Hello All, 

It has been a few days since I have been on my blog so figured it was time to get a new story going. This Post will be mainly about customer service or customer experience. I value my customers very much and often bend over backwards to satisfy my customers. Sometimes I even try to satisfy things I can not control. I want my customers to be happy and want them to return to me for services and products. Thus brings us to the question what is customer service?

"the part of an organization that answers customers' questions, exchanges goods that are not satisfactory, ect. the fact of treating customers in a polite and helpful way, which is considered an important part of running a good business."

I treat my clients with respect and usually go above and beyond what is considered the normal for my line of work. I have been told at times, the way I approach my work will have to change. I looked at them with bewilderment and I say why would I not do all I can do to make things easier on my clients. This came about when I got into my Rodeo coverage and even my Traditional High School sports coverage which carried over in to my college coverage. I edit all my photos, I choose that and have done that from the start of my photography career. I want my clients to be able to review my work and know what they see is what they are getting. I refused to change my Morals for my business practices because someone told me it was the wrong way. 

I get busy just like everyone else. At times there is a delay in my edit process which delays posting of photos from an event from time to time. But when you see those photos I have posted you can rest assured that what I present is the finished product and ready for purchase. I know and have known not all photos I take will be purchased. In fact I know that over 95% of my finished product may never be bought. I have been complimented by many who have purchased my finished products and received the professionally wrapped package of prints. This is part of customer service to me. the job isn't finished until the final product is delivered and accepted by the client and only then when they are happy with their purchase. 

I am going to post here a message I have posted to facebook about my dining experience tonight which fell way short of what I expect from a company. This has nothing at all to do with Photography but rather customer service. 

Hello All.

It has been awhile since I have put my mind on paper, well this is your lucky day. We all have been out to eat and I am sure most of us have encountered the dreaded Wait line at some of the better places to eat. Well I know I have and I normally take things in stride. Most of the time I experience this at like Roadhouse, which is a place I want to eat and I think is very good place to eat so usually a wait is not really a big deal for me since Roadhouse is what I want. This isn’t about Roadhouse. Nor any of my other restaurants that I really really want to eat at. Tonight I had a Gift card that we had found cleaning out my studio office from like 6  or 7 years ago. It still had 15.00 on the card according to the company website. No the card is not the issue, but in light of the time frame of not using this gift card tells you how many times I have been to this place. I am a hooters man but since they pulled out of Wichita we have found ourselves looking for wings in other places. Well this gift card was for one of the wing places, BWW, BDUBS, Buffalo wild wings or what ever you want call it. Anyway I have had BWW at several locations and never had the best of luck with either the food or service or just seemed like something always went wrong there. My son one night said dad let me take you to a good BWW, I said sure okay I will try one more time. So on that visit yes we had to be put on a wait list which was fine I was not in a hurry. We were sat at a table with a waitress that was training someone. So she had too many tables and having the extra person in tow all night the experience was not best with service as we had to wait for drinks refills and this and that. I was okay with that she was busy and had way to much on her plate but I was not blaming her for that, that was a management issue. The food that night once we received it was good and I enjoyed the meal. Thus brings me to tonight.

Tonight I was a solo diner, I would of sat at the bar but it was full. I was given the option to sit on the patio, which I just didn’t want to sit outside and eat today so I declined. She said I can put you on the wait list and call you when we have something. Bingo Great lets do that I stated I was not really in a big hurry but would take first available other than the Patio seating. At the time I was added to the list there were two parties in front of me a table of 4 and a table of 2 then lonely solo me. Note time was at this point 6:10pm. I made my way out to the foyer to sit and watch the game they had on the tv and check my phone and social media stuff. I watched a bunch of people come in and stand inside waiting for a table and then noticed that the inside had cleared out and then more came in and they cleared out. I was a bit confused and the time now was 6:55 pm. I decided that I needed to get up and confront the hostess about the delay on my seating. As I approached the hostess stand I noticed she was on the second page of her clip board. She saw me and had that look of oh shit on her face. I said so where am I an on this list and she proceeded to show me and yep I was there 4 from the top of the first page of people waiting for a table. I noticed that about 10 parties that came in after me had been scratched off the list and I questioned her about how they were able to get a table yet I wasn’t.

Yes this is the point I was very mad and frustrated. I looked at the dinning room and saw 4 to 5 empty tables. I said so are one of those for me? And she looked at me and said well no but you are more than welcome to check the bar and see if there is an empty seat. Oh yes I got even more upset. Anyway I sat my little hockey puck non responsive beeper on her little podium and said no your food is not worth this kind of trouble and made sure she knew I was not happy about the wait. Then I walked out. Oh Yeah I am sure she was worried about one solo customer being upset about not getting seated, ( hahaha yeah right) anyway I have sent a message to either the store I was at or corporate about my experience only to have my comment cut short by the 1500 character limitation. I will actually be surprised if I even get a response to my message to them or if anything will ever come of it.

This eve started out me heading to Five Guys to eat a burger which would have been in and out in less than 45 mins total from time I ordered to finished eating. I changed my mind because of the gift card that I still have and will still have to brave another trip to bww to use it. Guess the long and short of my story is don’t change you mind once in motion. Or something like that. So after my wait at BWW, I did go to Five Guys and had a good hamburger with some very respectful employees at their establishment. Thanks for your time I just had to release this so I could clear my mind.

Jeff

On a closing note, I would love to make you my client and would love to provide to you quality customer service through out the full process of the services you need help with. Lets get you set up for a wonderful session experience and get your family session going or your senior session. I would love to hear from you no matter what and work with you to get what you are wanting. Looking forward to hearing from you about your photography needs.

Jeff