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Packages

Package is allow you to plug people in where you want them to buy, but when you're setting up your packages, what happens a lot of times is we start those packages at three hundred dollars and you know and and that's great janice, that there are three hundred dollars, because there's a lot of people that have a mid forty nine or one hundred forty nine, whatever it is our place to start. So but what? What the mentality needs to be with packages is think about what you want your average sale to be and then reward clients for spending there. So if I want a five hundred dollar average, I shouldn't start my packages at three hundred dollars if I want a five hundred dollar average, I should start my packages at about four twenty and count on some add ons, and so and then I want to go up from there. Um, my my package menu does not show this philosophy except for in the one mommy, the savvy mom package that I'm going to show you that I haven't even talked to you guys about yet, but typically w...

hen you're setting out packages for regular studio staff events, whatever, you should always have a package that's out there that you really don't expect anybody to buy. So it's kind of that walker package that you know if you want a five hundred dollar average let's make afford for twenty package a six eighty package and eighty package and a sixteen hundred dollar package because what that does for the client that's viewing it and I start and they look at that sixteen hundred dollar package first and they say holy crap whoever would do that but somebody must because it's right here in front of me somebody bought this you know and then they work down and as they work down it starts getting more comfortable and more comfortable and then when they get to that four eighty or for twenty they're saying all right, I can do this you know or they're they're landing in the middle and that's what typically happens most people by in the middle and it doesn't matter what price is your throwing adam they buy in the middle and so when you're setting up your package is thinking about it and that way always start with your top package and work down so again and even if you're selling all a cart, start with the highest price item and work down because then again they're saying somebody buys a forty by sixty who has room for that somebody spends this much money who would do that? Well somebody does it's right here and then as they move down all of a sudden a twenty by twenty four you know what by the time they get down to that well, that doesn't seem so bad that doesn't sound so big, so always start with the biggest first and work down the next is a build your own ability collection this has been a very, very powerful tool for us in the studio with our high school seniors and even with the real kids events um some of them we do in this way and that I told you guys yesterday I'm gonna throw the build a collection at you and I don't want to freak anybody out and say, you know, confuse anyone, but I'm going to show you two different models of pricing your events um the builder collection allows people to walk through a process and build their own and so and this started we started this in our studio with our high school seniors years ago and what happened for me was I had packages for a long time for seniors and I did because seniors just expect packages that's what they're bombarded with everything else in the studio's ala carte but the high school seniors every mom would say it was almost like they just wanted to be told what's abi, you know I need a package and so we create a packages and it did what it was supposed to do everybody about a package we had great average is totally fine the first time the sales went up was when I added the bonus schedule people started adding on those extra things at a discount they started adding on four by six is at the end so our sales averages went up and then one day I was going through it all and going through sales with my team and we kind of came to the realization that yep, everybody buys exactly what we tell him to buy but there they land we're losing money because we're not giving them the opportunity to buy more and it's not that the opportunity wasn't there, but it wasn't part of that system we weren't, you know, giving them the opportunity so what I would suggest is if you have packages that's the place to do those discounts on the loose prints on the gift princes to say with the package these air available at this price so you're encouraging the add on always encourage the ad on um with the builder collection I'm able to tell that senior mom that calls she's in a calm and she's going to say, you know hi, I was wondering about your packages you know, what will we do is instead of me telling you what you want, I'm gonna help you design your own package so that you're going to get the same value as a package, but you're going to get exactly what you want and mom is really like hearing that that's a you know, a really nice thing to say I'm gonna get the value, but I'm gonna get whatever I want and I'm not gonna be told what to get and so and then I'll let them know I'm gonna walk you through this process, so you're gonna you know you're gonna have everything that you want, we're going to make sure you get that value, so the builder collection works really, really well, this is the first pricing that we did for real kids. Um, there were four packages they started at four eighty and went up to nine sixty, so it was and again, this is an event I'm not planning this like regular packaging in the air in the studio. I want this to be a really quick decision making process, and I told you guys I was going to show you the evolution of how this happened. These are bottom packages, just prints left by fourteen to eight by tens for five by seven fifteen what's kind of let what people are used to write, going to mind of that it's like a you know and that's exactly how it felt it was like a school picture package, but I'm charging four hundred