Laying out a viewing room for your clients can a bit daunting. Focht and I have put some serious thought into designing our viewing room in our studio. We’d like to share what has worked for us in our viewing room.
First of all, this is a smaller room (when compared to the rest of the studio) with a low ceiling, so we were concerned with clients feeling uncomfortable. We chose a very warm blue/gray color for the walls. Psychological research shows that blue gives off a feeling trust. We wanted to choose a blue that felt rich, that felt like money. With this dark blue we wanted to choose furniture with a bit of color in it – not much, but a bit of color. The clients sit on our bright orange leather sofa. If there are a lot of people we also have our black leather chair. Many clients have said that they feel like they are in our basement living room. We like this, as we want our clients to feel happy.
Secondly, we have a projector and the largest screen that will fit in the room. We can’t go any larger due to the limited space between the projector and the wall. For in studio selling, you’ll want to show your images as large as you can.
Next, we have our album products on the coffee table in front of the client. Albums are one of our most popular products with our portrait clients. Having them on hand, where the clients can pick them up, hold them and look through them is essential. Without touching an album, a client can’t have an emotional connection to them.
Finally, our various prints on the wall are essential to making large portrait sales. Statistically speaking, PPA reports that clients typically buy two sizes smaller than they see. If we take 8×10, 11×14 and 16×20 to be standard sizes, this becomes interesting. If clients see a 16×20, typically they will buy an 8×10. We like people to buy 16×20′s or at the very least 11×14′s for wall portraits. So we typically show 20×30 and 30×40 canvases and standouts in our studio, printed through ProDPI.
In the photo above, you can see the exact view that our clients see. Closest to our client we have a 20×30 on the wall on the right hand side. Next out we have a 16×20 collage and on the far left we have a 16×24 canvas. As you can see these sizes look to be perfect for an individual portrait sitting over a sofa or chair. If it is a family photo with 2 or more people in it we encourage them to go with a 20×30. On the far right, we have four 11x14s. People always ask, “are those 8x10s?” They are expecting that they are 8x10s and they would be a good size. When they hear that they are 11x14s, they though process immediate cancels out ordering an 8×10 for a wall portrait.
While this is a sales technique, it really helps us keep our clients happy. If I had a nickel for every client who ordered a smaller print, trying to save money, only to realize it’s too small for their wall, I could retire. Clients aren’t only coming to professional photographers for great photography, but also for advice on how to use the artwork in their homes. A properly designed viewing room can not only help increase sales, but also help clients see what they need for their own homes.
I hope some of these ideas help with your own process of designing a viewing room or area.
Fundy
Fundy is the creator of the Fundy Album Builder, Mobile Fotographer and the new iPhone Business Card App
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2 Comments at "Viewing Rooms with Business in Mind"
Just out of curiosity, have you guys gone through the trouble of calibrating your projector and finding adequate brightness? How do clients like a large projection vs. something like a large LCD or plasma TV with smaller pixels? I never though the larger, more pixelated look you get with a projector gave a good idea of print size, but i never tried it on a client. What’s your experience with this?
We’ve never used a plasma. I think with a smaller room it would work well. We love the size of the projector and pixelation has never been a problem. If you are worried the new HD projectors (about $1K) are sharp as a tack.
Fundy
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