Hey, friends, welcome back to another episode of the Business Journey podcast. I'm Rebecca and I'm so excited to be here today with you guys. Today we are chatting all about elevating your experience with albums. This is a topic that I'm really excited to dive into because in the past I have been guilty of saying that I would never offer albums. And so this is very much a journey of me eating my words because here we are offering albums. So I'm excited to dive into a little bit of what that process looked like and that journey looked like for us, going from being a super against albums into now loving them and how you can add them to your client experience to just elevate your overall brand. So I'm really excited to dive in. Before we do. I wanted to let you know about something that's super special actually happening today and Thursday. So if you haven't been following me on social media or anything, you haven't signed up yet. I am partnering with Kiss Books, who is my absolute favorite album company. And while we're on the topic of albums, I'm partnering with casebooks and we're doing a two part sort of a webinar series. This is unlike anything that I've ever done before, so I'm really excited to be offering it for you guys. It's completely free and basically it's going to be very conversational. Q&A, interview style. And this is a two part series. So we're doing the first one today, and that's at two p.m. Central today. And then the second one is this Thursday at two p.m. Central. And so this two part series, each class is going to be different. So in the past, we've offered free classes. It's the same class and there's like three opportunities to watch it while for this it's going to be a different class or series. I was talking to her. Sorry, guys. So for this, it's going to be a different class each time. So today we're talking a lot about my journey with mini sessions and how albums sort of fit into that. And on Thursday, we're going to be talking about how you can add albums into your mini session collections. And just to clarify, this is not in-person sales. I don't have time for apps. You guys have heard me say that over and over. And so it's not that. But I am so excited to, like, pull back the curtain of something that I've been, you know, working on in my own business and applying these things, you know, adding albums to our mini sessions. So I highly suggest jumping into this webinar series. Again, it's today and Thursday, both at two p.m. there will be a replay available for those who register. So if two p.m. is just not a good time for you to register anyways and you can get signed up, I'm going to link the registration page in the show notes here. But just so that you have the you are all it is. Rebeccaricephoto,com/kiss-webinar so you can head there, sign up, you only have to sign up once and you'll automatically be signed up for both classes, which is awesome. It's super convenient and you'll get email reminders and all the things. So it'll be me and Sean Gordon, the CEO of Kiss Books. We're going to be chatting together just about how awesome albums are adding into your mini sessions, you know, packages. So it's going to be great. Now, let's dive into our topic today of elevating your client experience with albums. So I want to talk a little bit about my journey with albums, because like I mentioned, I used to be so against them. And it's not that albums aren't great because albums are great. The problem was that I did not have time for albums and I was under the impression that the only way you could sell albums well was through in-person sales or IPS. And so I knew that I did not have time for it. So therefore albums was off the table because I just didn't have time for it. And so, you know, I've been in this business for years and I've never offered albums because I did not have time to do the selling well in the process of, you know, just connecting with people online. Social media is so cool because you're able to connect with so many cool people. I connected with Sean Gordon, who is the CEO of Kiss books in a clubhouse room one day, super random. I didn't even honestly know who he is. Sorry, Sean, if you're listening to us, I didn't know who he was. I knew what kiss books was, but I had no idea who he was. And so we ended up connecting and he was sort of talking me through, you know, challenging my thought process of like, well, why don't you offer albums? Because you totally can. And it really transformed the way that I thought about selling albums, because I realized that a lot of what we do in the way that we sell, you know, up sell digitals for mini sessions can be translated into selling albums that it can be done online through shopping cart and it doesn't have to be done in person. And so we're going to talk more about that when Sean and I do our classes today and Thursday, so definitely tune into that. So I'm not going to spend too long there. But when I figured out that selling albums didn't have to require in-person sales, I mean, it was revolutionary. We tested it. We added it to my collections. We added it to my associate teams. And you guys, it worked. We have clients buying albums. They've never seen them. They you know, they've never held the album. We didn't have to meet with them individually in person. They are buying these albums and it's awesome. This thing is working. And so what I've found is that there are a couple of benefits to offering albums. Number one, obviously what we're talking about today is that it elevates your client experience, but it also justifies higher pricing. So if you're wanting to step into that next level of pricing, you know, working with those higher end clients, then adding albums to your collections is a really great way to do that. So like I mentioned, we use kiss books and I do have a link to 15 percent off your first order if you're wanting to try them out. Kiss books has a press printed book option, which is so affordable and it's stunning. You guys, their albums are top notch. They're all handcrafted and they're really, really great quality for the price. And so you can get 15 percent off your first order. I'll link it in the show notes if you want to check that out. But let's talk about elevating the client experience. OK, so you guys know me. I'm all about always, you know, working to make our client experience better because we know that if your client has an incredible experience with you, they're going to not only come back year after year, they're also going to tell all of their friends about you and about their experience. So by offering albums as family photographers right off the bat, it sets us apart because I think you all know the norm is not to have albums with family photos. Like how many family photographers do you know that offer albums in their collections? It's just not as common as, say, you know, weddings or senior sessions or newborns. Those kind of kind of sessions really lend themselves easily to albums. And it's sort of expected that you'll get albums with those kind of sessions. But a normal family session, it's not as common. And so by offering albums with your collections as a family photographer, it will automatically set you apart. And in Thursday's class, I'm going to talk through with Shawn all about how we do this practically and like what this looks like. And so I think you'll be really intrigued to see, like, it's way easier than you think. And it's super you know, you can be really enticing in the way that you do offer it. By offering that album, it will set you apart just because people aren't doing it. And so you can hop on this train early before it becomes, you know, the norm or a trend in our industry. And so I think it's a great time to start incorporating albums. Another thing that happens when you offer albums is most clients, especially family clients. Like I said, I think with the other industries, it's almost expected that they'll get an album or that it will at least be offered. But with family photography, most clients don't know that they want their memories printed until they have them in their hands. So because it's not the norm to get an album every year with their family photos, they don't know that they want that. And so we're honestly creating a tradition of printed memories and they don't even know it because at first clients are probably going to buy the package for the digital. They're not necessarily going to say, yes, I want that album. I need that album. Right. And I'll talk about the pricing structure and stuff in Thursday's class pricing and how we actually structure all the things they don't know that they want that album until they get it in their hands. So our goal at first is to give them the digital. But, oh, by the way, you get this bonus album because for the first year they may not buy that collection for the album. But you know what? All the years after that, once that album is in their hand, they can flip through it with their kids, see those memories and relive them through that album. It becomes a tradition where now every year they have to get an album because they did it that first year. It's something so special.
