The Four Steps to Selling Albums

As photographers we spend A LOT of time trying to get new clients (you know, like the tedious task of posting on instagram, or trying to consistently blog, or pouring hours of work into SEO strategies that you don’t 100% understand). But it’s actually easier to sell to the clients you already have instead of continually hustling to get those new leads.

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THE KEY IS CREATING A SYSTEM FOR SELLING AND DESIGNING ALBUMS THAT MAKES THE PROCESS EFFICIENT AND PROFITABLE.

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So let’s start breaking down the process and giving you the first actionable steps towards creating your system. You may need to invest a little bit of extra time to get your system up and running, but albums will give you the opportunity to create the success and longevity you have been working towards for your business, so the little bit of time and effort you initially put into the process will truly pay off in the long run.

1. YOU NEED A SAMPLE ALBUM

Now, I know I will sound like a broken record because I repeat this over and over, in my mentoring and anywhere else photographers are asking questions about selling albums, but the first step is to always invest in a sample album.

There are a ton of suppliers out there for every style and every budget. I know you may feel like you don’t want to spend the money, but trust me, this is what will make your album sales take off.

Do you feel like you just can’t decide on what album to go with? I know it can be overwhelming (there are A LOT) of options out there. Look through a couple of album suppliers (it’s great to try to source local) and maybe you end up going with one because of a great recommendation or they have a great sale on. Perfect! Just commit.

Now that you’ve chosen your supplier, choose an album that fits your budget and brand.

Bonus Tip: Most Album Suppliers offer discounts for Studio Samples so you can save on your initial investment. Also, as long as you price your albums right, you will recoup all of your investment back on your FIRST SALE.

Need some suppliers to check out? I would highly recommend QT Albums, Queensberry, Dekora, Pikto, Red Tree Albums, and GTA Imaging.

2. SET UP YOUR WORKFLOW

To save yourself time you are going to need to have a system. This is where most of your initial hours will be spent when getting yourself up and running to start selling albums. You’ll want to invest in album design software to make yourself as efficient as possible. In my workflow I use SmartAlbums 2020 to design my layouts and their Cloud Proofing software to get the feedback from my clients. My clients love the SmartAlbums online previewer because it gives them a perfect visual of what their album will look like in print and it’s super easy for them to let me know what changes they would like to make.

Time Saving Tip: SmartAlbums 2020 has a released a new feature that will now Auto Build layouts for you. All you need to do is have the photos selected, choose your settings, and click one button to have a full album designed for you! Talk about amazing!

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3. FIGURE OUT YOUR WHY

A big key to selling albums is understanding your why. You aren’t just trying to make more money when selling albums, you are selling albums because you know your clients deserve to have their memories preserved forever. As photographers, that is our responsibility. So do a little self-reflection and figure out why you believe every client should have an album in their hands at the end of their experience with you.

If you need a little help, check out my Free Resource: 6 Things You Can Do Right Now To Start Selling Albums. After you complete that exercise you will have pinpointed your why and learned how to incorporate it into all your messaging and social media.

4. BE CONFIDENT

Okay, so it’s easy to just say “be confident!” but this really will be the key to selling albums to your clients. When you have a meeting and you’re showing off your beautiful sample albums, raving about all the features that you love about it, your potential clients will feel that energy. Having the confidence in the products you are offering, truly believing in them and in the positive impact they will have for your clients will translate to sales.

Use your WHY to help you communicate to your potential clients the VALUE of albums.

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YOU HAVE THE OPPORTUNITY TO OFFER SOMETHING SO VALUABLE TO YOUR CLIENTS THAT IT’S A DISSERVICE TO THEM WHEN YOU DON’T GIVE THEM THE OPTION TO GET AN ALBUM.

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Although the task of offering albums may seem like a daunting one, completing one step at a time will get you that much closer to having albums as an integral part of your business.

Think about yourself a year from now, when you’ve successfully added albums to your client workflow and every client is ordering an album from you. You’ll need less clients to reach your financial goals and you’ll find yourself having more time to do the things you love. It just starts with completing these simple steps.

