Have you seen the digital press books, which many labs are now offering studios? They come in a variety of sizes and page configurations. And the prices are incredibly reasonable.
These books have tremendous marketing potential. Here are a few suggestions:
Reunion Books-Often when families get together they are not prepared to have formal portraits made. The press book gives you a great opportunity to provide a treasured keepsake for all of the family members. The book can contain both posed and photographs of the family and the reunion. You can include individual family groups, generation photos and family history pages and copies of old photographs of ancestors.
In addition to the books you can sell individual photographs to the families and this is a great opportunity to offer copy and restoration services for those old family photographs.
The same concept can be used for school class reunions or military reunions.
Community Event Books-These books provide a great opportunity to offer a photographic record of significant community events, such as, community anniversary celebrations, local festivals, fairs or military and historical reenactments.
Church and Community History Books can provide a record of church milestones and histories. This would be a great add-on sale to church directory photographs. Consider photographing significant landmarks in your community and creating a keepsake, which would include a history and detail of each landmark.
Another concept would be to create Children’s Storybooks. Tell a story be creating theme session. Photograph the child to illustrate the story and then create a storybook. This is sure to be a treasured keepsake for the child, parents and grandparents.
Other possibilities include subject books of general interest. These may include a book of spring flowers, old barns, butterflies, etc. You may consider photographing interesting personalities in your community as a “Faces About Town” collection
There will be some production time involved. However, compared to the time you may spend manipulating one image to create a digital presentation to your client, your return with these books should be much better.
These books would work well as a fundraiser for your favorite charity. Have them sell them and return a portion of the sales back to the organization.
Two labs that offer these products are H&H Color Lab on the web at hhcolorlab.com and American Color Imaging at www.acilab.comIf you need additional assistance in how to price or market these products, please contact us at info@inthespiritconsulting.com
Wednesday, October 03, 2007
September 2007 Inspirational Corner
As Jesus and his disciples were on their way, he came to a village where a woman named Martha opened her home to him. She had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord's feet listening to what he said. But Martha was distracted by all the preparations that had to be made. She came to him and asked, "Lord, don't you care that my sister has left me to do the work by myself? Tell her to help me!" "Martha, Martha," the Lord answered, "you are worried and upset about many things, but only one thing is needed. Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her."
Luke 10:38-42
Have you ever felt like Martha? Consumed by the all of the projects, activities and responsibilities of your daily life. So busy with these demands that you lose focus of what is really important.
Stephen Covey writes in his book “First Things First” about the importance of living by the compass and not the clock. In other words paying attention to what we should be doing instead or what we feel we have to be doing. In other words, doing what is important not what is urgent.
So many of us get caught in the rat race we forget to stop and consider the things, which are really important to us. Consider this. Is it more important you complete the entire stack of paperwork before you leave the office or that you are able to see your son play football? Paperwork is urgent, your kid’s are important.
Jesus reminds us in the Bible text above that we are to be more like Mary, focus our time where it is important. And the most important is our relationships. Not just our earthly relationships, but also most important of all our relationship with Him. So throw away the clocks and replace them with compasses.
Luke 10:38-42
Have you ever felt like Martha? Consumed by the all of the projects, activities and responsibilities of your daily life. So busy with these demands that you lose focus of what is really important.
Stephen Covey writes in his book “First Things First” about the importance of living by the compass and not the clock. In other words paying attention to what we should be doing instead or what we feel we have to be doing. In other words, doing what is important not what is urgent.
So many of us get caught in the rat race we forget to stop and consider the things, which are really important to us. Consider this. Is it more important you complete the entire stack of paperwork before you leave the office or that you are able to see your son play football? Paperwork is urgent, your kid’s are important.
Jesus reminds us in the Bible text above that we are to be more like Mary, focus our time where it is important. And the most important is our relationships. Not just our earthly relationships, but also most important of all our relationship with Him. So throw away the clocks and replace them with compasses.
Add-on Products Help Build Bottom Line
Who knew a $1.00 add-on product would take the business owners and their employees on a cruise. As a way to motivate their sales team a small business owner decided to create a rewards system for employees who sold specific products.
In this case the portrait photography studio was offering surface modifications on their proof products. The benefit to the customer was a more finished looking photography which now had a protective coating. The cost to the customer was $1.00 in addition to the price of the print. The cost of this was very low and provided a great additional revenue stream.
Each time this surface modification was sold the profits were deposited into a special bonus account. At the end of one year there was enough money to take the entire staff on a cruise.
This program can work in any business. Think about the products and services you offer. What things can you market as add-ons to enhance your customer’s experience with your business?
Once you determine your products, create a plan for implementation. A rewards system for your employees, as we discussed above, is a great way to get them on board and excited about increasing your sales. When you can get your sales staff excited about selling it will improve not only the sale of the add-on but in selling more product and service.
There are a number of ways to implement this kind of program. You can create special products, which are featured, in your marketing, run promotions, which include specialty products above your promotional offer or simply using suggestive selling techniques to entice your customer to buy.
Employee rewards can vary dependent on your goals. It may be something as simple as a gift certificate for dinner out or movie tickets. You may also consider offering paid time off for employees who reach sales goals. On the other end of the spectrum would be trips and larger gift items.
