If you're like me, you hate running around and cold-calling looking for business. You may have also noticed some of the most successful photogs (and other people in other kinds of businesses) rarely cold-call. How do they get their business then? Why, referrals of course! Referrals are the lifeblood of any successful sales person. If you're reasonably good at what you do, you'll get referrals from the people you've already done business with. The problem is, you've got to build your business without referrals before you actually get referrals. Kinda hard to do, right? Well, that's why you want to stop looking for business and start looking for referrals.
A long time ago (way before my photography bug took hold), I changed the way I sell the product(s) I sell. I used to do the normal sales person thing (I've been in sales 17ish years now), I'd go and try and sell the product. Seems like the right idea, right? Well, I was successful for a long time. But what I found was, I was always having to sell my product(s) over and over again. Sure I developed referral business over the years because I took care of customers but never as much as I wanted. I was still humping down the street to find more business.
Then I went to a seminar on referral-based marketing. Excellent seminar, lots of statistics, etc. However, you don't need to numbers so much. It's a very simple concept. You actually change the way you get business by not trying to sell your product(s) to people but try to gain more contacts which are all potential referral sources. Seems strange but stick with me on this...
So, let's say you run into someone at one of your kids' school functions. You get to talking and that person finds out you're a photog. Maybe they check out your portfolio and really like it. You say something along the lines of, " Glad you liked my portraits, how about we do some portraits of your kids for you? Mothers'/Fathers' Day is coming and that's a great gift!" Now, you've not done anything wrong at this point, I used to do the same thing actually, however, and this is the change I made, instead of trying to close your friend on this one deal, wouldn't it be much better if this person referred you a number of people (over the years) rather than just doing business with you and that's it? So how do we do this?
Well, the first thing you want to do is have a contact list (you do have one, right?). If you don't have one, create one--I use Gmail to manage my contacts because it's easy, I can get to it from anywhere and it also syncs on my Android-powered phone. There are plenty of other ways to do it if you don't use Gmail and/or Android-powered phones. Either use an existing email program you already use or create a list in Excel or Word or something you can easily cut and paste email addresses in the Bcc: field when sending an email. (Use the Bcc: field so you're not sending out ALL of the emails to EVERYONE on your list and nobody can reply to all and reply to EVERYONE on your list.)
So how The next thing you do (if you're using an email application to manage your contacts) is create a group (or whatever it's called in whatever you use for contacts) just for people you meet---everyone you meet (in theory anyway). Now, let's go back to your friend at the school function. Here's what you might say, "I'm glad you like my portfolio, as you know I can do these kinds of shots--and others--for anyone. Would you mind if I added you to my email list? I send out updates on what's happening with my photography business. It's not spam (I promise) and it's only about once a week. I send out tips and tricks on how you can use your point and shoot--or any camera--to get better shots. Everyone I email to finds something interesting. It's also free."
Now, why did we not try and ask for the business? Well, because we sort of did ask for the business in saying we could do that kind of work for anyone. Obviously, that means your friend as well. People are smart enough to know you can do it for them as well. More importantly, you didn't try and sell anything really (if you don't consider asking for an email address to be selling). Most people are put off by being sold to. They want to buy on their own terms, not yours. In not trying to get them to say yes, you're not making them uncomfortable and not forcing their hand on the spot. It's a much more gentle way of handling potential clients.
So, now we have this person's email address and other people--the person at the deli, at the coffee shop, your friends and family, etc.--anyone you spoke with long enough so they might know what you do. What do we do with all of this. Well, you do an email blog of sorts. No, you don't have to write long-winded emails (like this blog post) or anything like that. You can send out an email to everyone in your list which shows some nice shots you got during a session you shot last week. You can send them tips on how to shoot with a point and shoot camera (you know, when shooting the kids, get down on their level, etc.). You send out useful information people will want to see but may not hunt out on their own. Do this about once a week (no more than twice I'd say) and rarely make it about trying to solicit business. I say rarely because it's ok to throw an email in there every so often saying you've got a special going on (maybe a free 8x10 or free sitting). But don't make it about trying to get direct business from people, keep it informal and light.
