Thank
you toall of the
CCS customers who attended our 2008 Winter Seminar
last week in Los
Angeles! We had a great time discussing
new ideas, sharing best practices and training.
Presentations from last week are being placed
in the Seminars section on CandidNet.
Marty
Evenson is a photographer out of Dallas, TX. With all
the excitement around sports photography, Marty finally
decided to expand his business. He began in November
2007. He hired a new manager, Eric Martinez, to leverage
his time. For two months they researched and compiled
leagues, printed samples and sales materials, did marketing
research, added a youth sports website and finally
began the sales approach in January 2008. As of March,
they have already booked 15,000 kids. With another
30,000 - 50,000 projected to close this month. He believes
that “entry
to sports has no BEST time. There is no good or bad
month to enter.”
Lessons Learned and Now Passed On
The ViewFirst™ system
was the answer parents and league directors were
looking for.
Marty talked with parents and coaches about their “pains” of
photo day. He discovered;
-Parents don’t like buying sight unseen.
Eric Martinez and Marty Evenson
-Parents
and students feel peer pressure to purchase.
-Everyone
has their own cash flow issues.
-Photo Day is often “forgotten”
Pre-pay envelopes don’t get distributed
Pre-pay envelopes never make it home
Pre-pay envelopes never make it back to the coach
-Coaches are volunteers, they don’t have time.
Photo day was fatiguing to manage
They do it all for a “free” team shot
ViewFirst™ benefits;
-No pre-paid orders
-No order envelopes
-No flyers
-No money collected before or during Photo Day
-No peer pressure
-No league staff needed to help on Photo Day
-Every child is photographed
-Images are viewed by Parents before they purchase
-Orders shipped 5 days after they are place
-Orders are shipped directly to each customer
-100% satisfaction guarantee!
Networking has huge advantages
By networking with your current friends and business
acquaintances, you can easily gain an advantage over
your competition. People want to do business with
someone they know and trust. Marty did just that,
he contacted a business acquaintance and was able
to secure a meeting with the head of a major league
in his area. He said to me, “why not find the
big sale!” If you are going to spend the same
time preparing and shooting a small league as you
would a big league, why not go after the biggest
leagues first! Think BIG!
During his sales approaches,
he soon realized that ViewFirst™ coupled with
the Level II sports products
created a “wow” effect.
After solving the “pains” parents and coaches
were having with photo day, Marty would then show the
Level II products. The response he received was overwhelming.
They loved it! Offering Level II gave Marty the advantage
he needed to close the sale.
Think outside the Box!
Most of the league contacts are volunteers; they tend
to communicate via email, attachments and phone.
Marty’s approach to bridge this communication
gap is innovative. He created a dedicated website
that contained his sales packet specific for each
league. That way coaches, league directors, and parents
could easily understand the benefits of using his
company.
When collecting email and mailing addresses of parents,
many leagues are hesitant to give out information.
Marty enhanced the “agreement” to encompass
protection of league databases. He encouraged the league
to offer an “opt out” option on their website
that states “I wish to opt out of receiving emails
or mailings of my child’s sports photos. I understand
that this means I never want to view or purchase pictures
of my child.” What mother would actually opt
out after reading that?
Marty’s success can be attributed to his innovative
approaches and his drive to succeed! If you are thinking
about getting started in sports; take Marty’s
advice. Offer ViewFirst™, Level II and THINK
BIG!!
Andrea Vaughn Creates Success Using View First by Jessica
Irvin
With the end of hockey season quickly approaching,
CCS customer, Andrea Vaughn of Fremont Nebraska, realized
there had been no discussion of Picture Day for her
son’s YMCA Hockey League. Andrea began her photography
career taking portraits for friends and family, and
opened her portrait business 2 years ago. Although,
she had little experience shooting sports Andrea decided
to put together a presentation and meet with the director.
Using CCS’ Youth League Presentation, Andrea
customized it to fit her business and printed it out.
She met with the league director and explained the
View First Method, emphasizing that parents are able
to view the images online before ordering, and that
the orders are sent directly to the parents’ houses.
The YMCA loved the new hands off approach, and that
all of the customer service would be handled by the
photographer.
Andrea brought a lot of samples to the shoot, including
large Level 2 Hockey samples. The YMCA provided her
with practice time to shoot all 12 teams. Practice
was held at one end of the ice rink, while she shot
each team at the other end. Six different poses were
taken of each player including an individual and a
variety of simulated action poses. Andrea later edited
them down to the best 3 poses of each player. Using
a contact card Andrea collected e-mail addresses for
all of the parents.
