Hot Market Program Revamped: Make Your
Party Pics® Sales Soar!
 |
In an effort to create a more ATTRACTIVE and PROFITABLE
Party Pics® and High School Party Pics® market,
CCS Chief Operations Officer Dan Hays announced at the
recent CCS Summer Workshops that the CCS Hot Market program,
which has been around for approximately 5 years, has been
totally overhauled. The new Hot Market program will offer
less restrictive rules coupled with a better profit model.
The CCS Hot Market program was originally created to assist
those customers that were locked in a competitive battle
on a college campus. By offering a more viable profit
model, CCS made it possible for customers to lower their
prices while still retaining a healthy profit margin in
their campus markets. Now the terms have been further
altered to create a more attractive business model in
the Party Pics area.
Beginning August 1, 2006 the new Hot Market program will
be made available to any CCS customer, for any type of
event where Party Pics are offered. In the old
program CCS customers received 60% of gross sales
and CCS received 40% of gross sales no matter what you
charged for a 4x6 photo. Under the new plan
CCS customers will receive 72% of gross sales while CCS
receives 28% of gross sales. This is
HUGE!
So, what does the 28% allocated for CCS cover?
* Print finishing costs
* E-commerce cost
(previously 5% of 7% depending on the file size)
* Credit card fees
(covers credit card and online check fees; previously
3%)
Additionally, CCS believes that it is important to provide
reasonable postage and handling costs to accomplish the
goal of selling a high number of Party Pics. Therefore,
we are setting the maximum amounts that can be charged
for postage and handling. However, within these limits,
you can set the postage and handling prices and make all
the profits from P & H. These postage and handling
charges can add significant profit but must not be raised
to the point that they become a dis-incentive to retail
customers ordering online pictures.
Maximum Postage and Handling Charge allowed in this program
Sales Amount Postage
$0-3.00 $1.00
$3.01-6.50 $2.00
$6.51-10.00 $2.50
$10.01-15.00 $3.00
$15.01-20.00 $3.50
$20.01-25.00 $4.00
$25.01-30.00 $4.50
$30.01-35.00 $5.00
$35.01-40.00 $5.50
$40.01-50.00 $7.00
$50.01-60.00 $8.00
$60.01-75.00 $9.00
$75.01-150.00 $11.00
$150.01-250.00 $15.00
$250.01-350.00 $20.00
$350.01-450.00 $30.00
$451.00 - + $40.00
So, how can this help your business? First, you can charge
low prices to increase interest and volume and still make
high margins. Second, this program could make it easier
to book more events since the costs of photos will be
lower; which should also increase the number of pictures
sold and enable you to book more parties.
Below is a table which contrasts today’s costs of
prints and the NEW Hot Market costs. This example is for
a 4x6 print. As you can see the costs savings is significant.
You may offer 4x6s, 5x7s, and 8x10s. However, the following
minimum prices MUST be charged:
* 4x6 prints can range as low as $1.50
* 5x7 prices can range as low as $3.00, and
* 8x10 prices can range as low as $6.00.
You should consider this new program at any retail price
below $2.95 for a 4x6.
 |
New In Sports - Online Cropping
& Quick Retouching in Sports
 |
Two exciting new features are now available in QP2 Sports
and CORE Sports. Your online sports customers now have
the ability to choose Cropping and Quick Retouching, if
you set those up on your events. As more CCS lab customers
move towards a 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.
Before Custom Cropping |
After Custom Cropping |
 |
 |
Online Quick Retouching in
Sports
Offer
your online sports customers yet another way to get the
very best product by offering Quick Retouching. By definition,
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.
With the additional revenue generated by Quick Retouching
in the Grad Market last year, we feel this premium service
can have similar success in the Sports Market. Can you
think of another product to offer that requires no inventory,
has no direct labor cost, can’t be mis-shipped,
requires no additional postage, and has an 80% net margin?
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.
 |
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 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
• background
Your cost from CCS for offering this product/service is
$3 per face. In the grad market, this service retailed
for $10 - $15 per face. Keep in mind that Quick Retouching
only applies to posed individual portraits and not team
shots or action shots.
