If you know anything about me, you know that albums are something I genuinely believe in offering my clients. I know in the past I’ve gone on and on about the importance of print and why you should have printed products available for your clients, but I haven’t talked a lot about how I go about selling those prints and albums.
IF YOU ASK ME, IT’S A MYTH THAT YOU NEED TO DO TRADITIONAL IPS (IN-PERSON SALES) TO GET YOUR CLIENTS TO INVEST IN BEAUTIFUL ARTWORK AND HEIRLOOM ALBUMS.
I mean, let’s face it, an IPS model is not for everyone - for many reasons. You may not have a studio space to bring clients to, you may not live in the area where the majority of your clients live, or you’re just shy and awkward when it comes to selling and there is nothing more horrifying to you than sitting in front of people and telling them they should buy a $5000 gallery wall set from you. Whatever the reason is, you don’t need to give up on selling albums and prints if you can’t get on board with IPS.
It’s 2020 and we are in the middle of a global pandemic, virtual-everything has become our new normal and it’s the perfect wave to ride when approaching album and print sales. I think it’s time to reimagine how we “sell” to our clients. Don’t get me wrong, I definitely see the importance in showing off products to clients, getting them in their hands so they can touch and feel them, I just like to go about it a little bit differently.
Instead of following a traditional IPS model, I developed my own hybrid style of offering printed products that suites my business and personality. I’ve put together a list of just some of the ways I’ve tailored my client workflow to achieve more album and print sales throughout their experience.
1. UTILIZE YOUR INITIAL MEETING
I’ll say it again and again, get sample albums / prints to show off your products. These samples are what you will share with your clients during your initial meeting, allowing you to showcase the different options you have and help them get excited about the tangible products you offer. The booking process needs to be exciting and fun for your clients and having the option to flip through your work with their own two hands is an easy no-pressure way to sell yourself (and the products) during a crucial step of the client experience.
For me it’s all about the initial meeting. When clients are in the midst of planning their wedding it can be a really exciting time for them and I want to keep that momentum going. They’re dreaming up what their day will be like and anticipating the beautiful photographs they will have of their own wedding. In these meetings I’m going to personally ensure that the feeling of their day is captured in hundreds of perfectly imperfect little moments and then I’m also going to make sure those memories are taken care of and preserved with artisan products that are worthy of displaying their images.
While riding the high of the initial meetings, I go through all my album options with my clients - highlighting their features, the process, and the importance of printing your photographs. It’s at this point that they will decide what product is the best fit for them and their style - already making up their mind that they are going to get prints and an album when booking an initial package. It’s not uncommon for my clients to eventually upgrade their album option post-wedding and since they already made an initial investment for an album, the cost of upgrade is often worthwhile and more affordable now that the costs of the wedding are in the past. Not to mention that once my clients receive their wedding gallery they are so excited and happy with the photos that it only reinforces their initial decision to invest in printed products and this new found excitement often pushes them to upgrade.
2. HAVE AN ONLINE SHOP
There are now multiple gallery hosts that provide the option of having an online store. If you aren’t familiar with these platforms, check out Pic-Time or Pixieset to see how they’ve integrated online stores into their galleries. I personally use Pic-Time and their advanced store features are an easy way for me to make multiple additional sales from my clients after their session. Why is this so effective? Well, first off, most people love to online shop. Giving your clients the opportunity to browse products at home (which is probably where they will be putting any prints or albums they purchase) will help them visualize what it would look like and give them a no-pressure feeling while shopping and your clients have free reign to check out the products on their own time. Having an online shop is the ultimate way to sell without selling - having the photos and products speak for themselves.
Another great feature of Pic-Time is that it automatically mocks up samples of how the products look with that specific client’s images (see the sample Pic-Time Shop below), this tool really helps your clients visualize themselves in the product and ultimately care about it.
Screenshot of my Pic-Time Online Shop
3. CHOOSE YOUR PRODUCTS WISELY
Just like your photography, your products should have a style and jive with your aesthetic and brand. Chances are your clients (who already like your work) will also prefer products that align with your brand. Consider how your work looks best, is it on a deep-matte or glossy paper? Minimalist framed gallery style prints or classic wrapped canvases? Take some time to reflect on what types of products really fit your work and you’ll see how your clients will fall in love with the products as much as they have with your photography.
4.UTILIZE PHOTOS AND VIDEOS
The key to spreading the word about your beautiful products is through your advertising and social media channels. We’re photographers, so it makes sense to utilize the skills that we have to truly elevate our own promotion material. Take beautiful images of your albums and other printed products so that you have content to share across your marketing materials and social platforms. It’s great to have photos that highlight the different features of your products so that you can share that with potential and existing clients, keeping them informed really helps them narrow down what product are the perfect fit for their home and lifestyle.
Another great way to showcase the quality of your beautiful albums is to film a video of you going through it or (even better) having a client going through their own wedding album - that’s a gold mine! Your clients will love to see the albums you are putting out there for others and it will be a gentle reminder to make sure they get one of their own as they’ll start to understand the value and importance of owning one of their own.
5. RUN A PROMOTIONAL OFFER
Now whether your clients committed to anything before their session or not, there is still the opportunity to offer them printed products after the fact. Running a seasonal sale can give them that extra little incentive to buy now that there’s an opportunity to save a few dollars on a product that may otherwise be out of their budget. The holidays are a great time to run a sale for example as many people are often stuck on finding gift ideas and they’re more inclined to spend money during the holidays.
Consider highlighting certain products that really fit your clients style and maybe even mock up some digital samples for them to really envision and create excitement. Seasonal sales have been extremely successful for me over the past few years and I highly recommend incorporating them into your own client experience.
If you’re looking to run your own seasonal sale, you’ll want to check out my free resource, The Ultimate Promotional Offer Checklist which will give you your own step-by-step guide for running a promotional offer to your clients.
As the world continues to shift into a digital space I believe it’s important for us as photographers to adapt our businesses as well and keep up with the ever changing industry. Although I believe the traditional model of IPS is slightly outdated, I’m certainly not saying that there is no merit to the system. Many photographers have incredible success with their IPS workflow and client experience but it’s important to understand that there are other options out there if IPS isn’t right for your photography business. There are aspects of IPS that can be evolved and adapted to fit this new online world that we are living in, it’s just about narrowing your focus and cherry picking those elements that fit your business.
Ultimately, as entrepreneurs there will never be a single one-size fits all solution for any sales method but it’s important to take the steps to implement SOMETHING into your business. Product sales don’t have to be a scary and intimidating aspect of running a photography business, if you genuinely believe in the products and work you’re putting out there you’ll undoubtably find success in selling your albums because you’ll be able to communicate the important and value they have to any and all of your clients.
READY TO LEARN HOW TO SUCCESSFULLY SELL AND DESIGN ALBUMS?
I know that as a photographer you may not inherently have the skills to sell and design albums, that's why I created the Album Workshop.
It's a self-paced, online course that teaches you the skills you need to CONFIDENTLY sell albums to EVERY SINGLE CLIENT and DESIGN BEAUTIFUL LAYOUTS that your clients will be proud to pass down for GENERATIONS.
Albums can be the key to a sustainable business and to providing your clients with the ultimate experience.
In the course I guide you through all the ins and outs of offering albums to help you avoid COSTLY MISTAKES and learn to sell albums in a GENUINE WAY that isn’t off-putting to your clients.
I’ll teach you my method that only adds ONE HOUR to your work week so that albums can be used to make more money, without needing more bookings.
Invest in yourself and the growth of your business, there’s no better time then now.
