March 3rd, 2006
The following letter
was sent to CCS via email from Charlene Barth, a CCS customer
from Voorhees, NJ who used the CCS sports envelopes for
the first time.
By Brian
Speers
Sometimes when you think that you have a great system
and all is working well it takes getting more than a gentle
nudge to see that maybe—just maybe—there could
be another way to do things. As I read the latest article
from Brian Speers regarding order forms, I thought, “Nice
idea, but it doesn’t really apply to me”.
Most of my customers don’t want to REALLY READ my
order form; they just want to order the same thing they
got last year. But then again, why not give it a whirl.
So this year instead of using my typical black and white
order forms I used the new CCS sports envelope with the
products clearly displayed. Usually I just take an assortment
of products and display them at the shoot for customers
to view.
Click to enlarge |
So I sent out my new and improved order forms to be distributed
to the players a week before the shoot and didn’t
give it much thought until I tallied my sales. The same
league that I have shot for the past ten years had improved
their sales by 31%. That’s right, not 13%, but 31%.
I carefully reviewed the packages and saw a significant
increase in the amount of products purchased from individual
customers.
New offerings this year to “my” product line
were the statuettes and plaques, other than that the same
type of packages existed for those traditional customers.
More than once during the day I heard parents say they
like the new “visual” form. We noticed that
more orders were ready prior to the shoot as well because
parents filled them out at home and didn’t have
to look at product samples on picture day.
Thinking about the minimal difference in envelope price
with the final outcome of sales it was certainly worth
the “nudge” to do something different. At
the end of the day we shot 414 individual players with
an average order of $23.28 for the total sales reaching
$9640.00.
| Sales |
$9,640.00 |
| Print costs |
$3,434.37 |
| 2 photographers |
$ 300.00 |
| 2 assistants $ |
120.00 |
| Hours worked |
7 |
| PROFIT |
$5,785.63 |
| Profit/ per hour |
$ 826.51 |
Not a bad way to spend a Saturday! Not that I even have
to mention this, but shooting digital saved the cost of
approximately 20 rolls of film and processing!
If you wonder if it could get any better, imagine that
all orders were in the CCS system on Monday and delivered
to our office on Thursday! After inspection of all packages
the only thing missing was one itty bitty little pin.
Well done Candid!
Frequently, I receive phone
calls from CCS customers asking me about sports presentations
to potential clients like leagues or schools.
The inquiries run from “How much or how little do
I bring with me”? To, “Should I create a PowerPoint
presentation, or should I just give handouts to everyone”?
If you are new to making presentations, or if you feel
your presentations aren’t all they should be here
are some suggestions.
PowerPoint
If you are given the opportunity to make a sales presentation
to a committee of many people or even to one or two individuals,
I would suggest creating a PowerPoint presentation. It
gives you the opportunity to show your professionalism
and will separate you from those wannabes that throw together
a few pieces of information and leave them with the league.
A PPT presentation also gives you the ability to showcase
your products and services in a format that commands attention,
enables creativity, and keeps the focus on YOU! Following
a PPT presentation it’s always a good idea to pass
out handouts of your presentation AFTER you complete it.
The handout contains each PPT slide and allows each member
of your audience to review your information at their convenience.
Rehearse your presentation prior to your meeting and be
prepared to answer every possible question that’s
thrown at you. If you don’t have an answer (not
good) tell them you’ll get back with them ASAP.
Hopefully this won’t happen but if it does, be honest
and then follow through.
Information Packet
Once you ascertain the number of people you’ll be
presenting to, assemble individual packets of information
that you can leave with each person attending your meeting.
Each packet should contain:
Your name and the name of your company –
Sounds like a no-brainer but don’t assume that everyone
will remember your name or the company you represent.
Nearly everyone in attendance has their own agenda. Some
just want to know about turnaround time; others will want
to know the rebate amount; still others will focus on
quality. Make sure everyone leaves there with your business
card—hopefully one that also has your photograph
on it. Remember, this is the business you’re in!
Contact Information – Make sure
that everyone knows how to reach you after the meeting.
Someone may think of a question, after the fact, and want
to contact you in person. Give them that opportunity.
References – This is important information
and you should supply your league or school with the names
of at least three other leagues or schools that you have
done business with over the past year. If you are new
to sports give them the names of others that can vouch
for the quality of product, great customer service, and
the professionalism you deliver.
Workflow – Be specific and explain
what will happen on photo day. Have diagrams demonstrating
the flow of teams and individuals and the importance of
each team to show up on time. If there is going to be
a problem, now is the time to uncover it.
Product – Samples, samples, samples!
Bring and show everything you have to offer. You never
know what one product could be the one that seals the
deal. Let them see, touch, and evaluate each product.
Get them excited about statuettes and plaques knowing
full well that you are planting the seeds to buy.
Delivery Time – Be specific! Let
them know exactly when their orders will be ready for
delivery. Life is all about expectations. Make sure that
their expectations are well within your timeline to deliver.
Price List – Show them how much
all of your first-rate products will cost them. Information
is the key as your price list should be informative as
well as accurate and easy to read. Click here to see a
new template that includes retouching for middle and high
school athletes.
Samples – It won’t hurt to
put an example of a Memory mate in each packet. Let them
have something to take home with them. If possible, create
some samples with the league’s/school’s logo
or colors.
Whats In It for the League – As
part of your proposal, be specific on any rebates/commissions
that will be returned to the league or school. Always
be prepared to walk away from a job if you feel that the
league’s position on rebates is impractical, or
the chance of turning a profit is improbable. Don’t
be afraid to say “No”. Remember, the idea
here is to produce a profit.