eighty dollars for it, so it doesn't make sense to a lot of people well, as you go up, I'm adding a three image storyboard that's framed. I'm adding a death strip that's framed the three image just trip in the top one and in the top package. The nine sixty package. I'm adding two books. It was a little five by five book like this one and a little three by three bucks. So this is the five by five uh, these little books, the three by threes, the regular ones, not the artistry ones from a c I but the regular ones, you get three of them and you can order three different design. They don't have to all be the same and it's fifteen bucks. So when you consider that and I think, um, I had the three by thirty three percent book this at one hundred twenty dollars, so that's a giant mark up and I can order you like you said, three different one so I can order for three different clients at an event and just sell one. So, um, you know, little things like that that we can add into packages that really have a lot of value and also a hype profit margin are the things that we want to add in the packages, so this worked really well, and we were averaging about a thousand dollars per per client with this because people really saw the value in that top package, first of all. But then they were also adding things on, so we're allowing them the add ons. I do have the ala carte list there. So they saw what things were separately they could see. The value in the package is, um, you know, we had all these other little things, and then we had gift print collections that they could add on so they could add on twelve prints of three put different poses. A prince of two poses or five prints of one post, which we still do. Those were available up to five by seven, and they could also add waltz. They could only add those on you. Couldn't come and just buy a gift collection. So that was something? Yes. That was something that, uh, you know, always always need to your packages always make add ons available, and there should be some things that aren't available without a package. Thankyou. So, any questions about that? The next evolution was adding frames. So we had those still the same packages package, eh? Nine sixty and frame your grouping for another six hundred eighty dollars. And then it showed what we were gonna frame. We're gonna frame the sixteen twenty eleven by fourteen in the ten by ten the next one frame you're groping for six eighty it's gonna be your sixteen twenty year eleven by fourteen or ten by ten same thing up there anyway all this we you know, we I decided at some time that I really want to be framing this stuff this is what we specialize in we want to get pete things on people's walls and it just makes more sense we were selling some frames at the events but not a lot of frames so we went to this we started selling a little more but it still was that you know I was it was an ad on you know it's like do you wanna frame it or do you not? And so I just made the decision at one point that we were going to frame thes pieces for people that is what we specialize in that's my language to every single person that calls and if that is true then that is, you know, that's what I need to make happen and so we took the thousand dollar average in jacked it way up by just making packages available that were on ly framed pieces and these are the same groupings that you see here their course all different colors but that's that's the thing that we tell our clients is we're going to show you these four different collections we can I'm in a custom designed the colors for you based on your decor and colors in your home so we've got package a and that's um nine hundred sixty dollars it's three ten by tens and two tabletop frames so two of these smaller frames package b three eight by twelves and you guys saw yesterday that I designed three, ten by tens for client and then she had vertical images so we transferred it to the package beat and sent a package a so they're the same price doesn't matter to her we just did it for the orientation of the images again to tabletop frames I want people to get in their minds that they're going to be framing their smaller princes well so that's why we put those in the packages when we do that people will add on another small frame with their gift print collection. So again it's just an adam because we're programming them that you know these look beautiful framed like this let's add another one on so package c with the sixteen my twenty eight to ten by tens and then package d with the sixteen by twenty four and three eight by eight so it really all um I do have these packages put together for the events because I do want to plug them into something easy there pre built in preview so I could just pull him onto their while change the colors and it's good to send to them however, even with the events, if somebody really wants to get custom with me, I will absolutely do it, lin a yesterday, if I would have the opportunity to talk to her on the phone and got to know her personality a little bit, I would have told her, we're going to go above and beyond this, these are just some options that are available to you. I'm happy to plug you into one of those if one of those works, but you know, if you want me to custom design something or something for more than one space, I'm happy to do that. So even taking that to the next level it's something that I'm willing to invest the time in because that person is going to turn into a lifetime client for me, not just a portrait of that client alright then hears that digital that where we throw the digital in it's eighteen hundred eighty dollars, so with that they're going to get the designer collection other choice that's going to mean they can choose a, b, c or d so I can buy anyone of those packages. They can choose either an eight by eight book or an image box, so they're going to get one or the other, and I showed you yesterday that those were the same price on the menu. They could add one of those and then they're going to get toe add on an eight print gift