Business Day Thursday: Sales Success Secrets – The New Series: #2 – Show Them What They Want!

Good Morning Everybody,

I've got a brand-new Business Day Thursday coming your way that I think you're thoroughly enjoy. Last week I started my new Sales Success Secrets series and posted a great marketing idea by my good friends and outstanding portrait photographer, Greg Daniels and his wife Lesa. You can check out last week’s post entitled “Market Styles, Not Specialties!” right here.

In preparing that post I had a chance to really survey Greg's website. Not only are Greg’s image galleries beautiful but one of the links on his site must be indispensable for him in building the success that he enjoys. That link entitled “In Homes” shows his framed portraits hanging in his client’s homes. The beauty of having these “portrait installs” shown on his website is that it builds anticipation for his current clients and gives them a very clear idea of how to use his portraits in their own homes.

Portrait One:

Take a look at our first photograph below. It's a beautiful portrait of a young girl hanging above the fireplace in the clients home.

As he can see, this is a very nice home. But, this is type of clientele that Greg markets to. So, when he shows a photograph in this home setting he clearly intuits to his current and future clients that they should do the same thing with their portraits.

Portrait Two:

I love the presentation of this second portrait. My guess would be that the size of this portrait is 60 inches tall by 24 inches wide – a very large piece of wall decor.

Look how beautifully it fits the space. In Greg’s portrait session he consults with each of his clients as to where the final portrait will be hung. That way he's easily able to make recommendations with this client about size and frame color.

Portrait Three:

This next image shows a smaller portrait, I'm guessing 24” x 36" hanging in a different part of the home where the wall space was much smaller. The placement of the portrait in this space still insures the client’s enjoyment of this image.

It appears to be in a heavily traveled part of the home where all the family members can enjoy it every time they pass.

Portrait Four:

This next image again shows a special wall treatment for this family portrait. I particularly like the piece of wall decor hanging above the portrait.  It seems to help round out the space on the wall. As you can see, portraits can be hung anywhere in the home but it takes careful planning with your client to be sure that the size of the portrait and the placement of the portrait in the home all work together.

I think it’s clear from these images that Greg and Lesa really have their act together when it comes to making those kinds of suggestions to their clients.

Portrait Series:

As you continue to explore Greg's images on his website notice to that he's not just trying to anticipate the wall portrait sale. He's also showing his clients many other options that they have with their photography. I love this next series of six images beautifully displayed on the wall next to the grand piano.

The secret to Greg's hefty portrait sales lies in the fact that he builds anticipation for the client by showing them just how images of their family and children to be displayed in their home.

Wall Portraits Are More Important and Impressive On A Client’s Wall Than On Facebook

I've always said to my clients. Even if one had purchased a completely new set of living room furniture, the first thing anyone would notice when they walked into that new living room would be the magnificent wall portrait hanging in that room.  They always agree and it’s always the case.

So, the take away from today's post is that you need to show your client’s what options they have.  Don't just show them a few sample photographs and frames. Show your prospective clients how your past clients have enhanced their homes with your beautiful works of art. We need to constantly build that client expectation!

Isn't that essentially what happens when we shop a furniture store? The room settings are always impeccably displayed. That’s to give us, the buyer, an idea of how we might bring those piece into our own home. That's exactly what Greg has done with his “In-Homes” tab [link] on his website. He has clearly made the point for his clients as to how beautiful and exciting portraits can look hanging in their home. I think it behooves each and everyone of us to create a page like Greg's on our site to give our client’s an idea of what we can do for them as well.

I sure hope you enjoyed today's post. I thought there was some tremendous ideas to be learned from Greg's website. I'll hope you'll go back and explore his site again, not just to enjoy this beautiful photography but, to also see how well he presents his photography for his clients and builds anticipation in them.

_________________________________________________________________

Hey gang, that's it for me today. We got a busy week so I get back to work.

See you soon, David

Sales Success Secrets – The New Series: #1 – Market Styles, Not Specialties!

Good Morning Everybody,

LaDawn and I were recently honored with an invitation to attend the Camera Craftsmen [link] annual meeting this year held in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico. Camera Craftsman is a small group of some of the best photographers in the country. It is also one of the oldest and longest organized associations as well. Most of the members have been not only my friends but also my mentors for many years. I was really looking forward to spending some time with them.

The group has been holding these annual meetings for over 100 years during which the members share together any number of ideas from photographic inspiration to marketing success. Each of the 50 or so  attendees take about 15 to 20 minutes to make their presentation to the rest of the group. You get the idea that there is some fabulous learning going on for all present during the three days of the conference.

I took notes on just about everybody's presentation but, one marketing presentation really stood out for me. The presentation was given by my good friend Greg Daniels [link] who hails from Titusville, Florida. Greg is one of the finest portrait photographers in the country and just a few years ago received one of the highest photographic honors for his fabulous photography. He was awarded the ASP Fellowship [link].

Greg is not only a fine photographer but he and his wife Lesa also run one of the most successful high-end portrait studios in the country. Their portrait photography is astoundingly beautiful. You can check it out for yourself at their website right here. But, let's get on with the reason for my post today.

Market Styles, Not Specialties!

How many times have you heard or seen photographers running their seasonal specials? I know photographers who run baby specials, high school senior specials, families portrait specials, etc.  This seems like it would be the right thing to do at first glance. Heck, it’s what we learned in photo seminars for decades! And many photographers continue to think it is the right way to achieve marketing success in their business of photography.  Me included till I heard Greg’s wise words of advice a few weeks ago.

Greg pointed up the one glaring fallacy of that assumption. He said that if we are going to market just for baby portraits we eliminate all of our other clients that might be looking for something other than baby portraits during the seasonal special. Greg's point was that we should never limit our client base during any of our seasonal promotions!

Greg suggested that during our seasonal promotions we should be selling styles instead of specialties. He suggested that by marketing styles we reach our entire target market every time we run a promotion. His idea hit me like a bombshell. He cannot be more on target with his advice.

All these years I've been attending seminars learning how to run baby specials or high school senior specials. Greg Daniels hit the nail on the head and clearly pointed out that all of us have been severely limiting our marketing possibilities and our sales potentials by limiting our target audience!

