Referral and back-up photographer

Hello,

 

First let me say this forum has been a great resources for me!

 

My questions:

1. How do you arrange back-up photographer in your local city, just

in case you & your staff can't make it to your booked & paid clients

event due to unforseen circumstances (ie. sick, accident, etc) ?

Do you have a network of wedding photographers with the same style,

pricing and paid them commisssion? Or entirely give them the

assignment?

 

2. Do you set up a referral based system, where if you have some

clients interested in your already booked dates/weekends, and you

refer them to your list, and ask for commission if the client booked

them due to your referral? Sort of finder's fee or referral fee?

 

Thanks in advance!

 

-Oscar

I would just hunt for a photographer with reasonably similar style and pricing, and then ask them to cover for weekends when you have gigs. Drop them an email and be friendly. If you can send them a referral off the bat (ie. before any contact), even better.

 

As for asking for a commission, I think that it's a bit tacky to ask for a commission. I offer gift certificates for people who send clients my way, and if they want to be a friend, they will send a referral your way, which will be much more than any commission.

 

just my 0.02.

 

ce

We are fortunate to have a relationship with a fine photographer who would fill in for us if needed. If it were on short notice for sickness, etc they would do the wedding for whatever fee we contracted for.

 

If we are already booked up we refer to him and if he gets the job, then he pays us 10%.

I've got a close relationship with 3-4 photographers (the 4th is a real occassional shooter:semi-pro) that I can call at the last minute if the need should arrive....problem is that the better photographers keep pretty busy and are likely to already have a wedding of their own. I've never known of a referral fee among photographers but it appears to be somewhat common among some event coordinators.