Can you boost your sales average ?

[plusnq]

Hi,

I thought I might share my experience with two distinct methods of selling retail portraiture based through the same practice. Earlier this year we had a pipe burst between the floors of our house/studio area and this badly damaged the hardwood floor and walls in our viewing room. I was forced to have online viewing rather than personal sales sessions in the viewing room for nine months since "Scamcorp" a local Queensland insurer took so long to approve and complete the repair.To paint a picture, my studio area is quite workmanlike whereas my viewing room is very personal and has a large television and room to display products easily.

In the previous period with a functioning viewing room and displayed artwork showing products we had an average sale price of $1132 per customer. After the damage, I continued to show the artwork in the studio area but I was not able to hold sessions in the viewing room. Previously orders were taken immediately on the viewing day, confirmed 48 hours later and processed. Online sales took an average of 23 days for an order (one client taking nearly four months to complete an order), and the average sales fell to $548 per session. I sold predominantly matted prints with only two large canvases or framed work being sold. Previously I sold more than half our clients a large canvas or framed print.

So in my business (and YMMV) the online sales took longer to get an order and the orders were smaller and rarely sold a large wall print or canvas. I thought it was interesting and that i would share this experience. Do you have any experiences with selling that you might wish to share?

Cheers

Shane

[Scottymc]

This is more than interesting. Do you believe that seeing the prints in person had an effect to people's decisions. its very hard to imagine a photo framed properly and displayed in a nice way?
you have my interest sir!.

[Lost]

Great thread

I never do did online sales. Total waste of time IMO. portrait photos are a personal thing so there should be personal contact between both parties.

The days of old little proofs to take home had the same problems as on line sales.

when personal sales are done i could explain how i would improve their image/s and get feed back to what they wanted.

I also found on the spot sale was great also. These were done straight after the session and viewing the raw images.

where possible, ask the clients not to have the kids with them when ordering as kids can reduce sales a lot. The family's money controller has to be at the sale sessions BTW

If you want really good sales; employ a sales persons as they can up talk the images better than the actual photographer.

But please; never use pressure sale tactics. I had a saying/motto that "pressure selling is not required at......".

[timmo]

Hi Shane,
We kinda talked about this when you were up in the Bay several months ago. We both agreed then, as we do now, that presentation
is fundamental to not only how you are perceived as a photographer, but one's professionaliam, and the HUGE impact that well presented
prints/canvasses have on our potential customers. I would imagine ( not having any of my own) that seeing a child on a 30x 30 canvas
would impact my buying decision immensly.

As a landscaper, I find that once people see the shot framed or on canvas, well the real hard work is done.
cheers
tim

[plusnq]

Hi Scotty,

Its amazing to us but I have had clients wondering how big a 16x 20 inch mat is?
I think its the tangible, the emotional and the limited time that seems to make the difference. I am a rubbish salesman but I think the enthusiasm for the product and the being able see, feel and smell a product makes the difference to the end sale prices.

Cheers

Shane

[plusnq]

Great thread

I never do did online sales. Total waste of time IMO. portrait photos are a personal thing so there should be personal contact between both parties.

The days of old little proofs to take home had the same problems as on line sales.

when personal sales are done i could explain how i would improve their image/s and get feed back to what they wanted.

I also found on the spot sale was great also. These were done straight after the session and viewing the raw images.

where possible, ask the clients not to have the kids with them when ordering as kids can reduce sales a lot. The family's money controller has to be at the sale sessions BTW

If you want really good sales; employ a sales persons as they can up talk the images better than the actual photographer.

But please; never use pressure sale tactics. I had a saying/motto that "pressure selling is not required at......".

Good advice Ian. Thanks

[plusnq]

Hi Shane,
We kinda talked about this when you were up in the Bay several months ago. We both agreed then, as we do now, that presentation
is fundamental to not only how you are perceived as a photographer, but one's professionaliam, and the HUGE impact that well presented
prints/canvasses have on our potential customers. I would imagine ( not having any of my own) that seeing a child on a 30x 30 canvas
would impact my buying decision immensly.

As a landscaper, I find that once people see the shot framed or on canvas, well the real hard work is done.
cheers
tim

But I can buy landscapes online :)

I totally agree Tim.

[Lost]

But I can buy landscapes online :)
.

and it's sooooo cheap!!!

[Scottymc]

haha
Your photography is good enough as a salesman i reckon!.
Ill do all mine online. Because im one of the 1000's of trash that do haha.

[Lost]

haha
Your photography is good enough as a salesman i reckon!.
good photography helps but it's only a small part of selling photography and then selling photographs.

[Lost]

in the old days; many photographers would have duplicate slides made of the negatives and they projected those in the studio. There is a saying that people buy what they are shown. Show them 7 x 5 inch photos they will buy 7 x 5; show 30 x 40 they may well buy 24 x 30. It has been proven most will buy the size or two under the displayed size. I sold a lot of first run 10 x 8 photos; "cheap" to get printed but they had good value in the clients eyes.

The was also gadget that projected an image from a negative or a small 4 x 5" photo. Anyone remember those things; I have forgotten how they worked now.


Yep; it's all about presentation and style.

And the old days; only 10-15 maybe 30 photos were taken at a portrait session

Getting a bit off topic here.. sorry

[plusnq]

All good stuff Ian. I agree. My canvasses on display are large with the smallest in the entry way being 24 inches. I use a 60 inch TV to display on and the clients love that. I have just recently purchased some software called Proselect to aid in the sales process.I'll update how that goes later in 2012.

