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Spring is a great time to take a good look at your business plan.  A spring cleaning, if you will.  Take the steps now that will ensure your business does well the rest of the year and beyond.

Market to existing customers currently satisfied with your services

While we constantly need to gain new customers, the focus and priority should be on satisfying your existing customer base. Businesses spend 80% of their marketing dollars going after new customers rather than maintaining the customer relationships they already have. Consider this:

-   Repeat customers spend 33% more than new customers.

-   Referrals are 107% greater than non-customers.

-   It costs six times more to sell to a prospect than to sell to a customer.

Increasing sales to existing customers is easier because they already believe in you. Build long-term relationships by showing your customers they truly are your business lifeline and that you care about them. Track phone calls and emails, making sure you keep in contact regularly. Word of mouth is one of, if not the best, form of advertising.

Focus on the parts of your business that bring you the most profits

Review which accounts are the most profitable and why. Why do they have success at their events? What marketing tools, product samples or email campaigns have been used? Determine how the high dollar amount spent per participant was achieved. Do they post pictures quickly after the event?  Do they offer good value? A user-friendly website? Were there up-sells that contributed to success?

Be sure to service and maintain every profitable customer again this year.

Review your business plan and make adjustments

Failing to plan is planning to fail. Reviewing your business plan will allow you to see what is working and what is not. This can be the single most important contribution to your company’s survival and success.  Use these important steps when reviewing your plan:

•Evaluate your staff

Examine your staff’s productivity.  Are they performing and which need improvement? How is their personality in dealing with customers? Are they shooting quality pictures? Are they taking enough pictures?  Having your entire staff moving in the same direction with a clear vision of the company’s goals is necessary for success.

•Update equipment regularly

Take inventory of your equipment. Retire old equipment, repair broken equipment and purchase what needs to be replaced.

•Analyze your events

Do you have a plan in place to review your events’ success or failures? Which products are most popular? Which products are most profitable? Which events are worth booking and which ones are robbing time, money and energy? How can you improve these events and make them profitable to shoot?

•Create a contact quota

Set a realistic number of new prospects to contact per week. Research top prospects and develop a sales strategy to reach them. Track your efforts and record the information you discuss with each prospect so you remember your last conversation when calling them again. Differentiate yourself from your competition with service, products, pricing.  Create a referral list and testimonials from satisfied customers.  Stay in touch with your prospects and most importantly, FOLLOW UP!  Creating and using a follow up system is a guaranteed way to grow your business as 80% of sales are made on the fifth to twelfth contact!  Less than 52% of all sales people follow up with their prospects.  If you are in a market with heavy competition, you can eliminate competitors by simply following up!

•Provide excellent customer service

Make sure doing business with your business is EASY. Train your staff to respond to questions, take orders, and fill orders according to specifications. Make sure your capacity fits the needs of your customers so that you can deliver as promised. In some cases, you may need to expand facilities, hire more staff, get more equipment, or outsource production.

Spring clean now and let business bloom for summer, fall and winter months!

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When it comes to booking future events for your youth sports photography business, it’s all about the timing. Here are some helpful tips when it comes to booking events for your business to shoot.

Approach the contact when they are focused on their preparations for that particular season.  This is the time right before practices actually start, but not before they know the schedule for the rest of the season.  For most sports, this time is approximately 3 months before the first game excluding summer months. There are always some exceptions to this, but it is a good rule to follow.

Get their attention!  Make sure you are able to meet with your contact when they have time to discuss their photography needs.  Catch the coach or sponsor at a time when they are not pre-occupied with other duties.  Offer after hours or weekend meetings to accommodate THEIR schedule.  Focus on how you can make offering pictures easy for them!  Coaches, sponsors, administrators all want “EASY” and “LESS WORK.”   Call when it’s their off-season vs. when practices are their top priority.  Plan out your yearly calendar and make sure you follow it.