collection available from any purchase pose so that for me what I did when I priced this was I added the the designer collection price yes and then the book or image box price I added those together and then I'm throwing in that gift collection because to the client that has a great value to me it's a very low cost of sale so especially because they're on lee from images that have already been ordered that means I just have to push go again that all makes sense okay so um yes is no this current yeah you guys have it uh the original was the packages without the frames added on the second evolution was the frame your grouping the third evolution was it's coming framed and and I want to share that with you and kind of why and how that happened but I'm hoping that a lot of you will just say I'm going I'm going to do this right I'm gonna start this I'm gonna make this completely a different experience for my client I'm gonna make money you know, because it can be done and it is a way to reach into a whole different pocket of clients a brand new target market you know, if you're worried about losing your old clients do what you're doing keep doing it but then reach out to that new target client with a completely different option and this is a way for you to step out and do something brand new and different and like I said before this this for me was you know I have the high end clientele in the studio I needed to grab some of these people who weren't willing to come in and make that final investment and but you know, for a lot of you it's going to be the other way around you know you've got this pool of clients and you need to get over to some of these and it's a way for you to step out into the next box so however you are doing it the events are just such a great way teo get instant access to a group of people that are your target client by just finding one and that's the beauty of it is just finding that one first house mom and during your first event there is going to be one other host mom in that group you know, it's all it's going to expand like that and um we do have the little cards that we give to every one of them that's a host your own event and talks about it a little bit but I'm also going to communicate with that host bomb and were there any friends on your list it weren't able to come to the event I'm gonna contact those people I'm gonna let him know you know, I hey, I heard you're excited about this and you didn't have the date available would you like to host her own, you know, and be proactive and keep working in those circles once you start working in the circles, the circle starts expanding and you get to grow that target client base that you want. Even laura e I ask, could this concept to be applied to other product lines? Absolutely. And we're going to get to that. Yes. Uh, and it can be applied to anything. The reason why I chose kids sitting through aged fourteen was very specifically because I want the newborns in first year kids in my studio and I want the high school seniors in my studio. I mean, more like output, like, like, could could I apply this to, like, not necessarily just framing like, oh, yeah, absolutely, you know, magnets, whatever absolutely swag, yes, and, you know, and make those things available on your bonus schedule. You know, anything that you don't want your client concentrating on that's one of the things with high school seniors there's all kinds of little bling, shiny things that they want, and so when they start pointing things out, I want this I want this, and I want this I want mom to be concentrated on the wall and so I'm gonna tell the senior I'm going to make sure you get all that and I'm going to show your mom how she could get a discount, you know? So we're gonna walk them through the process with that build a collection step one is for the wall step two is for the desk for the table top step three or multiple images pieces and step for is their album so they're going to go through each one of those steps with us and when they purchased from each one of those steps they're going to get a discount so that's building their own package and getting that value then they're automatically going to add on wallets are automatically going to add on all those fun things that are on the bonus schedule. So a couple of questions for you okay from gwen g so some people are still kind of getting over trying to get over that objection of what if people don't want franks question is what if someone does not want the frames at an event? Is there another option without their are we actually have an ala carte menu? Um that's here they're welcome to purchase from the ala carte menu absolutely I mean we're not going to tell you may know and I do have at least one person at every event who does not buy into a package it's usually not more than two but it's one or two almost every event um I've maybe in the three four years of doing this have had a handful of events for every single person has bought a package but then there's two that will buy more than one package so it all you know it all evens out in the end but there's always gonna be that person who really really wants to do it and they get there and you know don't want investing a package but I know that before we sit down no I've already talked to them we've consulted with them we've gotten their wall images if it's really not a fit oftentimes they're going to back out because they don't know it's not a fit for them and they feel bad almost you know, like I don't wantto take your time you know and especially if you're communicating in the right way and we're making it a very positive thing and very you know, this is for you we're doing this for your benefit so that we can really I can make sure that I'm photographing what needs to be photographed for that room and for your lifestyle your course thailand you know, going through all those things and I'm going to know if she's not the right person before the event and she probably is too so um you know and what happens sometimes is we'll get somebody who doesn't you know