About a year ago, we sold our home and moved an hour and a half away from our base. We had been running the business entirely out of our home, so we had to figure out a new way to conduct sales meetings outside our home.
We were really worried at first how this would affect our sales, as our consultations took place inside a custom build home theatre that was very impressive. How would Starbucks compare? While there are certainly pros and cons to having consultations inside your home versus off-site, this post is focusing on the way we use the iPad as part of our photography sales process.
We put together a sales meeting on wheels and the iPad is the key element of our presentation. We have a main highlights slideshow, as well as slideshows for specific venues or types of weddings (small wedding, older couple, Indian wedding, destination, etc.) Obviously, the process worked out for us and we are no longer using our home for consultations. So what has the client response to the iPad presentation been?
Clients love it. They hold it in their own hands and it just seems to really work as a presentation tool for sales meetings outside a studio space.
We can't bring all our samples to off-site consultations, so we use a products slideshow
Besides the wedding slideshows, we also have a slideshow of all our products. We bring samples, but you can't bring in large canvas wraps, multiple album sets, different cover options etc. So anything we offer that doesn't fit into the sales kit goes into the products slideshow.
It's different from a laptop, and iPads still have a shiny, new “coolness” factor. The key difference is that clients can hold it themselves instead of leaning awkwardly trying to get in the best position to remove the glare from the laptop screen.
A few high-end studios have begun including iPads in packages and present it in a custom box with the proofs loaded onto it. That's a great way to offer a bonus to your clients, as long as you are including the cost in the package. Check out how one photography team, Grant and Deb Photographers does it here:
So there are a lot of ways to separate yourself from the competition and stay current or on the edge of what's new and hot. After all, we are artists, and we expected to always be changing and growing. For some of us, that means bringing the latest technology into our businesses.
How do YOU use the iPad for business?
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