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Idea # 1 - Classes are key, but Workshops rock

There's more to education than classes.

There has been a lot of talk recently about the value of specialty camera stores running classes.

Like Social Networking it has almost become a buzzword that stores HAVE to be involved in.

But I have three questions to pose.

1. Are you running or in the process of building classes?
2. If not, why not?
3. Are you really making the most of the education opportunities available to you?

I don't want to spend too much of this issue discussing classes as that has been spoken about often enough already. But I do want to briefly touch on WHAT classes you are running and HOW MUCH you charge.

I strongly believe that classes are too cheap at nearly every store I have seen advertising them. They are either given away free with a camera purchase or sold for a nominal fee and you know what, we know for a fact that people don't value free, or cheap as much as they do something they have paid a premium for.

I understand a lot of stores use classes as their point of difference from their competitors and that is understandable but you don't have to give away, or heavily discount ALL your classes to do this.

Put on an entry level 'How to use your camera' course for all your purchasers and then lead them into more expensive classes and experiences through this.

In the long run this will return far greater profits for your store.

The main reason for this issue dedicated to education is to look at what other experiences you can sell to your customers that they WANT to buy and will pay a premium for.

So lets look at the natural progression of the Class - and that is the full day Workshop. There are a couple of major differences between a class and a Workshop.

We run our workshop is a full day event and make it very much "hands on" for the attendee. They use their camera and learn how to take great pictures themselves - as opposed to somebody TELLING them how to take great photos. We call it Learning By Doing!

Let's look at how a simple How To Workshop runs.

The morning session is a simple, two-hour presentation on what the functions of their camera does. This is pretty much the same as a class you are already running now.

After a brief lunch the attendees get their cameras out and run through a series of exercises putting the lessons from the morning session into practical use.

This typically runs for around four hours followed by a brief Q&A session and goodbyes.

A typical day like this runs from $199 - $249 a head.

And we cap the attendees at just 12 people!

Do the math!

This is a significant difference from a $29 - $49 class without significant increases in costs.

IF you can make this learning experience a fun, lively and entertaining day where your attendees have finally grasped some of the abilities of their camera then you will have someone who is VERY keen to continue their learning and will be asking what other Workshops you run.

We normally cap the attendance at 12 but for this big event, went to 4 instructors to handle the truck-load of attendees!

This process is incredible to watch as people with an interest in learning how to use their camera suddenly become incredibly passionate about photography because it is finally making sense to them.

They become evangelists for your company and start to recommend your Workshops to everyone they know - and even to people they DON'T!

What kinds of Workshops are people looking for?

We run:

• How To Use your DSLR
• Creative Natural Light Portraits
• Advanced Portraits - Pose & Compose
• Creative Flash Photography
• Advanced Wireless Flash Photography
• One and Two Day Wedding Photography
• Studio Lighting

A lot of people who attend the initial How To Workshop go on to attend ALL the Workshops we do - even if they have NO intention of becoming a Wedding Photographer - they just love the experience.

Of course once your clients have been through all your courses you need to be able to offer them other things for them to do with their cameras.

So we run PAY TO SHOOT Photo Shoots - that's right, we set up cool and interesting photo shoots that WE want to have the chance to shoot and then we charge people to stand next to us and take the same photos.

These shoots normally last 3-4 hours, are run after Work so people can easily attend and we charge $149 - $199 a head to attend. We limit this to 14 attendees per event.

We run a series of six different shoots in summer which we call our Summer Series - these are all run outdoors in public places so there is no venue fees.

You can buy a series pass for $699.00 a head or individual events for $149.00.

When winter comes we don't shut down we simply move indoors and run our Winter Series (creative names, huh?).

This is a series of 6 indoor shoots based around different themes and lighting techniques. Because there is the addition of venue costs for this series we charge $999.00 for a series pass and $199 for a single event. Will people pay this much money??? We announced our Winter Series solely on Facebook - no other advertising - and had our first full-series pass sold within 55 SECONDS of posting.

We sold three series passes in the first hour!

Why are people paying this sort of money to take photos? Because they want an EXPERIENCE with their photography and more than likely they will not go to the effort to set up a shoot like these for themselves so they are happy to come along and join in the fun.

Another very vital reason in that they get to spend time with people who are passionate about the same thing they are - as one of our customers said ' I love coming to these events and spending time with like minded people because it NORMALISES MY PASSION!' - a very powerful statement.

OK so we put on one and two day Workshops, we run cool evening shoots what else can we do?

Run One on One Workshops - personalised Workshops covering any aspect of photography the customer wishes to focus on.

We charge between $1200 and $1500 for a day to run these depending on the needs of the client.

Now even if you NEVER get a single person willing to spend that sort of money on a One on One if you promote the fact that you do you will, if nothing else, really be showing that you ARE the experts. And you might be surprised as to how many people want this kind of personal attention.

The next natural conclusion to your offerings are Tours - these can be as simple or as complex as you wish but getting your customers onto a bus/plane/train and heading somewhere for a shooting experience is something they will LOVE you for! It can be as simple as a weekend in the country or a multi week international tour - the choice is yours. Start small and see where it takes you - once again you might be surprised.

People everywhere are looking for experiences in their lives - they are prepared to pay a LOT of money to have these experiences.

I am a mad keen fly fisherman and on a recent trip to New Zealand on a photo tour I checked out local guides for a day out on the water after the group had gone home. The price? $550 - $750 for a DAY! And guess what, they were all booked up and I couldn't get in.

We are told by retailing experts that we must give our customers a great experience when shopping with us - but it doesn't mean we have to give these experiences away!

Editor's Note: Glynn Lavender and his co-instructor Shelton Muller travel the world putting on workshops for dealers. Both Glynn and Shelton are world class promoters. They tend not to overmarket what they can do for retailers.

We've been impressed with Glynn's marketing ideas since he first showed up at Marketing Idea Exchange #1 . . . The dynamic duo recently did a workshop in the parking lot of Paul's Photo in Torrance, CA. Check out some of what they do at http://www.creativephotoworkshops.com.au (make sure you have the "au" on the end) or http://www.facebook.com/album.php?profile=1&id=111754658498#!/pages/Melbourne-Australia/Creative-Photo-Workshops/111754658498