Heather Bookout – Episode 007 – A Photographer Podcast Interview

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Heather: [00:00] This is heather bookout and you’re listening to from nothing to profit.

Speaker 2: [00:05] Welcome to from nothing to profit, a photographer’s podcast with Matt and Kayak where each week they talk to photographers about what is working in their business now so you can swipe those ideas and grow your business faster. Welcome to from nothing

Kia: [00:21] profit. We are so excited today because we are talking with heather bookout from Huntsville, Alabama and she and her husband Ben Own bookout studios and they have been in business for the past 17 years. What I’m so excited about with heather is she’s probably one of the most creative photographers I know and whenever you look on like social media and Instagram, I feel like it’s just like regurgitation over and over and over of the same thing and whenever I see what heather’s doing, it’s just out of the box. Totally different but still so connected to what’s in style and really works with her clients. And so we’re excited to hear what heather has to say about being profitable and I hope that she’ll add in about being creative as well.

Matt: [01:10] Yeah and heather, I didn’t know much about you before, you know, Kinda brought you to my attention and you do some really, really amazing stuff. I mean on instagram and stuff like that. And then I, as you and I were talking leading up to this, we’ve talked over the last couple of weeks and I realized like how much of an operation you really have going, like when you guys are doing huge amounts of sales and it’s, it seems like it’s very planned but it’s very high in volume. I don’t even know how to describe it so I’m going to let you describe it, but it seems like you got really an amazing business in Alabama for sure.

Heather: [01:41] Thank you so much. We are, I’m so excited to be here. Um, that is something that I love, that I’m super passionate about is being creative and being profitable. So I am excited to talk about both of those things. I think it’s gonna be great.

Matt: [01:53] All right. But before we jump, go too far, tell us about your new puppy.

Heather: [01:57] Okay. So we just adapted a Beagle, uh, this weekend.

Matt: [02:02] So they have a southern, doesn’t have a southern accent yet.

Heather: [02:04] Well possibly. And we did name her rosie and we already have another dog that’s a Jack Russel Beagle mix and her name is barley. So we have a barley and rosie now and, and they are just so adorable, like we’re getting our cuteness overload every day. So I don’t know, I think it’s pretty great. We love it.

Matt: [02:21] That’s awesome. Alright, so I’m going to jump right in and kind of tell us about your expertise. I mean I, I kind of mentioned it a little bit, but tell us about your expertise and about your stylized and themes, shoots and all that stuff, kind of what you’re known for and what your business looks like.

Heather: [02:34] Well, uh, we just love creating really cool story inspired type sessions, so that might be like a mermaid and a pirate. Um, and then so what we try to do is create experiences that will work for both boys and girls and then we create a creek. My husband writes this amazing, beautiful story for it. And then, um, we create like a Disney ride type experience where we take the client that the child through this type of set with a story in mind and our goal is to hopefully sell them that storybook at the end. And it’s been really, really good. People really connected to that in the kids love it really well too because it’s kind of, it’s exciting and it’s fun for them because they’re acting out, pretend it’s like, you know, Hey, I’m a mermaid and this pirates trying to rescue me or, and stuff like that.

Heather: [03:19] It’s, it’s really fun. And then, um, another thing we do is we deal a lot of high end designer type sessions for families, um, and that’s where we kind of meet with them like an interior designer and this is so cool because we get to sit down and talk with them and create something custom just for them, which I love. Um, and the clients seem to really love it too, you know, just to kind of get something different that no one else has. And I don’t know, that’s what we do for our photography clients. And then for photographers, we really like to create organized results where we can kind of put together a specialized plans for each photographer so their business thrives according to what they do. So it’s not like replicating my business but it’s specific to what you’re passionate about and we make that a good plan together to support it. So it’s going to work really well and be successful.

Matt: [04:09] Awesome. So tell me, tell me a little bit more about the stylist theme session because when I had to do some research about what you guys are doing, my first impression was it was something different but you guys are actually doing like, so you’re, you’re building a plan and then you’re running a bunch of people through it and getting pretty high end sales. Like the one I. The one I think that’s really popular right now is like the Santa Experience, but you guys are like over and over and over all year long.

