“It was real. Everything he said was real. Whether he was talking
about divorces, or drinking or whatever it might be… it really
happened to him. And I thought that was really cool.”
~Jay Leno~Talking about the late Johnny Carson.
There is a photographer I know who put three kids through college and ran a successful photography business, including all the trappings of modern day living and a cozy retirement plan, based on selling his 8″x10″s for $25.00.
Makes sense to me. Not everyone has to be a 5 star high end $150.00 per 8″x10″ photo studio.
The famous marketing guru Gary Halbert, when asked what was the most important thing to look for in a business, answered….:
“Give me a hungry crowd.”
If I sold $150.00 8×10’s in my area I would make some sales. But I doubt I would make a living.
(This is NOT to be confused with marketing on price as a marketing strategy. If you can’t overall earn a great yearly income and maintain long term success, then you’re failing.
Quick sales and cash grabs like those who sell sessions and digital files for crazy prices are NOT doing it right. This is not a long term term strategy. It’s a strategy for failure is all.)
A strategy for success is finding your marketing mojo and building a herd based on providing a valued service, and having them return to your studio over and over and over, mastering sales and marketing, creating a system for gathering leads, clients, and creating LONG TERM value.
I stress selling. Shy sales people have skinny kids as the saying goes.
With major emphasis on up-selling.
I realized this years ago when I became a serious student of marketing my photographic services
I became a marketer first, photographer second
I figured out for my business to work, in my small, blue collared mining community of 100,000 folks, I had to offer packages and bundles and sell a portion of them on upgrades and up sells.
Rinse. Repeat.
The MOST valuable asset in your photography business is your past clients and your relationship with them.
This isn’t rocket science. It does take courage, work and discipline, and with time your photography business will grow.
But you gotta take a hard serious look at yourself and ask some hard questions.
And then be willing to do what it takes when the answers come forward.
This Wednesday we’ll be chatting more on this topic and on selling in our next Photo Buzz livestream with your truly and John Butler.
Yours in photography and in success
Rob
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