Using "The Stack" to Sell More Photo Albums & Books
An Interview with Shaun Gordon of KISS Books
Are you interested in selling albums and seeing those big sales roll in? Shaun and Chris are here to help!
Chris and Shaun start off by talking about “the stack”. Wondering what that might be? As Shaun shows in the video, the stack is a specific set of samples (he has a whole book on it right here) ranging from a 4×4 to 10×10 that will help you sell more photo albums. Check out the video as Shaun walks us through the purpose the stack and what it might look like for you.
“Keeping it simple and really engaging in the relationship is more important to me, but it’s just a set of samples ultimately to build off of, to show your clients what they can have, what they may want, with one being fully loaded, with a custom box and all the things that you want to offer.”
Shaun’s Recommendations for Wedding Photographers:
- Highlight reel of the wedding- 8×8 linen thin page album that is 10 spreads, 20 pages. Most clients will upgrade to the “full length story”
- Engagement book- 8×8 with places for wedding guest to sign
- Show your clients the 8×8, 10×10 and 12×12 with a few extra spreads in each one
- 8×8 linen with 10 pages is an affordable book if you are looking for a cheaper option
- Press printed book is an even more affordable choice that is still professional looking
Are Albums Right For You?
First of all, Shaun recommends thinking about if you truly want to offer albums and if you really believe in clients having printed products. You won’t be as successful as an IPS photographer if you don’t truly believe in the products that you are selling.
“Most photographers that I’m educating now don’t have [their own] album. So I’m like, ‘cool, that’s a great place to start. Why don’t you get yourself an album or let us do the design and we’ll treat you like a client. We’ll show you what the process is like. And then I want you to sit down and feel all the feelings when you flip through it for the first time and tell me that it’s not different than flipping through a phone.’”
So many times we hear photographers say that their clients only want digital files or that they want to serve their clients, not sell. Chris and Shaun both agree that selling can be service when it’s done the right way.
As an IPS photographer, when you take your client through the process of building an album or designing a gallery wall, you are fully serving that client.
“What do we want our business to look like? Is it an extension of us? Is it this vision that we’ve created that is like this beautiful experience that the clients go through? When we go through somebody’s life, what is it that we left? What what’s the experience look like? What did they say about it?”
Albums for Other Photography Niches
There are so many photographers that use KISS Albums for family, boudoir and senior sessions. Shaun goes into detail about how one of his boudoir photographers sells 150 albums a year and averages a very high dollar sales average. He also explains how Rebecca Rice (you probably know her as the mini session queen) has started including albums for her minis using KISS Albums. Shaun also explains how senior photographers incorporate albums into their pricing.
“So when they’re talking to the senior, they’re like, ‘I know you want your images for fill in the blank, social media, Instagram, whatever their thing is, but the only way that you actually get the full-res image is if you print it.’ So then they start talking about the album, because then they get 30, 40 images in an album. Their parents get an album, they get the images”
Episode at a Glance
- 1:01 – Shaun introduces “The Stack” concept
- 3:44 – Shaun talks about how we have the opportunity to serve our clients with more than digital images, especially in the wedding industry
- 9:51 – Shaun and Chris discuss how to figure out if albums are right for you
- 16:59 – Shaun describes how to talk to your clients about albums and digitals
- 25:23 – Shaun and Chris discuss how IPS and albums apply to family, boudoir, and senior sessions
- 28:14 – Shaun explains the legacy books that they are currently doing for grandparents to pass onto their kids and grandchildren
