Personally, I've had nothing to do with school photographers since I lined up for my own class photos, but I do pay attention to what Queensberry's clients do, and they're an important subset of our customer base.

I think there's a lot to learn from them because they're serious about business and big on "systems". They need to be, given that a school gig might involve dozens of classes, each with thirty-odd kids, most of them with parents — potential customers — whom they've never met.

Imagine if the way it worked was that they all emailed, texted or phoned wanting a photo of little Johnny or Jill and — oh!— another with their class. Can I see the proofs? What sizes do you do? How much? Can I have [x]? How do I order and pay?

Maybe it was a bit like that once, but not any more.

Student details are supplied by the school. Parents have individual log-ins taking them directly to their child, and to the child's class. They view the images, order and pay online. Their order is delivered door to door, or sent to the school in a consolidated shipment. All hands off.

There's a lot goes on behind the scenes to make that work, both at the photographer and their supplier — Queensberry in the case of our clients.

But step back a bit. The photographer will have:

1. framed it right in camera (limited editing required)
2. uploaded print-ready files (quality result)
3. offered prints matching the camera's aspect ratio (no cropping errors)
4. built a simple price list (offering choice and upgrade options)
5. noticed what works (which products and prices do best)

That's the strategic forethought required to build your workflow and maximise sales and profitability.

But here's what strikes me.

Even if the only thing you offer your clients is the digital files, you'll have already done numbers 1, 2 and hopefully 3. And numbers 4 and 5 don't require extra effort — just a bit of thinking ahead to add that cherry on top — extra profit for the effort you've already put in.

Products aren't worth the hassle? No! They aren't a hassle.

Check out Alex's post, Systems don't kill creativity. 

Thanks for reading.

Cheers, Ian