What To Do When Sales Dry Up: A Guide For Photographers

No matter what business you're in, you're bound to hit a dry patch eventually. Especially in the global market of the 21st century, where a financial crisis in China can affect sales in South Wales, you have to deal with the uncertainties of the market. So, here's a little survival guide for those times when the phone doesn't ring, your inbox is just you and the spam, and you haven't had a sale all week.

#1: Get organized!

Like any artistic type, photographers tend to be disorganized. If the stereotype is true for you, then you are wasting a lot of time. You can take a good look at how you could organize better. For instance, you can sort your gear into camera bags and have one for each kind of shooting assignment. You can start a simple filing system for past business transactions, so you have the information ready for repeat business. A user-friendly bookkeeping software system can be helpful too, provided it is not so complicated that you will not actually use it.

#2: Look for new customers.

This is a good time to print up some cards and flyers, go round to local businesses, and ask if you can pin a calling card to their notice board. Or leave a few cards or flyers at a business, such as a bridal shop or kid's gym, where your potential customers are likely to be found. Network around your friends, look for new opportunities everywhere. Did you spot a particularly low-quality example of your craft in the local newsletter? Why not snap a better pic and mail it to the editor, with a note saying you could have done that picture to this quality standard for cheaper?

#3: Practice your skills!

What, do you mean to tell me that you're here buffing your nails because you know absolutely everything there is to know about your profession? Then I take it your black-and-white photography portfolio is neat as a pin and posted on a website drawing 10,000 visitors per day? You've mastered composing photo montages into Flash animations? You have conquered every possible technique of the art, including still-lifes, macros, motion blurs, portraits, kinetics, time-lapse, ultraviolet, and landscapes?

And I guess you've learned every possible trick with your image manipulating software, to the point where you could take a shot of Queen Victoria and touch it up until she looked 18? You couldn't possibly improve your portfolio any further, by adding a lighting shot, a night shot of a ferris wheel, an adorably posed puppy, a busy city at night from a building-top angle, or a tornado?

Well, OK, then, if you really have those things done, then you must be bored!

#4. Work on good customer relations.

This is where you scout for repeat business. Go through your list of clients and mail them a card on a holiday. Check back with some of them to see how they came out - add a personal touch here. When you put in a little extra work to show your customers that you appreciate them, you can consider that time and money put right into your marketing expenses!

We hope you have enjoyed this and other articles about the photography business. You will also want to download "Income From Photography" right away, so I've provided a button below to do that. If you just landed here and don't know what I'm talking about, you can see the introduction page by using this link to "Starting a Photography Business ". Whatever you decide, I hope you have a pleasant stay on my site, and may all your pictures make the cover of Time magazine!