How often are you keeping in touch with your former clients? At all?

How many of your clients so far this year were repeat customers?  Do you really know?  Do you have a system setup to track this?  The easiest clients to book and sell to are former ones.  When is the last time you contacted them directly and personally?

I have found an amazing system to easily and inexpensively accomplish this.  if they’re a former wedding client, you can send them an Anniversary Card.  If you photograph their children, you can send each one a Birthday Card.

And they receive an actual card in their MAILBOX!

Here’s what I’ve found and you can try it once for FREE!

Click on this LINK, watch the 3 minute video and send one FREE personalized greeting card to a former client or just someone you care about.

There are lots to choose from, you can personalize them (even with a picture) and it’s fast and inexpensive!

Next time:  Always give your clients a REASON to buy more….

To contact me directly and for more information about Profitable Products for the Professional Photographer, please visit www.prismphoto.cc -TED

If something isn’t working – do the opposite!

If you keep doing the same thing over and over, you can’t expect different results.  If it’s working, keep doing it; but if your images aren’t selling, your marketing not producing significant results, it’s time to try something new.

Here are some examples:

Like most wedding photographers, I would pose the Bride and Groom at the altar after the ceremony for the “traditional” pose,  adjust the Bride’s train, etc.  One time when I had finished the final adjustments and was heading back to my camera in the aisle, I saw the beautiful stained glass and pipe organ in the Church’s balcony at the back of the church.  So I repositioned the Bride & Groom in the middle of the aisle and put myself up on the altar and created a magnificent image by turning everything around!

When you go to a bridal show and look around, you’ll see all of the large portraits that the other photographers are displaying.  My dear friend, Michele Celentano, taught me to display collage type frames with smaller images.  This almost “forces” people to come closer to your booth, at which point you can engage in conversation and have them look at your albums, which is really why you’re there, right?

Here’s a big one.  Are you tracking statistics of each of your customers?  Do you know specifically how they came to you?  If it’s from a print ad, do you know which one?  How many weddings do you need to book to make a bridal show worthwhile?  Are you doig 6 weddings to break even on the 3 you boooked from the show?  This is where you truly NEED to do a 180 and start keeping accurate records.  You’re probably wasting a lot of money and time that could be better spent on the methods that are truly bringing in customers.  It may be networking with reception managers, taking them to lunch and bringing them small gifts from time to time.  Or it may be by enhancing your social networking. 

So if you’re in a rut, analyze what you’re doing and try a different approach.

Next time: How often are you keeping in touch with your former customers?  At all?

To contact me directly and for more information about Profitable Products for the Professional Photographer, please visit www.prismphoto.cc -TED

I’m not comfortable selling

Do you love creating beautiful images but aren’t comfortable selling them to your clients?  Are you offended when they don’t like your work?  Do you take criticism personally?

You are not alone.  Most photographers would love to only take pictures and not be concerned with marketing, selling and accounting.  The misconception is that it’s too expensive to hire someone to do this work for them, but that’s not necessarily true, especially with sales people.

You can increase your sales and profitiblity and get your life back.  It’s easy to get started and the risk is minimal.  Because you want to make the final sale of your images once, it’s best to meet in the evening when working people are available and not rushed.  This is also a time when many people who are looking for part-time work are also available as their own spouses can watch their children, etc.  There are many skilled people who would love a position like this.  You can pay them a flat fee per appointment, BUT it’s important that they receive a commission on the sale.  It’s your choice how you structure it.  It can be graduated, so the more (above the original) order they sell, the greater percentage they receive.  To help this along, you’ll need to make sure you have lots of “pristine” product samples of products.  While prints are typically your largest money maker, you can make plenty of extra cash with frames, albums, novelties, etc.

 Not only will you see your sales increase, you won’t be meeting with people in the evenings! 

Next time: If something isn’t working – do the opposite!

To contact me directly and for more information about Profitable Products for the Professional Photographer, please visit www.prismphoto.cc -TED

Frame EVERY Wall Portrait!

Are you delivering your wall portraits taped to a piece of cardboard from your lab in a poly bag?  Is your client telling you they’re going to have it framed at a local craft store?  We all know that most of these portraits are never framed and are stored behind their couch -OUCH!

Wouldn’t you like to deliver that portrait in a beautiful frame and profit from it?  Here’s a system that a number of studios have been extremely successful with:

Find a basic, inexpensive, neutral frame and include it with every wall portrait.  Purchase the frames in your most poplular sizes so you have some on hand, but limit it to one style and one color ONLY.  You should be able to find a frame for a 16×20 for around $15.00.  Depending on your current margin on a wall portrait, you may want to increase the price of the portrait by $20, but the frame is INCLUDED in the portrait price.

