This really threw me today and proves to me how important my regular emails, follow up messages, tone in my emails, etc. is SO important.
In April of this year, I got a lead on a wedding for next June. I caught up with the woman, we chatted and she told me she wasn’t in a rush. Every few weeks, I’d send an email “just checking in” to see if there were any questions I could answer. Sometimes she’d respond and sometimes not.
When I put together my wedding gift incentive program, I emailed her and offered her one … another way to keep up the communication and she informed me she’d just had a baby and was putting planning on the back burning — though the date still held. I congratulated her (rightly so)and of course told her if she needed any baby photography to let me know! 😉
Then, today, exactly 5 months after the day I got her email and first emailed her … I get a call at the studio. This woman explains who she is … which I knew as soon as she said her name and asks me if I do corporate event photography. Of course!
She tells me she works for Marriott and has a customer that, at the last moment, wanted a photographer for a few hours over a few days …. was I free and was I interested? Somewhat free, always interested!
It turns out that we can make it work, tonight, Tuesday & Wednesday and I got the job. Well, this non-customer of mine was my referral to this American-Belgium corporation that hired me at my Commercial/Event/A La Carte rate to photograph their cocktail party tonight, and two group events coming up.
Tonight, I got to meet my “non-customer” in person … which was cool! And she confirmed she’ll be putting her plans into place soon… and thanked me for making this work.
I am just so honored to be thought of for stuff like this by people that haven’t even hired me yet! I believe it’s a testament to my ability to “be” me in email and on the phone. No pretenses, genuine love of what I do and love to share that with others.
How cool is that?!?!?