Tournament Sales Idea

I've got the potential to cover a multi-day baseball tournament this summer. The organizer is concerned that on-site photo sales paid by cash will eat into other fundraising efforts where they have higher returns. So, I'm trying to balance their concerns with my bottom line (plus I'm donating a portion back to the tourney).

So, I thought that a good way to reduce their concern is to set up a booth at the tourney and by the end of the tourney I could have a large majority of the photos on-line. Parents could stop by the booth, see a slide show of photos on a large monitor. If they see something they like (and it's on-line already) then they could order it right then and pay by credit card. The credit card payments would be possible by using a cellular 'air-card' for internet access.

Do you guys think this will:
1. Be a popular option for parents to buy products at a ball tournament?
2. Ease the fears of the organizers?

Thanks!

"by the end of the tourney" - if you want on site sales you're going to need to be doing this throughout the tournament, having card runners, someone culling, people working the table with at least two or three screens going. Parents do not want to sit around in line going through thousands of images to find their kid, and even then they're writing down file names and comparing, etc.

Some on site sales are good, others are not. I know one photographer who at some events he makes thousands upon thousands of dollars, however, at others he's ditched on site and went to straight online ordering only (which he never did before). The tournaments are NEVER going to be easy to tell what is going to happen, some are good and some are bad. So popular for parents depends - is it a tournament that is memorable, is it something that is hard to get in to, is it something special or just another run of the mill tournament they do every weekend.

Ease the fears of the organizers - I don't get them for having a fear if they're getting a cut to tell you the truth, they should have as many options they can to make money. If a product is wanted/needed they will spend their money on it, simple as that. I've run tournaments, coached in them, etc. and if you run them right you offer things they'll break the wallet open for, parents are not sitting there going "do I spend $20 on the photos or $20 on my kids food" - the photos usually wait if they don't have the money so you're the one losing, not the organizers.

If possible have EVERY option of pay...cash, credit, check!

Mike,

Thanks for the feedback. The way the organizers see it - if they sell a t-shirt for $10 and it cost them $3, then they make $7. If the parent spends $10 on photos instead of a t-shirt, then they get (let's say 10%) $1.

My plan would be to get photos uploaded after the games are over each day, although Saturday will be difficult since that is a full day of games and will probably be 1000's of photos.

Thanks again! I appreciate the feedback!

If you don't have a lot of help (any?), I'd skip the idea of on-site sales and focus (no pun intended) on taking pictures. Maybe set up a booth w/ a slide show of some of your work to promote yourself, but I'd worry about getting shots first. If it's like some of the tournaments I've seen, at the big complexes, you've got multiple games going on at the same time. Hard to cover that AND try to sell stuff there.

With a promo booth, all you need is someone there to answer questions and hand out info about where to find your pics and how to order them. Part of this would naturally include contact info.

Mk1Racer wrote in post #11793273
If you don't have a lot of help (any?), I'd skip the idea of on-site sales and focus (no pun intended) on taking pictures. Maybe set up a booth w/ a slide show of some of your work to promote yourself, but I'd worry about getting shots first. If it's like some of the tournaments I've seen, at the big complexes, you've got multiple games going on at the same time. Hard to cover that AND try to sell stuff there.

With a promo booth, all you need is someone there to answer questions and hand out info about where to find your pics and how to order them. Part of this would naturally include contact info.

If plans hold up, I'll have my wife running a booth, showing photos on a slide show and (hopefully) placing orders from parents directly into my website.

Event photography is an instant gratification game. The best place to make a sale -- practically the only place -- is at the event. That's why the better event photographers make and sell prints at the event. After the potential customers have left to go home, their interest in pictures rapidly diminishes, and few will be interested in buying prints in the following weeks.

Good event photography setups offer contact sheets of the day's pictures for viewing, indexed with numbers so that potential customers need only to look at the sheets and ask for a number to make a purchase.