Available
August 4th -
Statuettes in the Grad Market!
Three sizes of statuettes will be available in the Grad
Market on QP2 and CORE. The prices are $9.75 (5x7), $13.50
(8x10) and $21.20 (10x14). These specialty products offer
a great reason to send a follow-up email to your grad
after your initial product offering.
Magnets in PPS Market!
Non-bordered magnets will be in the QP2 – PPS market.
These are approximately 3x5 in size and are $1.61 (1)
and $3.21 (2)
Horizontal Individual Images on Team Plaques in Sports!
The team plaque will accommodate a horizontal individual
image. This is perfect for those female sports such as
volleyball or cheerleading where the individual shot is
more often horizontal, rather than the traditional vertical
orientation.
First Winners in the CCS
Print Finishing Promotion Announced!
by Brian
Speers
The first phase of the
CCS Print Finishing Promotion
has ended and there are
nine CCS customers that
have won trips to the Grand Cayman Islands. Winning
accounts will leave early on the morning of February 28th
for the short flight from Miami Beach—site of the
2007 CCS winter seminar—to the Cayman Islands and
return to Miami Beach on March 3rd.
Winners for the first phase of the promotion are:
Chappell Studios (John and Brenda Narducci)
– 4 trips
Bob Knight Photo (Bob and Gail Knight)
– 4 trips
Ultimate Exposures (Holly Freedman) –
3 trips
Yary Photography (Radley and Tina Muller)
– 2 trips
Sportography (Greg and Eric Eisen) –
2 trips
Island Photo (Alex and Cheryl Ipiotis)
– 1 trip
Dallas Flash (Page and Carol Strong)
– 1 trip
Arizona Freeze Frame (Doug and Kelly
Wyland) 1 trip
Crystal Light Enterprises (Randy and
Vicki Sawyer) – 1 trip
Congratulations to all of these CCS customers for all
of their hard work. We look forward to seeing you all
at the
Westin Hotel in Grand Cayman!
Just like last year’s promotion there is still an
opportunity to win. If you haven’t won yet, you
still have until December 31 to grab this opportunity
and join us in March on the beach in the Caribbean.. Here
are some of the basic details:
* All
CCS customers are eligible to win trips based on increases
in print finishing from January 1,
2006 to December 31. 2006.
* All
print finishing counts toward the promotion
* There
are two ways to win trips:
* If you
increase your print finishing by $12,000 by July 31 you
win a trip. Increase it by multiples
of $12,000 by July 31 and you win multiple trips.
* If you
increase your account by $20,000 by December 31, 2006
you win a trip. Increase it by multiples
of $20,000 by December 31 and win multiple trips.
*
Maximum of 4 trips per customer/owner.
Either way, the race is on and you have 5 more months
to plan where your increases will come from; what markets
you will increase; and what new markets you may want to
pursue. If you have any questions about the promotion
please call Brian Speers at ext. 251.
IT'S ALL IN THE NUMBER OF
IMAGES YOU SHOOT
by Holly
McCoy
In August of last year, after getting inspired at the
CCS Summer Workshops, I ventured out on my own a little
and decided to start shooting Party Pics® at some
special events. I kept hearing about all the "venue"-type
events that WEREN'T being shot, so I thought I'd try my
hand at it.
Two particular events that were a great success were a
20-year high school class reunion (MY OWN), and another
charity-type event. Both events have actually made gross
sales close to $3,000 each and one is still climbing.
I've shot several events throughout the year, and what
I've noticed hands-down is the HIGHER THE NUMBER OF IMAGES,
THE HIGHER YOUR SALES! I know that you hear this from
time to time, but if you don't act upon it, you're missing
huge amounts of profit. At both events, I had three photographers,
and there were 1,200+ images shot. When I first started
doing this, I was told by a person that knows a ton about
shooting Party Pics® to have a goal of $2 per image
shot as a starting place. Well it worked! I noticed very
clearly that the higher the number of images, the closer
that number got to $3 per image shot. I still have hopes
to see $4 per image shot in the near future!
