A Place to Grow
Years ago I interviewed, in two parts, Reg Mess, master photographer, on selling.
I asked: “What is the most common sales objection you hear from clients in the sales room?”
Reg answered, and snickered: “I don’t.”
What he means is this….when it comes to the proofing session the clients are so primed, so educated, so pumped, so ready to buy, there are literally zero objections.
As I mentioned last fall in the Part One “Throwing a grenade in the tools shed”:
Music saved me. When I was a young teen, troubled (you don’t wanna know, it was bad), lost, confused and into booze and drugs, one thing that gave my life meaning was music.
Yes, rock and roll. It was fast, furious, raunchy and powerful. Like my brain at the time. It gave me some semblance of focus and meaning.
It spoke to me. I had crates of albums and anytime I needed to escape the grind I’d peruse my selection and escape into a different universe.
Of all the bands I loved and admired- and that list is a long one IE.Queen (before they became famous), SuperTramp, Nazareth, STYX, Bad Company… on and on—– The one band that really massaged my soul was RUSH.
Why I don’t know. Their third album was considered crap by the critics and all. But I loved it!
All told, that album was true to what RUSH stood for. It was by all accounts authentic.
Maybe that’s why it spoke to me. Who knows.
So it’s without further explanation that my personal greatest concert experience was seeing RUSH in 1976 on their “Caress Of Steel” tour. Live. In person. They had just released that album.
My adrenaline was high and my excitement was wider than the bell bottoms they wore and higher than the platform shoes they strutted across the stage with.
I have often compared musicians to photographers over the years, as marketing lessons.
I’ve tried to explain to many photographers that they need to learn their craft and put as much into it as a musician does.
Many fail at this, fooling themselves into thinking they have talent and skill…..often unearned.
Mostly because they can. Cameras and photoshop allows us to cheat, so to speak.
One analogy I like to make aligns beautifully with marketing.
Let me explain it this way:
There are 3 levels of musicians…
LEVEL1- The kitchen musician. You know, they play at house parties and campfires. Good times, lots of fun and the life of many a party
LEVEL 2- Professionals. This is where you find the hardest working musicians….. Bands like KISS, U2 and many uber successful acts that sell out concerts and are loved by millions.
In this category, putting on a show is essential. Lights, smoke, and crazy antics on stage. Including epic drum solos….
and then there’s…..
LEVEL 3- Masters. This is where bands like RUSH, Neil Peart, Bob Marley, Steely Dan and many jazz musicians fit in.
These guys don’t need a big fancy show. No drum solos required. (Although everyone loves it when Neil puts out a mandatory one at most concerts.)
Truth be told, most fans would show up if they played on concrete risers, nothing more, and performed only for the sake of the music.
Musicians like Neil Young and Bob Marley fit in this category too because they created (especially Bob) a brand so big, so powerful, so deep and timeless, it becomes all about the music.
Not the show.
Let me repeat that: It becomes all about the music, not the show.
Bob Marley invented and created a whole new style of music. Who else can say that?
Neil Young is so prolific in his output, and his music so authentic, he still plays at festivals with mostly millenials.
They get him, as we did.
This, again, is timeless.
Create material that is timeless, and master your craft the way Neil Peart has mastered the drums.
If you took your skills as a photographer and were able to transmute them into a musical instrument, how good would you be?
Be honest.
Is there a way to even measure this?
If you took your skills as a photographer, brought the equal amount to say a concert violin, and stepped onto a stage, what sqawks and screeches would come forth?
I know I’d likely sound like crap. Maybe I’d put out a half decent rendition of Twinkle Twinkle Little Star.
At least that’s what I think. And I been at this for 39 years so far.
And I’m still rocking.
In many ways photography saved me too. In a much bigger way, since through it I was able to create a life long business and I was able to manifest lots of creative output.
But in reality, not much of this happens unless I undertake the marketing question and get serious about business matters.
Why? There are too many kitchen musicians out there, many willing to play any gig for beer and peanuts.
As a pro the only real measurement that matters is the audience and eventual take home pay.
For me I still need to market, put on a show so to speak. I may never be as good in photography as Neil Peart is on drums.
But I can try, and dream can’t I?
