Executive Officer of the AIPP, Peter Myers, announced last night at the 2015 Australian Professional Photography Awards (APPA) that Photography will finally be recognised as a profession in Australia following consultation with the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC).

In this interview, Peter shares his thoughts on the announcement and what it will and could mean for profession photographers in the future. In conjunction with the news, I ask Peter exactly how the AIPP works in regard to the different membership elves, the awards, the point scoring system, mentoring and plenty more.

Following the short interview with Peter, we return to the Facebook challenge put forward by photography business coach Bernie Griffiths and examine why my results have been so good so far when some listeners are struggling with their efforts. We'll get into the guts of why Bernie's advice can work so well for some and totally flop for others.

NOTE: If you're not from Australia or the AIPP news does not interest you, jump to around the 35 minute mark of the episode.

Here’s some of what we cover on the AIPP:

  • Who is Peter Myers and what is his role in the AIPP?
  • The exciting news that AIPP has in store for photographers in Australia
  • Do you have to be a member of the AIPP to be recognized as a professional photographer?
  • What is a “professional photographer”?
  • What constitutes a profession?
  • How the new accreditation will affect AIPP members and non members
  • Requirements to become an AIPP member
  • AIPP Membership types
  • How the awards system works
  • Advantages of joining the AIPP

A profession is a group of individuals who work together under a collective organization with the intention of improving the standard of practice of the professionals and where all the members of that profession are bound together by a common code of conduct and code of ethics.

Here’s some of what we cover on the Facebook challenge:

  • Why some ads just aren't working
  • Copying is often frowned upon by creatives, not in this case
  • The look of your post before promoting it
  • Why you need to make your promotion as easy as possible for potential clients
  • Test and measure first, experiment later
  • How long to run your ad
  • How to target your ad correctly
  • Overcoming objections
  • Talking to clients about the photography sessions
  • When to talk pricing
  • The sales session and the 6×4 proofs strategy
  • What if you don't have a Facebook account?

Peter Myers Podcast Interview

What’s on Offer for Premium Members

Premium members can see a screen recording of me setting up my Facebook ad including budget, targeting, length of time and everything else from the initial post to having the ad go live – it's all there.

In addition for Premium members, I'm backing you financially, to get this weeks challenge done. Once you've followed Bernie's instructions, email me a screenshot of your ad on Facebook and I'll send you $10USD via PayPal. My email address is andrew@photobizx.com.

NOTE: This offer is for full and current Premium Members only and excludes anyone on the one month membership trial.

What is your big takeaway?

Following this interview, I’d love to know about your results from your Facebook promotion. How much engagement did you get, how many calls did you receive, how many of those calls did you convert to actual bookings and what about your sales? Finally, what did you learn from the whole experience?

If you've already tried and didn't see the results, please take on board what you heard in todays episode and try again. Do not give up on this after one failed attempt – it works if you follow what Bernie explains.

There has never been a better episode to get involved and share how you go with what you heard on the show. Please use the comments area below and get involved, share anything and everything you can about your experience.

If typing isn't your thing, use the voicemail option on this page and tell me how you went.

By sharing our collective experiences, there is so much we can learn from each other and by doing so, we may find new ways to grow each of our own photography businesses.

If you have any questions that I missed, a specific question you’d like to ask Bernie or if you just want to say thanks for coming on the show, feel free to add them below in the comments area.

Peter Myers Podcast Interview

$1 Trial for your Premium Membership

If you’re a regular listener to the free podcast, you definitely know you’re missing out on a ton of good content that could be the difference in you speeding up your success in this business or working things out yourself… slowly.

If you’ve wondered what you get for $20 per month with the membership, will it be good value for you or if you just want to get todays Facebook advertising video content, you can for $1.

You can trial the Premium Membership for a measly $1 for the first month! Here’s the link to go check it out and stop missing info that will impact your photography, your business, your life: https://photobizx.com/try

Any questions or hassles, email me or leave a comment below – hope to see you in the membership area shortly.

Sales Without Shame – Photography Sales Course by Kristen Kalp

I've been preaching the merits of Kristen Kalp's Sales Without Shame course after implementing what she teaches into my studio and seeing the results first hand.