really lock into one of those packages and then they get and they start adding things up on the ala carte menu and then I like screw it I just get a package I mean it's it ends up being that it's gonna add up to almost the same thing anyway so why not have something beautifully framed so those things kind of weed out but it is like all the rest of it it's all what's in our own minds you know what if if we're focused on that you know everybody nobody's in one frames everybody's gonna wanna frame their own that's the objection I'm going to get you know we've got to figure out how we can lead up to that before that objection comes and for me that's just spend what we specialize in is you know is this and so you know it and its people will choose you for that you know it's the same reason why we choose different items that we purchase is because somebody specializes in x y z so we're going to go and purchase those things from from that place for that reason and that's why people are are drawn tio what you do whatever you specialize in and even for these events you know I want you to get your to make sure you get your average is up there that's what makes these profitable is that you can do ten sessions in a day and you can have high averages and be profitable but you might have a completely different products than then framed pieces you know it might be came a scaly wraps it might be digital I'm I'm not objected to somebody doing ah high end digital event or even a digital session it's not wrong it's just wrong if you're not making any money way wrong if you're not making any money you make it's like just the only output available would be digital is that what you mean? Yeah like if you wanted to do you know like a beautifully designed cd case and this was your product you know? It was with the discovery and people can come to me and only by that they're going to say been at least two thousand dollars and that's where that's where I made it where if someone on lee walked away with this what was your hair? What I'd be okay with it and that was two thousand dollars and so we've got a two thousand dollar option and we've got a three, two thousand are option and I even designed that very specifically because if I could get ten images if I'm gonna invest two thousand dollars if I could get ten images for two thousand or thirty for three thousand which one am I going to choose thirty so almost always and and I don't sell the digital package a lot at that price usually it's been earned on the bonus schedule, which means they've already spent a lot of money to get it at half off but of those that I have the handful of those that have paid full price I've sold very few two thousand I've sold quite a few three thousand, so I mean, it does what it's designed to do so they so they could take that and then go print if they wanted to whatever they want they're just paying for okay? Yep. Um and and you know we heard our mom yesterday she did a session she got a beautiful medal print she got her dvd of images through she never printed it she never did anything with it. We know they are not going to print it. They're certainly not gonna print for their wall. People just do not do that. So even photographers you know I mean we're the last people to get images of our family on our wall and that's why I want to tell you go hire a professional photographer and show your clients what is important to you it is it's important to what we do it really is okay my high horse I'm getting off of it way like you up there laurie, you do a great job up there all right, so then the other things this is still this menu and this is the menu that I'm going through so when you guys have that says packages on the front of it you guys also all have the product's menu that I'm going to show you next so again not to confuse anybody but it's just too different methods of doing this the builder collection is the product menu and the packages there that's what I'm showing you know? So this is what we're going through again same thing you just saw on the screen package a b package cd and then we've got, um that savvy mom is what we call it the real kids for the savvy mom is that collection that's eighteen eighty and what happens is as as clients flip through this even if it's a pdf they're going to flip through it and they're going to start seeing some other things that they want they're going to say I might like an album I might like, you know the image box, whatever and I'm talking to them about those things or even if they haven't gotten to this and they get to the event this is burning me massu like mcdonald's just kidding but you know we're going to get to the event and I mean if she's interested in one of these other products and like I said, I didn't do it yesterday with this mom because I didn't want to throw it into the mix at the time because we weren't ready for that yet, but normally, if I'm sitting with a mom, we've already planned her collection, she knows what she's getting we're choosing her images for the wall she's got our other two chosen, and I'm talking about using the rest of the images in an image box or an album, if she's interested in either of those things, I'm gonna flip to this page and I'm going to say, you know, if you are interested, you can save some money by going with the savvy mom package and, you know, it's one of those also keywords that they're like, sandy, mom, you know, but with the sappy mom package is going to include the package that we just ordered, as well as your choice of an image box or an album, and you're also going to get an entire gift set a prince to be able to use his gifts or take to the office, you know, whatever you want to do with those and so it's, very easy to plug them into the neck it's level if they're even interested in one of those other products. So that's the thing when you're building packages always have that next level place for them to enter and make it an easy entry. So interested in something they're going to get a little bit of discount it kind of just pushes them right they're