Stop Putting A Gag Order On Your Sales! - Part 2

Good Morning Everybody,

We landed safe and sound in Baltimore yesterday and were warmly welcomed by a nice crowd of almost 200 enthusiastic photogs. Today we head down the road to Washington, D.C. to another large crowd. We are out bright and early tomorrow so look for the Friday post a little later in the day.

On another note, we finally booked the Columbia, South Carolina hotel – the Radisson Hotel and Resort on Bush River Road. For all those registered and those who want to register for the November 4, 2009 presentation of my Digital WakeUp Call tour can find all the hotel info right here. Hope to see you there.

And one last note, we have about 1 space in my Digital Master Class coming up October 26, 2009.  Remember, it’s an all new format with a big emphasis on you DOING THE SHOOTING in small groups with my “coaches” help you to obtain the best shot.  It should be fun.  All the Master Class info can be found right here.  Give Jennifer a call at 800-292-2994 to register.

OK gang, time to get on with today’s post.  Here we go.

Stop Putting A Gag Order On Your Sales! - Part 2

Last week I wanted to start a discussion on what’s wrong with wedding averages these days. Like I said, wedding averages are at an all time low in our profession.  Anybody with a camera is shooting weddings – or so it seems.

Sure, it’s a kick to get out there and shoot – we all love the chasing that great image.  But, you know, if you are going to make a living at it, you better be able to sell it.

OK, I hear you out there saying, “Well, I put my images on line for my clients to pick them out, but they never make a sizable selection of images.”  Heck folks, that’s the common denominator for most wedding shooters that continue to put the images on line, spin the wheel of misfortune, and hope for a good order.

The fact of the matter, lots of photogs were doing that same kind of thing back in the film days.  Back then, most photographers passed a set of proofs to their clients and hoped, and wished, and waited and waited for a big order.

Here’s the deal gang – READ MY LIPS!!!

Unless you are pro-actively involved with your client during the selection process, EXPECT YOUR SALE TO GO NOWARE!!!

How in the world can we expect a big sale or any kind of reasonable sale for that matter, if we can’t share with our customers what we were seeing in our mind’s eye and feeling in our soul when we took the pictures.  If we can’t communicate our thoughts and feeling to our clients, how in the world can they be expected to know how to tell their wedding story with the images we created for them?

With our images just sitting up on line wanting for the client to pick their favorites, we are literally putting a “gag order” on our sales.

You know, we all work pretty darn hard shooting a wedding. So, why is it that when we present our images to our clients, images that we were really excited to create for them, that we fail to communicate our sense of excitement for those images to them?

As long as we languish in this “sales killing” way of thinking, our sales will NEVER go anywhere. We’ve got to meet and work with the client, share with them what we were trying to capture for them on their wedding day, describe how so many of the great story telling images can come together in a wonderful and beautiful album.

Once again, let me say – we have to pro-actively be involved with our client if we really want the sale to grow.

I‘m still fired up about this, so let me calm down a bit, wipe my brow, relax for a minute or two ;~) And, plan to pick it up again next week  with more solid sales strategies for you.

Sales Contest Still Going On

Hey everybody, just one more reminder – This is the last week for the contest we’ve got going.  Three weeks ago I posted “Sales – Nudging It Up A Notch.” Here is the link. The topic discussed how we could incrementally raise the sale on the same product. 

Remember that the “sales nudge” is on the same product. You’ve still got time to post your ideas. I’m going to let the contest run one more week and then pick the winner – don’t miss out!

Time to pack our bags and head to Washington, D.C.  I checked the attendance list for tomorrow and still don’t see President Obama on it anywhere, but who knows, he may still show up;~)

See ya’ tonight in D.C and then later tomorrow from home-sweet-home. Adios gang, -David