Summer Leagues/Camps/Tournaments

With summer leagues, camps and tournaments, the possibilities are endless!  Many popular sports have summer functions including: Football, Baseball, Cheer, Gymnastics, Golf, Swimming, Pom, and more.  The best time to call on these are early spring when the sponsors are planning for sign ups in late spring.   Remember, there are numerous types of organizations and facilities that host these events, such as:

• - City Youth Athletic Programs
• - YMCA/YWCA
• - University Athletic Departments (Camps)
• - High Schools (Camps)
• - Professional Athlete/Team (Camps)
• - Country Clubs (Tournaments)
• - Ballparks

 Fall/Winter Sports

Football, basketball, cross country, cheer, pom pon, band are all in the mix.  Important to Remember: February is prime time to approach FOOTBALL coaches and booster parents.  The season is over and spring practice will not begin for another 4-6 weeks. Signing day is over and students are using this time for weightlifting and additional strength training. Coaches have free time and are more receptive to hear your presentation. The new booster club has been elected and if a photography change is going to be made, February is the right time to approach them and many other sports.  Other fall/winter sports should be booked 3 months in advance of the start of season.

Spring Sports

Even though we’re in the midst of spring sports currently, you should still make your plans now for fall months to be calling on these sports.  Soccer, Baseball, Track, Golf, Soccer Fields are all great to call on during the fall.  This is a calmer time for these sponsors/coaches and they will have more time available to allot to your presentation.

Last Minute Opportunities ARE EVERYWHERE!

Even though many organizations might have already scheduled their photography, they are still worth approaching.   Research who is currently doing their photography and when the best time is to talk with them.

5 Year-Round Booking Tips

1. List all potential sports opportunities in a designated area. (ex. 50 mile radius)
2. Call on potential events geographically to maximize sales time.
3. Present a 30-second to 1-minute sales presentation.
4. Bring a few powerful product samples. (sport-specific if possible)
5. Stress what makes you different:  timing, unique products, donations, ties to the organization.
6. Ask for the business and get a signed scheduling agreement.

Approaching booking events with a planned strategy will make a noticeable difference in the amount of events you book. Have a clearly defined plan and calendar and execute it.

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Regardless of what business you’re in, first impressions are everything. A great first impression and a professional look can help a youth sports photography business book more business, and increase its sales on every job.

Presentation when booking the shoot

You will need to adapt your dress and presentation for different situations.

If you’re approaching a coach before a practice, you’ll want to dress more casually (khaki pants or shorts and polo shirts) than you would if you were meeting with league or school officials.

It’s also a necessity that you have professional looking business cards on hand to leave with the person/people that you’re meeting.

Business cards should look professional, not printed at home on card stock, and have a simple layout with all your relevant information clearly visible (address, phone number, email address).

Also, try putting your picture, preferably a nice business portrait, on your business cards. It’s much harder for someone to throw away a business card with a picture on it and it also reminds that person of you.

One mistake that youth sports photographers make when trying to book new business is that they put down their competition. Never be negative about a competitor. This makes you look unprofessional and can cost you the shoot in the end.

Don’t assume that the coach/organization is unhappy with their current photographer. You want to expand upon what your competition is doing and present yourself as a better solution to their needs.

Some other important things to consider:

• - Continuity is important. Everything should be branded with your company name and logo.

• - No tobacco use in or around school property or the meeting area. Also, no visible tattoos or unacceptable piercings should be showing.

• - Smile! Be a cheerleader for your business.

• - Have a professional way to show samples.
• - Presenting your samples electronically, on an iPad or Laptop, perhaps even with projector, will help you save money on physical samples.
• - However, you will want to have physical samples of any specialty products that you offer.

• - When making your presentation to a group of people be sure to have copies of your presentation to pass out. For a one on one meeting, having a single page flyer that outlines your services will suffice.

• - Know your products and offers thoroughly. Have pricing available that will fit people and areas from all walks of life.
• - Have a calendar and scheduling agreements with you, in case they want to book with you on the spot.
• - Everything is about expectations.
• - Make sure that your expectations regarding a shoot line up with theirs
• - Do what you say you’re going to do when you’re going to do it.

Your professional image says a lot about you and your business and it can mean the difference between booking a shoot or watching your competition collect the sales. Check back next week for Part two of our series when we talk about the image of youth sports photography businesses while at the shoot.

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Many photographers have their ups and downs throughout the year. For most, they will have a few months of steady work followed by several months of downtime when they aren’t shooting anything.