not pushes it you know guides them guides them right there so on the next page we've got what we're looking at now that the ah that says gift prince that's what to say custom prince that is a typo that I've never caught until looking at it right here uh we've been using this for a long time it's not this menu this menu's pretty new but this pricing so that that's just a type other um these air custom prince and those that that's all a carte pricing so that if they want to add up or add on there certainly welcome to add on a print that's not framed but usually when we're going from this menu it's in addition to their frame collection that they've already done that was lester coded and mounted yes everything is lester cut and amounted that should not say gift print so these get print the gift print collection on the savvy moms that is not mounted correctly paper print just luster custom prince works so when custom means mount coded yep gift means no no for you yes exactly okay, so next is our bonus schedule that's here in the menu and the bonus schedule is going going tio it's got a list of the things that are that they can choose from it's that cd slide show and all they even do a cd sideshow at these events you know it's just thirty images, but we put it to a triple scoop song let him play and you know that you could just loop it so they can just put it on their desktop and, um a lot of people like to have the screen saver version and, you know, that's great, I love that I've actually gotten clients from people that see it in the office, so I'll see it on their friends desktop and see that slide show going so the seedy side show those gift collections are going to start being discounted the more they spend um, the digital collection which we talked about those accordion albums, greeting cards, any the boutique items, which means like the qatari jewelry, the handbags that those kinds of things are going to start getting discounted and then the tabletop frames and that's a big thing because the tabletop frames are there, they're not cheap, you know, they're forty two dollars and wait tell him they're starting at thirty eight we do thirty eight for the for the little small ones, but typically about forty two dollars, which is just two times little over two times the cost for me but that means that as an add on I'm I'm so happy for them too frame the images that they get from me even if it's a gift print I'm ok if they reached that two thousand dollar level I am so happy toa let them take a port desk frame away at cost basically I make a little bit on it not very much, but that's okay with me I want things to leave framed so those kind of things are the things that are on the bonus list things that I do want them to have but I don't want them to be concentrating on we wanted to be all about the wall so when you these amounts are basically levels they have to reach is that exactly so it's once they spent nine sixty which is going to be if they buy a package at all, they're going to get ten percent off of it pretty much everything else by okay, so they automatically we'll get it yes, so once the other levels aren't there nine, sixty, twelve hundred, sixteen hundred and two thousand, so if they plug into two packages they're going to get fifty percent off of all their other things. So what? What happens is you guys is that if somebody ends up either with the savvy mom collection or with two packages, then they are adding stuff on and, you know, so it's this great thing like, you know we're worried about get them to a certain level but with the bonus schedule once they get there it's like I'm going to figure percent off I'm going to get you know this this and this and so that's what jackson's averages so far out there is just the way it's all planned out, you know? We're leading them right through the process so if if a person buys the savvy mom there, they're already going well, they're kind of kind of planned it so that there are going to get thirty percent off they're going to get thirty percent not everything else not off off the package but off of everything else pretty much I mean it was not of the package but off adam's off their add ons and then sew and then they see that if they just order two hundred dollars more than they're going to get fifty percent off so that's kind of where that that's why you have it in the middle yes, that is brilliant that's what that is and then the other thing that they get is that free four by six of everything that they've ordered and so that's another thing that no way tell any of her clients at all of them if they asked me, you know, well, we want a couple for by sixes for aunt susie and uncle john or we want, you know, I'm going to tell him you know what I'm going to show you how you can get those for free don't even worry about that we're going to make sure that you have those what we specialize in is creating something special for your home so that's we want to concentrate on we're gonna make sure you get all that other stuff so you know then I can take her here I can walk her through the process and then when she gets here and I can say you know so if you decide you want to go with one more than one package or you wantto do this having mom collection you're going to be you know you're going to get those four by six is quick question about cds first of all I am I just blind did it is the cd saliva show on here in the other car how much does the seedy side should cost I do not have it all a car because I don't want them to buy it oh unless it's on the bonus schedule but it's on the bonus schedule but we don't know how much it costs for the moment it's one hundred seventy five dollars so you just tell them that yes and just want to clarify how is that presented is that in so they're not downloadable it's already in the video format yes so then a bordeaux from it so they can put it on there computer and show it to people but they cannot download the images right? You used to make us anna moda used anymore oh yeah and for years for years online this one will you