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We recently sat down with LensProToGo, one of our partner companies, to share why we feel they are outstanding. LensProToGo is one of the nations largest online photo and video rental companies; you can rent camera bodies to lenses to lights to cords – everything you may need and they ship all over the United States.

Meg Rodney, whose official title is “makes awesome stuff happen”, took the time to answer our questions. We asked Meg about the background of LensProToGo and she told us the story of how Paul, the owner and founder, left Corporate America seven years ago to become a photographer. He was working hard to support his family, and he had an idea to supplement his photography income by renting Canon gear out of his spare bedroom. It grew to include more kinds of gear, which he had to move to his basement to store and ship. Before he knew it, he was moving to the first warehouse space while starting to hire employees. Paul knew he didn’t want to hire just anyone, he wanted the best customer service in the industry. Not automated responses, but real people who could answer questions and give helpful feedback. So he established the company policy of only hiring photographers. Real working creative professionals who understand the needs of a person who is renting from them.

This dedication to the professional photographer and the commitment to provide them with the best customer service are the main reasons why we at ShootDotEdit choose them as a partner. Being fun to work with is also a plus! Read on for more tidbits from Meg about LensProToGo.

What is your favorite part of your partnership with ShootDotEdit?

We absolutely love how open minded everyone is on their team. At LensProToGo, we think outside the box. I mean…way outside the box. We aren’t a very rule based company. We’re photographers and filmmakers. We’re creatives. Like us, ShootDotEdit is always open to trying different things to improve their customer experience and give back. More than that, everyone on their team is considered a really great friend of ours. Nothing is better than friendship in the world of business.

What is your favorite part of working with photographers?

We LOVE working with photographers (and filmmakers) because we’re photographers and filmmakers too! I think our most favorite part of it is that our customers come to us as a resource. We, as a team, shoot a variety of things (weddings, portraits, babies, pets, products, cars, etc.) so when we don’t know the answer we’ll hand it off to someone who does. We get the warm and fuzzy feeling when this happens because people trust our judgement. We’re here to make sure their shoot is the very best it can be and it’s an incredible feeling when we hear back that all went better than expected because of our suggestions.

Also, Photographers are just cool! Our conversations with them are normally 20% about the order, 50% answering/asking questions and 30% talking about what they are having for dinner or something having to do with dinosaurs. I bet you Verizon customer service doesn’t get that last part!

Describe a day in the life at your business…

Coffee, slippers, hugs, morning meeting, high fives, oatmeal, laughs, local drop offs, e-mails, answering phones, answering phones, answering phones, coffee, e-mails, answering phones, UPS drop off, laughs, clean gear, sort gear, clean more gear, test focus, answering phones, lunch as a family, high fives, answering phones, e-mails, dance party, laughs, more dance party, packing gear, answering phones, e-mails, packing more gear, high fives, pack the rest of the gear and UPS picks up.

For the most part it’s mostly customer service, tons of shipping and a lot of fun!

What do you wish photographers knew better about your business?

I think the one thing we’d want them to know, the most, is that we’re people too. Today, so many companies run as robots. You place an order, get a confirmation email, and it ships to you. Sure, it’s easy, but what’s personal about it? We’re here to assist you in any way we can. It may be hard to understand… but WE LOVE TALKING and may even hold the record for longest customer service call. More than that, there is a human hand in every single step of the process. Your order is seen by the customer service team and either handed off to the shipping team or they will specifically handle any issues/questions.

If you could be any piece of camera equipment, what would it be and why?

LensProToGo would be the 24-70 (we’re a team of Canon and Nikon users so I won’t specify a brand!). I say this because we are ‘the trusty workhorse’. We get the big picture and zoom in to focus on individual customers!

LensProToGo currently has a staff of about a dozen photographers and filmmakers with more coming onboard in the immediate future. They invite you to contact them with questions about renting gear, using gear, or photography and film related questions in general or follow them on social media – Facebook, Twitter & Instagram. They always have something new and fun up their sleeve, and they usually have some great gear pictures to lust after. You’ll have to check it out to see more! And when you go to their site, LensProToGo has provided this special offer to our readers, feel free to use code SDEJHV34 for 10% off all rentals good until April 30th.

Thank you Meg for taking the time to speak with us. We can’t wait to see you at WPPI!

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