HaveMercy's Comments RSS Syndication from SeekingAlpha.com http://seekingalpha.comuser/272381/comments http://seekingalpha.com/article/92770/comments?source=feed#comment-268564 268564 * DSL - Several locations do not have it, and are running on the wi-fi pyramids. Christmas is coming, and this is unacceptable.
* Prices - Collections are to high for a Wal-Mart consumer. You are essentially driving business away. AO's are to low, and you're giving away the house. It's time to find a happy medium.
* Assess your Regional, and MM's. Most are incompetent, and the reason for the high turn around, and extensive training/labor costs.
* Hire sales people JUST for sales. That will be their only function. These are the people you send out to acquisition when it’s slow, and if they’re doing their job it will NEVER be slow.
· Keep the photographers in the camera rooms. That will be THEIR only function.
· Print in house. People don’t mind paying more for quality they can see, and receive in an hour.

Stop firing the talent that earns your corporation customers for life. It is the talent of the photographer that keeps your customers coming back, not any deal you can cook up. Hire actual photographers. Not any moron off the street to be a button pusher.


Provide props - actual props, not your cheesy cardboard flash cards, or fugly purple bears. To do this fairly, base it on the studios bottom line. Take a percentage off that studio’s bottom line each quarter, and create a “Prop” account. You’d be amazed at how far little things like this will go towards the morale of each studio.

I spent thousands of my own money to maintain my studio, and keep it up to date. That is what I built my reputation on. Offering creative alternatives to what the competition had by season. But why did I have to do this when it's not MY studio? Not my company? Not my bottom line? When I left, the customers went with me.

Build Morale. Your associates are miserable. They are abused, and threatened on a daily basis, and this reflects in sales.
]]> Mon, 29 Sep 2008 12:41:10 -0400 * DSL - Several locations do not have it, and are running on the wi-fi pyramids. Christmas is coming, and this is unacceptable.
* Prices - Collections are to high for a Wal-Mart consumer. You are essentially driving business away. AO's are to low, and you're giving away the house. It's time to find a happy medium.
* Assess your Regional, and MM's. Most are incompetent, and the reason for the high turn around, and extensive training/labor costs.
* Hire sales people JUST for sales. That will be their only function. These are the people you send out to acquisition when it’s slow, and if they’re doing their job it will NEVER be slow.
· Keep the photographers in the camera rooms. That will be THEIR only function.
· Print in house. People don’t mind paying more for quality they can see, and receive in an hour.

Stop firing the talent that earns your corporation customers for life. It is the talent of the photographer that keeps your customers coming back, not any deal you can cook up. Hire actual photographers. Not any moron off the street to be a button pusher.


Provide props - actual props, not your cheesy cardboard flash cards, or fugly purple bears. To do this fairly, base it on the studios bottom line. Take a percentage off that studio’s bottom line each quarter, and create a “Prop” account. You’d be amazed at how far little things like this will go towards the morale of each studio.

I spent thousands of my own money to maintain my studio, and keep it up to date. That is what I built my reputation on. Offering creative alternatives to what the competition had by season. But why did I have to do this when it's not MY studio? Not my company? Not my bottom line? When I left, the customers went with me.

Build Morale. Your associates are miserable. They are abused, and threatened on a daily basis, and this reflects in sales.
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