Greg defines his styles in three separate categories: Today’s Classics Environmental, and Fine Art. When he runs a seasonal promotions he features one of those three styles. In doing so he can reach his entire target audience with each and every one of the promotions. He's not limiting his audience in any way by offering, say a baby special for the month of June. By offering his environmental style promotion during the month of June he can reach his entire client base – a much smarter way to promote than the way most of us have been accustomed to marketing in the past.

The more I thought about it, it was like a breath of fresh air when it came to marketing photography. Why shouldn’t we try to reach out to our entire client base every time we market instead of just a limited segment of our client base? I think Greg hit the nail on the head with how he decided to transform his marketing strategy for his studio.  His sales success has certainly proved his point.

So, How Are You Going To Make That Happen In Your Own Studio?

I suggest that you sit down with your friends, staff, fellow photographers and brainstorm some of the different styles that your studio could offer. Heck, don't want to spend the time doing that? Then just copy what Greg Daniels is doing in Titusville, Florida. Like they say, why reinvent the wheel?  All kidding aside, I’m sure you could come up with your own styles that fit you and your studio’s “personality.” It’s important with any new marketing strategy that you get  started NOW!

Greg’s presentation offered a great insight into how each and every one of us can be much more successful in our own studios. High-fives to my good friend Greg Daniels for one of the best marketing tips I've heard in years!  I also recommend that you be sure to check out Greg Daniels website right here to get a better idea of how he is defining and differentiating his styles and also how he presentations has worked with his clients. Greg’s work is gorgeous and you won’t be disappointed by spending a few minutes hanging out there and viewing his galleries.

_____________________________________________________________________________

Hey gang, that's it for me today. I hope you enjoyed the post and I certainly hope it brings you some margin of success in your own business. On that note, I'm out here.

Everybody have a great weekend and I'll see you soon.

Adios, David

Business Day Thursday: How NOT To Conduct A Sales Presentation

Good Morning Everybody,

Hope things are good in your part of the world – life is good at the tip of the Baja. And to celebrate how about I offer up my Business Day Thursday post from the land of sand and sun ;~)   Here we go.

Business Day Thursday:  How NOT To Conduct A Sales Presentation

I mentioned yesterday that we actually enjoy taking the “timeshare” presentations during our travels.  They offer a wealth of knowledge for any student of sales. And, to be successful in any walk of life and especially in running a photography studio, you better be a successful sales person.  Remember one of the most important things about sales:  Sales is not a dirty word! Sales is finding out what the customer wants and helping them get it.  It should be the center of any business.  It’s a customer service centered approach.  Professional sales people are looking for a WIN-WIN situation as should we as studio owners.

That brings us to today’s topic, How NOT To Conduct A Sales Presentation.  A sales presentation should be composed of six sections. 

You’ve Got To….

1. Be inviting, pleasant, congenial, and always hospitable to your prospective customer.

2. Be interested in you client, get to know them.  Any good sales person will tell you that before a customer can be interested in you, you’ve first got to be genuinely interested in them.  The sale should truly not proceed till there is a level of trust between the sales person and the client.

3. Provide a compelling offer to you’re perspective client.  Hey, everyone is looking for a deal these days.  The more compelling the offer, the better chance of closing the sale.

DAZNOTE: It’s equally important that YOU KNOW that your product is the best you have to offer.  It you don’t have confidence in your product, change products or change jobs, or find someone that does believe to conduct your sales for you.

4. Be prepared for the objections, especially the hidden objections.  Objections are part of the sales process and should not deter you from the process.  The best way to handle an objection is to raise that objection before the client raises it.  Good sales people know what the common objections are and simply bring those objections into the conversation or to light early on, and simply answer them for the client. 

Also look for the hidden objections.  Hidden objections are the real reason a client doesn’t purchase.  Once you can discern what that hidden objection is, you can then answer that objection and move on with the sales process.  Remember, we are trying to find out what the client wants and provide a way to help them obtain easily what they want.

5. Make the CLOSE.  If you’ve built client trust, made a compelling offer of your terrific product(s), and answered all the client’s objections, the sale should follow easily with a satisfactory outcome for the salesperson and the client.  Said another way – everybody leaves happy!

6. AND THE MOST IMPORTANT RULE OF ALL:  NEVER “P..S OOF” YOUR POTENTIAL CLIENT!!!

Some sales people just don’t get that essential rule.  When objections or concerns are raised they totally lose respect for their customer/client. Too often they don’t listen to the client and have only a “canned” presentation.  They figure that they have nothing to lose so why not go for the jugular to try to make the sale. This is such a “brain dead” sales approach to me.  I’ve said it a million times, NEVER, EVER get into an adversarial relationship with a client!

The NIGHTMARE at the Solmar Resort Presentation

Before I proceed, let me say that the Solmar Resort in just beautiful.  The suites are spacious and well appointed and the facilities are truly first class.  It’s the "timeshare” department I take exception.  

Our tour began well enough with a tour of the property and suites – as I said, all very beautiful.  Our host and hostess were pleasant and hospitable.  After the tour we proceeded to the sales room to hear about the offer(s).  Only about 5 minutes into the presentation, we were handed off to the “real” sales rep – let’s call him the “closer”.  After the hand off things started to go south.  The salesperson did not listen to our vacation desires but droned on about golf, which we are not interested, he talked on and on about fishing opportunities in this area, another subject that holds little interest to LaDawn or I.

Unfortunately, the presentation went from bad to worse as we told him his offer was not the least bit compelling – $240,000 for 2 weeks in Cabo – what was that guy “smoking”?  It was just crazy and every time we said we weren’t interested he continued to ramp up the pressure. He had already exceeded his promised 90 minute time-line by 30 minutes and we simply asked that we end the presentation. Instead he continued on and on. 

It ended with him literally insulting us because I called him out on a few of his misinformed facts which I could easily verify. He even threatened us with writing us up to his manager – WHAT???   He’s writing US up?  For what? I don’t think so. 

We were invited guests to this presentation, we certainly didn’t walk up on our own. After I assertively asked a few times to see his manager, Jason, the manager, appeared and I explained what just happened during our presentation in detail.  Professionals just don’t conduct themselves that way. 

