Don't Be a One Trick Pony, Business Basics Article 2

Don’t Be a One Trick Pony! Business Basics Article 2

OK. We’re going to dive right into controversy. One of the most common teachings I hear in workshops and professional photography seminars (and I guess even books) is that to be successful a photographer must concentrate on one thing. This teaching suggests that the distractions of different genres, for you and for your potential clients, will take away from your hero business and that therefore they should be discarded or at least hidden.

I disagree. Here’s why.

For any small business, the single hardest thing to do is attract new customers. We all get that, right? We crave a phone call and when we have a meeting we have butterflies and when the customer calls and says, OK, let’s go, we have this little ‘yippee’ impulse that wells up from somewhere deep in our souls. This is also, obviously (and increasingly), true for professional photographers.

Once they have attracted a customer, most small businesses do anything they can to keep the customer. CPAs send out reminder tax prep documents and newsletters, even small retail stores continue to market products and services to their past clients. The reason this is important is because the customer who has purchased your services is the holy grail of all marketing opportunities. These are people who have shown through their actions that they both value professional imaging services AND value YOUR eye. If they have done this once, there is a strong likelihood that they will do so again. I’ve never understood the practice of saying to a client, ‘oh, I’m just a wedding photographer, I don’t shoot portraits.’

OK. Now I’ve done it. Some of you actually just got a little mad. Right? I get that. Remember yesterday’s post. There are no absolutes. These ‘business basics’ are general perspective. As Malcolm Gladwell so effectively describes in his book, there are outliers. There are a few studios in any market who are able to just shoot what they want. They have developed a clientele and a business model (with very high pricing) that allows them to be choosy. The problem is that what works for them will not likely work for you. A small business too focused on doing only one thing will likely fail. Another problem is that a lot of smaller studios look up to these ‘more successful’ folks and so these folks are asked to teach seminars. They logically preach what works for them. Smaller studios pattern themselves after that and fail, likely because the demographic/psychographic target market for that level of service in any market is quite small and already being served. (by the guy/gal teaching the workshop!)

If you study marketing and product theory in college you are likely exposed to a model called the Boston Consulting Group Marketing Matrix. (BCG Matrix for short). This is a quadrant model, or one large square divided into four smaller squares. See below:

Using the matrix is pretty easy. The top right corner (?) is called, ideas. These are products into which you may be investing money or time but which do not drive any revenue. The top left corner is Stars. These are products into which you are investing money and time and they are high growth revenue products. (though not necessarily your top cash producers). The bottom left corner is called Cash Cows. These are products that generate income, but they are also products into which you are not investing large amounts of money and time (you’re milking them for cash). The bottom right corner is reserved for dogs. These are products that you are not investing in and which also generate little or no cash. (typically products you’re trying to sunset).

Any very healthy business will have products in all four quadrants. If you are a diverse photographer, you may have family portraits down in cash cows, weddings up in stars and boudoir in ideas. (as an example). This mix is good and it helps you understand what to do with a product in each segment. “I can shoot family portraits in my sleep. I really don’t like to do them anymore but my clients keep calling.” Perfect! Invest as little time as possible in this business, but make sure you’re milking it for the most possible cash! “I’ve shot a few senior sessions and I have an idea that I think could really make these a big money maker.” Great! Make sure there is a viable market for your idea and then make sure you are investing the time and energy it will take to turn this into a Star. Have a product that takes time and doesn’t make money. It’s a dog. Stop selling it and be guilt free.

The matrix can work in big categories like that or in smaller ones. Break down your physical product catalog into each of the quadrants. Make sure you have some stars, (albums or large mounted prints?), some ideas (high end photobooks), and some cash cows. (prints). Take the dogs out of your product catalog.

Then understand that a client once can be a client for life. Put time and energy into figuring out the various life cycle points when your products will once again be attractive. Make sure they remember you. Stay front of mind for them for any of their photographic needs.

This needn’t be time consuming. Pick one of your favorites from their original gallery and send it to them with a nice note about how much you loved your session, in email with a link to your site. Then, make sure your site describes all of the different photography services you provide. I have to be honest here and say that I don’t understand photographers who have a site for weddings and a site for portraits and a site for commercial and a site for this and a site for that! Why? Because your customers aren’t smart enough to be able to figure out that you can actually do more than one thing? Or because you are worried that they will think you aren’t smart enough to do more than one thing? Or is it because whatever web environment you’re using gets piggeshly slow if you have more than one thing?

