"insane" "new" Pro service coming?

Terrence

I've been reading posts on David Jay's web site and forums and I've seen a few mentions of an "insane" "new" Pro service that is supposedly coming. The quotes are there, not for emphasis, rather those are the words he used.

I've done some searching here, but I haven't seen any announcements or hints, other than the new lab integration that's on the way. Is there a new version or level of Pro service coming? If yes, what are the features slated for release and/or the roadmap?

Andy

hang in there Terrence

Terrence

Andy wrote:

hang in there Terrence

Maaaaan. I hate to wait but I love the results. The Smug crew always does right by us.

brjphoto

Andy wrote:

hang in there Terrence

Andy,

On a totally unrelated note... has the decision been made yet on whether or not there will be maintenance performed tonight?

http://smugmug.wordpress.com/

Andy

brjphoto wrote:

Andy,

On a totally unrelated note... has the decision been made yet on whether or not there will be maintenance performed tonight?

http://smugmug.wordpress.com/

Tonight's the night 8pm PST, is our plan.

Glory2Jesus4Photography

Andy wrote:

Tonight's the night 8pm PST, is our plan.

So let me get this right. I should not upload my photos tonight that I was planing on. Is there going to be an update on the blog when all is clear to upload. I just have some photo I need to get up as soon as I can. But I can wait for an Update

Andy

Glory2Jesus4Photography wrote:

So let me get this right. I should not upload my photos tonight that I was planing on. Is there going to be an update on the blog when all is clear to upload. I just have some photo I need to get up as soon as I can. But I can wait for an Update

We're shutting down at 8pst I hope - that's what we've posted on the blog. Yes, we will post an all clear, too

Glory2Jesus4Photography

Andy wrote:

We're shutting down at 8pst I hope - that's what we've posted on the blog. Yes, we will post an all clear, too

Thanks Andy I usually never look at the blog unless there there seems to be a problem out side the normal time so I had no idea Thanks for the update I hope this is a touch more then maintenance.

Baldy

Terrence wrote:

I've been reading posts on David Jay's web site and forums and I've seen a few mentions of an "insane" "new" Pro service that is supposedly coming. The quotes are there, not for emphasis, rather those are the words he used.

We have massive respect for David and the many great photographers he's sent us. He recently hosted us for a day in his home while a group of really great pros laid out what they're looking for.

We're determined not to let them down after all their graciousness and I think every one of us at SmugMug is thinking of 2009 as the year of the pro.

Kyle D

Baldy wrote:

We're determined not to let them down after all their graciousness and I think every one of us at SmugMug is thinking of 2009 as the year of the pro.

Yay! What a great time to upgrade to a pro account and to try and start a photography business. I wouldn't have thought it possible without smugmug! bow

TalkieT

Baldy wrote:

We have massive respect for David and the many great photographers he's sent us. He recently hosted us for a day in his home while a group of really great pros laid out what they're looking for.

We're determined not to let them down after all their graciousness and I think every one of us at SmugMug is thinking of 2009 as the year of the pro.

Sounds great - I wonder if the year of the Pro extends to overseas photographers that would LOVE to be able to have customers billed in local currency :-)

Cheers - N

Craig Ridley

TalkieT wrote:

Sounds great - I wonder if the year of the Pro extends to overseas photographers that would LOVE to be able to have customers billed in local currency :-)

Now that would be a great year!!!

xris

Year of The Pro...
The promises still sound great. But after two full years waiting for coupons, packages, co-branding and local currency I ended up with pro lab services I don't need. My business simply could not wait any longer so, sadly, I went elsewhere.:cry

So far, I'm glad I did. Lab services at the new SP are quick and professional, shipping is domestic (Canada), fast and efficient, my name and logo appear on all shipping documents and sales are already climbing. Shortly I'll be able to direct on-line orders to any lab or service provider I want.

But if 2009 actually does end up being 'the year of the pro' at SM, I'll certainly consider returning. (Even more likely if it ends up as a separate pro service.) SM provides a far more sophisticated interface. And the customer service is truly unique!

Most of all, I love, and miss, the SM community!

