Coming
August 1st – Online Cropping & Quick Retouching
in Sports
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Several new features will soon be available in QP2 Sports
and CORE Sports. By August 1st, you will have the ability
to offer your online sports customers the options of cropping
their individual posed images and selecting Quick Retouching
on their individual posed images or individual action
shots.
As more CCS lab customers move towards this speculative
method of photographing teams and leagues and putting
them online (versus the traditional method of pre-pay),
these 2 online enhancements can be positioned as big competitive
advantages in your market.
Online Cropping In Sports
Online cropping allows the end customer to modify their
image using the online crop tool. They can see exactly
how their newly cropped image will print as the red crop
box indicates on the image. This is great for Mom who
may want a tighter shot of her child’s posed shot.
And with action shots, cropping is key. CCS does not charge
to add the cropping option to your sports events, however
as a photographer you do have the option to charge your
customers an additional cropping fee in event set up,
thus using this new option as a new revenue stream.
Online Quick Retouching in Sports
After the great success and additional revenue that many
CCS customers have experienced in offering quick retouching
in the Grad market in the last year, this service was
added to Manual Order Entry Sports back in March and will
be available to online Sports August 1st.
Of all the graduates that were offered Quick Retouching
last year during grad season, 7.5% took advantage of the
retouch option. That may sound like a small percentage
but consider that the number represents nearly 55,000
graduates that paid anywhere from $10 to $15 for this
service. A service that:
• requires no inventory
• has no direct labor cost
• can’t be mis-shipped
• requires no additional
postage, and
• has an 80% net margin
So, what exactly is Quick Retouching? Quick Retouching
lightly softens facial complexions including blemishes
and wrinkles as well as brightening teeth and eyes, while
enhancing the overall quality of the finished photos.
CCS is strongly recommending that the above underlined
description of Quick Retouching be utilized when describing
this service to your clients on your order forms or on
your website. Any other
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description may create expectations
that the service does not cover. For instance Quick Retouching
will not remove:
• stubble
• shine
• shadows
• uneven light
• stray hairs
• glare on glasses or,
• background
The target market for this retouching service is centered
clearly on middle school and high school teams—especially
women’s teams—where this type of service would
be most desired. Did you know that nearly 85% of people
between the ages of 12 and 24 develop acne at some time?
That is why we believe this product/service will be most
beneficial to those that photograph individual sports
portraits in the middle and high school sports market.
But of course, we recommend that you also offer it with
youth sports as you can never pre-judge what market might
find value in the product. As we have found with many
new premium products and services, there are some customers
who simply want the best you have to offer and will pay
the premium price for it.
Your cost from CCS for offering this product/service is
$3 per face. Keep in mind that Quick Retouching only applies
to posed individual portraits and not team shots or action
shots.
Benefits of Online Sports
It’s important to remember the other benefits of
online sports, beyond just the booking advantage to the
team or league. Many of you who may already do much of
your graduation business online versus printed order form
will be familiar with these same online advantages.
Expanded Product Offering
Driving customers to your website with the incentive of
“exclusive online products and services” or
“exclusive online specials” allows you to
simplify your order card offering.
Decrease Office Labor
When your customers order online, they do your order entry
– which saves you office time and money. Not to
mention all the potential keying errors for trader cards
and other customized products that could be avoided if
Mom is keying the data versus your office staff
Faster Turn Around
As there is office time to key data on pre-pay forms,
the online customer’s order is sent to production
at CCS once they complete their online order and check-out.
With most Sports orders shipping from CCS in under 48
hours, your customer could very likely receive their order
at their home possibly before your staff would have keyed
the data.
25 Days Until the Summer Workshops: Hotel Deadline:
July 7!
by Brian
Speers
With just 25 days left until the launching of the
CCS
Summer Workshops right here in Oklahoma City,
it’s important to know what you’ll be missing
if you haven’t already made your plans to attend.
With great homage to New York Yankee great, Yogi Berra,
I present the
Top Ten Yogi-isms relating
to this summer’s CCS Workshops.
1.
“Why buy good luggage? You only use it when
you travel” – Dates for this
summer’s
meetings are July 23 to July 25th. With early-bird
training sessions every morning and late afternoon during
the meetings, this presents the perfect reason to travel
to OKC/CCS this year!
2.
“The towels were so thick there, I could
hardly close my suitcase” – The Hilton
Garden Inn will serve as headquarters for the meetings
and lodging. If you haven’t already made your reservations,
the deadline for reservations is July 7. After July 7
they WILL release our block of rooms.
3.
“You can observe a lot just by watching”
- With 21 hours of training being offered in software
and photography you just can’t miss this great opportunity
to learn and perfect—first hand—your skill
levels in CORE, QP Plus, QEMS, and digital photography.