What if you contract a consumer for a wedding and their mother or father runs a company and they want some commercial work done? If they come to your site and see only weddings what do you think they’re going to do? If you’re lucky they’ll call. If you’re not they’ll search ‘Commercial Photography services’ and find the person down the block. They already know they like you. They like your work. Are you really in a place where it’s ok to send them down the road when they want more? (If you are, stop reading now and go have a cup of coffee! I’m a waste of your time! But only if you are reasonably comfortable that it will always be this way). And what if the next year she wants to do a boudoir shoot for her husband or she’s already done that and the attendant side effect is pregnancy?

Ok, you’re saying, look Jim I can’t always do all these things. That’s fine. You can also be a referral source for other photographers in your community. The point is that in any case you want the option to say no. Your customers will understand that you are busy or that you are unable to serve them in a certain circumstance, but they’d much rather call someone you recommend than fend for themselves on Google. And you want them to call you because that also gives you a chance to chat. You’re a touchpoint. Make that conversation great every time and you will remain front of mind for their future needs. Give them a great referral and you are their resource for life.

For any successful small business it is a much healthier proposition to think of every new customer as an annuity rather than an event. Every one is a gem. Work to serve them for a lifetime and you will build a business that rides through the ebb and flow of economic change. (and a business that will likely have value when it’s time for you to retire).

Assignment: Take some time and really think this through. Scribble out your own BCG Matrix and write your products in. Think about how you treat each one. Are you investing too much in your cashcows or dogs? Do you have any ideas or stars? What about customers you’ve served. Are they in a place where they want more services? Will you be the person they call? What have you done to make sure that is so?

There Are No Absolutes. Volume One, Business Basics Series

This is going to be controversial. I don’t actually seek controversial topics. Sometimes I think they seek me. They come in the form of things I hear and think, wait, that’s not right. Who tells these people these things? But the problem is that often there is a deep emotional attachment between the student and the teacher and so questioning a teacher’s teachings is suddenly perceived as an attack on their character. I don’t wish to do that, but I do wish to try to share an alternative view... and so, here goes volume one of my new business basics series. (BBP rules apply). (If you don’t know what BBPs are, you’ll need to look at some of my older posts. Hint, they can also be BGPs)

There Are No Absolutes.

I think one of the things that scares me the most in this industry is the penchant for absolutes. What is an absolute? Most commonly, it is statement that doing one thing will always lead to failure and doing another will always lead to success. The absolute is the always. Here’s a hypothetical example:

"I am successful. The key to my success was my new orange branding. If you wish to be successful then you need to have orange branding too. Make sure it’s different than mine. There are a million colors of orange. But orange branding will bring you success."

Ok, that’s pretty extreme right? But if you really think about it, it isn’t that different then a lot of the seminars you attend. Step by step guides and folks who preach specialization, separation or diversity effectively as rules are essentially teaching absolutes. Their audience is typically made up of people who are either just starting out or people who are truly struggling and who are looking for the magic bullet that will make the difference between success and failure. These folks hang on to formulas and methods they hold as gospel and sadly, in many cases this costly advice will lead to the failure of their business.

Here’s the thing. Every business is different. The chances that following one person’s formula will lead to your success are extremely slim. Success or failure of your business depends on a series of factors that will be unique to you. What is the general demographic level of your community? What is their income level? Are you in a rural area or a metropolitan area? How do people make a living? Are they farmers or financiers? A one-size-fits-all approach simply won’t work as their preferences are going to be different. More importantly, YOU are different!

In small business it is also important to understand that your business is predominantly about you. What is your acumen? What do you love? Abandoning something you love in order to specialize on something you don’t in order to make money is a very bad idea. The vast majority of small business people in the United States will tell you that the reason they are in small business is so they can do what they want to do. It is FAR wiser to find a way to turn the things you love into a going-concern then it is to abandon the thing you love because someone tells you it won’t lead to success. Your motivation is your love for your business. The money you make is the fruit of your success. When your motivation is the money you are in trouble.

