Are You Touching All Of Your Touchpoints? Unrated Version

Hey Peeps,

I'm sure you have all heard the term touchpoints, and if you haven't - well get to it already!

The simplest definition for a touchpoint: where your clients and business connect, and having a business means you have them:  lots of them.

Here are just a few:

  

• email
• phone number
• website
• business card
• face-to-face
• pricing
• workflow
• studio
• office
• blog

Each of them should be well thought out in design, congruent with each others design and highly effective towards inviting and welcoming potential clients into your business.

And yes, things like pricing and face-to-face are touchpoints to your business.  They are just two of the many contacts that your clients have with you and your business. 

You have to understand that every one of your touchpoints is a message to your clients about who you are, what you do and where you fit in to their needs.  Not only that, but the message also tells your clients where they fit in with your business.

If you think this list is a lot to go over, you're right.  Yet this is a relatively small list and is only a summary of what you will actually cover.  

Let me show you.

You build a website.  Check.  You have a welcome page, some of your work, contact info, maybe some fun music playing and a slideshow of your favorite work.  

Great!  You're done with that touchpoint right?  WRONG.

How did you design it to create the message you are trying to convey?  You must go over things like colors used, branding, presentation, navigation, product placement, welcome and a minutiae of other information that is crucial - but worth it.

My website has bothered me in the past.  Something was always missing until I sat down and actually started asking myself the right questions about this important touchpoint(Sidenote:  All touchpoints are important).

First I corrected the color scheme.  My branding colors are white, black and vibrant green.  I knew that I liked the green because it was vibrant but I didn't want the site to come off too "green & grey" feeling, so I decided right away that other colors would eventually be used and those other accented colors would have to be as vibrant as the green to keep the style and feel the same.

That's when I looked at my slideshow.  The website has a built-in slideshow at the top.  Normally I would put in some of my best work, but after watching the images slide by I realized that there was subject matter there that I was no longer looking to shoot - and therefore irrelevant to the slideshow.

I decided to remove all of the slideshow images and do something different.

Realizing that my slideshow was a touchpoint within a touchpoint (confused yet?), I decided that I wanted to use it to show my clients specific products in an attractive way without directing them to a sales pitch.  Luckily, I know Photoshop quite well and within a few minutes I had 3 different images for my slideshow (so far) that show work from each of my relevant genres and display them within multiple products on consistently vibrant colored backgrounds.

Check them out:

For portraits

For lifestyle/commercial

For weddings

How did I feel after these subtle - yet crucial changes?

FAN-DAN-TASTIC!

It's true!  I haven't felt this good about the stability and focus of my website in a long time.  Of course it isn't perfect, but it is getting there and I can actually feel the change of moving forward as I go through these steps.  

One great thing is that when my site needs an update, I won't be floundering on which direction to go with it because I know which questions to ask myself.

Oh, and there was another advantage to this - it made me more creatively inventive.

Right after the update, I began to think of an image that I had shot earlier in the year.  It had always reminded me of the story of Dorian Gray.  

So I took that image and created a movie poster out of it - fun and creative!  Exactly why I got into this business!!

Model: Spencer Robertson.  Also click for a larger view and see who stars in the production.

So check out your touchpoints.  Methodically.  Patiently.  Let them wax over your mind for a while until you can use them best to your advantage and then execute.

What are some touchpoints that are bigger struggles to overcome?  Do you have some unique touchpoints?  Tell me about them and let's try to figure out how to make them work!

Later, 

Michael Carty

Michael Carty Website

Michael Carty Email

NO I DON'T: Getting Things Done By Not Doing What Doesn't

Hey Peeps,

I hate wasting time.  You do too.  

I won't even ask - it's pretty much a given.

If you're going to say,"Hey Mike, I love wasting time."  Well you're an idiot and we should devour your lifeforce to distribute amongst the rest of us.

Moving away from the darkside now.

I know you find that when working on something important, work, play, crosswords, nuclear reactor in your basement, etc, other things tend to come up.

Distractions and interruptions.

Your spouse, kids, favorite TV show, best friend, mother, in-laws, siblings, boss, employees - I could do this all day.

But what about the least obvious and yet most insidious things of all?

The thing you are trying to work on.

I'm as serious as a heart attack here, but let me state that this is mostly found during work.

We all try to get as much going on as we can being business owners - and if you are an independently, starving photographer, well you are a business owner believe it or not.

This overwhelms and most times burns us out.

Which sucks.

If we are done in, we can't work.  Which is what this is all about right?