We received the obligatory apology and left the build with the worst taste ever of our many timeshare experiences.  Avoid the Solmar Resort “timeshare” presentation at all costs if you are in fact in Cabo – you’ll be put under extreme pressure to buy and it’s a waste of your time.  The entire presentation was a perfect example of how to NOT conduct a sales presentation.  But, please read on…

Doing It Right At Cabo Villas Resort

Yesterday we were invited to another presentation at Cabo Villas Resort. Juanito was congenial when he picked us up from our hotel. During our ride to Cabo Villas I conveyed our earlier experience and he was appalled.  He assured us that we would enjoy our presentation at Cabo Villa Resorts.

After arriving at the resort and going through a short meeting with the receptionist, we were introduced to Vince, a really nice guy originally from Toronto.  He met the love of his life in Cabo about 7 years ago and decided to stay.  Over the next hour we took the tour of this beautiful resort.  LaDawn and I were both very impressed with the room décor of this property.

Vince, LaDawn and I enjoyed the our conversations, getting to know each other and we all knew as the clock was ticking away the time to hear the offer.  Vince in the most thorough and professional manner possible laid out how the plan worked. He laid it out simply and clearly and answered all our questions.

Next we moved on to our main objections – the barrage of AMEX bills just coming in from our trip to Europe.  We just were not comfortable at this time to make a further financial commitment for a few more weeks of vacation time.  Vince and his manager, Mitch made one last offer for less money and for less time, and it was much closer to what we might have accepted if the timing was better.

Vince and Mitch knew they made their best offer, they offered a great product, but the timing was not right for us and both of them respected that.  Respect being the operative word when it comes to being a good sales person.

Stop By Cabo Villas and Ask For Vince

That right, I give Cabo Villas a big “thumbs up” for the level of professionalism they exhibited during our presentation.  Their entire team from bottom to top was first class.  It was truly a pleasure to meet all of them. They closed the presentation with several gifts and a FREE return visit to their property for a future 4 day-3 night stay!

There’s a t-shirt you can purchase in Cabo that reads, “I survived the Grand Mayan timeshare presentation.”  It’s sometimes true, but our experience has been mostly positive and we have purchased several timeshares through-out the years.  But in closing, let me say that Cabo Villas gets it right and I invite you to stop on by and visit Vince and his associates.  The fit may be just right for you.

______________________________________________________________

Hey gang, that’s it for me today.  I’ve got a pretty cool post planned for tomorrow, so please plan to stop back.  I think you’ll enjoy it.

Adios everybody,

David

Business Day Thursday: Have You Got The Right Person Selling Your Photography?

Good Morning Everybody,

Today is a pretty special day for me. My daughter, Elizabeth, in flying in from New York  to spend the weekend with LaDawn and I.  With her being in New York these last several years it's been seldom that she's had a chance to travel back home other than the occasional Christmas holiday.

About a month ago I suggested that she come on back into town, hang out with LaDawn and I, and we do some of the things we did when she was a kid - call it a nostalgic weekend visit. We’re going to be heading to Skyline Chili, Greater’s ice cream parlor, to Kings Island to ride the monster roller coasters, and even visiting the world-famous Cincinnati Zoo.

It's quite special when a dad gets a chance to do something like this with his daughter and I’ve been looking forward to it for over a month. It should be fun.

So, without any further ado let's get on with today's Business Day Thursday.

Business Day Thursday: Have You Got The Right Person Selling Your Photography?

I recently received some e-mail notices about a discussion going on over at Facebook. The main question under discussion was, “Who was the best person to sell your photography? Would it be the photographer, a staff person, or someone else?” What I like to do in today's discussion is to offer my opinions and my experience on that same topic.

The importance of this post is this: Anyone wanting to be successful in any line of work better be able to sell the product that they're trying to sell. In our case it's photography.

The Photographer Should Be The Salesperson Too?

One of the most notable commenters on the Facebook discussion is an extremely  renowned photographer from the Washington D.C. area. I do want to mention any names other than to say that I respected this photographer for many years and he runs a very successful,  very high grossing studio in that part of the country.

His point was that the most important person to be selling the photography needed to be the person behind the camera making the gorgeous images for the clients. His claim that there was an emotional connect between the photographer and the client and that he, the photographer, could easily share what he saw in his mind’s eye and what he felt in his heart as he was capturing the photographs for his clients. He posted that this emotional connect with the client and his emotional connect with the photographs would allow him to make the most thorough and successful presentation to his clients.

I have to say that I totally agree with his assessment of the situation. It's exactly how we've been doing things at my studio for over 30 years. As a wedding photographer I need to be able to share, as I said above, what I was seeing in my mind’s eye what I was feeling in my heart as I was photographing all those memorable moments for my clients. If I can bring my excitement, my enthusiasm, my passion to the presentation, I think the sale will be much more successful than someone much less enthusiastic about the photography and less connected to the clients.

But, What About The Photographer That Doesn't See Themselves As A Salesperson?

As I’ve traveled these many years talking to tens of thousands of photographers around the United States and the rest of the world, I hear many times about how the photographer does not see themselves as a salesperson and finds it extremely difficult in presenting (selling) their images to the client.

So, let's assume that you’re a great photographer and a lousy salesperson. – What are your options? You have two; learn how to sell or hire someone who knows how to sell. There are a gazillion sales resources available for you to study.  They range from millions of books on Amazon and several sales presentation tapes you can listen to.  I’ve certainly listened to my share of them over the years. Even with all those resources available, most will not take the initiative to use them. In that case, you have to go to Plan B.

If It Isn't Going To Be You, Find Someone To Do The Job For You!

I said earlier that if someone is selling your photography and they are not emotionally connected to those images the sale will suffer.  Sure, there are several companies with salespeople that just put in their eight hours. They really don't care and they're not motivated to produce greater sales.

But I know several successful studios that have salespeople in place that are motivated to sell the studio’s photographs. That motivation comes from commissions on the sale, bonuses and monthly goals, and other special incentives to make them and keep them fired up about selling photography.

The Right Person For The Sales Job

It’s simple, the right person for the sale is a person who is emotionally connected to those photographs. It's also the person that's shows a passion for the company they’re working for. You need to find someone who can resonate your own passion for what you tried to produce for your clients.

Are those kind of people hard to find?  Not really, just look at Microsoft, Apple, or Google employees – most would give their right arm for the company. They have a passion for what they do.

