A Little Love Note About Outsourcing

Erica Schneider, of Acres of Hope Photography, has been outsourcing post-production work to PWD Labs for over a year and has no plans of going back to doing the work herself. As a successful wedding and portrait photographer, Erica knows that her time is better spent connecting with clients and running her business. Erica explains it best: In the midst of a busy 2010 wedding season, I found myself completely overwhelmed with editing jobs. Struggling to keep up with thousands of images a week, I began to loathe sorting and dreaded the editing even more. I was stressed, busy and unable to focus on the aspects of my business I wanted to focus on – primarily, customer service. I longed to have enough time in my day to send little email love notes to my clients the day after a shoot telling them how great they did, or a welcome-home-from-your-honeymoon love note. I wished I could hand-deliver prints to my clients instead of shipping them off in the mail. I wanted to pour more effort into styling my shoots and developing more personal relationships with my clients. That’s when I decided to look into outsourcing post-production. I “interviewed” four different companies that July. PWD met my simple, must-have criteria: the ability to create a custom editing profile and easy uploading of files. I don’t believe they were the cheapest or the most expensive option, so the deciding factor came in customer service. PWD “wowed” me from the start. They were extremely responsive, answering all of my questions via email and phone. Melissa, Jerry and the rest of the team welcomed me like I was their top priority. To this day, I’m still surprised to learn that I’m not their only client! Over the course of the year, I handed over more and more post-production in order to streamline my workflow: color-correction, black-and-white conversion, sharpening and finally retouching. At one point, I had a boudoir client that was interested in full-body retouching on her images. I had not ordered retouching from PWD before, so I emailed about pricing and details. The next day, I received a response from Jerry, CEO – on a Saturday! I was blown away. Little efforts like this (and there have been many more) have made a lasting impression on my mind. Nothing trumps excellent customer service. Oh yeah, and to finish my story, I got set up so I could deliver boudoir images that are always retouched, making my clients feel absolutely glamorous and amazing! PWD recently shared their news with me about partnering with Pictage. As a long-term Pictage member, what’s better than hearing that two companies I utilize on a daily basis are joining forces? I’ve always believed in working with the best, and now the best are working with each other. PWD has exceeded my expectations as a business partner time and time again. All in all, PWD is one of my favorite companies to work with. Ever. I am relieved to know that for as long as I am in business, PWD will be my post-production studio of choice. And the Pictage/PWD integration is going to be the best thing since sliced bread. Seriously, this is going to be awesome! Written by Erica Schneider Erica is a San Diego based Wedding, Lifestyle and Boudoir Photographer who loves capturing people in LOVE.  Erica is an active member of WPPI and PPA, and has been featured on popular wedding blogs such as Style Me Pretty, Green Wedding Shoes, Junebug Weddings, The Wedding Chicks, DIY Bride and The Knotty Bride. Learn more about Erica at Acres of Hope Photography.

Moms With Cameras reviews PWD

 

Emily Potts recently joined the PWD fan base, and we couldn’t be happier to be working with the self-titled photogra-momma.  After finishing her first post-production job with us, Emily has posted about her thoughts and experience with outsourcing post-production work for the first time (spoiler: she had some nice things to say about us!).

 

“If you feel like your post-processing could use some help or you feel like you are buried in work, I really encourage you to give these guys a try. I am so excited to have found them and look forward to sending more sessions their way!” -Emily Potts

 

Read Emily’s full post on the Moms With Cameras blog.

 

Customer Feedback: “So wonderful”

Thanks to PWD aficionado Jen Alston for the kind words. I just want to thank you.  What a feeling of complete FREEDOM it is giving my wedding images to PWD to work on. Photo correcting is a job I thought I had to do myself to get it done right.  [PWD editor] Melissa has been wonderful, and when she said, “if something isn’t done how you want it, let me know so we can fix it,” it made me value this process even more. Just knowing I have people in my corner to help is an amazing feeling.  No more missing out on time with my kids (for days on end).  No more staying up until 3:00 in the morning (day after day). I don’t feel a heavy burden of to-do lists getting backed up anymore.  So wonderful. Thank you!!! Jen

Visit Jen at ImajenPhoto.com

Bambi Cantrell Brags on PWD Labs During Interview

Bambi Cantrell, rockstar photographer extraordinaire, recently gave PWD Labs a shout-out in an audio interview for the website Davina.  Here’s what Bambi had to say about us:

“My color lab is PWD Labs out of Atlanta, GA.  They do retouching, they do color correction, they’ll do everything for me.  I’ll tell you right now, if I was a working mother… who doesn’t want to do all that headachey stuff,  I would be calling PWD Labs… because I would want to be able to work with someone who can do the nonsense… that steals your joy.  And so I would say to the mothers out there, write down a list of the things that steal your joy, and then get somebody else to do them for you.”

Thanks so much to Bambi for the kind words and also for the great advice.  At PWD, we hear all the time about how much people dislike the hours and hours they spend on post-production work.  Because of this, we encourage everyone to follow Bambi’s advice: get somebody else to do it for you.  There’s a good chance you will be happier and have a better product if you give it to a specialist who does enjoy the work.  Oh, and outsourcing is often not nearly as expensive as many people think, especially when intangibles such as family-time and sanity are thrown into the equation.

The interview itself is a great listen, so check it out at the link below.  Be sure to listen to minute 25 – that’s when we get our mention.

link: Davina Interview with Bambi Cantrell