Sledhed

xris wrote:

The promises still sound great. But after two full years waiting for coupons, packages, co-branding and local currency I ended up with pro lab services I don't need. My business simply could not wait any longer so, sadly, I went elsewhere.:cry

I feel the exact same way, when it was time to reup last year I e-mailed Smuggy and asked about packages, coupons and a few other things, just as I had done the prior year. Of course they e-mailed me back almost immediately, but they still couldn't give me any answers except that they were working on them. I checked out EM and a few other services with the intentions of leaving Smuggy, but in the end I didn't like the look and feel of them as much as SM so I stayed put and I decided to wait it out. Sounds like they are making progress on packages and coupons which is fantastic, since I mainly sell youth sports through your site. Customers are always commenting on the site and how easy it is to use. clap

There is another feature I would like to see, I love using the proof delay and the replace feature but I would like to replace more than one photo at a time. Meaning if a customer orders multiple photos, I fix them all in PS and then replace all the photos at once instead of having to do each one indivually. Make sense?

brjphoto

Sledhed wrote:

There is another feature I would like to see, I love using the proof delay and the replace feature but I would like to replace more than one photo at a time. Meaning if a customer orders multiple photos, I fix them all in PS and then replace all the photos at once instead of having to do each one indivually. Make sense?

I've recently changed the way I do proof delay, and it has been a major time saver.

Warning: You need Adobe Lightroom to make this work.

I do my edits on the first photo. I then upload using the Smugmug uploader in Lightroom, but I check the "replace previous uploaded file" option (or whatever it is called, I don't have it in front of me right now).

I then do my remaining edits and as I finish each photo I just select "Export with Previous".

Compared to my previous workflow, which involved the exporting of JPEGS and uploading and replacing 1 at a time using the Smugmug proof delay screen, this has been a major time saver.

This may seem obvious to many, but when I made the switch, it was awesome.

Sledhed

brjphoto wrote:

I've recently changed the way I do proof delay, and it has been a major time saver.

Warning: You need Adobe Lightroom to make this work.

I do my edits on the first photo. I then upload using the Smugmug uploader in Lightroom, but I check the "replace previous uploaded file" option (or whatever it is called, I don't have it in front of me right now).

I then do my remaining edits and as I finish each photo I just select "Export with Previous".

Compared to my previous workflow, which involved the exporting of JPEGS and uploading and replacing 1 at a time using the Smugmug proof delay screen, this has been a major time saver.

This may seem obvious to many, but when I made the switch, it was awesome.

Thanks for the info BRJ, but I don't use Lightroom. I use Photo Mechanic to cull and tag everything. It sounds like a good work around though.

Bill_Pador

I too have been waiting for Packages & Coupons for over a year now. It's getting old having to explain to my customers why I don't offer simple package deals & discounts online like every other photography studio around here especially since my business has taken a turn in a good way with more & more high school portraits & home portrait sessions where folks WANT to buy print packages, but not having any packages available is hurting my print sales without a doubt. Plus not being able to offer repeat customers a coupon code for a discounted price forces me to either lower the entire gallery prices or not at all again hurting sales.

I really wish we could get SOME kind of time frame when this will occur, I just don't want my business to out grow the services of SmugMug because I really like it here a lot and don't have many complaints besides these but in my situation these are pretty important services I need added to our Pro sites sooner then later. I'm no code writer, matter of fact I'm an idiot when it comes to code but how hard can it be to add packages to the cart and a spot to create & add discount codes where it gives a percentage or dollar amount off the final price?

Andy

Bill_Pador wrote:

I really wish we could get SOME kind of time frame when this will occur,

We have.

Coupons and Packages are in ACTIVE development again right now. Lots of companies are laying off... not SmugMug - we just hired a new sorcerer and his first job is packages! It's hugely important and you can be assured that we're doing all possible to move fast on this.

We won't give a delivery date, I'm sorry.

Bill_Pador

Andy wrote:

We have.

Coupons and Packages are in ACTIVE development again right now. It's hugely important and you can be assured that we're doing all possible to move fast on this.

