How soon is too soon?

[Niresangwa]

This thread is related to the time spent PPing I suppose, but didnt want to derail it.

The general question is how long do you take to get the work to clients after the shoot? Do you employ a small degree of gamesmanship at all?

The reason I ask is that I was talking with a friend last night, and I was talking about a location shoot I did for a local business woman who wanted headshots/portrait work done. I took her to the Miwaukee Art Museum, and I used the excellent Windhover Hall. I shot for an hour starting about 12pm, was home by 2pm and had everything finished by 230. I had samples up before 3pm.

Now, I was, and am, pretty proud to deliver images so quickly, and do so with all of my shoots. I'm usually done PPing an hour long shoot and have the work up for viewing within a few hours. I kind of like getting things tied up quickly, but certainly could sit on the work for a couple of days.

Friend pointed out that maybe I shouldn't be so quick to release the work. The anticipation of waiting to see their images may have some intrinsic value of it's own, especially when laying down serious money for it.

Anyone have any thoughts on this?

[digirebelva]

Or the client(s) could be thinking "This guy does the job in a reasonable time frame"....good to know

Seriously Does taking a couple of days getting the images back to them make them more valuable, or make them look better?

IGetting good work (key here) back to your clients in a timely fashion, can get you more word-of-mouth clients than routinely sitting on them.

As a potential client, my thoughts would be either you are that busy (good or bad) or if the images took that much PP'ing to fix you might not know what you are doing...the fact that you can get them back quickly, tells me you have a very good handle on the process.

And before somebody jumps on me about the time frame, I understand that weddings with potentially hundreds of shots cannot be done in a matter of hours..

[GadgetRick]

Well, it all depends on the expectations you build at the start. If you're building an expectation that you'll have everything done FAST, well, you'd better be fast. If, otoh, you say it (typically) takes you 2-3 days before they are back, then you should be good.

As far as using it as a selling tool, I'd be careful with that. Unless the job REQUIRES a fast turnaround time, I wouldn't suggest you thump your chest and talk about how much faster you are than others. If something happens (computer problems, you get sick, etc.) and you are delayed a day or two, you then look bad--goes back to building proper expectations.

[Jim Bryant]

I have it to them no later than seven days after a shoot. Unless it's for editorial purposes then it right after I shoot the assignment.