For your studio’s success, it's about having someone in place that brings your passion to your buying public. In my studio, that person has been mostly me.  But, over the years, I’ve also had others that could step up to the plate and make the sales presentation. It's about having the right people in that selling position. If that somebody is not you just be sure that person loves you, they share your passion for the product, and loves the photography you're producing.

But Good Selling Is Only Part Of The Big Picture Of Success

In addition to having a great salesperson in place, it's also about the product line that you offer and how you present that product line to your clients. We’ve certainly discussed that here at DigitalProTalk. I invite you to look back over any number of previous Business Day Thursday posts.  I’ve discussed building products that sell and how to bundle products to maximize the sale.  I’ve also discussed how to handle sales objections and so much more.

With over 3500 posts available at DigitalProTalk, there's an immense amount of resource material for any aspiring or seasoned professional photographer.  I invite you to start digging in and reap the benefits of those posts. I think you will enjoy digging for the hidden treasures.

____________________________________________________________

Hey gang, that's it for me today.  I’m taking a little time off to get ready for my daughter’s visit.  Have a great rest of the day and I'll see you soon.

Adios, David

Business Day Thursday: It's Time To Start Giving Your Work Away For Free!!!

Good Afternoon Everybody,

I sure hope today's post title got your attention, but more on that later.  We arrived safe and sound in New Orleans and are settled into our beautiful hotel room at the Westin on Canal Street.  I have to say, LaDawn and I really enjoy our trips to New Orleans.  We were here in January for the Imaging USA Convention and thoroughly enjoyed our visit.  After eating our way through the city, I swear, I think I put on 10 pounds!  I sure can't let that happen on this visit.  I suspect we'll still put on a pound or two from all the good eats, and wonderful food found everywhere.

Test Driving Canon's New 600EX-RT Radio Controlled Strobes

Don't forget, I’ll be presenting my one day program tomorrow at the Southern Pro Exposure Convention [link] and I'm really looking forward to it.  My good friends at B&H sent me three of Canon’s Speedlite 600EX-RT radio controlled strobes to work with for the next few weeks.  I'm planning to give them a thorough testing.  You'll get all the details of my shooting experience, posted next week at DigitalProTalk.com.  I've only had them for a day and have just scratched the surface of the Bible thick manual, but my first impressions are quite favorable.  More next week after I've had a few days to run them through their paces.

It's Time To Give Your Work Away - I'm mostly Serious!!!

You know, I've been involved in this business for many years and I've seen wedding photography iterate through many, many changes over all those years. I remember when I first started my business a long time ago. Everybody was trying to make as many double exposures as possible. They were the super cool images in the seventies and eighties. 

Everyone was trying to do it and the clients loved the results - hokey as they were by today's standards.  We often times had the bride and groom floating above the wedding ceremony. We had the groom in the bride's silhouette – I once had a bride call it the "brain shot". My staff and I always tried to come back at the end of wedding with at least 5-6 of these eye grabbing, people pleasing double exposures.  I know, to you younger guys and gals it sounds kind of crazy in but it was really trendy and popular in the 70’s – 80’s.

Back in the good old days of wedding photography, and that wasn't very long ago, it was the parents of the bride that made the buying decision for the wedding photography. They were used to making bigger ticket purchases – they had bought a home, a car or two, braces on their kids teeth, etc. Today the buying public is mostly the bride and groom themselves. This is a generation of buyers that has been brought up on a Wal-Mart, Target and Amazon mentality where everything is on sale or value priced all the time and retailers continue to beat up on each other as they lower prices to compete. 

Everybody is always looking for the best price everywhere. It blares from our TV screens, Google Ads, billboards, just about everywhere.

There has been a seismic shift in the business of wedding photography in just the last few years.  I blogged on this topic at length on Scott Kelby's blog about a year and a half ago. You can read that post right here. It's a lengthy read so allow enough time to make it through all 9000 words.

Anyway a quick recap: this  seismic shift was created, and in no particular order, with the advent of  smart phone cameras, Facebook, Craigslist, and easily accessible and inexpensive printing from Wal-Mart,  Sam's Club, Costco, Walgreens, Shutterfly, etc. I mean like $.20 or less for a 4x6 - how's a pro going to compete with that?  Couple that with the fact that many and maybe even most don't print their images - they can get a quick shot of pleasure from their smart phone quickly to Facebook. People just don't care about good photography anymore - it's just not as important to today's buying public as it was just a few years ago.  Therein lies the seismic shift of the business - professional photos are not that important to the buying public anymore and most everyone wants their photos for cheap.

Don't get me wrong.  I still know we have some, albeit a much smaller segment of the photo buying public, who will pay a premium price for premium photography.  Yes, a few customers can tell the difference and are willing to pay for it.  But for too many other people, fine photograph is unimportant.  The camera phone snap is "good enough".  Sorry folks, but those are the sad facts about the profession these days.

Is There A Future For Today's Wedding Photographer?

Yes, I still think there is but it demands a completely different way at looking at the business and how you want to position yourself on the new "playing field" of wedding photography.  Does moaning and groaning solve the situation? Of course not. We can all wallow in each others self-pity but that certainly is not a constructive way out of the current situation.

The reality is that there are many photographers doing quite well in the photography business. Most of these photographers have adopted solid sales and marketing techniques that are really lost on so many other photographers struggling to make a living in this profession. Just two weeks ago  we had our PhotoPro Network Summer Conference. Two of our speakers were young and upcoming photographers, Ty and Shannon Fischer, who are running two successful studios in the Midwest.  They've got their act together when it comes to sales and marketing. Gang, that's really one of the BIG secrets of success!

I think the bottom line is this:  If you give your work away then that client will recommend their friends and family members. And the sad fact is that those new referrals will also be looking for the free photographic lunch. 

Remember, Cheap Customers Recommend Their Cheap Friends

Many years ago I was offered some of the best business advice ever by a local photographer I met at a photography meeting of the local professionals in Cincinnati, OH.  I was new to the Association and feeling quite nervous when I attended my first meeting. This photographer –  Craig Elbe -  walked up to me, put his finger on my chest, and said "So you're another wedding photographer, are you?". I felt a bit intimidated by the encounter but before I could react he gave me the best business advice ever. He said, "Let me tell you something kid.  If you do work for cheap clients they'll recommend their cheap friends. If you do work for rich clients they will recommend their rich friends." I have to say, it was a rather brash way to make the statement but the gist of his message is important for all photographers then and now. 

