directly is always best, then email and phone call

face to face is always best for me. if it can't be face to face then i would prefer email. the phone is my last resort.

In person is good, but email is BEST! I'm a better writer than talker

If I had the choice, I'd always have the consult be in person. Living on an island though, most of my deals are down with barely a phone call, and mostly email. It seems really impersonal, but if they're cool with it... I always recommend that I do an e-session though, so that I can at least meet them before the wedding.

Always EMAIL.

In fact, I am sure I resort to e-mail too often, but it is SO convenient ..plus, I'm not a big phone talker.

Face to face - I love to see people's expressions so I know better what they're thinking about whatever I'm saying. I know that sometimes I make aweful faces when on the phone with a sales person or someone I'd rather not talk to, but they never know of course. In person, this can never happen

And on the phone I always seem to be interrupting people because I can't tell if they're done with their sentence. Or there is awkward silence and someone pulls one of those "where did that come from!!" statements.

Anyway. Face to face.

I like that, good idea, but that would mean I would need to get out of my pajamas.

In person if possible, but email and phone will do. If a bride likes sending in a deposit based on my work online then cool. Sometimes I feel awkward seeing a bride and groom for the first time at the engagement shoot.

I LOVE email. I have to talk on the phone for 8 hours a day at my day job, I tend to roll my eyes, so in person is sometimes not safe....email is great. It sits there until I am ready (the phone might too, but the ringing gets tiresome!) and the delete button works great if you don't want to deal!

Of course if it is a client, I love to hear from them. The uncles with the jokes...not so much!

On the phone but best is in person especially when you have to really deal with a tough matter. email you just cant get all the emotions out. I mean you can use email but you just cant grasp there true feelings on stuff.

Stewart C.

Definitely in person. Definitely.

FOR SURE IN PERSON! We have only booked a few weddings over the phone, but that was because they were long distance. Everyone else has been face to face. It also give mark and i the chance to make sure we want to book them! Sometimes over the phone someone can sound like your "perfect client" but then in person you know the match would be a disaster. And we feel alot more at ease and confident in person. We can show our work, albums, and our personality.
Candice Brooke

I'm an email person since I can do that at 1:42 am...like now.
I DON'T like making phone calls. Most of the time, I get "pumped up" to make the call...and then the person isn't even there...
In person...I'd MUCH rather meet face to face rather than on the phone.
I think I have a phone-phobia!

I hate talking on the phone.... e-mail is okay but it's so hard to get good communication through e-mail (in regards to tone etc).. I definetly prefer to talk to people in person :-)

I love email. It is more convenient, and you can give good thought to your reply. I hate the phone. I don't know why, but talking over the phone scares me! And if I have to photograph people (pet photographer, here), I'd love to meet in person to get to know them before the shoot.

I communicate a lot over email with clients, but I like to make initial contact over the phone whenever possible. Over email, it's all about numbers and packages and what we can do, on the phone, there's just so much more chance to be friendly and connect with them.

And the same is true for meetings. Even if we have a nice phone conversation, I generally insist that we need to meet before the camera comes out. For portraits, it's different, but for weddings, it's ESSENTIAL. Our only difficult clients have been the ones that we didn't meet until it was time to start shooting their engagement session or wedding.

I really prefer to have contact initiated by email. I actually book 95% of my brides without talking to them on the phone! I have good phone skills but honestly, I hate talking on the phone.

I think a lot of people have trouble with email because they enable clients when they ask only for price. I don't even give them an answer to the price question until about the 2nd or 3rd email. I tell them that great photographs are made by human connection and not by dollar amounts. Then I ask them lots of questions about themselves and their fiance. People love to talk about themselves and they get excited that I actually want to get to know them.

I love to meet with brides too but they often live out of state. I can usually talk them into covering travel expenses so we can meet up and do the engagement session though! That is always a nice, laid back little vacation.

E-mail, big time! Specially cause' the time difference with some clients.
Rosie

Clients: email, then phone, then in person
Friends: phone and in person (and facebook or course)
Family: I prefer one contact a week via phone. My fam prefers in person, phone, email and text multiple times a week.
Dating: email... no need to meet in person until you know they're the one, right? I mean, who has the time for that? Haha I'm kidding... kind of... no, I am, really.

I'm pretty hip to telepathy. I love when clients get in touch through mind powers.

I think it's the wave of the future, haha.

Always in person. I get to learn more about them and how they act as a couple and they get more comfortable around me.