For example, school photographers are very busy in the fall (school picture day) and have a light load in the spring shooting classroom groups.  Graduation photographers are only very busy in the late spring, while wedding photographers shoot the most in the summer months and senior photographers are busiest in summer and fall.

But this isn’t the case in the youth sports photography market. There is literally something to shoot during every season of the year.

Shooting sports year round also evens out your cash flow. You can generate sales all year instead of all at once during a peak season.

If you conduct email reorder programs directed to your sports customers, you can generate additional sales throughout the year.

Booking teams and leagues is also a year round effort. Booking needs to precede the season wherever possible.

Ideally you will want to meet with the decision maker 3 to 6 months before a season begins to schedule a shoot for that particular team.

It is best to shoot teams and individuals early in the season when they have the most participants and enthusiasm.

However, action shots can be taken throughout the season.

Don’t just concentrate on boys sports such as football and baseball. Girls’ sports such as cheerleading, volleyball and dance sell just as well, if not better, than boys’ sports.

Here is a comprehensive list of different sports that photographers shoot and when they typically occur.

• Football – Late Summer and Fall

• Football (7 on 7) – Summer

• Baseball – Late Spring and Summer

• Softball – Late Spring and Summer

• Soccer – Heaviest in Fall, but also Spring

• Basketball – Winter

• Volleyball – Fall at Schools – but leagues year round.

• Hockey – Winter

• Cross Country – Fall

• Track – Spring

• Wrestling – Winter

• Tennis – Spring

• Marching Bands – Fall

• Gymnastics – School Year

• Dance Schools – Recitals in the Spring

• Cheerleaders – School is Fall – private teams are more year round

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If you’re a youth sports photographer who collects money from parents the day of a shoot you’ve mostly got two options when it comes to collecting payments, cash or check.

Accepting cash is ideal for everyone, but not all parents are going to have enough cash on hand to purchase different packages or products. You could also take checks, but then you risk the chance of checks bouncing and you finding it very hard to collect the money you’re owed.

However, a third option is to collect credit card payments. While it’s not the most popular option, youth sports photographers have been collecting credit card payments at sports shoots for years.

But collecting credit card payments can present a challenge for many photographers.

Most don’t have a credit card reader they can take on site, so many have to write down numbers on pre-pay order forms.

Using this method, parents might feel uneasy about writing their credit card number down and letting a stranger walk off with it, as order forms can be left unsecured around the office for anyone to look at. Plus, this will present extra work for the photographer as they will need to key in each credit card entry by hand after the shoot.

But now, a company called Square has created a safe and easy to use device that plugs directly into your smart phone which allows you to accept credit card payments easier and on-site.

According to the San Francisco Chronicle “The technology is a boon for many fledgling entrepreneurs who found the traditional way of processing credit cards either cost prohibitive or unfeasible.”

With Square it’s easy to get started. The device itself is 100% free and the only cost associated with it is when you actually swipe the customer’s card.

For every swipe, Square charges you 2.75% of the total purchase and if you were to input the credit card number manually it would cost you 3.5% of the total purchase plus $0.15 per transaction.

You’ll also need to download their app to your smart phone (it’s available for free for both the iPhone and any Android powered phone). Other than that you simply provide some basic financial information and you’re ready to go.

Also, the device doesn’t just collect payments. It can automatically send out digital receipts to customers either via email or text message and it can also process refunds among a host of other capabilities.

But probably the best advantage to using Square is that there is greater potential for more sales than any other payment medium. The USA Today reports that the average purchase when using Square is $75. While results vary by business, our own research shows a much higher sales average from people paying with credit cards than with cash or check.

For the youth sports photographer, Square is a great option if you’re collecting money from parents the day of a shoot. With mobile payment transactions expected to double this year to $86.1 billion it also makes sense as more and more people are looking for easier ways to pay for products and services. Square alone has helped small business process $2 billion worth of transactions. How can they help you?

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 A great photographer who is a poor marketer will fail. Youth Sports Photographers can book and shoot hundreds, even thousands of young athletes but if they don’t know how to market their photography, they’re not going to sell anything.

There are a lot of things that go into marketing from creating and tailoring your message to actual distribution. But one of the most important aspects of marketing is repetition.

Frank Hadfield, founder of the Sports Photographers Association of America, writes that he believes repetition is the most important aspect of marketing for sports photographers.

