What's the #1 thing a small business owner hates? Salespeople who walk in the store or cold call the owner trying to cram something down their throats!!

Because of that mentality, I'm afraid to approach vendors in my new location. I don't have many conncetions here yet and I would like to talk to some wedding coordinators or wedding shop owners. But I'm a stranger! If I walk in with some business cards or even a gift for the owner, I think I'll get the one-raised-eyebrow-look while they quietly think, "what do you want from me?" KWIM??

Here's my idea: for store owners, I'd like to have some small marketing pieces available on their checkout counter. I would also offer to provide large framed prints for the store or even offer to do some shoots using their product lines for their own advertising or display (with my info attached, of course).

For coordinators: I just want them to know that I exist! I would like for them to have marketing pieces in hand but I don't want to offer a discount for their referral.

In both cases, my idea was to send a floral bouquet to the ladies on the day following our meeting/conversation.

BUT....how do I get my foot in the door without them slamming it on me first?

Would it be best to mail them a sample of my marketing pieces along wiht a small gift & a letter of intent (aka--here's how you can help me--here's how I can help you) & mention that I'd love to get together & discuss the area's wedding market sometime...then call later to ask if I can bring some stuff by or make an appointment?

Cold calling is rarely effective. This is from my experience on the recieving end and from Jeffrey Gitomer's books.

There is a networking group called American Bridal Consultants. It cost's money to be a member. Also, try joing rotary club or other similar local business networking group.

With that said, your idea about emailing some vendors won't hurt.

Aaron is right... Cold calling isn't the ideal situation... A great idea (emphasized in Keith Ferrazi's book Never Eat Alone) is the idea of finding people that can connect you to those vendors. Search around and find someone - anyone - who can connect you with the vendor(s) or with a secondary person who knows the vendors.

Then, when you get to meet the vendor, find out if they have a need that you can fill (after you've gotten to know them at a personal level). This way you can bring value to the relationship by meeting those needs.

And now they have a good reason to continue a relationship with you!

Great point Nathan. You also have something great to offer. Your photography can play a very active roll in getting on their good side and getting them to refer you. I just offer to shoot something for them and dont be afraid to get involved in their personal life by offering to photograph their family or something like that. Our photography is very powerful when used correctly. Go in with the action of helping them and in return they will love to help you. I also leave a book/album everywhere I go if possible and expecially right after a wedding. Get the florist, the dj, THE CORDINATOR, and the locations you shot a book. It may sound expensive but it is a proven money maker. Jim Kennedy rocks at this and shoots a ton of weddings out here in cali.

Agreed about doing something for them personally We have a wedding coordinator friend who we connected with at a wedding in October... through chit chat, found out that she had a wee one... so I insisted on coming over and shooting her baby! She loved it, and she LOVES us! And now, we have a wonderful relationship!

Try to create legitimate relationships with people... it will go MUCH further than just standard "networking". Loving people always rocks

I agree about giving a book to the vendors involved with weddings you've shot. I did that for just one reception site I shot at late last year and I've already booked 10 clients from their referral alone for this year and next! It is definitely worth the money.

I also just sent out a lot of letters with a couple of sample prints and a bunch of my business cards to reception site owners and coordinators in my area, explaining who I am, where I'm located, and offering to do a really nice album for them featuring their product(s) in exchange for their referrals.

Hopefully I'll see lots of response from that!

In any case, after seeing the response from just that one reception site, I am convinced that contacting other vendors is the most important way to begin getting clients for a newer wedding photographer. I think the most important vendors to target are reception hall owners and coordinators. Florists are probably fairly big, too - at least in my area, where there are relatively few really great florists and they book very early. Typically the reception hall is booked before anything else, though, so they're probably in the very best position to refer clients to you.

Sending a mailer with a personal letter and some samples, and an offer of something really nice if they wish to start a referral relationship with you, is probably going to be the most appealing and professional-looking approach.

Thanks, all.

In the past, I had sent a CD of images to vendors after the wedding, but since I am just starting out here (after moving last summer), it seems to be the proverbial "chicken or the egg" situation: I need to book a wedding before I can send vendor images. I need to make relationships with vendors so I can book weddings. UGH!!!

Anyone else?

I am very new at this and I don't know any wedding vendors. Hopefully, after this summer of shooting I will have made a few connections. Having solid relationships with vendors is good thing but likely not essential to your starting business.

If you decide on a mailer or email you can ask the vendor for some sort of coupon or discount you can offer to potential bride and grooms.

Everyone else.

Vendors will refer you if you are good, reliable, and match the bride's budget. For a beginner, proving that you are reliable is the hardest part.

I did a couple of bridal shows in January, but I was actually targeting Vendors, not brides.

I took my camera and took pictures of almost all of the booths, paying special attention to the wedding planners.

After the shows I put up a slideshow and sent the link out to all of the vendors. I got great results and meetings with some of the biggest planners in town.

Sean

Megan -

I COMPLETELY understand what you're going through.

Last year when I was really struggling with building up a portfolio. I'd shot at several weddings as a second but didn't feel comfortable using a lot of those images in my portfolio (even though my boss encouraged me to) because they weren't "my" weddings. The weddings I DID get by myself were not ideal for making impressive portfolios. In one, the bride was a beautiful and very, very large girl who I felt wouldn't appeal to the target clientelle I eventually wanted to land (sad but true...I think a lot of women are turned off by big girls and will be more inclined to pick a photographer who has a portfolio full of conventionally pretty people). Another was a pirate-themed wedding, so it was a little...weird...for a portfolio (although it is now one of my most popular albums!). The rest were great, but I felt that my portfolio was lacking some "oomph."

