I swear I’ll never pay full price for a shirt, or suit, again. Why?
Two reasons. One, when I shoot weddings I am hard on my clothes (see image above for proof). So, I buy cheaper suits, shirts and vests that tend to last a year, maybe two.
You know, throwaway. When on a wedding I’ll roll around on the road, grass or climb overpasses to create fun cool images with cool angles.
My clothes suffer.
And two….years ago I bought an expensive blazer from a dude who, unbeknownst to me, was losing his men’s clothing store. I knew this after the fact. A month or so later.
See, he sold me an ugly masters-green (as in golf masters) blazer. He sold me on it. Basturd.
I bought it. It was too big and way too ugly. But I bought it anyhow. I wore it but a few times. Couldn’t stand the comments from peers about how it looked like a masters jacket. And I don’t really like golf.
And it was truth be told, ugly. Sue me.
Who knew? I didn’t.
My fault. I bought his sell and told myself never again. Lesson learned.
Until something similar happened around 2008. I was visiting another city because I was speaking at the national photography convention being held there. I thought it a good idea to buy a new quality dress shirt.
I found a high end men’s clothing store and was sold a very expensive shirt. The sales dude sold me on the idea that this expensive shirt would last a long time, and was perfect for travel. Basturd.
Perfect, so I thought. And soon discovered after but a few washes it was a piece of crap. The corners on the collar started to wear out and looked frayed. Ugh. To the waste bin.
Since then I refuse to buy from these, or similar stores and pay full price. Call me a miser, I don’t care.
Everything I get comes from Tip Top, Walmart and Winners, always on sale. My shoes too. Clearance and on sale. Hey, $200.00 shoes for $30.00??!!
Sign me up.
So last week I headed over to Tip Top. My collection of cheap, but highly wearable dress shirts, now starting to show signs of serious wear.
They had a sale on, of course. And I bought nine pairs of black socks.
I didn’t intend on getting socks, but the way they position the socks display right beside the cash made it easy. And the sign roped me in. It said: Three pairs for thirty bucks.
Plus the friendly cashier lady asked if I needed socks.
Sold. I now have a drawer full of black socks, all the same. Nine new pairs. Grab any two and I’m good to go.
(Some dudes like those colored and bright funky socks. Not me.)
There are marketing lessons well executed. And many apply to running a studio. The fundamentals of selling and up-selling are universal and timeless.
IMAGE below….me, on a wedding last year. Wearing out my clothes…
Robert N. Provencher – Your Master Coach Marketer
“If you want to be a profitable and successful photographer, then study profitable and successful photographers.”
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Robert N. Provencher – Your Master Coach Marketer
“If you want to be a profitable and successful photographer, then study profitable and successful photographers.”
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