Dance School Quandry.

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  • GlortGlort Registered Users Posts: 1,015 Major grins
    edited October 11, 2010
    Snowgirl wrote: »
    Hey! Very successful weekend. I'm going to be busy editing for the next several days! People kept coming up and asking for extra shoots. LOVED IT!

    Plus, I got invited to be the official photographer at a new show for next season.
    And, I've also picked up some additional portrait work. Yay!clap.gif

    Hey Snow,

    Glad to hear you made up for my loss! :D
    one of us had to be on a winner and it sure wasn't me!
    I was a great idea which was confirmed by the fact the clients thought so as well. The fact you have been able to back end this with extra work is the icing on the cake.

    Very well done!

    So have you realized your goal at the start of the year and made money this time round? It sounds like it which is great.

    So you being finished for the year means you will be heading to -30 weather as I'm heading into the 40+.

    Have you any plans or strategies for next season?

    I'm really thinking hard about if I want to keep going with this event stuff. ne_nau.gif
  • msfmsf Registered Users Posts: 229 Major grins
    edited October 12, 2010
    We just did some sales yesterday *only showed pictures to 8 or 10 people during the 3.5 hours* and did pretty well. The magazine covers were a big hit, sold 6 of them with another one wanting one next week when they bring some money. so 8 or 10 people down, just 15 or 17 more to go from that one class, might be there a few weeks. :D

    the slide shows didnt sell, people seemed to like them, but no takers. Same for the sticker books. Its to bad the sticker books are $12 from brittian or $15 from the us or I could get them in and try to sell them same day like the mag covers.
  • msfmsf Registered Users Posts: 229 Major grins
    edited October 12, 2010
    Oh and I put the mag covers on special for the day. I got thinking and $60/$100 was probably to much, and these pics were fairly easy to put over the text because the background right behind the head was over exposed, making the selection easy for most. I tried $35 and most didnt blink. Im going to try $45 next time I think and see how it goes and just keep going till I find the magic number for this community.
  • GlortGlort Registered Users Posts: 1,015 Major grins
    edited October 12, 2010
    Glad to hear you did well.

    How many weeks do you intend going back there?
    it would seem you are going to be investing a LOT of time in the sales at this rate and while you are there your not promoting or marketing to someone else or better still, taking pics.

    I don't know your business or goals but if you are thinking, " it's OK, I don't have anything else on" , Id be careful.
    the trouble with this sort of thing is you tend to make a rod for your own back and you don't want to find that next year you may have more work on but if you don't go back to this place 5 times they will think they are getting less service or whatever.

    I think you would be wise to try to systemise everything from the get go and minimize your time on the job. You may find in the future you score a bigger school and it just isn't possible to take so much time in the sales and you have to ramp it up.
    I would suggest now is the best time to practice.

    Glad to hear the mag covers went well. I think you have the right idea with testing the pricing. I did that recently and got a pleasant surprise. And I think you are right, different markets can require different price levels and it's a good idea to find what the threshold is.

    To me the perfect pricing structure is when they comment on the pricing ( rather than complain about it as some will always do) as being not cheap, but they still buy. That to me is the sweet spot.

    Did you offer any packages or disks and if so, what was the reaction to them?

    One thing that would have been interesting on the weekend had I gone head to head with the other guy, was he offered 6x4's starting at $10 and 5x7's for $15.
    My starting point is $30 for an A4 or if the people ask, we'll do 2 5x7's on an A4 for $30.

    I would have liked to see how much the price size thing came into play against what I ( completely unbiased) think was better photos and better products. We did mag covers, borders, inserts and CD's.
    In fairness they did cd's as well but charged $120 ( yes 120) PER IMAGE where as we do 5 for $50 or 10+ for $100.

    Personally, and I'll no doubt upset some people here, I think offering 6x4's is completely crazy unless they are in a package of some sort.
    To me, nothing will degrade a professional Photo quicker than printing it to Wart mart size of 6x4. If you going to do that you may as well use an old early model digital and a kit lens or just put your pics on the web for free download.

    5x7's are not so bad, I can see a point to that but at the beginning and end of the day, i'm there to make money and I believe that A4 prints and image cd's will make me the most from a given event.

    It would have been interesting to see what I could learn going head to head with someone doing smaller, cheaper pics though.
  • msfmsf Registered Users Posts: 229 Major grins
    edited October 12, 2010
    Well right now I'm not photographing 20 families a week, so I have no problem being at the gym for 3 or 3.5 hours showing pictures and doing sales, on a week day. If I find myself doing alot more work, then Ill consider hiring someone. But right now its not worth the effort to find someone that is competent and trustworthy that wont rip me off.

    Im also doing candid pictures, but so far the only thing ive sold of those is proof books printed with the laser printer. I should have only done posed pictures this time, and gone back in 6 months to sell the candid pictures.

    I am offering slide shows, original price is a file emailed to them. for $5 more it can be put on a cd *not everyone is online* and for $30 more it can be on a dvd that works on dvd players.

    I am offering a sticker book, but no takers.

    And press printed leather covered photo books. But the starting price of $111 for a 10 page 5x5 book doesnt seem to appeal to many for this subject.
    I am offering digital files, 1 file for $15, upto 5 for $30, upto 15 for $60 and upto 30 for $100. each file is 800x1200 at max. only of the candid pictures, not of the posed pictures. the reason I give is the posed ones require more processing.

