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June 10th, 2009 in Opinion by Ian Baugh


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Prompted by the unfortunate demise of Spicer Hallfield, which was once the UK’s foremost album manufacturer, I emailed our list in the UK yesterday. The gist of my message was that their ex customers should think twice before choosing a replacement supplier – especially if their gut reaction was to look for someone offering a similar product at a similar price.

My email generated quite a lot of enquiries for Sonya’s team, plus some feedback that I thought I’d discuss over the next few days. But let me start with the tough one…

Someone called my email an “unbelievable bit of ambulance chasing”.

Hmm, I’d agree if we were offering discounts to ex Spicers customers, or matching their prices for six months.

As it is, ALL we offered was something to think about, which I’m personally happy to stand by.

You can read what I said here. (And when we first heard the rumours, I touched on some of the same points here.)

Cheers, Ian

More feedback tomorrow.

 

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    • Sad for them

    May 22nd, 2009 in Opinion by Ian Baugh


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    Sad as it is, it’s no secret that one or two of the traditional album manufacturers in the USA and UK have had serious problems, and not just because of “the economy”.

    It’s hard for everyone when a company struggles, hard for their staff, hard for their suppliers. Harder still when you know the people involved.

    Hard for their customers too, who’ve spent a lot of time getting to know their people, understanding their systems and foibles, making bookings with couples who will expect one of their albums…

    So why have they been in trouble?

    Because companies like Queensberry started eating their lunch.

    It’s easy to see, when the world changes, that previously successful companies find it very hard to change with it. It’s hard to let go of the old world because they were successful in it, because the market associates the new world with their new competition – and because their clients generally don’t want to change either.

    Unfortunately, when faced with needing to find a new supplier, many people look for someone offering a similar product at the same price. They could be hitching their business to another dying star…

    Sad for them, good for Queensberry clients.

    Cheers, Ian

    PS I first published this accidentally and I’ve edited it a bit since. Reading it back it still sounds a bit harsh, and it’s not meant to. I just wanted to make the point that this may not be the best of times to resist change. But many people do, and (indirectly) that’s good for our clients.

     

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    • Like them, only better

    February 20th, 2009 in Products & Services by Ian Baugh


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    Alan (not his real name) and his wife were long-standing clients of one of our competitors. They came to us because they didn’t like the way they’d been treated.

    Unlike Katherine, who likes us (even if she’s frustrated), we haven’t earned anything from Alan and his wife except a chance to win their business.

    Alan’s customers really like our Duos, which of course they couldn’t get before, but he finds designing and ordering them difficult. Alan designs them on paper and his wife recreates them in Remix. Alan’s designs are reasonably complex, his wife is a fan of her old software (which can’t handle Duos) and she’s very reluctant to make the switch to PJ, which is “over-complicated”. They also have issues with some of our more “ponderous procedures” (my words, because I agree – more on that later).

    In a nutshell, if our competitor had Duos, and had treated Alan better, chances are we’d never have seen him.

    Put differently, my feeling is Alan would like us to be like his previous supplier, only better.

    Even if I’m wrong, that’s a very common reason for changing suppliers. “I want you to do what Brand X does but better, or cheaper, or faster.”

    My opinion is less important than our clients’, but for what it’s worth, I don’t see how switching suppliers can ever be all pros and no cons. There’s too much to learn and re-learn for there to be no difficulty.

    The up-side is always on the far side of a learning curve, and your comfort zone.

    Where Alan and his wife see complexity in Photojunction, for example, I see opportunities, and our team’s challenge is to help them take advantage of them.

    Duos, for example
    A more efficient work flow
    A sales tool
    Differentiation in the market.

      And not least, an end to those “ponderous procedures” when finally PJ delivers “a clear, complete and unambiguous order direct into production”.

      That’s our end game, and we’re closer with every release. We can’t expect everyone to come along for the ride, but we hope Alan will.

      Cheers, Ian

       

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      • The story so far…

      January 20th, 2009 in Marketing by Ian Baugh


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      Follow the links for “the story so far” in our series on the recession…

      Yes, times will be tough for a while but you shouldn’t assume the sky is falling. It makes no sense to sacrifice your business and market reputation to survive the short term challenge.

      Instead you may need to pull your horns in and find ways to prosper while others decline. A good place to start is by analysing your budget and business model, and we have a spreadsheet to help with that.

      Most people react to the threat of declining sales by saying, “I’ve gotta cut my costs”. Everyone needs to work out their own figures, but your own personal income is probably your biggest “cost” by far. Do you want to cut that? Go figure.

      Your actual job costs (eg albums and printing) are likely to be less than a quarter of sales. Cutting them may really mean short-changing your clients, a dangerous strategy. And your asset replacement and overhead costs are probably just as significant. Take a lesson from farmers, who know that bad years are a reality. They put their cheque books away until the good times return, but meantime they take care of the farm!

      If you are your own biggest cost, it follows that your time is your biggest asset. What could you do with it? Maybe get out from behind your computers, look for stuff you’re doing for little or no return and become a marketer instead.

      The good news is that most reactions are knee-jerk. Most of your competitors won’t be thinking about adding value – they’ll focus instead on slashing their prices and/or their costs.

      So, how can you add value (for your clients) and profit (for yourself)?

      A good place to start is with the realities of the wedding and portrait market.

