5 Tips to Increase Your In-Person Sales Averages with Sal Cincotta
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When we talk about the world of professional photography, it’s pretty sad to think that some of the most creative people make less than a Starbucks barista. Don’t get me wrong, I love me some Starbucks, but we are artists. We are documenting the memories of our clients. Don’t we deserve more? Well, here is the thing. You don’t deserve shit. Sorry. Time for us to come to the understanding that in the real world—you know, the one we all actually live in, the one where your parents aren’t there to argue with your teachers for a better grade and give you a hug when things don’t go your way—you don’t deserve anything.
If you want success and more money, you have to go out there and get it. Work hard. Fail. Pick yourself up and try again. So, to that point, in the world of sales, you are not going to be successful if you don’t implement strategies to ensure your success. Below are tips to help you get more out of your sales and make more money immediately.
Offer high-end products.
Photographers around the world have convinced themselves that clients don’t want physical products. Nothing could be further from the truth. Clients want to show off their images in their homes on their walls. We know this because we see companies like Sam’s Club, Wal-Mart, Snapfish and ShutterFly making billions in photography-related product sales. Those are our images they are using to make money. So, clients want these products—they just don’t want them from you.
This challenge can easily be overcome if you find a way to stand out. Clients are not willing to overpay for a product they know they can get for a fraction of the cost at their local box store. Our studio offers high-end products that clients see the value in.
Below is a custom product we created.
Show it to them.
There is no point in having a sales process that doesn’t show your clients the actual product you are trying to sell them. It is mindboggling to me when I see a business owner not show the product. I don’t know too many other businesses that can survive that way. Can you imagine buying a TV without seeing the picture? Why do photographers think they are going to sell their clients a $500 product if they don’t show them what it will look and feel like? We have to show them the quality of the product. They are paying for this quality.
Make the investment in sample products. When they see and feel them, they’ll know immediately whether or not they want to buy them. They will either like them or not, and you adjust your offerings based on what the clients spend their money on. If all you offer is digital products, you will never sell products, and your sales potential will be reduced to almost nothing.
Stay current.
One of our jobs is to keep up with trends to ensure we are offering our clients the products and services they want. This is very important to understand. I am not suggesting we change our business every day with the wind of change, but I am suggesting we look at the current consumer demands and behavior to determine our strategy. I look at this once a year.
Trends pertain to both products and services. Do you remember when photo booths were all the rage? All of a sudden, every photographer on the planet was scrambling to offer photo booth services—myself included. Brides were inundating us with requests for booths. After turning down several of these requests, I realized there was a lot of opportunity here and that I should probably add this to my services. We did, and made thousands in extra revenue from events we were already working.
Trends come and go. Just as quickly, the photo booth craze subsided and we stopped offering it. We paid attention to trends in the marketplace. This applies to both services and products you offer your clients.
Take advantage of online sales.
The sale doesn’t end in your studio. There is gold in them thar hills. And the hills are the world of the Internet. If you are not using online galleries, you are missing out on huge sales and marketing opportunities. Your clients will share these images with friends and family who will either want to buy products or remember you when they need a photographer themselves.
We use N-Vu.com for our online hosting. No commissions. No upload limits. This gives us the opportunity to sell even more to our clients and their networks.
Don’t just post online. Offer discounts or a 48-hour sale to get friends and family members to make purchases. Sure, they are probably not going to buy a 20×30 canvases, but what about 8x10s or other gift prints? We don’t get $2,000 sales online, but we see an additional $200 to $500 from each event we post just from ancillary sales. Every sale makes a difference to the bottom line.
Relaunch your galleries.
What are you doing with your clients’ images after your initial sales meeting? Most photographers I know do nothing. Talk about lost opportunity. Up until recently, we were in the same boat. We use N-Vu’s Re-Vu feature, which is a reactivation service. It automatically relaunches your client galleries on a predetermined date. This can be a wedding anniversary, Christmas, Mother’s Day, you get the idea.
This was groundbreaking for us. Think about it. Christmas rolls around, and every client who logged in to the gallery gets an email from you saying the gallery has been reactivated and there is a 48-hour sale. You can create a sales email that goes out encouraging them to use the gallery for Christmas presents for the wedding couple or the family. You make money by doing nothing. This is brilliant.
I hope these tips help your sales process. They’ve certainly helped ours. I am always evaluating what is working and what is not. What do you have to lose? Try them now, and make 2017 your year.
Want more information on this article? Get access to video content and additional supporting images. Launch the February issue of the magazine by logging in or signing up for a free account by clicking here. Shutter Magazine is the industry’s leading professional photography magazine.
