UPSELL YOUR PHOTO BOOTH SERVICE

UPSELL BABY

The last time you went to McDonalds, do you remember them asking “Would you like fries with that?” Of course you did. It's part of their script.

There is a reason that every time you go to Best Buy they try to sell you extended warranties. They make more money. Similarly, airlines will try to get you through the door with low fares and then charge you for luggage, food and so forth. $7 popcorn at the movie theatre is the ultimate upsell.

You may not like it, or like to do it, but the plain business fact is that upselling works and it is not rocket science.

Learning to upsell, or add to a sure sale, is a vital skill that most if not all successful sales and business people have, and is a skill you must learn to utilize if you don't want to miss the opportunity to make more money. 

To many DJ companies, the photobooth itself is an upsell. If you are making this much money as a DJ, wouldn't you like the chance to double it by offering a photobooth. Similarly, many photographers are using photobooths as an upsell to their existing services.

Of course, once the client has chosen your photobooth there are many ways to add to the sale.

A big difference between a very profitable photobooth company and a not-so profitable photobooth company is the ability to capitalize on upsells.

Also keep in mind that there is a very fine line between upselling the right way and increasing your profits and being pushy in a way that turns off your customers and ends up losing you money. On the fine line you must always view upsells from the point of view of the customer. Always offer an upsell because it will ultimately benefit the customer, not just because you want to make more money.

Service Tiers As Upsells

Offering different tier levels of service is the ultimate upsell. I call mine at the moment the

a) CUSTOM PACKAGE (A LA CARTE)

b) SIGNATURE PACKAGE

c) THE WORKS (ALL INCLUSIVE)

I avoid, and you should avoid the price question by asking them what package they want.

Of course their first question will be What is Your Price!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I generally say that our packages range from $395 to several thousand dollars depending on what specific package is requested. I ask them to tell me a bit about their vision for their event and then I can suggest what package would best make their event a success at the best price.

This gets them to talk more about their event and it builds rapport.

Now keep in mind that I do not come up with money figures out of thin air. Everything has a price and is itemized.

Green Screen

Green Screen generally requires a more experienced operator and better lighting. At least this is the case if you want it done right. Also, there are many more photobooth operators than green screen photobooth operators.

Using the laws of supply and demand, I charge $150 extra for green screen except on the all-inclusive package of course. Of course I love doing green screen, but that does not mean I will throw it in for free. Well, maybe I will throw it in for a few of my favorite customers, but definitely not for most.

Red Carpet And Stanchions

A red carpet and stanchions add a touch of class to any event.

One thing you have to keep in mind here is that before you upsell the red carpet and stanchions, make sure that you are familiar with the venue and the space you are allotted. You don`t want to sell this and then find out that you can not set it up because you have no space.

Idle Time As An Upsell

The following situation happens all the time. A bride or groom books a 4 hour package and then a week before the wedding they tell you they need to have you set up at 3 pm.

Now with the all-inclusive package I will set it up at whatever time they want as they are paying me a premium price for ``the works``.

For the a-la-carte package however, I always charge for idle time. How many jobs do you know of where you are told to show up to work 5 hours early and wait around and not get paid? Didn't think you could name one.

I generally charge $50 per hour for idle time.

Frames

Look into getting some custom frames for the client so the guests are taking home something more significant.  Check Dollar Tree type stores or the below to buy them in bulk.

Harkin Industries / Harkin Incorporated

3 Yeoman Dr. East Northport NY 11731

631-266-1328

Photo Book As An Upsell

It is not hard to make a photo book these days. Even supermarkets www.aldiphotos.us can provide you with free online software with which you can create photo books at a reasonable price (about $30 for 26 pages with a hard cover – 2014 pricing) and this makes for a great upsell. Walmart online also has a similar setup.

As this is quite a bit of extra work I generally save this upsell for my premium packages, but where I have done these books the brides have been thrilled. Once again, though it is available easily for anyone to offer, not everyone offers it. This can help you stand out.

Tent

I have said over and over again that I am a big proponent of open as opposed to closed booths. However, every once in a blue moon a client will insist on closing the open booth. Of course the nice thing is that while you can always close an open booth, you can't open a closed booth – yet another reason why I like open booths better.

Of course it takes time and a tent to achieve this, so this to me becomes an upsell.

I will do outdoor functions with no problem other than I insist on being under a tent in case of inclement weather. If there is no tent then I insist that they rent from us a canopy – this is $100.

If they want to close the tent for the purposes of private pictures, the addon is $125.

Celebrity Impersonators

This is an idea I got once when a client actually brought cardboard cutouts of celebrities to use as props.

There are a lot of agencies out there that offer celebrity impersonators, especially in the the larger metropolitan areas. This may not be possible in northern Alaska, or at least not to any wide degree.

I generally will charge what the agency charges me plus 25 percent for my trouble. I thought about making it 50 or 100 percent, but since the agency rates are reasonably high to begin with and publicly available (though I do get a discount with some of them) I didn`t want to push it.

Of course in working with the agencies, I am also marketing my photobooth services to them. This to me has been the more valuable part of the equation.

And Some More Ideas

In addition to a photobooth you may want to make connections so you can offer the following services to your customers. I have seen all of these done at weddings though in my case it was not I but rather the bride and groom that arranged it. In the future I will be offering these.

HIRE AN ARTIST to create a painting of the ceremony or of parts of the reception.

HIRE A CARICATURIST or several caricaturists to make on-the-spot drawings of guests that they can take home.

HIRE A FIREWORKS SHOW – you can literally end the night with a bang. Nothing could be more memorable than a fabulous outdoor fireworks show. Suggest that the show be in the wedding colors, or at least the finale should be in the wedding colors.

Sell  www.weddingsnap.com

Here is a product that doesn't compete directly with photobooths, but if you are in the wedding or event business, you may find will put a bit of extra money in your pocket.

These people were neighbors of mine at a recent Mobile Beat DJ show and were offering their product as an upsell not just to photobooth operators but also DJs and for that matter anyone in the wedding business.

Once the wedding couple signs up and creates their album they receive personalized business cards with instructions for their guests

Of course this program is competing with a free one www.wedpics.com