Hello all,

I am going to be shooting a family at March break. The mother owns and operates her own hair salon, which has a lot of traffic. I have never done this before, but I am thinking of offering the client an incentive for referring me. So, I am thinking I will charge her full price, and say for every client that she refers to me (and buys a package) I give her......money? 25$? 50$? I don't know? Does anyone do this?

Adding to that point. To further market my survives... I have read here that photographers will go to a flower shop/bridal shop/cake shop, to help market and grow their businesses. I think this makes a lot of sense, opposed to ads etc. However, what do you do when you go into a flower shop. Do you offer them an incentive? Just not exactly how this works.

Thank you, thank you, thank you,

Calvin

I offer my portrait clients a $25 credit towards their next session (most are baby portraits that are looking to get more pictures in the near future). Although I'm new to the wedding side of things, I wouldn't ever give a vendor any sort of money for a referral - it seems too unethical. Offer to do some photography of their products, put a link on your website or something like that.

personally i wouldn't feel right just outright saying "send me clients and i'll pay you x or give you z" that's pretty much advertising, and i think it waters down the idea of a refferal.

if you do a great job, she'll refer you. and when she does, send a little (unanounced) thank you gift! then she'll be even more thrilled and refer you more. but in this way, she didn't start referring you just because of the stuff she'd get.

but i'm sure there are people out there who have done well with this kind of thing, and don't have any quandry with it.

Rather than offering money - give the hair lady, flower shop, bakery, or whatever a huge framed print of their work to display on their business wall. Canvas Gallery Wraps make a huge impact as well. Make sure they have plenty of business cards and check in with them from time to time to see if there's anything you can help them with. Some people even put their name or website directly on the print - but that's up to you. If you're paying for the referral, it's not really a referral... it's more like a business deal.

I love getting my work at a hairdresser. You have a captive audience for 30-60 minutes. The client just sits there looking at the mirror, and talking - a perfect combination.

This is how I do it. First of all, I never give out money. No kickbacks, no incentives nothing like that. Word of mouth marketing should be just that - natural and organic. It should be a free-flowing thing that just happens. That is the best kind.

Now, everybody is different, but find a way to provide a photo service to your hairdresser. Mine just happeneds to have a few kids. So I offered to do a shoot at a park with them one afternoon. It was fun! The kids went and played in the sand, on the swings, and other equipment, and I was there with the parents and a 70-200. For me, it is important to keep up a conversation with the parents. I'm a 6' 1" 220 lb dark haired guy with a huge lens, shooting kids. Gotta have the dad and mom around so the other parents don't get worried.

Then I make an on-line gallery, blah, blah, blah.

I offer 2 different kinds of prints. Both get the full photoshop treatment. One set has my regular pricing. The other set is free (but is branded with my name and logo). I tell the parent, that they can have all the free ones they want ('cause they are great for putting in the mirror at their booth).

Clients then just sit there, see the pics with my name, and the hairdresser's child looking at the mirror as they get their hair done. There is a story with the pics, that the hairdresser can talk about (the day in the park with the photographer). An hour of branding is a great thing.

Eric

Wow! Thank you Eric, perfect timing.

I went to a Christian Business Networking group last week. It is a new group. The couple that runs the group are both Reators and also are involved (owners??, investors?? I don't know exact specifics) with a salon. I want to get in there!

Great! Thanks so much for the advice everyone.

Okay so no payment! Done! Now here's a spin question. The woman who owns a hair salon has a decent place, and a steady clientele. I am sure I could get some decent business from her, but when it comes time to grow, I may want to target a few of the high class salons in my area. So the problem i am faced with there is having two salon links on my website? How do you deal with that? Or do you just stick to what you have?

Also, I am thinking of offering the hair dresser a little discount on my session fee, a plug on my website, and I love the idea of free prints branded with your name, or even a gift branded with your name.

Thanks for all the help! Much appreciated!

Calvin

Skip the plug on your website, just do the session for free. No need to become an advertising mecca for every salon in town - keep your site about your work. Also - it helps if you're a salon client so that they know you're invested in their work as much as they are invested in yours. Eric's idea is grrrrrreat!