group, painstakingly type out the situation and ask what to do, because you’re stuck. And you’ll get a mixed bag of: Make the client happy, do what they want or risk a bad review, or hell no, tell them to go kick rocks.
I don’t think either of these is very helpful. They are approaches from an emotional and defensive place that creates an US or THEM battleground. An US or THEM standoff means someone will win and someone will lose and it doesn’t matter who; either one is bad for business. The optimal outcome is win-win. So, how do you deal with a complaint?
The answer is hiding in plain sight for a guiding light of how to handle: your brand.
You may be under the impression that your brand is a logo, a set of fonts and colours, your style of photos. It is some of that. But not all of that, and maybe not even the most important part of it, and that's where many go wrong with the concept of branding.
Inside a brand lies a promise. And not only the style of photos that you promise, but in how you will treat the customer, how you support their success in receiving outcomes they want, how you will care for them and be a good steward of their money.
And maybe you don’t even really know how to create a brand or don’t believe you have, but we all have some makings of it whether we’ve tried or not. Check your website. Have you written something on the website that sounds like a promise?
You'll have fun at your session
I tell your story
I document your real and authentic moments/ genuine expressions
Easy to reach out and book
I capture what's important to you
I guide you through every step
You'll have an amazing experience
I'll argue that a big chunk of photographers who write this or something like it, are writing it only with the intent to ATTRACT clients. A large focus is always on finding new clients, but much less in managing current clients and caring for them afterwards, and knowing how brand plays to that. Worse, it seems many treat clients as bank machines where money comes from them but we don’t want any questions, opinions, input or gulp, complaints. But essentially what you write in your attempts to book clients is another contract that you're agreeing to, in addition to the one you actually send with all the rules. The brand accountability contract isn’t a legal document but it’s there and valid before, during and long after a service has taken place.
Treating your brand like a contract actually helps in preventing complaints in the first place. Why? Because you hold yourself to a set of values/ standards/ promises. For example, Hermès has built its brand on the cornerstone of quality and craftsmanship. Their brand language goes into detail about how that is accomplished. Therefore, they go to great lengths to ensure that no piece goes into a store without the proper quality checks. Their brand isn’t just a feeling or an aesthetic, it is an instruction manual and a blueprint for success. If they hold to that promise in every aspect of how the conduct business and produce products, then it’s unlikely a dud will slip by to create a customer complaint.
But even with the best intentions, sh*t happens. Even to Hèrmes. To everyone. No one is immune. And the instruction manual is still there for using towards resolution.
Research in the realm of psychology tells us that it's not about the complaint but about how it's handled. Someone complaining and having their complaint acknowledged and resolved to their satisfaction (or better), can be converted into an advocate. Don’t believe me? Look into your own past for a complaint you’ve had, and someone apologized genuinely and made it right. Did you hold a grudge that the complaint happened, or were you impressed and happy that they took care of you and resolved quickly and greatly? And you even returned as a customer or referred?
Use your brand guidebook when a complaint lands
If you didn't create your brand accountability contract before, then invoke it at the time of the complaint. Read/ listen to the complaint, and then FIRST go back to the promises you wrote to see if you’ve not kept a promise. If Hèrmes gets a complaint that the strap of a Birkin bag fell off, then that bag somehow slipped by their quality controls. This allows Hèrmes to take accountability and creates an opportunity to make it right. Our view softens when we can admit our part and then we know how to handle. The bag didn’t meet their brand contract and it’s clear to them that they will replace the bag.
If a complaint is more ambiguous and/or subjective than a defective product — as is usually the case with us — the approach doesn’t change. If you’ve promised an amazing experience as part of your brand, it shouldn’t be empty words just to get someone in the door. It’s what you strive their experience to be through the whole process. It can also help soften your view: Valid or not, the client feels the process wasn’t amazing. How might my brand solve this to honour that promise? This can lead you to put personal feelings aside, practice empathy, and address a solution for a win-win.
P.S. I’m not saying that a client has a right to be aggressive or abusive or that you should give in to any and all requests. Your brand helps you even avoid rare stuff like this. If one of your values is professionalism and a client is raging at you at her wedding, reminding yourself that you are the professional helps you not retaliate with your own tongue lashing. Instead, allow that promise to lead you to exit/ cut ties using the higher road. In an extreme case like this, a win-win may not be possible, but you can avoid a lose-lose.
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