Sent Potential Client Away

I may get flamed for this, but I am hoping to inspire others to treat other photogs as being on the same team rather than just the competition. (Probably comes from recently reading a few local photographers web-sites whose content disrespects other's business practices.)
___

I was contacted by a dad needing a rush job on a senior photo for his son's yearbook submission. He had a studio shot done by another photog but was recently contacted by the school that they had not received a photo for the yearbook.

Dad tried to contact the photog but the phone number didn't work and the web-site wouldn't load. Dad figured the photog had gone out of business and contacted me. After a couple of emails and a phone call, Dad was going to check with son with his schedule for a shoot with me. In the meantime, I googled the previous photog's studio (only had studio name). I found a web-site that seemed to fit what the dad told me so I filled in a contact form asking if he was still in business. I got a quick reply that he was but that he had a new number.

To sum it up, I put the dad back in touch with the original photog. Am a I crazy? Maybe. Yes, I lost out on a senior booking (and in my fledgling business I can use all I can get), but I wanted to treat the other studio with the respect that I would hope to be treated. Maybe it will serve me well in the future...maybe it is nothing. Either way I am satisfied that the son will get his yearbook photo submitted.

Any thoughts?

There is nothing wrong with doing the shoot or doing as you did, and getting him in touch with the first guy.

I think this comes down to "Karma". If you are in a smaller community then being on good terms with other photographers can never be a bad thing. Sure you could have taken their money and if you didn't know the backstory would have.

i_am_cdn wrote in post #16845796
There is nothing wrong with doing the shoot or doing as you did, and getting him in touch with the first guy.

I think this comes down to "Karma". If you are in a smaller community then being on good terms with other photographers can never be a bad thing. Sure you could have taken their money and if you didn't know the backstory would have.

I agree. Good for you!

It's nice to see honesty still exists. Where I do my hobby photography business, one of the local photographers has tried to turn me in saying I don't pay / collect sales tax (I do) and whenever I do custom work for any of the high school sports teams he sends them nasty texts or Facebook messages. Kudo's to you for doing the right thing, I would have done the same (or like to think I would have). I have had parents have me send an image file into the yearbook and they never received it only to find out the parent's gave me the wrong email address though.

Karma IMHO would be the person running their business poorly losing the income.

Having worked in a small community I personally didn't care about the other photographers. The market was tight and there were too many photographers for it. Any competitive advantage that could be gained I didn't pass on. The result... after 3 years only one of the photography businesses was still in existence. Mine. There simply wasn't room for more.

I think you're crazy if you DIDN'T re-connect the dad/photographer. Good for you!

Update:

I guess the photog hadn't actually shot the son's photo yet. I must have misunderstood. He shot the gentleman's older son's photos and the client thought he'd have the photog do the younger son, too.

Anyway, he encouraged the client to go with me as he is scaling back what he does. And, since he is a wedding shooter, I offered that if he needed a second shooter, I'd like to discuss it. I just spend 40 minutes on the phone with him and he will be using me as a second shooter for two weddings this summer.

I am pleased with how it turned out.

There you go - Karma

Glad it all worked out

NewCreation wrote in post #16846110
Update:

I guess the photog hadn't actually shot the son's photo yet. I must have misunderstood. He shot the gentleman's older son's photos and the client thought he'd have the photog do the younger son, too.

Anyway, he encouraged the client to go with me as he is scaling back what he does. And, since he is a wedding shooter, I offered that if he needed a second shooter, I'd like to discuss it. I just spend 40 minutes on the phone with him and he will be using me as a second shooter for two weddings this summer.

I am pleased with how it turned out.

Way to go.

You did the right thing, no doubt. That would be true even if you didn't end up getting the business in the end.

If you are a jerk who sees no further than your immediate advantage you end up living your whole life with a jerk. If you are a person who goes out of her way to help others, you end up living your life with a great and generous person.

Thank you, everyone. I certainly didn't have expectations of getting any business. Just was loving my neighbor as myself. I believe Providence took care of the rest.

rjharris wrote in post #16845984
It's nice to see honesty still exists.

Note that this hasn't anything with honesty to do. Both alternative routes would have been honest.

This is more in the line of being nice.

Looks like it worked out nicely for you.