use it for years? Yep, yes so so that is basically this at this menu that they get they do have this design planner that's included um I'll show this again for those that were here on friday but the design plainer actually has a tool where they can take this sticker it's a wall cling from h and h and they could take this I'm telling them I want you to photograph any walls in your house where you consider hanging a portrait and so the design plan or kind of explained to them how to use this and I just want them to go and stick this on this wall above their kid's bed or wherever they're considering hanging a portrait so I'm going to stick it there they're gonna come over take their photo and then I can take this into preview measure that ruler and I've got the exact size dimensions of that of that wall so that I can place these frames and they're going to see it true life true decides so this isn't gonna hurt anything they come off and on they could put a different places so it's reusable and um and it's six to paper but won't stick the paper won't tear your paper so they're awesome and uh there is there are a few different places that you can get wall clings but these particular ones came from h and h so laurie were curious about we don't have the well clings in our book you don't have them know what do you call it your all if you get that yeah I put it in there yeah they they you know I'm cheap I'm not criticising just actually brought him to put him in there and then I didn't do it so I have come to see you were just coming to see you for the book and that you personally go in I'm in yeah I got it okay so I'm assuming you give one off this for declines before the van cry so every single mother of a single mom has one of the correct okay and then before they even happened they send you the prints off the pictures yes correct so and most people will bring this right back they're going to circle stuff in it they're going to, you know, write on it some people don't write on it because it's pretty but I tell them tio I tell him kind of use it as a workbook you know, go through it and write on it um this one the product money that we're about to go through actually has a wish list in it it's got places for them to write and so lease come back a little bit more often with the with the actual writing in it um that but these are you know I have to coach him, tom just fried in it it's it it's for you to write in it's a workbook before you invest in a piece like this and again from marathon press you can get these printed for a couple bucks apiece. So it's not bad once you're rolling and you know you've got your prices where you want him and and all that. But in the beginning kdf this and even if you you know, if you want to go ahead and print this page, print something like this you could even print it in house. Just print in eight and a half by eleven get the wall clings get him to your clients that's great that's a minimal investment that's a place to start went to your set and ready to roll. Get some of these printed, do you? Sorry. Um my question is we have some collections to and a lot of clients always as I can. I change and like get this one on this package instead of this and then just that's why for these events the packages are so streamlined there is nothing to switch you know it's not like you've got this you've got sixteen twenty I let my fourteen to five by sevens and a set of wallets you know with that sure something's going to say well I really don't want that I let my fourteen can I did two five by sevens instead you know sure and that's what happened on that first evolution pressing that I had we were switching things but now it's so streamlined it's a b c or d which one you want there's nothing to switch in there you know um the only thing that I could see happening uh if your if you don't if you're not communicating it properly is somebody saying well I don't really need the frames for my table top uh prince can I get more prints instead but we usually don't have that conversation just because I'm telling them these air so cute you're gonna love these there you know it's beautifully framing your gift prints you know it's kind of finishing out that whole service okay do we have any out their questions? We do have a so I'm going to go back to actually when we were talking about costs and a several people asked about overhead and other costs that are not during it related to to the print itself end of the session itself so bop top is asking about overhead for studio facilities rent utilities shasta is asking about where and tear on equipment all of those are going to be categorized in other areas your cost a cell is strictly to the product that sold any product that is consumed by your your client is, um goes to your cost of sale. So are all those costumes your other things are going to go under general expenses? They're going to go over under overhead equipment that's going to be the depreciation costs so all of those are going to be categorized but just figuring out that cost a sale for the print we're just looking at what it takes to produce it right? Great. Thank you for clarifying that for everyone. A question from w anderson from south dakota again is that even though it doesn't seem like a lot of options toe have those four packages a through d how do you deal with clients that get overwhelmed just with four options? Well, that well, what happens is is I am I am asking them for the images of their walls that's happening with the communication from the host mom in the beginning she's going to tell them well, laurie specializes in is thies great campaign and custom frames she's gonna walk them through that process and say she wants an image of your wall for this this and this it's actually easier the first couple times you do it to coach the host mom to coach her friends so, you know, if you're thinking about adding frame me, these events are really the way to go because you're, you know, I'm giving the message to janice and she's going to tell all of her friends and she's going to be