After hearing about her strategy to use printed proofs for the sales session (part of the course) I promised to give it a try and have since seen better sales than ever before when combined with 3rd party marketing or promotional free shoot and print offers which I run regularly.

In the course, there is so much more to it than printed proofs! It’s a complete strategy for portrait sales including:

  • Products to sell and show
  • Overcoming and dealing with rejection or resistance to your prices
  • Questions you need to be asking during the session to give your client what they actually want
  • How to move quickly and completely through the session
  • How to deal with discount hunters
  • How not to give everything away
  • Using incentives to make the sale happen and actually get paid
  • What to do when the decision maker isn’t at the session?

In addition to the tactics you’ll find cheat sheets and forms to use during your sales sessions with everything laid out in order so you don’t miss a step.

If you’re struggling with sales and selling, you give too much away, feel intimidated by some clients or don’t feel you’re worth what you need to (and want to) charge, have a look at Kristen’s course and make use of the $200 saving with the promo code PHOTOBIZX.

Here’s the link: Sales Without Shame

KriSten Kalp - Sales Without Shame

Wedding Sales Course by Spencer Lum

I mentioned the free eBook by Spencer Lum of Ground Glass on wedding photography pricing earlier in the week and have since learned Spencer will be reopening his course – Momentum Sales shortly.

Spencer told me the course is opening early November but there is a webinar series starting this week and he insists there is a ton of good content in the webinar series, it's not a big sales series for the course – although I'm sure that will happen at the end.

My advice, check out the webinar series, learn what you can from a master tactician in wedding photography sales and converting potential clients to clients then make up your own mind about the course.

Here's the link to find out more – Momentum Sales

And the free eBook on pricing I mentioned in the last episode – Pricing for Profit

Peter Myers Podcast Interview

Become an Affiliate Partner and pay for your PhotoBizX Membership

One thing I haven't mentioned often is when you become a Premium Member, you're automatically an Affiliate Partner with me and PhotoBizX.

If you're unfamiliar with the term Affiliate, it's where you earn commission for referring someone to PhotoBizX and they go on to become a Premium member like you. When someone does sign up (using your affiliate link) you'll earn 50% of their membership fee for the life of their membership.

Pretty cool hey!

There's absolutely nothing sneaky or shady about this and I don't want you to hide the fact you're an affiliate partner if giving out your affiliate link. If someone signs up with your link, they will find out about the affiliate program too.

Why have this arrangement?

Simply, I rely on the memberships to be able to keep the podcast goings – as you probably know if you've been listening for a while – I've talked about how grateful I am to members regularly on the podcast.

I can't think of anyone better to be referring friends and other photographers to PhotoBizX than someone like you who already knows the value of the show.

I've always asked for listeners to refer other photographers and now I have a way to actually repay and thank you properly for any referrals.

How to get started as an Affiliate Partner?

First, log into the membership area on PhotoBizX.

Go to https://photobizx.com/partner (click on “become an affiliate”) if asked.

You will see your unique affiliate URL – affiliate link in a box at the top of this page.

This is the link you need to use and share if you want to earn commissions from any referrals.

You can use this link in social media, email or wherever you like – it's unique to you.

How do you get paid your commissions?

Payments are made at the end of each month directly to your PayPal account.

Your affiliate link is set to take referrals to a special page with a $1 trial for the first month so they can check if the membership is a good fit for them. I won't pay any commission for the first month because it'd be 50c 🙂 after that, it'll be $10 per month for each member referred for the life of their membership.

Hope all that makes sense but any questions, email me.

Peter Myers Podcast Interview

Links to people, places and things mentioned in this episode:

Australian Institute of Professional Photography (AIPP)

Australia Professional Standards Councils

Professions Australia

Sales Without Shame – use promo code PHOTOBIZX to save $200

Pricing for Profit – free eBook by Spencer Lum for Wedding Photography Pricing

Momentum Sales – upcoming course for Wedding Photographers by a master tactician on the subject

Thank you!

Thank you again for listening to the show and thanks to Peter for sharing the exciting news surrounding the ACCC decision and how it will impact Australian professional photographers.

If you have any suggestions, comments or questions about this episode, please be sure to leave them below in the comment section of this post, and if you liked the episode, please share it using the social media buttons you see at the bottom of the post!

That’s it for me this week, hope everything is going well for you in life and business!

Thanks and speak soon

Andrew