How do you do your print order?? Timeline?

[sarahgirl777]

So I've been doing my photoshoots for free to try to encourage people to let me shoot them in order to build my portfolio, charging just for prints for now so I can still make some $$ to get the additional equipment I need for my studio. Well it's going well so far, I've had a good interest but I'm having trouble getting them to complete their print orders. I know they want prints, but aside from nagging them how do I get them to get their order and $$ to me? I set up an online proof gallery through Zenfolio, but not where they can order through it cause I'm not making enough yet to justify the $100 account. So I gave them the website link and an order form, but now I have 4 of those out and I'm waiting to get them back. Any suggestions? Should I give them a timeline for ordering when I send them the gallery link? Like 7 days? Or is that too pushy? I'd rather just have them come to my house to review their proofs and take the order on the spot, but my husband doesn't really want everyone coming to our house, so that is out. I'd love to hear how everyone else does it or what you suggest. Thanks!!!

[CES_UK]

Hey - I dont have an answer or suggestion but I'm also in the same situation and would definately like to find out how other ppl get around this problem....
I've tried not to give a time scale for prints for the very few shoots I've done as I didnt want to pressure anyone but at the end of the day I guess its a business....interesting....

[private]

I send the proof in a pdf format and I give away three 4x6 prints (it costs a little over $1 to print) everyone wants what is free... I have never had a client NOT buy something beyond the three free prints. Granted I have only had three clients. The first one bought 41 prints (And sd she is gonna buy three 8x10's) and the second one purchased ALL of the prints PLUS a panaromic collage and the third one purchased 6 8x10s and she emailed and sd she wanted a panaoramic collage also...

I think its all about learning how to sell. Do you make it easy for them to order, meaning, I want print #1,7,9, and 11. How do you give them the order form, do they fill it out or do they have to print it and then send it to you? My clients have ordered by just telling me what they want in an email, I send them an "email invoice" and then I tell them they will receive prints 7 business days after pmt is received. I send prints Priority Mail.

[_DaveAdams]

This is a common problem - you are willing to work for cheap, to build the portfolio, but you still want to get some income from the work you are doing. So you go and shoot for free, hoping that it will pay off in the back-end. Unfortunately what happens is that lots of people think that the skill of a photographer should be cheap (or free) and don't commit to paying for prints after the event.

Unless you are shooting a wedding, or some other big event, its difficult to convince people to pay for prints, especially once the eupohoria of the event has passed. I suggest getting an advance up front, which will be discounted once the subject buys X amount of prints from you. While this may put some people off using your service, you need to eliminate jobs that will return zero dividend.

Its easy enough to agree to a shoot, asking for £50/$50 up front for costs, and agree that the first ten prints they order will be discounted by 10%.

[oldwolf]

are the pics oniline right click protected?

if they aren't then your clients might be downloading them and printing it themselves.

if they are protected then tell them that the gallery will be up for one month. after that, it gets taken down so you can "make room" for more pictures for other clients. are the galleries password protected? i'm not familar with zenfolio.

[sarahgirl777]

Originally Posted by oldwolf

are the pics oniline right click protected?

if they aren't then your clients might be downloading them and printing it themselves.

if they are protected then tell them that the gallery will be up for one month. after that, it gets taken down so you can "make room" for more pictures for other clients. are the galleries password protected? i'm not familar with zenfolio.

They are reduced sized and watermarked and the galleries are password protected. I just sent them an e-mail today as a "friendly reminder" that the photos will only be available til the 28th so to make sure they get their order in. Hopefully that will help. I know they all want to order them, that's not the problem, it's getting them to tell me which ones they want and pay the $$. For sure next time I'm going to tell them they are only available for so long and try to get them to order quicker.

[sarahgirl777]

Originally Posted by _DaveAdams

This is a common problem - you are willing to work for cheap, to build the portfolio, but you still want to get some income from the work you are doing. So you go and shoot for free, hoping that it will pay off in the back-end. Unfortunately what happens is that lots of people think that the skill of a photographer should be cheap (or free) and don't commit to paying for prints after the event.

Unless you are shooting a wedding, or some other big event, its difficult to convince people to pay for prints, especially once the eupohoria of the event has passed. I suggest getting an advance up front, which will be discounted once the subject buys X amount of prints from you. While this may put some people off using your service, you need to eliminate jobs that will return zero dividend.

Its easy enough to agree to a shoot, asking for £50/$50 up front for costs, and agree that the first ten prints they order will be discounted by 10%.

I like your idea. I think I'm getting a good enough portfolio that I can stop the free shoots pretty soon. I would like to get a few more in the senior portrait category though. I think maybe I will charge a little more for the sitting fee than what I actually want to charge, then give them a credit towards the prints like you said, I bet they will order quicker if they have already paid for part of the prints.. Thanks for the idea!

[oldwolf]

i'd definitely go with the limited upload time then. some people have to wait to get money to order prints. i can see not being able to order prints the first payday after the shoot because of bills and stuff but they should be able to plan something for 2 paydays after the shoot.

[prince]

Along with other ideas I really like Pat's idea of sending proofs as pdf and then taking orders by email. That is quicker and also saves on travel time.

If you invite them at your place or if you go to their's it puts constraint on time a bit more than required. A week's time sounds reasonable to make proofs available for viewing. When they have proofs via email or online they are able to show not only to their close family but any relatives that are away.

"Free" also makes clients lazy and tends to let them take you for granted.

I think I will soon be in your shoes in few months and this discussion will give some ideas too.

Good luck!!

[sarahgirl777]

Originally Posted by prince

Along with other ideas I really like Pat's idea of sending proofs as pdf and then taking orders by email. That is quicker and also saves on travel time.

If you invite them at your place or if you go to their's it puts constraint on time a bit more than required. A week's time sounds reasonable to make proofs available for viewing. When they have proofs via email or online they are able to show not only to their close family but any relatives that are away.

"Free" also makes clients lazy and tends to let them take you for granted.

I think I will soon be in your shoes in few months and this discussion will give some ideas too.

Good luck!!

Yea, I gave them an order form to write down the proofs they wanted, I require a package purchase before individual pics, so it breaks down the packages by size so they can say what proof number they want in each size. I thought about doing it by e-mail, but I want to make sure I get the $$ before I send in the order as I don't want to be stuck paying for them. So I figure they can just give me the order form when they are done deciding. (I'm in a small town (Hays, you probably know it) so everyone is close to me and so far it's all people I know and see often) I did my first one by e-mail and it didn't go so well so I created a form. For example, I require that a certain # of some sizes be ordered, but I couldn't get that through to her that she needed to pick more than one proof for her order... or tell me she wanted all 4 of that size from the same proof. Anyways, I guess it will just take time to work out all of the kinks.