Who will projection benefit?

Those who have a studio space will see immediate benefits from investing in projection equipment. As you already have the overhead of rent, you want to maximize the sales of existing and future clients!

Those who are ready to take their portrait sales to another level will benefit from projection. If you’ve been averaging sales of a few hundred dollars because you’re selling 5×7′s and nothing else, prepare to be wowed. Part of in-person ordering covers the needs of individual clients, allowing you to make individualized recommendations the client didn’t know he or she wanted. (Clients don’t just buy groupings of canvases. They need your expertise to help them know which images to choose, where to place the gallery, whether it should come in black and white, etc…)

Those who wish to provide their clients with a high-end portrait experience will benefit from personal consultations in clients’ homes, complete with wine and even dinner. In-home projection is a spectacular form of customer service.

Who will NOT reap the benefits of projection?

If you deal in volume photography services, projection may not be for you. It is a time-consuming process. Clients find themselves running late. They want to chit-chat. They have trouble deciding on their order. They want to see seven versions of the same wall mockup you made, then decide on the first one they saw.

If you do photography on a very part-time basis, projection probably isn’t for you. It’s a heavy investment that requires commitment to hard deadlines and to your clients. If the ordering appointment is at 7 p.m on Tuesday in the client’s home, you can’t wait until Wednesday to edit the photos.

If you can barely keep up with orders placed via online proofing, projection may not be for you – though you might consider hiring an assistant to complete ordering sessions for you!

Where can I find out more about projection and in-person sales?

The Projection and Sales Merit Badge, love.  It’s full of sales-y goodness in the most compact format possible.  Click here to buy.

Limit the number of choices a client is given!

Three album sizes x four possible covers x three paper finishes = 36 possible combinations for your client to consider.  And that’s if you’ve already narrowed your selection down significantly!  (I used to offer more album choices, but clients literally groaned at the thought of making another decision. So I chose the one I like best and offer it exclusively.)

Adding tons of images from a portrait session to the mix only muddies the decision-making waters.  It makes order-finalizing even harder.

How many images do you show a client during an ordering session?

Twenty-five to forty. Clients are paying for editing a shoot. (That includes deleting images, not post-processing-every-photo-that-doesn’t-suck.) They don’t need to see seven variations of the same pose. They just need to see the one deemed ‘best’ by you, the portrait professional.

But I take at least 327 fabulous images per portrait session!

Tough toodles!  Become a brutal editor. If you have any hesitation about an image, delete it and move on.

Don’t let your ego get in the way of delivering manageable results to your client.

This is awesome!  Hook me up with a Brand Camp promo code for the Projection & Sales merit badge, Kristen!

If you’re interested in learning more about projection and/or in-person sales in as few words and pages as humanly possible, you want the merit badge.  You might want to download the Pricing & Sales Remix to get it a lil cheaper.

The Sales and Pricing Remix contains my favorite Brand Camp blog posts about establishing pricing, tweaking pricing, gaining confidence, and rocking sales.  I’ve even added a few bonus tips and hints for those of you who were scoffing and thinking you’ve already read the entire blog from beginning to end. (Twice.)

The best part?  The Sales and Pricing Remix is free.

That’s correct, it’s $0.00 right here. Enjoy!

My heart swelled. I wanted to hug him, love him, wish him unending luck, pinch his cheeks, and dump $50 into his little jar of dollar bills.  Instead, I got my portrait drawn.  And made my friend get her portrait drawn.  And heckled a few passers-by into forking over the dough to get their portraits made, too.

Johnny’s out there living his dream.  He’s showing up.  He’s looking people in the eye and making art.  He’s earning money for it.  He’s a little crazy and a little fearless.

This week, let’s forget our fears, all the ‘what-if’s and reasons to give up.  Let’s go make art.  Just like Johnny.

If it did, you can be damn sure that I’d be squeezing into a size 10 instead of rocking the perfectly-fitting size 14 — I’m gonna spend as little as possible on this dress and my. hips. will. fit. in. there. to save $6.

Same thing for photographs — the taking, developing (or culling), scanning (or post-processing), blogging, posting online, order-making, packaging, and delivery costs are the same whether we’re talking a passport-sized photo or an 8×10″ print.

The difference in amount of paper used is an inconsequential portion of the total cost of the final product, so it doesn’t factor into the consumer price of small prints.

Charge one price for prints 8×12/8×10 and under.  If it’s a 4×6 print they need, great!  And if they’d rather have an 8×10 but are just shoving their hips into something smaller because it’s cheaper — they’ll be ever so much happier when they can get the print size that fits.

