Archive for the ‘Mark’s Remarks’ Category

Mark’s Remarks – Pre-Select the Best Photos

Thursday, December 15th, 2011

Your best sales tool is a beautiful wedding album in the hands of a happy customer… 2 months after the event.  Yes, two months!  If you deliver an album in 2 months, you’ll have the happiest customers on the planet!  

The average album leaving our factory has a date on the cover that is 9 months ago!  This means that the customer is selecting their photos 6 months after the event, when their interest and motivation has dropped considerably.

When brides are making the selections within a few weeks, photographers share the following benefits: ecstatic customers, larger orders, more upgrades, and of course higher profits!  They also noticed a HUGE increase in referrals.  So before you think of all the reasons why this can’t work, here’s the secret:  pre-select the photos you recommend should be in the album.  Simply create a grouping of 100 photos and call them: “photographers favorites” or “photographer’s choice”.   Rather than presenting 1000+ images with no guidance, this gives your clients a ‘head start’ in choosing the photos they want for their album.

You are better equipped than your bride both technically and artistically to choose the images best suited for an attractive album. Why not get the ball rolling and make the selections for her? You can breeze through hundreds of images in pro software, make quick side-by-side comparisons, and flag the images you know will best tell the story. If you were behind the lens on the wedding day, then you know who the key players are, and the most memorable parts of the day. Even if your selections are not 100% right, it will be much easier for the bride to simply tweak your selections than start from scratch.

Consider this process an up-sell opportunity as well. Let’s say you’ve pre-sold your couple on an album with 85 images. Present them with 85 plus 20 or 30 more you think really add to the narrative, and be ready to tell them that it will only cost $__ to keep the added images in their album. If they bite, you’ve just increased your sale!

We talk to many photographers who are frustrated by waiting for their clients to choose the photos.  Many still take a “wait and see” approach and even warn brides that they have a limited time to order their album before prices go up. Often these approaches only exacerbate an already stressful and overwhelming task for brides. She might struggle for hours to open each of her 1,300 images in some picture viewer program trying to figure out if jpg 672 is better than jpg 673 on her (uncalibrated) computer monitor. It’s time consuming, frustrating and just might lead to her procrastinating.  …Which is why you want to make it easy for your customers to order.

If you’re not already using our album design service, then here’s a way to further improve your workflow and your bottom line: Once you and your bride have agreed on the final images for her album, you’ll do any necessary retouching and then just upload them to us for design. We’ll turn around a stunning, modern album design in a matter of days that your customer is sure to love.

Once she has approved her design, you’ll have even more up-sell opportunities.  Our customized shopping cart feature that was designed to tempt your customers with album upgrades, clone copies for parents, even ready-to-hang framed pieces featuring their favorite page spread. Click the “Need help with album design?”  link from www.Zookbinders.com or visit www.zookiepro.com for more details.

So don’t let extra income from album sales slip right through your fingers. I challenge you to make it your company’s stated goal to not only deliver beautiful wedding images, but to put a finished wedding album in the hands of your customer within two months of their wedding. A happy customer with one of your albums is the best sales rep a photographer can have! She’ll show off her album to all her friends who’ll be paying MUCH closer attention if she just got married a few weeks ago rather than several months ago.

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An important message from Mark Zucker

Tuesday, October 18th, 2011

Hi – this is Mark Zucker.  Let me first apologize for last night’s post which had a very unprofessional and confrontational tone in defense of our new online business to consumers.  It was written by one of my colleagues who had been working way too many hours, and I regret the message (and tone) that was broadcasted.  That said, as the owner of Zookbinders I take accountability for this mishap.  I would like also like to share my thoughts and hope to clarify our intent:

Our industry has undergone some major changes over the past few years. 70-80% of today’s brides now contract for a ‘disk only’. Many of the photographers that offer this “shoot and burn” service, have no interest in making albums, or doing anything other than shooting the event.  Because of this, we’ve been getting a lot of calls from brides over the past few years asking if we could make their album.

Before launching a direct to consumer business, we did a lot of research. Over the past few years here’s what we learned: there are 2 types of brides:

1 – Brides that want to be serviced, and want their photographer to design and deliver an album.  These brides are willing to pay a higher price for the higher level of service, and are the photographers that Zookbinders has serviced for many years.

