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The Puppy Dog Close - part 2 of 1 2

Published 01/04/2001

Now, with the right software you can project this at 24x30 with a lovely frame around it in your studio's viewing room, and you'll get a few takers. But a wall-sized print costing £500 or more might not be high on their shopping list. A bride and groom coming to view their wedding pictures are probably not planning to spend any more money, and if it was a portrait session your client might be thinking more along the lines of a 10x8.

What if you got the best image printed and framed ready for their arrival? Stick a price ticket on it so they know how much it is going to cost, and have it waiting in the viewing room, either hanging on a wall or on an easel. If you do hang it on the wall, make sure you can get it down easily so they can 'hold it'. Remember the old saying 'people buy what they see'?

For some people that will be enough, but for others it might take a little more of a push. After all, unlike the family going to see puppies, they did not ask to see a big framed print. So if they tell you "it's lovely, but we couldn't possible spend that much on a photo", be ready with a suitable offer. Something like....

"I agree with you, £500 is a lot of money, and I fully understand that this might be beyond your budget", so tear off the price sticker... and have a discounted price underneath. "This print, today only ,is £xxx." What size you get printed, what you charge initially and what discount you offer are down to you, but I strongly advise you to test different sizes, different starting prices and different discount prices. After a while you will find the "sweet spot" which converts best.

Sure you will have to throw some prints away, but you can reuse the frame and the mounts so the costs will be quite low. You could even offer them 'the print only' if you wanted to cover your losses but I wouldn't advise it, you'll lose credibility. If you already sell a fair few framed prints this might not be a great promotion concept for you, but if you sell none or hardly any, I guarantee this strategy will get you selling them, and increase your average order value.

A framed print is not the only product that you can sell more of by using the puppy dog close. A DVD slideshow can be put together in a matter of minutes, and with the cost of a disk, case, and printed sleeve all coming in at less than a pound, even if you are the worst salesperson alive, you can not fail to. You can even use this idea for wedding albums. Design the layout with a few extra pages and when you show them the preview, ask them which pages they want you to remove. If it is a post bound album, you could even assemble it and present it to them, as you can always remove the pages they don't want, which clearly can't be done with a book-bound album. Just don't take it too far and ask them for an extra 75% of the initial order value. I'd advise somewhere between 10 - 30%, depending on your sales skills. If your overall costs are a third or less, for every three weddings you can achieve a 25% increase from, is the same financial reward as booking an extra wedding. So before you decide to concentrate all your marketing efforts finding new clients, be sure you're selling as much as you can to the clients you already have.

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1st Published 01/04/2001
last update 09/12/2022 14:58:23

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