Here’s the good part – offer your clients a substantial credit to upgrade their frame.  This can either be a dollar credit or a percentage off the price of the nicer frame.  Have frame and mat samples so you can show what you’re selling.  You can even have your Pro-Lab do the framing as many of them offer this service.  So when you order the print, you order the frame at the same time and it’s really no additional work for you!

Another selling point is that you can guarantee the mounting of the print as your Pro-Lab will do the mounting for you when they make the print and they will make sure you receive a perfectly mounted print.  If your client has it framed at their local craft store, you cannot be responsible for damage in mounting.

Please contact me for further details anytime.

Next time: I’m not comfortable selling

To contact me directly and for more information about Profitable Products for the Professional Photographer, please visit www.prismphoto.cc -TED

How to guarantee your portrait clients return annually!

Do you ever wonder what happens to those wonderful clients with great orders who never come back?  We all like to think that they found a less expensive photographer, but is that the real reason?  Did they see an ad from another photographer that intrigued them?  Did they see another photographer’s work in a friend’s home?  Regardless of the reason, how can you keep these great clients coming back year after year?  Answer: entice them with an “Heirloom Plan”. 

The basic premise is an album with a portrait of their child, children or family each year for 5, 8, 10 or more years (depending on the age of the children when you start).   Your client “pre-purchases” an album and one session per year for the term of the program.  It needs to be very reasonably priced; but remember, you’re guaranteed a session each year! You can sell them a plan for their children together, or for each child or for their family. 

Another benefit to your client, include a discount on additional purchases off your regular price list AND, as an added incentive, a discount if they place their order and pay for it at the time of the first viewing.

Questions?  Contact me through my website below anytime -I’m always glad to help! 

Next time: Frame EVERY wall portrait! 

To contact me directly and for more information about Profitable Products for the Professional Photographer, please visit www.prismphoto.cc -TED

 

New, qualified portrait clients for under $5.00 – tried and proven method!

Tired of spending advertising dollars with no results?  Are the clients you do bring in not spending?  Have you divided the dollars you spent on your recent campaign by the number of clients you actually brought in?

Here’s a system that brought us as many as 85 new portrait clients per year who really spent.

Seek out pre-schools and charities in your area and contact them to find out when their annual fund raiser is held.  They all have them and almost always have an auction.  Offer to dontate a session AND a gift size portrait.  It’s important that your donation be complete, so just a discount OR a session without a portrait is generally frowned upon.  You make your money on the upsell which, for us, averaged very well.  We only had about one recipient per year who made no additional purchase.  Here’s WHY it works:

• The recipient is happy to donate to the school or charity because it’s a wothwhile cause
• Your new client is someone who has enough money to give it away!
• If they never claim their “prize”, it costs you NOTHING!

If you have more questions or would like more detail, please contact me through my website at www.prismphoto.cc and I’m happy to help -always!

Next time: How to guaranteed your portrait clients return annually!

To contact me directly and for more information about Profitable Products for the Professional Photographer, please visit www.prismphoto.cc -TED

 

How to WOW your clients inexpensively!

What is your client’s reaction when they pick up their order from you?  If it’s a complete set of 4×6 photographs, do you hand it to them in a paper bag?  If it’s a DVD, are you presenting it in a paper sleeve so it looks like the backup of their previous year’s tax return?  If it’s an album, is it in the same packaging they would receive from an online printing service?

If you want it to look precious, the presentation needs to be precious too.  We all know that when you present your client with a DVD, it’s what’s on the DVD that’s valuable and NOT the DVD, but you can make it look like it’s worth what you’re charging before they take it home and view it.  Here are a few examples of ways to enhance your presentation:

These exquisite photo boxes can be purchased for as low as $24.95 each(w/shipping) and hold 150, 300 or 450 4×6 or 5×7 photos.  There’s even a box that holds photos AND discs.  When you present you client with their photos, they’ll surely say “WOW”!

Make your CD’s or DVD’s look precious with these upholstered folios with matching cases.  They available for only $17.95 each (w/shipping) and your clients won’t be able to wait to go home and view their images and/or video.  What’s more, their guests will be intrigued by this presentation and will want to know which photographer or videographer cares enough to offer such a unique presentation.

An upholstered album case will ensure that your client will display their cherished wedding album for everyone to view.  You can keep them in stock and insert your own photo in seconds.  This beautiful, acrylic cover album case is available for $43.95 (w/shipping) and available for 10×10, 12×12 and 11×14 albums.  There are also upholstered album cases without a cover photo available in 8×8, 8×10, 10×10, 12×12 and 11×14 for as little as $24.50 (w/shipping).

 

For very little additional cost, you can increase the perceived value of your products and “WOW” your clients.

Next time: New, qualified portrait clients for under $5.00 – tried and proven method!

To contact me directly and for more information about Profitable Products for the Professional Photographer, please visit www.prismphoto.cc -TED