The business end of T&I picture day

Throughout this forum, many of us have talked about the problems encountered during a T&I day. I thought it would be helpful to us and to people just getting started in this type of work if we post, in one place the things we do to make the day go smoothly. I'm not talking about the actual photography but what we do to keep things organized.

Here's what I do:

2 weeks before the scheduled day, I give the responsible party my Pre Paid envelopes/order forms. I also bring extras with me. I couldn't find an envelope that I liked so I made one. I chose to use "card size" My order form is inserted along with a business card( I'll be inserting an Ad in future ones) The outside of the envelope has my name,the team name, player name, a spot to mark if cash,and a spot for the file number.

The player gives the envelope to the person designated (assistant or parent) I take the shot, tell the person the file number, they write it on the envelope and repeat it to me. (The order form inside has complete name/address/ph and email of the customer.) Then the envelope is placed in a box. The only time an envelope is opened is if it's marked cash, then it's sealed back with tape. This ensures that all checks and cash stay with the proper order.
A lot of times the players last name and the name on the check are different.
I have his name on the envelope and on the order form the parent fills out.

This method works well for me without errors.

Who else wants to share what works for them?

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Mike, thanks for the insite into your ordering system and the process you use to keep it together. I currently do not sell my pictures but I am headed that way and this type of information will be helpful, so any advice you can give around this subject would be great. Thanks again.

jrsulli369 wrote in post #8679776
Mike, thanks for the insite into your ordering system and the process you use to keep it together. I currently do not sell my pictures but I am headed that way and this type of information will be helpful, so any advice you can give around this subject would be great. Thanks again.

No problem, I hope more people contribute to this thread.

Mike,

Thanks for starting this thread.

Here is my worflow, I either email the coaches the order forms or the leagues email them to every parent, if I am shooting a school the AD prints them well in advance. For leagues I have a check in booth where parents PAY and get a paid stamp on the form, the form is given back to the player who lines up for a picture. If they didn't bring the money they have a week to mail it in and i still shoot and record the image number. I sometimes have 3 others taking pictures during the large leagues and each photography gets a large box to put the order forms in. For schools I usually take an assistant to help collect the money and write the image number so I can focus on shooting Help and good assistants are what makes the workflow go well. I Getting a paid stamp is very important for leagues and I have never had to question whether a parent paid or not, plus the parents get to stop by my booth and look at the examples if they want to buy more.

Picture day is Saturday. This is the first time i'm doing the whole league by myself.
Last year, it was just the cheerleaders. Good idea about marking the image number.
I was going to just write down the player's name & team in the order i take them, and look up the order as I process them.
I am having a few moms help take the order forms and check for payment, then I'll have an assistant with me, to keep track of the actual shot info.

I have the league give me a roster list which an assistant uses and writes image numbers next to names on the list. I like using the list instead of using the forms themselves because a sheet of paper is easier to manage than a bunch of order forms.

On the order form (a self sealing legal envelope) I have all of the info printed for the parents to fill out; Player name, team info, package options with boxes to be checked, etc.

I like to take two pictures of each person just in case something goes wrong. I have had the camera lose focus before and not notice until PP.

After choosing which image I'm going to use I write that image number on the order form by matching the names from the roster list and the order forms. Once their uploaded to the lab I go through the order forms and purchase the prints they ordered.

I'm sure there are other ways that are better but this works for me now. I was able to do everything from shoot to completing the order from the lab in just a few hours for a few hundred photos. What ever streamlines the process is what I like to do.

I just completed my first T&I for the local football league. About 300 players and 100 coaches and 18 teams. I had 2 photographers, 2 admin at the check-in desk and 3 assistants. It was still very hectic with teams on a 20 minute schedule.

