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Projection Sales

We're in the sales room here. The viewing room called it my studio on going to talk about creating one of these in your own space, and this is so cool that creative live kind of put this together. My producer cathy, actually had me send her photographs of my own sales room getting room, and they did their best to kind of attempt to replicate that, which I thought was so neat on dh the way you designed this room is really important, I mean, because it has a psychological impact on the client where you're sitting in comparison to them, how they're sitting there's, different schools of thought on how you could do that in different ways to do it with different effects. So we're going to talk about some of those were also going toe I could take you through this step by step process of a sales session. So this whole time we've been talking about the big picture, the systematic approach to sales as a whole, from when the client comes in through when they leave with product. Well, now we're go...

ing to take that, and we're going to scrunch it right into the sale session itself. There's a system that you khun do inside the sales room is, well, that's the same every time that will kind of help you develop a predictable approach. And we'll meet will make it easier on you because I know the number one thing that I hear is I'm scared I'm not a people person, I can't sell my work to somebody I can't sit there and tell them they have to pay fifteen hundred dollars for my images I'm not worth that that's what I hear all the time and it is not you there buying remember they don't find out what you do, they buy what you believe it's what you believe in, what you do simply proves what you believe and that photography that you do, what they're buying isn't necessarily your art it's what you did to put into that art the work you did, so if you kind of think about it from that perspective rather than self reflection on you like what you're worth is it might help you have a little bit more confidence in the cells room and not think that, oh my gosh actually have toe like so my work to somebody that's, khun b very intimidating and breathe a little bit in security so on and that's one of the hardest hurdles to get over is insecurity in the sales room andi it's not easy, especially when you're trying to do it for the first time and you don't know the language, your bumbling with new software the thought of that could be just so intimidating. And then again, george gets on your shoulder and starts picking at you so let's see if we can battle george today and kind of get him off your shoulder so good. Okay, and go get my clicker so I can change my keynote. So projection the fourth p a lot of people ask me, ok, do I really need to project? Um, no, you don't ultimately, I want you to, okay? I know it costs money to do this. It can be very expensive to project, but it's probably the best money you'll ever spend, and it will make you money. What you're gonna learn here in this next segment is that systematic approach to being in the actual sales room. So there's a system overall and then there's in the sales room, how emotion plays into the appointment. I think we all know that, but I'm I'm gonna pinpoint the areas that really do that, okay, how the pre council tax comes pre consultation comes into play at the viewing appointments. It's so important because those two peas marrying at that moment are critical, the step by step method in the sales room, at least, you know, different approaches and there's lots of ways to do it, but I'm going to tell you once one way that does work configuring your sales room if you're going to have one of these hard, you're going to set it up okay when you're going on location to someone's home, how can you make that environment the best environment that's conducive to selling? Okay, now the getting pro select we are going to get into post like just a little bit I'm going to show you why the software is so powerful for me and why it makes me money okay? And why having a presentation software makes you money in general doesn't have to be pro select it could be other things okay, but having that software that which is designed to show what you want to sell has an incredible effect on your client. What to say in the saleswoman how to say it we've talked about language about yesterday and those rules definitely come into play here again and body language and how to use it you can read your client's body language very well and as you do more and more the sale sessions you will sense what they're thinking just by looking at how they're presenting their physical nature to you okay really as much as I can preach this tio I kind of want to beat it over your head and say listen show what you want to sell, you have tohave products out that your client can see, touch, feel and imagine their images, innit then what a presentation software does is it takes their images and puts it in the product to so not only can they see the three dimensional product, but they can also see what their images will look like in the product digitally with a software of some sort. And really, I want to stress that this is not about a hard sell. Okay, it's simply about letting your client by with emotion that's already there with a budget that they're comfortable with and with the goals that they had said at the pre consultation. So the sales appointment right there should start to lower your anxiety when I tell you what it really should be about and think about it. If you have pre consultations products and pricing in place doing them well, then the projection appointment should follow in the place