So what should you not do?

Let's answer that with a story:

I had a call from my mother yesterday to donate something in a silent auction for a community group she is a part of.

She wanted a few photos, but what does that get me?  Nothing.  No new clients, no income, nada.

Someone would bid and win the images and put them somewhere on a wall or in a basement or give them as gifts to someone else who would put them on a wall or in a basement, etc, etc, etc

So I decided to give away a portrait sitting instead.

This gives the winning bidder incentive to come into my studio, meet me, discus photo options, print sales, CD/DVD purchases, creating a walking, talking billboard telling their friends about my business while still making me money.

Good idea right?

When I started to explain some of the in's-and-out's of connecting and product ordering with her, she found some things restrictive to more elderly and/or less web educated clients,"You have to cater to everybody right?"

My flat out response,"No, I don't."

That's the thing, I don't want to cater to everyone.

I don't want to treat every person like they are my ideal client.

I want to treat my ideal client as my ideal client.

I don't - and you don't - need to make everyone on the planet a paying client.  That would be insane.  But if you focus on your ideal client, and what they are about, you can make all of your clients your ideal client.

So no, I will not have a million ways of contacting me(email, phone, carrier pigeon, locomotive, etc), instead I have the ones that serve me and my ideal clients.  

Just like I will not have a million different products to sell my clients - how could you keep them all in your head and still come across with the confidence of knowing what you are talking about?

I find my ideal client, I learn what they are about - everything.  I cater to that.  Everything else that I do is for  my own creative expression.  

And everything after that is garbage.

I won't do it.

It is a waste of time, energy and happiness that could better be used on things that matter.

What do you do "for" your business that is actually taking away from your forward motion?

Tell me and I will let my favorite story-teller guest post on this blog!

Cheers!

Michael Carty

Michael Carty Photography Website

Michael Carty Email

The True Costs of Your Options

Hey Peeps,

Sometimes we think we know what's best for our clients, our businesses and ourselves.

What is fast, cheap, efficient is always searched for, but sometimes the most obvious options aren't that obvious.  Sometimes what we think is fast is actually inefficient, and what is cheap will often cost us a lot in the long run.

I had a client that loved their images.  The prints arrived, but when we went over them not everything was what it seemed.  The images online showed everyone in perfect clarity, the printed version however showed a lack of sharpness on some people, while others were fine.

And when I say "lack of sharpness" - I actually cringe at the memory of reviewing those images that should have been a great experience between my client and I.

So who's to blame?

Answer: ME.

It is me.  No excuses and I give none either.

I knew exactly what happened - my depth of field was too narrow for the subject matter I was capturing.

Now you photo-enthusiasts out there understand what I just said, but most of my clients don't - and even if they did, they shouldn't care what went wrong.

All they need to care about is getting the quality product that they spent their hard-earned cash on, right?

Answer: Right.

I don't need to explain the technical issues to my client, all I need to do is tell them exactly what they want and need to hear and what I am going to do.

So what am I going to do?

Like some photogs that are hard-assed business types but lack the tact that comes with basic human interaction, I could have looked at only the financial side of things, or only the time management side and said nothing and let the client keep the awful, awful representation of my work.  Or I could have really insulted them and asked if they wanted a reshoot - for a fee. 

What?!

Wait, didn't they just pay me for these images already?  

That's right, some photogs do this.  I find it so backward, blind and suicidal to their business and not-to-mention - quite a dickish thing to do to anyone.

But no, instead my instincts kicked in immediately.

We will reshoot any selected image that does not meet theirs or my expectations.  And the added fee?  What added fee!?!? 

Answer: This is my mistake - so it is my dime.

See?  Evolution is real.

We went through them all.  Some images the clients picked out, some others I picked out.  We set a date for the reshoot and I went immediately to my studio for testing.

What?  Testing?  For what?

Answer: To eliminate the DOF issue from the coming reshoot and for all future shoots in the future.

See what I did there?

Let's recap in case you missed it.

If I were to brush off the client, many things would happen:

• I would be a dick
• My client would think I'm a dick(and rightly so)
• I would save a piddly amount of money and time from having to reshoot and reorder out-of-pocket
• This would eliminate repeat business from the client
• The technical issue wouldn't be resolved and therefore would repeat in future shoots
• I wouldn't grow as a photographer or a business owner
• My business would grow a horrible reputation and fail

But instead, if I give my client a 100% guarantee on the product(my photography), and what happens instead?

