Once upon a time, when I a brand spanking-new photographer, I went around town visiting other wedding pros introducing myself.
While sitting in their waiting rooms, I leafed through books filled with testimonials written by their past wedding couples.
Reading review after review, from one place to another, I soon realized I was seeing a pattern in all the reviews which stood out as obvious to me as plaid.
A light bulb went off. I realized a way to quickly sort out the extraordinary wedding professionals from the ordinary, and to suss out which reviews not to even consider. I had discovered a hack that instantly tells you which wedding professionals (or any professionals for that matter) are worth your time to look into... or not... before you even meet with them!
How does it work? It takes advantage of how so often professionals unwittingly offer up clues about how well - or not - they perform their services.
You can do this under their radar so it’s actually a pretty covert, evil mad scientist, stealthy-ninja type of thing. Use this when looking for photographers (and you can also use it when looking for any of your wedding team). It's going to save you a lot of time and running around because all you need to do is:
Decipher the reviews.
Because I've found there's three different types of reviews -- and only one of those contain the photographers you really want. Knowing the difference between these three types of testimonials will help you gauge which photographers might give you ordinary work - and guide you to which ones may thrill you beyond your expectations.
Here's how:
Take a few moments to read what their clients have written about them, and look for these three types of testimonials you’ll come across:
The first type is what I call the “Exit Door” testimonial.
That’s the review from a bride or groom who haven’t yet experienced the service and haven’t gotten anything tangible yet to actually base their review on, but they’re enthused and speak glowingly about the wedding vendor they just booked.
REASON NOT TO CONSIDER THIS REVIEW: I call it the “Exit Door” testimonial because it’s given soon after they’ve walked out of the wedding pro's office! But the service is still untried and done. Instead, this glowing review is fueled by excited anticipation. It's simply based on a good feeling.
An example of an Exit Door testimonial would be, “Fred was so friendly and I just know everything will be amazing!”
Then there’s the second type of testimonial which is a step up from the "Exit Door." I call that one the “Good Guy” testimonial.
That’s where the professional satisfied the wedding couple - but only by delivering perfunctory, average service. Oh, yes, the couple's satisfied... but not anything more than that. There’s nothing special about what they did, so there’s nothing special to write about.
REASON NOT TO CONSIDER THIS REVIEW: Those testimonials are nice and complimentary... but they're general and about things which should be expected from a professional anyway. The “Good Guy” review is telling you the professional merely achieves basic competency.
Examples of the “Good Guy” testimonial would be (and believe it or not, these are real life examples, but the names have been changed to protect the “merely adequate”):
"Tom and his assistant were on time."
"Joe was easy to get in touch with."
"Mary did a beautiful job."
"Mike was easy going and fun to work with."
"Nancy was very professional."
"Thank you for doing such a nice job."
"They put us at ease."
"They were very cool."
"Bob was very friendly and accommodating."
“Jane answered all my emails and phone calls promptly”
Wow, aren't you blown away by such a gold standard of service? I know I'm not. I’m sure you’d agree there’s nothing remarkable about “showing up on time” or being “very professional.” In fact, it’s kind of the least of anything expected as a minimum standard from someone claiming to be a pro, wouldn't you think so?
That leaves us with the third type of testimonial. And the third type is really, truly the best kind. And absolutely this is the one you want to look for.
This is the one that points to someone remarkable.
"Remarkable," as in, "worthy of attention; being uncommon or extraordinary."
I call this type of testimonial the “Exceeded Expectations” testimonial.
Sounds terrific already, doesn't it?
What’s especially telling about this type of testimonial, and what you want to see, is it mentions specifics and details about why and how that professional blew the wedding couple away.
They didn't simply get competent routine service. They’re not just satisfied. They’re beyond thrilled! And they let you know it. In fact, they literally can’t help but mention it because the wedding pro so blew them away, so delighted them, so exceeded their expectations, that they actually do have something spectacular to tell you about.
And so, what you’re reading in their “Exceeded Expectations” review, is a pure, unbridled rave.
And the professionals with the “Exceeded Expectations” raves are the ones more than likely to exceed your expectations as well, and blow you away.
And that's how to quickly find the kind of wedding pro you really want.
Not to be outdone, G.E. Masana seeks to delight and thrill his clients as well. You can see his emotionally compelling, classic engagement photos here.