just fine. There should be no fight. There should be no issues. There shouldn't be any failure's in the sales room. Meager sales, unhappy clients, things like that that should all kind of magically go away. If you do pre consulates products, pricing and policies for that matter well and have them set up as a good system in your studio, okay, and that's the goal and I think that's why so many people are scared of sales because they anticipate problems what if what if what if what if? What if my client doesn't like the images? What if my client says they don't have wall space? What if my client gets mad at my pricing? What if my client you know all these issues if you've done a pre consul if you have good products that speak your brand if you're pricing encourage that encourages them to purchase about at that average sale that you need then the sales appointments going to be a piece of cake they're actually fun I mean, a lot of people think I'm crazy when I say that, but they don't understand that I have this system in place that's why when we get to the sales appointment, you know, showing them their images for the first time is like the highlight of the whole session for me it really is because they get so much they're so excited and and they just get overwhelmed with the beauty and the images and the feeling that we're able to provide to them on and that so we're warning and then it's just a matter of taking an order okay sales room set up this is my dear friend jen bass birds in she's in kansas city, oklahoma and she sells to seniors and tweens are kind of her business and this is her sales room, so we're going to talk about setting up sales rooms and how you could be very strategic with your layout and your product placement in the sales room. Okay, location is very critical. It's very important to have it tucked away. My sales room is at the very back of my studio. It's a private place there's no disruptions, it's, very intimate and conducive to feeling to emotion. I want my client to get lost in that emotion and really feel like they can be free to express it. So by putting it in a private tucked away place that has an intimate quality to it, I convey that feeling it's really, the biggest thing it does is it avoids distractions. People aren't coming in and out of the door, those of you who have home studios, you just it shouldn't be too much of a problem, but try to keep it away from the traffic where your kids are in your husband's walking in the door and all that good stuff try to keep in a place where the client can really I can really concentrate on what they're doing, okay, like I said, I do in a separate room, this is my sales room, the color for walt the back is going to be changing here pretty soon, because it's not really speaking to my brand as much as it used to. So we're going to go and change that when you see the projection screen in the upper right it's not pulled down yet within the projectors over there on the left and we have product all over the place the client sits on that sofa and I sit on the chair opposite and the coffee table in the middle has product on it, etcetera, etcetera. Okay, um to how you lay out a sales room, there's a lot of theories on this a ce faras getting success or how it can influence the decisions the buyer makes typically it's the table versus couch theory should I have a couch like this? Or should I have a table? That's one sits at like a dining table. Both theories have pros and cons and both theories are powerful. Um a table is more business let's get down to business, we're making a transaction, you know that kind of thing. The couch is more comfortable we're relaxing the table has a connotation of by versus the couch have the condensation of enjoy cell versus taken order. You can see why I like this approach a little bit better because I'm a soft seller I like my clients to be comfortable and feel friendly and it's all about that relationship to me yes, I'm taking transaction they know that they definitely know that it's like there's a surprise but for them to feel comfortable and enjoy the images and get emotionally involved with them that's what I want so to me ah comfortable environment is good there are plenty of photographers out there who do that table set up and they do fantastic I mean travis gugelmin is one of those photographers he's an idaho yeah, mixing up my state's been a long day on dh he does the table theory and it works brilliantly for that him I mean he's running a million dollar studio so both of these theories work so keep that in mind okay, so the relaxed approach in my opinion is the couch comfort enjoy taken order the business approach is the table stay upright staler kind of like you guys are in your chairs, you know, stay upright you can't like clouds or anything it's about staying focused and selling okay, that could be very effective again. It really depends on your personality what you enjoy doing and what's easy for you. Some people like the client to stay focused and they can kind of get through things faster. Some people like the relaxed approach on would rather have people feel comfortable and enjoy the process then it being more of a transaction so it really just depends. So this is the floor plan of my studio the coffee tables in the middle of you saw in the picture the self is at the back the projection screen is the bright magenta line you see at the top of this thing this is as if you're looking down into the room does that make sense and then I have product display on all the walls ok? And on the coffee table on the side table the sales terrorist kind of the light purple and then I have a little table next to me just pretty much like this where I