• I wouldn't be a dick
• My client wouldn't think I'm a dick(YAY!)
• My client is 100% happy with their shoot, prints, service - everything
• My client is sure to repeat business with me
• My clients positive opinion of the experience would spread to their friends/family - therefore supplying me with free, positive testimonials/business
• The technical issue is resolved from the present and future shoots
• I grow as a photographer and a business owner
• My business grows a terrific reputation and succeeds
• Technical issues drop and therefore reshoots do as well

Now I know you're thinking,(in a whiny voice)"But Michael, if you kept doing this, you wouldn't make any money!  You would have to keep footing the bill and your business would fail!"

Answer: NOOOOOOOOO.

Look, what was the last thing listed above?

Answer: "Technical issues drop and therefore reshoots do as well."

So as I go - I grow.

I take care of my clients by taking care of my photography, my style, my technical ability, my business.  

As I eliminate the issues that pop up, the number of them occurring drops.  

My clients are happier and bring me more business.  I save more time, do a better job, get better in my art, my costs of time and money drop and I have time to do the things and projects that I want to do - which is what we all want, right?

So which faster, cheaper and efficient route would you go?

Fast, cheap and efficient short term?  Or fast, cheap and efficient long term?

What are your "true costs of your options" stories?  I want to hear them!

Laters,

Michael Carty

Michael Carty Photography Webpage

Michael Carty Email

Discounts Will Kill Your Business; Gifts Will Make You Money

Hey Peeps,

Yep, that's right, we're looking at the business side of photography(or ANY BUSINESS really) again, but I feel it is an important aspect that most businesses and industries ignore - at their own peril.

First off, let me just say, I love shooting images.  LOVE IT.  But I have found - originally to my dismay, that I also love the marketing/business side of photography.  

Don't get me wrong - I hate running numbers, I hate discussing profit margins, I hate keeping tabs on expenses and revenues and etc etc etc, so thank God or the gods or Buddha or the great vast emptiness of oblivion that I have an accountant to keep me both sane from such drudgery and out of prison.

But I LOVE discussing the human element in business, because without knowing your clients - or better yet, the clients you WANT to have - you will do very poor in business.

Now what I want to get out here today is a look at an old model of increasing sales compared to a new model.

You know the old story - especially if you run your own business,"Hmmm, business is slow this time of year, maybe I should put on a sale, yeah, how about 20% off?  That should drum up some clients."  I've been there, believe me.

Great.  

Sounds wonderful.  

It may work.  

It may increase your current client list.

Let's say you normally have 5 clients a week(these numbers are completely fictitious, it doesn't matter if it's 5 or 5000), and you drop your prices by 20% like the situation above.

You may increase your number of clients, let's say by one person.  Doesn't sound like a lot, but a single person is a 20% increase in your client list.  Which would be a huge jump in new clients for any business.

But guess what?

You didn't make anymore money. Actually you lost money.

Really.  You did.

But you did work 20% more than you normally would have.

Let me elaborate with more numbers - forgive me.

You normally have 5 clients a week at $100 a pop, this would give you $500/week in revenues.  

You give a sale of 20%, making your clients sale cost $80.

Your client list increases by one person or 20% - which seems like the sale was successful. 

So let's take a look at the new sales numbers.

Six clients at $80/client is $480.

Wait what?

But you worked 20% more!(remember?  That 6th client that you brought in with the sale?)

How could you have lost money?

Simple, the gains in clients wasn't enough to upset the loss in revenue from the sale.  In other words, you brought more clients in, you spent more time working for and with your clients and you made less money overall/per client - even with 20% more "sales".

Jeez, having a sale sounds dangerous if you don't make some really significant increases in new clients.

So my question is: why have them at all?

"Well Michael, how am I supposed to compete?  My competition is undercutting me, having specials and deals and etc..."

Yeah, yeah, yeah, but you know what?  Your competition feels the same way about you and they are stressed with having to cut their prices so much to get clients in the door.

I say that client numbers are irrelevant, who needs 1000 clients at $1 each when you can have one client at $1000?  Know what that is?  It's called scalability.  But we'll touch on that another day.

The NEW model is something great and wonderful, with no risk and generates money.

I'm talking about gifts.

This needs a little explanation I think.

I want to drum up more clients, but I don't want to cut my prices.

No "2-for-1 deals".

No "n% off now"s.

No "2nd or 3rd purchase free"s. 

You know your clients.  You know which ones need/want your business more than others and you know which ones fit your ideal clientbase.

So reward them.  Indefinitely.

