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Milton Gan of miltongan.com is a Sydney based wedding photographer who works alongside his wife Amy in their business. When you check Milton's website, you'll immediately see he's passionate about wedding albums and how important they are to his clients. You'll also notice they are included in all of his collections. In this interview, Milton shares his views on the business and art of wedding albums.
It’s my belief that it’s our responsibility as wedding photographers to offer albums. Even if it’s just one style, offering albums is something that is really important. We should undertake that obligation to offer them to our clients. – Milton Gan
Milton has photographed over 200 weddings in the last 6 years and is already almost fully booked for 2017. He is also a passionate educator, mentor and advocate for the photography industry and was the AIPP NSW State President from 2014-2016.
Here’s some of what we cover in this interview:
What’s on Offer for Premium Members
If you’re a premium member, you should have received an email with links to your version of this episode where you can hear more of the interview where we dive deeper into some of the earlier topics plus some new ones that I pushed for and include:
If you’re on the fence about becoming a premium member, join with the $1 trial today and get access to the FULL interview with Milton, get access to an amazing back catalogue of interviews and ALL future interviews delivered automatically to your phone or tablet.
There’s no one solution fits all when it comes to wedding albums. – Milton Gan
Plus, access to a members only Secret Facebook Group where you can connect with other members and interview guests to help, support and motivate you to take what you hear in each episode and put it into action. You will not find more friendly, more motivated and caring photographers online.
What is your big takeaway?
Following this interview, I’d love to know if you're taking anything away from what Milton shared. Is there something you heard that excited or motivated you to the point where you thought, yeah, I'm going to do that! If so, let me know by leaving your thoughts in the comments below, let me know what your takeaways were, what you plan to implement in your business as a result of what you heard in todays episode.
When it comes to learning about selling, it’s important to actually practice it rather than sitting there just listening to other people talk and thinking “Okay, I’ll give it a go.” Nothing is better than actually doing it in real life. – Milton Gan
If you have any questions that I missed, a specific question you’d like to ask Milton or if you just want to say thanks for coming on the show, feel free to add them in the comments area below.
iTunes Reviews and Shout-outs
Each week I check for any new iTunes reviews and it's always a buzz to receive these… for a couple of reasons.
Firstly, it's confirmation that I'm on the right track with the interviews and that they really are helping you improve your photography business. That's awesome!
Secondly, iTunes is the biggest search engine when it comes to podcasts and it's your reviews and ratings that help other photographers find PhotoBizX. More listeners means more interviews and ultimately a better show.
If you have left a review in the past, thank you!
If you haven't and you'd like to, head to https://photobizx.com/itunes and you can leave some honest feedback and a rating which will help both me and the show and I'll be sure to thank you on the show and add a link to your website or blog if you let me know the URL of your website and your name.
Alternatively, if you've left a review for PhotoBizX and are looking for more backlinks to help your SEO, leave a review for the new Photography Xperiment Podcast and email me your key words or keyword phrase and where you'd like me to link to.
The NEW Photography Xperiment Podcast is live and available
Following the success and support shown by listeners after the experimental format of the recent interviews, the new Photo Xperiment Podcast has been launched and is available on this site and in iTunes now.
Interviews are underway and I'll be looking for new guests, not restricted to wedding and portrait photographers. If you have someone you think would be a good fit, let me know in the comment area below or email me, andrew@photobizx.com.
The idea behind these interviews is to get into the headspace of the photographer and find what makes them tick, what drives them, their thought process, philosophy on shooting and how they achieve what they do with their photography. So yeah, a little technique type content too.
These interviews will not focus on the business of photography – that'll be preserved solely for the weekly and unchanging format of the PhotoBizX podcast.
To hear these interviews in your podcast app, you will need to subscribe to the podcast – these interviews will not be delivered automatically if you're subscribed to PhotoBizX. Open your favourite podcast app and search “Photography Xperiment Podcast” or enter the feed URL, https://photobizx.com/feed/xperiment/ into the search field of your podcast app.
