Bridal Show - What questions do brides ask?

[jamieleephoto]

I will be attending my first few bridal shows in the next couple months.

I have not met with very many brides yet so I don't know of all the questions

most brides ask.

I am trying to prepare myself for the shows by know all the answers to brides

questions.

 

So this is where my fellow photographers come in to help me out...

I was wondering what kind of questions brides will be asking? I know about

pricing and so on. But what about those different questions that you are

normally not asked?

 

Also, if you guys could share some pointers of how you start conversations and

draw the brides to you without being pushy.

 

THANKS SO MUCH!

 

I look forward to your responses!

[l_c10]

I went to a bridal fair earlier today b/c I was curious about this too. I saw one bride walk

up to a photographer and ask, "So what kinds of albums do you offer?" Albums seem to be

a big part of the sales pitch.

 

The best way to prepare for a bridal show is to go to one ahead of time. Look and listen

and introduce yourself to the photographers. I met many nice photographers today who

were more than willing to show off their albums, discuss labs, etc (when they weren't busy

with "paying customers" of course)!

 

Good luck!

[sam_ellis]

I've only done two bridal shows, but have been in business a while. You only have a few minutes to make an impression and it starts with your display. Show your best work, not a ton of it. I think sample albums are important.

They will want to know if you are available, how much you charge, and what's included in that price. They will especially want to know if they get the photos on disc. Another photographer told me that brides asked him that and when he said no, they walked away. If you don't offer them, be prepared to explain why not. I've also been asked how long I've been in business.

 

I asked someone who hired me from the bridal show why she chose me (researching). She said that the fact that I am young and would know what is cool was a big selling point to her. I also have a 19 year old assistant, she actually only talked to him there, but I met with her later. She said a lot of the other photographers were old men and she didn't think they could relate to her. She also said that my work was on par with the guy charging three times as much as me. She's not wealthy, so value was also important.

 

As for conversations, I just ask them if they have a date set or a location. If I've done a wedding there, I let them know and talk about it. Some just want to look around, so don't be pushy, but if you have a brochure or flyer, make sure they get one.

 

Good luck,

 

Sam

[steve_c.5]

Well, the first thing is to have a really good handle on all the services you offer, and be prepared to discuss any of that with them, to any degree of detail or generality that is required.

 

Of course, some people get so carried away with discussing detail that they overwhelm people. The key is to LISTEN to the question, and answer that question directly, without going down rabbit trails.

 

The next thing is to know what brides want and offer a broad range of services, unless it's your business model to do only one or two things. Make sure anything you say you can do, you are able to back up with pricing and examples.

 

The next thing is to remember that brides at shows often have sensory overload. They've been by so many tables and seen so much, they can't possibly take it all in and process it all. Often, they want brochures and marketing materials to take with them and research later, when they have time to evaluate things. Business cards aren't enough...you need brochures and other materials, professionally designed and printed. The better they look, the better you look. And, they love freebies or special offers. Have a drawing for an engagement/bridal/family portrait session, unless the coordinator of the show prohibits it.

 

As for answering questions, you'll often have 2 or 3 brides at your table, and it's often helpful to answer questions loudly enough so they all can hear. If you don't know an answer right off, tell them you would have to look into it, but if they'll give you their contact info, you'll get back with them later.

 

Never sit at your table when approached, always stand. When greeting them, introduce yourself with a smile and handshake if appropriate. Be relaxed and conversational. "Hi, thanks for stopping by! I'm so and so. How do you like the show so far? Please take your time and look through these samples of my work, and let me know if you have any questions. When is your wedding date? Ah, I do have that date open. Etc."

 

Be cordial, professional, and attentive. Thank each one for stopping by before they leave, and mention you'd love to hear from them soon. The rest will all fall into place. And wear comfortable shoes!

[david_schilling___chicago_]

Pick up any of the bridal magazines at your local supermarket and read the sections devoted to wedding photography. Seems like most brides will use that information as their starting point. Many of the mags will actually have an article titled: "Questions for your photographer" or something very similar.

[jamieleephoto]

Thanks guys! This sounds great!

I am really worried about the DVD situation. I only offer them for free if they purchase a flush mount album. Otherwise I charge alot for it. I hope it does not turn brides off.

 

Is there anything else brides think that they just have to have!

I don't want this to happen to me. I would like to offer everything they think they want to draw them in.

[sam_ellis]

Then if they ask if they get the disc, you say "Yes, the disc is included with the purchase of a flush mount album or it's available a-la-carte". I think most just get turned off it's not an option at all.