You do what's similar to an affiliate program. 

I will use myself in this example.

My main clients are corporates, brides, models, fashion and lifestyle for all intents and purposes.

So if I want to increase my bride sales, I approach a client that fits in the range of my ideal bride.  Twenty-something, career, well-to-do family(they do need to have the money to pay me right?).  Just to name a few characteristics.  Most likely, she will have friends of the same make up that are primed to becoming brides soon.

The real kicker is this:  the client that I approach should want work from me on an ongoing basis.  She has to love to work with me and get new material whenever she can.  Why?  You'll see.

I say to her,"Hey there "Suzie", I know that we have a lot of fun working together and come up with some great shots of you when we do.  Because you have been such a treat I wanted to see if you were interested in becoming one of my exclusive affiliates."

She may not know what I'm talking about yet - I wouldn't at first glance.  But I have already established our great work history and am introducing something "exclusive" to her that speaks of rewards.

"We've worked a lot together and I want to make it more affordable for you to get what you want out of our shoots.  So for any and every potential that you send to me that becomes a client, I will give you a $25 credit any prints or products from a future shoot this year."

"Hey Mike, this sounds like a discount/sale, you told me not to do this!  What gives?"

I know, I'm getting to that.  But before I do, let me explain that my prices are more than just a number/client, that's just the baseline, then we get into orders that can differ greatly depending on the client.

Let's go back to the numbers. *sigh*

I have 5 clients/week @ $100/client.  Makes $500/week(again these numbers are simplified for the math)

I make one of my clients an affiliate, and they bring in one extra client(same 20% increase in clientbase as the previous "sale" scenario)

With NO sale pricing, my numbers register at 6 clients @ $100, making $600 in sales(a 20% increase in $$$)

But remember, I have a new cost now.  My affiliate gets $25 of credit for bringing me that new client.  

So my REAL sales is $575.   

Still over 13% increase in sales as apposed to the -4% decrease from the "sales" scenario at top.

And yes, I am still working 20% more for that 6th client, but the difference from the old model to the new model is an increase of 17%!

But wait again. 

What if my affiliate doesn't bring in any new clients?

Then I make what I normally make and lose NOTHING.

Okay, but what if my affiliate doesn't use their credit before it expires?  Remember, the shoot using these credits has to be used "this year".  Then I get that $25 back.  Another increase in revenue.

What if a client builds up $1000 of credit and wants work done?  You will be out $900 after your $100 charge.

No I won't.

I take the affiliate credit out of the money I make from the clients that they send me.  I put this money in an account especially made for affiliate credits and track individual credits with Excel to know when they expire so that I can transfer those funds back to my business.

This way I NEVER pay affiliate credits out of pocket.

The money for credits is ALWAYS there for use.  Plus, the credits are not even close to being the same amount as the money made from the clients brought in to generate them.  Basically, a $25 credit is taken from a $100 sale.  The more credits really means more revenue.  And revenue from the clients I WANT to have, that pay what I want to get paid and make the work I want to make.

Another good part of this is that the credits only go towards the orders, the prints/products.  

Never the baseline price off shooting.  That's my bread and butter, orders are the gravy in my pricing.

So in the end, here are the major differences in these models:

Old "Sales" Model

- lose revenue immediately from baseline

- unoriginal tactic - everyone does sales

- undercutting competition, really hurting your own business

- stress of loss in sales only adds to apparent desperation when interacting with clients

- more time and work for less money

- lost sales

-worse shape than before the sale

New "Gift" Model

- baseline revenue stays stable

- unique tactic - unavailable from competition

- NO undercutting competition(because there's no need to)

- no stress of loss in sales, able to be more receptive and patient with clients, creates better environment

- time & work/money ratio is minimilized

- more sales/client and overall

- better shape than before, this system is not restricted by a limited time, it's indefinite remember?

- no possible risk of lost sales due to model

- rewards loyal clients, rewards new clients, builds loyalty with ideal clients

- empowers loyal clients, gives altruistic feeling

- creates "ideal client generators" for your business without cost or time on your part

So can you translate this into your own business?  Or maybe you can use it for a non-profit?  Fundraising? 

Tell me how this model can help YOU in your endeavors, I want to hear from you, even if you are having trouble grasping how to utilize this.  Let me know what you're missing and I can help.

Anywho, I think this is a long enough and mind-numbing post as is, so I will cut it off here.  Sorry no pics.

Laters,

Michael Carty

Michael Carty Photography Website

Michael Carty Photography Email