September 11th, 2008 in In no time at all our November 1 cut-off will be upon us, and it will be no surprise to see…
- Album orders coming in with title pages that have 2007 (and even 2006) wedding dates, and
- Clients who absolutely must have them by Christmas!
In other words – almost certainly – stone cold sales, and – probably – missed opportunities…
How can you avoid this happening? Be proactive!
Steve told you how he did it. Here are a few other suggestions, none of them rocket science:
1. Book an appointment with your clients as soon as possible after the wedding, and wow them with a slide show. It will take just a few minutes with Photojunction Remix and you’ll have them weeping in their seats.
2. In your slide show, show them an album, not the images. That’ll take you an hour or two in PJ Remix and you’re half way to the sale.
3. Don’t give your clients anything to take away until the album order is finalised. If you give them a stack of prints, or a DVD of images, you satisfy their emotional need without finalising the sale.
4. Remember Sales 101 and ask for the order before they leave.
5. Treat this as an opportunity to upsell, not just to settle what they committed to before they saw their own photographs.
Note that first you have to be proactive on yourself. Work out your cunning plan. Try it out on real live clients. Use the experience to make it better.
We’d love to hear about your own sales strategies.
Cheers, Ian
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Me too have sometimes the experience that a couple ordered their album 2 years after their marriage. Strange as if this may sound, but this is because of my upselling tactics. At first they had reserved a smaller amount of money for their album, but after seeing their images on their website and some e-mailing. They wanted a bigger and more pictures in their album. Sometimes doubled or tripled their original budget. There is no sense in pushing them if they simply don’t have the money on that moment in time, because all the expenses they have already made. They have to save it first. I don’t want to push them either and let them make promises and find out later that they could pay the order on time, resulting in legal mumble jumble and angry clients.
I totally agree with the fact not giving them any prints or digital files either. For me this is simple common sense.
The idea to show them an album and not the separate images could be very effective too. I think I will try this out next year.
Interesting perspective on why people don’t order early, Ed! Food for thought, thanks.
Cheers, Ian
So Ed – offer them a payment plan to pay for it over 12 or 24 months, but get the order earlier. I used to do this all the time with clients that upgraded their album and were tapped out after the wedding. Take 12 post dated checks or charge their visa monthly until it’s paid for.