better at it than I am in the beginning, so so that happens first, then I am I'm actually suggesting to them I'm not just leaving them with the option saying pick what you want, you know, I'm going to them, and I'm saying, based on this room, this is what I'm going to suggest, so I'm actually plugging them into a package and because they're all about the same price, I'm not, you know, I really I want what's best for that space, they don't look if I design the biggest package for them, it's only a couple hundred dollars more than the cheapest package, so it's, not like I'm telling them I really want you to spend this much money again if they send me more than one wall, I'm gonna design for every wall that they send me. I'm going to assume that they want to purchase for every one of those walls, what happens sometimes is even if they don't, even if they don't say yes, who maybe, like lisa, I designed three walls for her she may not say yes to all three should we say yesterday, too, but she also might say, I love what you did in this room and I'm gonna, you know, I want to do that the next time we worked together, and so, you know, so that's, always something to work towards, and if if I'm working with somebody, I might even work with that person as the next host mom to say, how would you like to earn five hundred dollars in credit? Would you be interested in hosting an event? And so, you know, it's it's always looking for those opportunities to lead into the next client and what we're talking about the events just wanted to re clarify again about the fifty dollars, for each mom that's attending. Could you talk a little bit about that again? And then also, are you collecting that fifty dollars, or is the mom collecting that fifty dollars? The mom actually collects the host mom is going to collect the session fee it's fifty dollars per child, and she can either take a credit card number or she can take a check. She does get me that information before the event I don't charge the credit cards until the day of the event, I don't do any of that. Pre I know some people do because that like secures your date um we tell them it secures their date but I don't ever charge it because it's that's bit me in the butt before where somebody it's their child got sick or whatever and then I'm having a refund money and that is a pain in the butt on the credit card processing thing um and we end up paying fees for that but uh I keep losing my train of thought it was a question of lasting terrible like fifty dollars she gets fifty dollars credit for a re single mom that comes and uh but yes, she is doing the credit card numbers or taking the checks and you said if they get sick they get refunded I think people broke I personally want to know because kids get sick so how often does that happen that you have ten booked how many actually show and do you have a policy? Okay, if their puke ng that you get the money back if they sniffle you don't. So I wondered if I don't and I I think he's in procedures you follow still and it's not ever said to them you know, we do tell him it's fifty dollars per child to reserve your time and so and I think in my mind of somebody said that to me I would think that was money spent and you know so we're not saying but if you don't calm or your child gets sick you're going to get somebody to ask you if they said you know what happens if my child gets sick or if the child does get sick did you just refund it that's the only time that happens is if they call and there's something legitimate my child can't come we can tell you no absolutely I mean I'm not going to keep their money you know however we also will tell people we can apply that towards your next session and so that way it's still already paid for and we can do that and that's totally fine as well. So yeah so do you oh go ahead would you have this person in another event or at the studio? How would you do that? But I have this person why the court decided no at another event but yeah, they could just apply it to any any future session that they wanted to dio hey, a question from k fisher when you are going to be designing a custom package, do you ask that client what their budget is? I don't like the word budget because if you if you give someone the idea that they should have a budget, then they'll come up with one you know? So so I don't typically when were custom designing it's really about the space to me in my mind if someone is if I've told somebody walk to your home in any place you consider hanging a portrait I want to see that space if she takes a picture of that she's considering it and I want to fill that space beautifully so I'm not going to do anything that's gonna overwhelm it I'm not going to do anything that's going to get lost there so I always want to do something that's perfectly appropriate, appropriate and in my mind if she's photographed that space and said I'll consider it then she's got the open mind for the budget that's it but you know but I don't like tio impose a budget on them right that's helpful um question for beauty of the lakes again to clarify with the host mom fifty dollar credit for each mom that comes in or fifty dollars for each fifty dollars paid free child so if the mom comes in with two kids who pays one hundred dollars does the host mom get a hundred no credit or fifty dollars mom gets fifty per mom per month session is fifty per child and that is a little bit confusing but but I'm rewarding her per client the kids it whether there's two, three, four however may that's still one client so and that that is the same with our in our regular studio policy is fifty dollars per for anyone that's referred to the studio they're going to get fifty dollars in credit a couple of people have asked this and I think this is fun to talk about um events for other than kids or mom's yeah gwen ji has asked house have you applied the real kid system to adult women the moms of the kids or share culbertson from kentucky says have you ever done events for grand parents? Grandparent's would be awesome I have not done it