New website sneak peek
January 11th, 2012
Archive
Archive for the ‘News’ Category
Meet Kelly…
November 19th, 2011
Last week I shared the first of my ‘winter projects’. The first few of these projects are all aimed at delighting our customers – in other words making sure that I not only take great photographs, but that we deliver albums, prints etc in a timely manner. It’s easier said than done, so I’ve decided to take on a member of staff….
Meet Kelly, my new staff member. Kelly will be doing all sorts of things around here, from editing weddings to showing portrait customers their pictures. She’s also a talented photographer, so will be handy for two-photographer weddings!
Welcome to Winter – The Winter Projects
November 8th, 2011
As the wedding season ends, it’s always great to take some time to reflect. 2011 was our busiest year yet – I had a ball doing all the weddings and lots of other fun stuff. It was also the year of the big move into Belfast.
I sat down the other day in a nice wee coffee shop called ‘The Cosy Chair’ and wrote down a number of winter projects – things I want to do to make things even better. Some of the projects are tiny and easy, some are much more time consuming and difficult. Some are very exciting, some are a bit boring! Basically, no area of the business is untouched – so I thought it would be interesting to blog some of the changes – it might give you a good insight into the company and what makes us tick.
One of the biggest things I’m focussing on is customer service. In the midst of all the 2011 weddings, it was really difficult to keep up, respond to emails quickly, get albums delivered on time etc. So my first few winter projects are all about improving that so our 2012 customers have an awesome experience.
The first wee project around this was dead easy – the second one much more tricky (I’ll blog that one later in the week – but its very big for us!).
So this week we welcomed the Peter Thomas whiteboard to the studio. No more lost emails, electronic todo lists – they just don’t work. At a glance we can now see what needs done! Wohoo! As per usual my DIY skills weren’t too good, so it might not be totally straight 
. I have already found the immense satisfaction of wiping something of it! Feels so good!
So there you go – the first winter project complete. As Tesco say – ‘every little helps’…
The BIG competition has started!
September 29th, 2011
This weekend we’ll be at the Kings Hall Wedding Fayre. Looking forward to meeting lots of new people.
In conjunction with the show, we are running a competition over on our facebook page! The prize is wedding photography worth about £1000! You can also win engagement photo sessions…
Here’s what to do:
- Go to http://www.facebook.com/peterthomasphotography?v=app_204169126292521
- You’ll be asked to upload a picture of you – and write down your wedding date.
- Then get all your friends to vote!
Off on holiday!
March 8th, 2011
Just a quick note to say that I’m on holiday, returning 17th March.
The studio will be closed until then – you can still make contact by email but the response might be a bit slower than normal!
Thanks,
Peter
Join us at the Kings Hall!
September 30th, 2010
Its that time of year again!! Join us at the Kings Hall Wedding Fayre, 1-3 October.
Its a great show with pretty much everything you could ever need for a wedding. We are in Aisle A – see you there!!
Times, prices etc are at http://www.weddingjournalonline.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=frontpage&Itemid=80
Thanks
Peter
Ben Thomas Crymble
August 13th, 2010
Well here’s the latest addition to the clan! Ben was born on 9th August, weighing in at 7b 4oz!
I’m taking things a bit easier this week – but back in full flow next week (w/c 16th Aug) for appointments etc. Feel free to get in touch!
Give me 5!
July 4th, 2010
I’ve had a review system in place for a while – but had gotten out of the way of asking people to review me. Recently I’ve started that again, and so I thought I’d post some ways to write or read reviews about Peter Thomas Photography.
1. Ratepoint
The main system we use is called Ratepoint. All reviews are independently verified and so are much more believable than the random ‘raves’ you sometimes see people publishing.
You can view my Ratepoint Profile at http://ratepoint.com/profile/7427
You can view all the reviews at http://ratepoint.com/seereviews/7427
It takes about 30secs to write a review!
2. Google
I’d also love some more google reviews, so if you use Gmail for your email, you can leave a review in 5seconds by clicking here (you’ll notice a write review link about half way down).
