Unique Sales Situation - Any Ideas?

justus

I have kind of a unique situation that some of you may have run into. I love the fact that SM processes and ships all my orders once uploaded. However, I shoot primarily horse shows and horse endurance rides, and I'm running into a problem with my horse show crowd. We're talking New Mexico here, ranch country, not a lot of cowboys carrying around laptops, etc.

I have had a devil of a time getting a lot of the old school folks to order online. I'm contemplating printing off 50 or so prints from the last horse show these folks attended to bring along to the next horse show to see if orders pick up. It's just this one particular group that seems to be dragging their feet on online ordering, etc. Do you think I should cater to them and bring prints along each time from the last show to sell, or should I stick to my guns and continue to bring samples of my work and merchandise to the shows and continue to hand out business cards with SM address on them for ordering?

Sales have been good so far on all my other venues. Just wondering if anyone has any other ideas?:scratch

chuckinsocal

HI Justis,

My initial thought is to bring along a laptop with a slide show of the last show all set up, organized perhaps by horse. Then invite the owners to see the show and let them know that prints are available and that you'll take care of the ordering details. This way you won't have to invest in prints that no one buys for what ever reason. Plus they get to pick the prints they want instead of you having to guess which ones they might want.

The down side to this is will these people be willing to give you their credit card info so you can process the order. Although I guess you could take cash or check and order with your own credit card.

I don't know much about horse people but I shoot cars and it amazes me how many owners are not interested in a high quality photo of their prized posession because they're satisfied with all their crappy cell phone snap shots.

I guess the question is can you sell enough prints to recover the cost of the 50 prints you had made in the hopes of selling them.

You might want to test the waters with 10-15 prints just to see how the market reacts.

Just a few random thoughts.

Cheers.

PeterLyons

Sounds like a tough crowd.

I'm with Chuck... see if there's some way you can do it to show them on YOUR computer.

Still here in San Francisco, I hear the occasional request for prints to be posted to order from. Me... I pretty much blow it off. I'm not going to do that. There's enough coming in online I don't want the expense or waste of making prints just to find out if people want 'em. Glad I got into this business when it was already digital!

justus

Selling Prints instead of Online Ordering
Thanks guys, great ideas. I'm just going to have to make sure I always have an assistant at the shows from now on. Even showing the photos on a laptop requires an extra set of hands, since I'm back in the arena shooting again each time I go. I'm trying to discourage showing up with prints. Online is the only way to go, and I think your idea of selecting a few really good shots to bring is a good one, too.

Thanks!

Linda

Noelimages

I have found that with any event if the people can actually touch the photo the more they are likely to buy. I shoot action shots of youthaseball and I pass out cards directing them to my SM site and I've had minimal success. However, as of late I had a local lab print out the photos that I chose and placed them in a three ring notebook with transparencies and sales have tripled. Despite having some photos left over the profit far outweighed the cost.

I would suggest bringing photos from previous events (if it's the same audience) or if it's an all day/2 day event take a break and go to your local and bring back photos to sell.

lynnesite

Hi, Linda,

Cristy Cumberworth brought a digital photo frame to the Santa Fe Grand Prix I helped her shoot last week, and we put 75 "selects" on it for the last day of the show. It drew people like a magnet.

No assistant needed! Just make sure there are plenty of bizcards available with it very clear about how to see their proofs--the only risk is that someone would kipe your CF card. Use an old small capacity card for it, and have a spare ready to go.

Shop very carefully for them, there is a ton of selection and not all are rated highly. Make sure you can adjust contrast and brightness, otherwise they might not display your edited stuff in a representational manner. Personally I'd go with Costco or equivalent since their return policy is so generous.

And for what it's worth, it's taken a very long time to get my endurance ride clientele "web order savvy", but they have it down now. The improvements to the shopping cart have certainly helped, as did simplifying my offerings to just lustre, for instance.

justus

Unique Situation
Thanks Lynne and others, for all your comments and suggestions.
The digital photo frame is a great idea too.

I may not have to worry about this particular group of clients in the future anyway. They just contacted me about shooting an entire 3 day show including futurity classes and want me to "donate" photos from all futurity winners for their annual magazine publication. No compensation and they insist that I stay for all three days. Since their purchasing ratio hasn't been the best, I hesitate to invest three hotel nights into this endeavor. We'll see how everything shakes out.

Besides, I'd much rather be shooting endurance rides!

:ivar

lynnesite

Get them to pay for the hotel, as a minimum, since you already know their clientele aren't big purchasers. They need to provide other stuff if they want all those images, like a booth, backdrop for win shots if appropriate, a helper for win shots maybe, and/or comp you some meals.

Show photographers are getting less and less respect. Part of why I stay out of it, at least the rail class stuff. <shudder>

justus wrote:

Thanks Lynne and others, for all your comments and suggestions.
The digital photo frame is a great idea too.

I may not have to worry about this particular group of clients in the future anyway. They just contacted me about shooting an entire 3 day show including futurity classes and want me to "donate" photos from all futurity winners for their annual magazine publication. No compensation and they insist that I stay for all three days. Since their purchasing ratio hasn't been the best, I hesitate to invest three hotel nights into this endeavor. We'll see how everything shakes out.

Besides, I'd much rather be shooting endurance rides!

:ivar