for grand parents and I have not done it just for women because that's not my my tart client I don't I don't do boudoir or even you know I don't do surprise you know and not that I not that I wouldn't but it's just not who I marketing tio it would definitely work for you know, for either of those for both of those and many more I've got a few listed down I need to add grand parents through the list cause that's awesome um when I very first moved to the little town that I'm in I was there for maybe six months or so and a woman came into my studio and I found out later how influential she was in our town but she came into the studio and she said hi just love what you're doing I've loved what you've brought to winter set and everything so amazing and I just love walking by the windows you know went on and on and she said, I have a book club that meets at my house and I would really love for you to come and talk to them and you know, I was like what do I talk to a book club about a little ladies you know? And but and she said to me, you know she said I'm sure this doesn't sound or old you but these air women you need to know that's what she said to me you know, like all right, so I made a plan and I was going to go to her book club so like I called her before and I said kind of tell me a little bit about the other women that are gonna be there and so she didn't she said these women have money and they have money to spend there my age you know, it's just tell me about this and so I'm thinking what that can I talk to these people about you know? And so I pulled together every image that I had of a grandmother, grandfather and a child either you know either or grandmother, grandfather or either war and a child, anything that I had and I also had a couple images of older couples you know, that I had photographed for fiftieth anniversary, seventieth anniversary whatever so I pulled all those together put a slide show together and I also talked about the power of handwriting and one of the things that means a lot to me and I know my dad is watching so I'm gonna say this but my dad has the worst handwriting in the whole entire world but when I see his handwriting somewhere it I mean my heart just gets warm that's my dad's handwriting and I love it and one of my favorite things growing up and my mom too she's got very distinctive hand running she's got beautiful handwriting so it's completely opposite but, you know, seeing you know, for me growing up it was always seeing the writing in their bibles my most treasured possession that I have is my grandmother's bible and it's all those notes that were hand written in that bible and you've got your student and, you know, when I told that story and told about how what a lot of times when I'm working with clients and I'm asking them to hand write something for their babies album or, you know, for a child's birthday book, you know, whatever it is family album and the first thing reaction is always oh, my handwriting is so bad and I tell them it this is not about you this is about what the gift that you're leaving for your child for your grandchild and so we talked about this and I had talked about the gift of writing and um and on that note also you know my mom when my daughter went off to college she sent j c a note at college every week and the girls at school you know I mean nobody gets hand written notes anymore and the girls that were injured a sees dorm would actually come to read nana's letters because they weren't getting flutters and you know and how did you all feel this morning when you got here and you had a hand written note so you know and I and I wanted to make that point today because it does make us feel special you know it's something that's that's really important so I went to this women's book club and talked about you know, grand parents and leaving a legacy and handwriting and all these things and got amazing clients from that because after they saw those images they wanted to be photographed with their grandkids and that led into family sessions with which led into other things but that is a wonderful thing to add to this list of different product lines that that you could do this for if anybody is interested in photographing older couples may it is a an untapped market there is nobody who really specializes in that and when you conduce a it there's you know it's celebrating a life together and you know I've had different couples that have come into the studio or kids that have gotten gifts for their you know their grand parents or my photographed one couple at one time and when the grandkids at all gotten together and they've gotten them a portrait session for like their seventieth anniversary or whatever it was it was they were elderly and when they came in the the gentleman said to me we're old and we're ugly I don't know why anybody want pictures of us you know he came in and we had the best time and they came in and I started asking them questions and said you know well tell me how you guys met do you remember you know and and and he said yeah she chased me she you know, started tommy stories and they were talking about all these things and we ended up leaving the studio and went out to the park and I asked them to go just walk hand in hand over to a bridge and they were walking and I was photographing us getting all materia about it and they got to the bridge and I said okay, I want you guys to remember the first time you danced together and just dance and they could barely walk you know and what they got on that bridge and they just you know, just giggled and laughed and whispered in each other's ears and I'm photographing this and I'm thinking, you know, I mean, what an amazing gift to be able to leave no, but, you know, I mean, people that can love each other for that long and have that kind of relationship. I mean, it should be celebrated, and to be ableto specializes in that and be ableto give that gift of that legacy. So absolutely, you know, I mean, do a portrait event at a retirement community, you know, it's, it's, untapped market.