How do you want to define your clients?  Which market segment do you wish to work for?   These are decisions you need to consider as you build your business.  You simply can’t be everything to everybody.  Pick your market and go for it!! It’s the only way to achieving lasting success in this profession.

I also think part of the solution can be found in how we set our pricing.  No longer do I think its about "How much is it for an 8x10?"  Heck, you can pick up and 8x10 for $.99 at Sam's Club or Wal-Mart.  We need to start thinking about is pricing ourselves. We need to be selling ourselves. It's no longer about how many 5 x 7's or 8x10's you're going to get in their wedding album  It's no longer about how many images you're going to have on a DVD. It's about selling your services as the end product and selling your services for what they are worth.  Then it comes to your images - just give them away, who cares?  Position yourself as the artist that they need to hire, no commission, for the job.  Take the prints out the the equation completely. 

Just How Much Are You Worth? - Good Question!

That opens up a whole another line of conversation. Just how much are we worth? We are worth what we make ourselves worth. With so many photographers offering two hundred dollar wedding coverages and three dollar photographs, I guess they know what they're worth. I personally know how much time and effort goes into producing an event for my clients. I work very hard when I photograph their event. We spend hours editing those images and tweaking them so we can create a breath-taking  presentation to our clients. We then meet with our clients and help them make their final selection for their  wedding albums.

Yes, I'm still a huge fan of delivering a finished product – a wedding album for my clients.  Anything less than that means that the wedding day memories will eventually fade away and then, no longer be memories anymore. It's an album – that large, heavy, solid album sitting in the bride and groom's lap that they can enjoy on their anniversary, share with family and friends, solidify a small capsule of time that makes all the difference in the world. It's enjoying that album for years down the road, with each other, their children, grandchildren, family and friends that will bring the flood of memories back of the wonderful feelings and emotions they shared with themselves and their family and friends on their wedding day.

But I digress - let's go back to building value into yourself. I think one of the best ways we can do that is to promote ourselves as an artist, not just a wedding photographer. And, how can we do that? I've been doing it for years. As we travel around the world my camera is always over my shoulder. Yes, I’m that geeky, just in case you haven’t guessed. I'm always looking for new things to photograph whether it be a beautiful sunsets, gorgeous landscapes, or urban abstracts. Over these many years I’ve got a wonderful collection of images that go far beyond my wedding images. And, for these past several years we've been building that collection of work into a wonderful portfolio.

Along the way we've been sharing a portfolio of images on websites like Fine Art America and Imagekind - two websites where people can find "David Ziser" images [link] that are not wedding images. I’m often asked to purchase advertising space in local programs that I promote these images and I also blog about my fine art work and  landscapes images. Those of you reading this blog often know that to be the case.

By defining yourself as an artist you're actually setting yourself apart from other wedding photographers. You're offering a level of expertise and creativity that photographers are not going to get from the run-of-the-mill Craigslist advertiser. Don't get me wrong, I'm not trying to put down the Craigslist wedding photographer. But let's face it, the Craigslist photographer is looking for a little spare money at the end of the day, I like to call it their beer money.  I’m simply trying to share that if you're going to make a commitment to building a successful business in photography you're never, ever going to do it on Craigslist.

Build Value, Build Respect, Build Credibility, Build Brand!

It's about building value into yourself. And people shopping Craigslist are not looking for the value of a photographer.  They're looking for cheap deal in a photographer.

To build value for yourself you have to continue to build credibility. That credibility comes from creating special relationships with your vendor buddies within the community itself. That demands that you get involved in charities throughout your local community to show that you are doing more than just trying to book a few weddings on the weekends.  You need to place yourself above the photo crowd as a photographer who does something more than wedding photography, but as a person who just happens to be a photographer and is involved in the community.  You have to market yourself differently.

All these things have to work together to show that you, the whole package, is much more than just the average wedding shooter with the camera over your shoulder available for hire for some quick candids at the next wedding event. You have to position yourself as an artist in the field, somebody who has raised themselves to the next level of his/her craft into an art. Someone who will make that extra effort and go that extra mile to produce a body of work for their client's wedding that goes far beyond their expectations and far beyond what so many other wedding photographers are doing.

This has to be an ongoing quest. We’re talking about constantly climbing the hill to excellence – excellence in photography, excellence in marketing, excellence in selling, excellence in creating client and vendor relationships that carry you from one generation to the next generation of wedding clients building friendships and lasting relationships.

Folks, this profession will change again in the not-too-distant future. I don't know what that change holds for the photographers shooting 10 or 15 years from now but I can guarantee that it will be different. Too many of us didn’t even realize that our cheese was moving or has moved, until it was too late to survive. Just know that it will continue to move again.  We just can't keep scrambling around in our lives doing the same thing over and over again expecting the results to change.

The fact of the matter is that we need to continue to change with the times.  We have to be proactive and constantly seeking what these ever changing, shall I say even fickle customers, are looking for and constantly be proactive in making the changes that we need to make to accommodate the new photography marketplace.

The bottoms line is building tremendous value in yourself as the commissioned artist. Be someone who is hired for their talents, professionalism, creativity, outstanding product and service.  Forget the prints - give them away.  All you have to sell these days is yourself. Make it your mission and do it proactively only moving forward, never backward, never singing the doom and gloom song. Make yourself the best you can be and price accordingly. 

_______________________________________________________________

Hey gang that's it for me today.  We're going to check in with our New Orleans friends, enjoy a bit of the city today and get ready to go to work tomorrow.  If you happen to be in the area of the Louisiana Convention this weekend, please come by and say HI.

Adios everybody,  David

Technique Tuesday on Wednesday: Creating Cool Slide Shows Part 2: Organizing and Presenting the Show

Good Afternoon Everybody,

Check out all the happenings going on today – it’s one busy day!

Sales & Marketing Webcast Happening At 3:30 p.m. EST

We've got a big day today with a special Sales and Marketing webcast with my good friend, Charles Lewis and his son Todd. This is going to be a 90 minute presentation that kicks off at 3:30 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time.  That’s 12:30 p.m. on the west coast. I sure hope you'll be able to join us. You can get all the webcast details and register right here.

