August
25th, 2006
Hot
Market Program Revamped: Make Your Party Pics® Sales
Soar!
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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.
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Orders with Incomplete or Missing Images Now Subject to
Fee
In an attempt to improve both efficiency and quality,
we have been reviewing many of the processes and job
functions performed on a daily basis by our team members.
During our review, we identified a task that is consuming
an inordinate amount of time. This task arises when
a customer submits an order but has not submitted
images for that order or has not submitted them with
sufficient time for processing. Our software automatically
catches these problems and does not allow the order
submission. Some third party software does not prevent
this problem. When this issue arises, it takes our
technical staff 15 minutes to resolve each issue.
This is not fair to us or our other customers. Accordingly,
starting Sept. 15, 2006, we will charge $7.50 each
time this problem arises.
2005 Studio Financial Benchmark
Survey Analysis
Recently, PPA released their 2005 Studio Financial Benchmark
Survey Analysis. This report, available to PPA members,
contains survey information comparing home-based and retail-based
portrait / wedding studios.
PPA suggests that by analyzing the various categories
in the report you can:
1. Determine exactly how much more money you could be
making if you managed your business according to the benchmarks
achieved by best-performing studios.
2. Diagnose the areas of your business that are draining
profit from your bottom line.
3. Learn how to set up your financial records according
to the managerial standards that will allow you to make
informed decisions about your business.
4. Achieve the confidence that comes from knowing exactly
how your business is performing.
By definition, a benchmark is “a standard by which
something can be measured or judged.” Professional
Photographers of America’s 2005 Benchmark Survey
is a financial snapshot of the photography industry in
2004. Its findings will allow studio owners to compare
their financial operations to other studios of similar
sales level or years in business and assess their productivity
against overall industry averages and “best-performance”
studios.
It also validates the industry standards for financial
management and accounting that both PPA instructors and
PPA’s Studio Management Services division suggest
are vital benchmarks for any studio to understand and
work toward in the quest to make a satisfactory income
in portrait/wedding photography.
Photographers who embrace these benchmarks with the same
enthusiasm that they approach their art can be confident
that this survey will provide them with real-world guidance
backed by thorough research and validation.
Please review the survey results
here.
Holiday Greeting Cards for 2006
Ten styles of greeting cards will be available
in QP2 and QP+ on September 15th. We kept the 4
Click to enlarge |
most popular styles from last year (Snowflake, Festive,
Ornament and Lined with Color) and added 6 new designs
(Giftbox, Blue Diamond, Stripes, Postcard, Holly, and
Snowman). As a reminder, these are 4”x8" in
size and are available in sets of 12 ($5.52) and sets
of 20 ($9.20). Also new this year is the addition of Season's
Greetings as a title. You now have six title options -
Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays, Feliz Navidad, Season's
Greetings, Happy Hanukkah and no title. You will have
the ability to order samples of the greeting cards starting
September 15th by going to
Party
PicsŪ, password – samplessamples.
Holiday greeting cards are a great re-marketing product
to offer to past customers from previous events. They
are the perfect reason to email customers with a new and
relevant product offering during the fourth quarter of
the year.
New Lab Policy for Orders
Submitted with Expired Images
by Steve
Foisy
Any orders received at CCS from the photographer after
images have expired on our web-servers will be held for
3 business days. CCS will contact you via e-mail and request
replacement images to be FTP’d or e-mailed back
to CCS for the given order number. Images not received
by the third business day after the initial e-mail request
will be deleted and required the photographer to re-key
the order.
The most common reasons for orders to be missing images
are orders that were being held in QP2 batch or the CORE
transmit queue, were keyed while the images were online,
but were transmitted to CCS after the images expired and
dropped off of our web-servers.
Lab Service Times for the week of 8/13 to 8/19
by Bo Lewis