He goes on to write “Present your products or services in such a way as to make them desirable and present them to all organizations and to all contacts and do it over and over and over again!”

In the advertising world, we refer to repetition as “frequency” or the number of times a consumer is exposed to your message.

We’re exposed to so many messages each day, upwards of 300
according to the ad agency Marah Creative, that it makes it difficult for businesses to break through the clutter and make sure their messages are heard. Frequency is important because it helps to position your business in the forefront of the minds of your consumers.

J.C. Smith, a business consultant for the Georgia Small Business Development Center writes “Establishing a psychological beach head in the customer’s brain requires frequency of your advertising message. Many buying decisions are based upon top of mind awareness.”

People are people, they tend to forget things easily. Even if someone fully intends to purchase your product or service, something can come along and distract them long enough to make them forget that they had their child’s pictures taken. This is what makes repetition so important; it’s like a constant reminder to your potential customers.

However you choose to market your sports photography business, either through email, pre-made marketing materials or through simple word of mouth/direct sales, repetition of your message makes sure that people remember what you have to say. Otherwise you risk being forgotten and getting lost in the clutter of people’s everyday lives.

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Business is a lot like sports, it’s competitive. Whether you’re in the fast food industry or you sell used cars, you’re always going to be competing with someone for business.

The sports photography market is no different. While it’s a very easy market to enter (due to the segmentation of teams and photographers); the sports market could be the most competitive segment in the photography industry.

Sports photographers today are required more than ever to give coaches and decision makers a reason to choose them (and keep them) out of a field of competitors.

Having a unique point of difference is important because it makes you stand out when you’re trying to book new business.

But a unique point of difference is more than just offering better photography than the next guy; anyone can claim their photography is the “best”.

Also, it’s more than just offering your services cheaper than anyone else. In fact, being the “cheapest” is often the biggest mistake that new sports photographers make. You’re not only going to hurt your sales, but the image of your business too.

One of the most important things about a unique point of difference is it should address issues that are important to both the coaches you work with and the customers who buy from you.

Here are a few ways you can separate yourself from your competitors:

1. Allow people to view/purchase images online

a. Parents get to see all their child’s images before they buy, which gives them a chance to buy more than just a standard package

b. Online ordering makes the lives of coaches much easier as they don’t have to handle orders or money.

c. Allows the photographer to take multiple poses of individuals and groups, giving the parents variety of images to choose from when purchasing.

2. Mail images directly to your customers – Eliminates even more work for coaches as they don’t have to handle pictures.

3. Have a good product mix – Offer products that other photographers can’t, such as multi image products like collages.

4. Offer graphics with team name, date, etc. – Putting names and dates of teams and individuals, as well as custom artwork, on your products turns prints into keepsakes.

5. Provide free pictures for coach or league offices – Offering free products like 16×20 prints are a great way for leagues or schools to decorate offices and locker rooms.

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When it comes to Youth Sports Photography, photographers love shooting the big three – football, basketball and baseball. But one can’t ignore the growing trends in youth soccer.

According to the U.S. Youth Soccer Association, since 1990 the number of participants in youth soccer leagues all over the country has almost doubled from 1.6 million to over 3 million in 2010.

But the growing trend in youth soccer isn’t the fact that the overall sport is growing. With the advent of title nine, which requires schools and universities to have equal numbers of teams for both boys and girls, the real trend is the fact that it’s growing in popularity with girls and young women.

In fact we’re almost to the point where, among active players in youth soccer leagues, there are nearly as many girls playing soccer as boys.

In 2008, the percentage of girls playing youth soccer, among active players, was 48% up from 45% in 2000 – while the percentage of boys playing soccer was 52%, down from 55% in 2000 according to statistics provided by the U.S Youth Soccer Association.

This kind of growth provides a huge opportunity for sports photographers looking for new business, especially if they’re wanting to branch out into other sports besides the most popular such as little league baseball or pop warner football, because it means an increasing number of subjects to shoot and the more photos you take the higher your overall sales will be.

The fact that soccer’s popularity is growing among young women is also exciting for sports photographers. Sometimes photographers will get a little too focused on the most popular boys’ sports, thinking that they’re the only ones worth shooting which is completely untrue.

