Saving the World One Pixel at a Time

Joe shooting in the studio

It may be hard to believe but just about a few days ago lots of Chicken Littles were predicting the end of civilization, as we know it just because the Mayans predicted it. In a few days we’ll be celebrating the beginning of a new year, so it’s time to make plans and even a few resolutions for making our operations more successful next year. In this holiday spirit, I’d like to present a few suggestions that you might try keeping.

1. Send regular marketing mailings to existing and potential clients. Don’t have a list? Make building a mailing list Job One for the new millennium. If you’ve never built a database before, programs such as FileMaker Pro include customizable templates that make it easy for anyone to have a database in just a few minutes.
2. Since clients like to deal with people they know, communications will be the key to success in the new year. Look at how some new communications technologies can help your operation but don’t ignore any of the old ones. For small, photography operations, e-mail newsletters are a great way to build business.
3. Don’t just do it for the money. Take some of your success and help others. You can donate a product or service to a charitable auction or pitch in and help feed homeless people at a shelter.
4. This year, you’ve got to get organized. One of Farace’s immutable laws of the universe is that you never have enough desk, office, wall, or (fill in your favorite) space. Parkinson once stated that work expands to fill the time allocated to it, the same might be said about workspace.
5. Join a networking group, it could be your local Internet Chamber of Commerce or just one of the many lead groups out there. Being a sole proprietor can be lonely and interaction with other human beings is good for the soul and could generate some new business.

As the clock ticks toward midnight and champagne is cooling in the buckets, look back at what you did in the past millennium. Too often we take our accomplishments for granted—as if they were always there—and forget how hard we worked to achieve them. Then look forward toward this new millennium with hopes it will be even better. Happy New Year.

Here it is with just two or three (depending on your state’s “blue laws”) shopping days before Christmas and your balance sheet is pretty much set in rapidly hardening concrete. Let’s hope you’ve been nice and not naughty and didn’t overdo spending. It’s too easy to get caught up in the trappings of success when you haven’t quite made it yet. Yeah, I know your copy of TurboTax told you if you bought that British Racing Green Range Rover Uncle Samuel is gonna kick back two hundred bucks on each lease payment but it didn’t tell you who was going to send the $900 payment each month while you wait for the effect of that tax break to kick in.

If you don’t already know this, have a sign a put it above your desk that reads: Nothing kills a professional photography operation faster than high debt load. Yet there are times when you need to spend money and there’s no income. What’s a poor photographer to do? If you don’t already have a line of credit with your bank, now is the time to get one. Whip one together before your banker looses the Christmas spirit and tightens credit on business loans.

Whatever you do: Don’t blow that line of credit on goodies. I watched one talented photographer get a line of credit and spend it on non-essential items that made him look successful but he didn’t have anything left when the business hit a slack period. Later, I watched the Sheriff padlock his office doors and the IRS post notices for not paying his tax bills but boy his custom made furniture looked great through the glass doors covered with notices from his landlord shutting him down. Don’t let this happen to you.

Even the smallest line of credit the bank will grant is better than wondering how you’re going to meet expenses after the holidays. My original business line of credit was $5,000 and you would have thought it was $500,000 because of the effect it had on me, my partner, and the studio. A line of credit means you don’t have to put off paying bills to your vendors. The worst thing that can happen to you is that you start treating your vendors with the same kind of vaguely disguised contempt that far too many business clients have for us. Some photographers can do that, but if you’ve been with me so far, I know you’re not that kind of photographer.

Next week, I’ll offer a few New Year’s Resolutions you should consider, in the meantime I’ll leave you with a Merry Christmas and something Ben Franklin should have said—“A penny spent is a penny that’s long gone.”

It Business Friday and rather than trying to scare you with discussing how bad the economy may be—you already know that—I’d like to give you some food for though to get your creative juices flowing:

I’m often asked where the ideas for the stories that I write for magazines and blogs like this originate. Many times they’re a reflection of the projects and problems I face in daily life. Other times, I get ideas from readers. Recently I spoke with a photographer in Montana and he mentioned his frustration about the limited amount of creativity he was able to apply to current assignments.

Let’s face it, not all of the work we produce for clients could be considered “creative.” Sometimes the nature of the project itself forces us to become merely passive recorders of an events (although it doesn’t have to be that way) but I had a solution for him and although he knew deep down inside that it was true, he laughed when I gave it to him. To get the kind of unlimited creativity that we all crave, sometimes you just have to do the job for free. Before you think I’ve lost my marbles, let me explain. There are several kinds of projects that allow total in control of all creative aspects and here are just a few:

New Portfolio. When’s the last time you updated your portfolio? Sometimes you get so busy with paying projects you can overlook the marketing tool that brought many of those clients to you in the first place. You should update that portfolio to include your personal work or self-assignments that demonstrate some of your capabilities that potential clients may not already know about.

