SIMPLICITY

I'm all about simple.  For me, the less complicated I can keep things - the better for everyone involved.  My mind doesn't do complicated very well.  

In every aspect of my business, I'm constantly evaluating and asking myself "what am I doing that's unnecessary or unhelpful," and "how can I eliminate it from the customer experience?"

I think it's pretty common to think that the more products, more options, more "stuff" we can throw at our clients - the more likely they'll buy "something."  We offer different sizes, textures, papers.  We show different album covers - metal, wood, leather, photo covers.  

We even show our many different styles.   We do these things because we strongly believe that it's what our clients want - choice.  We think that the more choices we give our clients, the better decisions they'll make.

 The result is, we try to be all things to all people.  

The truth is, there are very few "successful" businesses based on offering everything to everyone.  Even WalMart - which certainly attempts to appeal to the masses - knows that it can't be the store for everyone.   When we try to be everything to everyone (through our products and through our services), I think that two things happen.

1. We dilute our brand.  By trying to do too much, we end up muddying the waters.  By trying to offer a myriad of choices and options, we make it harder for our clients - and potential clients - to figure out who we really are.

2. When faced with too many choices, people make the only safe decision - nothing.  When faced with an overload of choices, clients are unable to choose - a situation known as analysis paralysis.  

My experience has been - when someone hires you, they hire you for the experience you provide a client.  If they were referred to you by one of their friends, or someone they trust, they want the experience that person had.  They hire you for your art, your expertise, and your ability to be a trusted advisor in the realm of "remembering my wedding."  

If you give them too much information to process, you lose the role of trusted advisor, and you risk the opportunity for relational sales.

For example: I used to offer a lot of different Album options.  I used to offer tons of different cover options, and sizes, shapes, etc.  I'd ask clients up front to choose the type of album they wanted.  They had to pick the size and number of images before the wedding was even shot.

I used to have clients make a folder of their favorite images, and then I'd work on designing an album for them based on that.  Inevitably they'd choose images, and combinations that weren't necessarily my favorite.  Even more often, I'd wait months while they waded through 800-1000 images to pick their 60, 90, 100, 150 images that they wanted in their album.  It would take them forever. 

Then, I had to try to take the collection of images they choose, and piece together some sort of story - whether the images they choose were the best telling of their story or not.

When it came down to it, most of my clients asked me "what do you recommend?" or "what do most of your clients get?"  The answer - a 10x10 or 12x12 book with black or brown leather.  That's what most of my clients ended up with.  Sure, there were a lot of options, but that's where most of them ended up.

So I made things simple.  

Now, everyone gets a credit towards a 20 page 10x10 leather bound book.  Everyone.  For every client, I create an album pre-design (using Apple's Aperture) based on the story that unfolded before me - usually - between 40 and 80 pages.  About two weeks after their wedding, I share their predesign with them - either in our studio, or via Album Exposure.  The client has a chance to view their album design, choose how many spreads they'd like to buy, apply their credit, and purchase the rest.  

I want to quickly plug Album Exposure for an incredible online proofing solution for albums.  Clients can view, suggest changes, and approve their album design all right online.  And, if you use KISS, you can send their approved files straight to the album company for printing.  SIMPLE!

The only choices they get now?  How many pages (spreads) do you want to buy? What color leather do you want for your cover? What size would you like? And, how many parent (clone) copies would you like?  All of my clients now get beautifully made KISS books.  

I didn't invent this idea - there are plenty of others who have done this in one form or another - and I take no credit for the idea.  You can also argue whether or not it's best for your business.  This is what I know.  Since I've eliminated the complexity - and made things simple for my clients and me - my album sales have increased about 300%, and the turnaround for my clients went from 6-9 months to 2-3 months.

So that you can see the beauty that is Album Exposure, here's Jeff + Anna's album design (that album from above).

Full Disclosure: KISS has in the past sponsored a workshop I offered.  Neither they, nor Album Exposure currently compensates me in any way, and neither had any input into this post.  I pay the same thing for their products as anyone else, and if you click on those links, I don't get anything except the satisfaction of pointing you towards good resources.  KISS does have a collection of my Aperture Album Templates available as a FREE download HERE.  If you use other album design software, they have great info there as well.

STUDIO OR NOT?

I'll start by saying this: I currently operate my wedding and lifestyle photography business out of a studio/gallery located in our small downtown main street area.  

I tell you this up front because there's a chance that my opinion is biased based on my experience (actually - I guarantee that my opinion is biased by my experience).  

I've been asked by many of the photographers I talk to, about whether or not having a studio would benefit their business.  It's a really hard question to try and answer for someone in a 5 minute conversation.  It's even hard to answer in an hour-long conversation.  

The factors that go into whether or not having a studio space would be the best decision for you - are far more intimate than can be evaluated without a lot of careful consideration and discernment.

I will share the reasons that having a studio was the best thing we've done for our business - as well as the pros and cons of having a studio space.  As I work through this, I'm talking about a studio outside of the home - where you can either meet with clients and/or photograph sessions.  My assumption is that if you don't have a studio space, you're either meeting with them at your home, their home, or in public locations (coffee house, etc).  

First, the disadvantages of having a studio space:

1. Overhead.  In any business, the more overhead you have, the higher the cost is to you, to do business.  The less overhead you have, the more flexibility you have in making financial decisions about your business.  Having a physical space can be expensive (anywhere from $8-$25 per ft/sq depending on where you are).  Additionally, a studio space has to have electricity and heat.  You'll probably add internet, telephone, taxes, and other monthly charges as well.