Brand New Creative Design Tour Kicks Off This Sunday In Atlanta, GA

Don't forget to check out the newly introduced Creative Design Tour with Judy Host. I love the new concept of this  28 city tour. The seminar is going to be hands-on which means that you can actually follow along on your laptop computer.

We don't see many seminars like this happening around the country so I think this is going to be really worthwhile event.  And when it lands in Cincinnati, Ohio, I plan to be there. I sure hope you'll try to make it one of the 28 cities too. You can read my personal invitation to attend the Creative Design Tour on my blog post today right here.

Or, you can go directly to the Creative Design Tour website right here and get all the information, dates, and registration. When registering, please remember, to use PROMO CODE DPT12CDT and register for only $89!  That saves you $40 off the regular registration price – pretty good!  There are other promo codes circulating on the Internet but the Promo Code for my DigitalProTalk readers gets you the best price you'll find anywhere! Remember… use PROMO CODE DPT12CDT to save $40!

Anyway, check it out and I hope to see you there.

Technique Tuesday on Wednesday: Creating Cool Slide Shows Part 2:  Organizing and Presenting The Show

Last week, as part my new wedding series, I ran “Creating Cool Slide Shows Part 1” on how to create compelling slideshows. In today's post I'm offering Part Two.  Today’s video walks you through all the rest of the steps on just how to get the entire show – images and music – completely organized from start to finish and show the final presentation to your clients.  I left nothing out so the video runs just a little long.  It’s worth the “watch” so be sure to find the time to view in it’s entirety.

I hope it's not too much of an inconvenience to watch both of them all the way through. And, I hope with a few of the insights I'm sharing with you on both of these videos, that you too will be able to create compelling slideshows for your clients. Anyway, without much further ado let me present this week's video tutorial. Enjoy! – David

p.s. Hey gang, when recording the intro for the show, the background noise was pretty noisy.  I didn’t have time to re-record the intro so I just did the best I could at reducing it in Camtasia.  It sounds a little funky but I sill think you’ll enjoy the video.

_________________________________________________________________

Hey gang, that's it for me today. I've got a few loose ends to tie up for our webcast at 3:30 p.m. EST this afternoon so, in the meantime enjoy the video tutorial above and  I'll plan to see you online later this afternoon. 

Have a great rest of the day.

– David

Creating Cool Slide Shows Part 1: Making The Images Look Good!

Good Afternoon Everybody,

I can't believe it's already after five o'clock this afternoon and I'm just getting to the blog post.  It has been quite a busy day getting things queued up for the Photo Pro Network Summer School happening this weekend in Louisville, Kentucky. Unfortunately, I've been behind the eight ball for most of the day with a super busy schedule. I still wanted to get the blog post up as promised and then I need to get back to my day job.  Here we go.

Creating Cool Slide Shows Part 1:  Making The Images Look Good!

I had planned for today's post to cover any and all aspects of creating a slide show for your client for the wedding day presentation but, once I got underway, I found out that it was going to go much longer than expected. So, what I plan to do is break the post into two parts. I'll get part 1 up today and then I'll get part two posted in the next few days.

I mentioned in Monday's post, when creating slide shows for our clients, many times we have to use of photographs that the clients have on hand.  The quality of these photographs can range from quite good to the far other end of the spectrum - you get my meaning here. What I want to do in today's video is walk you through some of the Lightroom 4 techniques that I use to bring out the best in all the photographs  that I've copied.  I discovered by using the full range of tonal controls in Lightroom 4 I'm able to resurrect a decent quality image, most of the time, with the procedures I'll discuss today.

Check out the video below to see what I'm talking about.

That wraps Part 1 of the process. I'll plan to get the second part completed just as soon as I can. In the second installment I'll discuss how we lay out the images, how I create the title slides, and how we present a slide show to my clients at their event. I sure hope you'll tune in.

_________________________________________________________________

Hey gang, that's it for me today. I am way behind schedule today and I need to run. Have a great rest of the day and I'll plan to see everybody soon.

Adios, David

The Ziser Wedding Series: Experiencing The Complete Wedding Weekend

Good Morning Everybody,

I sure hope everybody had a great weekend was able to stay cool in whichever part of the world you're from. Our temperatures in my part of the world were hovering in the low 100s and, I have to tell you, most of us were trying our best to try and stay cool. 

But in spite of the heat, another very cool thing happening in our part of the world here in Cincinnati, Ohio was the fact that we were playing host to the World Choir Games. The World Choir Games is the Olympics of choral music. It is an event that brings together hundreds of choirs from around the world performing and competing in various venues throughout our lovely Midwest Ohio River valley.  This is the fist time the event has been held in the USA so it’s quite the big deal for our part of the country.

There are so many choirs in town for this giant event that many choirs have been giving free performances throughout the city. On Saturday I heard that one performance was taking place right down the street from us, in Northern Kentucky, in a beautiful setting above the Ohio River overlooking downtown Cincinnati, OH.   In spite of the 104° weather, I grabbed my camera and headed out to record the event.

It was quite a treat. My favorite choir performing at this presentation was the Melodia Choir from near Moscow, Russia. Their performance was tight, enthusiastic, and par excellence. In fact, they received three standing ovation's from the crowd that had ventured out in the sweltering heat to see and hear them perform.

It really was HOT!  As I wandered around the venue in the hot, direct sun, I don't ever remember my camera feeling that hot in my hands. It wasn't so hot that was burning my fingers but, I have to tell you, that black camera body was darn hot!  Anyway, my heart went out to the young people in the choir who were there in full dress attire performing for 30 minutes in a blazing 104° heat.  I love how the translator introduced one of the songs – it was about winter she said, the Russians’ favorite season of the year. Upon making the announcement, the entire audience giggled as beads of sweat poured down their brows.

As a side note…. it was later reported that neither the Russian choirs or the choirs from Ireland have ever experienced the extreme temperatures we have been having in the Midwest. They considered it just part of their travel experiences!

In any event, once the music started and you caught the enthusiasm of the performers, the effects of the heat quickly disappeared and you reveled in the musical miracle you were hearing and seeing before your very eyes.

