In order to be a successful portrait photography business, you need to have a clear understanding what your business is, what you do, and what you need to do to be successful. This manual will be your guide.
Chase The Dream….No Excuses!
I have been an International photography business coach for over ten years, and really have a good insight in to why most photographers fail in their business. You will find in the information below a step-by-step plan on how to set up your photography business, to ensure success in your business, in lead generation, answering phone enquiries, and sales systems. It is designed to encourage you to work ON your business for a greater proportion of your time, rather than spending all of your time working IN your business.
The success of any small business in today’s environment depends on customer creation, and maximizing the sale to that customer. I am confident that this guide will not only motivate you and expand your thinking, but also considerably increase your financial reward.
The difference between winners and losers is only a state of mind.
The difference between those who would be successful and those destined to be also-rans can be measured by their willingness to participate. Those who are successful participate in everything that will give them the chance to improve their skills or measure their value and their success.Their state of mind and indeed their total attitude to the profession, product and business will be reinforced by continuous education.
Make pictures, take pictures and enjoy the full and lasting benefit of complete professional participation in everything you do in connection with your photography. You will only get back in money, pleasure and satisfaction, that which you have put in. Capture the fleeting moments so that they may be treasured, but above all enjoy yourself and treat your subjects with respect because they are the reason you are there.
Definition of Success
‘A real success is the person who performs at or close to the best of her or his ability, most of the time, in all of the important areas of his or her life.
She or he will be as successful as his or her inherited potential, past experience and present circumstances permit, in the career of his or her choice.
She or he is making the realistic best of what he or she got in the lottery of life.’
From “The Truth About Success and Motivation”
By Dr. Bob Montgomery
Define Your Business.
Do you have a sound business proposition? In order to be a successful photography business, you need to have a clear understanding of what your business is, what you do, and what you need to do to be successful. Have a mission or vision statement, and clear written business goals of what you want to achieve. If you are clear on who you are, and what you provide, your customer will also be able to understand clearly.
Mission Statements
Mission or vision statements are a constant reminder of the purpose of the business, providing direction and guiding decision making. And they’re not just for the big multinational corporations; even restaurants, daycare, real estate and legal businesses need mission statements. Write your mission statement in big letters and stick it on the wall in plain view.
Your Unique Selling Proposition
Definition: The factor or consideration presented by a seller as the reason that one product or service is different from and better than that of the competition. Before you can begin to sell your product or service to anyone else, you have to sell yourself on it. This is especially important when your product or service is similar to those around you. Very few businesses are one-of-a-kind. Just look around you: How many clothing retailers, hardware stores, air conditioning installers and electricians are truly unique?
The key to effective selling in this situation is what advertising and marketing professionals call a “unique selling proposition” (USP). Unless you can pinpoint what makes your business unique in a world of homogeneous competitors, you cannot target your sales efforts successfully.
Pinpointing your USP requires some hard soul-searching and creativity. One way to start is to analyze how other companies use their USPs to their advantage. This requires careful analysis of other companies’ ads and marketing messages. If you analyze what they say they sell, not just their product or service characteristics, you can learn a great deal about how companies distinguish themselves from competitors. A business can peg its USP on product characteristics, price structure, placement strategy (location and distribution) or promotional strategy. These are what marketers call the “four P’s” of marketing. They are manipulated to give a business a market position that sets it apart from the competition.
How To Find Your Purpose.
Put yourself in your customer’s shoes. Too often, photographers fall in love with their product or service and forget that it is the customer’s needs, not their own, that they must satisfy. Step back from your daily operations and carefully scrutinize what your customers really want. Suppose you own a pizza parlour. Sure, customers come into your pizza place for food. But is food all they want? What could make them come back again and again.
Remember, price is never the only reason people buy. If your competition is beating you on pricing because they are larger, you have to find another sales feature that addresses the customer’s needs and then build your sales and promotional efforts around that feature.
Know what motivates your customers’ behaviour and buying decisions. Effective marketing requires you to be an amateur psychologist. You need to know what drives and motivates customers. Go beyond the traditional customer demographics, such as age, gender, race, income and geographic location that most businesses collect to analyse their sales trends.
What features of your business jump out at you as something that sets you apart? What can you promote that will make customers want to patronize your business? How can you position your business to highlight your USP?
Don’t get discouraged. Successful in your photography business will take time. Be patient and follow proven business principles.