As a photographer..

what are some of the written forms of communication you use? (e.g. communicating with clients, written descriptions of your work, etc.)

This would really help me out!

Thanks POTN

We work in a visual media as such I like fact to face with examples of my vision of their thoughts on what they want, be it product or portraiture. The old adage "a picture is worth a thousand words" really does apply when you are trying to sell a vision that you have been able to put in photography form.

I'm not exactly clear on what exactly you are after.

As far as forms of communication mine is email, phone and/or snail mail.

If you mean what kind of forms I have the following

wedding contract
model release form
property release form
one time usage licensing
Cost estimate (predominantly for corporate work that is sometimes difficult to nail down all the costs up front and they change the job often)

While the legalities of the forms is vitally important I will normally do a "letter of understanding" that spell out the details in more plain english language that persons tend to understand better.

Communication with your customers or potential ones is so important. I get a chuckle out of the photographers that say they give a CD of the images to a customer and then they don't have to deal with them anymore. I do allot of work with one advertising agency and will call my primary contact there at least once a month just to chat and stay in contact. I will ask them for permission to contact the client that I was shooting on their behalf. I've turned up a couple of jobs by doing this, non related to the agency.

If I have quoted someone on a shoot and I don't get it, I like to follow up and ask why. Was it your style, was it your presentation in the quote, the price, product. I never position it that I am trying to get them to change their mind but that I am trying to improve the product that we offer and we can't do that without some follow up.

Focus on the customer and you will have a good name in the community as long as you have good technical results. You can produce some drop dead gorgeous images and treat your customer like crap and you will be surprised how quickly that word can spread. I don't give customers hi-res images on CD/DVD, that is just my decision. I have had some very large orders on reprints and enlargements and on occasion I will call or write to the customer and offer them a free enlargement (11X14 or larger) as a way of thanking them. Acts of kindness towards your customer can cost you very little and go a long long way in the word of mouth advertising.

Even if you are a weekend warrior shooter, treat this like a business and treat your customers like you would like to be treated.

Before the shoot I give my clients an estimate/agreement form which states the what/when/where of the shoot, anything the client is supposed to provide (props, models, etc), the rights they are buying, and the estimated cost of the shoot. If the client should change the specifications of the shoot in a manner which will cause a cost increase, a change-order memo signed by the client's represenative may be very useful in case there are questions from accounting department or bosses.

If I need to deliver photos before I can make the formal invoice I include a delivery memo which lists the number and type of photos and states my permission to reproduce the photos for the previously agreed-upon uses. I prefer to deliver an invoice with the photos, and on the invoice is a statement of usage rights in addition to the billing details.