A LOW STRESS FAIR COST WAY TO GET A GREAT PHOTO DIRECTORY for your Group or organization.

Having a Photo Directory is a great way to help people in your organization get to know each other. But most people report negative experiences with Photo Directories.

What’s Wrong with the way Photo Directories are normally put together?

#1. High Pressure sales. The photographer only makes money if people buy the enlargements. So the photographers are taught how to play on peoples guilt and fears . They are trained to very carefully make people buy the very expensive enlargements. And of course, they use the standard “buy now, because in x days we dispose of all of the negatives.” From my experience, the high pressure, guilt oriented sales pitch is the number one reason that, once a photo directory is done in an organization, they never want it done again.

#2. Poses. Because the photographer only makes money if people buy the enlargements, the poses and photos are done for resale of enlargements. But when you take those kinds of photos and put them into tiny little squares, they are of much less value in the photo directory – the “official purpose” of the photos.

#3. Tiny little squares. The smaller the square, the harder it is to recognize someone … until you already know them. And when you already know them, you don’t need the photo directory for them! Having 12 or 16 on a page, especially when the pose is not a close up, just doesn’t make sense.

#4. Enlargement shenanigans. One trick is to sell enlargements that are not “normal” sized. For example, instead of selling true 8x10’s they will sell 7x11’s. This means your people have to buy overpriced frames from the company that did the photo directory or the overpriced pressure sales enlargements end up sitting in drawers.

#5. Frame quality. And then, as several people have told me – the frames aren’t even good quality frames. They are expensive, poor quality frames.

#6. Short life expectancy. A typical directory is put together with staples in the spine, and it includes names, addresses and phone numbers (the addresses & phone numbers may be on the back pages.) This is great for the photographer, because the shorten the life value of the photo directory so that you will hire them back to do it all over again. And try asking “can you use the photos from the last time for most of the people in the organization” don’t be surprised when you are told no, they don’t keep the negatives. (Note: at least you know they were honest when they said they were going to dispose of the negatives.) Their real reason (I know, I have read the training materials) is that they will never make any money off of old images, they can really only sell the new pictures.

Now, if reading this you say “That wasn’t at all our experience, we loved the photographer who did it for us last time” then you will want to rehire me<g> or the photographer that did it for you last time. If not, please read on to see how Peter does it.

What’s Right about the way Peter puts the directory together?

Peter is a professional photographer and has been for many years. In both of the Churches that Peter attended over the past 35 years, photo directories were done, and the general feeling in those Churches seemed to be that people hated the hi-pressure sales of just good or mediocre product.  Peter understands what you hate and what you want from personal experience. As a professional, Peter brings professional quality to the job. But professional doesn’t mean just taking the best pictures for the job, it means doing the job in a way that achieves the true objective of the customer.

The true customer objective in a photo directory is to have pictures that make people recognizable, not to sell enlargements. And it doesn’t matter whether the enlargements are reasonably priced or not – the goal is recognition not artist value.

For photo directories, Peter specifically shoots the photographs to achieve recognition – thereby achieving the highest value from the photo directory.

As a result, Peter does’t even try to sell your group members enlargements! So there is no high pressure sales.

So do he do ANY marketing? There may be a few people in your organization that decide they would like to have a professional session done of their family at a later date. To accommodate this possibility without Peter will, on the registration table, leave out brochures and business cards so that, if people want to learn more, they can. If he didn’t leave the brochures out, people would be more likely to feel that they “should” ask him, and he admits, he wouldn’t be disappointed if one or two families decided they wanted a full family session. Since he doesn't use high pressure sales ever, if they like what they see at the organization session, they’ll even be happier if they want a private family session.

These brochures are left at the registration table where a volunteer from your  organization is working. There will be none where Peter is working and Peter requests that the registration table be visually separated from the place where the photos are being taken (to make it easier to take the pictures without distractions.). This means he has no way of knowing which people take brochures, so there is no pressure whatsoever. The volunteer from your organization will be instructed to simply leave the brochures on the table, not hand them to people.

Note: if you request, Peter will provide a person (at a reasonable cost) to operate the registration table, but that person will be instructed to register only, not “sell.”

A photo directory is a large cost item. To give your organization the best long term value, the pages are put into a clear covered duotang. Your members can add pages to their directory with newcomers. And the photo directory does not include phone numbers and addresses so it does not get out of date so quickly! A significant reason normal photo directory photographers give you a stapled booklet with addresses and phone numbers is so that you will bring them back as soon as possible to do everything over again from scratch.

The pages Peter typically delivers include, on the first page (visible through the clear cover of the duotang) a picture of where your organization meets, it's own building if it has one, or some other image that you feel is appropriate to refect your organization. Next, there may be (your decision) one or more pictures of the organization staff/leadership, typically 1 to 4 per page.

FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions & some Questions you probably should ask.)

Q. Will you (Peter) sell enlargements of the photos taken for the photo directory.

A. I'd prefer not to - remember, they are taken for recognition not for artistic value. But yes, if requested, I will. And, like all my enlargements, unless requested, the enlargements will fit in standard frames that you can buy at places like Wal-mart. As mentioned before, I never intentionally destroy negatives. This means that, if the picture was "the last picture of  the late Uncle John"  you can get reprints/enlargements even years from now.

