Award Grad Photography Contracts Based on Service - Tips From The Office of Matt & Mary Sloan

Agreeing to allow your school photographer to photograph your grads, before experiencing their quality and service in the fall may leave your school vulnerable to poor service and only benefit the photo company. Although typical school photography contracts include both fall and spring photos consider agreeing only to undergrad photography initially, then based on service, award the graduate sittings. Most photographers will underserve the fall pics since there is a thin profit margin and fewer parents are buying photos. Most families have access to a good quality digital camera so many parents opt out.

Since senior portraits have an incredible profit margin (an 8x10 inch photo that may sell for as much as $40.00 has a cost of about eighty-five cents for most photographers) signing separate agreements for spring and fall photos is a great strategy from the perspective of the school. If during fall photos the studio sends too few photographers or doesn't respond quickly to parent calls or missing photo packages your school has the option to change companies.

Over the past sixteen years working with school Yearbooks we've worked with many photographers. Smart negotiating may be the difference between poor service from the photographer and a successful photo campaign in your school.

Best of luck this spring and feel free to call our office for more tips on working with your school photographer. #yearbooksuccess

The Office of Matt & Mary Sloan

Yearbookplanet Inc, Sloan Premium Solutions

Representing Herff Jones

Profit, Participation and Distribution - The golden rules of school fundraising

Spring is around the corner and schools everywhere are beginning to think about fundraisers. In speaking with schools the number one concern is managing the fundraising event. Consider these three tips when planning your next fundraiser.

Participation - Ultimately the fundraiser will need to appeal to the entire school. Will every household want to purchase a box of chocolate bars? What about note cards or greeting cards? Will the rising cost of postage and popularity of email and texting impact how many parents will purchase? Be careful of appealing to a subset of the population. A quality fundraiser needs to have mass appeal.

Profit Potential - Like the movie character Gordon Gekko in Wall Street once said "Greed is good". Working with your sales professional will help you plan the launch and potential profit. After all, raising the most funds is what a fundraiser is all about. Get the word out using the school's telephone messaging system or consider text alerts to parents via websites like www.grouptexting.com or Google Apps.

Distribution - Minimizing the amount of time parents or administrators need to get the products to the parents is key. Choose a product that you can distribute over a number of days. Products that require refrigeration or special storage may not be the best choice.

Participation, profit and distribution. Key factors to your success.

Want to learn more about profitable fundraising? Contact us at www.sloanpremiumsolutions.com

Regards,

Matt Sloan
President and Founding Partner Sloan Premium Solutions
Yearbookplanet Inc.
Representing Herff Jones
905.605.1069
e sales@sloanpremiumsolutions.com