keep my cell's computer and this laptop is the laptop I do actually sell on okay, so it's a really good method it's been this's the way I've done it for years the sofa and the chair being opposite one another really gives me the opportunity to be face to face with my client and be able to chat with them but at the same time when we're looking at images were looking at them together okay? I don't want to do something like this I don't want to sit behind the client operating the the screen and selling from here can you imagine how uncomfortable is being? You know I'm standing in the dark sorry guys, how uncomfortable this would be to be sitting on the couch like teacher images then going yeah, well that would be very, very awkward and it feels like somebody's looking over your shoulder so whatever you khun dio don't see chiu's health behind the client liable to make them very self conscious and a little distracted okay, you want to be a team with your client, not an antagonist. Okay, so it's I prefer the look across approach now when I didn't have a projection system actually I should crack myself what happened is I had a projector that was a piece of junk really? I just didn't show her a good color and I hated it so I would initially show the slide show on there and then when I had enough, I don't have enough money at the time tio purchase another projector so I would take my laptop and sit between the couple and we look at the screen and it actually really worked my client's kind of loved it because it was this intimate little environment we're all cozied up on the couch and I sold from there using room being pro select and my sales didn't falter at all. Okay, so you don't need a projection system you can just do this on a laptop. Okay? If you are on a budget trying to develop your sales room or if you're on location you are mohr you're gonna get more value for investment in presentation software then you will in a projection system I would rather have you purchased a good presentation software that you can then sell with your laptop rather than using light room on a screen okay, because light room just doesn't have the competitive people. He wasn't successful and walking from here, so I don't glow under the projection. Lee and people have used light room very successfully as a sales tool, but it just doesn't have all the features and benefits that a presentation suffer does half. Okay, so the table theory is like this. You have a round table that your client sits at to view the images, okay? And then you sit at the table with them so you can see the sales chair there on the right, so use that's what's still a teammate approach, and you sit there with them. But then the product is still in the same locations around the room, and they just look at the screen from a table as if you're sitting down for a meal rather than you're sitting on the tv to watch down on the couch to watch a movie makes sense. Can you see how psychologically there would be a difference there, how that would have influenced the client mentally and it's so subconscious. Nobody even knows it's really happening, but you do. And that's, what I'm trying to teach you is how to use those kinds of things, those little moments to your damage, okay, tv or projector, the big question. Everybody wants to know should I do a tv? Or should I do a projector? Well, tv's air getting better and better. There are a few disadvantages to the tv. Okay, let's, look at them projection, big screen, big images. You can show images in actual size on the screen. Okay, the client is considering the image, not the size of the tv and that's the big one, the dads in particular we'll look at the tv on the wall and go the tv won't fit in that space. They're not doing it consciously, they're doing it subconsciously. But if you have an image in actual size on a tv, the dad in particular is going to be going that tv won't fit. But if you're projecting onto a wall or a projection screen, it takes that familiar item of a television out of the picture it all of a sun is not an influencing decision, even if it is a subconscious one. So that's kind of why? One of the major reasons why I like projection screen and or a wall better than a television set? Now, many studios just don't have the space for a nice big wall to put something. And so a tv is a good option for that, and with room view like that all program not all presentations offers have this but pro select has something called working with rooms, which is where you take your client's image of their wall on you put the images on it, I'm going to show you guys that here in just a second, and so you don't need a projection screen for that because it's the client's wall you know the projection screen, you need a tv for that. All you need is a laptop, so if you are just going to sell on your laptop, spend the money on a good presentation software that will show what you want to sell. Um, cost production and tv are pretty close nowadays used to be the projection was a lot more expensive, but now it's kind of gone down in price, so they're pretty comparable. A tv has beautiful coloring resolution, which can't be good, but watch out because your prints probably won't look like that. Be careful, okay, small and come back it goes, you can put it in a small space. I've had photographers who just like have a mantle and old fashioned victorian studio, whatever and there's just a mantle of its fireplace so there's no way they could put a projection screen they have to use the tv you're limited sometimes to your space and the options that you have, so you kind of have to work with what you've got. Tv's air also great in a really bright room. Ah projection screen is