-RH

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Still feeling not motivated enough to get your album system started? Check out my post “Why You Need To Be Offering Albums.”

Why You Need To Be Offering Albums

PHOTOGRAPHERS, DO YOU FEEL OVERWHELMED WHEN IT COMES TO THE IDEA OF ADDING ALBUMS INTO YOUR BUSINESS WORKFLOW?

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You might feel like there just isn’t enough time in your busy week to add ANOTHER task to your to-do list. I get that, 100%. 

The thing about albums is that they can be the key to increasing your bottom line, without needing more clients. When you create a system that is efficient you will actually SAVE TIME while making MORE MONEY. Albums can be the key to creating the lifestyle you want while reaching your financial goals.

I’ve spent the last 5 years refining my album workflow, so much so that now I only need to dedicate 1 HOUR PER WEEK to the album process even though I sell them to 95% of my clients. This means that I’m corresponding, designing, selling, and delivering an average of 30 albums while only working 50 hours PER YEAR. So if you could get a return of $50k for 50 hours of time, would that be worth it to you? I’m hoping that you answered yes. Why? Because that would mean you’re making $1000 in that 1 hour that you dedicate to albums every week, and that’s a great value for your time spent no matter who you ask.

OKAY, SO MAYBE YOU’RE NOT FINANCIALLY DRIVEN

Financial goals aren’t your number one priority for your business. Maybe you’re happy where you are with your finances and lifestyle and the reason you are in this business is to create the most INCREDIBLE CLIENT EXPERIENCE. You want every single client you work with to enjoy every moment of working with you, be elated by their stunning photographs, and then brought to tears when they flip through their album that you hand delivered. (Take it from someone who has had this experience with the majority of her clients, it’s pretty damn fulfilling.)

As photographers it’s our responsibility to ensure our client’s memories are preserved forever. We take so much care in creating beautiful images for our clients, we should be putting that much care and attention into what happens to the photos after the fact. 

Albums are the perfect opportunity to protect our client’s images and etch your legacy as a photographer. Now you might be thinking, “But Ryanne, my clients have their images accessible online, that’s all they really need and want.” Well I agree that online galleries are great and clients love the beautiful presentation and accessibility. But have you ever wondered how often your clients are actually bringing out their phone or laptop to show that gallery to friends and family? Or, thinking even further down the road, how will they show them to their grandchildren? 

Technology is fast-paced and ever-changing, so we can’t really guarantee that our photos will be available for our clients to look at in 10-15 years if they are sitting on a usb stick or on a hard drive. It’s more likely that the technology will be extinct or no longer compatible with current devices which means the photos will be as good as gone. 

When I think about that it makes me sad. There is no way I want my clients to lose access to their images in the near or distant future. In fact, I want to ENSURE that their images are preserved in a way that they will be able to pass them down for generations. Cue, albums.

This is the reason I have invested so much in creating a seamless client experience that results in the delivery of beautiful products that become family heirlooms. This is my why.

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ALBUMS HAVE BEEN THE MOST FULFILLING ASPECT OF BEING A PHOTOGRAPHER ON TOP OF BEING THE REASON I HAVE A SUSTAINABLE BUSINESS THAT ALLOWS ME TO HAVE THE LIFESTYLE I WANT.

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SO WHERE DO YOU START?

There is a sort of fire that you feel when you realize how powerful and meaningful albums can be, use this fire to get shit done. If you’re not sure where to begin you can check out my Free Resource: 6 Things You Can Do Right Now To Start Selling Albums.

After you complete the worksheet you will have taken actionable steps towards incorporating albums into your business. You’ll also have pinpointed your own why and learned how to incorporate it organically into your brand messaging. These steps will get your clients excited to order their own albums and will be the beginning of your new life, with financial freedom and time to do what you love.

Good luck, I can’t wait to see the beautiful heirlooms you create,
RH