2 – Brides that want to ‘do it themselves” and pursue contracting for a ‘disk only’ as the most affordable route.  Many of these brides plan to get an album at a later date, but haven’t necessarily figured out where to go.

You service the first group, and deliver quality photography and album design that are presented in high quality albums.  I know these clients appreciate the fact that YOU do all the work for them, and are pleased with the end product.

Unfortunately for all of us, the 2nd group is much larger.  Because of the huge increase in the number of event photographers (post digital), this trend has wreaked havoc on our industry.  There is less work for the ‘full service’ photographers who intend to ‘finish the job’ with an album.  We have watched many photographers who’ve been in this industry for a long time close down their storefront studios, move their businesses back into their homes or close down entirely due to lack of work.  This has been painful as many of these photographers are incredibly talented, AND are great people too.  Many of them have been clients since we started up in 1995.  For those that have survived, we have watched their volume drop and have tried to help them by offering products at more modest price points while trying to help them with marketing ideas and other ways to attract new clients.

The reality is that photographers are less busy.  The vendors that support them are also less busy.  Over the past few years, there are local labs in every major city that no longer operate. In the past 18 months, 3 of the largest album companies that serviced our industry for 20+ years have shut down.  Unfortunately there will be more labs and album companies shutting down over the next 12 months.  I have devoted 16 years of building this business, and Zookbinders will not be amongst them.
The trend towards hiring for “disk only” has left a large amount of “album-less brides” in its wake.  These are brides that have a disk, and no place to go to have a quality album made. Over the years, we’ve referred many of these brides to established full service photography studios, but they’re mostly interested in spending less $ – so they either find a cheap album online… or do nothing.

Launching a direct-to-consumer business was a difficult decision for us, but we feel confident that our new business will not impact the photographers that Zookbinders has worked hard to service for many years.  We believe that the clients that you serve (who want a higher level of service) are not interested in the DIY approach.  The fact that we’re now selling to brides is a reaction to the way our industry has changed.  There are now 2 clear choices for brides: they can hire a photographer who will provide full service (including an album), or contract for “disk only”.  This is the new paradigm, and we are positioning ourselves to serve both markets.

Zookbinders will continue to innovate and do everything possible to not only offer great products and services to pro photographers as evidenced by a stream of new products and software solutions to help photographers meet the demands of their customers and remain viable. This past January, we offered an album design service that quite frankly surprised us with how many photographers are using it – the reason for this is that we create a customized shopping cart for each album we design, and this is makes it real easy for the brides and their parents to buy additional albums and even frames.  We’ve heard great feedback from photographers who have not only been able to increase sales, but have been able to offload album design, which is very time consuming and allows them to focus more on getting hired.  This is an example of the strong commitment we still have, and always will have to the professional photographer.  I thank you for your support and for listening – Mark Zucker

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What Brides Want

Monday, April 4th, 2011

Six years ago only 20% of all brides hired a pro photographer for a “disk only” service.  Today 80% of all brides are contracting for “disk only”.    Our industry has changed forever and regrettably shows no signs of returning to the “old” business model.   And while some of the reasons are obvious (digital cameras have lowered the barrier to become a “pro”), we at Zookbinders spent some time talking to brides to find out exactly why this shift has occurred.

Since brides really drive this market, we asked them several questions.  We wanted to know what was important to them.  Was image quality more important than price?  Was having 2,000 images more beneficial than 1,000 images? Was getting an album important or did they just want the electronic files?  Here’s one response we expected: Unanimously, brides appreciate the higher quality of images that came from hiring an experienced pro. However, they were quick to point out a few things that were disappointing which we want to share with you:

  1. Brides didn’t like how long it took to see their images for the first time (on average 3-4 weeks).  They were expecting to see them in days! On the day after her wedding she’ll see plenty of images…but they’ll be cell phone images from her friends! While having hundreds of images ready for her to view the next day might be tough, does it really have to take several weeks?
  2. Brides didn’t like that the photographer presented so many images (on average 1,500) and didn’t offer to help select the photos for the album.  They were expecting two folders: a folder of “album favorites” and another folder of everything else.  Most brides wanted all of their images on a disk, but that doesn’t mean they want to sift through all of them to make their selections. They’re relying on your expertise, their professional photographer, in helping them through this process.  
  3. Lastly, brides were upset by how painful it was to finally get their album.  They were expecting an online experience whereby they would simply delete some photos from the “favorites” folder and add a few from the remaining images.  Many brides planned their entire wedding online and were surprised by how many times they had to meet with their photographers to make decisions.