 

The other responses offer great advice, especially about standing and greeting people. I saw another photographer who sat behind the table the whole time and even ate lunch there. Don't eat at your booth. There may be down times during a fashion show or something, that's a good opportunity to snack. I'm also a fan of not putting your table along the front of the booth, but allowing people to come into the space.

 

One other tidbit, if the groom happens to be there, don't make any marriage wisecracks. When we scoped out a show last year, one photographer made a crack about me having to carry her bags and to get used to waiting on her or something. I was really turned off by that comment and wouldn't hire him if we had been shopping around.

[BrianS1664879711]

There is a lot of good advise here already. I'm really resonating with Sam Ellis.

 

One additional reminder: the "first impression" starts long before someone walks up to your table. Consider the appearance from afar. When I was on "the other side" I was looking for uncluttered, high-quality displays, consistent theme (we wanted "classic wedding vs PJ - so if it was PJ-looking work or too 'eclectic' we walked), a take-away brochure, and most of all... understandable pricing.

 

Two additional turn-offs: photog sitting in boot waiting to be approached and photog not at booth.

 

Favorite converation starters: "Hi", "Can I show you my work?"

[BrianS1664879711]

"Have a drawing for an engagement/bridal/family portrait session, unless the coordinator of the show prohibits it. "... among other good advise from Steve C.

 

This is a very common thing in the Los Angeles area. When I was on the "buying side" we "won" a free engagement portrait at a show. We actually liked the photographer and her work very much so it was quite exciting. The engagement portrait session had us convinced that she was the photog we wanted to hire. But the portrait wasn't anything like the displays. It was an uncorrected proof and the experience ended up being the deal-breaker. Quite unfortunate because it was largely a cropping issue, but we lost confidence. My advise - if giving away a free portrait session... treat the free product like "the real thing".

[buffdr_raz1]

Lots of good help here. Here's my 2 cents since I just did one 3 weeks ago. Only about 10% of the grooms showed up as usual most of the traffic was the brides and their moms. I made a slide show of my best work under 10 min and placed it on CDs! Then I made about 75 copies and made sure I gave them out to the ones that showed interests. This way not only they looked at my work last (at home) they also viewed it with the groom to be! With in the 3rd day I had massive amounts of calls that booked me! Good luck and V/R

Buffdr

[jude_mcconkey1]

And the CD/DVD idea from Buffdr was a great one - I used it this past weekend and it was a huge success. I had many of the brides and their mothers comment on how nice it would be to sit down and view the slideshow at their leisure.

 

I read the advice given on this site and it was very helpful (this was my first show). I stood the whole time, with a friendly stance (had to keep from folding my arms in front of me), and never ate at my booth. I felt a bit nervous at first but as the minutes went by I just knew what to say - especially when I was bolstered with compliments here and there about my work or my setup.

 

I'm hoping I get massive amounts of calls like Buffdr did..lol

[jamieleephoto]

I wanted to hand out slideshow DVDs but I will be attending 3 bridal shows in February and March. I have know idea how I could duplicate 100s of DVDs at an affordable price.

 

Any ideas?

[sam_ellis]

Check out www.discmakers.com for short run cd and dvds. I haven't used them, but their prices look good.

 

Sam

[andre_t1]

I just checked discmakers.com and it will be over $1000 for a bulk order.

 

I also have a bridal show coming up and I decided to make slideshow CD's as well.

 

To save money, I bought 150 Lightscribe CD's and sleeves from tapesonline.com for only $100 total with shipping.

 

Now you need to have a lightscribe burner, which you can get for about $30-40.

 

The only downside is that you have to burn each disc individually.

 

In my opinion I'd rather do this than spend a thousand dollars.

 

Also the lightscribe works very well, you can design the cd cover yourself. And its laser inscribed so there is no sticky tape on the cd.

 

Just another alternative.

[steve_c.5]

If you really want to save money on making CDs to hand out, do this:

 

Go online and buy a 100 stack of inkjet-printable business card (mini) CDs with sleeves for about $38.

 

Get yourself an $89 Epson inkjet printer that prints disc labels. They're very common. They come with an adapter for the small discs, or remove it for large discs.

 

Burn your disc presentations, design your own photo label artwork in Photoshop (200 pixels per inch, actual size), then print your own labels on them using the Epson Print CD software that comes with the printer.

 

Your discs will look like photo business cards, and will look far more colorful and eye-catching than that Lightscribe business.