I know for us I have a four year old daughter and a two year old son, and right now they are very much in a phase of wanting to look back at old pictures. And so, like growing up, my dad was always that dad with like the big camera recorder; camcorder. I don't know what you call it, the video camera. And he so they were super chunky back in the day. And he would always walk around with his video camera or like have his tripod and he recorded. Rethinks, so we have all of these home videos, and I remember loving to go through our home videos because that was how our memories were documented in our family. And even today, like, I'll go to my parents house and meet my sister, just like looking through home videos. And now I get to show my kids our home videos of like what I was like when I was their age and all that. So now I'm not as good at you know, we have we have cameras and video cameras in our hands, literally through our iPhones. And I'm not as good at capturing memories. I'm really trying. My husband and I are trying to be a lot more intentional because we found that our kids really like reliving moments. So we have this thing that we've been doing lately. Maddie, my four year old, called it pictures of baby Maddy. So she says, Mommy, can we do pictures of baby Maddy tonight? We did it one night before bed where we sat down around the big computer. And, you know, we had all of us around Maddie, Carson, and we were just looking at old pictures and really videos to like looking at videos. But she likes looking at pictures and videos of baby Maddy. And so we would relive the times of, you know, she's only four. So it's not like we have that much time to catch up on. But she loves watching and seeing pictures and videos of herself as a little baby. And then, you know, of Carson when he was a little baby and she was only 20 months old and, you know, just reliving memories. She loves that. And so I didn't realize the importance, honestly, of getting those memories where kids can see them until I saw how much Maddy and Carson loved looking through pictures and videos. And so I think there's something so special about having an album because it's something that they can flip through, you know, even like our wedding photos. Maddie loves going through our wedding photos and asking questions about, you know, who is this person and where was I? I'm like, well, you weren't even born yet. And so, you know, going through just reliving memories with her. And it's even more special getting to do it when she's in the photos. So when we have our family photos and we get to flip through the album together and talk about the day, like our most recent family photos, it was full of memories for sure, because that day it was freezing cold. And I've told this story before, so I'll be brief. But basically it was super cold. It was supposed to be a spring day. The kids were dressed, you know, in spring clothes and it was freezing. And so we were bribing the kids with marshmallows and they were crying most of the time and it was just a little chaotic. And so it's really cool now to be able to flip through those memories and see the photos that came from it and talk about it together as a family. And that is something that I treasure. And so every single year now, when we get our family photos done, you better believe I'm going to be getting an album so that my kids can flip through it and we can, you know, relive that together and compare and see how small they looked compared to now and just so many awesome things that come from that. So that's the kind of thing that I'm wanting to offer to my clients, the chance to have printed memories. And they like I said, they don't even know they want that yet. But when I can get that album in their hand, oh, my gosh, they're going to fall in love. And then year after year, they're going to want to dive into that and and, you know, purchase that album because now it's tradition. And they're going to want to get those. You know, they're already getting the family photos done. They may as well get their album, too. So what an incredible way to elevate your experience by offering this tangible printed memories. And I think it's still different from, like regular prints because, you know, yes, they can hang them up in their house and stuff. But there's just something so special about an album that you can hold in your hand and flip through. It's beautiful. You know, it could be a coffee table thing or have it on a bookshelf or whatever. Like, my goal is to have a whole collection of family photo albums. My mom used to be a scrapbook or so like we kind of have that growing up. But this is, in my opinion, a little bit more classy than like scrapbooking. But, you know, whatever floats your boat. But anyway, how cool to be able to offer that opportunity to your families and for them to experience that. And then not only, you know, come to you year after year for just capturing those memories, but then be able to print those memories. It is just so awesome. There you have it, elevating your client experience with albums. I'm telling you, it's a game changer, friends. And if you've never offered albums or you're just not sure where to start, today's class and Thursday's class are ones that you will not want to miss. So just as a recap, it's a two day series of classes, so they're different. Today's class is at two p.m. Central and you can sign up Rebeccaricephoto.com/Kiss-webinar and it'll automatically sign you up for Thursday's class as well. They are going to be different. From each other, you're going to want to tune in and you will get a replay if you sign up, so I hope this was helpful for you and at least get those wheels turning for the possibilities of what this could look like in your own business. So I'm really excited to, like, jump into this world of albums with you and just see where it takes you. That's it for today. We're going to go ahead and close out. I'll hopefully see you today, later this afternoon, our class. And if you can't catch us today, definitely tune in Thursday because it's going to just be awesome. I'm telling you, it's going to rock your world. So we'll see you then. And have an awesome, awesome week. Bye, guys.
Episode Transcript