If the goal is to deliver a great experience to each client so that they refer you, we as an industry are doing a poor job.  While it would be easy to blame the growth of the “disk only” phenomenon on low-priced weekend warriors, it seems like delivering a bad experience is equally at fault.

The good news is… we can help. Introducing zookie pro, which launched January 16th. While at the core, zookie pro is a design service (and a darn good one that is VERY reasonably priced); the real secret sauce is its ability to help you deliver a great experience to your customer.  With our customized shopping cart, here’s a short list of some of the benefits your client will enjoy online:

  • Choose her album cover design
  • Communicate revisions to you
  • Upgrade to a larger album
  • Order additional replica albums

THIS is the experience she is looking for – she can place her order online rather than having to meet with her photographer. If she decides a month later to order an album for her parents, it will take less than 90 seconds to place this order! 

So now that we’ve removed most of the pain from the “album ordering process”, here are some great ideas to help you satisfy today’s brides:

  • Shoot less!  Brides were not shy about telling us they wanted to see fewer images and much quicker. If you really want your bride to have an experience she’ll never forget, select the images you recommend for her album on Sunday and upload those images to zookie pro by Monday.  A few days later, you’ll have your album design and the happy couple will be able to preview it on their honeymoon!  
  • Give your clients the ability to shop online! The shopping cart will give her choices of different sizes available and show her exactly what the book would look like.  She’ll have the same experience she’s used to with any other first rate online shopping experience!
  • Deliver her album 30 days after her wedding! Imagine how excited your client would be and the buzz this will create about your business! Delivering an album in 30 days is really impressive considering that the average album we ship is delivered nine months after the event.    

So while the majority of brides may continue contracting for “disk only” (and then getting frustrated because ordering an album online isn’t so easy), your job is to change your workflow so that you’re serving her the way she wants to be served.  Explain to each bride the choices of hiring a photographer for “disk only” and the challenges that await her.  Then explain why hiring you is a better choice and how you’ll get her an album in 30 days!

Here’s the last thing brides told us:  They Still Want Albums!   They just don’t want to have to work so hard to get one.  So let us help you give brides what they want with zookie pro. 

We’re here to help – Zucker

Click here attend a live webinar with Mark Zucker at 2PM on Thursday, April 7, 2011.

Drive the amazing shopping cart, visit: www.zookiepro.com/testdrive.

Click here to attend our “What Brides Want” seminar at Zookbinders in Chicago on either Tuesday, April 26th or Wednesday, April 27th from 7 to 9PM.

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Mark’s Remarks: Are You Ready for a Make Over?

Wednesday, January 12th, 2011

At the start of every New Year, I always ask myself: “If I was starting this business today, what would I do differently”? You’d be amazed at how quickly this gets you to focus on what’s working in your business and more importantly what’s not working. It can lead to some gutsy changes and prevent the dreaded “same old, same old” dead-end. So what would you do differently if you were starting over today? Better yet, ask your clients what THEY would like you to do differently. If you’re really serious about improving your business, you’ll get all the feedback you need.

Last year, we started surveying brides to find out what they like and don’t like about working with professional photographers and thought you’d like to hear the feedback. In an industry where almost 80% of the brides are contracting for a disk only, we were pleasantly surprised to learn that the majority of brides still do want an album. They just don’t want to have to work too hard to get it.

Brides told us they don’t want to wait weeks to see their images for the first time; and that when they do see them, they are overwhelmed by the number of images (in most cases more than 1000) they see. Lastly, they told us that the album process takes too long and is too painful – they want it to be easier and quicker. Have you heard similar feedback? Interestingly enough, the average album we ship is completed 9 months after the wedding! And since it takes us less than 2 weeks to complete any album; that means it takes 8.5 months to get it to us! No wonder why clients are so frustrated with so many photographers and are opting to go the “shoot and burn” route.

So we set out to help solve this problem. We know that if we can help you make the bride happier, then the groom be happy and if your clients are happy, then you as the photographer will also be happy. We then asked ourselves: “Why shouldn’t newlyweds have their albums 30 days after the wedding?” This jump-started the creation of an operating system to help make this happen; we call it zookie pro.

