Now Introducing Michael Stevens of PhotoLynx

Hi, I'm the general manager of PhotoLynx, Inc. We develop software mostly used by school, event, and sports photographers and photo labs, such as Marco Photo Service. I consider myself a geek. I spend a lot of time checking out the "latest & greatest" gadgets. I particularly keep my eyes open for stuff I think will be helpful to school, event, and sports photographers.

I'm going to start off with what I think is a pretty cool device. I have actually used this and I was initially a little disappointed in the noise I see when used with modeling lights. But, after a while I got used to the noise and didn't notice it any more.

Zigview attaches to the eyepiece of most any digital or film SLR and displays the image in real time on a 2.5 inch color display. It also has an additional output that will allow it to be viewed on any video monitor. The Display flips around and up and down for easy viewing, without bending over to look through the display. It can also be detached and viewed away from the camera.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R2oEVRJh4pY&rel=1]

Here is a list of camera Models that the Zigview will fit to:

I feel this would be perfect for school photographers as it will better able the photographer to frame and crop the students without having to bend over and look through the viewfinder each time. Much like in the days of long roll cameras such as the Camerz Classics, ZII, & ZIII. You can also just tape a camera mask on the screen for verifying head size and crop. This will save a lot of time in ImageMatch doing head-sizing. You won't have to send your camera in to have the viewing screen etched.

You can purchase the Zigview finders online at most of the big camera stores. It appears to be going right now for $399.00 at B&H Photo. The previous generation, which doesn't swivel or detach is going for about $279.00 online.

Creating a Sales Machine

For many salespeople (myself included) sales just kind of comes naturally. You meet the client, listen, exchange information, establish trust, and then go from there. Outgoing and social people like myself tend to do pretty well in this context. We also tend to believe we're doing really well when actually we're not. In my case, I think it comes from having a generally optimistic attitude combined with some adult onset ADD. Ha!

What I've found over the past couple of years however is that access to sales data, and having the discipline to understand and act on it, can be be a much more powerful tool than the ones that come to me naturally. This discovery has become particularly relevant as I manage a growing team of salespeople working in different markets. By working to understand where we're winning and losing, I can more effectively equip my staff to win more often.

Recently, I came across a blog I thought I would share with you. It's coming from one of the guys that was very involved in salesforce.com. We don't use salesforce.com software, so this is not a pitch -- leave it to a salesperson to have to issue that kind of disclaimer.

At any rate, the theme is how sales professionals can use the data they have to better serve their prospective and current customers. I read it often and you might want to as well. The link to it is below. Enjoy.

Jay

Build a Sales Machine

An "Unfortunate Lapse"

This link on CNN.com is great. And that it happened to our biggest competitor is even better. But after reading it, I had to consider the many times we have had to do the same thing to satisfy a customer's needs. Lifetouch had their intentions in the right place, but sloppy execution sure did backfire on them here.

Check it out.

Jay

Integrity Selling

Recently, we've began to employ a sales system that we really like. It's called Integrity Selling and is based on the book of the same name by Ron Willingham. It tends to systematize the very best parts of Marco's corporate culture into a repeatable sales process that really values the person doing the purchasing. Our sales people have really taken to it and it is producing results across the board.

If you have any questions or would like to chat about it, give either Nichole or me a call at 877-811-9010.

Jay

MeadWestVaco Gets a New Logo

One of our paper suppliers, MeadWestVaco, just gave their brand a face lift. There's a review of the change at one of my favorite design websites, Brand New. The site has really nothing directly to do with the school photography business, but it makes for interesting reading about corporate identities and how they are shaped. It often makes me ask questions about the company I work for and our identity. Are we relevant? Does our branding, marketing material, web site, etc. work together to a greater end? What does it say about us?

Probably a good thing for us all to think about.

Jay

Brave New World

Hi, and welcome to the launch of Marco Photo Service's new web log. Our goal in creating and maintaining this space is to keep our customers up to speed on what we're up to, start some discussions, learn from others, and - hopefully - inform the professional imaging marketplace with insights from our little niche.

Thanks for dropping by, please bookmark us and make sure you comment on interesting posts.

If you are a member of the professional imaging community and would like to publish your thoughts to this blog, contact us and we'll talk!

Creating Upward Buying Pressure

What would happen if you could reach out directly to the check writers? Most of us in the school photography business take it for granted that we serve two customers -- the school principal and the parents. You can't get to the parents until you go through the principal, right? Maybe not.

Since we started our school & sports photography studio last year, we have been kicking that idea around. What if we could out-flank our competitors and reach out to the parents of our target schools at the same time we are selling to the principals? We're reasoning that aside from picture day communications, the parents rarely (if ever) hear from the big national companies. Why? They're following the traditional communication paths.

And when we stick to the traditional Studio >> Principal >> Parent communication line, they never hear from us either because we haven't passed the gatekeeper. We're filtered out by our own marketing because we accept that we have to go to the principal to talk to the parent.

Do you hear this? We stop ourselves -- voluntarily -- from speaking to our customers!

If we accept the above as true, this means that our primary paying customer is effectively isolated from the normal marketing and advertising traffic that would make her aware that there is a choice. While the parent doesn't (and probably won't) make the actual choice between studios, we're betting that they can certainly have an influence.

And so the question becomes, what is the best way to reach the parent of the target school? How can we create a groundswell of upward buying pressure that makes the principal and secretary take notice of us? What do you think? We're working on this and will post as we try different things and begin to make progress. But by all means, post a comment or e-mail us with your ideas. www.marcophotoservice.com

Jay