Robert N. Provencher – Your Master Coach Marketer
“If you want to be a profitable and successful photographer, then study profitable and successful photographers.”
Way back when in the day when I wore a younger mans suit, there was this studio in town that was very successful.
They had it all, including a solid reputation. It was a mom and pop operation.
My favorite.
Chatting with the pop of the ‘mom and pop’ duo one day, as he was telling me his upcoming plans to spend some time in Florida, he added:
“I can’t wait to get away from that camera.”
I was stunned by that comment. “Why?” I thought to myself.
Last week this topic came up again as I was having lunch with one of my local peers, he mentioned something similar.
“I’m like my dad, when I go home I turn work off. That part of me doesn’t exist while I’m not in it.”
I find this perplexing. But it could be me. I’m kinda weird like that.
I do know I find it odd that anyone in photography isn’t obsessed with it like a junkie is with getting his next fix.
Maybe, just maybe, this obsession, this drive, defined another way, it might be called passion.
And maybe, just maybe all told this passion is one of the reasons my photography business has worked, non-stop, endlessly bringing me and my family success, prosperity and profits.
Maybe.
I’m gonna go with that.
And I’m going to add one more important element…..marketing.
Yea. In my obsessively compulsive soul, I am about equally addicted to marketing as I am with photography.
You might call this the perfect storm.
I say, it works…. and I’m running with that.
Not turning it off. Not going away on vacation so I can “get away from my camera.”
I am 100% obsessed and addicted to photography. As a matter of fact, when I’m bored, I go to the camera store so I can cause trouble and be around photography.
I’m going away for an extended Costa Rica experience this winter and I am obsessing over which tripod and ND filters I’m hauling down there, with my complete camera system.
Lenses, flashes and camera bags. All of it.
We travel well together.
Robert N. Provencher – Your Master Coach Marketer
“If you want to be a profitable and successful photographer, then study profitable and successful photographers.”
“There are no stupid questions, only stupid people who ask questions.”
~anonymous~
True story. A lady calls our studio yesterday.
She was asking about a client’s session we had shot four weeks prior.
When Tina, the studio bozz, my queen bee and fashion goddess got on the topic of the order being in (large prints and all) she asks:
“Great! Can I come by and take a picture of the wall portrait with my cell phone so I can go to Walmart and make a print.”
I sh*t you not.
I sh*t you not.
So this is what our industry has come to.
Nothing new. I’m sure changes in our industry has happened before. Like when they switched from using flash powder to electronic flash.
Or when they dropped the big heavy cameras for leaner, meaner medium format and 33MM format.
Changes, all big changes. And as usual, stupid questions.
Questions like: “Since you’re no longer using flash powder, can we have the negatives for free?”
or
“Since you’re using a smaller format camera, can’t we have the negatives included in the deal?”
or
“Since it’s digital, and EVERYONE is doing this, AND I can easily duplicate what you’re doing using ONLY my cell phone, can I have all…..for free?”
Here’s the thing. You can’t let those questions beat you down. If you do, you lose.
Few understand the business strategies used when running a profitable photo studio.
But YOU need to understand them. Or call it a hobby. There is NO excuse for the business owner being dumb or irresponsible when it comes to using profit creating strategies that produce sales and increase profits.
People aren’t dumb. They sometimes ask dumb questions because…drum roll….:
“They don’t know any better.”
What you need to always remember is that it’s up to you to manage your clients expectations. And explain to them, communicate, show, tell and ask for the sale.
The onus is on us, as business owners.
Robert N. Provencher – Your Master Coach Marketer
“If you want to be a profitable and successful photographer, then study profitable and successful photographers.”
One of my favorite all time best seminars I personally experienced, first hand, like watching a master of masters in action, was way back when I organized a speaking gig with Al Gilbert.
Al did a live demo on how he shoots, poses, lights and controls a session.
He somehow he had contacted our city mayor to come out on a Sunday so he could demo his portrait strategies, on location, at our city hall.
It was amazing. All I can say. Amazing.
Al knew his stuff. His confidence, assuredness and the way he communicated to us and the subject at hand, was and is to this day one of the most important lessons I have ever learned.
One lighting strategy that Al used is called “subtractive lighting”, where he strategically placed light blockers to prevent certain ambient lighting from polluting the subject.
