In this day of texting and emailing, the art of the phone call is becoming more and more obsolete. Some people I know won’t even answer an incoming call. They will text that caller back and tell them to message them instead. I understand this to some extent as I loathe the phone myself. Maybe it’s the writer in me, but I seem to only be able to express my thoughts through my fingers and not my voice. Even calling for take out makes me nervous.
So, imagine when the phone rings and it is someone who has heard of your wonderful photography and wants an estimate to book your services. What do you do? Better yet, what do you say? There have been many a time where I’ve stumbled through a call with a potential client, full of awkward pauses and silences because I was unsure of the right words to say or the right questions to ask. This is why the following video from The Slanted Lens is so helpful in teaching us some of the right questions to ask when we find ourselves on the phone with a potential client on the other end.
[REWIND:WHAT SHOULD YOU CHARGE PER HOUR AS A FREELANCER? | INFOGRAPHIC]
In the 8 minute video, Jay P. Morgan talks about 8+ questions you should ask before actually giving a potential client an estimate for a photo shoot. Aside from a few common sense tips that you should already be doing – like sounding interested and interesting – he gives a few tips that I’d never even consider asking before. Questions about usage and competition are great ones to help you develop the quote for your services and help yu be better prepared in your expectations of the shoot. In the past, I would just give a cookie cutter price and hope for the best. This video is definitely one I’ve bookmarked and will be referring back to again.
