The Pro Photo Business Forum

Each day we clean the studio. All the lights are put up, and the cords wound and put in their places. The cameras are placed in the safe. Our presentation room is cleaned.

This way, when our first session of the day comes in, we start fresh. The selected background is rolled out for just that client. The lights are put out for just that client. The camera is assembled for just that client.

It may not be the most efficient way of doing things, but for that customer, we are providing custom customer service.

Lucky you. You’ve received an inquiry about your wedding photography services. Nice!

You immediately reply back via email… only to be greeted by the sound of crickets. A day later you reply again, and still nothing. One more time? Sure. Why not.

At some point though, you’re going to draw the line and give up on that lead. You walk away scratching your head wondering where you went wrong.

But wait! Don’t through that lead away. Why not refer the lead to your friends? You do have friends in your area that shoot wedding also don’t you? Why not refer that lead to your friends? They may have better luck, and refer you back in turn.

You photograph a portrait session.  You sit down to review your work so they can make their selections.  The couple selects their favorite image, and leaves the rest.

“We really like all of them.  Can we just order this one for now and come back to you to order more?  How long will you hold our images for?”

Sound familiar?  Of course you make the sale of the one image, and you try to sell additional images, but there are times when it just doesn’t happen.

“I understand.  You would like to come back and order the other images you marked as your favorite at a later date.  Please understand, our policy is to only archive the images our clients order from.  There is no need for us to store images that no one wants.

Each week we continue to photograph more and more clients, and as we do we must make room on our server for those newly created images.  Out with the old, in with the new.  More than likely, at our current rate of production, we will have to remove your images in about xyz weeks time.  Would you like us to contact you a day or two before we have to remove your images from our server?”

“Yes.  Please please contact me.”

“Not a problem.  I would be happy to do so.  In fact, why don’t I go ahead and program an email to go out about four days before we anticipate having to remove your un-purchased portraits.  Would that be OK?”

On a bit of a different note.  Would you like a free eBook?

By Aric C. Hoek, owner and creator of Ten Houston Wedding Photographers

Many fledgling photographers out there often ask if they really need to have a blog, so I can only imagine what they would say to having a monthly newsletter. But the fact is, if you want to convert your past clients into repeat clients, then a newsletter is your first step.

Start your photography business out on the right foot. Add every client you have to your mailing list.

Here are some ideas of things you can put in your newslettert.

1. Offer a free family portrait session to the first ten people who contact you.
2. Show examples of an executive portrait you just completed.
3. Make a special on wedding album sales for people who did not purchase a wedding album.  Do you think you can sell a wedding album with a single email?  If you have a large mailing list, you may be able to sell more than one if you use the right language in your newsletter.
4. Create three annual family portrait specials, each in a different quarter.  Portraits in the park, beach, Mother’s Day.
5. Announce efforts you have done with a local charity.
6. Post an image from your last bridal, engagement, or family portrait session.  Talk about them in detail and educate people as to why it is a good image.
7. Create a photographic tour of your studio.
8. Have you acquired any new photographic equipment?

A newsletter reminds past clients that you are still out there.  While you may be extremely passionate about your photography and craft, the truth is they have already forgotten about you.  Your past clients are just as passionate about their own craft and have little time for anything else.  More than likely, they are not thinking about you.

Start a newsletter today.  Right now! I use Mail Chimp, and it’s FREE.

By the end of the day today, create a newsletter and contact your old clients and let them know you are thriving.  Provide links for them to refer you to their friends.  You’ll be pleasantly surprised what you can accomplish with a well constructed news letter.

You might even want to start a separate newsletter just to communicate with the other wedding vendors in your area.  Tell them about the continuing education you are doing.  Share vendor shots that you have recently taken.  Share links to entries in your blog that feature a certain vendor.

A newsletter can be a powerful tool, or, you can just go about your business trying to generate all new clients each and every month and forget about your past happy clients.

Your call.

By Aric C. Hoek, owner and creator of Ten Houston Wedding Photographers

This is really more of a production tip than a photography tip.

I have so many ways for people to chat or contact me. I can do one simple thing to help make sure I get the things done that I need to get done.

A few days a week, turn the chat off on Facebook, or anywhere else for that matter, and relieve yourself of one more distraction. You’ll be amazed how much more post editing you can get done.