Heather: [04:33] Yes. We do like a fairy tale type experience when we’re not doing Santa. So we just had one called the enchanted oasis and it’s not terribly complicated the set, but the different things that they do in a set up in the, in the experience make it really interesting. So we try to create experiences that no one else would have a we are, you know, when I started the business there was like five photographers in my town and now there’s hundreds. So we’re always trying to think of ways that we can differentiate ourselves from others in our strengths. So my favorite thing in the world to do is design things, whether that be, you know, how the scene’s going to look in a portrait setting or like clothing or like how their hair and makeup is going to be. I just like all of that. And so I just, we try to really work on that and make that happen.

Heather: [05:18] So during the session then you coach them through an actual like experience. So rather than sit here on Santa’s lap and look at me and smile, you’re kind of telling a story that they’re living in, is that what you’re saying? Yes, kind of. So there’s the story really comes into play when they get the book and that’s where it all comes together and into life, but it’s super fun. So we have like these little mini vignettes where they’re like, okay, you look like for instance there’s a, there’s a scene that I do where Santa is looking in a book and they’re all looking in the book together and I have a light source coming from that. So we have Santa in the real life say watch what happens when I say your name, and then it’s really fun for the kids and then the light will go off and so. But that’s obviously not in the story. So we try to kind of create a really fun experience in real life. But then when they are, when they get the actual book, then that’s when the story comes to life a little bit more like that. So whatever we do in real life, we tried to make it fun, but sometimes it’s not exactly the same as what the story would be.

Matt: [06:23] That’s really interesting. And the way you described it to me is you kind of described it, it’s like a, like a ride at Disney world. So you guys, this is all planned and it’s Ah, that’s so cool. And so how many people do you guys bring through?

Heather: [06:38] So experience? So right now for our standard experience that we’re doing right now since it’s November is we have 73 sessions booked so and then we’ll do 10 in one day. We kind of group everything together in one day. So we’re really optimized and you know when you do, I like to group my specific types of appointments at the same time, the same day so I can really get in a really good flow. And we hire hair and makeup team. We hire a greeter to come in just that day. We have, of course Santa and we have a whole kind of well oiled machine from a group of people that we hire just specifically for that type of session. So it’s not something I’m carrying out a big burden for it with a huge staff all year long. But just for when we do those special sessions like this

Matt: [07:26] and you guys aren’t getting it, there’s just so people understand this isn’t like the $30 Santa experience

Heather: [07:31] as you’re making thousands of dollars per client. Last year our average was 2,204 Santa we’d look course with. We try every year we try to improve. So I’d like to, um, you know, over 73 sessions if we just improve it by 2000 or $200, that’s a lot of money. So just small little increments increasing or averages. I’m really help in doing that. That’s so fun. I love hearing about that. So I know we’ve talked about it a little bit, you know, with the question that we’ve just asked, but can you expand on, like what would you say is the thing that’s working now in your business? Okay. So I think the hardest thing for photographers is getting people in the door that are qualified. You know, we all know about the model calls and that tends to put people in the wrong mindset where they’re like, what can you give me for free?

Heather: [08:20] Or they say this horrible phrase and I’m sure you guys have heard it, oh, it’s not what I want, you know, I’m doing this for you. Like they’re almost like they’re doing a favor. Um, and so we tried to create that same sort of way. It works so great about the model calls as people are super interested in doing them. So we tried to think of a way that we could create that same sort of like mass amounts of people interested in it but also be qualified. So we switched to what we call an application process, but we never used the word model that’s super important. And um, what we do is we give them a really good incentive. Like we’ll do something like we’ll waive the session fee. So our session fee is $200, includes hair and, and we have a wide closet full of clothing.

Heather: [08:57] Um, so that’s normally what they would pay for, for 200. We waive that. And we also give them a free one image, five by seven. And then what we require of them to do is to pay their minimum order upfront, which is also $200. And in doing that it qualifies them and we had the whole application process that we do. It takes them through, hey, are you okay with paying for your $200 up front? And we have like bulleted questions where they can answer yes I am. Please pick me. No, I don’t want to pay for my pictures or see, I’d love to pay for them, but I don’t have the funds right now. And getting them in that mindset of going, okay, well if I can’t pay for it, I probably can’t do. It. Helps us really weed through people, you know, if they stay any of those two second options, we don’t choose them.

