Nigel's post about Chris MacKenzie creating his own luck reminded me the world is full of opportunities. The problem is to recognise them and take action. I was at a seminar in the States 2-3 years ago, a roomful of high net worth business people plus me. We got to talking about Queensberry, and wedding albums in general. Not one of them had ever seen a Queensberry or anything like it. One guy had recently married at an exclusive Carribean resort … spent a gazillion bucks on the event … and "ticked the box" for a shoot-and-burn DVD from the resort's tame photographer. I had to go and get an To View More >>

Meet Chris MacKenzie. He's new to the industry. He's working hard to build his business. He's doing it in the tough UK market. And, he's just set up a promotion with an exclusive venue in his area. A real 'corker' to use his words. "The first day I was there, I met the Executive Vice President at Pebble Beach Golf Resort. The next day I met a billionaire. On my third visit, I met an Australian couple who'd just returned from a luxury six week tour of Europe. They were so taken by my sample albums that the chap started asking about using Queensberry to display his holiday snaps." Now some might To View More >>

Darlene Hildebrandt was running a very successful Edmonton (Canada) studio with her first husband when we first met in 2000. She'd come from nowhere to become one of our best clients in spectacular fashion - spectacular because it happened so quickly! Often we find new clients "convert" their business to Queensberry quite slowly. In many cases they have contracts with their customers to deliver a Brand X album, and feel obligated to do so. But having made the emotional commitment to move on, Darlene wasn't prepared to be that passive. Every single one of her upcoming wedding clients upgraded to To View More >>

Kathryn tweeted Ian about his blog post on selling to men, saying her studio actually did better with guys than girls. He asked her if she'd mind sharing with us - Nigel Just like Johannes, I read Ian's comments the other day about selling to men with great interest, because of late, we've noticed a real trend in our business: Grooms seem to like us more than brides do! While that's actually mildly alarming in one way (we don't want brides NOT to like us!), it's also a good thing. It means we don't need to worry about the grooms seeming bored, terrified, or otherwise un-engaged with us and what To View More >>

[caption id="attachment_4040" align="alignleft" width="226" caption="Photo by: Kamila Harris Photography"][/caption] Hi! My name is Angelique Buckley, and I am the newest member of the Photojunction Support Team. If you are an avid reader of The Junction like I am, you may have already heard of me. I've been featured on the blog four times already, and can't wait to play a bigger role in the growth of Photojunction. So a little background about me... I am a huge nerd and I love photography. Maybe that's why I fit in so well into the Queensberry team? I studied Graphic Design in school, minoring To View More >>

.. that you are selling to? I read Ian's post yesterday and thought he had some really good points, but I wanted to add to the discussion by drilling down another layer to ask, "Who is the man you are selling to?" Here are a few possibilities and I am sure you are easily able to add more (so feel free to contribute your thoughts): 1 The besot - hopelessly in love and a cinch for a big album. 2 The control freak - Needs to believe that they have choices. The choices empower them and allow them to "own the outcome". 3 The accountant - The value of the album is a number: that value equates to a certain To View More >>

My recent email suggested that if you can't name five things that differentiate you there is probably only one - price! Not a good look. Among the responses was this one: I'm so sick of working harder and not smarter with the middle to lower end. I want to start all over again and aim at the high end of the market with the best products and service. I have never done an album before. I made the decision to specialise in babies, children and family portraiture. I can visualise beautiful portrait albums sitting on my coffee table in the studio, but I don’t know where to start. Albums are not the To View More >>

Think of the best stuff you ever had. The best meal, the best coffee, the coolest shoes, the wittiest tee-shirt ... a fantastic book store, those amazing heirloom tomatoes. The people who provide you with amazing stuff are obsessive. Yes, they want to sell you something, but it's their obsession that drives them and makes them outstanding. There's a lot of obsessiveness in a beautiful album too, from the photography and design to the printing and binding. Every now and then we remind the obsessive people who work at Queensberry that our business is "not about the albums". Sometimes we remind photographers To View More >>

Who do we hope will read our Bride Book? Your clients! Our Bride Book is designed to drive business your way and add value to your photography. We currently include two books with every album we sell. Here’s how we suggest you use them. Don’t give them to the bride and groom Yes, we include books with each album, but they’re not for that happy couple ... they’ve already purchased. Take them out of the box and use them to book more weddings and more albums. When they book with you, give couples a copy to take home They’ll have something beautiful to confirm the value of Queensberry albums, To View More >>

New Research indicates that older people are indeed wise, both in knowing how to deal with conflicts between people and in accepting life’s uncertainties. This is called social wisdom. - recognising that values differ among people, - accepting that uncertainties are in fact a certainty, - accepting that things change over time, - and acknowledging others’ points of view. This is different to knowing stuff about technologies. As technology becomes the new playground the rules are the same but they execute differently. As photographers who ran successful businesses become last year's model they To View More >>