So what to do? It is what you do with what you hear that makes the difference between a good and bad seminar or workshop experience. No matter how successful the teacher may be (and the best absolutely tell you this while they are teaching), you need to listen, understand the concepts and then overlay those concepts on your business. Build relationships with a few clients who you can sit down with and talk things through. Talk to non-photographers. (By all means talk to photographers too!) It is much more likely that there are tidbits that you can apply that make sense and can dramatically help your business than that a complete overhaul will drive success.

In the coming days I’m going to be taking a look at a series of topics around which there are fundamental misunderstandings in our industry. These will range from differentiation, to specialization, to the importance and purpose of branding. I’m going to be coming at these from a general business perspective and tying the unique variables related to photography into the discussion only for illustrative purposes. Hopefully understanding the fundamentals will provide a foundation upon which better decisions can be made. If that becomes the case, this will be worthwhile.

Onward!

JC

It's That Time of Year: Questions to Consider before Changing Your Business

It’s that time of year ...

I got an email from a friend on Friday. She was on her way home from a long day at work. She was depressed. Getting her business going has been a long, hard battle. She feels like she’s doing most of the things she needs to do. She is involved in civic and community functions and she makes sure the clients she serves are really happy. With all of that, when she and her husband sit down to review her business it is clear that she is not yet making money. Is she a failure? What radical changes does she need to make in her business to succeed?

She is an interior decorator.

I serve professional photographers. It’s funny that the challenges my friend faces in her business are so close the the challenges faced by so many in this business. My advice to her, and my advice to you, is the same.

We may be at the end of one of the most disruptive economic phases in our life times. I say we may be, not because I am qualifying the measure of disruption, but because I am not sure whether or not we ARE at the end. No one is.

I think it is important to remember this because we are always so focused on what’s right in front of us. We are able to access any information with little to no effort and in little to no time. Why are we not able to create positive change in our businesses in the same timeframe?

Many of the workshops and various experts who speak in our space exacerbate these challenges. “If you do this you will succeed.” I’ve heard a lot of these and I have to say that I find the common themes almost comical. It’s all about your branding and standing out from the crowd! Price your way to success! Make sure what’s coming through is the real you and when that happens you’ll succeed. Only sell to the rich, they’re the only ones who buy! This list goes on and on.

The challenge I have with all of these theories relates to the advice I gave my friend. Why do we always think we’re the cause of our problems? To be sure we sometimes are. There is merit in the underlying theme presented in most of these seminars. Your branding does matter (at least a little). Pricing matters. Making sure you are authentic matters. Your target audience and their spending ability matters. However, sometimes I think you have to stand back and look around you and notice what’s going on outside of your world. Taking that ‘macro’ view into consideration is of paramount importance when considering any big decisions.

The macro view, in a nutshell, is this. We’ve spent the last year and a half going through the most significant economic turmoil in our lifetimes. While the markets may be rebounding, they seem to be doing so in a void. As far as the every day life of the average person is involved, there is very little difference between January 2011 in the emergence and January 2010 in the disturbance. We still fear for our jobs. We have friends who have lost homes and more. We are much more careful with our spending and much less frivolous with our credit. All of these things will be true until the stimulus stimulates something that actually reaches our wallets.

My friend’s business is interior decoration. Yours may be photography or something else. Whether we like it or not, these are ‘want to have’ businesses. I have another friend who is a plumber. White van, pipe smell, hard work, etc. I asked him if he thought things were getting better. He said he didn’t know. He said that a lot of the folks he saw were asking him if he could just “patch things up.” He said others were going ahead and really getting things fixed. “A little better, maybe.” Any homeowner will tell you that plumbing is a “have to have” thing. It should be clear to all of us that the “nice to have” world won’t really come back until the “have to have” world is in much better shape. That’s a macro view.

What I told my friend is pretty simple. Check yourself. Make sure the things you’re doing are the things you believe you need to do for your business. Make sure when you are working that you are making money. Make sure you’re not spending money on anything you don’t need. But. Don’t make any big decisions until we really know what is going on in the Macro space. Be good. Be efficient. Be opportunistic. Do not be reckless.

Measure what you are told and let bigger decisions take a little time. I’m not saying don’t make the big decisions. I’m saying make them, but make them with all of the information, or at least enough to really know where you are ...