For the reunion, there were about 460 people registered,
and varying numbers at the three events. I had 3 photographers
that shot a total of 1,200 images. I was on the reunion
committee having access to over 500 email addresses, and
have emailed them twice. I'm still planning a third and
final email, so that $3,000 is most likely not the final
tally! We did have two sets of group pictures....and I
sold 10X14's of the group shot for $18 each online. We
also set up a simple backdrop and shot pictures of each
couple at the formal banquet. The line for couples pics
was a mile long at one point. I almost think some of them
wanted a picture with their spouse more than they wanted
dinner! You realize, some wives can't get their spouse
to a photography studio very often, so we brought one
TO THEM, and let me tell you, they jumped on it! We also
shot a ton of Party Pics®!
For the charity event, I had three photographers, myself
included, and we shot 1,200+ images again, with close
to $3,000 in sales. These were all Party Pics®. This
time, since it was a high-end event, we were not able
to ask for email addresses. One thing I did do each night
as the orders came in is I made a list of email addresses
of those who actually placed orders. Every few days, I
would email those actual customers, and tell them if they
knew someone at the event to please forward this onto
them so they would not miss out their Party Pics®!
The email thanked the customer for their order, and also
reiterated how to check out their Party Pics®. Since
they would not let me collect emails, I utilized the people
who were already excited about getting their pictures!
They spread the word for me!
For both events, I would just have to say that the high
number of images is what brought in the sales. It's very
clear. I've shot some events by myself as just one photographer,
and I can shoot a bunch...but when you add photographers,
and deluge them with images...you can't help but make
money...GOOD MONEY. At this year's workshops, you repeatedly
heard "take more images." I listened to those
presenters of the past, and it's working! Let me stress
again, THE HIGHER THE NUMBER OF IMAGES, THE MORE MONEY
YOU ARE GOING TO MAKE! It's a fact, Jack! :)
E-mail Management
by Demetri
Barges
As we heard many times in last week's workshop meetings,
collecting and marketing to participant's email addresses
is often the factor that determines the success of an
online event. This holds true for graduations, races,
campus events and preliminary results also indicate action
sports.
Photographers require e-mails to be delivered reliably
and to be easily read; recipients require e-mail to arrive
in manageable quantities, and to include all relevant
content. Over the last few years, businesses and individuals
have collected e-mail addresses only to delete them, append
them to marketing campaigns, or save them in a file, never
to be accessed again. There are several tools available
to help manage e-mails, however, a powerful tool is available
in Microsoft Outlook.
In order to use Outlook, you need to first decide how
to group your e-mails. I suggest that you model your business
and replicate it in Outlook.
For example; if you shoot action sports, you might create
a directory structure like the example below:
1. Spring action sports
06
a. Edmond All Sports Baseball
(division)
i. Yankees (teams)
ii. Red Sox (teams)
iii. Red Hawks (teams)
b. Edmond All Sports Football
(division)
i. Cowboys (teams)
ii. Patriots (teams)
iii. Red devils (teams)
2. Christmas Corporate Parties
a. Devon Energy
b. Candid Color Systems
Segmenting by market and period will allow you to more
effectively market and re-market to the event participants.
As demonstrated in example above; if the Yankees play
the Red Sox, you could easily send e-mails to both teams.
When re-marketing to the entire league, you could easily
send e-mails to all teams within the "Edmond All
Sports Baseball" group.
Effective marketing for an event is essential for good
sales. Remember the following tasks to ensure you market
most effectively to your event participants:
1. Collect e-mails from the actual participants. Lists
from coaches, schools, or event planners are often outdated
or missing participants. While you still should retrieve
these lists, you must obtain e-mails from the event participants
(or parents) directly.
2. Manage your e-mails. Place them in a tool such as Outlook
and define their groups. The goal here is to easily market
and re-market to the audience most interested in the content.
3. Maintain your list. After receiving a bounce-back,
you need to verify that the address was keyed correctly;
if it was not, you need to correct the address.
4. Follow the Law. When sending e-mails to event participants,follow
federal and state laws. Having "opt-out" instructions
and maintaining your e-mail databases are only part of
the law.
