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After 35 years in the business, I agree with Kodak's statistics that the average person comes to a professional photography studio only once---maybe twice---in their lifetime.  Milestones like weddings, birthdays and family reunions are special occasions that give us the all-important “one chance to make a first impression”.

When shooting, and more importantly selling, the family portrait session, I found that the shortest path to a high sales average is the “indirect way”.  While we all know that breaking out family groups into smaller ones is a smart, and profitable approach to family portraiture, the advantages of that are abundant in the projection room.  After previewing the entire session, my sales consultant will begin with the smallest of the breakout groups, i.e. mom and daughter(s), dad and son(s), kids alone, mom & dad or the individual families of a combined group portrait.  Once the client has narrowed down their choices and committed to their favorites, they then move on to the largest family group. This is the shot they came here for--it’s a given; this is the “money shot”.

 

In the meantime, you have inadvertently committed them to an assortment of combinations for “collections” or “wall arrangements”.  Had you started by choosing the largest group portrait first, prices or preconceived “needs” may have an affect on the overall sale.  By using this approach, I have found that family portrait sales can easily double or even triple above the average.