Learn in a classroom environment from CCS associates and
customers that know and understand their specialty.
4.
“Baseball is 90% mental—the other half
is physical” – With Sports being our
fastest growing market, discover why CCS customers are
gaining preference over their competitors when the bids
are on the line. CCS is the only lab that we know of that
offers an alternative to pre-pay leagues when you need
to pull a rabbit out of your hat. Speculative sports shooting
certainly has its place as does quick retouching and pearlized
paper in sports when you are trying to “WOW”
coaches and parents.
5.
“If you come to a fork in the road…take
it” - We’ve arranged the agenda so if
there is a topic you are not interested in you can attend
another presentation happening simultaneously; or perhaps,
take a lab tour and see where all of the CCS magic happens.
6.
“If you don’t know where you’re
going, you’ll wind up somewhere else”
– Spring grads are now completed and as you evaluate
your season it’s a great time to reflect on how
you did, and to decide what you’ll change for next
year. Determine the “best practices” and hear
results of offering pearlized paper as a premium product;
and also learn how quick retouching can affect the bottom
line.
7.
“This is like deja`vu all over again”
– With NEW measurement tools being introduced, you’ll
have the first opportunity to view the new consolidated
event reports, which allow you to review products sold
and profitability, while comparing results across events.
These types of tools can give you great insight into your
business.
8.
“The future ain’t what it used to be”
– If you are a campus customer you know that some
parts of the business have changed dramatically over the
past five or six years. Despite all the reasons you may
have for your greek business turning south, there are
ways to fight back and to get your sales back to where
they once were by increasing the number of images shot,
maximizing events booked, and use of our productivity
measurement tools. Meet with other campus business owners
and discuss the future of your investment in the greeks.
9.
“It ain’t the heat, it’s the
humility” – If you’ve ever thought
about running a portrait studio out of your home but needed
to hear a first-hand account of what to expect and how
it can be accomplished, then attend our presentation on
Portrait Opportunities. Discover how high school seniors,
families, and children portraiture can provide the basis
of a true home business.
10.
“Nobody goes there anymore; it’s too
crowded” – The best reason to attend
any CCS meeting, whether it’s the Summer Workshops
or the Winter Seminar is the idea that you are around
people that are in the same business. Taking advantage
of the opportunity to be around others that do what you
do is a major benefit. Got an idea; then kick it around
with others. Have an idea for a new product or service
or software feature; then throw it out on the floor and
let’s brainstorm! Maybe your idea will be the one
that adds new profit dollars to every other customer’s
business.
Remember,
“It ain’t over ‘til
it’s over” ! Though the reservation
deadline at the Hilton Garden Inn is July 7, you are free
to go online and
register
for the meetings and training sessions right up to the
day before we meet in July. We look forward to seeing
you in OKC next month.
Change Made to Female Gymnastics Artwork
by Blake
Whitney
The artwork on the Sports modifier Female Gymnastics has
been changed. The new artwork is to appear more subtle
than its predecessor, by utilizing a silhouette image,
while still complimenting the image with a feminine background
of colors.
Click to enlarge |
The sports market now includes three different options
for those photographers shooting gymnastics camps, classes
or teams. Our sports lines allow you to cater to groups
that are all male, all female or a mixture of both male
and female.
Trader Card Prompts
With more and more photographers moving to speculation
while shooting sports teams, driving more retail customers
to the web, clarifying what information is being requested
is more important than ever.
To clear up some of the confusion for photographers and
their customers, CCS is reviewing all the prompts and
information fields on trader cards to ensure that retail
customers will not be confused when entering information.
This will most likely affect non traditional sports such
as bowling, dance or pom, as well as individual sports
like golf and track, where the information prompt “Position”
is applicable.
The sports lines that are being reviewed will include:
Band
Bowling
Click to enlarge |
Boy Scouts
Cheerleading
Dance
Equestrian
Gymnastics – Generic, Male and Female
Golf
Majorette
Martial Arts – Style 1 and 2
Pom
Swimming
Tap
Track
Wrestling – Style 1 and 2
Tennis
Deadline for CORE QP2 Grad & Race Event Setup
& Activation is Tomorrow (June 30).
by Steve
Foisy
June 30, 2006 will be the last day to activate new events
using the older CORE QP2 Grad & Race online retail
system.
http://www.gradphotonetwork.com/
&
http://www.partypics.com/raceorders/
All events after June 30 should be setup using the newer
CORE QPPlus Grad & Race online retail system.
http://orders.gradphotonetwork.com/QPPlus/
&
http://orders.racephotonetwork.com/QPPlus/
Please contact Customer Support for training with the
QPPlus system or if you see features/products that were
available in the older system, but not in the new system.
Lab
Service Times for the week of June 18th - June 24th
by
Bo
Lewis