The Choir Games are scheduled to go on through next weekend and I’m excited to see if I can catch a few more performances before the end of the event. It’s well worth it fellow Cincinnatians!

The Ziser Wedding Series: Experiencing The Complete Wedding Weekend

Today I’m beginning a new series entitled “Experiencing The Complete Wedding Weekend”. In this series I plan to walk you through a day-by-day synopsis of my recent experience photographing a fabulous wedding for some of my favorite clients which took place in northern Michigan two weeks ago. I’ll try to walk you through every nuance of that entire experience from the preparations we had to make before our arrival into Frankfort, Michigan and then the play-by-play for each of the three days, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, that I photographed the event.

I'm going to try to keep these reads fairly short so that you’ll not lock yourself to your computer for hours every morning trying to follow along. I'm also going to break the series into about 12 sections.   So, I hope you'll stick with me over the next several weeks as I share with you one of my favorite weddings. Here we go...

Part 1:

Do Something Special For Your Clients

When I photographed the bride's brother's wedding a little over a year ago in Phoenix, Arizona, I volunteered to put together a short slideshow of the couple showing the good times when they were small children through the present day when they were enjoying each other as an engaged couple. The presentation went over quite well last year and the clients loved the results. We eventually made three Hi-def DVDs for both set of parents and the bride and groom to enjoy on their big-screen TVs.

I offered to do the same for Genevieve and her fiancé, Kevin, for their upcoming wedding too. In today’s post I'm going to cut to the chase and give you the quick play-by-play on how to put together a slide presentation for your clients.

Organization Is Key –

This is how I did my best job to keep things somewhat organized for the project.

One - I asked the bride and groom to gather their childhood images from all the family albums that they could get their hands on. That’s my bride missing the tooth in the image on the right.

DAZNOTE:  This is also an image I made for the family over 20 years ago when I was just starting my business.  They still enjoy those family albums I created for them even today. 

Two - This is an important step. I asked him to arrange each of those photographs into year-by-year order allowing me to photograph the entire sequence without much confusion or guessing of the correct time-line.

DAZNOTE: It's important that the client does this for you because, no matter how good you are at guessing ages, you'll never get 100% of those images in the proper time sequence.

Three - The amount of photographs is important that your clients select. I found that a good number for these growing up photographs  should include no more than about 100 images each. I know at first glance it sounds like a lot but, when you consider that they're going to be presented in the slideshow with about a 2 or 3 second duration, it's really not long at all.

It's interesting to note that sometimes you'll have more photographs from the bride's side than you do from the groom's side or visa-versa. That seemed to be the situation for my couple this time. Nevertheless, with some additional discussion with the groom's mother, we were able to equalize out the number of photographs for both the bride and groom in the show.

Four – One of the main considerations when putting the shows together is a fact that many of these images are already bound and included in family albums and scrapbooks.  It's sometimes difficult to remove these images without doing damage to either the photograph or the album. In this situation, I asked the bride and groom to attach Post-it notes to their favorite images with the sequence number of that image noted on the Post-it note. I just pull the Post-it note, make my copy and replace the note in case I need it for future reference.

DAZNOTE: When working with both loose images and family albums/scrapbooks, it's best for the bride and groom to use Post-it notes to sequence each and every one of their 100 images – even the ones in the albums. That way, when you collect all of those images, both in albums and loose photographs, you’ll have an easy way to keep them in order when you make your copies.  Let me assure you, that with a little organization in the beginning of the project, you can save yourself all kinds of headaches in the post production. Remember, the project’s success is the result of your joint efforts – you and your clients - to bring the show to it’s full and exciting conclusion.

Five – Okay, now you have all the “growing up” photographs of both the bride and the groom easily organized. Next you want to get a series of fun photographs of both of them as a couple like this one of them “hamming it up” on a trip to England. The cool thing about that, at least today, is a fact that many people have lots of much more easily organized digital images that they can share with you.

To reiterate, the “growing up” photographs are going to be older family snapshots from family albums and scrapbooks. The couples photographs, most of the time, will be the digital variety which makes it much easier to organize.

I asked a couple, once again the put together about 100 images of both of them together organizing those images from their first days together to their most recent days together. The problem of sequencing those images with Post-it notes, as we did in the earlier collection of images, mostly goes away since most of images were time stamped when the digital images were created.  That means that they sequence themselves from oldest to newest.  With these “couples” images in their own separate digital folder, it’s easily  for me to combine these with the two earlier sets of both of them individually growing up.  Hey, if we still need to make some additional copies from snapshots, it’s back to the Post-it notes for those images.

Six - If the couple hasn’t done so yet,  I suggest that we do an engagement series of both of them as the wrap-up images for their couples section. That way, I know I have the most recent images of them which provide a dramatic and classy wrap-up to the slide presentation I'll be making for them.

DAZNOTE: For my Michigan couple,  they had a friend of the family, a very talented photographer Hannah, who created a wonderfully fun and creative collection of images of both Genevieve and Kevin simply enjoying each other. The theme was the Gatsby look complete with antique car.  It was a great series that provided the amazing conclusion to their slide presentation. 

That pretty much covers the organizational side,  collecting and organizing the photographs, of the slide show presentation. I'm going to tell you right off - sometimes it can be a challenge to get all of these images organized but, with a little effort, you can put together a collection of about 350 images that will result in a very impacting slide presentation for both families on the wedding weekend. 

Since I'm already way into my daily 500 word limit for the series, I’m going to ask you to tune in again tomorrow where I’ll discuss in our Technique Tuesday episode how to handle the post production work in building the finished slideshow.

Making good copies of many of these less than professionally taken images, although not daunting, can still be challenging in finessing the best photographic results for your slideshow. Tomorrow I'll show you a few Lightroom tips and tricks for some of those less-than-perfect images. Also, I’ll discuss image resolutions and organization in getting the final slideshow completed.

I hope you join me again tomorrow for the rest of the story.

_______________________________________________________________

Hey gang, that's it for me today. I'm still pounding away at my book – about 45,000 so far and I’m still slightly behind schedule.  I’m also still working on our PhotoPro Expo Summer School coming up this weekend in Louisville, KY.

We got a smaller crowd than usual coming so I hope if you're in the area you’ll consider stopping by and being part of the festivities. Once again, you can get all the details about this upcoming weekend event right here.