Client Mailers: While many creative types use samples of recent work as promotional mailers, it doesn’t have to be that way. If you want to obtain more assignments of a certain type, create one for yourself, then mail a copy to everybody and his brother. Since many people send holiday-oriented mailers, choose a less popular holiday. For many years, I did a Halloween promotional mailing featuring whimsical images of teddy bears (yes, teddy bears.)

Promotional Projects: After a Mary attended an environmental portraiture workshop, she contacted a local bank suggesting they mount an exhibit of portraits of local professional women—starting with the bank;s president. She used that as an entrée to contact local businesswomen and made dramatic portraits of them under the photographer’s total creative control. She even talked a local photo lab into making the prints for free in exchange for “promotional consideration” as they say on TV. At the end of the two-month exhibit, several of the women featured in the portraits bought prints for themselves. It was a win-win situation for everyone.

But be careful: All this creative activity can become a money pit. You can easily kid yourself into believing you are actually working, when, in fact you’re not producing income. Being a professional also means you should make a profit from your creativity. Any promotional activity must be approached just like it was a client project: Set a budget, production schedule, and completion date. It ain’t easy being green but it’s just as difficult being creative on purpose.

Just before Labor Day, it’s Business Friday and time for a reminder about a few of my favorite business rules of thumb:  There are lots of  so-called “rules” that can affect a studio’s profitability but here are a few of my favorites:

• A prospect must encounter at least 28 “impressions” of the photographer or studio before they become a billable client.
• 80% of the gross income of a studio is derived from 20% of its customers.
• When a client has a good experience with your studio they tell two people. When they have a bad experience they tell ten people, so the odds are not in your favor. And it pays to do a good job, even when you may not feel like it.

If you don’t believe these rules apply to your operation, you’re an exception. Over the years and in speaking with owners of both large and small studios, they’ve agreed that these rules are true for them.

How you handle client complaints is sometime more important that the quality of your photography. Bad news travels fast but word about a bad photo shoot travels at Warp 10. We all try to do a good job but on some day’s we’re Francesco Scavullo and on other days we’re Frank N. Stein. But it’s how you handle problems that will set you apart from the competition.

Correcting problems is an important component in retaining a client. But what happens after you deliver a job and the client isn’t happy? Recently, this happened to a photographer I know and here’s how it was handled: They started by asking for a face-to-face meeting with the client to review the images and go over the problems. The truth is that the work wasn’t all that bad. It wasn’t as good as a similar assignment the studio had done a year ago but was within acceptable levels of professional performance. At that meeting, he found out what was really bothering the client. The real reason the customer was unhappy was that they didn’t like working with a particular photographer from the studio and that’s why it was also mutually decided to re-shoot some of the setups but also that someone else would handle the re-shoot.

This client spent a lot of money with the photographer and had been a source of previous referrals, which is why  my friend wanted to keep it that way. Re-shooting was cheaper (out-of-pocket costs were under $100) than losing a valuable client. The client was impressed that one of the studio’s owners cared enough to meet with them and work out a way to solve their problems.

So what’s the big deal you say, anyone would have done the same thing? The difference is that I would do the same thing even if a client spent very few dollars with me and had never referred an assignment. Wouldn’t you?

“A recession is when your neighbor loses his job; a recession is when you lose your job”—old economist’s proverb

3D Photography. Why not?

As independent photographers we can’t get fired or laid off but that doesn’t mean we can’t lose our job or our business. I may not know the correct economic terms to describe this business cycle that we’re experiencing but I know that some of my friends—if not my neighbors—have lost their jobs and are having a helluva time finding another one. You’ve probably already noticed that many potential buyers are hesitant to spend any money in this economy. As independent business people we need to add value in order to shake that cash loose from those dusty wallets and purses.

One of the easiest and least expensive changes to make is better service. Look for ways to streamline procedures making sure customers get their products and services faster, then tell everybody about it. This step can not only help spark sales in this economic slump but when things get better—and most economists expect that to happen “real soon now” you’ll be positioned to deliver higher volume in less time. More productivity always translates in more profitability.

I’ve always found that when you’re working on any kind of marketing program, something good always seems to happen. Sometimes it’s attributable to these renewed marketing efforts, other times it’s indirect, but no matter which way clients comes in the door, a savvy photographers is always glad to take their money.

Here are a few other suggestions that can help you make more money today: Increase your product selection by adding to the low end to increase volume and at the high end to attract new well-heeled buyers that are looking for the best. Offer a money-back guarantee. Show you have confidence in your product offerings and prospective clients will enough have confidence to throw some of their money at you.

One of Farace’s immutable laws is that when cash gets tight; it’s time to step up your marketing efforts and while you may not think faster delivery or a guarantee is part of anybody’s marketing plan, I believe anything that helps clients spend money is marketing. The corollary to this law is that when cash is readily flowing; it’s still time to step up marketing efforts.