| Professionalism During Investigations |
By Kenneth Biddle
Paranormal Investigators & Research Association
United States Paranormal Alliance
Professionalism- 1-
professional character, spirit or methods. 2- the standing, practice,
or methods of a professional, as distinguished from an amateur.
Professional- 1- Competent; expert. 2- of or for a professional
person or his place of business or work. Amateur- 1- a person
who is inexperienced or unskilled in a particular activity. 2-
characteristic of an amateur, unprofessional. Amateurish-
characteristic of an amateur, especially in having faults or
deficiencies.
Many of you may take this for granted, but I
believe that Professionalism is the single most important attribute
your team can posses. Presenting a professsional attitude before, during
and after an investigation can easily mean the difference between achieving
a reputation as a serious research team...and being known as a group of kids
looking for a cheap thrill at the expense of the clients.
From the first contact between you and the client,
there should be nothing but professionalism from you and your team members.
Even when the client disagrees with your ideas and/or findings, you should
be "professional". In this article, I'll go over some of the major points
where professionalism is a must (at least, in my opinion).
You may not agree with me on some of these points,
and may even think I'm going overboard. However, I follow my own example
when dealing with our clients and it works for us. The best comment we've
ever received was from a former owner of a haunted church. She told me that
"you always treated our home with respect and treated us like kin". How can
you argue with that?
Ok, let's get started...
Language
This is probably the most overlooked, when speaking
of being professional. In this day, swearing is the norm. I know this well,
since I'm a mechanic and I definately have a "Truckers Mouth". However, when
I'm around the client...I simply do not use any profanity. When you're around
a client, pretend it's your sweet old grandma (or someone else's sweet old
grandma, if you don't have one yourself). Certain words that are known as
the "F", "S", "P", "C", "D" and "A" words, should simply not be used
when the clients are present. This, to me, is just common sense.
In most cases, you'll be dealing with clients
who have been to your website, read your stories, listened to your EVPs and
looked at your pictures. My guess is that these "potty mouth" words are not
plastered all over your site. So, they shouldn't be used when speaking to
or around the clients. It may not seem important, especially if the client
starts shooting out some zingers...but it is. My advice is to keep the language
at the "PG" rating.
Appearence
What? A dress code? Well, sort of. Ripped jeans
and an old T-shirt really should not be worn when investigating a private
residence or business. Shirts (and other clothing) that display profanity
and/or images that can be considered offensive should be saved for the hanging
out with the guys. Looking nice and neat makes a great impression.
The ideal situation is to have Team shirts made
up. At first, this may not be in the budget, since most of us do this for
free (therefor, there is no budget!). However, if everyone chips in, it doesn't
hit the wallet as hard. In most cases, the initial "start-up" fee is the
most expensive.
There is a cheaper way to get some team shirts
made up, that still looks good. Do them yourself! Blank T-shirts can be purchased
at just about any craft store (such as Micheal's). Fabric paint can also
be picked up at the same store. If you have someone with a little artistic
talent, put them to work! I did this with baseball caps for my team. They
look great and allow you to personalize each one. The baseball caps I did
for my P.I.R.A. members have our names on the back.
Attitude
Your overall attitude is extremely important.
When you find a place with a lot of activity, you're gonna want to come back.
If you go into the investigation with a bad attitude, then you might as well
kiss that opportunity "Goodbye". Clients should always be treated with respect,
as well as the property they own.
A bad attitude, in my experience, does two things.
The first is that it leaves a bad impression with the clients. People do
not invite grouchy investigators back into their home or business. The second
"thing" is the effect a bad attitude has on the investigation itself. I've
actually gone through an entire nigth at an extremely active site...with
nothing. Absolutely nothing happening. In my opinion, my bad "mood" was
responsible.
You should never make it seem like you're better
then them (the client) or even another group. Keep this in mind...No One
Is An Expert In This Field. If you start bashing or trash talking other
groups, or the owner's opinions, you simply make yourself look like an idiot.
You'll like twice the idiot if you make a bunch of mistakes throughout the
investigation.
Relationship
The relationship between you, your team and the
client is your lifeline to coming back and investigating again. This relationship
should be kept professional, no matter how friendly it becomes. Keeping a
good relationship involves all of the topics above. They all lead to a long,
productive relationship with your clients.
Many times, our clients have become our friends.
We visit for Bar-B-Ques, Plays, and Tours...but we always keep in mind that
these are the people who allow us to poke around their homes and businesses.
They allow us to photograph these places and ask a bunch of questions...questions
that would not ordinarily be answered by the clients. They trust us with
their ghostly secrets...when they'd rather keep the bumps in the night between
you and them.
So, what's this mean. This means that we should
always keep at least a small amount of professionalism between you and the
client. Whether you know them for a few days or for 30 years, always treat
them them as a friendly client!