Through several events that we’ve shot, we’ve found that girls’ sports have just as much, and in some cases more, sales potential than boys’. In fact, in some cases sales from girls’ basketball have exceeded boys’ football.

Regardless of what a photographer shoots they need to realize that children are branching out and participating in several different sports like soccer, rugby or lacrosse. That’s not to say that sports photographers should stop shooting the most popular sports, but there are more opportunities for business than just shooting football or basketball and that they can capitalize on the growing popularity of these new sports.

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When people talk about starting their own business, typically the biggest obstacles in their way are the need for capital to get started, a willingness to take some risk, and a willingness to work very hard to promote and execute the business.

The great thing about starting a sports photography business is that the capital requirements are low, and there is not much ongoing risk.

Many businesses cost hundreds of thousands of dollars to start as they have costs such as location build-out, inventory, fixed rent and leases and payroll.

For a sports photography business, there is no need for a fixed location as the pictures are taken on-site and there is no need for inventory as you only need to purchase products that your customers have ordered.

A sports photography business is unlike most other business models as it mostly only requires an investment of your time and energy to be successful.

You will need to spend a little money to get things moving but  it requires only a fraction of the amount capital of a normal retail business.

For starters, you’re going to need equipment. A digital SLR with zoom is mandatory.  A camera like a Nikon 3100 or Canon Rebel T3 will run you anywhere from $500 – $800 depending on the model.

You’ll also need a good flash to fill in shadows for both groups and individuals. For groups up to 25 people and for individuals, a regular camera mounted flash will work fine and cost you from $250 to $400.

For larger high school groups (where there is a need to get farther back in order to photograph the entire group) a studio flash may be required and can run upwards of $500.

If you choose to shoot indoors you can shoot subjects on a green screen to give parents a choice of backgrounds. A green screen setup will run a photographer roughly $200 and you can repurpose the studio flash from outdoor shoots.

If you desire to take action shots you’ll need a bigger zoom lens. However, action photography is optional for most youth sports photographers.

Typically your best bet is a 70-200mm lens which can run from $400 up to $1,300 for a more desirable, “faster” f2.8 model.

Photographers typically get their money upfront as orders can be taken beforehand, or the customer can be allowed to order online.

Sports photographers can utilize a good professional lab with image hosting and fulfillment service, and only have variable cost when the customer orders something.

Expect the different fees such as hosting fees, credit card fees, cost of prints, other products, and fulfillment to cost about 20% to 25% of total sales leaving you with 75% to 80% of the revenue. Of course, you’ll still have transportation expenses and the cost of any helpers, if any are used.

Starting your own sports photography business offers you the opportunity to have a high margin business with low risk and a low initial investment.  If you’re willing to put forth the effort to book teams and shoot them, you can easily start a successful business.

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So you’ve got a website for your sports photography business, it looks great and functions perfectly. But how can you tell who and how many people are visiting you online? Enter analytics, with several options to choose from, which provides you with loads of valuable information regarding the people that visit your website, ranging from how long they stayed to how they got there.

With this information, you can track what marketing efforts work the best and adjust your strategy accordingly. But there are several different companies you can use to track people who visit your site. Which ones should you use? Check out the two examples below for some great info on two of the most popular sites you can use!

Google Analytics

Easily the most popular analytics site, Google provides very powerful and easy to use tools that even the most non-tech literate person can use. Google Analytics is able to help you track info such as how many page views your site receives, what websites referred traffic to yours and even what browser the people that visited your site were using. You are also able to set “goals” which are web pages that users reach once they have completed a specific action on your website, i.e. purchase images.

Quantcast

Quantcast is an excellent free analytics website that provides more info regarding who is visiting your site rather than how many people and for how long. After you “Quantify” your website, Quantcast willtrack information regarding the people who visit you. For example, Quantcast is able to track the most likely age of visitors to your site as well as what level of education they are likely to have and the most likely household income. Based on this data you can see whether or not your marketing efforts are targeting the people you want coming to your site and if it’s not you can adjust accordingly.

This is only a small sample of web analytics tools you can use to monitor your web traffic online. There are several other paid and free examples that I didn’t mention here and don’t forget that you can use both of these services at the same time to get all the relevant info you need!