Studio Samples?

[krisnashley]

Hey everyone! Now that I have sessions coming in I want to work on my post session sales. I want to offer a variety of things to my customers. What are some of your best sellers and who do you order your products through? Here is what I have found that I like so far... help me add to my list! :) Thanks in advance! Ashley

Canvas: Canvas on demand
Canvas on Matteboard: Millers

[HotHolly]

is this for weddings or portrait sessions? if sessions - what type? different clients buy different stuff based on the session type.

[ronocnikral]

i would recommend simply canvas over canvas on demand...the quality and construction is loads better.

simply canvas on deals with professionals also, so there is no way clients can see your pricing. although, we did some pictures in march for a friend who called simply canvas and gave them our studio name and got access to the pricing. we were upset with everyone involved and had some choice words for them (friend included)! they lost our business for awhile, but after getting some from canvas on demand and whcc, simply canvas is still the best, in our opinion of course.

[HotHolly]

Originally Posted by ronocnikral

although, we did some pictures in march for a friend who called simply canvas and gave them our studio name and got access to the pricing. .

thats HORRIFYING. what was their excuse?

[krisnashley]

Hey Holly, right now my main sessions are weddings and children. I know it's two completely different ends of the spectrum. :(

[PhotoDude79]

For weddings I have the usual.... a couple of sample albums, sample leathers and fabrics. I have 1 sample sign in guest book. I shoot a lot of family & senior sessions so now I offer albums from the sessions. These are taking off big.... especially senior albums.

[krisnashley]

Originally Posted by PhotoDude79

For weddings I have the usual.... a couple of sample albums, sample leathers and fabrics. I have 1 sample sign in guest book. I shoot a lot of family & senior sessions so now I offer albums from the sessions. These are taking off big.... especially senior albums.

That's awesome! Who do you order your senior albums through?

[marysledd]

I've had a lot of luck selling 3/4" stand out prints from my kid portrait sessions. I order them from WHCC. Mom's seem to like them because they do not require framing.

[HotHolly]

for kids - any novelty item that isnt available to the general public is usually big. We sell little board books for kiddo sessions. Those are a hot item. the canvases with the montage thing going on or the painted thing going on are in demand, but are easily confused with sears and walmart crap. i added 24K gold to mine (hand painted it in). bags and diaper bags people went nuts over.

weddings - albums traditional & coffee table (askua and millers), different sizes and covers, canvas, large framed prints, paintings, metallic paper is big, and proofing parties create a snowballing effect with post wedding sales. usually post wedding sales are hard to get - they just finished paying all these wedding bills and they arent as happy to part with money anymore. so very carefully plan what you are offering. i usually have their album predesigned with an additional 10-20 sides that they can add on right then. if your wedding packages came with a standard album, print sizes, etc, be ready to upsell them and tell them why.

[ronocnikral]

Originally Posted by HotHolly

thats HORRIFYING. what was their excuse?

They didn't have one, the girl was confused and really had nothing to say. to be fair, this person is a relative of my wife and knew just about every detail about us. nonetheless, I am convinced that once you are on ANY company's files, just a phone call from someone who sounds confident and knows a few details about you (all found on our websites) can get a lot of information. I'm not sure how this whole nightmare unfolded, but our relative knew pricing and simply had a sale going on, so our relative was demanding the discount also. That's why we don't even like telling people where we get things done (albums are tricky though). In a recent call to the forbeyon rep he at least asked some questions like "with whom am I speaking..." and "which studio are you with..." But I am sure these are the same weak questions asked by simply. and while I am ranting, this was basically a long line events that led up to us not doing pictures dirt cheap and prints at cost for extended family and friends. We walked away with $150 total (net) for hours of work and accusations of usery.

simply canvas still has awesome canvas prints and forbeyon has the best albums, imo. we are still worried about a slip up from one of their reps to bring this same nightmare back to life. what company really asks for a taxID number everytime you call with a question? sorry to hijack the thread for a bit, but at least i told you some info about a company (which I think was your question) and a good recommendation for an album.

[PhotoDude79]

Originally Posted by krisnashley

That's awesome! Who do you order your senior albums through?

Same places I order my wedding albums. I have 3 vendor I go thru KISS, Finao and Forbeyon. I think I'm dropping Finao, they aren't selling that good anymore. Might go with Leather Craftsman. Only difference is that most of them aren't flushmount they are kinda like coffee table albums.

[HotHolly]

Originally Posted by ronocnikral

what company really asks for a taxID number everytime you call with a question?

it is common for a vendor to ask for your account ID and the name of the person with whom they are speaking before releasing info. They are supposed to confirm they hold a current account and are allowed to speak with the person on the phone. that is standard in the retail/ resale industry. that is very unnerving. we dont tell clients where the products are coming from, but that is still not kosher.

[ronocnikral]

Originally Posted by HotHolly

it is common for a vendor to ask for your account ID and the name of the person with whom they are speaking before releasing info. They are supposed to confirm they hold a current account and are allowed to speak with the person on the phone. that is standard in the retail/ resale industry. that is very unnerving. we dont tell clients where the products are coming from, but that is still not kosher.

agreed, it's best just not to let the cat out of the bag where you order things from. b/c even if they get pricing from some other vendor, we always get it from the best and all the other companies do not deliver the same quality...

and I agree again, it is definitely not kosher. after my experience, I would be happy if they would ask for my grandma's social security number before we talked ANY business.

[tresorph]

i prefer pixel2canvas in Luxe canvas.

[sharianni32]

I like pixel2canvas and finao and jlee albums. I'm also dying to try the floating canvases from whcc.