Kiss totally gets it! This company understands that all the album options in the world will never replace excellent customer service, a quality product, an unbelievably simple ordering process, and ridiculously fast turn-around time.
I'll go way out on a limb and suggest that here at the OSP, most, if not all of us, are in the business of customer service. Really, anyone in "business" is in the customer service business (or they should be). Many of you have been around long enough to take a close look at this industry and come to this stark realization: Truly amazing photographers are often NOT the big names or the ones you hear about all the time (though sometimes they are). That also means there are plenty of successful people out there, who happen to be decent photographers (sometimes even less than decent). My point is that if you "get it", if you understand what this business is all about, you have certainly come to realize just how extremely important customer service is!
I said all that to say this: Kevin Swan and Shaun Austin at KISS Wedding Books turn out a quality product. The leather is beautiful, the printing is awesome, and the albums are well constructed. In my opinion, their albums are probably similar in quality to all the other big companies out there. Not necessarily better or worse (which is neither praise nor complaint). What sets them apart is all the "other stuff." The stuff I mentioned in paragraph two. I don't know that I've EVER experienced better customer service with ANY company period (that includes non-photography stuff by the way). For example, the other night at around 10:30pm, I sent Kevin Swan an e-mail about my newest order. That was 10:30pm Seattle time (I think it had to have been around 1:30am his time). This friggin' guy responded within minutes, and has completely made himself available to me for any questions or concerns I might have (even by way of cell phone). I was blown away. Really, have you ever had direct cell phone and e-mail contact with one of the owners of Starbucks, or Costco? I'd venture to guess you answered no to that question.
Time is important to our business, and that includes the time it takes to order an album, receive and album, and deliver the album to our clients. I've contemplated ordering through other companies (companies who also have an amazing product), and in doing so decided to take an alternate route. I made that decision because I figured that if I feel confused and overwhelmed even before I place an order, it's just not worth it! The options are endless, the forms are ridiculous, and the process is crazy! These are just a few of the reasons John Michael Cooper of Alt-f makes his own stinkin' albums. The superiority of nearly every aspect of KISS Wedding Books enables our customer service and final product to exceed our clients' expectations, because their's does.
I usually don't write this much about anything. I just thought I'd give my two-cents about why KISS gets so much good press. Everyone has to make up their own mind about which albums to offer, and there is plenty of top-notch stuff out there to choose from. For now, we'll keep on keepin' things simple
P.S. Props to Kevin Swan & Shaun Austin for being such a great example of what needs to be brought back to business...
