Business Day Thursday: My 5 Step Plan For Better Sales & Profits For 2012.

Good Afternoon Everybody,

All the orders have been delivered. The clients are smiling. The checking account looks happy. The dust has settled around the studio and the game plan is on for a brand new year. So what about you – what are your plans for 2012?

My 5 Step Plan For better Sales & Profits For 2012

I've said it to every aspiring photographer at many of my seminars and workshops. The year is coming to an end.  All the sales and profit dials all get reset to zero. And really, what are you going to do about it?  Too many photographers and business owners will settle into the same old habits that lead many to the same mediocre results as in 2011. Today is the day to resolve to put a new plan into action.  It's confession time and it's time to confess the highlights of this past year.  And, it’s also time to own up to your misses for 2011.

Here is my 5 step plan for better sales for 2012:

1. Review everything about your studio profits or losses - the high points and those not so high - for 2011.  What did you do really well, and where did you drop the ball?

2. List the best things that happened in your studio in 2011.  Maybe it was a new email promotion you started or a new Facebook strategy you tried that worked great.  Now resolve to make those promotions even better for 2012.  Don't leave a thing out.  Sit down yourself, with your staff, your spouse, fellow photographer buddies - anyone you can bounce ideas off of to make 2012 a better year.

3.  Reflect on the near misses for 2011.  What went wrong and why?  Could a small change here or there made a bigger difference in the profit outcome?  Maybe you just need to ditch the idea all together.

4. Introduce new products for 2012.  If you had some big hits in 2011, make them bigger hits in 2012!

5.  Write out your plan for 2012 - and then work the plan.

Hey gang, it all sounds so simple doesn't it?  But why do so many struggling photographers never get around to carrying out any of the five steps above?  Why do so many businesses continue to struggle because of their inaction?  Why don't they choose to take the road less traveled by less-than-successful businesses but heavily traveled by successful ones?

Success comes with planning and hard work.  Successful studios already know that and are well on their way to planning an even better marketing plan for 2012.  I sure hope you will too!  Plan to follow DigitalProTalk throughout 2012.  I promise to bring you hot tips and techniques, business web-casts, and lots more to help your business grow.  It will be a fun and profitable ride!

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Hey gang, that's it for me today.  My daughter, Elizabeth is in town and we're hangin' for the next few days.  Have a great rest of the day and I'll see you again tomorrow for a short weekend post.

See ya' then,  David