Andrea Vaughn
Both the parents and their children were very excited
about the Level 2 samples and KlingOns. Parents also
liked the idea of being able to view their child’s
image before they placed their order, and many were
eager to tell the coaches on other leagues about Andrea’s
innovative approach to Picture Day.
All of the images were up within 24 hours, and several
parents were calling immediately asking when they would
be able to view pictures. To help boost her sales Andrea
included thumbnails of Level 2 and other specialty
products on her website. After only a few days the
average sale is $49.50, and by creating an e-mail campaign
the sales will continue to grow!
By using the View First System and showcasing Level
2 products Andrea has generated large orders and has
set herself up for more sport events in the future.
Marketing was essential to the success of Andrea’s
first View First event. By creating excitement about
the products and introducing an innovative idea, Andrea
was able to capitalize on this YMCA league and gain
contacts for future events.
Get Your Foot in the Door by Sending Emails
by Evie Sibert
Often times, sending a simple email with good content
can capture someone's attention. CCS customer, Larry
Sullivan, from Winchester, VA spent some time researching
school districts in several counties in his area. He
found their websites and compiled a list of contact
information for administrators from each school including
assistant principles and athletic directors. His ultimate
goal was to obtain the athletic director's email address,
but this was not always available.
Once Larry collected all the contacts, he composed
an email that outlined all of the features and benefits
of the View First system. He emphasized that the administration
staff would not have to hand out envelopes, pick up
envelopes or pass out pictures. He detailed how accommodating
this system is for the school. In addition, he mentioned
that every participant would be photographed and will
receive a free email proof and paper proof.
Larry sent out emails to approximately 12 schools.
He has received phone calls from school administrators
wanting to know more about the system. One of the call
backs was from an assistant principle from a school
with 700 students. The assistant principal was amazed
with the View First system and wanted to learn more
instantly. Through this one simple email, Larry has
booked all of the spring sports at this
school.
The email approach is a great door opener. Emails are
an easy way to get your message and your contact information
in your customers' hands. This is also a way to make
contact with someone that may be too busy to return
your call. Make sure your emails have an inviting subject
line and the content is enticing enough to make the
customer want to learn more.
Composites are a collection of head shots assembled
together as one picture. Organizations have made this
a tradition and have the budget to continue that tradition.
Sororities, fraternities, law schools, nursing schools,
smaller high school senior classes, fire & police
departments and military groups are good examples
of groups that have a tradition of composites.
Other composite companies may be contracting organizations
with five year agreements. Your first step would be
to start a campaign to find who is under contract and
for how long. Develop a small sales brochure that includes,
an “About Us” paragraph
with a testimonial, a policies and procedures page
and a sample service agreement for the organization.
Once you have obtained a contract from an organization
you have to capitalize on the shoot. In today’s
composite world, we focus on quality not quantity.
Spend time with each subject by taking three to four
head shots and a few three quarters and a full lengths
shots. You can be as creative as you would like and
maybe even offer a wardrobe change opportunity.
Sales still show that outdoor composite photography
outsells indoor. Indoor photography with traditional
dress, sundresses, sweaters, or a favorite outfit outsells
a velvet wrap. The problem with wraps is, last years
picture looks the same as this year and will look the
same next year.
After the shoot, market your proofs to the parents
of your subjects, with direct sales. Email and snail-mail
full color proofs to their subjects parent’s,
wife and family.
CCS long time customer, Scott Christenson, from Champaign
IL recently provided some of his composite results.
He photographed Kappa Kappa Gamma and his portrait
results were:
120 girls had their picture taken,
480 images taken,
32 girls ordered to date
116 packages ordered
$41.75 average order
$16.19 average lab cost per order
$2.77 per image shoot
30% ordered but ordered 3 packages
$1,334.00 Total sales
Not included is the $18.00 per person charged to the
Kappas to photograph and build the Composite board.
For a total sell of $3494.00
Premium Pearlized Paper Boosts
Sales for Bid Days
by Morgan Fenn
Across the nation, campus businesses are down from
3% to 40%. In order to stay even in today’s marketplace
you must book more events, shoot more images than ever
before, market products better and OFFER MORE PREMIUM
PRODUCTS!!!
Page Strong with Dallas Flash has been working to
stay up by analyzing everything he does from the images
he takes to marketing his website and offering the
newest products in all aspects of the business. He
has been a pioneer in the Greek market for many years
and with his most recent bid day at Southern Methodist
University in Dallas, he was the first to add Premium
Pearlized Paper to his bid day offers. Page took his
original bid day order form and added the Premium Pearlized
Paper option to all his packages. With this one simple
step, Dallas Flash walked away from the SMU campus
with over 35% of the orders being on Premium Pearlized
Paper.
