Getting The Most Out of WPPI

So, WPPI is over. You partied, networked your butt off, made some new purchases and hopefully, learned a thing or two while you were there. So now what, wait until WPPI 2012?

As much as I am looking forward to 2012, that would be the worst thing we could do. No matter how established you are or how “figured out” you think you have things, the one thing I have learned, year after year, is that you have to put all that new knowledge to work for you. And trust me, I know better than anyone how overwhelming it can be. I have been non-stop since Vegas, making major changes to my business with a to-do list that seems never ending. How do we make sense of everything there is to do?
Here are some tips and tricks to get the most out of your investment and time in Vegas.

Get Your Thoughts Together
The first thing we like to do at WPPI is meet every morning over coffee and review ideas, compare notes, etc. We love to bounce new ideas off of each other. In many cases, we are making changes to our business while still there.

At this point it’s not too late. Gather all your notes together, review them, expand on some ideas, new products you want to carry, new pricing models or different lines of business you want to pursue, and sit down with the team (or if you are the team sit down by yourself) and start mapping this stuff out.

Every year we are inundated with new products we see at the trade show. Not all of those products will be a fit for your studio, so, don’t get sucked into all the glitz and glamour of new products. Figure out how you can use these new products to make your studio more profitable. I am a big believer in investing in new products only if I can quickly measure their payback to the studio.

RadioPoppers are one of my favorite new products! Can I directly measure their impact on my bottom line? Maybe not, but I do know they will help me create a new look for some of my outdoor work, and that, my friends, will lead to greater sales.

Make a List
So you have all your thoughts and ideas together, but they should only be a rough draft at this point. And realistically, over the years I have found it’s pretty tough to implement more than three to five changes to your business at any given point in time. So don’t get too crazy here with changes or you will lose focus and ultimately hurt your brand—and your business.

Pick your top five ideas, concepts and changes, and drill into them. I am not saying forget everything else, but for now put them on hold while we attack the top five. If you successfully process these, then you can start exploring the other ideas you have. My recommendation, keep an idea book of some sort. I have one in my bag at all times, to which I am adding new ideas, Web sites and products all the time. It’s more of a reference list vs. a to-do list.

Now that you have identified your top five to-dos, start working the details. For example, a lot of you may be upgrading your sample albums for your wedding clients. Great! However, this stuff takes time. Typically, album manufacturers take 4–6 weeks to turn around your albums; and this doesn’t include design time. Now you can start to see the sense of urgency.

If you are starting to pursue the senior market, your list might be a little more detailed. Contact local schools, find a post card manufacturer, design and produce mailers, find and interview product ambassadors, produce sample products, shoot some updated portfolio work, define what new equipment will or might be needed, etc.

As you can see, some of these tasks can be labor-intensive and take a significant amount of time to execute. Here’s just some food for thought; when I am putting this list together I like to estimate the amount of time involved next to the task. This gives me a sense of how long something will realistically take. In addition, some of these tasks can happen in parallel—phone calls, samples, etc. So be sure to keep things moving to get the most done in the shortest amount of time possible.

Prioritize The List
OK, so now we have this master list with everything we want to do over the next 6–10 months, and we have put together all the sub-tasks associated with the major items. You should have a lot of things written down at this point. But don’t get overwhelmed. Focus, and I promise you will succeed.

Remember, as I stated before, certain things can happen in parallel. Don’t look at this list of 50 tasks and get discouraged. Start prioritizing your list and put them in order. Make sure you are working on something every day. Don’t let your shoots, editing, etc., get in the way. Sure, these are all things you need to do in order to sustain your business, but we need to grow our businesses as well. So every day make some time to knock one or two items off the master list.

Start Implementing 
Changes Immediately
While certain items on your list are clearly dependent on others, e.g., a new sample album, others should be implemented immediately. Since we spoke about pricing and packaging at this year’s WPPI, I know a lot of you need to tidy up that price list and adjust your packages. That needs to happen now! There is no time to waste with changes like this because as spring and summer approach, your shoots and new clients continue to receive your old pricing, making changes all the more difficult to enact.

Measure Your Changes
Like all changes, there are no silver bullets to success. We can’t assume that every change we make will be a home run. So we need to take a constant look at the changes we are making to ensure they are working, or if they might need a little tweaking to get them on track.

Pricing is a perfect place to closely monitor. I know pricing changes are never easy and are usually met with fear and uncertainty. My advice is don’t freak out just because one potential client questions your pricing or doesn’t book you. Remember that you made these changes to better your business and hopefully you thought about them beforehand, therefore, you have to have a little faith in yourself and in your ideas.
Give your changes time to take hold, monitor them, and adjust as necessary. I think you will find yourself heading in the right direction for both you and your business. My philosophy: Any action is better than no action.

Prep For 2012: The Road Ahead
This should not be a one-time only exercise. Every year, we make major adjustments to our business. I see it as a natural evolution of things. In fact, I truly believe the day I think we have it all figured out is the day we stopped growing—the beginning of the end of our business. It is with this belief that we head into each and every WPPI. It’s one of the best resources for professional photographers out there. Next year try coming to the event ready to make changes. Every morning sit and process what you have learned or seen, and how you can incorporate those changes into your business. And when possible, make those changes immediately.

Change is never easy, especially for those of us who like the comfort of our own little bubble. As I think back to my days at Microsoft, the one thing that has helped me grow is the understanding that the only constant is change. Nothing could be truer of our industry today.

Sal Cincotta is an award-winning photographer, author, speaker and owner of behindtheshutter.com, a site dedicated to training professional photographers.