We won't give a delivery date, I'm sorry.

This is FANTASTIC News Andy ! ! ! I was JUST reading the other thread going on this topic and was hoping that I was reading encouraging news. I'm also very happy to see that SM is taking this as a very serious & much needed service that a LOT of us Pros require in this day & age of business and not just blowing smoke up our *cough ummm ummm*. I for one love my home at SM and enjoy the FANTASTIC customer service we receive from the staff here and to know that our voices are HEARD by upper management is a very important part of why I'm here running my business rather then elsewhere. It's nice to know that us REGULAR people's voices are heard. Thanks for the quick response as always Andy

Ryan Armbrust

So will this be a Showit Sites Smugmug integration?
Fancy Flash based websites through Smugmug?

I used Showit Sites for a few months and had many kooky bugs with it. I also lost ALL of my SEO!
Hope if this is the case, Smuggy reworks the bugs and keeps SEO.

SeanV

Andy wrote:

We won't give a delivery date, I'm sorry.

Hopefully you have an internal delivery date that you've committed to so that at least you don't miss out on the fun of rapidly approaching deadlines, failed tests, undiscovered "features" and other assorted fun aspects of software delivery.

Mark it up to mark it down, that's what I always say!

Terrence

Is there anything we can learn about the new service, besides that it is coming sometime in the future? It's been about two months since David Jay started mentioning it; a teaser web site went up with an "update me" function that has yet to send an update; and a reassurance that I'll love it.

I am waiting, patiently and hopefully, that this new offering will knock my socks off. The problem, for me, is there *are* other services that *are* knocking my socks off, that I could switch to. I *want* to stay with SmugMug, but the "we're working on it" response to everything gives me no way to plan the business I want to start shortly.

SmugMug is leading a lot of people on with the wait for coupons, packages, and now a new pro service. Some people have waited a year or more and perhaps lost business, all the while staying loyal to SmugMug. Give us something more than "we're working on it" and "trust us".

SmugMug has a LOT going on and I really do not want to stray. Please, please, please reconsider this policy of not giving any deatils at all about planned features, services, and releases. I may only be a measly $149 a year to SmugMug's balance sheet, but I don't think this is too much to ask.

Bill_Pador

After reading TERRENCE'S post I would have to agree with him on many facets of his comment and I also feel the same way as he does. The policy of SOMETHING is coming with absolutely no information of WHAT it is or more importantly WHEN it's coming is not a very good policy IMO as a customer & businessman. I do love my site being here on SM and my customers find it very easy to navigate and make their purchases but as a business owner I find it hard to understand why we can't get any information or TIME LINE on what changes are coming and when the MIGHT occur. Even giving us a 2 weeks or 3 to 6 month WINDOW of when we might expect updates to occur is better then being told SOMETHINGS COMING or IT'S COMING but we can't tell you what it is or when it's going to occur. That would be like us telling our customers that "Yes I took the photo's of your wedding but I'm doing something special to them (I can't tell you what) and I'm going to finishing processing them but I can't give you a time of when they will be posted online for you to see but rest assured I'm working on them and they will blow you away whenever I'm finished with them". I don't think that would fly with most customers and to be honest guys it's getting old hearing the same things here. I think we are just asking for a BALL PARK figure of when the upgrades will take place and what it is that we should be LOOKING FORWARD TO. I mean you guys might think what your working on it's a great feature but some of us might not have any use for it in the end. We all have business plans for our companies and need to know if the updates will benefit US.

I am also one of those who have been waiting for PACKAGES & COUPONS for a LONG time now mater of fact since 2007 and the answers to an inquiry about those services are that "We're working hard on it and it will be coming someday" and no matter where I research in the forums where folks ask questions about something they need or a missing service the replies are always the same. I can appreciate how much work goes into writing code or developing a new service and how much time it takes to develop them but I think us as customers deserve a better answer then we're working on it. In order to get folks really excited about something you must tell them what it is they are supposed to get excited about and let them decide if it really is something to be pumped about.