So I looked for a small wedding gown shop in my area and approached them with the offer of giving them a free, all-day photo shoot - they got to keep all the images and could do anything they liked with them EXCEPT fiddle with them in Photoshop - but I would do whatever they wanted to the images in terms of editing. In exchange, I got to use some of their gowns in my shoot.

I found a wedding reception site - a 5-acre landscaped garden - that had just opened for wedding business and needed good photos for their web site. I made the same offer. Let me stage a few weddings on a single day. I'll bring the brides and grooms and flowers (silk arrangements) if you let me shoot on your property for a day. The owner accepted and then it was off to Craigslist to find my models.

I ended up with six "couples" dressed in wedding finery. I spent the whole day taking portraits and having them do fun things like dance, walk through the garden hand-in-hand, etc. It worked out brilliantly. I got many photos to fill out what I felt had been missing in my portfolio. No, I didn't get any shots of the bride getting ready with her girlfriends, the ceremonies, the cake cutting, or the reception...but I did get enough really nice, emotionally impactful portraits to interest actual couples in my services for their real weddings.

You will have to decide for yourself whether you're comfortable with "deceiving" your clientelle by doing something like this. Some photographers would be grossed out by selling fashion photography as wedding photography. But I looked at it this way: I didn't do anything differently with my model couples than I'd do with a real wedding couple. I gave them the same minimal instruction, posed them the same way I'd pose real couples, etc. The only difference was that they weren't really in love.

That is definitely one method of beefing up your portfolio. The icing on the cake is that those two vendors I worked with - the reception site and the dress shop - refer lots of clients to me now. I hope that at least gives you some ideas on how to boost your portfolio! I was just really honest with these vendors and said, "I'm new to weddings, but not photography. I want to get really serious about weddings and I think we'll be targeting the same clients. Would you like to try working together on this project? It could give us both the boost that we need!"

I think, if you do decide to use this idea, the key is finding new-ish vendors who appear to be in real need of good photography to promote their sites. Look for web sites that are a bit lackin' in the photo department.

Thanks everyone for your replies & good advice.



Great stuff, Libbie! I really don't have a problem with the concept of "staging a wedding" & I would really like to offer my services to a couple of shops like you mentioned. My problem is that I have never set foot into these stores. I keep trying to think of a good excuse to pop by, check the place out, but, sadly, I have none. Maybe I could talk my single sister into browsing...she's "always a bridesmaid"--lol! Anyway, once I offered to do some comp shots for a store that was a high-end baby registery & they already had pics on their walls--oops!

I also have a problem gathering up girls who are young but not *too* young. In my location, I have plenty of contacts with teen girls b/c I work with our church's youth dept., but when kids go off to college, they never come back! I do have some contacts in TX, though, & maybe I will go that route. In fact, this week, I emailed a friend who is married & has a baby. They never had a "wedding" (just justice of the peace) & offered to "barter" their modeling services for baby prints (they just had their first set done with me), so I'm hoping she takes me up on it (although I wonder if it might be weird for her since they didn't do the dress/tux thing...).

THANKS AGAIN for sharing....good stuff!!

Well, how I initially approached them was via email. It's definitely less personal and some may even feel it's unprofessional. But it is low-pressure and the informality of it can work in your favor - if you make yourself seem competent but approachable they may be more likely to take you up on some kind of offer.

I put together a nice HTML email that had a couple of images in it and looked very polished and nice and sent that out to individuals (as opposed to a big list of emails). I just explained that I was hoping to get to know local vendors and that I'd like the opportunity to stop by and meet them when it was convenient for them. I offered to bring my camera and shoot a few photos of their store/products/sites while we got to know each other. That way, I made the offer in a low-pressure way that was easy for them to turn down if they didn't want some weird rookie photographer stopping by - or they could just choose to ignore it!

I believe almost all the people I emailed responded. Many called me directly and chatted over the phone and were quite enthusiastic about meeting me.

A lot of people see email as kind of a cop-out or a "weak pitch," but I think it all depends on how well you use the medium.

Vendors will refer you if you have a relationship with them.

It's an easy concept.

Try being friendly.

No vendor is going to jeopardize their business because they "like" you - or because you buy them lunch, or send them pictures. They have to trust you first. (It's sort of the reverse of the way love works.)

I know a lot of "nice" people I wouldn't have any business dealings with ever.

But if you have a legitimate relationship with them... an actual friendship...

they will.

Well, yeah, obviously. But how do you get them interested in becoming your friend and trusting you in the first place? You do something nice for them - preferably something valuable - and then you just be a nice person after that. You stay in touch with them afterwards, too. Show genuine interest in them and their business and they'll do the same for you.

I think anybody who's looking to establish useful business relationships should read the book "Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion" by Robert Cialdini. It's amazing and it explains why doing an unasked-for favor for a person will trigger an internal mechanism that will make them like and trust you, and will make them feel "indebted" to you so that they "pay you back" for your kindness by sending business to you.

I think it's a very sound strategy. It's definitely working well for me!