Heather: [09:43] And we choose all the people that said yes, I’ll pay for it. And that’s who we call and connect with. Do you have people that fill the whole thing out and say, no, I don’t want to pay for the pictures. Yes. Every now and then. But not normally. Usually the way the process works. Um, so right now I think we got a hundred and 40. No, no, excuse me, 120 applications, um, and for Santa and we booked about half of them. Um, you know, because we did get them from other sources, not just this one promotion that we ran. So, and what were, what were you do is we are always testing, like how can we improve, what can we do to improve our closing ratio on the phone? And one of the key things that we found is to really paint a picture following, like bullet points on a piece of paper and not necessarily a script because you don’t want to sound like a boring person.

Heather: [10:30] But just having, I’m like, hey, we need to cover this. And remember when you applied, we said this, that you’re going to have to pay for it upfront after we tell about how awesome it is. So it just doesn’t. You just want to take away all uncertainty. Anything that feels shady or not cool and replace it with excitement. And I cannot wait to do this. I want to come and pay for these pictures and get this awesome experience that’s so fun and different, but I think what you’re doing really works with what people want right now. They’re, they want to be special, they want to be chosen, they want to be famous. So yeah, that’s fantastic. And it’s one of those ideas and sales about pushing back a little bit and not appearing so desperate. When you push back a little bit that you may not be chosen, it tends to create that emotional desire and clients to want to be chosen and it makes them come to you a little bit more. It makes it easier to close the deal in and book the session.

Heather: [11:27] So this application live on your website. So no, no. We do this through facebook ads, so we spend every time we put an ad together, usually do one a week and will spend between 300 to $500 on our ad and we boost. It’s a boosted ad. So I know there’s a lot of different ways you can do it, but we do a post on our facebook business page and then we boost it and we boost it to a specific demographic we like to get that are between the ages of 28 and 45. And then there’s a, you know, facebook is always changing how they do things. But what we currently are doing is there’s a place for income and you can do the top 25 percent of people income. So they used to do it like how you can use to be able to do it by their house, which was awesome.

Heather: [12:12] But then they took that demographic away. So now we do it by the top income and then we also, when we’re doing Santa sessions or we do a children under 12, so they need to have children under 12. So we do all of those little breakdowns, you know, all the way down to a baby. And that’s Kinda how we really target our ads. And so a lot of people are confused when they first start doing facebook ads. And like, I don’t have a big facebook following, like I only have 500 people that like my page and so you’re putting it on your page but you’re boosting it to others. And so that’s confusing. And that’s one thing I’d love to clear out because I think that that’s something that could be really helpful for people just starting out as you don’t need to have a big following.

Heather: [12:50] You can put that money down and show it to thousands of people beyond your actual facebook reach on your normal page. So you’re doing like three to 500 per ad, is that what you’re saying? Yes, yes. Yeah. Well that makes sense. You’re not messing around, you’re making this. Oh yeah. Yeah. And so yeah, and we’re definitely get that we’re getting that return on our investment because this specific um, one, you know, we, you know, we booked, I believe it was 49 sessions in two weeks doing this in the last two weeks with Santa. So, um, you know, 49 times to you $200 is a huge deal. So you know, that’s can definitely can afford it even before you gotten them in for the actual session.

Kia: [13:34] Very Fun. All right, so tell us what you’re most fired up about in the industry. What do I mean? It doesn’t. What are you most excited about or what do you think? Yeah, I mean just when you think of the industry in general, what do you think of?

Heather: [13:45] So I love the fact that we all can be individuals and like if you want to just take pictures of pets, I feel like that you could do that and you could create a business plan that, that would create success in ut, thrive in it, and you do really well doing that. And then someone else could be super passionate of, you know, taking high school seniors and you could create the same sort of plan. I think what I love the most about our business is that you can really hone on your strengths and your values and what you really love to do and create something that is very successful. That’s fantastic.

Kia: [14:16] So our next question for you. It’s so funny, Heather. I knew this was gonna happen to me with your voice, you just sounds so finished your notes and I do this even when we’re just visiting on the phone, but I’ll forget that I’m actually doing the interview and I’m like, oh, this is such a fantastic podcast. And I’m like, it’s my turn. Okay. So Heather, what was holding you back from becoming a photographer when you. Very much

Heather: [14:44] so I think that, um, I think all of us struggle with this fear of failure. It’s, um, I sometimes you just, you know, anytime you do something new, if...