Videos

One of the most consistent traits I see in successful business people is that they are committed to not taking other people’s opinions personally.

This one’s a bit more personal because, while it applies to life in general, I try to stay focused on business rather than becoming a psychological or spiritual teacher. But it’s fitting because rejection is something we face all the time in this business. We send emails that don’t get responses, we bid on jobs and don’t get them, we try for portfolio shows and don’t make it in.

This isn’t something to take personally—it’s information to help guide us to do better. If you didn’t get the job, ask yourself why. Do you need to bid differently? Does your portfolio need to shift and change? Do you need to test more and bring in new images that will get you the job? That’s what I mean.

I may have already told you this, but…

Part of the purpose of an estimate is to protect yourself. On EVERY bid description be sure to include:

“Bid based on information provided, any changes may incur overages”

AND

End the usage terms with, 

“Granted with full payment”

Your estimate is so important. It’s your terms and conditions, it’s what’s going to protect you. You must put in all the details, such as how many shots, how many days, how many hours, is there overtime? Will there be retouching? Always use that line, “Bid is based on…” Make it all clear in that top job description paragraph. Make sure they read it. You also would have it in the terms and conditions below, but we don’t think anyone is really reading those. They will protect you in court, but hopefully we will never get to that point. Make sure you put in all your details.

Best sales method is to compliment people

(and mean it). 

This post is not just about compliments, but using the same method, the best sales method, to work through your conflicts in business. Be a really nice, kind person, talk it though and be honest. If you have a conflict with a client talk it over with them. Tell them your situation and how you landed there and what do they think. Bring them in on it. They’re not your adversary, you work with them and you’re a team player.

If your creative goal is to be comfortable, don’t become a photographer. 

The photography business is not one to get into if you need to be comfortable. We don’t know where our next money is and it’s a lot of freelance work, but also we have to stay ahead of the times. We are the people that are leading the trends. We in the photography business have to keep it fresh because even the creatives at ad agencies who are creating these ads need to know that we can do better for them. A photographer is going to shoot more than they ever thought of or could dream of when they came up with their concept.  Photographers, you can’t be comfortable. You have got to keep pushing it and stay fresh and think young at all times.

The overall purpose of the creative phone call is to give the client a sense of what it’s like to work with you. 

Creative calls are crucial to conveying to art directors and art producers that you understand their concept. We’ve heard from art producers that you could be third in the bidding but you can become first if the creative call goes really well. That’s how important it is. Not to get you nervous, but they want to hear that it’s their baby and you understand it. You’re going to bring it to life as they see it.

The quickest way to get your marketing email deleted is to show all the other cc’d names in your mass email. 

Emails are our basic way of communicating nowadays but mass email or any kind of spam will be deleted by the recipient. If you make it sound like your email was sent to a bunch of people and not to that person, we would bet 99% of people are going to delete it. Write to specific people. If you do have to do a mass email, make sure you blind copy them. Try to use their name and personalize as much as possible.

Always have an overview with a grid of your smaller images on your website. Always. No one has time to click on every section to see your online portfolio. 

There’s so many things that are right and wrong about websites and one thing we know for sure, they have to be fast. That overview must be there because people don’t have time to click on all the different topics. They just want to quickly see who you are and if you’re right for the job. The overview also makes you look more professional. If someone has to click, and click and click on your website, they’re not going to do it. People will want to scroll the overview

Be proactive on instagram: follow clients + potential clients. Like their posts. Write comments. Be aggressively friendly + keep in touch w/ people. Got a new art producer contact? Follow the company…and then follow the individual. Build personal relationships. Instagram is an amazing + free way to stay in front of your clients + show them what’s happening in your world. 

When I started repping there was no Instagram, obviously. Now you’re all on it, so you know what it’s all about. This is such an opportunity today and it’s so much easier to connect with people than it used to me. We find clients that are correct for our photographers and connect with them on Instagram and it really works! We end up bidding with them. These people can be almost impossible to reach by normal means. We probably couldn’t call them or email them. This is how you can reach clients.

When calling a client, only call from the phone you want them to call you back on. We always want the easiest/fastest route. 

(leaving a message with a different phone number is way too cumbersome)

I’ve gotten called and people leave a message, “but call me on this other number.” Well I’m driving or I have to find a pen or type in this new number. How are we supposed to do that these days. It takes too much work and we can’t do that. Quick, quick, quick.