For more about pricing, or for the secrets of pricing larger prints (think the need for a size 38 when Gap stops at 14 — or a 20×30″ canvas print) — you all know I recommend buying Easy as Pie.  In fact, this is a riff on a theme you’ll find there.  And if you don’t yet have it, code BrandCamp50 takes $50 off the price of the Easy as Pie and Pastry School combo TODAY ONLY.  Pick up your copy here.

–

Oh, and the winners from the Birthday Bash?

90-minute business therapy session (super-secret giveaway for the mailing-list peeps): Speed of Life Photography

Totally Rad Lightroom presets: Creative Clicks Photography

Easy as Pie + Pastry School combo: You Look Nice Today photography

Get Schooled guide to school portraiture: Asher Images

The Fire Starter Sessions is: an e-book meets video transmission of acumen and love. You: are likely sitting on an empire of content, product, services, and prosperity that needs a spark — or blow torch — to take you to the next level. You: want to rock your revenue streams and do meaningful things in the world.

Worksheets that help you draw conclusions, quick videos with motivational punch, connections to current thinkers, practical smarts, and frank wisdom — The Fire Starter Sessions is packed with inspiration that you will put to use.

Danielle has worked with 462+ entrepreneurs in her 1-on-1 Fire Starter consults (which are $500 and booked six weeks in advance.) For CEOs, coaches, artists, retailers, bestselling authors — from site design to big dreams — Danielle’s strategies combine passion with pragmatism to get to fulfillment and cash.

Each chapter is it’s own “Fire Starter Session” that includes: e-book components, video inspiration or interviews, and worksheets.

Some of the sessions are: True Strengths & The Metrics of Ease; Branding: Clarifying the Diamond of You; Products & Services: Making Stuff That Feels Good to Make; Money: More is More, Enough is Plenty; Web Design & SEO: Your Virtual Real-Estate…and dozens of tips and motivating perspectives.

In addition to getting Danielle’s deep and detailed knowledge, this book brings you contributions from some A-league marketing strategists, pro-bloggers, branding experts, and creativity coaches.

Whether you’re in the early idea phase or a well-established rut, Danielle’s thorough, witty, and experience-based advice will most certainly light a fire under your…aspirations.

The book releases on May 12, and I can assure you that I’ll be curled up in a coffee shop reading it from beginning to end, completing worksheets, soul-searching, and getting my business on.

Just click the banner or right here to purchase for $150 and get the rockin’ bonus chapter this very minute.

You’ve been given a single employee who is absolutely perfect for your business. Visualize a trusty sidekick dressed in superhero tights.  He or she is super-hot, super-efficient, and super-great at multitasking.  Think Swiffering while accounting while answering clients’ emails.

This is a message from your super-brave sidekick:

Grow a pair.

Your sidekick also says:

Charge appropriately for your work.  (Raise prices without consulting a forum.)

Choose the logo that’s best for your business instead of putting it to a vote.

Collect your session fee up front.  And don’t refund it if someone cancels at the last minute.

Stick to your policies.

Better yet, refer to your policies as a contract.

Let clients know when they’ve violated your contract by Photoshopping their cat’s head onto one of the wedding photos you’ve captured.

Or when they’ve just uploaded everything to Facebook after screencapturing the goods from your blog.

Talk to that business owner about cross-promotion.

Say you’re a photographer and hand over your business card.

Above all, trust yourself.

It’s okay to ask yourself questions like what if I fail?  What if I fall on my face?  What if that promotion doesn’t work?  WHAT IF NO ONE PAYS MY NEW PRICES?

But you’ve got to come up with the brave answer, says your sidekick.  Fear-based decisions keep the $75 shoot-and-burn photographers hanging shingles, turning out crappy work, mucking up Craigslist, burning out, and closing their virtual doors within six months. Fear undercuts the industry, makes mere blog-stalkers of budding artists, and makes everyone look the same.

Be brave.  Be bold.  Make a footprint.

You may fail.  You may fall flat on your face, that promotion may tank, you may have zero customers for six months.  But ballsy sidekick wishes to remind you that this is part of the adventure.  Going from broke to paying the bills to actually making an income is half the fun, and you’re never going to get to that final step (the one with dollar signs) by playing it safe.  (Isn’t your sidekick super-smart?)

To aid you in overcoming your pricing woes, grab a copy of Easy as Pie.  If you’re ready to move to in-person ordering sessions and projection instead of those paltry online sales, pick up a copy of the Projection & Sales Merit Badge.  For marketing strategies that are applicable to any business, try Marketing School.  And if you’d like a fire to be lit under your still-scared-but-moving-toward-empowered tushie, try Danielle LaPorte’s Firestarter Sessions.  You can thank your super-fab sidekick later.

