This will be making it's way to an inbox near you over the next few days, and our card flyers will be coming through a postbox. As ever, you don't need to have received one, the offer's open to everyone, just book yourselves in!
More details soon!
Thursday, 25 March 2010
Easter offer email flyer!
This will be making it's way to an inbox near you over the next few days, and our card flyers will be coming through a postbox. As ever, you don't need to have received one, the offer's open to everyone, just book yourselves in!
More details soon!
Thursday, 11 March 2010
Caroline's adventures in websites...
Wednesday, 10 March 2010
#ring ring# Hi, Congratulations! You've Won!"
Sound familiar?
If you have kids under the age of 5 in Leeds, and you've ever been waylaid whilst you're out shopping in any of our great malls of commerce by some young hopeful with a balloon and some nice looking photos, the chances are that you've heard this line, or something similar at least once. And that you were surprised, because your friend who entered also won. And your next door neighbour, and your sister.
The unsurprising truth is that EVERYBODY wins. There's no way to lose. Just put your contact details down on the entry form, and you can pretty much bank on being called up within a week or so and told that you've been drawn as a runner up and that you've won a free shoot and a free small print, all you need to do is to make the appointment at the portrait studio in question, and Bob's your uncle.
And from there on, you can safely expect to receive reminder phone calls if you don't take up the "prize," and your details will make their way onto a database and a mailing list, firstly for the company's next promotion, and then for other products aimed at parents with kids under 10, when they sell your details on to a list broker.
We know about it, because we used to work for a company who did it.
And when Jo and I set up HSP, the very first thing we promised ourselves was that we wouldn't do that. Ever. Aside from it being soul destroying as a photographer to spend a day luke-warm calling people who don't really want what you're desperately trying to remind them they once considered, there's something demeaning about having to lie to get business in.
So, we haven't done it. We have no telesales team, and we've done no standing around in draughty shopping centres, there's no HSP balloons, no competition entry cards, and we haven't resorted to laboured and cheesy attempts at chatting up parents.
We knew it would be slow going to set up our stall in a saturated market, and to get the word out about our studio, but we wanted to do it properly, establishing a reputation and gaining new business by word of mouth, and that's the way we've done it. We've kept several families whom we first met at the old place, and it's been a great pleasure to have developed those relationships and watched the kids grow over the years, and fantastic when their friends and extended families come to us because we've been recommended.
We're proud of our work, but we're relaxed, friendly and open, and it means we don't have to go out there and bully and cheat people into booking in. If you give us your phone number at the time of the shoot, we'll only use it to call you to tell you your prints are ready. If you give us your email address, we might send you a quick few lines telling you about our offers (as and when I get round to writing them). And if you really want to find out what's going on at HSP, you can subscribe to the Facebook page or follow us on Twitter. And that's as far as it goes.
So when you next find yourself answering that phone call and wishing you'd never filled in the card, but you still want some shots taking, remember there's another way and come and see how we do it.
Sorry, you haven't won anything, and a free shoot is what all of our customers get whenever they book in. We have offers on at every school holiday, generally a free print, and everyone booking in gets the same.
You only pay for the images you love, finished the way you want them. We are open about our prices, which are all listed on our website, so you can have an idea of how much you can expect to spend, and we offer and fun and relaxed experience in a fully equipped studio, with experienced professional photographers with a personal interest in making it work for you because we are the owners of the business.
Sound better?
Hope so. We look forward to seeing you!
Caroline and Jo.
If you have kids under the age of 5 in Leeds, and you've ever been waylaid whilst you're out shopping in any of our great malls of commerce by some young hopeful with a balloon and some nice looking photos, the chances are that you've heard this line, or something similar at least once. And that you were surprised, because your friend who entered also won. And your next door neighbour, and your sister.
The unsurprising truth is that EVERYBODY wins. There's no way to lose. Just put your contact details down on the entry form, and you can pretty much bank on being called up within a week or so and told that you've been drawn as a runner up and that you've won a free shoot and a free small print, all you need to do is to make the appointment at the portrait studio in question, and Bob's your uncle.
And from there on, you can safely expect to receive reminder phone calls if you don't take up the "prize," and your details will make their way onto a database and a mailing list, firstly for the company's next promotion, and then for other products aimed at parents with kids under 10, when they sell your details on to a list broker.
We know about it, because we used to work for a company who did it.
And when Jo and I set up HSP, the very first thing we promised ourselves was that we wouldn't do that. Ever. Aside from it being soul destroying as a photographer to spend a day luke-warm calling people who don't really want what you're desperately trying to remind them they once considered, there's something demeaning about having to lie to get business in.
So, we haven't done it. We have no telesales team, and we've done no standing around in draughty shopping centres, there's no HSP balloons, no competition entry cards, and we haven't resorted to laboured and cheesy attempts at chatting up parents.
We knew it would be slow going to set up our stall in a saturated market, and to get the word out about our studio, but we wanted to do it properly, establishing a reputation and gaining new business by word of mouth, and that's the way we've done it. We've kept several families whom we first met at the old place, and it's been a great pleasure to have developed those relationships and watched the kids grow over the years, and fantastic when their friends and extended families come to us because we've been recommended.
We're proud of our work, but we're relaxed, friendly and open, and it means we don't have to go out there and bully and cheat people into booking in. If you give us your phone number at the time of the shoot, we'll only use it to call you to tell you your prints are ready. If you give us your email address, we might send you a quick few lines telling you about our offers (as and when I get round to writing them). And if you really want to find out what's going on at HSP, you can subscribe to the Facebook page or follow us on Twitter. And that's as far as it goes.
So when you next find yourself answering that phone call and wishing you'd never filled in the card, but you still want some shots taking, remember there's another way and come and see how we do it.
Sorry, you haven't won anything, and a free shoot is what all of our customers get whenever they book in. We have offers on at every school holiday, generally a free print, and everyone booking in gets the same.
You only pay for the images you love, finished the way you want them. We are open about our prices, which are all listed on our website, so you can have an idea of how much you can expect to spend, and we offer and fun and relaxed experience in a fully equipped studio, with experienced professional photographers with a personal interest in making it work for you because we are the owners of the business.
Sound better?
Hope so. We look forward to seeing you!
Caroline and Jo.
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