WHY SHOULD ANYONE BUY YOUR PHOTOS
This is a question Eddie Gibb has been asking as he's been going around the countryside and I believe that he is correct that there is really no reason why people should buy photographs made by a professional photographer...

Unless a lot of people clean up their image.   Compare the way you dress to the way Eddie dresses.

Compare your studio to Eddies studio.

You'll probably agree that why would they visit your establishment unless they are desperate, why should they take you seriously if you don^'t look like the professional you pertain to be.

There were several photographers at the Direct Marketing Seminar in Auckland and one of them made a remark that there was a marked difference between the people at that seminar and those that we see at Photographic seminars in the way they dressed.   I also noticed that myself.

WE ARE IN THE MEMORY BUSINESS
Eddie asks what sort o business are we in ? We of course are in the Memory Business

However just stating that fact by itself is not sufficient because we have to show people the way in which we use memory.

If we have photographs on display in our reception rooms we must show photographs of those photographs being used in their final location.

This means if you have a 30 x 140 photograph on display of your family or any other family you should do a photograph of that room setting to show that photograph in use, to show that it can be used because for all your customers know those large photographs may be for display only and may never be used on location.

Never assume your customer knows anything.... ..and remember the golden rule of Direct Mail Advertising...

• Tell them what your going to tell them

• then tell them      

• and then tell them what you^'ve told them.

THE BEST
You will only be a success if you can show everyone of your clients the best photographs you can produce every time.

If their proofs do not represent the best you can produce then you are doing dis-service to yourself , to them and to the profession as a whole. Every photograph you produce must be the best you can produce and no holds barred.

THE NEW VOGUE LOOK
Often I hear photographers saying that your clients see all these fashion type photographs in every magazine they read.

We particularly hear this criticism coming from photographers involved in Advertising Illustrative photography when they are talking of the faults of wedding portrait photographers.

Unfortunately the average customer that walks into your studio door has not got the ability, the looks, or the body to get into those poses you see in these fashion magazines, they don't the clothes or the ability to make-up or the training for these sort of photographs.

However it does not mean to say that you can^'t incorporate into your deluxe sitting the services of a beautician to make this person up.

That you can't include a fashion co-ordinater to co-ordinate their clothes. Then let your imagination run riot with the type of photography you can create but of course be aware the photograph will look nothing like your client WAS before, which of course if the "New look" is enough won¹t effect the sales.

The majority of beautiful women don't have to pay to have their photographs done because everybody will photograph them for free.

Eddie talks of specials that he has run where he has given a discount on 20 x 16s in that way they come in to buy large prints.

He also talks of people not necessarily wanting to buy large prints and end up buying 10 x 8s and often being unhappy with them.

He talks of people of buying for price only without any concept of size of prints.   He talks of people buying photographs that are far too large in the head size.

There is a simple answer to all of these problems in that you can use Franz Barta system (if one is as good as Franz was ) and just have the one price right through to 20 x 16.

This means that they can have any size as they like for the one amount of money

....         but remember you must be good and you must be known to be good to be able to do this.

To avoid your customer ordering a print that is too large for the head size you must be like Phil Charis and have a discussion with them before you take the photograph.

You must explain why you are having the discussion, how important the ratio of head size is in the finished photograph and even if they place the photograph high up on a l6ft stud in their lounge the head will still look out of proportion if it is too large.

Remember everything else is relative in the room and immediately you get something that is out of proportion it is no longer the beautiful work of art that it can be but a slight jarring note.

So be professional in your approach to your customer discuss the appointment with them before you start, discuss size, discuss where theyre going to hang it and produce the results accordingly.

But to remember to do these things you must be professional in your work, professional in your approach and professional in the work that you produce.

Good enough will NOT do.

HOW CAN YOU CONVINCE THEM?
How can you convince them to buy large prints, why should they buy large prints?

A lot of the problems, I believe, is tied up in the way in which people look in the photographs.

of the work that is produced, that is creating the problem....

So I feel a lot of the answer is tied up in negative retouching and print finishing  and when I talk of print finishing I don't mean slapping Exhibitex on the top of a spotted print, I mean retouching the' blemishes out of a persons face, easing the lines, making them look the way they would like to look.

You must also make the people look rich, make them look important, why shouldn't they look like a million dollars