terrible in a great space it's really hard to buy a projector that's just ah lot of money in order to be able teo account for that, you can't show actual size easily on the tv, and the client again is constantly asking themselves subconsciously in the back of their mind with the tv fit on our wall and that's the hazard I don't want to get into, okay, I don't want that subconscious thought even approaching the client's brain, so this website is wonderful. These people are quite amazing, they don't even know I exist, so I'm no productive people. Dot com resource is photography dash projection dot this is a website that explains the differences in what to look for in a projector as a photographer. Okay, I am not an expert on projectors at all, so that's kind of why I'm guiding you hear what I do know is that color is critical, you have to get a projector. I prefer the lcd style projectors instead of the dlp dlp projectors, khun show orangey skin tones and funky things that are really hard to correct, even with calibration. Where is lcd? Projector is better now technology changes as you all know in the drop of a hat so things could be better since the last time I want a projector but I talked to these guys and they actually have a guy dedicated if you call them and say ham a photographer and a projector they will send you over to him and he specializes in helping photographers with their space. What you buy is a projector depends on your space, the light the throw distance how far it is to throw all these things come into play with what kind of projector you get so I can't just say to you oh get this projector because it won't fit in your space everybody space is different so you need to purchase of protector that's in your budget and that works with your layout okay, we've talked about this I just want to reiterate product display is critical okay, you have to show what you want to sell you have to create it strategically in the room now this sales room is obviously designed to for the advantage of tv. We need cameras everywhere for the broadcast and so it's not designed exactly the way I would approach it fora selling system if that was the case, I would have these products back here over here right now in tracy's over here with the camera so the it's really important that the client be able to see this it's called the kona money and travis gugelmin eyes the guy who came up with that term and I just laughed like crazy when he said that the kona money, the corner money, the kona vision money it should be right in their sightline. Pam there's a product right there. You want them when they're sitting on this couch to be looking at those cameras going, you know, I mean, that product there is the one that's gonna sell. Okay, so, it's really important to think about the the line of sight direction that your client is viewing? Yes, they're looking at the screen, but what else can they see if they have to turn around, look at product it's a little more challenging and granted my studio? I have this problem, my clients do you have to turn around a little bit to see stuff? But ah, lot of my products I have in most small and large sizes so that I can pick up the small size, bring it to them and say, okay, this is our scanned out in sixteen twenty it goes all the way up to this size thirty by forty, you know, I'm saying so they can touch and feel it without having to be like old and can't burn watch out my knees are pretty creaky that probably given me any second so it's simply the client's field of you okay? And that field of you on a round table sometimes is better so ask yourself of a round table might be for you a round table the client sitting you know here they can look all over ma cheesier then on a sofa so these factors think about it it comes into play of course useful things to have on hand to shoes number one thing cry drinks and snacks I loved to make my client feel super comfortable and cherished pens paper you know, the typical I know these things are trivial but if you keep that list and especially if you're just building yourselves when you make sure you have all this stuff they don't really make you feel good that you've got everything in place and you've checked all your boxes and cross the t's and dot your I's okay the huff nagel it's what you see back here the same image printed in different sizes the to carry okay, so when the client looks up at it they can say, oh my gosh, that size is perfect, ok the trick to this is to put an image in it that has a lot of faces or it's far away because then the bigger you make it, the better it looks when that little baby is down at sixteen by twenty size you khun barely see his face or his expression, but up here in thirty by forty, you can see it a lot easier if it was just a simple image of that baby's face that would look huge like you near here in a movie theater in the first row. Okay, so, gosh, these things, they're strategic, aren't they? You didn't think they're so much strategy into designing your sales room and creating a nickel, but also think about how valuable that would be to the client to have every size printed in the same image would give you a good perspective, wouldn't it? And the half that guy's been around for a while, I believed the last name of the guy who developed this tough angle. I'm not sure, honestly, I don't know the history on it, but printing the same image and it's very strategic, which image you pick, make sure you pick the right image. Ah, family image, an image of a subject in a scene, something where they're full body. All of that makes a huge difference in how the image looks sitting there, you know, with all sizes present any questions, jim's acting like