By far the biggest problem was people not bringing their order forms and wanting another on the spot. I ran out of extras. Each team was given extras but that doesn't help when they forget to bring them or the team mom just doesn't hand them out. We were forced to go to the copy machine and make copies. And then parents would walk up to the desk and say "what do we do" like they have never had school or team photos before. And many asked for items that were not on the form. For specialty items they wrote down a request and I got back to them. I can't fit everything available on an order form! (Think mouse pads, wall-clings, statuettes, aprons, sports balls, can koozies, blankets, tote bags, etc and prints available in every size possible and every combination! Actually the league suggested a smaller item list based upon previous years orders.) For others we politely said this is not Burger King---you can't have it your way.

The second problem was people wanting to pay with credit cards. The form says cash or check only. But of course people don't read. Next year I will have wireless credit card scanners to avoid this.

Overall it was a busy day but we made it through with only 1 minor problem that I resolved before everyone showed up.

I had a list from the league of each player on each team that the admins used at check-in. I had created sheets with each team name that the coach would carry to the individual station. The team sheet was wrapped around all the team order forms that the assistant collected and noted image numbers. The coach would also turn in a team form at the team photo area. That form was photographed before each team so it was easier in PP to organize. Still with all of that up-front organizing it was a big PITA to get all of the orders together with the image numbers.

As of now all orders are at the lab and should be back to me by the weekend for QC and sorting.

Hopefully my photo quality, end products and low error/repint rate will help the league consider me again next season. Last year's vendor had lots of errors, a little higher prices and several complaints. So far I've had only 1 complaint--that I didn't offer a specific item. But the parent emailed the league president and he sent it to me. The president said this one parent had always been a pain in the ass and would be gone next year.

I'm wanting to tackle the local baseball league which is even bigger. But they have a long standing relationship with the same vendor I just replaced so it will be a tough nut to crack.

I've only shot VERY limited number of T&I, but here's what I do. I have a small dry erase board that I write each team name on it and the first image of the set on it and have the first person in line hold it. I take a shot of that. I didn't invest money into pre-order envelopes, but did print some my own. Again, it was a limited number of people. My wife was the "admin" person that kept everything running smoothly. I had the easy job. I had the kids line up by jersey number. If a kid needed 2 separate orders (divorced parents), I would put both order envelopes into one envelope. That kept them all together. I had my daughter write the number on each envelope as I took the shot. Each complete team went into a large manila envelope separate from the other teams and then went into a box. I was the only shooter and my assistants worked for pizza. Then again, they were my kids, we at least the oldest 2. It may not be a fool-proof set-up, but it worked for me. I plan on getting into T&I more and am looking forward to seeing the responses on here.

We shoot portraits and team photos for several youth sports leagues each year. The key for us is to ensure that the photographer is only concerned with ... well, photography. Greeter(s) and assistants worry about anything else critical on-site and we even defer payment issues until after the shoot. The shoot is all about getting photos of the players and teams, not going crazy over the 1-2% of families that forgot to bring payment.

Pre-printed envelopes are distributed a week or two before the shoot. (Much earlier than than least too much time for the form to get lost).
We also typically post the form online as a PDF for families to download .... then bring about a 10-15% supply to have on hand as "extras" on site.
Again, if someone would like to buy photos, our aim is to make it as easy as possible.

For credit cards, we don't swipe on site, there's just an area of the form for the customer to fill in charge card info, then we take it back to the office to process. It's easier to process the cards en-mass, plus the last thing you want during a photo day is a hold up over charging a credit card. Not to mention that a declined credit card transaction is far less costly and troublesome than a bounced check.

As for tracking teams & players, this varies depending if the league or sports club provides a player roster of the teams our photographers shoot. If so, we just collect all the orders into a single envelope per team, shoot everyone that showed up, noting the photo number for each player on the roster, then shoot the team photo noting the team photo number on the envelope. Again .. no complicated delays on photo day.
If there's no roster, the only adjustment to this is that we collect order envelopes from each athlete as they step up for their portrait. Then an assistant writes the photo number on the envelope before putting it away.

this has some great info!