Is it possible to make sales before you even get on the field? Yes! Here’s how you can do it. Let’s say you are planning to work a Friday night lights game for the Providence Stallions football team. The first step is to get in front of the parents of the players, and you can do this via social media. We'll use Twitter in our example. First find the Providence High School Twitter page for the Stallions football team. Found it? Great! Now lets say they use the #stallionsfootball hashtag on all of their tweets. Now make note of that hashtag because we will need it later.

Next, check to see who is following the team twitter page. You'll want to consider following them hoping for a follow back, and possibly reaching out to them to introduce yourself and what you have to offer. Make note of their Twitter handles as well. If you haven't reached out to the team or league you may want to do so, as they may be willing to retweet your announcement which will help you immensely in reaching families.

Here's a good example of tweet you can use:

OFFERING ACTION PHOTOS of Stallions/Senators football players at Providence Friday night! Click the Link and Pre-Register your athlete! Limited Spots available! https://register.gfcrew.com/1413. All digital photos are yours forever for $45 via CC. Only five spots! first come, first serve! #stallionsfootball #senatorsfootball @susanne @cynthia @michelle

(280 characters)

Notice that we've included the relevant hashtags #stallionsfootball and #sentorsfootball, as well as tagged individuals who are following the team twitter page @susanne @cynthia and @michelle. This way our tweet can be seen by the right people. This is really important, so don't forget, but also don't overdo it. If you start spamming people, you risk getting blocked or having your tweets not show up as often in people's feeds.

Below is a great graphic we've included that you can use with your social media posts. Download it and use it on your posts for extra visibility! Enjoy our other Collateral Media Downloads as well.

It’s also great if you include a photo of yourself wearing the “EVENT PHOTOS” vest with your post, so parents know what you look like. This strategy is also great for Instagram, Facebook or any other social media platform where families of the players may look for information.

As an analogy, think of yourself as a “pop up food truck.” Food trucks situate themselves in areas where they are highly visible and heavily trafficked, and most importantly, they represent a limited availability proposition. Limited availability means "FOMO;" fear of missing out! Make sure to emphasize to the parents that there are limited spots available, and they are “first come first serve.” There’s nothing like scarcity to motivate a purchase decision.

Got the idea? Great! But remember, you must stick to the GFcrew formula for this to work. That means you need to wear the Photo Vest. Not only so the parents can find you at the field, but also so that you don’t have issues with field access during the game. It’s super important to look completely professional! Trust us, we’ve been using the Photo Vests for many years, and we never go without them, sales people and photographers alike!

Also, no shooting on spec! If you start to shoot on spec instead, or in addition to your prepaid work, you will undermine your ability to make money. Once parents find out that you will photograph their child regardless of whether they have paid, they lose incentive to sign up. Trust us! If you’re serious about making money doing this, you must commit to no spray and pray.

If you stick to the process, you'll get the results! Check out this article about the great success Alan Mohring is having, one of our GFcrew members, and strict adherent to the GFcrew process.

At some point, you're going to need to approach a parent and explain to them what you have to offer. The following is a basic pitch that you can modify for your purposes. The idea is to inform potential customers about the services you offer and the price point at which you are offering it to them.

Hello, do you know what I’m doing with action photos?

*Hand them a flyer*

For just the one time, up front price of (your price here), I'll capture a lots of photos of your athlete during the game. After the game I'll send you a link to an online gallery of all of the photos I shot of your athlete straight to your phone via text. Then you can download, share and print the images as much as you like. They are yours forever.

 

Overcoming Objections:

As in most sales situations, you will encounter objections from potential customers. Part of the sales process is knowing how to overcome these objections, so here are some strategies that you can use for some of the most common ones that we hear at events.

"It's too expensive."

Sometimes customers may try to haggle with you on price. In such a case, it can be wise to offer a discount to a customer who’s willing to bring you a certain number of  additional customers for that game. In other words, if your customer can find you three other people who will sign up, you can offer them 50% off, or even give them free photos in exchange. This tends to work out well for both parties.

"I don't know what your photos look like."

It’s always a good idea to have an online sample gallery prepared with samples of your work that you can forward a customer. Including the link to your gallery on your business card is also recommended. This way, when you attach your business card to the front of the flyers or the lanyards, the link to your work will be on display.