His exposure was such that the flash and the ambient all played a key role in the final image, which was stunning. But the light needed to be controlled. And control it he did.
This reminded me of Fuzzy Duenkel’s lighting strategies. Fuzzy is primarily a senior portrait artist and in my oh so humble yet accurate opinion the very best there is today.
Why? Well, first off, the results speak for themselves. And lighting control plays a huge part in all of this. Al, and Fuzzy are both masters of controlling light for a certain look and outcome.
You can see it in their work. I can spot it when it’s missing. I can see lack of lighting control a mile away.
Sadly, it’s pervasive in todays day and age of “everyone is a photographer.”
I never met Fuzzy, not in person anywho. But I did rope him in a few years ago to run a four part series online.
Even though I had the fortune of hosting and working with Al Gilbert 18 years ago, and he remains to this day my all time favorite event, I can honestly say my favorite ONLINE event, bar none, was the “Transcend the ordinary” with Fuzzy Duenkel.
Check it out:
Lighting is everything. Learn to see, control and master it.
Robert N. Provencher – Your Master Coach Marketer
“If you want to be a profitable and successful photographer, then study profitable and successful photographers.”
There are critics everywhere.
Not a job I would want. Good thing there are more creators than critics.
I’d rather be a creator truth be told.
Maybe there’s a legit reason we have critics. Maybe not.
Maybe they keep us on our toes. Maybe it weeds out the weak and infirm.
‘Thins the herd’ so to speak.
Who knows. I look at my years of print competition and all the critiques I personally gave out and received, maybe it all had a purpose.
Who knows. Maybe we’d all be fine without them. Maybe in fact we’d create even more? Even better?
Who knows.
But critics will always be with us to darken our souls and cast a shadow.
Some are legit and serve a solid purpose.
Or do they?
If something is crap, and it’s fairly obvious, then, we’d know. Because, well, it’s obvious.
We don’t need someone to point it out, do we?
I always felt the ultimate ‘critic’ so to speak is my client. Her vote counts the most.
She votes with her wallet and her heart.
If something is a work of art, whether it’s a photo or a person, and another person, say a critic, has something negative to say, maybe, just maybe that’s there opinion.
Nothing more. We need to ignore them and listen to the only critic that matters.
Is being a critic the lowest form of expression?
Let the critics do what the critics do best. Meanwhile, my job is to create.
One final point. Don’t confuse coaching, positive feedback and old fashioned kick-in-the butt mentoring on the same plane as what a typical critic doles out.
Ain’t the same. Know the difference.
Robert N. Provencher – Your Master Coach Marketer
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When I was a kid I was obsessed with cars, chemistry sets and climbing things.
You name it, I’d climb it.
When I was a teenager I was obsessed with music, beer, weed and girls…and regular run-ins with the law.
Then I entered my twenties and it was personal development, business and marketing.
And I was always shy to boot. A lot of people are surprised when they hear this about me.
I tell them it’s my dirty secret. I also tell them that the experiences I had in life, good and bad, are what made me. For better or worse.
That we need to get over the shame, blame and game playing and move on, build a life today. Not live in the past.
When I look back at my life I can see where creativity was working for me. Even if I were getting in trouble.
Creativity was never stifled or programmed out of me. Good thing.
Creativity, a dash of passion and dose of courage pushed me forward into running my own business.
I was always grateful I never turned too far down the wrong road in life. It could have happened.
I was horribly insecure and shy. But I had enough ambition and balls to stay the course.
Being in business is holistic. I look at the whole picture now. The mind, soul and spirit.
Balance is key. I understand that hard work is very important. But, doing the wrong type of work could throw me off course.
Doing too much, too much of the wrong work would really push me down a rabbit hole.
Truth is, I have an addictive personality. Who doesn’t?
And I need to keep an eye on myself, stay the course and push for balance.
But I do love business and marketing. And photography.
What a deadly combination. It’s one of the key reasons why I love hearing stories from other photographers. Whether they are stories of success , struggle or failure….they all teach us.
But we need to be open. And honest. And brave. Facing the shame, the inner dragon, is the biggest challenge of all. With the highest returns.
Robert N. Provencher – Your Master Coach Marketer
“If you want to be a profitable and successful photographer, then study profitable and successful photographers.”