Successful businesses are business that think in the long term. That’s true whether you are a sole practitioner or an auto manufacturer. I hope that helps.

Monday Morning Ramblings, It's not always Pricing.

I read a lot and I talk to a lot of photographers. When things are good, they’re good. When things aren’t so good, it seems like there are two places you always go. It’s either pricing or branding. Chances are it’s neither. Here’s what I mean ... (BTW - this works for all small businesses ... including quilt shops in Central Wisconsin!)

You sell products and services to a wide array of clients. They pick you as their pro for different reasons. Some do so because they love your work. Others do so because they like you. Pricing is a component of their decision, but the key driver is going to be one of those two things. Knowing which one it was should make a big difference in how you approach that client relationship. Here’s what I mean.

If someone chooses you because they love your work they are telling you something important about themselves. Photography is important to them. They get that there are different styles. They like yours. These clients will clearly identify themselves. “I just love this picture of ...” They will simply drool over your designs, etc. They are visually oriented, artistically interested (if not inclined) and they will have an emotional reaction to their images once they get them that goes beyond just being happy to see themselves in a new light.

If someone chooses you because they like you and you are convenient, a friend of a friend, someone who did a good job shooting someone’s portraits, kids, wedding, etc., they are much different. They are more likely to be price sensitive. Their priorities are going to be elsewhere. They may actually spend more on the DJ than on the photographer! Horrors!

Expecting these two clients to behave the same way is silly. Giving them equal time in capture, editing, design and posting is equally silly. Client type two isn’t going to buy the upsell album no matter how great it looks. They have signaled their priorities to you. “We want to spend as little time as possible taking pictures.” “This album is neat, how much is it?” “Can I get your lower priced package?” It will be a rare day that a client like this changes their colors just because your images rock. Their perspective will be, “Of course they rock. That’s why we paid you so goshdarn much money!” With this kind of client the key for you is to do your best to be efficient. Don’t get carried away with editing and design. It won’t pay. Think solid. Make sure there are no surprises for them and make sure you deliver on time and on budget. That’s what will make them happy.

Now client type one .... They’re the reason you’re in business. Have fun. Make you and them happy. Just remember that for most studios, (highly successful boutique studios in Chicago notwithstanding) your ratio is going to be about 4 - 1 client type 2 to client type one. To build a successful business you need to learn to serve both. Once you are ultra successful you can start saying things like, “well I just don’t want to serve that kind of person.” If that’s you, congratulations. If you’re like the rest of us then it’s all about making solid choices about what you will and won’t do in each case. That’s not always easy. What I would do is figure out a way to delineate the client type in whatever tool you are using to keep track. That way, every time you refer to the client you are reminding yourself of your priorities in their case. You don’t want to spend hours upon hours editing and designing for someone who simply won’t appreciate what you’ve done. You want to do great work. But you want to do it quickly and efficiently. Then you can go out and shoot something that makes you happy ...

Onward!

Jim's Top Five Business Rules

Jim’s Top Five Business Rules.

We all like lists. Here’s mine. The top five rules I use to run a business. Interestingly, they haven’t changed much in the last several years, though I’ve done drastically different things.

1. The welcome consequence of consistency is the formation of trust. I wish I could say that was mine. It isn’t. It was a part of a business book I got as a gag gift about 15 years ago. The first sentence in the third paragraph of what was otherwise a completely unremarkable book. I’ve always loved that statement though. Consistency is about knowing who you are and what you’re about. It is never being too high or too low. It is always understanding the priorities and making every decision in the same way. Consistency may sound boring, but as a manager I’ve found that if I am consistent my team knows where I stand. They don’t have to ask me what to do. They know. That saves me time and builds their morale. It also helps us all get through the bigger challenges.
2. If there is a choice between something being good and something being bad it’s going to be bad. Hope is a powerful motivator and I never want to rain on hope, but I always want to be prepared for that wicked left hand turn. Anticipating what is bad means I’m never surprised when that’s what happens. I have a plan. I’m acting on it. If it turns out to be good the exercise is still worthwhile. Knowing how you will deal with the worst builds confidence even when you experience the best.
   
