This is my very first post. I know if I go back and search album topics that I'll likely find all kind of stuff but I'm going to throw this out there. I shoot mainly weddings and I really enjoy all aspects of it except for album production. I cannot seem to get my clients motivated enough to choose images for their final album and when they do, they almost inevitably choose WAY too many photos to logically fit into the size album they want. Yes I try my best to sell them more pages / spreads but I admit I'm just not 100% comfortable asking them for an additional $5-600 after they've already paid me
fairly for the package. And 95% of the time they are NOT interested in adding pages.
Not to mention I'm pretty slow at designing album layouts as well and it seems to be taking up way too much of my time. It's to the point where where I'm literally thrilled when a client chooses a package with no album cause then I don't have to deal with it.
Any thoughts? Also since I'm brand new to OSP I'm probably not posting this message in the right place so let me apologize ahead of time.

Ok, the first thing is, you have to give the bride and groom some guidelines. We actually give our couples a worksheet, with instructions, when we deliver their proofs. It clearly spells out that they need to choose a certain number (say, 25-50) MUST have images for the album, and then an additional 25-50 "love them, but I won't cry if they won't fit" images.

We offer to help them pick images if they want - we know it can be a daunting task, and a lot of time, our brides are relieved that we'll help them out - they trust us to know a good image from an only "ok" image.

Also- we never give the bride a proof that we wouldn't like to see in their album. If it's going to kill us to include it in the album because the photo is less than ideal, we don't show it to them. (with a few exceptions)

Anyway, that's the best advice I can give you. Give them guidelines. Without them, they're just going to "love them all" and make your life miserable trying to design huge albums. Help them "tell the story".

Roz

Welcome, Robert!

A couple of suggestions for your dilemma:

-Pre-design albums for your clients with photos YOU choose - they can always make changes later. I think it's fair to say that most photographers do this and include one free round of revisions and then charge for any thereafter.

-Hire an album design service (like doodledoo) to design them for you - this could be predesign or with photos your clients choose.

I tell my clients that I will choose the initial photos for their album because:
1) I'm intimately familiar with all the images having edited, processed, selected, arranged them all and seen every image several times
2) I'm a professional and I will pick the best images to tell the story of the day.
3) The task of sorting through hundreds of images to pick the best can be overwhelming for them and it can hold up the album design process by months or more.

So within a couple months of their wedding I have an initial album design done and either up online or I go through it with them in person. I prefer to go through it with them in person because I can see their reactions and get a better feel for how much they love the album.

In general, they LOVE this arrangement and most of them have very few changes to request.

And it completely removes them from the critical path for most of it. They usually take a week or so to get back to me with an approval after seeing the album design, but then when they do I just finalize the design, make sure the images are bright enough and right WB and then upload it.

From your description of the process though, I would recommend looking into outsourcing the entire album process. Some companies will even contact your clients and handle everything without you even getting involved once they have the images.

How great is that? You just tell your clients that your album designer will be contacting them and send off a disc.

~rc

Hi Rob,

Welcome from another Cincinnatian!

When I release their gallery, I tell them they have one week to add images to a folder that they definitely want in the album. Some create a folder, some don’t. Either way, we design the album. If they selected images, we make sure we sure those, but we don’t limit ourselves to those images. We use all the images necessary to tell the story of the whole day. We usually end up with a 60 page album. In fact, we limit it to 60 pages so that it fits in one album, unless they got our top collection.

Depending on which collection they choose, and which size album they want, their album credit rarely covers all 60 pages. They are free to cut the pages back to whatever they want to spend. I offer a 10% discount if ordered within 60 days. I average about $800 to $1000 album upgrade sales.

I don’t feel guilty about it. Before they book me I stress that we will design a big album... that they are going to love it... want it... and most people buy it... and they will save money in the long run if they book a collection with a larger album credit.

Get Gary Fong’s “Get rich as a photographer” DVD.

Don’t be a stranger.

Jeff

Just checked out your blog. Rush fan too, eh?

Hey Rob, welcome! There is another topic here that may help you Clients Ordering Albums

The key is PREDESIGN. Manage your clients expectations beforehand, let them know you will be taking that burden of picking the photos off of them, and giving them a foundation for their album

Chris does a PHENOMENAL job of pre-design for us. I can understand if you're not comfortable designing what a stress that would be. But the profit off of albums (and the truly lasting tangible memories they have) is worth it.

Have you though of padding your pricing enough to afford outsourcing album design?

Amen to that!

A focused album sales process can have great impact on your business revenue and the much desired referrals, thus growing your business in ways you never imagined. But you have to have an effective plan, manage well your clients expectations and satisfaction, then capitalize on the results with enthusiasm and well-executed marketing to recreate the results with new clients. It's actually pretty simple once you understand the potential and deliver the goods repeatedly.

If you shy away from the hard work of implementing the necessary sales method, then yes, outsourcing can make it a reality for you. But you still have to be on top of your game, motivated to make it work. If it demands making adjustments to your normal routine and sales pitch/methodology, you must be open and willing.

But there is no doubt that album sales, even after the event, can produce significant revenue, sometimes more than what you earned photographing the event.

Yeah. Shot a wedding a couple months ago for a long time friend of mine. He and I were in bands together and were obsessed with Rush for a few years.

It is definitely a daunting task to start looking at album design companies and software and trying to figure out the best way to do it. But like others have said, pre-design is a great way to do it. We tell our couples that part of our job is to help them create a beautiful album that they will have forever. We use You Select It for album designs and it makes it pretty easy (it's a template program.) Luckily my wife is a great album designer (I'm awful so I don't even attempt it.)

We try and get our designs to the couple within one week of their wedding and then we can make one set of changes if they want. Most couples don't make any changes, every once in a while we have a couple who wants to make a bunch of changes.

We also design our albums larger than what's included in the package. We include 20 pages and typically design the album with 30-40 pages and let them choose their favorites. Of course if they want more pages they can pay for more, but we certainly don't pressure them.

The key is to take away as much of the decision making as possible, tell them you're the expert and you will take care of it for them.