The last episode featured Craig George of www.craig-george.com who was also interviewed for episode 140 of PhotoBizX podcast in one of the most downloaded episodes where he shared how he rose from nothing to a fully booked destination wedding photographer in one year!
Last month, I saw a social media post from Craig that he is giving up on digital photography and moving to film. This goes for all future bookings and any existing bookings who want him to shoot film for their wedding. He's now facing a bunch of challenges including pricing, packages, education and having to re-learn how to shoot conservatively.
It’s so hard to be different. But it doesn’t matter because essentially nobody else can look through that viewfinder in my camera and nobody else can write the words that I write – Craig George
In this interview, my aim is to uncover why the change and the complete thought process behind the BIG change including how Craig is going to pull this off successfully and stay profitable.
The interview is available here: Craig George Interview
In Person Portrait Sales workshop with Anni Payne
Long time listeners and those who have explored the back catalogue will be familiar with Anni Payne from Milk & Honey Photography in episode 14 of the podcast when the topic was Wedding Album Sales, the Secret to a Successful Winter.
Anni and her husband Matthew are delivering an intimate group mentoring session for professional photographers who would like to know more about in-person sales with only 8 mentorees per session.
Topics to be covered in the session includes:
- Demystifying the business process
- Understanding the benefits of in-person sales for your business and for your clients
- Refining your workflow
- Transparent and ethical sales practices
- The Milk & Honey Photography portrait price-list, why and how it works
- Setting up your sales process
- Demonstration sales session
- Curly client questions answered clearly
- The process of educating, communicating and building trust with your clients
- Product options and finding what is right for you
You can find more information here: Fear of In Person Sales Sessions
Anni and Matthew have been running a terrifically successful photography business for over 20 years and always one to give back… I know Anni will be over delivering in this workshop, she always does.
Photography business workshops
Photography business coach, Mark Rosetto from episode 184 of the podcast has just announced his 2 Day, Shoot To Sell workshops for 2017.
Mark built and ran one of Melbourne’s most successful portrait studios, photographing approximately 500 clients per year.
Mark says, day one will be focused on using the genre and style you already have, you will learn the art of client education to grow your business, increase your average orders and have a greater consistency and predictability in your photography studio.
Day two will focus on selling with Preselect. Proselect is an in-person sales software for photographers which guides you through the complete presenting and selling process with your client. It doesn’t matter if you have never heard of Proselect or have been using it for many, many years. This workshop is designed for best practise, ease of usability, how to use it to increase your average sale and then how to close sales in a fun and interactive way.
More details here: http://www.markrossetto.com/photography-workshops/
These workshops will be happening right round Australia.
Links to people, places and things mentioned in this episode:
The Album Atelier Workshop Speakers
Milton Gan Editions on Instagram
Episode 083: 2014 APPA – AIPP National Photography Print Awards Part 1
Episode 132: Dan O’Day – The Secret to Becoming a Successful and Famous Wedding Photographer
Thank you!
Thanks again for listening and thanks to Milton for coming on and sharing his thoughts and ideas on what is making him stand out in the saturated market of wedding photography.
Right from the beginning I did feel that I needed to stand out and I’ve always liked doing things a bit different to the norm 'cause I think that is the best way to stand out and to mark yourself as being different. – Milton Gan
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
I enjoyed Miltons gracious way of rejecting vendors who he didnt want to add to his supplier list. I can imagine only having people you trust on the list makes it more valuable in terms of authority.
I really want to get back into making albums, especially for portrait clients.
Would the Atelier be good for those interested in that side?
Hey Teowai, I’m glad you enjoyed the interview and thanks for your question! The Album Atelier will definitely be relevant for portrait photographers as what we’ll teach with regards to selling, marketing and designing albums, enhancing the client experience, and through the role play work, can be applied to both portrait and wedding businesses. Let me know if that helps and hopefully I’ll see you in June! 🙂