As I mentioned in the last newsletter, some CCS staff and customers are hitting the road to promote the ever-growing Sports photography opportunity.  These one-day meetings are open to all sports photographers (current CCS customers or not) and there is a $25 registration fee to attend. We just completed our third sports photography meeting, which was held this week in St. Louis.  We have gotten some great survey feedback from these meetings from attendees:
 
“Good material presented in a meaningful way by sincere people.”

“This seminar was excellent. Radley was very willing to share his plan for sports photography leaving nothing out. And that was quite refreshing for a change. Other seminars they have told you only what they wanted you to know. he was very open and willing to share everything. And because of him I signed up with Candid Color.”

“Informative and concise.”

“Information was something I can use now, not down the road.  Very helpful with questions and offering their time and help in the future.”

“Information was specific and the dollar amount gives you real-world bottom line amounts.”

“Drop shipping is a viable technique to reduce post production work-flow.”

“Easy to get into online ordering and viewing.”

“Wealth of information.”

“Abundance of different options”
 
We invite you to attend.  Brian Speers, CCS, and Radley Muller, Yary Photography, will be presenting in San Antonio (May 23rd).  Brian or Dan Hays along with Gene Mangiante, Mangiante Photography, will be in Ft. Lauderdale (June 7th), Charlotte (June 14th), Austin (June21), and Nashville (June 28).  To get more information on these meetings and register online, go here.

Have You Marked Your Calendar for the 2007 CCS Summer Workshop?
The CCS staff is already planning for our upcoming CCS Summer Workshop 2007.  These hands-on meetings will be held on the CCS campus and a nearby fancy hotel here in Oklahoma City.  The dates are Sunday through Tuesday, July 29th, 30th and 31st. 

As always, there is no fee to attend the meetings and an agenda will be published soon with online registration.  Plan for a Sunday filled with optional training sessions and Monday and Tuesday to be a combination of various market best practices and additional training opportunities in photography and software systems.  We anticipate strong attendance again which also provides valuable networking for both new and veteran CCS customers.  If you have great ideas for presentations / topics, please let me know.

Attn: CCS Customers
by Charles Cummings

As you may or may not know the postal service is raising their rates as of May 17th.  Unfortunately this date and the new rates came after most of you had already made your Grad offers to your customers. There are new guidelines on what constitutes a parcel and flats (more on that to come in a later e-mail).
 
Below is the USPS link related to the recent postal rate increase.  Please take time to review some of the new changes that may affect your company and your customers.
 
http://www.usps.com/ratecase/

Special note is that some items that currently are being sent as Flats at Discounted rates will no longer be classed as Flats. They will now be First Class Parcels w/o any discounts.
 
For example the new rules on flats include:
           Items can not shift more than 2” within the envelope
           No more than π” variance within an envelope
           Items inside envelope must be flexible

Graduation Calendars
by Evie Sibert 

We are now offering calendars in CORE Grad.  They are available in 8X10 for $2.26 per unit. The background and font color is customizable and can be chosen from our list of default colors.  Logos can be selected from a list of crests or you could provide us with your own logo or crest if it is not available.  This product is available in a horizontal and vertical layout. This is a 12 month calendar and the end user can select the month and year that it starts.
 

Click to enlarge

Single Image Photo Mugs
Mugs are now available in all markets in CORE and QP2.  This allows for one image and a caption line.  The price for the photo mug is $8.66 per mug.

Race Magnets
Photo magnets are now available in the race market.  This 3 1/2 X 5 magnet is priced at $1.25 per magnet.  

Recently, I have been asked by several customers to provide a schedule of the printing for all of our Marketing Materials. I have created a catalog that shows each product with a description, current pricing, and the scheduled months for printings.

Please realize the design, pricing, and timing are subject to change, but this will give you an idea of when to expect order forms to be sent out, and an approximation of the costs for reference. We do not inventory these materials, so it is critical that you order all that you will need for that certain time period by the deadlines listed on each order form that is sent to you.

We are happy to provide you with top-of-line marketing materials to help grow your business! Please let me know if you have questions or ideas for future marketing materials!

Please download our Marketing Materials Catalog.

Once you have your rolls locked, go to align frames and move the red boxes for your zoomed image.

This image will appear on your proof cards and online for extra sales. 

Selling Images Online!
You now have the ability to offer small, medium and large jpgs online.  These 3 products are now offered in the grad market.  To add these to your packages you will need to refresh your objects.

When the customer purchases the image they will receive a link on their check out page to download the image.  They also will receive a link in their email to download the image.

For more information on these features contact customer support. 

On Candidnet you can find a copy of the current CCS Customer Guide under the Customer Guide navigation link.  The Customer Guide is an excellent source of information to answer questions you may have on a variety of topics.  You may access this guide on Candidnet at anytime or you may download it to your computer and print it for easy reference.  

The guide contains the following information.
 

CCS Contact Numbers
Accounting Policies
Refund Policy
Training & Orientation Information

Online Software:
       General Information
       Online Commissions
       Online Payment Processing
       Event Display Time
       Event Display Extensions
       Event Passwords
       Online Ordering Software Descriptions
       QP2 Software
       CORE
       FTP – File Transfer Protocol
       QEMS – Quicpics Event Management System
       CCS Software Setup / Customization

Event Setup & Preparation
       QP2 Event Setup & Order # Assignment
       Password Reservations
       Printing Password Cards
       Email Collection
Equipment Selection & Preparation
       Digital Equipment Recommendations
       Equipment Rentals
       Image File Types/Formats
       Image File Size
       Image Cropping
       Cropping Corrections by CCS
       Exposures
       White Balance Settings
       Testing Equipment
       Evaluating Exposures at the Event
       Photography Support & Training

Post Event Image Management
       Transferring Images to Computer
       Card Corruptions
       Rotating Images
       Editing Images
       Monitor Calibration
       FTP or Transfer Images to CCS
       Sending Images by CD
       Burning a Backup CD
       Event Display Time & Extensions Reminder
       Reformatting Your Memory Cards

Ordering Prints Online
       Ordering Print Through Online Retail Site
       Ordering Prints Through Admin Page
       Gift Certificates
       Rush Orders
       Customer Artwork, Logos and Crests

QuicPics / CORE Reporting

Shipping
      General Shipping Information
      QuicPics Shipping
      Postal Shipping Charges
      Packaging Materials & Handling
      Retail Site Postage Sliding Scale
      Envelope Stuffers

QuicPics Title Styles, Fonts and Colors
Film / CD Envelopes
Cropping Guides

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Lab Service Times for 04/29 - 05/05
by Bo Lewis