I only show my clients 30 images as a rule. The less chance they have to be in a reject mindset, the better the sales seem to be for me. When I showed many more the clients used to spend hours cutting down the list of images. That got them into a mindset of culling and rejecting. Now I try to create five sets of six images for them to choose from.

I found that tactile approach where the client is holding products in their hand, especially when I have a matted print of one of their session in amongst the products really helps. I have a product which includes silk covered box with 25 11x14 matted photos and two picture frames. I show the box with the matted photos and a framed version of the one from their session. It gets the client into the idea that buying more is easy and that 11x14 is not a big size. The images become interchangeable in the frames and i have found that the client is more at ease in purchasing.

Ian these threads are good for aspiring pro's including myself. Please keep the good ideas coming.

Cheers

Shane

[plusnq]

Ok. I have mentioned that I focus on being a full service business. To me the whole experience is what sells not just my images. in other threads I outlined why I went this way rather than just offering a CD of images. My final piece in the service is the delivery of the product to the customer. This year I made them come and collect rather than deliver, as I found that last year I was still delivering canvasses at 6.30 pm on Christmas eve with three kids in the car. Way too stressful. Far too easy to damage the products.

So my packaging tries to be consistent with my brand as a full service studio. We gift wrap the products and join them together with a bow and a thank you card. This has always been well accepted by the client. I just thought I'd share an image of a package that is being collected this morning.

Cheers

Shane

[angel]

as i give my clients all their photos on disc (in the most part) i don't have a need for a viewing.. but otherwise i would do everything online, but i do agree that it takes allllllot longer, i have only just finalised my wedding clients from March this year.. yes thats right March.. because they took soo long just to pick their prints that was included in the package. This then looks bad on me, friends would go.. "oh can we see your wedding photos? " client: "oh i haven't got them yet" as i am sure they wouldn't tell them that it was their fault.. i bet they are sick of me hassling them for their choices hahaha but thankfully all done.. and just in time for my new custom packaging to tie in with my branding :D

one of my recent clients gave me lots of good praises on it.. saying how much she loved it.. so glad i changed it up.

plusnq- your packaging is so pretty. love it.

[MickT]

Great thread Shane.

Having seen your studio and viewing room "in the flesh" I am not surprised that your average sale exceeds $1,000. Of course talent is is a prerequisite (and you have bucket loads) but a set-up like yours screams "professional" and that makes people feel comfortable to part with the dollars. I learnt heaps from my stroll through your studio ... now I just have to find the courage to apply some of it :)

[plusnq]

as i give my clients all their photos on disc (in the most part) i don't have a need for a viewing.. but otherwise i would do everything online, but i do agree that it takes allllllot longer, i have only just finalised my wedding clients from March this year.. yes thats right March.. because they took soo long just to pick their prints that was included in the package. This then looks bad on me, friends would go.. "oh can we see your wedding photos? " client: "oh i haven't got them yet" as i am sure they wouldn't tell them that it was their fault.. i bet they are sick of me hassling them for their choices hahaha but thankfully all done.. and just in time for my new custom packaging to tie in with my branding :D

one of my recent clients gave me lots of good praises on it.. saying how much she loved it.. so glad i changed it up.

plusnq- your packaging is so pretty. love it.

Thank you Angel. Are you offering prints as well as CD? I think the CD model's big advantage is the lack of extra work in producing prints, packaging, image selection etc .

Cheers

Shane

[plusnq]

Great thread Shane.

Having seen your studio and viewing room "in the flesh" I am not surprised that your average sale exceeds $1,000. Of course talent is is a prerequisite (and you have bucket loads) but a set-up like yours screams "professional" and that makes people feel comfortable to part with the dollars. I learnt heaps from my stroll through your studio ... now I just have to find the courage to apply some of it :)

Hi Mick,

Thanks for the kind words. The phrase "more gear than talent" comes to mind. Without a doubt the impressions of the studio and viewing room do help differentiate my studio.
That differentiation is part of the marketing battle that photographers have. I am sure if you put your ideas into practice that you will do well.

Cheers

Shane

[mbrown]

I could not agree more. I do around 50% of my print sales online though, mainly due to the fact that my business model would cost a fortune to put event staff at every venue (i.e. 5 different grounds on the same day)

I will however look at something over the next few months for our personal photography, portraits etc, I agree 100% that this really is the best way to go for that type of work. It's a lot more personal and there is a lot more emotion when viewing with the Photographer and seeing what the end results would look like.

[angel]

Umm not really in a general sense.. i offer a disc in my displayed packages but sometimes i do offer prints as a promo. but i do have them in wedding packages, i have just changed it from being with my 2 bigger packages.. to only if they book me at the time of the meeting (or within the 7 days i allow after meeting)



Thank you Angel. Are you offering prints as well as CD? I think the CD model's big advantage is the lack of extra work in producing prints, packaging, image selection etc .

Cheers

Shane

[plusnq]

Umm not really in a general sense.. i offer a disc in my displayed packages but sometimes i do offer prints as a promo. but i do have them in wedding packages, i have just changed it from being with my 2 bigger packages.. to only if they book me at the time of the meeting (or within the 7 days i allow after meeting)

OK. Thanks. I think i'm getting it. Just thinking aloud but do you think it might help if you had a print extension fee? Here's your CD, pick your prints and let me know within one month. Otherwise there is a print extension fee of $100. Send them an email after two-three weeks highlighting the deadline and the fee. People get caught up in life and need a jolt to action sometimes.

Sounds like your rebranding/ packaging went really well. Congrats

Cheers

Shane