you have a question, I do have a question, do you make the smart one? Like really small so they don't buy it like you know what I mean I'm going to show you pro select here in a second it's not in fact I'm gonna I forgot to tell line producer that I need this but I will need a tape measure of some sort or ruler a tape measure would be ideal I'm going to need so I know she's throwing her hands but they're like what are you thinking why don't you help me sorry heather it's my fault all your fault so anyway I need I'm goingto calibrate the screen with the tape measure and then I'm going to show you what an eight by ten actually looks like on that screen oh no you won't buy it okay good no way jose and none of my clients dio I don't know an offer eight by tens of my studio there not a product you can buy what does the average size like what did I tell you twenty by twenty for its which was the average it's the second one up it's usually right between those two and it depends also keep in mind that my client is young and at the bottom of their budget then they haven't re several potential but my average sale is still where I wanted to be and they're also usually in small homes okay the couple today they live in a one bedroom apartment they have very little wall space so a lot of what I sell is actually albums my client's love albums because they can go with them anywhere they want to go and these people are not gonna be in the same house forever they're young, they're just growing their family if they expand their gonna move into a bigger house so an album is a way to combat that problem of oh well we're just renting right now you know, I'm saying that they can pull the album out we tell the benefits of the time that you spend with your children etcetera, etcetera the heirloom that could be passed on all those wonderful things, okay, any other questions? Yes, we did have a question from lance who asked how would you approach the cone of money if you're on location or if you don't good question very good questions a little harder and since you can't really know hall of want a product with you that's a real talent if I was on location, what I would probably do is bring a middle of the road print with me and each finished that I carry so you know, like a twenty by twenty four and then I would bring a couple of albums with me and as far as the kind of money is concerned you're gonna have to wing it you really will I mean, I hate to be honest, but if there's a coffee table obviously you want to project you're going project in their home, you want to pick the right wall for it, the wall that's going to show it off the best the projection and how those images look on the screen or on the wall is much more important than where the product is, but you know, hopefully they would have a coffee table or something in front of you could display things out there and kind of put stuff up on the piano that happens to be sitting next door, whatever you're going to have to wing it a little bit some situations it's not going to work very well, this's a situation where I would say do your best and you'll just have to kind of live with the conditions you've got again, that product catalog is going to help you tremendously because if you can show the products in three dimension and then pull out that ipad with a product catalog on it showing how these things look in a real environment beautiful, well designed, well photographed, then they're more likely to purchase it cause it will look like the product is finished does that guy have that makes sense for lance? The more questions we good lady seven hundred is yourselves room, it is eleven by twelve my studio but I think it's too small it's, not just me and the doors were like awkward there's like two doors I've been trying to figure out how to make it work for the sales yeah beyond what he was what I would suggest is furniture placement in layout can sometimes be a challenge and I'm talking about ideals here it doesn't have to be that way I mean if you're limited by your space you're limited by your space do the best you can in this space you have a round table could work because I was going to use it for like working in there but then I couldn't do my work and move it when they come in yeah it's a great idea who is it? Julie crossfire my first good friend she has a tail like a around coffee table but has cushy chairs around it so it's kind of like a hybrid model between the couch and the table so she uses really comfortable chairs on a round table we thought that was interesting like that could work so you know, like I said austin clear on who the author that chase had on chased our head on during the week and I actually adore awesome he wrote the book steel like an artist and it's really true and he quoted pablo picasso and he said good artists copy great artists steal so be a great artist and steal these concepts use what you need to make it work for you same thing with your art. Same thing with your pricing, same thing with your branding, steal from me, make it better. I'm here to inspire you and make you grow and help you move forward, take what I do and make it better, make it suit you in your brand, okay, that's, the whole point of this, and you may be inspired to copy it right away. Go. That could be perfect. But eventually, I promise you, your little artistic, creative minds gonna want to make it your own, and I know that you can't help but it's human nature. We want to be individual, we want to screen from the top of the world. I am me, love me for who I am, and that is just human kind, so you will eventually make it your own, and I'm totally confident that so steel, like an artist, man, be a great artist.