Sales Tacticts

I went to pick up my son from daycare today, and as I'm met by a woman trying to sell me pictures, she had 4 differnet poses consisting of 14 8x10 sheets and an 11x14 on some kind of foam core that she said was a canvas I guess cause it was textured. She wanted $30 per 8x10, $60 for any 4, or $110 for the whole package. There are over 200 kids in this daycare, the packages had to have cost her at least $20 each to print up, sort, bag. I bought none, nothing, nada, and everyone else I saw was doing the same thing. Is this truely the best method of selling pictures? Not only does it look wasteful, but it looks like quite a gamble betting that at least every other person has to buy a print for you to break even.

First, I would question the daycare as to how they gave permission for my child to be photographed. That would REALLY piss me off!

From the business standpoint, I don't know. Costco only charges like $1.65 for an 8x10 so she need not make a lot of sales. But are you not ticked off that the day care let someone in there to take pics, or did you give some kind of permission in advance?

joegolf68 wrote in post #2640169
First, I would question the daycare as to how they gave permission for my child to be photographed. That would REALLY piss me off!

From the business standpoint, I don't know. Costco only charges like $1.65 for an 8x10 so she need not make a lot of sales. But are you not ticked off that the day care let someone in there to take pics, or did you give some kind of permission in advance?

You sign something that says every 6 months or so they have someone take pictures of all the kids. I really don't mind them taking his picture, just doesn't seem like a very good business model to me. Also seem like a terrible waste to print all those pictures, most of which get thrown away.

Even at 1.65, 14 pictures is $23, plus at least $3 for an 11x14, more likely close to $5. She would need to sell a good number of pictures to make that back up.

I know the cruise ships do this all the time, and it seems like a waste to me there also. Last cruise I went on, I counted 45 8x10's they printed of my family, and we bought none.

It just looked like there had to be some kind of web software or something where they could upload the pictures, give each family a unique key to login view their pictures, and order prints without wasting thousands of sheets of photopaper.

sWampy wrote in post #2640296
You sign something that says every 6 months or so they have someone take pictures of all the kids. I really don't mind them taking his picture, just doesn't seem like a very good business model to me. Also seem like a terrible waste to print all those pictures, most of which get thrown away.

Even at 1.65, 14 pictures is $23, plus at least $3 for an 11x14, more likely close to $5. She would need to sell a good number of pictures to make that back up.

I know the cruise ships do this all the time, and it seems like a waste to me there also. Last cruise I went on, I counted 45 8x10's they printed of my family, and we bought none.

It just looked like there had to be some kind of web software or something where they could upload the pictures, give each family a unique key to login view their pictures, and order prints without wasting thousands of sheets of photopaper.

That's cool then, you knew it would happen. Seems like she is tossing a lot of money down the drain in unbought images. I think maybe I'd just ask her how many people buy them. Maybe she has a good thing, probably not that good, as I would expect she has to give something to the daycare. She is probably working on some formula that works.

joegolf68 wrote in post #2640348
That's cool then, you knew it would happen. Seems like she is tossing a lot of money down the drain in unbought images. I think maybe I'd just ask her how many people buy them. Maybe she has a good thing, probably not that good, as I would expect she has to give something to the daycare. She is probably working on some formula that works.

Obviously she makes money, it just seems like there has to be some model that would produce the same or more revenue without wasting so much paper/ink/chemicals.

If you don't go out and chase business it is not going to land in your lap. Others may take another approach such as sending home a note with the child but no one is going to pre-order packages without seeing them, I know I wouldn't as a parent. I personally think it is courageous of her to take the initiative to market these.

There is no doubt that there are some prints that are going to hit the recycle bin. It is a cost of doing business. I can only imagine the sheer number of prints that get tossed by some of the national companies that do school photography.

We have bid on a number of regional schools in my area for the 2007/2008 school year. In the school division's requirements we have to supply the full package for the student to take home and then hopefully the parents will buy. It is no small venture as we are talking approximately 800 students based on this years enrollment. I view this as a cost of doing business and the unsold packages are a cost item that is deductible. I think that we have the pricing where we should make decent money assuming our projections on the number of parents that will buy is close.

ssim wrote in post #2640693
If you don't go out and chase business it is not going to land in your lap. Others may take another approach such as sending home a note with the child but no one is going to pre-order packages without seeing them, I know I wouldn't as a parent. I personally think it is courageous of her to take the initiative to market these.

There is no doubt that there are some prints that are going to hit the recycle bin. It is a cost of doing business. I can only imagine the sheer number of prints that get tossed by some of the national companies that do school photography.

We have bid on a number of regional schools in my area for the 2007/2008 school year. In the school division's requirements we have to supply the full package for the student to take home and then hopefully the parents will buy. It is no small venture as we are talking approximately 800 students based on this years enrollment. I view this as a cost of doing business and the unsold packages are a cost item that is deductible. I think that we have the pricing where we should make decent money assuming our projections on the number of parents that will buy is close.

Times may have changed, but those school photos, are maybe 4 or 5 sheets, not 14+, and in school, most are bought, the kids all want them so they can exchange photos. At least when I was in school, 90% or more of the students bought the school pictures, I bet this woman doesn't sell 5%.

Personally if I was shooting/selling these I would........

Notify the parents in advance. They will (usually) dress the kids smarter than usual and some will anticipate the purchase and then go thru' with it.

To show the images I get books with 10 images per page, so a 20 page book would do. Dont know about the US, but here that would cost £20 a book so perhaps get 6 so they can be passed round quickly. I would also get all the images printed 3x2 and placed in multi-aperture frames for display in the center. Neither of this methods allow for the possibility of getting a good scan.

80% is the normal sales percentage on this type of work.

Printing packs and hoping to sell them died here some time back.

Gary_Evans wrote in post #2641385
To show the images I get books with 10 images per page, so a 20 page book would do. Dont know about the US, but here that would cost £20 a book so perhaps get 6 so they can be passed round quickly. I would also get all the images printed 3x2 and placed in multi-aperture frames for display in the center. Neither of this methods allow for the possibility of getting a good scan.

I had been thinking about doing something like that at my son's sports games/practices. Last year, I took a ton of pictures at his games, had them printed out as 5x7's passed them out at the next game telling anyone if they wanted any of them they were $5, 3 for $10. I sold a ton of pictures at the games, not enough to get rich, but enough to finance a few lenses. I was thinking that this year I might print them into those books, with the pictures numbered, and get the parents to tell me any they wanted printed. I'd end up with a nice book for memories, and they would get some good shots in the sizes they want, and I might even make a few bucks.

Our current school photographer distributes the order forms ahead of time, takes the pictures on a specified date, and has a "retake" day for those who are unsatisfied. The student must return the original portrait package to qualify for a retake. I have a shot at our school district contract, but may propose to split it with another local photographer. I'd much rather have just sports, prom, graduation, and National Honor Society. The portraits are a pain, given the yearbook requirements.