2. Liability. You're responsible for a space, for your belongings, and you're responsible - in many ways - for what happens to people in your space.  You're also committed for a period of time to paying for that lease, and should your business fail - you'll probably be obligated to pay that lease regardless. 

3. Maintenance.  There are a lot of extra things you have to take care of when you have a studio.  You have to fix things that break and keep it clean.  Not only does this cost money - but it's more work than not having a studio.

4. Upfront Costs. Building out, and furnishing a studio can be a very expensive proposition.  Purchasing furniture, work to display, office equipment, and everything else that goes into the space not only costs money, but takes time.

 So why would anyone want to have a studio?!

1. It says something about you.  The way you design your studio, and the space itself, say a lot to your potential customer about who you are, and the type of business you run.  You have TOTAL control over how you present your work and your business, and have total control over your client's experience.

2. Set yourself a part.  When clients visit our space, they are entering a gallery.  We have a small shooting space as well, but it's clear that our space is designed to show off our wedding work.  There are few photographers in our market that have anything close.  

Most wedding photographers are meeting out of their home, or at local coffee shops.  We are able to immediately justify the difference in our pricing and our work because of the experience clients have when the come to our studio.

3. Dedicated space to work.  Even though client consultations and sessions are all by appointment only, I spend most of my working time at the studio.  I'm able to have everything I need right there, and I can keep my work life - and home life, much more separate.  When I'm at work - I'm at work.  When I'm home - I'm home (most of the time!).  I find myself much more productive editing, designing - doing all the things I do on a regular basis - up at the studio.

4. It's a HUGE marketing investment.  I'm pretty aggressive when it comes to marketing, and our studio space is sort of the crown jewel of our strategy.  We're located in an area with a LOT of foot traffic, and drive by traffic.  We're right downtown, and people stop and look in our windows.  

Our studio is about 10 blocks from one of the largest high schools in our state, and as a result, our Lifestyle Senior Portrait business gets a lot of word of mouth buzz.  We're a part of our community, and the other businesses in our area are our advocates - they want us to succeed.  

So, how do you know if having a studio space is right for you?  It's certainly not an easy decision to make, but I will say this.  Having a studio is an investment.  You really have to be willing to make a long-term commitment to it, or there's less chance that the investment will pay off.  We were SUPER fortunate that our studio started to generate more than enough business to pay for itself - from the beginning.  

That's not always the case.  In fact, we were prepared for it to be a much longer period of time before that happened.  We were prepared to lower my salary by the cost of the studio lease, and we had to know that we could make that work.  You should assume that you'll be investing for a year or more before you're generating more revenue as a result of the studio - than the additional expense it incurs.

ADDED: Let me finally say this.  If you're a member of PPA, you'll do yourself a favor to read the PPA Benchmark survey, comparing retail studios to home studios.  There are great benchmarks in controlling cost, and profitability that you should consider before deciding whether or not a studio is right for you.  

WOULD ANYONE NOTICE?

If you closed up shop today, tied up all the loose ends and shut it all down, would anyone notice?  Would anyone miss you?  It's not at all uncommon right now for businesses to go "out of business."  

The economy has hit a lot of businesses hard, and as a result, many haven't survived.  As I drive through our community, there are a lot of for lease/for sale signs where there used to be coffee shops, stores, offices, etc.  As I drive through our community, there are a lot of empty spaces - a lot of empty spaces that used to be someone's business.

The thing is, as I drive down the road, I look at these empty spaces and I couldn't tell you what used to even be there.  Maybe if I thought about it long enough, I might be able to tell you - but for the most part, I don't miss the stores that are gone!

In fact, in our area, there's only one store I can even remember having gone out of business recently - Circuit City.  And I never shopped there.  I don't miss it.  The reason I don't miss it, and most of the other stores that are gone - is that they didn't add any value to my life.  There was nothing unique about them, and there's nothing they offered that I can't get somewhere else, from a business that still serves our community.

What about you?  If you stopped doing business in your community, would anyone notice?  Is your photography offering anything that isn't offered by someone else?  Are you, as a photography business, a place that people care about and want to be engaged with - or will they not even miss you?  

I think there's really two things to think about.

First, what value are you adding to people's lives?  What does your photography add to the lives of your community that only you can offer?  Really, it's a question of "how are you unique?"  The chances are, if you're the same as everyone else, not only will no one notice you - but they won't care when you're gone.  By adding value, you ensure that those around you will have a stake in you - and they'd notice if you were gone.  But more importantly.....

Second, by really adding value to people's lives, you stand a much better chance for success.  Sure, there are some great businesses that don't make it.  There are good people who aren't able to keep their business going.  But as I look around at the businesses in our community that truly add value - they're all still here.  

There are 5 photography studios within 5 blocks of ours.  We live in a town of less than 8,000 people.  Two of them are either closing down, or trying to sell to someone else.  We HAVE to be different.  Our style is different, our clients are different, our studio is different, our client's experience is different.  We want people to notice us - we want them to be invested in our success.  In fact, we want clients that would fight for us to stay in business - because they feel like they'd be losing value in their life if we were gone.

How are you different?  What value you are you adding to your community?  Would anyone notice (or care) if you were gone?

Image used courtesy of flickr  F33 under creative commons license.