Use your imagination and creativity to help build sales, improve employee morale and increase your bottom line. If you need help or more information with this program, feel free to contact us at info@inthespiritconsulting.com.
In this case the portrait photography studio was offering surface modifications on their proof products. The benefit to the customer was a more finished looking photography which now had a protective coating. The cost to the customer was $1.00 in addition to the price of the print. The cost of this was very low and provided a great additional revenue stream.
Each time this surface modification was sold the profits were deposited into a special bonus account. At the end of one year there was enough money to take the entire staff on a cruise.
This program can work in any business. Think about the products and services you offer. What things can you market as add-ons to enhance your customer’s experience with your business?
Once you determine your products, create a plan for implementation. A rewards system for your employees, as we discussed above, is a great way to get them on board and excited about increasing your sales. When you can get your sales staff excited about selling it will improve not only the sale of the add-on but in selling more product and service.
There are a number of ways to implement this kind of program. You can create special products, which are featured, in your marketing, run promotions, which include specialty products above your promotional offer or simply using suggestive selling techniques to entice your customer to buy.
Employee rewards can vary dependent on your goals. It may be something as simple as a gift certificate for dinner out or movie tickets. You may also consider offering paid time off for employees who reach sales goals. On the other end of the spectrum would be trips and larger gift items.
Use your imagination and creativity to help build sales, improve employee morale and increase your bottom line. If you need help or more information with this program, feel free to contact us at info@inthespiritconsulting.com.
An Employee Covenant
Motivating employees to step-up their job performance is often one of the most challenging things for a small business owner. It no longer is enough to provide a good work environment and a fair compensation package. This is happening for a variety of issues including education social influences.
Many employees today have sense of entitlement. They feel by simply showing up they are entitled to a paycheck. We see it in retail and service businesses. Common courtesies once understood and practiced are no longer.
Here a couple of examples. On a recent trip to a fast food establishment there were a group of employees standing in the parking lot. Apparently they were on a break. Never the less, imagine the surprise to hearing them shouting expletives and showing obscene gestures to bypassing cars. As a further shock, one of them was the manager on duty.
On another occasion, a group of business associates were dining in a restaurant. One in the group asked for a drink refill. The waitress flippantly said, “When I get around to it.” Two things you should know. The individual who had made the request was paying the bill and we were the only group in the restaurant. Needless to say the gratuity became non-existent.
These examples are from the food service industry. However, this problem exists in all industries whether it is food service, retail or the corporate environment.
Now the question becomes how do we motivate our employees to perform and not just meet but exceed expectations.
One very good way is through the use of a personal covenant. It works like this. During employee reviews (and if your not having these as least every six-months now is the time to start) you provide the employee with a form with “I promise to…” written across the top,
During the review you explain to the employee that they are to write on this form the things they will do in fulfilling their position with your company. It can include everything from showing up on-time, a time-line for completing assigned tasks, reaching sales goals, completing projects on time and anything which relates to their job performance.
Ask them to spend time and complete the form during the review. Discuss their list and set quantitative and measurable goals. Then you and they sign it. This form becomes an important tool in future employee reviews.
At the future review you now have a measuring stick, which the employee created, to measure job performance. You should find the employee feels much more accountable based on the list they created. Now they are being judged on what they said they would do, not what you said they should.
This process allows for the employee to feel they are an essential part of your company. It helps them to understand the importance of their doing their job correctly and in a timely manner. You should see a boost in employee morale and job performance by using this system.
Many employees today have sense of entitlement. They feel by simply showing up they are entitled to a paycheck. We see it in retail and service businesses. Common courtesies once understood and practiced are no longer.
Here a couple of examples. On a recent trip to a fast food establishment there were a group of employees standing in the parking lot. Apparently they were on a break. Never the less, imagine the surprise to hearing them shouting expletives and showing obscene gestures to bypassing cars. As a further shock, one of them was the manager on duty.
On another occasion, a group of business associates were dining in a restaurant. One in the group asked for a drink refill. The waitress flippantly said, “When I get around to it.” Two things you should know. The individual who had made the request was paying the bill and we were the only group in the restaurant. Needless to say the gratuity became non-existent.
These examples are from the food service industry. However, this problem exists in all industries whether it is food service, retail or the corporate environment.
Now the question becomes how do we motivate our employees to perform and not just meet but exceed expectations.
One very good way is through the use of a personal covenant. It works like this. During employee reviews (and if your not having these as least every six-months now is the time to start) you provide the employee with a form with “I promise to…” written across the top,
During the review you explain to the employee that they are to write on this form the things they will do in fulfilling their position with your company. It can include everything from showing up on-time, a time-line for completing assigned tasks, reaching sales goals, completing projects on time and anything which relates to their job performance.
Ask them to spend time and complete the form during the review. Discuss their list and set quantitative and measurable goals. Then you and they sign it. This form becomes an important tool in future employee reviews.
At the future review you now have a measuring stick, which the employee created, to measure job performance. You should find the employee feels much more accountable based on the list they created. Now they are being judged on what they said they would do, not what you said they should.
This process allows for the employee to feel they are an essential part of your company. It helps them to understand the importance of their doing their job correctly and in a timely manner. You should see a boost in employee morale and job performance by using this system.
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