SkipCohenUniversity
  • The Gateway
  • Faculty
    • Don Komarechka
    • Julieanne Kost
    • Kevin Kubota
    • Tamara Lackey
    • Bobbi Lane
    • Justin and Mary Marantz
    • Charles and Jennifer Maring
    • Joe McNally
    • Dustin Meyer
    • Lori Nordstrom
    • Michael ONeill
    • Stacy Pearsall
    • Sandy Puc'
    • Arthur Rainville
    • Seth Resnick
    • Jen Rozenbaum
    • Dane Sanders
    • Ryan Schembri
    • John Sexton
    • Louise and Joseph Simone
    • Ken Sklute
    • Brian Smith
    • Matthew Jordan Smith
    • Eddie Tapp
    • Roberto Valenzuela
    • Nick Vedros
    • Kirk Voclain
    • Beverly and Tim Walden
    • Yervant
    • Moshe Zusman
  • SCU Blog
    • Guest Posts
  • Videos/Showcases
    • Luminary Corner
    • The Marathon Center
    • Profoto Showcase
    • ProShow Annex
    • Tamron Theater
    • Shawn Achor: The happy secret to better work
    • Suzette Allen
    • Clay Blackmore
    • Scott Bourne
    • John Paul Caponigro
    • Bob Carey's Tutu Project
    • Michele Celentano
    • Sal Cincotta
    • Dean Collins
    • Bob Davis: Lighting
    • Dixie Dixon
    • Bruce Dorn
    • Zach and Jody Gray
    • Rich Harrington and Rhed Pixel
    • Gregory Heisler and Profoto
    • Kristen Jensen
    • Lou Jones
    • Julieanne Kost: Lightroom 4
    • Vincent Laforet
    • Bobbi Lane
    • Annie Leibovitz
    • "Live Forever" - A Must Watch Classic
    • Charles and Jennifer Maring
    • Mary Ellen Mark: Profoto Icon Series
    • Steve McCurry
    • Nick's Picks
    • Arthur Rainville
    • Jen Rozenbaum - Boudoir
    • Matthew Jordan Smith
    • TED Talks
    • Art Wolfe
    • Zig Ziglar Classics
    • Monte Zucker
    • Moshe Zusman
  • Podcasts
  • About Us
  • Partners
    • Illuminati
    • Lumix G
    • Marathon
    • Photodex
    • Profoto
    • Shutter Magazine
    • Sprout Studio
    • Tamron
  • Jim Garner

Want To Make Money Off Your Photography? Become A Problem Solver

7/15/2013

0 Comments

 
Picture
by Scott Bourne

I'm going to take some poetic license here so bear with me. On Marketing Monday I try to give everyone some concrete marketing tips here at SCU. Today I will talk about sales. Yes, sales is part of marketing. You need to learn this to get where you want to go.

So here goes. Believe this. . . People don't ever, ever, ever, buy photographs. They buy the solution to a problem. The problem might be they don't want to ever forget their daughter's first steps. The problem might be they don't want to ever forget their daughter's first tricycle ride. The problem might be they don't want to ever forget their daughter's first day of school. The problem might be they don't want to ever forget their daughter's first prom. The problem might be they don't want to ever forget their daughter's graduation from college. The problem might be they don't ever want to forget their daughter's wedding. The problem may be they don't ever want to forget the day their daughter had her first child.

You get the point? You're solving problems not taking photographs. Once you have that mindset, selling is much easier. When you are a problem solver, everybody wants to do business with you. When you're concerned only about your own wallet, then nobody wants to do business with you. Position yourself as a sincere problem solver. You'll have a great career. 

Remember this...

Selling is something you do FOR somebody, not TO somebody. Many of you are uncomfortable with sales and salesmanship. You may be uncomfortable because you've had bad experiences with salespeople. You may be shy. You may be untrained. But you need to get past all that (or hire someone who can) or you will not succeed. I've been supporting myself with photography for decades, but I think of myself as a salesman first, and a photographer second.

My mentor in sales was none other than Zig Ziglar. He had a saying that I will never forget.

                                                       Nothing happens until somebody sells something."

Think about it. Everything you touch has been sold and resold over and over. Without honest, sincere, dedicated salespeople no business would survive. So get used to this fact. You will spend 80% of your time selling and 20% on the photography-related stuff. 

If your business is suffering, get off the couch and go knock on doors. As Guy Kawasaki says,

                                                    "More sales fix every problem your business is having."

0 Comments

Your comment will be posted after it is approved.


Leave a Reply.

    RSS Feed

    "Why?"

    Check out "Why?" one of the most popular features on the SCU Blog. It's a very simple concept - one image, one artist and one short sound bite. Each artist shares what makes the image one of their most favorite. We're coming up on 100 artists featured since the project started. Click on the link above and you can scroll through all of the episodes to date.

    Categories

    All
    Beyond Technique
    Building Your Business
    Business
    Customer Service
    EDU10
    Excire
    Faculty
    Fast Food Friday
    Guest Post
    Humor And Sarcasm
    In The News
    Lighting
    Luminar
    Lumix
    Marketing
    Miscellaneous
    Motivational
    One Step At A Time
    Photodex
    PhotoShelter
    PhotoTexting
    Podcasts
    Profoto
    Sales
    Search
    Skylum
    Social Media
    Sunday Morning Reflections
    Tamron
    Technique
    Throwback Thursday
    Wedding Photography
    Why?

    Authors

    Skip Cohen is President of SCU, founder of Marketing Essentials International and past president of Rangefinder Publishing and WPPI. He's been an active participant in the photographic industry since joining Hasselblad USA in 1987 as president.  He has co-authored six books on photography and actively supports dozens of projects each year involving photographic education.

    Scott Bourne

    Scott Bourne was the first Dean of Marketing at SCU. He helped to establish this blog as a resource for aspiring and working professional photographers. He's an educator, artist, author and from time to time you'll see his name on guest posts that are always relevant to photography and marketing!

    Archives

    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013
    July 2013
    June 2013
    May 2013
    April 2013
    March 2013
    February 2013
    January 2013

Professional Education for Wedding & Portrait Photographers