As I was sitting here enjoying coffee out of my Canon 24-105mm lens (more on that shortly), I noticed something off to the side of my desk that was worth mentioning, because it says a lot about how we should provide customer service not only to our customers but everyone related to our business.
Several weeks back I had the pleasure of meeting Natalie Ogura. In her email, she listed herself as a stylist (think more set stylist than makeup or hair). I love the opportunity to meet new creative people, and so we sat down for coffee at the local Starbucks (of which I will soon be the Mayor, I guarantee). We talked about photography, shoots, our backgrounds and interests. It turns out she’s had quite a bit of experience with commercial shoots, contracts, licensing, and the like. All things that are right up my alley. She was looking for similar work in Austin, and while I didn’t have anything right away, I made a point to keep her contact info. Sometimes, you meet people and you think ‘I definitely want to work with them at some point.‘
As I was packing up to leave, she gave me a gift. In fact, it was an awesome gift – a great tie, which she had taken the time to wrap nicely. She included some postcards of her work, and mentioned that she had different gifts for guys and girls. Here I am, not having met her before or knowing anything about her before the meeting, and I’m walking away with a great tie. That is customer service, especially when you never know if the possibility of working together will ever come. So if you get a chance, look her up. She might be exactly what you are looking for. I sure hope that we will work together soon.
