Perfecting Customer Understanding

After being a central figure in the stock industry for 10 years, I've noticed that there are a few obvious yet often overlooked essentials to succeeding in stock photography (and any other business for that matter) that I'd like to share.

In my opinion, the most valuable investment you can make in order to kick start your career is in developing your attention to detail. Not by getting lost in the details, but rather by cultivating an undying appetite for perfection. Too many talents go through life without actually trying to perfect their craft and still wonder why they don't achieve the success they dream of. Success rarely just happens. What makes you successful in a competitive industry like stock photography is not the reliance on talent, but rather one’s willingness to tirelessly strive for the best and not give up before achieving it.

There´s one particular aspect of stock photography that's in dire need of being perfected. It´s the ability and willingness to understand the demands of the customer by putting yourself in the customer's shoes. The problem is that most photographers don't focus enough on the customer's role - it´s simply taken too lightly. I´d say the majority of photographers avidly emphasize their own personal taste and put too much trust in guesstimating what the customers are looking for instead of systematically analyzing the customer's wants and needs. Although it does help, I'll admit one doesn't have to have a degree in psychology to analyze this field. Don't focus on what you want when looking at images. Instead ask yourself what the customer would want if she hired you to photograph her wedding, what the customer would choose to alter in the image she is looking to buy or how the customer would want a particular image processed.

Trust me on this, by religiously taking on the customer's perspective and completely ignoring your own, you will fast-forward yourself into a whole different league of experience and competence. You'll know you're on the right track when you treat the customer as you would your own newborn baby - once it's there, what you want doesn't matter anymore. Or better yet, be your own customer. Take out your wallet and grip tightly around that hard earned $100 note and look at your own images. Are you creating the kind of images worth spending that note on? If you can't, hand on heart, say you'd spend $100 on one of your own works then why would you expect anyone else to? Don't make the mistake of unintentionally placing yourself in the overpopulated league of mediocrity, going through life with ambition yet never achieving perfection.