One recent racing event had an official photographer who brought a Canon 9000 printer and was selling 13x19" prints at trackside. The printer was constantly busy from customer sales.

DC Fan wrote in post #11795392
Event photography is an instant gratification game. The best place to make a sale -- practically the only place -- is at the event. That's why the better event photographers make and sell prints at the event. After the potential customers have left to go home, their interest in pictures rapidly diminishes, and few will be interested in buying prints in the following weeks.

Good event photography setups offer contact sheets of the day's pictures for viewing, indexed with numbers so that potential customers need only to look at the sheets and ask for a number to make a purchase.

One recent racing event had an official photographer who brought a Canon 9000 printer and was selling 13x19" prints at trackside. The printer was constantly busy from customer sales.

I think the disadvantages of me not printing on site will be outweighed by the advantages of being able tto offer a wide variety of products that can be ordered on site, paid for by credit card and shipped directly to the customer's home.

Event photography is an instant gratification game. The best place to make a sale -- practically the only place -- is at the event.

This is half true, yes it's an instant gratification thing (impulse buy) but it is by far not the only place to have sales. Some do very well with on site sales and some do better with online sales, it all depends on how the tournament is set up. More and more parents are asking to do it online so they have a chance to sit down and go through them all and pick the best. It really depends on the type of tournament.

That's why the better event photographers make and sell prints at the event.

Um, OK - this is insulting to many top event photographers that don't do on site, thanks.

After the potential customers have left to go home, their interest in pictures rapidly diminishes, and few will be interested in buying prints in the following weeks.

My experience, and talking with a few others who do it, this is true in a sense. If you get them online quickly in a place they can find their kids images quick and easy you can still harness the impulse buy. The problem is when you let it drag, you add the images two weeks later, or even a week sometimes. The stuff has to be up in 2-4 days after the tournament and then have to give a reminder every so often for the first month. After a month a gallery turns pretty cold, not many visit, but the whole it's gone soon as the tournament is over myth is just that, not exactly true.

Good event photography setups offer contact sheets of the day's pictures for viewing, indexed with numbers so that potential customers need only to look at the sheets and ask for a number to make a purchase.

What year are you living in? I haven't seen a contact sheet print out since my playing days in the '90's!! I don't know one photographer who uses them, the "contact sheet" has long been replaced with file names on computers that they write down and compare. Maybe they still exist somewhere but all I've talked to do not use them and just have a screen with scrolling images going and the file name.

One recent racing event had an official photographer who brought a Canon 9000 printer and was selling 13x19" prints at trackside. The printer was constantly busy from customer sales.

Good for them! If I had the man power to do on site prints at tournaments I'd do them if it was something that was worth it, right now there's really only one that would probably do better with on site and internet sales than just online. However, it's a quick fly across the country thing so hard to bring printers and get staff out there.

Info...

http://blog.photoshelt​er.com …-event-photographers.html

MJPhotos24 wrote in post #11797932
Info...

http://blog.photoshelt​er.com …-event-photographers.html

Great article! Thanks for posting!

Solid information mike.

Honestly, everything in that article screams profitable information. I would take a hard look at that link and read and reread.

I agree with MJ.
Also there is no way I would take a printer to a baseball tourney unless I could setup inside, too much dust.
To the OP, the organizer has had his ear bent by the T shirt salesman. This is a common arguement that doesn't hold water. T shirts and photos are different animals.

MJPhotos24 wrote in post #11797932
Info...

http://blog.photoshelt​er.com …-event-photographers.html

As the others have said, excellent info. Thanks!!!

I believe Hammy has said he doesn't print on site, and he has mentioned selling thousands of prints online after an event.

dankopp wrote in post #11802045
I believe Hammy has said he doesn't print on site, and he has mentioned selling thousands of prints online after an event.

Hammy does not print onsite. he also takes hundreds of thousands of images at the larger events. A lot of CD's are sold onsite.