A new direction for me?

mercphoto

Hey guys. Looking for solicited feedback.

My online racing sales have been slow. At this rate it will take about three years to pay back my photo system. Fortunately I have the income from a primary job that I don't need the photo income. But still...

It appears web-only sales just doesn't work. You need an on-site presence showing photos, and even taking orders, to get people to dispense with their money. So the conventional wisdom goes.

Then I run into an outfit near me with two photographers doing youth sports. Online sales only. Somehow they are making money doing this. I will be visiting with them for lunch Friday to discuss being their third photographer. The only details I know at this point is a revenue split on events I photograph, a no-compete clause on sports photography (but I can do any other photography under my own banner still), and a one-year no-compete when the relationship ends. The no-compete clause is because the last guy they brought in split and formed his own business, competing with them, after they taught him everything they knew.

I guess the question on my mind is, how much of the secret sauce are they willing to fork over to justify sharing revenue? Any other thoughts come to mind?

Ann McRae

Hi Bill
I don't have any really good advice for you, but have been rolling this one around in my head for a couple of weeks.

My experience from the one soccer tournament is that after event (on line)sales are slow. People are still visiting the galleries, but not ordering.

I am fully of the belief that on site sales are necessary, but have watched 2 different photography companies at 2 different soccer tournaments recently and seen the challenges of that as well. The first fellow was the only photographer, and had his young teenage kids running his booth. No tournament photos up on display on day 1, and the kids did not do very well at engaging customers. His web site is dreadful and I cannot imagine how he could have made any $. The second company had 2 shooters and an adult running their tent. They presented the photos from each game in a bound collection, about 9 1 x 2 images per page - very nice - clear and easy to choose from. However, on day 3, gold medal day, they did not shoot as it took all 3 of them to run the printer and order desk.

So I've been thinking that in order to do this properly you need a few photogs and a few capable people running the tent for sales. I've been trying to figure out how sales from different photogs would be handled - splitting revenue etc. Or how I could price myself to free lance for some of these already established companies.

This is a challenging situation, and it is made more so by the coming need to be able to provide digital copies rather/ in addition to prints.

I'll be watching this thread to see how things go for you.

ann