 

You will have your discs for way less than $200. Once the factory ink cartridges run out, go to www.inkrepublic.com and get yourself a continuous ink system for that printer.

 

And, I use the setup to make regular size discs for my client images.

[dennis_heltemes]

In my experience doing these shows over the past 5 or so years the most freqently asked questions involve pricing. The questions usually asked are "do you have a price list?" or "how much do you charge?" You really need to be prepared to answer these questions in an effective way without actually telling them right away. The main idea is to engage them in conversation which gives you a chance to explain your offering or go through your brochure before you give them pricing.

 

Also, the idea of having a drawing is a good one. This allows you to have a prospect list immediately after the show and another opportunity to put your message in front of prospective clients. However, if you don't think you will have time to do a followup you might as well not have the drawing at all. The follow-up is essential for success.

 

Hope this helps :)

 

Dennis

[William Michael]

>>> The questions usually asked are "do you have a price list?" or "how much do you charge?"

 

 

You really need to be prepared to answer these questions in an effective way without actually telling them right away. <<< (DH)

 

 

Is my answer also.

 

 

FYI and gives more insight as to how I treat Bridal Shows and the question of `how much`:

 

 

http://www.photo.net/bboard/q-and-a-fetch-msg?msg_id=00NTA4

 

 

WW

[jamieleephoto]

I have everything I would need to make the DVDs, but I will be attending about 3 bridal shows in the next 2 months. I think I would need 500-800 DVDs.

 

I would love to do this especially hearing all the great stories about giving out DVDs. The only think I am concerned about is that I only have 3 weddings to show. I would probably go through each wedding. Any ideas/suggestions?

 

I will be having a slideshow play at the bridal shows also.

[steve_c.5]

Jamie: Typically, you would use a DVD to store more data than a CD could hold, or for video. What are you putting on the disc? A typical slideshow created by most software that can display on typical computer screen resolution could easily fit on a CD, or even a mini business card CD. This could be a significant cost savings over DVD, particularly if you need hundreds of them. Plus, there are still a number of people out there who don't have DVD-compatible drives in their computers, and your show might not be able to play on a regular DVD player with TV monitor. So you may be better served to use CD or Mini CD. Just a thought.

[jude_mcconkey1]

I bought 100 blank DVD's for $37, label making kit for $11, extra labels for $9, and plain clear sleeves for $6 (for 100 sleeves). I burned them myself and that was the hardest part - well, not HARD, per se, but time-consuming. The label making was easy and the printing of those didn't take too long. I did these all in less than 24 hours time because my husband had the laptop on a trip and didn't fly in from Texas until 4 p.m. the night before the expo. Talk about fear of failure..lol

 

Now, I know you need to way more than I did, but 500 to 800 for 3 shows sounds like way more than you need. I thought I wouldn't have enough but not everyone looking wants to take them home. I had the slideshow running and put out about 10 at a time on the table in front of the TV screen. As people came around to look I'd engage them in conversation about who the bride was and when the lucky day was, etc. - friendly chit-chat. I had a postcard with a "special" on it for $100 off the price if booked before March 15, 2008, so I'd hand them one and explain it. In the meantime their friends/mothers/boyfriend would be listening and perusing photos or watching the slideshow. Once I knew they had the postcard explained, one of my business cards, etc. I would point to the DVD's and explain that it was the same slideshow on the TV and that they were welcome to take one home to view at their leisure. They loved that idea, which was exciting to know, but I did not even give out 100 at the show. Not because I was being stingy, but because some chose not to take them.

 

The expo I was at was smaller than regular ones as I do not live by huge cities, but it was very well-attended, all the same.

 

The night before the expo I was burning DVD's and my assistant was supposed to be doing the same at her home. Her computer gave her trouble so the ones I did were all we had in the morning - about 40 to be exact. I was almost in full-blown panic mode until I hooked up my laptop and started burning as soon as we arrived to set up our booth. We never ran out.. continued to burn as we went and we were just fine.

 

oh, and the DVD-R blank disks I used worked fine in all of the different tv's throughout my home (I tested it the night before the expo) and the slideshow looked great.

 

By the way, the two questions asked the most were "what are your prices?" and "where are you located?"

 

jude

[steve_c.5]

Interesting story, Jude. I think the Epson printer with CD/DVD print capability would be an inexpensive and maybe better alternative for you, because you can print right on printable media, and there's no label to apply (or get crooked). It looks better too. I use the glossy discs that are "hub printable" (the print surface goes right down to the hole), so you can print full color photo graphics (I design them in Photoshop and use the Epson software to print).