    I am offering sheets of pictures, one for $25, three for $40, 6 for $80, etc. same pose per sheet, with 5 different combinations, 8x10, couple 5x7's, some 3.5x5's, and a couple different wallet sizes.
  • SnowgirlSnowgirl Registered Users Posts: 2,155 Major grins
    edited October 14, 2010
    I'd call the last show a whopping success!
    Hi there. Well, I came home with 1000+ images to work with. I worked quickly to get them all rated, key-worded and sorted and uploaded to individual client galleries within two days. I then sent out links, via email, to my clients to tell them where they could find their photos.

    The packages I offered included a $30 print credit, so I also gave each client a coupon code for their $30 discount on the print order. And, as a surprise, I also offered them a "Friends and Family" package - basically a $75 value for $50 for a bunch of 5x7 and 1 8x10 to share.

    The orders are coming in fast and furious and I'm getting all my cropping and editing done as fast as possible so they'll receive their prints in less time than they expect.

    in other words - exceed their expectations in terms of time and value.

    In the meantime, I'm getting more bookings for private portrait sessions - families with dogs, horses and other critters. Yay! I am meeting my goals for the year.clap.gif
    Creating visual and verbal images that resonate with you.
    http://www.imagesbyceci.com
    http://www.facebook.com/ImagesByCeci
    Picadilly, NB, Canada
  • jbakerphotojbakerphoto Registered Users Posts: 251 Major grins
    edited October 14, 2010
    Snowgirl wrote: »
    In the meantime, I'm getting more bookings for private portrait sessions - families with dogs, horses and other critters. Yay! I am meeting my goals for the year.clap.gif

    Awesome SNOW, it is always cool to hear some was able to go kill something big and drag it home.
    40D,Rebel XT,Tamron 17-50 2.8,Tamron 28-80 3.5-5.6, Canon 50 1.8, Sigma 70-200 2.8, Canon 580EX , Sunpack 383 w/ optical slave

    www.jonbakerphotography.com
  • SnowgirlSnowgirl Registered Users Posts: 2,155 Major grins
    edited October 15, 2010
    Awesome SNOW, it is always cool to hear some was able to go kill something big and drag it home.

    Thanks. Sometimes you wonder if it's worth the effort and, at the beginning of the season, I doubted it. But now? Off to the races!
    Creating visual and verbal images that resonate with you.
    http://www.imagesbyceci.com
    http://www.facebook.com/ImagesByCeci
    Picadilly, NB, Canada
  • msfmsf Registered Users Posts: 229 Major grins
    edited October 23, 2010
    Im nearing the end of the gymnastics, the mag cover is really popular on the Monday classes, not so much on the Thursday classes and its a bit early to tell on the Friday classes, the portraits for that week was a week later than the rest. So far I havent really sold any candid pictures so I got to think of a better way to do that.
  • jposada01jposada01 Registered Users Posts: 3 Beginner grinner
    edited June 30, 2016
    Glort wrote: »
    When covering a recent event a teacher from a school came and tentatively booked us for photo's and Video of her school later in the year.
    I thought this was a set thing but today i had a chat with her and I'm not real sure how to best handle what she wants.

    Basically at this stage she wants me to do " action" shots of the dress rehearsal. She has asked me about doing the DVD but is also talking to another company as well. I haven't done Video for years but just got back into it so I'm not sure I will be able to win out over an established crew but that's a secondary concern at this stage.

    The thing with the Photos is she wants me to do the action shots at the dress rehearsal and has organised a Photo day with another shooter she used once before to do the " Studio" type pics 2 days later.
    before I knew this I said I would bring my studio setup and shoot the " Formals" of the kids after the rehearsal.
    The reason the other company aren't doing both shoots is that they don't do action shots apparently.

    She has balked at this saying many of the mothers are new and she doesn't want kids out getting pics when they should be rehearsing. I said that was no prob, I could shoot fast so when the kids were done or had a good break till their next routine I'd shoot them then. She didn't take to this idea citing that she wanted the parents to see what goes on for the whole show so they knew what they had to do and help with the kids etc.
    She is planning the rehersal from 4-9pm and there are only 70 kids in the school in total.

    The upshot of this is likley to be she will have 3 different companies involved, one doing studio setup type pics, one doing action and someone else doing the DVD.

    I sense opportunity here but also that I have to be careful not to alienate her and get nothing. I'm not at all sure how well I'll do from the action shots alone when competing with the studio type pics but I'm in a good position to get both next year ( She said she only wants to use one co next year but doesn't want to cancel the people she has already booked this year) so have to be diplomatic.

    I'd be real happy to shoot studio pics at the rehearsal which is 2 days before the actual photo day and see how I go or better still come up with a compelling reason for her to cancel the other people.

    I'm intending to take my v stations and sell on the day I shoot as well as provide proof sheets ( or god forbid, online ordering) later.

    I was thinking of getting back to the teacher and trying to convince her to let us do studio formal shots so we could offer the parents price competitive packages ( with the DVD) and see if that would change her mind. This is the teachers first year out on her own so she is not particularly sure of how to do this and i think she has booked the other shooters before realizing they couldn't do all she wants.

    Any suggestions as to any creative and profitable approaches to take?

    RUN. Too many conditions, too many rules, and too many things to go wrong.
  • kdogkdog Administrators Posts: 11,680 moderator
    edited June 30, 2016
    jposada01 wrote: »
    RUN. Too many conditions, too many rules, and too many things to go wrong.
    This is a six-year-old thread, I'm sure the issue has been resolved by now.
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