Shaking in my boots yesterday, I sent out a super-secret e-mail like this blog post to my e-mail subscribers, and sold each spot within twelve hours.  I expected to sell one or two spots, because well…this isn’t an insignificant commitment or a tiny amount of money.  But you all jumped on this like Hermione jumps on peanut butter.  ::snarfle snarfle::

Oh, and most everyone signing up wanted a payment plan.  So, people need this.  And they need a payment plan.  Round two, the part where I make this available to the general public, reflects these findings.

YOU NEED A DOMINATRIX.

You all know I’m a big fan of Naomi Dunford.  Marketing School and SEO School have been game changers for me, and they come at less than the cost of a pair of jeans at the Gap.  Naomi just released a series of new audio goodies, so I ponied up for How to Conquer Marketing and Make a Living With Your Art.  It’s $29 for a limited time, and then the price hits $49.

Get it while it’s $29 to enjoy Naomi’s sweet nothings whispered in your ear (or laptop) a little more.

(Photos above from the ‘images you can’t pay me to take’ collection: if you’re my college roomie and I adore you, I will shoot your sister’s wedding even though it makes me break out in hives.)

Naomi will help you find more eyeballs for viewing your art, help you find the marketing techniques that suit your personality, encourage you to move beyond apologizing for taking people’s money, introduce a revolutionary donation-based concept for the brave and entertaining among you, and tell you why most artists’ marketing sucks.  (And how to fix it, of course!)

If you listen to what Naomi has to say — and I mean listen-so-hard-you-take-notes listen, I bet you’ll have an a-ha moment.  Yup, I’m putting that Oprah cliche right out there and saying you’ll probably have one.  I did.  I paused the audio halfway through to rewrite some blog copy that’s been a pain to get just right.  Naomi made the lightbulb moment happen, and now it’s perfect.

How to Conquer Marketing and Make a Living With Your Art will give you a shot of confidence and marketing know-how.  (It costs as much as an entree in Vegas, so even if you’ve just gotten back from WPPI — the audio lasts longer than Wolfgang Puck’s gnocchi platter.)

Curious about my reviews of Naomi’s other products? Learn about Marketing School here.  Get the goods on SEO School here.

If you provide hot girls and cold beer at reasonable prices, you’ve got a time-honored business model working in your favor.  Strip clubs should be profit MACHINES.  But  just because you have the prettiest, thinnest, hottest, _____est dancers doesn’t mean people will find you.

You’re nodding your head.  You’re like, ‘duh, Kristen, of COURSE people won’t find out about Crystal Delicious and her miraculous pole-dancing on their own!’

So why do you assume people will find out about your artwork on their own?

You’re talented, you have great photos, you have a website.  And no one cares.  You’re dancing for an empty auditorium.

How do we go about filling that auditorium?

Generate buzz.

If you owned a strip club, I would hope you would attempt to generate buzz locally.  Postcards, posters, and business cards shuffling from hand to hand help generate buzz.  That giant dude standing on the corner, passing out pink 4×6″ signs with Crystal Delicious on ‘em?  That dude is filling your auditorium.  As an artist, strive to have marketing materials circulating among customers, potential customers, and other businesses AT ALL TIMES.

Differentiate.

That giant dude also knows the power of differentiation.  You’re selling your club, yes, but you’re also pushing Crystal Delicious pretty hard.  No other club has Crystal!  Stand in awe of her upside-down-kerfuffle-lutz moves!  What would a giant dude wearing brass knuckles be pushing on the street corner if those postcards were about your business?  What will make you stand out like Crystal does?  (Need a dose of differentiation?  Try Marketing School.)

Reward your loyal fans.

George has sent twelve guys to your club in the past month.  Oh, and he’s urging his buddy to book his bachelor party with Crystal.  George needs to be rewarded for his loyalty!  The same goes for the bride who urges two other brides to book, or the Mom who hands out your business cards to her entire preschool!  Get those women some freebies, some special pricing, or a bottle of wine — never forget to reward the people who spread the word about your business to others.

Optimize your web assets. (Heh, I said assets.)

After hitting the local scene, I would hope you’d be a touch tech-savvy and optimize your strip club for search engine placement.  This is a slower build, and people might not find out about Crystal’s pole-dancing right away, but over time and with the right resources you’ll have clients making a trip to your joint as a destination!  SEO School has the tips you need to optimize your web assets for search engines.  Promise.

Outsource.

Finally, while you’re waiting for your strip club to hit it big, I would outsource wherever possible.  This doesn’t appear to make much sense, because your inclination is to do everything yourself.  But spending four hours cleaning the entire club means you wasted four hours that could have been spent on marketing.  Do you make more money by having clean toilets and no customers, or by having a small cleaning staff and a club packed with people?

Any other strip joint/photography buzz-generating tips for us?  Share ‘em!  And let me know what you think of today’s post, pretty please?