The reasoning behind this--other than not making people uncomfortable--is really quite simple. Ask yourself, how many photo jobs can you do for that friend you met at the school function over the course of our lives? Maybe 3? Maybe 5? Maybe 10? I don't really know. But ask yourself, how many people that friend knows/runs into who may need a photog? Again, I don't know the answer but I can tell you it's way more than the number of times that person might use you in the future. The business may not be quite as immediate but it'll come and come for a long time.
Another thing to keep in mind is, with all of the competition (we all have competition) you want to stay in their mind so, when they come across someone who would need your skills, they think of you and not someone else or, worse, they say they don't know anyone. We say you want to touch your list regularly to stay in their minds. In the old days people used to send out postcards. With the Internet and email, you don't need to spend the money on post cards.
You'll find, after you've marketed this way for a while, more people will contact you out of the blue or after one of your emails. Given more time still more people will contact you--as long as you continue to add contacts to that list and keep emailing. Eventually, you'll have 100% referral-based business coming in and it'll be much easier for you.
So how do I go about doing this? Well, wou already have a database of people even if you don't have them in any kind of electronic form. The first thing I'd do is start looking at people you already know--friends, family, etc. and add them to your list. Then look at past customers, add them to the list. You'll find you already have a nice list of people to email to. Set goals for yourself to continue to grow your list. What I often do is set a goal for myself during a week (or a number of weeks). I might say I want to add 20 people to my database in a week (4 a day if you work on a 5 day work week). If you do this for a few weeks, you have just significantly increased the number of people who may refer you business.
Building the database is the easy part. What do you do once you have this nice database? Well, this is when you start to send out emails occasionally (preferably once a week--you can do twice a week every so often but not too often). These emails are not to be you selling yourself. Don't put out a bunch of, "Call me to book your portrait session!" These are ok every so often (no more than once a month if that) but, if you start doing that you'll just look like spam to people and they're mark you as spam or ask to be removed from your list.
What you're after is giving them a reason to open your email. Think about it, how many emails do you get from (name a retailer) each week telling you about some special? How often do you actually open these emails? This is exactly how people will view your emails if you try to sell to them too often.
However, send them some great shots of that portrait session on the beach you did with those cute kids. Or some shots from the wedding/reception you shot last weekend. How about the awesome bird in flight (BIF) shot you got last week at lunch? Anything like that which showcases what kinds of shots you can get are great for this. Don't worry about sending the wrong type of photo out--i.e. if you send that BIF shot, don't worry about the fact that you're a wedding photog. Remember, you send these out weekly and you'll have plenty of time to get your wedding shots out. But people like to see different things in these emails. If you always send just wedding shots, why do I need to open the email? If you send different things, I want to open the email to see what you've been up to.
Take it a step farther and offer tips to people on shooting photos. The, "get down on the kids' level when shooting kids," is always a winner and one nobody thinks of. But, when you show it to people the lightbulb comes on over their head and they get it. They're then thankful for the awesome tip you just sent. You're in their mind at that point. As I said, you want to touch the people in your list regularly.
You can send any number of things not just tips or photos. Use your imagination. Think about it from their standpoint. What might be of interest to them? Could be a review on a point and shoot camera or a link to an interesting article on something. There's really no limit to what you can send out in these emails.
I also do (occasionally) send out a solicitation. I might send out something reminding people I do pre-prom photos in March or April. But I make it very short and to the point. I don't try to sell it this way. I'll just mention something about me doing these kinds of photos.
I hope you've got the idea of what I'm talking about here. It's not rocket science, it's really quite easy and it absolutely works. You'll be amazed at the increase in activity you'll have once you've done this for a few weeks. Activity equates to sales in every kind of sales job I've ever had. If people are talking about you or asking about you, business will come next. Personally, I like the business to come to me rather than me going out to find the business. This is the only way I know of to bring business to me.
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