Gotta love her: Bride by Steve and Cheryl, photography by Johannes, album by Queensberry

Why do images look so good in books?

I asked myself that question as I walked out of the new Aussie movie, Tomorrow when the war began in which the main character delivers a satiric line, “The book usually is better than the movie”…

Take an image accompanied by a line of text in a great print ad. Or a series of images of a bride walking down the aisle in an album. Or a double page spread of a horizon in National Geographic.

I reckon it’s because the real beauty of the images is only discovered when they’re laid out in printed form.

I said the other day that our wedding images as a stack of prints weren’t as beautiful as the same images in a slideshow, set to music, or in our album.

Same goes for images on a disk. There’s no sense of completion, or context, or framing.

Why miss an opportunity to wow you clients (and from your P.O.V wipe the table clean) by neglecting to present your images in the most beautiful way possible.

Cheers, Nigel

PS I know this is a sales pitch, but I’m a believer

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The webinar is now available (watch it here or on Vimeo), and you can use the Minimum Average Sale Calculator here (you’ll need to log-in). More details on The Junction.

Cheers, Nigel

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Ian spotted a post by New Zealand photographer Isaac de Reus of Perspectives Photography on DWF recently. It was in reply to a thread discussing whether giving your work away free for referrals was good business practice.

Isaac shared this great example of how he’s leveraged something he can do in return for good quality referrals. The type everyone wants. High-end. It also shows the value of keeping your finger on the wider wedding market’s pulse. Thanks for sharing, Isaac – Nigel

A month or so ago we approached a very high-end, exclusive venue that only recently started booking and advertising themselves as a ‘wedding venue’.

We identified them as someone we’d like to work with and noticed they didn’t have much wedding work on their website. We had never met them, or done any work there before.

We organised a model couple, make-up artist and hair stylist, and did a fashion/wedding style shoot at their venue. We were able to get everything on a time for portfolio (TFP) basis with the other suppliers, but the shoot was free from us.

The images came out awesome so we decided to create the venue a 14 x10 Queensberry Duo album to show the images, and venue, off. We did this all at our own cost and unbeknown to the venue.

A week ago, we arranged to meet them and deliver the images. They were absolutely blown away with the album, and the online slideshow that we’d made for them. The owner/manager was nearly in tears.

We made the album for them to keep and use as a sample album to show off their venue when meeting potential clients, and just in time for a big wedding show they were exhibiting at.

This week I’ve had two brides call to arrange meetings… Both are having their weddings at this particular venue.

I’ve also had a several enquiries from brides who aren’t getting married there, but had been given our details, and thoroughly recommended, by the owner of the venue at their stall.

That’s a pretty good return on what cost us about $1000 – far better than spending the same money on a magazine ad or something.

So yeah – we do give away my services for free – like the situation above, it sometimes even costs us.

But to establish a working relationship as the preferred photographer at a venue that will be booking expensive, high-end weddings, we think is worth it.

Cheers, Isaac

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Photography for fun and profit. (It’s a lot of fun making a profit!)

Book-keeping – who needs it?

Some people keep regular accounts because they like to keep score.

Some people do just enough to keep the tax man and the bank happy.

But very few use their accounts to play the most important game of all… WHAT IF?

What if you could plug one of these questions into your business model and see the effect:

• What if my sales go down?
• What if I can’t get my price?
• What if I cut my costs?
• What if my bookings still go down?
• What if I offer shoot-and-burn?
• What if I hire staff or a second shooter?
• What if I rent a store-front studio?
• What if I outsource my post-production?

Questions like these can screw your income or destroy your business if you don’t know how to think about them.

Queensberry has forty years experience with professional photographers, and a very strong interest in helping our clients build long term profitable careers. After all, if our clients don’t prosper neither do we!

Come along to this month’s webinars to learn about the Queensberry model for wedding and portrait photography, and how to answer those critical What-If questions.

