What do you say to portrait prospects (about WalMart)

I notice an increasing number of people who are of the attitude that
they can and should get excellent "professional" portraits at Wal Mart
photo studios. Pros who resent losing business to the giveaway prices
and cookie-cutter sittings will probably disagree, but I find that
most lay people I talk to non-professionally are quite happy with
their portraits and family photos from Wal Mart. That's what counts.

And I have to admit that of the group shots I've seen wherein I know
most or all of the people in the shots, that the expressions are good,
good likenesses, great smiles -- on everyone in the picts. The
customers really got their money's worth, IMO, and as far as the
likenesses and smiles, I'm not sure they could get better elsewhere,
even for many times the price. They got more than their money's worth,
from most of what I've seen.

That seems to be the attitude of these everyday people: "Why would I
go anywhere else for more money, when I see such great family
photographs at Wal Mart?"

Note that these are not all blue collar people with modest incomes,
either. Many could afford several hundred dollars for typical portrait
work. But when I talk to them, they fail to see why they should pay
more when they can get such good 8 by 10s, wallets, and medium sized
prints for near-nothing. Pulling out books of Scavullo's and Ray Jones
and Hurrell's and other past and present greats' work for comparison
means nothing to most people, much less my own good promo pics.

Wal Mart is giving them what they want and for peanuts.

How do some of you sell your portrait services when people bring up
Wal Mart? Self-serving talk about "better quality" doesn't do it
anymore with many of these folks who aren't susceptible to common
salesmanship techniques and who have plenty of proof of what they
consider great photos on their hall walls and in their living room
frames, or in the homes of people they know.

I am also curious about how these (I assume) inexperienced
picture-takers get such good smiles and expressions on the people. Do
they have some formula or perhaps stock jokes? Even the baby pics I
see usually look great. (I had my own pics taken and thought they
stank.)

Sharon Everett

 

I don't know about WalMart, but the last time I laid out a ton of bucks for
some family portraits done by an expensive pro was the last time. I'll shoot my
own with a remote now. The results are at least as good, and it's one helluva
lot cheaper, more flexible (easier to fit in my family's schedule) and the
background possibilities far more varied. I see one more crumpled piece of
muslin background and I'll puke.

Charlie Self
"Take care of the luxuries and the necessities will take care of themselves."
Dorothy Parker

http://hometown.aol.com/charliediy/myhomepage/business.html

 

Sharon,

It's much like any other business - you have to have your selling points. I
don't live in the US so I don't know what the deal is at Walmart. You have
to push what makes you different. I'm willing to bet that they use horrid
cloudy backgrounds so there one for a starter - a nice plan background, or
shooting outdoors or in the customers home.

Do they use digital in Walmart? Can the customers preview the pictures
before they buy? Can you do quick retouches to mono, sepia, hight contrast
etc.

Photographers need to offer what the customer want as much as any other
business, but sometimes, the customer doesn't know they want it until you
let them know - advertising etc.

Alot of people ARE snobs and would rather there photos come from a pro then
Walmart - just so they can tell there friends.

 

My best friend has a 3 YO daughter and she signed up for a deal at the
local mall. She paid ~$45 for a 1 year membership, and can stop in
anytime to have them take pictures without a sitting fee. If she
likes the photos, then she buys prints, otherwise she doesn't.

For her, the advantages are that her daughter has a very short
attention span. She can just drop in when her daughter is in the
*right mood* and then leave if it isn't working to take photos that
day.

OTOH, for a professional, they might go and sit for a family portrait
and not get good pictures. What is their *time* worth for the wasted
sitting? So I let my friend take her daughter to the mall, but I'll
sell her some excellent portraits of her family that we took up on
their property one Saturday morning - portraits that simply would not
have been taken if it involved getting everyone to "the photographer's
studio" at the same time, and in a good mood.

HTH

jc

 

1. You can't have all the business.
2. You don't want customers with Wal-Mart on the brain.
3. Set your standards and go after those willing to pay for you. Period.

 

1. You can't have all the business.

YES!!!!!

 

Wal-Mart on the brain is a dangerous disease!

I have had prospects tell me "I can get it at Wal-Mart for a few
dollars" whle I'm shooting at a horse show.

Now, as far as I know, Wal-Mart doesn't do remote shoots, and they wont
send some guy with a camera out into the boonies where I go to shoot.

Its not like I keep my prices a secret, I have BIG signs listing the
prices by print size, it's just that they got used to being able to
argue the price AFTER the film was exposed with some of the
Photographers that USED to show up at the horse shows.

Since I went digital I can press the delete button, with the only cost
to me being the few seconds it took to see the picture and capture it.

I actually had one person tell me hat there was "NO WAY" any digital
picture was worth more than $10...

I told him that for $10 he got my attention, for a whole lot more, he
would get a picture.

He paid the price, got 2 8x10s and became a repeat customer (more than
20 times last August & September)

The moral of the story:

Stick to your guns
Stick to your prices
Let 'em go to Wal-Mart if they wish!

--
Larry Lynch
Lasting Imagery
Mystic, Ct.