3. No one ever remembers what you said before you said “but.” I learned that in Dr. Mark Mallinger’s undergraduate organizational behavior class at Pepperdine in 1989. It changed the way I communicate. We have this terrible habit of always saying something good when we need to say something bad. “That’s a nice shirt, but you need to brush your teeth before you come to work.” It won’t take any time at all for you to come up with other examples. Here’s the thing. As Dr Mallinger taught me so well so many years ago, not only will no one remember what you said before you said, BUT, they will wonder if you meant it. Ever since then I’ve led with the worst. “Your performance sucks, how are you going to fix it?” Guess what? It works!
   
4. The big picture matters more. It is so easy to get stuck in the tyranny of the urgent. The problem that is right in front of us always feels like our biggest priority. The larger the problem, the more it consumes us. Here’s the challenge. The most immediate problem is rarely the biggest one. When we spend all of our time focused on it the bigger issues continue to grow. Usually, the problem right in front of you is a distraction. Always take the time to look forward. Get your head up. Take stock of the surroundings. Figure out what the real priority might be and focus your attention on that.
   
5. The only thing special about my position is that if something goes wrong it’s my fault. I read so many things about what people think about CEOs. Most of it is crap. My job is to make sure the people who work here understand their priorities. Then my job is to make sure it’s possible for them to achieve them. I serve them. Three years out of college I wrote an essay called, ‘Management from the Bottom of the Heap.” Even way back then I understood that the collegiate view of management, as the guy sitting on top of the pyramid, was upside down. We don’t sit on the top. We’re on the bottom, looking up, trying to anticipate what’s going to fall next and be there to catch it when it does. We’re there to clean up the mess. A failure in any area of the company is our (my) responsibility. I didn’t properly train, anticipate or prepare.

These rules apply no matter how big or small a business is. Perhaps they’ll work for yours.

My Grown Up Christmas List

There is a great song by that name. It's been covered by a bunch of country artists over the years. It always makes me think, what is my grown up Christmas List.

It's been a tough year. I think a lot of us, and probably myself included, have let the pressures of the economy and the challenge of facing a world full of problems we can't individually change chip away at our inner souls. We're a little less hopeful. A little less forgiving. A little less convivial. We root for each other a little less and we protect ourselves a little more. I guess my biggest Christmas wish is that enough light would appear at the end of this present darkness that we could start to look up and move toward that instead of staying hunkered down. That light is whatever it is for you. It is not a religious thing or a socio-economic thing or a world peace thing or anything like that. It’s my thing and your thing. It’s the thing that gives us hope.

I also wish we could figure out a way to stop wasting time on the meaningless and focus on the meaningful. There is a world full of need around us and instead of reaching out to see how we can help, we get lost in petty trivialities. Some of this is mere mimicry. The folks that we look up to seem to ignore what is important in favor of what is interesting. Headlines, whether twittered or printed, hold favor over real contribution. That’s our fault in a way. Real help is hard. It takes time. We want it now!

It impacts our own industry too. Some of it is amusing. On our own forums I am often amused at the level to which people will go to fight about things like Canon or Nikon, PCs or Macs, Lightroom or Aperture, etc. Some of that is natural. It can also be fun. But goodness sakes folks, why waste the time and energy and risk the friendships on things that ultimately mean so little? I wish we could remind ourselves in those moments that the point we want so fervently to be accepted is really not all that important. (BTW - in case you’re still wondering, the answers are; Canon, Lightroom, and Mac.. :-)

Some of it has been a challenge and can be destructive. This year a lot of emotional capital has been spent on both sides of a great divide. Are the folks who teach seminars qualified? Is their “fame,” whether simply inside of our own marketplace or even reaching outside, “warranted.” A certain amount of good natured humor tests those qualifications. It’s a good thing. Frankly I think it becomes a little less worthwhile when humorous challenge becomes personal attack. I wonder why we spend the time? Why not simply ignore what we disagree with and focus on our own businesses, friends and community? I wish we could find that ability and move on.

I wish we could all find more opportunities to give back. They’re all around us. When we hold our cameras in our hands we hold a powerful and affirming gift. Those I serve, so much more than I, have the power to create meaningful memories and reminders for a world around them that so needs a reason to smile and feel valued. Through the charity events we hold and even the smaller things I’ve been involved with, I never cease to be amazed when those who have so little outward reason find the inward impulse to smile when the lens points their way. It’s a gift I can give them that costs me nothing but time. I wish to use it more.

