How are you different?

Anyone who knows me knows that I am constantly trying to learn new things.  I read books, articles, attend online classes about different aspects of my business, watch videos, and listen to audio recordings by different leaders in my industry.  A couple weeks ago, I was watching a video by one of those leaders, and she asked this question:

How are you different?

To be honest, I never really stopped to think about it.  I probably should have, but it's one of those things that I just don't think about.  So, I sat down and came up some ways that I think we are different for our customers.

For those not familiar with my business, I consider myself a boutique studio.  Everything I do here is custom...in fact I don't think I've had two identical pieces (other than duplicates a client has ordered) ever go out the door.  This is everything from wall art and framing to albums. Every thing is unique to the individual client. Everyone wants to be unique, and here, they get that.

While we do this as a business, as a way of paying our bills, we're not just in it for the sale. I know when I'm sitting with a client and they are having a difficult time choosing, I try to go out of my way to help each client pick out what works best for them (not too long ago, I even went to the client's home - she lives pretty close by - because they forgot to measure their walls, just so we would know what would work in the space they had in mind). I do this because I want my clients to be absolutely in love with the finished product when they see their portraits up on the wall, or the reaction of their family when they receive a gift print or item that we've done.  


That reminds me of a story a good client of mine told me not too long ago.  She brought her little girl into us for her first birthday cake smash....we got some priceless images that the client wanted to share with her grandmother, so she purchased a set of accordion minis (little brag books), so that she could give her one.  The next time she came in she told me that her grandmother had passed away, but when they were going through her things, they found that brag book in her purse. She told me that her grandmother had loved the mini, and that the creases were so worn from her grandmother constantly opening and closing it, because she showed it off to everyone.


Those kinds of stories give me the warm-and-fuzzies, because I know that I sat with the client and worked with her to come up with a product she would love, rather than just putting something in a cookie cutter template that ten other people have and sending her on her way.  


I look at it this way...if my clients wanted a quick, impersonal portrait experience, they would have gone to a chain studio. You know, one of those places where the employees wouldn't take the time to get to know them, would just snap the pictures, take their order and push them out the door so they could move on the next person. But they didn't...they chose to come to me, so I work hard to not only give them the best pictures I can, but also to take the time to get to know them, remember their children's names, what's been happening with them, and so on. 


So what makes me different? Simple.  


I care. 


I care about the images you get, about the final custom products I've designed for you.  I care about how you and your families are doing, even if you haven't been in to see us in a while.


How many chain studio employees are ever going to tell you that?