We live in a world loaded with information and innovation. Our lives have changed drastically in the past few decades with the increase in technology and available data. And nothing has changed more than the photography industry. On the journey from film to digital, everything from gear to capture to edit to share has gotten faster. At ShootDotEdit, we believe the faster we return your images as a part of our wedding photography editing services, the faster you can get them back to your client. The faster the client receives their images, the happier they will be, and the more your business will benefit. We believe “Fast is Best” for your wedding photography business.
Fast doesn’t mean compromising on Quality
It’s not only in the world of photography that speed matters to create a loyal and dedicated customer base; restaurants and other elements of the food industry walk a fine line between delivering a great product and delivering in the fastest possible way. An entire subset of the food industry was created for “fast food,” but these examples typically come with a stigma of receiving a less than stellar product in exchange for a quick turnaround, with a few exceptions. Chipotle Mexican Grill is a great example of a restaurant with a fast turnaround time, which is essential to the customer experience, without compromising on quality or ideals.
Chipotle operates with the mission statement that receiving food fast doesn’t mean it has to be made from bad ingredients. Slate’s Matthew Yglesias states,
“[Chipotle] Founder Steve Ells invented a way to maintain the basic speed and experience of the standard fast-food experience and make the quality of the food a little better. The better food costs a bit more money, but consumers turn out to be happy to pay a premium for a superior product.”
Having that high quality product and a quick turnaround time has helped Chipotle grow to have storefronts in every US major metropolitan market and in key cities across England and Europe. They have revolutionized “fast food” and proven that customers are willing to pay more for great food fast. During the past 2 years (2012–2014), Chipotle saw a net profit margin around 10%, which is significantly higher than the average 4.3% profit margin for other typical fast food restaurants.
Related: 5 Ways Efficient Business Empowers Your Photography
Fast is the key to amazing Customer Service
In addition, consider Zappos.com, an online shoe and clothing retailer and a company that has built their business around customer service and speed of delivery. Right from the moment Zappos.com founder Nick Swinmurn set out to create this new way of selling shoes, he knew that speed was key. On Zappos.com’s In the Beginning page, the company states:
“We believe that the speed at which a customer receives an online purchase plays a very important role in how that customer thinks about shopping online again in the future, so at Zappos.com, we have put a lot of focus on making sure the items get delivered to our customers as quickly as possible.”
Zappos.com was featured in the book Uncommon Service: How to Win by Putting Customers at the Core of Your Business because of this seemingly simple premise. They guarantee free shipping in 4 days, but in most cases (as long as you order by midnight), they deliver your order overnight. Because of this delivery speed, the book explains, 75% of Zappos.com business consists of repeat customers. In 2010, Zappos.com was acquired by Amazon.com and saw that as an opportunity to deliver more products even faster. Their fast turnaround time and amazing customer service has made them a leader in their field year after year and allowed growth into other retail offerings.
Related: How can outsourcing help you become faster and more efficient in your workflow?
Both Chipotle and Zappos.com are examples of how fast turnaround time works outside of photography, but it’s been proven that fast turnaround time will also benefit photographers. For example, wedding photographer Corrado Amenta utilizes a fast turnaround to make him more money while working with fewer clients:
“This quick turnaround [down from one month to one week] has impressed his clients so much that almost all of his current weddings are referrals from past clients. The increase in interest has allowed Corrado to be much more selective in the weddings he books, ensuring that the couple truly fits with Corrado’s style and vision. He is shooting half of the weddings he was booking prior to partnering with ShootDotEdit, yet his revenue has more than doubled.”
In today’s competitive world, the only speed is fast. Make sure that your wedding photography business is set up to embrace a “Fast is Best” strategy by thinking about the ways that you can embrace efficiency:
- Provide a fast turnaround time for client images
- Offer efficient customer service
- Quickly communicate by email and phone
- Deliver final products in a consistently speedy timeframe
A quick turnaround time will make your business more money. Whether it is in the form of clients spending more money right away, referring more clients back to you, sharing more of your images on social media, or customers returning to you—speed is a benefit to you, your business, and your clients. A fast turnaround time is essential. Keep that level of enthusiasm and excitement alive by getting your amazing images back into your clients’ hands as soon as you can.
Are you interested in speeding up your workflow? See how ShootDotEdit can help you have a faster business with our free guide. Click the banner below to download it today and learn more!