I think in the end what we are asking for is to be MORE INFORMED on the progress of features that are being worked on and not being on the OUTSIDE of the information like it's being held in a secret vault at CIA HQ so we can make up our own minds as to the relevance of the "GOOD NEWS" and how it relates to our businesses.

As always thank you for the oppertunity to vent my concerns knowing that they WILL be read & heard by the staff who care so much about it's customers.

Best Regards,
Bill

Andy

Bill_Pador wrote:

I am also one of those who have been waiting for PACKAGES & COUPONS for a LONG time now

We have two threads going in this forum seeking input on Coupons and Packages.. They're both in active development right now, with Sorcerers seeking input.

http://www.dgrin.com/showthread.php?t=98087

and

http://www.dgrin.com/showthread.php?t=120058

Bill_Pador

Thanks Andy I'll check them out right now !

MichaelBrown

Maybe the release date on this new "Pro Service" will be April 1.

Michael

Velvet-Art

MichaelBrown wrote:

Maybe the release date on this new "Pro Service" will be April 1.

Michael

No no, I've heard the release date is the seventy-twelth of Julember wink:Dwink

Tim

xris

Bill_Pador wrote:

After reading TERRENCE'S post...

All very good and realistic points, Bill. And well put. Kudos to DG for providing the forum.

From my POV, what you (and many PRO users) are asking is simply for SM to move the PRO account users from the current business-to-consumer mindset they excel at, to a business-to-business relationship that allows us the ability to better manage our own businesses.

This, from what I have seen over the past couple of years, is unlikely. For more than a year I was working on the vague idea that SM might, perhaps, be working an an all-new business-to-business platform for pro shooters, but the continuing 'father-knows-best' attitude toward the 'hot new service' seems to confirm that SM has its focus and, while the company seems to enjoy being associated with a few full-time pro shooters, a true business-to-business model is not in the cards.

Don't get me wrong. I fully understand that it is SM's call. I have no bones to pick with that. And I wish them luck in an ever more crowded photo sharing/online lab service marketplace. They are the best at what they do. I just wish they had been clear that SM's PRO accounts are intended for serious, U.S.-based, amateur shooters only and that business-to-business relationships are not in the cards.

Many of us, it seems, have simply given up and moved on. But only after years of the 'wait and see' promises you bemoan.

In my case, the two years was not a waste. The SM and DG communities are vibrant and informed. And SM allowed me to test the waters of on-line service provision while learning a bit about HTML, Web design, and on-line commerce in general.

Best of luck.

Andy

xris wrote:

while the company seems to enjoy being associated with a few full-time pro shooters, a true business-to-business model is not in the cards.

I'm guessing you haven't seen the massive amount of hiring we've done in the past six months (and continue to do!). Perhaps you don't see our team growing, while the rest of the world seems to be contracting. And we're actively seeking input from pros on several key features that our pros, and prospective pro customers, are demanding.

And we just had about 50 California pros at our inaugural SMUG (SmugMug User Group) meeting at our HQ, just 2 nights ago.

Thanks for posting, xris!

xris

Andy wrote:

I'm guessing you haven't seen the massive amount of hiring we've done in the past six months (and continue to do!). Perhaps you don't see our team growing, while the rest of the world seems to be contracting. And we're actively seeking input from pros on several key features that our pros, and prospective pro customers, are demanding.

And we just had about 50 California pros at our inaugural SMUG (SmugMug User Group) meeting at our HQ, just 2 nights ago.

Thanks for posting, xris!

And power to you! It'll be very interesting to see if they actually get what they came for...

Best wishes.

Sam

Xris,

Just a quick response to your post. I was at the inaugural SMUG meeting, and while it's true there was a few very high end pro photographer's there, I, a low end, (at this time ) pro photographer was also there.

While I admit I am not as demanding as some pro photographers, I see them moving in a positive direction with pro users in mind.

They were sincerely listing to questions, and feature requests.

I have had the opportunity to talk to many of the employees, and I got to tell ya, the quality, and attitude of the employees is incredible.

As Andy would say.....stay tuned you will be happy.

Oh, and here are the founders talking to the group from there palatial new facility, dressed in their finest executive attire.

Sam