Advantages of
using QPPlus for your CORE Grads
By Brad
Hurley
Click to enlarge |
The new and improved CORE Grad website powered by QPPlus,
has many cool features, as well as several key advantage
over the QP2 version.
1. Improved retail interface. Download
Image
QPPlus Grad presents a significantly improved look and
feel for the retail customer. The look of your site can
even be customized with your own HTML headers and footers
2. Up-Selling - standard or custom packages
Download
Image
Up selling allows you to offer upgrades or add-ons immediately
after a customer has added a product to their cart. The
customer can then either accept or decline the up sell
and continue shopping.
3. Cropping Download
Image
QPPlus allows customers to custom crop their images for
each package ordered, and even have unique cropping for
all print aspect ratios within a package.
4. Package Grouping Download
Image
QPPlus Grad gives you the ability to group sets of packages
to highlight similarities or differences. The attached
example shows Package A and Package B "grouped"
separately, to make them more prominent with the remaining
packages being grouped together.
5. Automatically returns to proof page
A customer is automatically returned to the proof page
after an item has been added to their basket to promote
continued shopping and more purchases.
6. FAQ section on product page. Download
Image
Both the products page and the proof page contain a link
to a "Frequently Asked Questions" page that
can answer the majority of new user’s questions.
7. Printable order form. Download
Image
Customers can download and print an order form to fax
or mail back to your office.
8. Improved order summary page. Download
Image
The order summary page has a slick and organized layout,
and shows mini thumbnails next to each item that has been
ordered.
9. Improved checkout page. Download
Image
The checkout page is logically organized and similar to
most other online retailer’s checkout page, so customers
feel right at home.
10. "View All Proofs" option.
Download
Image
You have the option of allowing customers to browse through
all of the images of an event, by turning on the "View
All Proofs" option.
11. "Search by Event Name" option
Download
Image
If your customer doesn't know their PIN, then you can
give them the option of searching for the event name,
and then searching for their name within that event.
12. Retail quantity discounts
You have the ability to offer your retail customers quantity
discounts. The setup for this new feature is very similar
to the shipping sliding scale setup.
13. Restrict packages offered on "overviews"
or "all shots".
You can control the packages and products that are available
when a customer is ordering an "overview" or
"all" shot.
14. Customized receipt via email.
The receipt your customers receive after a purchase can
be customized with your business name and other information.
Don't miss out on all of the great improvements that CORE
QPPlus Grad has to offer. Just call customer
service and they will be glad to assist in the simple
transition.
How to Setup a QP Plus Collage
Click to enlarge |
By Blake
Whitney
Sarah Tarrant, of Norman Party Pics, has created
an easy guide on how to set up the new QP Plus Collage.
This step by step instructional tool includes screen shots
and should be a big help to anyone that has had problems
or questions about the collage set up.
Download
the How to Setup a Collage in an Event document .
Add Logos to Sports Memory Mates!!
Click to enlarge |
A frequently requested product is now
the newest member of the CCS sports arsenal. Custom logos
can be added to all Style 1 and Style 3 memory mates.
This is a product that several customers have asked for
over the past year, and was also requested by several
others at the recent Imaging USA trade show in Austin,
TX.
Click to enlarge |
This new product should be an effective booking tool in
acquiring league or school business, as well as creating
a competitive advantage in the sports market. If a league
or school has a specific logo, that logo can be retained
across all teams. Or, like one photographer mentioned
to me at Imaging USA, “You can offer a school a
different depiction of their mascot each year to keep
it fresh”.
The Style 2 memory mates currently do not have the custom
logo option. This is because brand new artwork and layouts
would have to be created to make space for the addition
of a logo. If logos are requested on Style 2 memory mates,
we will consider adding them as well.
We are excited to bring this product to you and believe
it will be a great success.
Consult the following article for logo specifications
and upload procedures or contact Customer Support with
any further questions.
Submitting Artwork for Memory
Mate Logos
1. E-mail your graphic file to titles@candid.com and carbon
copy your customer service rep. Be sure to include the
graphic file (logo), account #, and the name of the logo.
Example: Please add this memory mate logo on Acct. 1732
and call it Anytown LL
2. Files should be submitted in Tiff or JPEG format, 1.5”
x 1.5” at 250 dpi or larger. All logos will be resized
to fit this format. (375 x 375 pixels)
Here are examples of artwork submitted as tif and how
they appear after resizing.
Above is artwork submitted as a TIFF file.
Above is artwork after the TIFF file has been resized
for use in the Memory Mate.
Here are examples of artwork submitted as a gif. Bitmaps
appearance is similar.
The logos above were submitted a gif files.
Logos above are how they appear after sizing for use
in the Memory Mate. The smaller logos with less dpi
do not appear as sharp and are pixilated.
3. Once your logo is submitted, we will assign the name
to the logo and also assign it a crest/logo number and
then activate it on QP2 for you to access through your
admin page.
4. To use the logo in QP2 when setting up an event,
click on Captions and Titles.
Select the logo from the drop down menu next to Sport
Crest and save changes.
5. When you are creating your packages, select Memory
Mate w/logo – Sport to use with any sport specific
memory mate in Style 1 or 3. Because of the graphics
in the Style 2, logos are not available. Select Memory
Mate w/logo for Solid Color Memory Mates.
Memory Mates with logos
Style 1 - Sport Specific
 |
Style 3-Sport Specific
 |
Solid Color
 |
Developments
Newsletter
