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Kickbacks! |
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Be careful. Over the years that I have been involved in the industry have seen many different forms of kick backs,from 10% of the sales too gram pa's farm. It is a means for the club to earn money. Some Kickbacks can create that exact illusion for the club without hurting your profitability. Others can put you out of business. 10% back seems to be more popular these days but is not the route that I would take. This process gives every club the rights to your books. If they feel you are holding back then they can have you audited so be careful of how you approach this subject. Every club wants something for nothing, freebies and kickbacks are created by You through the cut throat competition in this industry. It is becoming increasingly difficult to make a profit when everyone wants a larger piece of the very small pie made from a memory mate. When approaching a club you need to find out if photo's are included with the registration fees or not and if they are how much is allotted to photo's. If Photo's are included in registration then you have a tool to use. Generally they will ask for the going retail rate of a memory mate in the fees. If you are able to produce the product for that and kick back a $1.00 a head then it is a great incentive, particularly for the large clubs. Where I come from they had four different systems system 1. referred to an A system where by the club contracted a photographer to shoot the club and provide each club member with a memory mate for an agreed upon rate. System 2. referred to a B system Where the photographer was awarded the contract to shoot the club and hand out sales envelopes in hopes of orders. Until recently no kick back required. B system Memory mates where always higher priced $1-2.00 because sales where not guaranteed. ie the older kids. System 3. is a combination of the two where by the club insists each player gets a memory mate and allows the photographer to hand out sales envelopes in hopes that sales will result. System 4. Rather than a memory mate the club would hand out sales envelopes
which contained a discount for the face value of the standard memory
mate that could be put towards the purchase of any package on the envelope. Where is the kickback? Hidden from the view of other clubs and your competition in the form of an invoice for the combo. The club may collect $5-8.00 for photo's but will only be invoiced $4-6.00 for the discount they keep $1-2.00 dollars a head and the sales are increased because package prices don't seem so high.
Your Solutions: 1. "I certainly agree with this. What I have done is this: For the coaches who have kept their teams organized during the photo shoot I have rewarded them with a photo button of their child. For the leagues who order very little I don't include many extras."
RESPOND TO james@sportsolutions.net
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