Update on Hospital Sale
Wiren
Registered Users Posts: 741 Major grins
For those of you (Sam, Glort, Mark, Deb) who were following my previous thread on "Advice on a potential sale" I have an update.
After following up with the Hospital Facilities department several times, they decided to purchase 4 30x40 Float Mounted Metal Prints "to start with". They needed the hospital computer guru's to grant them access to the website in order to purchase the prints they wanted. Upon following up a week later, they hadn't been granted access and the Facilities director was going to take the P-card home and order from there. After another week and a half, I stopped by to make sure all was well. The Facilities Director told me that their kids had slagged the home computer and it wasn't working... I offered to print an invoice :deal if they would print me a check and I will order for them. They liked that idea and said "get an invoice to us"
Today I was presented a check for $1900 to cover the 4 metal prints with shipping. I have placed the order and will personally deliver them when they arrive... my profit? $712 Not as much as I could have wanted but I priced where I was sure i'd get the sale.
They have now asked me to present samples to the Facilities subordinate of a different building at the hospital for the new Women's Health Clinic they are soon opening. I am hoping to have another purchase soon.... cross your fingers for me. :wink
I appreciate all the advice and assistance you all gave (and your support) I can finally tuck away my first large sale and hope for more to come.
Lee
After following up with the Hospital Facilities department several times, they decided to purchase 4 30x40 Float Mounted Metal Prints "to start with". They needed the hospital computer guru's to grant them access to the website in order to purchase the prints they wanted. Upon following up a week later, they hadn't been granted access and the Facilities director was going to take the P-card home and order from there. After another week and a half, I stopped by to make sure all was well. The Facilities Director told me that their kids had slagged the home computer and it wasn't working... I offered to print an invoice :deal if they would print me a check and I will order for them. They liked that idea and said "get an invoice to us"
Today I was presented a check for $1900 to cover the 4 metal prints with shipping. I have placed the order and will personally deliver them when they arrive... my profit? $712 Not as much as I could have wanted but I priced where I was sure i'd get the sale.
They have now asked me to present samples to the Facilities subordinate of a different building at the hospital for the new Women's Health Clinic they are soon opening. I am hoping to have another purchase soon.... cross your fingers for me. :wink
I appreciate all the advice and assistance you all gave (and your support) I can finally tuck away my first large sale and hope for more to come.
Lee
Lee Wiren
0
Comments
Moderator of: Location, Location, Location , Mind Your Own Business & Other Cool Shots
No, No it aint! Well done! And , they're wanting: m o r e !
Thanks guys. I am not shy about taking 37.5%, I would rather keystone price it, but....oh well, not bad. It would have been lower if they had ordered from the site... the 15% SM takes and I charged them $100 for shipping (to make up for my extra time spent chasing the sale through to completion at delivery) they could have had it delivered for $50, so I don't feel like I gouged them too much and they were still willing to write the check.. from invoice to check delivery, it was a little over 2 days.
Nice sale, excellent bragging rights, and looks like more sales to come.
Sam
It may not be as much of a margin as you would have thought ideal but as you alluded to, you were sure of the sale and have the maoney in the bank.
Thats a hell of a lot better than giving them a high price and getting nothing.
saving the 15% on smutmug was also well done. I'd be making up an order form or something to avoid that sort of cost in the future.
It's easy to make 3000% on an 8x12 but when it gets to the big $$, I'm more than happy just to make a set amount that i can put in my pocket and be happy with that. I also forget all the pricing formulas and cost of materials time, depreciation, insurance, shoe leather and other things people think should be priced in and price the job at the maximum I think the client will pay. amybe I get it wrongmaybe they would have paid more every time but again, if they do pay then I have the money which to me is better than having nothing.
I'm sure once they have seen the images they will be impressed and you have made an important step in building rapport and a relationship which over the life of this client could be worth tens of thousands to you.
I would be sending the person with the cheque book say a dozen images every month with a note telling them these are your latest images and you thought you wold give them first choice before they went on your site or whatever. I'd also be doing " specials" and 3 for the price of 3 offers and milking it for all it was worth.
Just say in fromt of them. No need for some now building or whatever, it's a hospital, of course they will be interested in in keeping their facilities looking fresh and vibrant with exciting new artwork.... Won't They?
Of course you will also have them in mind when you shoot images and be able to send them pics you though they would be interesed in seeing as they would go perfectly in XXX department or any hal or corridor in teh place.
I'd go so far as to do a free assesment of the place every 12 months or so and make some reccomendations for new prints in certain places where the current art is looking dated.
Go beyond being a shooter, offer outstanding service as a photographic art consultant.
That's great advice Glort and something along the lines that I have been ruminating over recently. I am certainly already thinking about other shots just for them in mind... they really want great shots of the local flavor that most anybody in the area would recognize... places that 90% of the time don't make a good photo... but with the right composition, light, timing, and processing could be a good eye catcher. I offered them private ordering and delivery at the first price quote and they were going to do it off the site.... until they had problems.. and i'm ok with that, but yes, I do like avoiding the 15% hit. I have these priced about as low as I want to go. If they order a 30x40 Metal from the web... after the 15% hit, I am only making about $145.. not sure i'd want to make less profit than that.. then I have to start reducing the price of the other goods.....
Thanks for the continued idea... I am a customer support for the hospital and have been damn good at my job for 11+ years... offering great customer support is easy for this sale and will continue to be easy as I already had a good rapport with them prior to this sale... looking to solidifying that even more now...