Visit http://www.spamlaws.com/us.shtml to review the federal
and local laws that apply. When sending e-mails to large
groups always remember to BCC your addresses.
Download this
document
that describes how to import an e-mail list from Excel
into Microsoft Outlook.
Bid Day Season Preparation
by Steve
Foisy
Bid Days are just around the corner. Are you prepared?
Below are observations from last year’s bid days
to help you complete your planning, preparation, improve
your sales and help with overall execution.
Pre-planning
Take the time to analyze every step of your bid day by
reviewing your personnel, equipment needs, schedules,
group locations, etc and do this well in advance of your
bid day rather than the last minute. By being prepared,
you can give your group photographers the best opportunity
to generate higher sales and take excellent quality pictures.
Utilize QEMS to broadcast to your customers your shooting
schedules, chair needs, parked car issues, etc.
Party Pic® Photographers
You should assign one or more Party Pic photographers
to each sorority. The larger organizations should have
two. Keep in mind that if your group photographer is the
only one taking Party Pics and they also have to shoot
groups, then something will suffer. Anything that takes
your group photographer away from soliciting group orders
will ultimately cost you group sales. Of course, you can
still have the group photographer assist the other Party
Pic photographers prior to the group provided they are
properly prepared.
It is rare that we see Party Pic photographers who truly
understood how important this day is and which members
should be the primary focus. Most (but not all) are not
very aggressive when it comes to getting the more pictures.
Numerous times we hear the “They don’t want
any pictures.” comment from our Party Pic photographers.
Give your photographers a goal of one picture every 10
seconds to help motivate them. Train them how to aggressively
approach the girls to get those pictures quickly. Also,
instruct your Party Pic photographers to NOT take any
class shots. This will hurt your group sales and it did
happen on a few campuses. Bid Day Party Pics can be very
profitable for you. Don’t leave money on the table
by not taking enough pictures.
Helpers
Properly trained group helpers can increase your sales
and will pay for themselves just by bringing in one more
package order. They can be wandering through the crowds
of members asking for orders while you are shooting your
class pictures. Helpers are a must if you are expecting
your group photographers to photograph two houses. They
will assist with chair setup, moving equipment from one
location to the next, etc. A helper for EACH chapter would
be even more beneficial.
Group Photographer Setup Time
Give your group photographers plenty of time to arrive
and setup early. It is better for them to be sitting waiting
on the girls to arrive than to not have enough time to
properly setup for the group. The extra time may also
be necessary if they encounter unforeseen setup obstacles
related to location, chairs, equipment, lighting, etc.
You should allow a minimum hour PER sorority for setup.
Digital vs. Film
We receive calls each week about whether it is better
to shoot bid day groups on film or with a digital camera.
From our experience, you will still get the best detail
for 10x18 groups from scanned 645 negatives or 8, 10,
or 12MP resolution digitally captured images. 6MP digital
cameras (Nikon D70, Nikon D100, Canon 10D) can give you
a good 10x18 print for groups up to 75-100 subjects. You
will need an 8MP+ digital camera to achieve acceptable
10x18 prints for groups approaching 150 or more subjects.
6+MP Digital is fine for any of you 8x10 class shots.
The current choice for 8+MP digital cameras are the Canon
20D, 30D, 1Ds, 1D, Nikon D200 and D2X.
One of the key benefits of film is that it has more exposure
latitude than digital and this saved many groups this
year because of poor exposures. Overexpose your digital
images more than 1⁄2 stop and your print quality
will suffer greatly. If you or your photographers cannot
consistently expose your images within 1⁄2 stop
over or under, then you may still be better off shooting
with film. Bracket your aperture (and refocus) regardless
of how confident you are with your exposures.
