Look into the local newspapers and yellow pages. Visit their webpages and gather all relevant information. Do the friends calling them thing so you know about prices and services. IF you can, make them a list of questions you get asked to see differences. Then you'll know if you are in advantage or disavantage on any point.
Whenever there's a wedding, there will be a photog. If you drive by one, stop, look how they work for some minutes, aproach him/her ask for a business card. Do as much market intelligence as possible.
Remeber that, if you try to position your business based only in price you'll loose many contracts. Do the SWOT but it is very important that you are very objective when doing it. You must be your hardest critic. And when you gather all the information about competition, do a SWOT of them too. Identify their weaknesses because they will guide your strategy. Yes, business is just like war.
If you like to read, buy The art of the war by Sun Tzu, all you need is there.
One of the most important rules of doing business is "know your prospect" So when you get an appointment with a new prospect the first thing you do is visit their website to know what they do, who are their customers, competition, some sites have their last year's financial statements, etc..... So you are one step ahead when meeting with them. One of the wonders of the Internet is that almost everybody is on the internet. So Google the person you're gonna meet. You'll find interesting things that will become your tools to do a good rapport and get the sale.
A few months ago I was meeting with a woman who was going to get married. I searched on the internet and found out she is a famous chef. I looked at her backround and even found photos of her bachelorette party so I knew what topics to talk about. I got the contract.
Let me know when you get your next meeting with a customer and how it went.
Buena suerte
Humberto
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