While this seems really simple, it was about a year ago that I read this tip out there somewhere on the web and I followed the tip, and I am so glad that I did.

Today’s photography tip is about marketing, and helping your site go just a bit more viral in the world of Facebook. After all, we are a community about the business of photography.

Would you like to know how to add a Like button to your site as we have done on the top of this page? It’s really very simple. Follow this link, fill in the form, copy and paste the code onto your site.

Leave a comment on this post with a link back to your like button!

If you’re like me, you want to advance everything about your photographic life. To do this you need to come up with new and fresh ideas that will cause you and your business to grow. New ideas can be a hard thing to come by. However, part of what it means to be an entrepreneur is the ability to convert ideas into money in the bank account.

I have plenty of individual ideas of how to move my business forward, but what is more important is how I come up with these ideas.

Ready? This works for me, but please take it with a grain of salt.

First, I imagine something that I want. Something that will change my lifestyle. A new camera is nice, but not large enough a goal for this exercise. I try to think of something that is out of my current capabilities of obtaining. To make this example easy, lets think of a larger home than you currently have.

Imagine your dream home. Don’t covet someone else’s home. Imagine your dream home. Imagine it in every detail.

Next…. put a monetary value on that home. Something truly obtainable for you personally. This value will of course change depending on where you live, but the point is that this dream home should be outside your current means, but also feel obtainable for you personally.

Now… Imagine you are living in the home now. You have somehow made it there! Now… to get new ideas on how to increase your business, think of how are you going to continue living in this home as a professional photographer. Will you just shoot more images? How will you maintain this level of income and new lifestyle with your photography?

I am not asking how you are going to achieve this home, but how are you going to change your current photographic business to continue living there? What actions are you gong to take? You don’t want to lose your dream home do you?

Have any ideas? Are you going to open a second location? Are you going to have more photographers working for you?

If you’re a member of the Pro Photo Business Forum, you are gong to be happy, as we have opened up a new section today called “Taking It To The Next Level!” This section is a place for new ideas on how to set your studio apart from the pack. Over time, I think this section of the forum will become very valuable for the PPBF membership as it gets filled with valuable ideas.

Join the Pro Photo Business Forum now.

By Aric C. Hoek, owner and creator of Ten Houston Wedding Photographers

Without a doubt, photography is a luxury product when it comes to wedding and portrait photography. This fact is unfortnately only magnified in a recession. So, we need to do things that will help maintain cash flow.

For those of you who sell the DVD from your sessions, here’s a simple and effective idea.

“I am so glad to hear that you love all the images from your session. You know, you have the option of purchasing a DVD of your portrait session for $xxx with files large enough to print 8x10s and smaller. And, as an added bonus, all portrait orders placed after the purchase of your DVD will be 50% off.”

Giving you clients this kind of value is an interesting approach. What is your goal for an average sale from a portrait session? Price your DVD at this price.

The client receives all their images, with the value of being able to make reproductions on their own, and you have stimulated the possibility of making additional portrait sales with the 50% off bonus offer.

There are three basic habits that you must do every day to maintain your cash flow.

1. Return all inquiries the day they come in.  Try to do this within two hours.
2. Return all phone messages.
3. Confirm all appointments for the next day.

Fail to do these simple things, and watch your cash flow have a hick-up. Complete these simple tasks daily, and watch magical opportunity fall at your feet.

Today’s tip is right out of my eBook “Actions You Can Take To Promote and Protect Your Studio“.

Format all of your compact flash cards before you leave your studio for a wedding.

Imagine you are photographing a wedding and it is late in the evening. You realize that the card you are shooting on is now full and needs to be switched out with another card. So you reach into your camera bag and pull out another Compact Flash card. You check to see if there are any images on the card, only to find the card is filled with images that you shot yesterday during a family portrait session. You know you have downloaded the family portraits already, and it is safe to erase them. You erase the card to make room for the images you are about to shoot.

It turns out, that you actually used that card for both the family portrait session AND earlier in the evening during the ceremony. Because you didn’t look through all the images on the card, you didn’t see the images you took earlier that evening. You just erased hundreds of images from your client’s wedding!

Make sure all of the memory cards you take to a wedding have been formatted before you leave for your wedding.

Add it to your checklist. Never erase a memory card at a wedding.

By Aric C. Hoek, owner and creator of Ten Houston Wedding Photographers