A popular alternative is to shoot Large Fine and RAW on
each digital camera. Printing from a properly shot JPEG
is still the goal, but if a mistake is made with the exposure
or white balance, the RAW could be used to create a new
JPEG image. For those of you not familiar with digital
RAW formats, it is an unrendered digital file. RAW files
do give you the ability to make exposure corrections up
to approximately 11⁄2-2 stops, adjust white balance,
adjust tone, sharpening, etc. and then render a jpeg image
for printing. RAW files will not give you any more detail
in your images, but will allow you to correct for some
photographer mistakes. If you choose to shoot in RAW format,
spend time testing various rendering settings in PhotoShop
or the RAW conversion software provided with your camera
and make plenty of test prints to help you determine which
RAW adjustments will yield the best prints. You will need
larger memory cards if shooting in both JPEG and RAW modes
together.
Lighting
The minimum for lighting your groups is a Metz 60CT or
SunPak 622. As powerful as these strobes are, there are
times that you will need to use a studio light such as
a White Lightning 3200 to properly light your group. Groups
with split lighting or splotchy lighting will require
a faster shutter speed (if your camera has a higher sync
speed) and more flash power to fill the shadows with enough
light to match the areas with direct exposure to the sun.
Some of the best groups that we saw this season were usually
shot with a White Lightning strobe and a Bronica film
camera.
Film Handling
Have plenty of film. (and memory cards) Film is not very
expensive compared to the total sales that you will bring
in. Give each photographer at least 3-4 rolls of 220 for
each chapter to be photographed. Instruct each photographer
to avoid placing any film in direct sunlight. Practice
safe film loading and unloading. Load your cameras inside
or in dark shade, then prior to advancing the film, use
gaffer tape to cover every seam on the camera back and/or
film insert. This added step can prevent unforeseen light
leaks on your film. Only advance the film when you are
ready to photograph the group. If you leave your camera
out in the sun while prepping for your group, cover the
camera with a thick light colored towel to keep your cameras
cool and further reduce the chance of light leaks. When
done, immediately take your camera to dark shade or indoors
and advance the film completely. Unload the film, then
LIGHTLY rubber band it and place in a 120/220 film canister.
120/220 Film Canisters can be ordered at no charge by
calling Ronnie Sams at ext. 234.
When shipping your film, only ship via Airborne, UPS,
or Federal Express. Never ship your film over the counter.
Most over the counter boxes are run through a high intensity
scanner that will fog your film. Hold your backup film
and ship it one day later than your primary film.
Order optical proofs at the time of processing and scanning.
Optical proofs are the best tool you have to evaluate
your photographers’ exposures, picture the best
exposure for printing as well as checking for light leaks.
Save these proofs and give them to your photographers
during bid day next year. We also recommend that you print
8x10/10x18 test prints of the best exposures to help you
determine which image has the best focus.
Backups
Yes, you still need to shoot backups regardless of whether
or not you shoot film or digital. Treat the backup camera
as another primary camera. The best bid day photographers
pick images for printing from both cameras so you want
to do the best that you can for each. Remember that an
experienced digital photographer may be able to properly
assess their exposures and cropping, but it is virtually
impossible to determine if you are in focus on the large
groups. Cameras will malfunction and photographers will
make mistakes. When that happens, what value would you
place on those backup images?
Group Setup
The better your groups look, the happier your customers
will be. This will make you more competitor- proof. If
your sororities do not have enough chairs/benches/steps
to properly form the group so you can see everyone, then
rent chairs. The number of chairs required will normally
be 1/3 the total number to be in the group. To maximize
your space create 5-7 rows with girls standing in two
rows of chairs, two rows on the ground, one row sitting
in chairs, one row kneeling on the ground, then one row
sitting on the ground. Don’t forget to remove any
extra chairs from the sides and background of your class
shots.
Review cropping with everyone. Diagrams on cropping for
groups are available on candidnet in the training section.
Photographers should move backwards and forwards for each
individual group for the best crop.
Order Cards
Collecting orders at the time of the group and then collecting
one check from your organizations will still generate
the highest bid day sales. Give photographers plenty of
cards (25% over total number in group). It can be very
motivating to give your photographers sales stats from
the previous year. They will always want to top this!
Offer combo packages to increase your sales.
A sample bid day card with packages is also available
in the candidnet training section. CCS can print one sided
full color order cards on 81⁄2x11 card stock for
$0.18 each from a Word or PDF document.