      One thing the recession hasn’t changed is that professional photography is totally open, with inexhaustible supplies of new competitors. The Weekend Warriors and the Art School Graduates, all with fancy cameras, many with the ability to use them.

      What’s worse, these enthusiasts may be offering prices a tenth of yours. And as fast as they go out of business, a new lot take their place, coming over the horizon like the enemy in an old John Wayne movie.

      It’s got a bit tougher, but the challenge is the same: how do you make a decent living in a totally free market like this?

      Here’s a clue. In thirty years I’ve personally come across only one up-market wedding photographer, with a long-term career, who didn’t depend on albums to showcase his wedding photography.

      The other thing I’ve noticed is that many studios use albums because everyone else does, but they don’t understand why.

      So how does it work? How can albums increase your profits?

      Please email Nigel for the password, then click here to read on.

      Cheers, Ian

      PS Queensberry’s logical album-based marketing strategies have been used successfully by our clients for many years. Whether you’re new to professional photography or just want a reality check, we’d love to hear from you.

       

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      December 19th, 2008 in Marketing by Ian Baugh


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      marfa1Chances are you’ve never been to Marfa, but as it happens we have. It’s a tiny town set in the vastness of West Texas (population 2000+) and obviously thriving.

      Halfway between El Paso and the awesome Big Bend Park, Marfa is surrounded by towns in decline. It used to be a water stop on the railway, and a massive army base, but the trains went diesel and the army left town.

      So why isn’t the town dying, like most of its neighbours seem to be?

      marfa1bA minimalist artist called Donald Judd came to town in search of a spectacular landscape to display his massive artworks. An interesting guy … and other interesting people followed. Now it has excellent bookshops, art and craft galleries, a cool hotel, thriving real estate, a charismatic woman running our B&B and the best food we ate in the States. On this trip anyway.

      Why do people come? Because there’s no place like Marfa.

      Marfa has critical mass: a reputation that’s self-sustaining. It’s not easy being Marfa, and most towns fail. It’s not easy being a high-end studio either, and most of your competitors will fail.

      marfa2What prompted this post was a mention in a book by Pat O’Bryan. He talks about sitting in a coffee shop in this little town in West Texas, and looking out to see a film-star getting out of her new Jeep, the sun sparkling off her “rich-girl hair”. She could live in LA, she could live in New York, but “because Marfa is so very Marfa, she’s in Marfa. And so is her money.”

      Move to Marfa and your chances of business success improve, but even there (especially there) you need to look the best, and be the best.

      Take Cochineal and The Food Shark. Cochineal is run by an expatriate New Yorker who moved there after 9/11 and loves Texas. It was recommended by our landlady, but if we’d seen the sign we would have gone straight in. It was perfect. The menu changes daily and the only mistake we made was deciding to share dessert – blueberry pie baked in the best pastry we’ve ever tasted. Unfortunately we didn’t think to photograph it until it was gone!

      After this little rave from me, imagine if you went and they offered you microwave lasagne and defrosted Keyline Pie? If you’ve made your reputation, as I said yesterday, don’t throw it away.

      marfa4Come lunch next day, we realised how small a town Marfa is. We couldn’t find anywhere to eat except The Food Shark, which we drove past several times looking for something better.
      marfa5Eventually we stopped out of desperation and ate the tastiest of lunches. According to The Chowhound, everyone knew about it but us: “cowboys, truckers, ranchers, smartypants New Yorkers”. I’ll bet they do well, but it’s tough to do the same thing in the photography business (sell great cheap stuff) because your time isn’t scalable.

      Which I’ll talk about next.

      Cheers, Ian

      PS Sorry that was such a long post, but I wanted to make the point that money hasn’t disappeared, it’s just got picky. To attract it you need to look the best, and be the best. Or drop your prices.

       

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      December 18th, 2008 in Marketing by Ian Baugh


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      We all feel the anxiety out there, right?

      • “My bookings are down.”
      • “I need to go to cheaper albums.”
      • “I’ll just have to sell the high-res files on DVD.”

      But how long do you want your personal recession to last? If you’re not careful the actions you take now will affect your business for a long, long time.

      If you’re reading this, chances are you’ve spent your photographic career building a high-end wedding and portrait studio. Congratulations, it’s not easy. But please don’t throw it away.

      Three basic facts:

      • Most of your competitors are “backyarders” … “weekend warriors”.
      • You will never, ever, ever compete with them on price. They have a job to pay their bills.
      • If you cut your prices you’ll spend years getting back to where you are now.

      What would I do instead?

      • I would not sabotage my long-term business in order to survive the short-term crisis.
      • I might even take a lesson from the back-yarders and get a job. Or another income stream.

      I’m serious! Heather and I have a few miles on the clock ;-) While we were building Queensberry, Heather made and sold leather souvenirs etc. I worked in marine architecture and later did book-keeping for other small businesses.

      In 1987 New Zealand was near broke and the government nearly put us out of business by allowing in cheap Asian imports that retailed for less than our wholesale price. We didn’t say, “Hey honey, we need to start making cheap crappy stuff ‘cos that’s all we can sell.” We just decided to keep our other income streams running for longer.

      We stayed true to our dream. And actually our sales increased.

      We know that times will be tough for many of our clients, but we hope that you stay true to your dream.

      More tomorrow…

      Cheers, Ian

      PS The reason we thrived was that we had a high-end, differentiated album range that our competitors couldn’t match.

       

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