In whatever way you celebrate the Holidays I wish for you peace and laughter and the knowledge that you are loved. More than that though, I wish Hope for you. I wish the Hope of a future that is bigger and better than today. If food sustains, sleep refreshes, and breath gives light, Hope is the fuel of the future and there is no greater gift than the dream of a better tomorrow.

2010, Images in the Den. Memories from a busy year.

I have to admit that I have a few favorites. It isn’t really appropriate, right? But it’s true. There are a few folks who, for whatever reason, I just root for, lurk around, check in on, and always feel especially blessed when I hear from. That’s a horrible sentence, but you get it.

I neither have, nor have much need of, a lot of friends. I’m sort of prickly. I’m given to moodiness. If you ask for an opinion you probably won’t like what you hear. If you’re near me much you frequently get these whether you ask for them or not. My close friends have pretty thick skin. I’m not going to change. They know that. For some reason they stick around anyway.

It’s the time of year when we reflect on such things. No matter what our faith (or no faith!) we find ourselves looking around our memorial 'dens' at this time of year. Some of the images are painful. Others may be funny or poignant. They all contain friends. Over time the pictures on the walls in the den of your mind change. One comes down and another one goes up. Someone on the staff up there must do it. I rarely see it happen. I notice the changes at this time of year.

It isn’t really a surprise that this year the walls are covered with photographers, and photographers’ work. It’s what I do. Angela and I were out the other night and someone asked if the hours in this job were better than the hours in my last job. Ang just laughed. Hours? I never really got the concept. My hours these days are split between family and photographers. I’m not sure the split is even.

There are a lot of great memories from this year. Inspire Boston in February and arriving at the Concord Inn in deep snow. Drinking way too much, hanging out late with a great bunch of folks. Coolness.

Lens and Learn before WPPI. Such great kids and so cool to see a concept come to such inspiring fruition. Will Jacks said, “Nothing can take away your pains like seeing a child smile.” He’s so right. Especially when that child hasn’t had a chance to smile in a while. Those kids will never forget their standing ovation from so many great people at the Awards Banquet. I’m grateful to the industry as a whole for that. That’s a memory.

And speaking of WPPI. Studio-freakin-54. A little debauchery and a little too much fun, but there’s just something about seeing over 1000 people just forget about everything else for a while and have fun. That’s on the wall.

Walking through the year with Carlos Baez. Phenomenal photographer in the throws of the change in the industry. At once struggling with change and deepening his focus on his creativity and craft. An honest struggle to understand and see and change in a way that is real, but also appropriate. Too many people don’t have the courage to face these demons. Being a friend and a confidant in the process was/is an honor. And speaking of that, an evening in studio in Chicago with Kevin Weinstein and Dave and Nancy Wittig’s Chicago PUG. That was a night to remember too.

Who can forget Ron Dawson’s award worthy films at Partnercon? These artfully wrought pieces so surpassed my clumsy oratory that when I first saw them I wasn’t sure I could use them. Joe Buissink’s heartfelt testimony, to his love for the industry and his own struggles did what I thought was impossible, and if anything deepened my respect for this amazing soul. Sharie Zellers said what few others would. She was fearful of what might happen, but the applause she got for her courage said as much as she had. In the end though, it was Carla and Ashley and their story and struggle, and their choice to face their challenges with such blatant, ‘logic-less’ positivity...that’s on my wall. The moments I spent with Carla and the time I spent getting to know Ashley in Ron’s films changed me. We can make a difference. We just need to decide to and then do it. We can face our fears. We just need to decide to and then do it. (these films will go online in just a couple of days, if you're interested in seeing them follow me here or on the forums or keep an eye on the Pictage blog and you'll get a chance. They're well worth watching).

Last but not least, the evening a bunch of the lucky folks spent with Ralph Alswang and Paul Morse. That was an evening to remember.

There are no blank spots on my walls this year. There are, in fact, a lot of images I’d love to find a place to hang. But these were the big moments. The ones I remember without trying. Most of those of you who are reading this shared a bunch of these with me. I’d love to hear yours too ...