We've got one heck of a lineup and one heck of a weekend planned. The cost of admission is super reasonable $89 – not bad for two days of programs. You can register right here online or, give our Executive Director, Randy Fraley a call at 606-571-1908. Randy will be happy to give you all the details and be sure you have a seat reserved for the the weekend. I sure hope to see you there.

Have a great rest of the day. It looks like it's going to be a cooler one so enjoy it and I'll see everyone sometime tomorrow.

Adios, David

Announcing my 2010 Success Collection! http://digitalprotalk.blogspot.com/2010/05/announcing-my-2010-digital-wakeup-call.html

Business Day Thursday: It’s Time To: Invigorate / Innovate / Interpolate

Good Morning Everybody,

We had a 5  hour drive to the Indiana Dunes National Seashore yesterday, got settled into our hotel and headed to Mt. Baldy, the largest sand dune in North America.  Yep, our plan was to re-live LaDawn's Mt. Baldy experience of years ago and climb to the top.

Now many of you don't know, but about two months ago, I decided to "clean up my act" and get into shape.  Hey, better late than never, right;~). Anyway, I have fully embraced a much healthier diet, and dare I say, exercise.  Yes me, exercise - yikes.  But the reality is that I’m walking up to about 4 miles a day and feeling better.  As a matter of fact the results of my new health venture has resulted in a nearly 40 pound weight loss, blood pressure well into the normal category, and a cholesterol reading that is literally one half what it was - yes, 1/2 the previously number and now well below normal.

Anyway, I'm ready for Mt. Baldy, right?  WRONG!  Good ol' Mt. Baldy did me in yesterday.  At roughly 125 feet tall, Mount Baldy is the largest "living" dune in Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore. As the dune moves, it buries everything in its path, including trees.

You know, walking uphill in sand is quite a chore.  And when you're trying to do it on one of the biggest sand dunes in North America, it's both daunting and exhausting.  The dune is actually three times higher than it seems.  Why?  Because for very three steps you take forward, you slide back two. But after a lot of effort, we did it.

Now take that adventure off my "bucket list".  I am over sand dunes, sand, and Mt. Baldy.  Heck, I don't even know if I ever even want to walk on a beach again!   OK, maybe I'm over reacting now.  Beaches, oceans, and sunsets are still OK for me :~)

Wait now, maybe hang gliding off Mt. Baldy would have been better – uhmmmm…

Hey gang, enough of my adventures yesterday.  How about we get on with today's Business Day Thursday.  Here we go.

Resting On Your Laurels, A Guaranteed Path To Failure

Over the last 5-7 years I have watched many photographers studios "bite the dust" and go out of business with those business owners lamenting the fact that times and customers have changed and today's customer just doesn't get it anymore. 

These photographers, and I was guilty of that too for a while, have been resting on their laurels for the last several years of their careers reaping the benefits of a business that has remained basically unchanged for over 50 years.  But change happens, the cheese gets moved, and the successful entrepreneur make moves quickly to adapt.  Like I said, resting on your laurels is the surest way to failure - I've seen it over and over.

Having said that, I've also seen a new crop of young, talented photographs move quickly to fill the vacuum created by the "laurel testers".  Photographers like Lynn Michele, one of the top new wedding shooters in Dallas.  Blair Phillips is tearing up the photography market in Charlotte, NC.  And, Zack and Jody Gray are rocking it down in Nashville, TN after only a few short years in business.

So what's the big difference here.  Is it just out with the old and in with the new?  I don't think so.  I think it comes down to the new kids on the block figuring it out a whole lot quicker that the photographers of yesteryear. "Digital" as they say, has changed the way photographers have done business nearly overnight.  To many of us, and me included at first, we're slow to change and adapt.  But, the new stars on the photographic horizon figured it out early, grabbed the digital tiger by the tail, and are having a great ride.

What does it come down to to be successful in this brave new photographic world?  I think it comes down to the same factors it always has and always will - regardless of the age or era entrepreneurs are doing business.

It’s Time To: Invigorate / Innovate / Interpolate

Invigorate:  Get yourself excited about what your all about.  Get yourself excited about your photography again.  Nothing hurts success like apathy.  And, when business is slow - apathy, like a cancer, can start to erode away your optimism and enthusiasm.  You need to take time to recharge your batteries.  Give yourself a creative photographic self-assignment.  Start pointing your camera at subjects outside your normal "business box".  Take a photo-walk around your city or town and shoot street scenes, flowers, people - start a creative conversation, a dialogue if you will,  with yourself with your camera.

Innovate: Shake the dust webs from your product offerings and offer something new.  Every six months you need to re-visit what you offer, how you offer it, and consider how you can do better.  In that same vein, you need to constantly innovate and introduce new product offerings.  Like I said, every six months you have to force yourself to go through that innovating process. Frankly, in today's super fast moving digital world, it's do it or die. Is that really the music you want to face professionally?  Then get busy!

Interpolate:  Look at where your customers are coming from now and see if there are more customers there.  Reach out to your current clients for new referrals and leads.  Give them rewards or special incentives (spiffs) for sending referrals your way.  The easiest way to do that is with "Two for One", Buy One, Get One", or "Bring A Friend" promotions.

Don't forget to stay connected.  That means staying connected with your current and prospective clients. You can do that with all the social media options available to you - from Facebook to Pinterest.  Learn and embrace the social media opportunities today.  There is no away around it - just do it!!!

And stay connected with your professional friends, I call them my vendor buddies.  Re-kindle, renew, and expand those relationships so you can grow and thrive together.

Folks, those are a few places to begin.  But the real new beginning comes from you and you wanting to make that effort.  I always said it was easy to be the best photographer in town.  You just have to work a lot harder than the next guy.  And, guess what, that's the easy part, because a lot of people just don't want to work that hard.  The path is clear for those who want to walk that road less traveled.

__________________________________________________________

Hey gang, that's it for me today.  We're spending a few more hours  in the Indiana Dunes area and then heading up to Grand Rapids and then onto Frankfort, Michigan later this afternoon.  Then for me it's banging out about 6,000 thousand words on my book and a big three day wedding this weekend.  Have a good one and I’ll see you soon.

Adios, David