You may think that having a high quality, hand made album in a clients hands in 30 days seems impossible, but it’s actually quite easy. Here’s how: For starters show fewer images. We’ve been creating albums for over 15 years, and in the days before digital, most albums had 80-100 images and photographers showed 400-600 images. Today, most photographers show over 1000 images….yet most albums still have 80-100 images. All of this overshooting is overwhelming your clients with more images that will not go into their album, while creating unnecessary work for you and your staff.

Photography is like perishable fruit – the sooner your client sees the images, the more likely they are to place an order. So help them out and pre-select your favorites and have us design the album before they even see any of the images! You are the artist and the pro, and you were hired because they trusted you. Take charge and finish the job! Simply select your favorite images and upload them to our new service called zookie pro. We’ll color correct the files and create a ‘simple and elegant’ design that best tells the story. We’ll need 1 week to design it, and then we’ll send back an electronic layout that includes a personalized cover that will blow your client away! We’ll provide a shopping cart that you can forward to your client that will allow them to buy additional products….like parent albums and frames. We’ll even give you the ability to set pricing so that your client sees the price you want to charge! Once the order is finalized, we’ll need 2 weeks or less to complete the album.

Add up all the time involved and the newlyweds will have their albums less than 30 days after her wedding! See how easy that was. Imagine the buzz that you’ll create? Imagine the hugs you’ll get from your clients? Imagine how much bigger your orders will be since the bride is still on a ‘wedding high’! Now compare this workflow with your current workflow. Which better serves your client? Which better serves you? With zookie pro, we’ve solved every workflow problem AND given you a solution that is actually less work for you. It leads to Happy Brides, Happy Grooms and Happy Photographers. So ask yourself, “What would I do differently if I were starting my business over?” If you want your business to grow, let us help you with zookie pro!

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Underwhelm Your Brides

Wednesday, August 11th, 2010

Over the past few months, we at Zookbinders have spent a lot of time talking to brides to find out how they want their professional photographer to service them. Our findings were quite interesting:

  • They’re overwhelmed by the number of images presented to them.
  • Having to choose 100 or so images for their album from over 1000 images is daunting – they’d like to see the photographer help streamline the process and recommend about 100 for their album.
  • They’re frustrated by how long the process takes to get their album.
  • They feel there are too many choices in albums.
  • Even brides who only bought their images rarely make albums because the process is quite difficult and time consuming.

Of course not every bride feels this way, but our surveys show a substantial majority of brides with these feelings. These issues have a direct result in what we see on our production floor. The average wedding album we create (based on the date stamped on the cover) was photographed nine months earlier! This shows how long the process can take. However, our surveys show that brides would prefer to get their album within weeks rather than months.

So what can you do to help and prosper from this information? We know some brides themselves can slow the process. But, if you are proactive and help the process along, you can be assured a smoother process, quicker delivery of your album(s), a larger order and happier clients. Here are some specific actions you can take:

  • Show fewer images. You are the expert, edit out all that you don’t need and show only the best images.
  • Pre-select. Choose the images you’d recommend for their album. She can still see or get them all but help her move the album process along. (Isn’t it nice when a waiter suggests a bottle of wine so that you don’t have to look at a wine list with hundreds of bottles?)
  • Pre-design. Show your clients what their album could look like. This will speed up the process and enable you to deliver their album in two to three months after their wedding.
  • Streamline your album choices. Just like having too many images, brides can be overwhelmed by having too many album choices- select the best options based on their tastes and budget.
  • Upsell. Once you’ve designed their album and they are thoroughly amazed, remember to give them a few options for adding gift albums to their order. PhotoBooks and Soft Cover Press Books make wonderful and affordable replica options, and what parent wouldn’t be thrilled with their own copy of their child’s wedding album just a couple months after the big day!
  • Educate. Explain the process up front. Show how you make the album design-bind-deliver process quick and easy and how difficult it will be if they just buy the disk.

Brides are overwhelmed with all of the choices in wedding photography and designing their album. Help them out by taking control – they’ll be happier, you’ll finish your clients’ albums quicker and you’ll be the hero for providing such a great service! Bet you never thought underwhelming your clients could be such a good thing.

Mark Zucker, Founder and CEO

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