3. Lookaly
And finally, it’s always nice to support a local website – so also check out Lookaly.com which is a great local directory.
Free meal on us!
May 6th, 2010
Our diary is filling up very quickly, especially for 2011…but we thought we’d do one last promotion.
All bookings made 5th May – 5th June will receive a free meal on us. We picked a pretty exclusive restaurant too – James Street South in Belfast. Its one of our favourites, and is the perfect place to take a break from the wedding planning and to enjoy some great food and drink.
So if you book and pay your deposit within those dates, a free £50 voucher for James Street South is yours!
(we have a sneaky suspicion that one of these vouchers sitting in our office might just happen to go missing!)
What our customers think of Peter Thomas Photography
April 19th, 2010
A few months ago I launched a customer survey. I wanted to find out exactly how my customers felt about my service. I wasn’t planning on publishing them, but I’m pretty happy with the results – so here are a few highlights.
The survey was sent to 80 recent wedding customers and the response rate was about 60% – a reasonably good sample. The survey was completed online and anonymously to ensure customers felt free to give honest answers.
100% of our customers are likely to recommend Peter Thomas Photography.
With any survey, there is really only one question that matters. If your customers are happy to recommend you, your doing a good job. I asked ‘How likely are you to recommend Peter Thomas Photography?’. (Very likely, Quite likely, Not Likely, Very unlikely)
100% of customers were satisfied with their wedding album
When asked how satisfied our customers were with their album, more than 97% said they rated it ‘excellent’. The other 3% said they rated it ‘Good’
More detailed results
For those statisticians – feel free to browse through some more of the detail! (trust me – there is a lot more than this!)
Freeform answers
Customers also had a chance to write some comments on any positive or negative experiences they had. Here’s a selection of responses to the question “Let us know about anything you think we could improve on. Feel free to explain any negative or positive experiences you have had.”
“You made us feel relaxed and added to the enjoyment of the day, the photographs you’ve taken of both the wedding party and our guests are perfect and we appreciated how unobtrusive you were after taking the official photographs when taking pictures of our guests mingling.”
“Peter was extremely efficient at getting our proofs and mock-up album in good time and soon after the wedding.”
“Peter was friendly and accommodating throughout the whole process. He was very willing to adapt to our needs and wishes. He arrived early to capture hairdressers/beautician photos and stayed until after the 1st dance which we really appreciated as not all photographers are willing to do that and it meant we had a record of whole day. He was unobtrusive and many guests said they weren’t even aware of him capturing shots of them so we have some lovely natural photos of guests. He was polite and encouraging to guests when trying to take group photos unlike some photographers I’ve encountered at weddngs who can be rude and bullying. We have recommended Peter as we were very happy with the service he provided ”
“We were 100% happy with the service. You were so friendly & helpful throughout the whole day.”
“Wasn’t greedy and you did not feel you were getting ripped off. Very good package and photos and quality all very high standard. Highly recommended.”
“Everything was excellent – we were really pleased!”
“The service we received was excellent! No negative experiences!”
“We couldn’t fault Peter Thomas Photography in any way. We were delighted with everything Peter did for us.”
“Everything was fantastic, in our opinion nothing could be improved, we were delighted with the service provided and our album”
What I learned
Overall the survey was really positive and I was delighted. My customers also gave us some great feedback, and areas for future growth and improvement. Of course, customer feedback is useless unless you actually change for the better, so here are a few things I have implemented since the survey, based entirely on customer feedback.
- I have much improved my pre-wedding consultations. I now provide a list of photographs and have a more detailed discussion around the photographs desired. This has been well received by new customers.
- I now take more photographs which suit framing. Close-up, romantic type shots – plenty of stuff to fill our new selection of frames.
- Improved posing of brides. The photographs haven’t changed, but I’ve improved how I direct the bride and group photographs.
Its important not to become complacent – so if you have ever got any feedback just let me know!