Texas Party Pics learned from Page’s success
at SMU and added Premium Pearlized Paper to the Bid
Day order form for Southwestern University in Georgetown,
Texas. This Bid Day is much smaller than SMU’s
but out of the 159 packages sold, over 15% of them
were on the Premium Pearlized paper.
A week later, Texas Party Pics shot the Zeta Tau Alpha’s
spring bid day group shots at Texas State. Knowing
the success from SMU and Southwestern University, Texas
Party Pics printed off sample Premium Pearlized bid
day group pictures. The girls went crazy for the images
and 40% of the packages sold were pearlized.
In conclusion, Premium Pearlized bid day group pictures
are the way to go! More success was seen when the sorority
members were able to see pearlized samples as they
ordered. ORDER YOUR PREMIUM PEARLIZED SAMPLES TODAY
for Bid Day 2008!
Quicpost
allows you to spend more time booking & shooting!
by Denise
Mangiante
How Do You Define Your Job?
How much of your time do you actually spend taking
photographs? Do you find that you spend more time managing
your events after the shoot than you do taking pictures?
Then quicpost may be the solution for you!
Quicpost allows you to quickly post your images online,
but keeps the benefits of a slick retail site and email
marketing. Currently the system is geared to sports
related events. If you would like to watch instructional
videos on Quicpost, please visit http://quicpost.candid.com.
Be the person who takes photographs for a living, or
even better, has time to sell their services to clients!
If you are interested in using quicpost please contact
the customer support department.
QuicPost Welcome
Page.
Deadline
for ordering Grad marketing materials is Friday,
March 7
by Holly McCoy
Yes,
it's that time once again! Grad
season is FAST approaching, and it's time to
order your marketing materials for the upcoming
season! Please click on the link below
and download your 2008 Grad Marketing Materials
Packet and Order Form today!
Look for exciting marketing ideas for senior portraits, overview portraits, group
shots, diploma photography and more! Don't miss out on these great ways
to market to your customers! You will be surprised at what one flyer stuffed
in with your proofs can do to increase your sales!
Deadline
for ordering materials is this Friday, March
7, 2008,
so take a look and order yours soon! Materials
will begin shipping mid-March!
CCS is a LabPrints partner. Download the CCS version of their FREE Digital
Studio software on their website www.labprints.com under Participating
Labs in the Pro Lab section. LabPrints will also be a sponsor at this
year’s WPPI show in Las Vegas. You can
find them at booth #405. They will be unveiling their brand
new product updates at the show. Check their
website or contact them at lia@labprints.com or by calling
(518) 274-3931 x314 to get a free WPPI pass. Effective May 12, 2008 the US Post Office will be
changing their postage rates. by Bo Lewis
These can be viewed directly at USPS.
You will see the link in the News section of their
home page.
At this time they have NOT released rates for Priority
Mail (items over 13 oz). They expect that to be published
in mid March. They did not indicate what that change
will be, but to expect a rate change around May of
each year.
Brief Overview:
If you mail First Class directly you will see this:
A 1 oz letter (6x8 envelope) is increasing 0.01. It
is going from 0.41 to 0.42.
A 1 oz Flat (9x11 flexible envelope) is increasing
0.03. It is going from 0.80 to 0.83.
A 1 oz Parcel (tube) is increasing 0.04. It is going
from 1.13 to be 1.17.
Your Postage on mail at Candid Color:
A 1 oz letter (6x8 envelope) is 0.334 – will
be 0.346.
A 1 oz Flat (9x11 envelope) – ranges from 0.383 – 0.699 – will
be 0.364 – 0.727.
This is actually a decrease on the most discounted
rate and an increase on the least discounted rate.
On days when there are 10 or more pieces going to a
same zip code you will see a decrease. On days when
we have fewer pieces going to a zip code you will see
an increase.
5 Digit – From 0.383 to 0.364
3 Digit – From .484 to 0.479
ADC – From 0.567 to 0.570
Mxd ADC – From 0.686 to 0.702
Pre Sorted Rate – From 0.699 to 0.727
A 1 oz Parcel (tube) - is 1.13 – will be 1.17.
(Not discounted) This is also mail that does not meet
the flexibility & stability rules put in place
by the post office last year. This includes Buttons,
ID tags, key chains, statuettes, etc.
Mail over 13 oz are mailed at Priority Rate. These
rates have not yet been published. I am being told
it will probably be mid March before they release these
rates. This mail would include Mugs, Plaques, Mounted
Posters, etc.
Lab Service Times 2/24/2008 -
3/1/2008
Problems
with, or suggestions about The Developments Newsletter? Email us
to see if we can help.