Contact Customer Support to schedule order card printing
or if you need advice on the planning of your upcoming
Winter Bid Days. Also, look for more Bid Day group training
at our next Summer Workshop.
CORE Software Support Billing
Lowered
The monthly software support fee required for CORE (Candid
Ordering & Reporting Environment) has been lowered
from the previous $50 per month fee. The new support fees
are $40 per month for the in office server version and
$15 per month for the web-hosted version. The new support
fees will begin with August support and require a 12 month
duration agreement. You will receive an updated support
agreement for review over the next week. Please contact
Customer Support if you have any questions concerning
CORE or CORE Support. Below are details on the CORE software
for those not already familiar with the software platform.
CORE Software - Candid Ordering & Reporting
Environment
CORE software is a stand alone or web based
software used to merge your images with names, mailing
addresses & e-mail addresses collected. CORE can then
be used to produce custom mailable order forms, e-mail
broadcasts with imbedded images and website links and
then display your ID’d images online for ordering.
There are CORE modules for Grads, Races, Groups, Sports,
Proms and Quicpics (Party Pics®).
Images can be loaded into CORE directly from your computer’s
hard drive to expedite the identification process and
printing of your forms for mailing. Images can be custom
cropped in CORE prior to posting your images online as
well as during ordering. CORE also gives you a stand alone
system for entering orders to be submitted to CCS as your
convenience. CORE enables the use of imported name and
address lists for many of your events to reduce your data
entry when placing orders.
CORE also ties your identified images organized by name,
PIN or event to a CORE supported website for easy customer
ordering. Customers only see images identified to their
name or participant id. All orders placed online are mailed
directly to the customer by CCS. Orders placed via the
admin page can be returned to your office or mailed directly
to the customer by CCS.
Available CORE Modules
1. Grads
a. Website – http://orders.gradphotonetwork.com/QPPlus/
b. ID your graduates by Name & PIN
c. Custom Cropping available with manual
order entry and online
d. QuicRetouching & Pearlized Paper
available with manual & online orders
e. Custom Proof & E-Mail Broadcasts
f. Orders can me mailed directly to
end customer by CCS
2. Races
a. Website – http://orders.racephotonetwork.com/QPPlus/
b. ID by participant number or bib number
c. Custom Cropping available with manual
order entry and online
d. QuicRetouching available with manual
order entry and online
e. Custom Proof & E-Mail Broadcasts
f. Orders can me mailed directly to
end customer by CCS
3. Groups
a. Used for manually ordering groups.
No online retail interface
b. Custom Cropping and Tilting available
with manual order entry
c. Custom retouching available
d. Custom Proofs
e. Orders can be mailed directly to
end customer by CCS
4. Sports
a. Website – http://www.myleaguephotos.com/
b. ID by team
c. Custom Cropping available with manual
order entry and online
d. QuicRetouching available with manual
order entry
e. Custom Proof & E-Mail Broadcasts
f. Orders can be mailed directly to
end customer by CCS
5. Proms
a. Used for manually ordering proms.
No direct online retail interface
b. ID by name
c. Custom Proof & E-mail Broadcasts
(if used with QP2 retail interface)
d. Orders can be mailed directly to
end customer by CCS
6. Quicpics
a. Custom sign-up & pre-numbered
proof sheets can be ordered
b. Used for manually ordering Quicpics
from proof sheets or envelopes
c. Orders can be sorted by individual
into envelopes
d. Orders can be mailed directly to
end customer by CCS
Customer Created Artwork Available
for All Sports Products
by Blake
Whitney
If you were in the Brian Speer’s Sports Roundtable
discussion on Tuesday morning of the CCS Seminar last
week, you might remember the customer created artwork
sample products he unveiled. It is now possible for you
to create your own artwork for almost all of the sports
products available at this time.
This ability to create your own artwork should give you
a competitive advantage against other photographers in
your area. You are now able to customize artwork for a
particular sport, league or team, and you can do it across
the board to nearly all the products that CCS offers.