This Thursday New Zealand time, Stephen and I will be talking informally with Gino Demeer, one of our US Account Managers. We’ll plug some typical numbers into my Calculator and then get right down to business.

Click here to register and for more information.

We’d love to see you there – bring your own questions!

Cheers, Ian

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There’s a cool vibe to our webinars, for us anyway. It’s generally early morning here, so we’re just kick-starting the coffee machine (the Aussies have it even worse – sorry guys), while on the other side of the world the Brits are feet up with a beer, or sipping cocoa in their jammies. In North America it’s the middle of the day, so maybe sitting down with us is a chance to take it easy too.

How much do you need to charge?

Click here to watch it full screen on our vimeo channel.

We were a little nervous about this one because it’s new content, we only had an hour to talk about a subject we could thrash around for hours, and we had no idea what you’d think!

Well we struck a chord. We got another big crowd, the biggest flood of comments and questions we’ve ever had, and…

A lot of people want to get their hands on our Minimum Average Sale Calculator.

Click here if you’d like to use the calculator yourself (you’ll need to login).

Do let us know what you think. Comment here or feel free to talk prices etc with your account manager.

Cheers, Ian

PS An hour was definitely not enough. We’re going to arrange some follow-ups as soon as we can do it. Unfortunately Stephen and I are on the road for a couple of weeks.

PSS Fire up the calculator and play what-if with these:

• What if I can’t get my price?
• What if my sales go up …or down?
• What if I cut my costs or prices?
• What if I offer shoot-and-burn?
• What if my bookings still go down?
• What if I hire staff or a second shooter?
• What if I rent a store-front studio?
• What if I outsource my post-production?

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A huge crowd turned up last week to the first of our two-part webinar series focused on the most critical issue facing professional photographers: how to survive and thrive in today’s demanding market.

But plenty more people missed it and asked us to post a recording online.

So here’s part one: How to sell albums (and why)

Or click here to watch it full screen on our vimeo channel.

Ian (Director and co-founder), Stephen Baugh (Managing Director) and Jo Newman (UK Account Manager) answer some important questions…

What can my competitors teach me? How should I choose my sample albums? How could I double my sales per wedding? How could I offer cheap coverages without selling them? How could my “best” offer be too successful? Are the most successful photographers the best photographers? What do you mean, there are only two ways to compete?

Click here to view the takeaway notes to this webinar.

This week we follow on with part two of the series: How much do you need to charge? Details and registration here.

Cheers, Nigel

Here’s the link to Part 2 – Ed: http://vimeo.com/14777790

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Interesting question from Sergey on my Opportunities post.

What do you do if people want this cool album that they’ve never seen before – but they want to postpone the purchase, maybe until their first anniversary.

Here’s what we think.

As they say, a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush. I’d look for a way to sweeten the deal and get a commitment now.

OK, we hate the D word, but maybe a discount would do the trick. Or arrange monthly payments via credit card, preferably with a deposit to cover your costs. Anyway, try hard for a commitment now, and get the album out there working for you. In twelve months your chances of a sale will be much less.

But here’s our main point. Cherry picking like this is a problem if you sell “a la carte” instead of using packages.

It’s a fair assumption that most people have no idea what professional photographers like you do, and what they do “know” is largely defined by price shoppers, your budget competition and stuff they read on The Knot etc. Packages enable you to show them – wow them – and define what you’d like them to buy, and the price.

They also enable you to be generous if they commit ahead of time to what you want them to buy.

Sergey had another comment. After seeing Queensberry type products many people won’t settle for ordinary. Packages (Good, Better, Best) are a strategy for handling that too.

We have a webinar coming up tomorrow on these very topics. Click here for more details, and to register. See you there?

Cheers
Ian

PS Yes, we know every studio is different, so maybe packages aren’t for you. Worth thinking about though. We also agree packages need to be flexible.

PPS You could also check out our Knowledge Base for more on album-based marketing (you’ll need to log in).

