How To Prospect & Sell Your Product

 

Getting The Wheels In Motion

To begin acquiring youth leagues, it is necessary to determine where the leagues are and who the appropriate contact person is for each league. There are many sources for this information. With most leagues and youth organizations having their own websites, much information can now be obtained online with some diligent browsing. Other sources are local Parks & Recreation centers, independently owned sporting goods stores and local newspapers. You can also contact local Chambers Of Commerce for additional information. Excel Photo recommends that you locate at least twice as many leagues as you intend to photograph for a given season.

 

When contacting the league representative, your objective is to get an appointment to make a personal presentation of your product. Depending on how a particular league makes its decisions, this presentation may be to the Board of Directors for the league, a photo coordinator, or the President. One way to encourage leagues to allow you to make your presentation is to inform them that you have a unique program which is “custom tailored” to each league. Explain that you will only need about five minutes to explain this program and to gather the information needed to tailor the program to best fill their needs.

 

 

Service is the highest perceived value with the least amount of competition. Have a display board with a wide variety of products set up before you begin. At the beginning of the presentation, you should outline your objectives. A “custom tailored” program is a positive experience for the kids, the parents, the league and you. Let them know that you are going to share with them a new way of doing pictures that takes the burden and hassle away from them. You will also want to be gathering information from them to assist you in designing the program.

 

Making The Process “Headache Free”

	Educate the customer. Let the league know that the process of ordering pictures will be easy for the parents. Inform them that parents may purchase exactly what they want. Make them aware that extensive market research has shown that the major thing parents dislike about ordering sports and school pictures is when they must buy one thing before they can buy something else. Let them know that every item you offer can be purchased “a la carte”. Refer them to the package portion of the envelope. Tell them that you will arrange some of the more popular items into money-saving packages for those parents who wish to purchase more pictures, thus reducing the price. Be sure to point out that with your program there is truly something for everyone.
	Be sure to inform the league officials that the distribution of envelopes will be easier for the league. Instead of dropping all of the envelopes off at the league president’s house and requiring the league to coordinate the distribution, offer to assist them. You can do this by attending a Team Parents’ meeting and explaining how the envelopes work and distributing them to the Team Parents at the same time. Anything you can do to ensure that the envelopes make it all the way to the parents and alleviate the league of responsibility will result in more sales for you and happier league officials. Offer as much assistance as is necessary.
	Picture day can be an enjoyable experience for everyone. Make a point to do everything that you can to make it a fun activity. Offer to assist in planning a shooting schedule and encourage getting as many of the teams into one day and one location as possible. Let them know that your company will provide all of the personnel necessary to run a smooth, “on-time” shoot. Acknowledge their previous bad experiences with picture day and let them know that your prime objective is to make them look good.
	So that they can fully appreciate how easy package distribution will be, show them how their pictures will be delivered (i.e., individually packaged and packaged by team.)
	Answer any questions regarding your services as thoroughly as possible. Inform them that your name and phone number will be on every order envelope so that if there are any questions, requests for reorders or any problems, the parents can contact you directly and not have to contact the league. Conclude your presentation by re-emphasizing how these services set you apart from other photographers and ask if there are any questions. Eventually, the question of price will come up. Remind them that you are “custom tailoring” a program just for them. In order to do this, you need to know what they are accustomed to receiving in the way of fund-raising from the photographers. Regardless of the formula (i.e., $1.00 per child, 15% of gross, etc.) that they are used to, find out what they actually received last year. Try to determine the actual dollar amount that they have received in the past.

 

Moving Towards Closing The Deal

Assuming the league has 500 kids and that they received $500 last year, begin with this trial close: “Would it be safe to assume that if I can provide the level of service that I have indicated, supply the league with a $500 donation and arrange packages that are attractive to parents at prices that are fair and reasonable, that I can earn your picture business this year?” If they are ready for prices, give them the “a la carte” prices for a few items (be sure to include some low-priced items!) and remind them that you’ll put some attractive packages together and reduce the prices. Everything that you do better than your competition builds value. If, at any time, they indicate that they like the prices you are offering, you have likely won their business. However, if you give them prices before you have told them how great you are, you are losing money. Unless you use contracts, setting a date is closing the deal. You will want to move directly from showing prices to asking them if they have already selected a date for shooting the pictures. Once you have agreed on a date, thank them and assure them that they, as well as the parents, will be pleased with their decision and the results. Be sure to make a follow-up call 3-4 weeks before picture day. Make certain to follow through on your commitment to making this as hassle and headache free as possible by getting order envelopes distributed about two weeks in advance. By keeping your commitment to quality and service, you increase your chances of rebooking with that league for seasons to come.