The Portrait Credit program
Tuesday August 8, 2006 by Mitche Graf
I know some wonderful photographers who have a tough time getting clients to invest $1,000 on their wedding photography. I also know many average photographers who command sales averages well north of $5,000. I’m here to tell you that since instituting the Portrait Credit program, my studio’s sales average is more than $8,300 per wedding. It’s not due solely to our photography; it’s also the way we bundle and sell our products and services, with the Photo Credit program as an integral part of our business.
One frustrating thing about wedding photography is having to depend on post-wedding sales orders. Saturday mornings when we roll out of bed for a wedding, we don’t know for sure how profitable the day will be. We speculate that the couple’s parents, grand-parents, bridal party, assorted aunts and uncles and a few close friends will order prints, but there’s no guarantee how much they’ll spend.
When we book the wedding, we collect the names and address of parents, grand-parents, brothers and sisters, aunts and uncles, best friends, bridesmaids and groomsmen, and anyone else who’s special to the couple. We tell the clients that 30 days before the wedding, we’ll send everyone on the list a mailer that explains our three-for-two Portrait Credit special, a program that affords substantial savings on prints. You’ll be amazed how many names and addresses your clients come up with when they’re going to be heroes in the eyes of their families and friends.
Thirty days before the wedding, the bride and groom and their parents will be living in wedding chaos, and subject to several powerful emotions. They’ll feel excitement, enthusiasm, anticipation and rampant family love. With everything planned, booked and mostly paid for, now’s a perfect time to capitalize on those emotions, and to alleviate your own anxiety over the post-wedding sales.
Guests know they’ll be wanting photographs from the wedding, even if they don’t know which ones. With the Portrait Credit program, for every $2 paid before the wedding, the customer receives $3 worth of credit toward any product we offer after the big day. Whether they plan to purchase a parent album, a wall portrait, or a series of gift portraits, they’ll be delighted to take advantage of your money-saving offer. For example: $10,000 paid buys $15,000 of Portrait Credit;$5,000 paid buys $7,500 of Portrait Credit; $2,500 paid buys $3,750 of Portrait Credit; $1,000 paid buys $1,500 of Portrait Credit; $500 paid buys $750 of Portrait Credit; $250 paid buys $375 of Portrait Credit; $100 paid buys $150 of Portrait Credit.
We have yet to sell the “whopper” $10,000, but listing it makes the other investment tiers look even better to our clients. I must
caution you, if you are selling 8×10s for $20 each, this program won’t work for you. There must be a profit margin built into your pricing structure or this promotion will eat you alive. You can look at the program in one of two ways: you are giving clients a product bonus of 50 percent (buy two, get one free); or you are discounting the sale by 33 percent (giving $3 worth of products for only $2).
From experience, I know the three-for-two credit formula is the most effective. But if your pricing won’t sustain that percentage,
you might consider instituting a five-for-four or four-for-three credit formula instead.
The mailer we send out informs the recipients that they have two weeks to respond to the offer by filling out the included order
form and returning it to the studio along with the payment. The cover letter in the mailer is an opportunity to introduce your-self to potential clients and let them know you look forward to meeting them on the wedding day. It’s all about the emotion, and building a relationship with the family members and friends is a big step the right direction.
When an order comes in, we send the customer a professional-looking gift certificate with the credit amount written in. In 2004,
this program generated $1,712 per wedding in pre-wedding day sales. In 2005, the figure jumped to $2,188 per wedding.
On the day of the wedding, I have the benefit of knowing exactly what the couple’s family and friends have ordered, so I can “create” those products throughout the day. If I know that Mom has ordered a 30-print, 5×7 parent album, for example, it will influence the way I shoot certain events during the day. The concept can be applied to just about any situation or product line.
