Are You Well Presented?

We look at presentation in all its forms and kick off with some wise words from Tom Lee FSWPP which set the scene for the following pages

Presentation Matters…

When it comes to closing out those all-important sales, how you present yourself to the customer can be significant. To quote Bambi Cantrell, ‘You never get a second chance to make a first impression’. From the clothes you wear, the car you drive, the sample albums you show and the literature you send out to follow up an enquiry, they can all say a lot about your business and professionalism, even before the prospective client asks, ‘How much do you charge?’.

Bridal Fayres

Bridal fayres are a staple diet for promoting your wedding business; they put you in direct contact with people who need your services. Most of them are what we might class ‘leaflet pickers’, but in amongst them are the two per cent that you’re looking for, but cannot necessarily identify immediately. It’s a competitive business we’re in and we can’t afford tolose them – so we end up talking to everybody. Let’s take a sample of 150 browsers, we need to score at least three times to make it a successful day.Is your presentation up to the mark?

Have you dressed the part? It’s usually held on our day off so the last thing we want to do is get dressed up. However, the British public usually expecta degree of formality on the wedding day. If they can get dressed up for the occasion, then so can you. Putting on a suit (at the very least a shirt and tie) reassures the customer that you are unlikely to turn up in jeans and T-shirt.You are also starting to justify some of your price tag.

Literature

What does your studio literature look like? Producing pricelists and options on paper from a desktop printer may be flexible but doesn’t really cut the mustard. You may not be the only photographer at the bridal fayre and whilst the other studio may be a friend or acquaintance, you are in competition with them, and they are also after your client! Your literatureshould aim to be better than theirs or at least on a par.

Small print runs of glossy brochures are available at a reasonable cost these days and with a little time spent on the layout in Photoshop, RCS Ltd (www.rcsplc.uk) can print 500-off, 8-page, A5 booklets for as little as £300. The more you order the cheaper the unit cost. Order enough to last you12 months and change the layouts/prices after that time. This cost should be factored into your expected return from an average wedding season and your presentation has already stepped up a couple of notches.

On Display

You don’t always have a choice where you are put in the fayre venue, so how will your client find you? It’s no good working off a six-foot table when you’re at the far end of a packed room. You need to get yourself noticed. The simplest solution is to order a banner stand. Birkmye in Runcorn (www.birkmyre.co.uk) can supply you with a seven-foot banner stand from £70 upwards. All you need to do is supply them with the artwork and they will print the banner onto light-resistant, vinyl material and supply the stand also. This will last several seasons and is modest in cost.

My own studio has invested in a larger pop-up display (3.0m x 3.0m). I figured that my banner stand had had its day and that I needed to step up my own presentation another notch. The entire display comes complete with collapsible frame, five light-resistant panels that secure with magnets tothe frame, two 200w halogen display lights and a carry case that everything fits into. The case doubles as a table and has another vinyl wrap on the front, fixed with Velcro. The entire display was less than £1,000 (including VAT). Whilst this may be hard for some studios to justify, it makes me stand out from the crowd and I can be seen from anywhere in the room.

A pain in the neck

Working with books on a table may be unavoidable, but if you have to, never put the table between you and the customer. It creates an unnecessary barrier between you and possibly your sale. People also
tend to look down at the table because they are standing up, giving rise to a stiff neck. Another idea would be to have the wedding books displayed on a lectern; however the cost of one of these might be more than my pop-up stand! An affordable alternative to this are sturdy music stands with a fabric or silk cover. These stands can be as little as £20 each and have added advantages of being height-adjustable and moveable. They also collapse to fold flat in transit.

Albums and Moving Pictures

Have you ever noticed how many people stop outside the electrical store, just to see what’s on the TV in the window? You can produce a similar effecton a laptop and slideshow presentation; if nothing else you’ll draw a crowd. Use Proshow Gold or ABOVE for a simple and flexible solution, although there are many other cheap programs available both for Mac- and PC-based machines.

How up to date are you? There is no point in showing prospective clients work that is several years old. Albums are expensive to put together but they are primarily all that the bride and groom will remember you by. You should endeavour to rotate out the old albums and replace them with newer work. My display albums take a heck of a hammering, being mistreated by almost everyone who picks them up. The last thing I want on show is a tatty album with work from five years ago! If you are worth your salt, then you will have improved your technique and modified your style to reflect current trends, so why show them something different?

In Conclusion

In common with many colleagues, I work from home, with a part of the house converted to a studio, to bring down the overhead costs of running a business. This too should be reflective of the type of business you are. Is this room/studio business-like, tidy, comfortable, sheltered from other parts of the household, quiet, etc, or is your client expected to weave themselvesaround the kids’ toys or shout above the television next door? Running a business (even part-time) is no longer a cheap affair, and generally hard work. Your client and their friend may have similar equipment to you, and remember there is always someone willing to offer a service cheaper than yours. What sets you apart from ‘Uncle Harry’ is your professionalism and expertise; show the client something different, exciting and well presented.

The face you show to the public should always reflect the type of service you offer. If you work at the lower end of the wedding market, even your prospective client has standards. Treat them with the respect they deserve and try to exceed their expectations. You never know, it may just get you that next job. As your business grows and prospers so should the standard of your presentation. The more successful you show yourself to be the more likely (but not always!) you are to attract better and more expensive clients.

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Photo Quote: [Photography] is a way of feeling, of touching, of loving. What you have caught on film is captured forever . . . it remembers little things, long after you have forgotten everything. - Aaron Siskind