Creating your own artwork doesn’t have to mean being
great at Photoshop. You can create a great line just by
using a simple image as the background and applying some
simple effects to it. I am a Photoshop novice and I was
able to create a custom memory mate with just an image
of the football stadium at the University of Oklahoma
in about 30 minutes. This is by no means great but it
is a memory mate that is one of a kind, something your
competitors may not be able to do.
I know of one of our customers was pitching to a soccer
league who like the artwork on the memory mate, but wanted
the color to be yellow to match the league’s color.
This kind of customization is now possible and could be
the difference between booking a league or not.
Click to enlarge |
The following products are now able to accept customer
created artwork:
Appreciation Prints
Calendars
Keychains
Luggage Tags
Magazine Covers
Magnets
Trader Cards
Product templates can be found on Candidnet under the
Training section.
Let your customers see what
they are ordering
Would you be willing to pay $15 - $20 for a photo statuette
if you didn’t know what one was? Probably not, and
chances are that your customers would be reluctant to
purchase one as well. The same reason you take physical
samples to a sports shoot or put images on an order form
is the same reason you should put thumbnails in your packages
online. People like to see what it is they are buying.
I know that not all of you know how to use HTML coding,
so I made it so that all you need to know is COPY and
PASTE. All you have to do is copy the code from the HTML
Sports Excel
spreadsheet
and paste it into the Package Description when you are
adding a product. If you have text in the description,
just past the code below it and the thumbnail images will
appear below your text description.
If you use default packages all of your teams of a specific
sport, you can add the code to your packages for that
market and have the thumbnails appear online each time
you that market package. This can be very helpful if you
are selling to several teams or leagues using the same
sports line.
Every sports product from every sports line is represented
on this spreadsheet along with plaques, statuettes,
photo buttons and all of the other products that aren’t
a generic size (5x7, 8x10, etc.) in the sports market.
Put these thumbnails online and let your customers see
what they are ordering.
Be a part of the Action with
Action Sports Photography
By Cami
Sheaffer
 |
When I booked my first sports league several years
ago, I was told there wasn’t any money to be made
in action photos. I am so happy to report to you that
is simply not true! We have made almost $4,000 in sales
after photographing 37 games. That is $108 per one hour
game. I love making over $100 an hour!
Here are the simple steps in taking action photos!
1. Research fields
Locate fields and look up game schedules to choose games
to photograph. This can include getting in your car
and looking for ballparks. Most leagues have websites
that include their game schedules.
2. Hire and Train Photographers
Provide your photographers with checklists and camera
settings cheat sheets. Have your photographers wear
a company t-shirt. Our company t-shirts are fluorescent
yellow so they get the customers’ attention. We
only send one photographer per game to photograph and
collect email addresses. Here is an example baseball
checklist that the photographer uses for every game
to make sure they photograph all the players in different
poses.
 |
3. Collect Email Addresses from coach and parents
in stands
Photographers need to pass out email address cards before
the game begins. Explain to the parents that you will
be taking the action photos and emailing them a link to
the pictures. Go into the stands several times to collect
the email address cards. Here is an example of an email
address collection card. These perforated cards can be
ordered through marketing materials and you will have
to overprint them with your information.
4. Take great action photos!
Take pictures of both teams. Good exposures and correct
cropping will increase your sales. Some of the best action
photos come from the players’ warm up.
5. Post online and email within 24 hours
Post the games online within 24 hours. Post the images
by date and game. Assign every game at one field with
the same password. This will help parents locate their
images if you photographed multiple games for that child.
6. Email link to parents within 24 hours
Here is an example email we sent to the parents.
7. Offer cropping
Offering cropping in QP+ allows the customers to zoom
in and crop their photos.
8. Send multiple follow-up emails
Sending a second email increased our sales over $700.
After we sent a third email, our sales increased over
$800.
9. Track sales and products sold in QP+.
94% of every product we sold was a 4x6, 5x7, 8x10 or
16x20 print. That means 6% of the products sold were
specialty products such as a button or magazine cover.
If you have any questions please contact Cami
Sheaffer at Ext. 194