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I’m dropping my prices … people aren’t spending as much … my bookings are down … I need to go to cheaper albums … I’ve started doing shoot-and-burn … I’m worried about my income.

You’ve heard the talk. Are you struggling in the face of competition, recession and demanding clients? Or do you just want to hear someone else’s take on things?

As well as our usual Photojunction webinars, we’re hosting two new ones on the most critical issue facing professional photographers: how to survive and thrive in today’s demanding market.

Webinar 1: How to sell albums (and why)
Thurs 19 August NZT.

What can my competitors teach me? How should I choose my sample albums? How could I double my sales per wedding? How could I offer cheap coverages without selling them? How could my “best” offer be too successful? Are the most successful photographers the best photographers? What do you mean, there are only two ways to compete?

Webinar 2: How much do you need to charge?
Thurs 26 August NZT.

I know how much I want to earn, but how much do I need to charge my clients to make it? How much is enough? What happens if my bookings go down, or I move to cheaper albums … or shoot-and-burn?

Ian has created a spreadsheet to help you answer those questions – and more important, show the impact on your income if you change what you’re doing – or your bookings go up or down. This powerful tool will be available online so you can use it yourself.

Don’t miss out. Book now.

It’s our first time with this content so numbers will be limited. Ian will present, with comment and questions from QBY CEO Stephen Baugh and Jo Newman (UK Account Manager). You’re welcome to submit questions in advance, or ask them during the event. Notes and resources will be available to take away.

Click here for webinar times and to reserve your place.

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Nigel’s post about Chris MacKenzie creating his own luck reminded me the world is full of opportunities. The problem is to recognise them and take action.

I was at a seminar in the States 2-3 years ago, a roomful of high net worth business people plus me.

We got to talking about Queensberry, and wedding albums in general.

Not one of them had ever seen a Queensberry or anything like it.

One guy had recently married at an exclusive Carribean resort … spent a gazillion bucks on the event … and “ticked the box” for a shoot-and-burn DVD from the resort’s tame photographer.

I had to go and get an album from my hotel room to show them what I was talking about. They loved it. A roomful of opportunities for the taking.

Cheers, Ian

PS According to dailyfinance.com, global wealth rose by 11.5% in 2009 and the number of millionaire households (in USD) by 14%. Millionaires are thickest on the ground in Singapore (11.4% of households) and Hong Kong (8.8%), but the USA has the most (4.7m). FYI.
Go get ‘em. But please don’t assume they’ll only spring for shoot ‘n’ Burn

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Meet Chris MacKenzie. He’s new to the industry. He’s working hard to build his business. He’s doing it in the tough UK market. And, he’s just set up a promotion with an exclusive venue in his area. A real ‘corker’ to use his words.

“The first day I was there, I met the Executive Vice President at Pebble Beach Golf Resort. The next day I met a billionaire. On my third visit, I met an Australian couple who’d just returned from a luxury six week tour of Europe. They were so taken by my sample albums that the chap started asking about using Queensberry to display his holiday snaps.”

Now some might say he was just lucky, but three new prospects and a potential album sale from three visits isn’t bad going. And all for a little time spent networking.

Networking isn’t an art. Or should I say, shouldn’t be an art. It’s about being genuine.

Most of us do it every day without even knowing, but being a little more organised certainly does help.

Let’s use Chris as an example…

Big picture, his ultimate goal is to build his business and client list.

He’s identified who he wants on that client list, figured out where they hang out, and gone and hung out there too. Simple.

Not some awe-inspiring marketing strategy, just a thoughtful approach to networking.

Networking is one of your most powerful marketing tools, especially in a largely relationship-driven industry like this.

You don’t have to wait for people to walk through your door, or for your phone to ring. Put yourself about a little, get out there and start building relationships… You’ll be investing in the long term health of your business. Promise.

Was Chris lucky? Yeah, maybe. But I think he’s creating his own luck.

Cheers, Nigel

PS Check out Chris’s blog and you might see a pattern forming.

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