Newbie question/s alert*
I’m working on finalizing/adjusting my 2007 package prices (running the numbers over and over). My biggest challenge area is albums (I’m new to this album thing…but very stoked and committed to the importance of a final album). This is my first year in business with full packages/albums options (I have met with my Graphi sales rep and will also be using Pictage for now FREE pre-design and other album products such as LC). Any advice along these lines:
1. Do you try to get the client to commit to an album product prior to the wedding? For many I realize this is presumed per your packages. If so, do you take payment/invoice the wedding album upfront (i.e., that is, if you don't already roll it into your package via an album credit). If so, after the wedding if they exceed their credit (hopefully), do you simply invoice that and require them to sign a separate “extended” album contract before completing/delivering the album (and take payment in advance of delivery)?

2. Do you provide clients a separate price list of album options/products upfront? How much profit do you apply to your final cost (I understand this depends on regional market, etc…but I’m ballparking at least 3x mark-up per my biz plan calculations).

3. Do you try to stick with just one or two album companies, or work with many?

4. Do you typically “upsell” clients on parent books, mini-albums, etc after final album design? Or perhaps surprise them with this product “complimentary” (but covertly factor into your costs/package).

Basically – just looking for any key “to-dos” or “to do-nots” when just starting / jumping into the album arena.

Hoping these questions aren’t too far off base…I’m just finding all the album options/pricing and products a bit intimidating. And I got a bit burned when I provided a client a 7x7 coffetable willowbook (without first previewing the quality/design) that they hated and immediately returned due to see-through pages, and poor printing.

Thanks in advance for any guidance!

my album agreement is online, and it explains the process (pretty well).
http://www.bellissimaphoto.com/albumagree1206c.pdf

our albums are all ala carte, and we work with a few great companies. listed here:
http://www.bellissimaphoto.com/albums.html

we do not require a purchase at all, but album credit paid prior to the wedding receives a 10% discount, and people can make payments any time they want, in any amount here:
http://www.bellissimaphoto.com/albumbonus.html

we have specials every once in a blue moon, and give more credit, but rarley discounts.

i've priced our books per page and that includes everything - it's spelled out in the contract. pricing is tricky and people like simple, so we do our best to keep the pricing easy. books are per-page and copies (for parents) are much less. a 10x10 montage art book from leather craftsmen begins at $75/page (20 page minimum, 1 side=1 page)
i've heard too many scary stories about graphi, and we aren't using them, unless someone asks, and they would probably be $90/page, 30 page minimum.
our most expensive book is queensberry at $95/page, 30 page min.

we begin with a pre-design for all our books. if you are not familiar with this, you may want to check out gary fong's dvd's 'getting rich'. well worth the $$.

~robin

p.s. no ripping on my cheesy site - i do it myself and i like that people can give me money easily, so i'm not caving in to the flash thing, yet.

Hi Scott,

I'll try to help by telling you how we do it. It's probably not the same as others here but we have good luck with it.

1. Most of our couples DO commit to an album before the wedding. We have a la carte pricing with an entire online catalog, so they know what they are getting into up front. (you can check it out on our website if you want to) When we meet with a client, we go through an "estimate" form with them. We lead them through choosing how long they want us, which album they want, whether they want a full set of 4x6 prints or a printable DVD of finished images and whatever "extras" they may want. We lead them through and they think this is just how ya do it so they dont blink at getting the album. They pay 1/3 of the whole package price to save the date, and the rest of the balance is due two weeks BEFORE the wedding, so their album(s) are entirely paid for before I even design them. (thank GOD, or I would never want to bother. LOL) If the couples do NOT opt to have an album before the wedding I totally Fong the bleep out of 'em.

2. (see above about the catalog) We do 3.3 times markup on most of our products. We are still probably one of the cheapest when it comes to albums. There are many ways to figure pricing and I'm sure that other people here have better ideas than how we do it.

3. Right now we are working with 4 different types of albums. We are thinking we might phase out one or two of them. Currently we are offering Renassaince (Album X), Albums Inc. Memory Links albums, Graphi and Apollo Illuma books/Asuka. I would like to offer only flush mount albums, but so far, that doesn't seem feasible because our market is FULL of traditional brides. Ugh. Memory Link albums and the Graphi are very similar but we LOVE the memory link book and graphi gives us awesome deals on parent albums, etc. so its hard to choose. I figure our clients will choose for us and whatever we do more biz with this year will be the one we stay with.

4. We dont do any kind of hard sell at all. We offer it and if they want it, they get it. Thats about it. The deals that graphi gives us for parent albums have really helped us to sell a few more of those types of add ons. I really hope they continue to offer cool deals like that.

I hope that helps!

edit: after reading Robins post, I think we should upgrade to Queensbury for the traditional type album and make it really expensive so people have to REALLY want it. HA! That would solve my hating to put together traditonal album woes.

fong the bleep!!!

sarah~ you will LOVE queensberry - you use photojunciton to design them, so it's like a flushmount book. they print, cut every mat custom, bind and it's done. shipped to you.

i HIGHLY recommend the sample kit, which includes your software. it is gorgeous. i've priced it high because it is the top of the line.

btw - no one has ever bought a minimum album. our albums average around 50-60 pages. i've only had one groom cut down the album to 30 pages, and made the bride cry! (it was awful) but, we gave them a great deal - or i think she would have nothing. (long story - ( i started out with a 36 page pre-design, so i was trying to keep it small for her!)

For our clients, we include a credit for the album-this credit essentially gets them 20 pages. After the wedding, Chris does a favorites folder for me and I basically build them the best album possible from these images, usually around 150-200. (we go along the lines of Fong's upselling method). We let the clients up front know that I will build them the best album I can, and then they are free to use their credit for 20 pages and walk, or they can purchase additional pages.

We use Queensbury exclusively-we think they have the best albums out there, and after seeing them, we just can't use anything else! As a result of them being much more expensive than other companies, we do have to charge more per page ($100 per page) but our clients absolutely rave about these albums when they get them. However, I know that a lot of other photographers use other companies who still make great albums, but just are much less expensive. It's of course a personal preference-Chris and I are just hooked on Queensbury.

We have built albums into our package for this year for all our clients because we think they are a fantastic end product and great marketing tool for word of mouth referrals. This past year was actually the first time we started offering albums, and we are SO sad we didn't do it sooner! Albums have provided so much additional income for us that we didn't have before, and we believe are truly giving our clients a much more complete experience. Instead of a pile of 4x6's going into a shoebox, they have a beautiful album, and in turn, this becomes a great marketing tool for us when they show it to all of their friends You are really smart to hop on the bandwagon with albums sooner-we wish we had! I would also recommend the "Getting Rich" dvd-it has some really great food for thought.
Good luck

Great info...really like the thoroughness of your price lists. Thanks for the info. Any other tips from others?

Hi,
After a first year trading and offering both traditional and flush type albums (Graphi) and finding that only one couple chose the traditional, I have simply stopped offering them, i think on the website it says they are available on request but cant honestly think after seeing the Graphi product anyone will.
I include the price of a 30 page album in the basic price and if it goes over by a couple of pages just throw it in.
Have never and cant imagine a bride to not want an album, but then I have not been at this long.
all the best Steve

Great post! Very informative!

this post hits the spot!