Q. Can we save more money?

A. Yes, there are ways you can:

1. You can provide a volunteer for the registration table.
2. You can provide a volunteer to organize who is getting their picture at what time.
3. You can provide a volunteer to work on my computers choosing the correct photos for each family.
4. You can provide volunteer labor to “3 hole punch” the final papers and insert them in the clear covered duotangs.
5. I recommend going with 6 photos per page. But you can go with 8 or more per page and save some costs. The smaller you get though, the harder it is to recognize people. For comparison, the "professional" photo directories I have seen typically use 16 per page. (These people make their money on the enlargements and they "lose" money on the directories so they want the smallest directory possible.)
6. Go with Black & White rather than color.
7. Give Black & White away for free, but sell the color ones.
8. Pay in advance. I require 25% down with the order, but if you put the other 75% down at the same time, I give a 2% discount on the full amount.

Q. Do we have to do the photos at our building? Can we do them at your studio?

No to the 1st and Yes to the second and the price is the same. However, I fully understand that most organizations will much prefer to have the photos taken at their facility. Indeed, you will probably get more people to participate if you do them at your building unless your building is rented and not available during the week.

Q. How much space do you require?

A. First I need space to take the pictures, about 10’ by 15’ with access to 110V power. A little more space would be convenient, and it can be done in less space if required. Second, a space for the registration table – the table doesn’t need to be a big one. Finally, a waiting area for about 4 families at a time for those times when there is a little lineup. Setting up the waiting area and registration in your foyer, with the photos taken in a room off the foyer is frequently an ideal setup.

Q. How much time per family?

A. Allowing 5 minutes per family is preferable, but if you have a lot of people and want to go as fast as possible, 3 minutes per family is achieveable.

Q. What do you expect from our organization other than space mentioned above?

A.        Planning. To come up with the time that the pictures will be taken that works for both your organization and my schedule.

Promotion. You need to let your people know when, where, why and how to sign up. It is important to let them know how it is being done because otherwise they may think this is going to be another high pressure sales pitch. I can provide text to go into your newsletter to help alleviate this concern.

Payment. You will be given an invoice that is to be paid 25% up front (to lock in your photo dates.) 25% the day (or 1^st day) that photos are being taken and 50% on the day the photo directories (or if you are collating, the pages and duotangs for the directories) are delivered to your organizations office.

Reminding. You are requested to have someone phone each family the day before their session to remind them of their time slot. Request that each family come 10 minutes before their time slot to give them time to remove their coats, get their hair ready and register.

Checking. When the directory is ready, you will be provided with one copy to verify that everything is correct. When you give the OK, the rest will be printed.

Although I don’t require it, I strongly recommend you provide volunteers to do the setting up of appointments and the registration on the day the photos are taken. This will both save you money and add positively to the experience for your congregation.

Q. Can we sell the photo directories you provide us with?

A. Yes, but not during the photo sessions. And I encourage you to give them away to newcomers so they have the maximum value. If you wanted, to keep costs down, you could give the B&W ones away free and charge an upgrade fee for those that want.  If you wanted to sell the upgrade, you could put a coupon in your newsletter so you know how many you want in color/b&w by the time the sessions are complete. I trust you understand that, since I want people to feel no pressure to “buy” anything, I cannot allow “selling” the upgrade or “selling” the books during the photo sessions (and that includes the person at the registration table!)

Q. If we have had the directory done by you before, can we reuse some/many of the pictures?

A. Yes. I purposely keep all previous photos, they are referenced by a number coding system so you can easily pick the ones you want.

Q. Can you scan our old directory and reuse the pictures from it?

A. Generally speaking, no. There are several reasons. The first is legal and ethical: The photographer who took the photos previously owns the copyright. You may not like that photographer and feel his or her high pressure sales techniques were dishonest or rude, but you will understand that it would be wrong to steal, even from someone you don’t like. The second reason is that the photos in your current directory are almost surely taken in the traditional way and are not designed for good reproduction in a photo directory. However, if the photographer who took the previous pictures will give you written permission to reuse them, then yes that can be done.

Q. We didn’t get enough copies/We ran out & have new attendees, can we order more?

A. Yes. Minimum quantity 10, but these can be some black & white and some color if you like. The cost is my “cost per book” plus $10 shipping and handling. Payment due with order. Or, for a little more, payment is due upon receipt. And if you call back a year or two down the road the answer will still be the same.

Q. What color should people wear? Should they dress casual or dress up.

A. Any color other than pure white. (A white shirt with suit jacket is fine.) So are pastels and even off whites. It is up to you whether you want to encourage people to dress up or come casual. In general, we recommend they dress the way they come to meetings – since recognition is the key purpose! Having someone do up their hair special and dress in clothing they’d never wear to meetings may be fine for some photos, but not for a photo directory.

Q. Some of our members can’t come on the days we are taking the pictures, for example, some are on business trips, others may be in the hospital. What are the options:

A.

1. If they can provide a photo (preferably with a light colored, uncluttered or best, white background), it can be scanned. If the number of people doing this is less that 5%, there will be no charge. If it is more than 5%, and I do the scanning, there will be a charge. (But if someone in your congregation wants to scan them and email them to me, there will be no extra charge.)