How many models/photographers make a formal analysis of the amounts of cancellations/no shows and use that as benchmark for any revenue estimates? As part of a simple business model?
It makes me wonder because most businesses do that. And their mentality is also "the customer is always right even when wrong" because of it. That is you call and say you want to cancel and they say to you "fine mr. hope we can do it again next time"
How complex is it to see you have x shoots this month, y # of misfires... so y/x = cancellation rate.
Compile over 12 months and calculate the std dev. and average of no shows + std dev = worst case ratio z.
And base the monthly revenues on ( 1 - z ) * mean amount of shoots per month.
z can also the the deposit factor i.e if 30% then ask for that much as a deposit.
I dont keep track at all. I dont get paid per shoot so that's irrelevant to my buisness plan. My plan is based on marketing the images that I have in the can. That's how a generate income. I only shoot maybe 10-15 shoots a year but all the revenue can come from just 1 or 2 of those shoot depending on the marketability of the work.
Images by MR
Posts: 6,039
Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
Synergy Visuals wrote: How many models/photographers make a formal analysis of the amounts of cancellations/no shows and use that as benchmark for any revenue estimates? As part of a simple business model?
It makes me wonder because most businesses do that. And their mentality is also "the customer is always right even when wrong" because of it. That is you call and say you want to cancel and they say to you "fine mr. hope we can do it again next time"
How complex is it to see you have x shoots this month, y # of misfires... so y/x = cancellation rate.
Compile over 12 months and calculate the std dev. and average of no shows + std dev = worst case ratio z.
And base the monthly revenues on ( 1 - z ) * mean amount of shoots per month.
z can also the the deposit factor i.e if 30% then ask for that much as a deposit.
For work? I have all sorts of crazy things go wrong. For the most part things run smoothly but when things go wrong, things go wrong!
Keep track of MM? I'd go nuts. Unlike the guy above with zero no shows in 18 years I have as much as a 25% no show record. Hell, maybe more. It's best to just click next and forget about it. All I've done is waste a few hours of a day off anyway and I'll survive that.
Not quite as formal as you mention, but even as a photographer who's doing this primarily as a hobby, I do an informal cost-benefit analysis. I compare the cost of beginner models flaking against the cost of more reliable, but more expensive models. (It makes more sense for me to take my chances with cheap or trade models and shoot stills if they cancel than spend a great deal more money, that I'll never recoup). I also conclude that given the cancellation rate, its not worth renting a studio or otherwise investing money into a shoot that may never happen.
That wouldn't be relevant to me at all and I'm not sure what the point would be even if it were. Some sort of projection for the income you'll make in the year? Or some sort of basis for how much to charge for cancellations and deposits?
It seems the problem would be that if you have a consumer based business llama ( ie shooting llama portfolios for income ) and you have a high number of no shows/ cancellations then according to your formula you would be charging a higher deposit than someone with a lower number of no shows per bookings instead of addressing the issue of why you have so many no shows in the first place. Also the fact that you would be charging a higher deposit could potentially increase your no shows and compound your problem which then compounds your problem.
Likewise if you are a llama making income from photographer clients that hire you to take your picture and you tend to have a higher number of cancellations than another llama, why should that fact be passed on to the photographer you are working with in the form of a higher deposit or any deposit at all? And wouldn't charging a higher deposit tend to have the reverse effect that you intend?
I guess I'm just not sure where you're going with this or what the intent is.
If you're simply saying that if you have 10 bookings next month and usually a couple of those fall through so plan on getting paid about 8 times or more if you're lucky then I'd think that would be obvious.
I don't know if would use that for projecting my earnings. We have almost never had a customer cancel, maybe have to change the date but if they want the images then they want images. I project based on past year and by season.
Now all this is about retail customer type photography. Model photography is a poor business model and one I would never consider to pay the rent on the studio let alone my mortgage...
Synergy Visuals wrote: How many models/photographers make a formal analysis of the amounts of cancellations/no shows and use that as benchmark for any revenue estimates? As part of a simple business model?
It makes me wonder because most businesses do that. And their mentality is also "the customer is always right even when wrong" because of it. That is you call and say you want to cancel and they say to you "fine mr. hope we can do it again next time"
How complex is it to see you have x shoots this month, y # of misfires... so y/x = cancellation rate.
Compile over 12 months and calculate the std dev. and average of no shows + std dev = worst case ratio z.
And base the monthly revenues on ( 1 - z ) * mean amount of shoots per month.
z can also the the deposit factor i.e if 30% then ask for that much as a deposit.
It's not rocket science...
Do it a simple way that it will benefit you. Mark down the reason and why it was canceled. The figure out what you are doing wrong so you can have less cancels.
Cancelations happen. Letting the customer know that my business is run off appointments, and I have them booked for that time plus obtaining a valid credit card encourages them to call within the 24-hour cancelation window.
Nobody cancels on me anymore...probably because I avoid high cancellation areas (los angeles, portland and miami in my case) and generally only book with photographers I've worked with before and major clients.
If you choose your jobs carefully you wont get screwed.
Christie Gabriel wrote: Nobody cancels on me anymore...probably because I avoid high cancellation areas (los angeles, portland and miami in my case) and generally only book with photographers I've worked with before and major clients.
If you choose your jobs carefully you wont get screwed.
Synergy Visuals wrote: How many models/photographers make a formal analysis of the amounts of cancellations/no shows and use that as benchmark for any revenue estimates? As part of a simple business model?
I'm sure any sales business would have some stats on their conversion rate.
I'm not sure how formal it would be other than X amount of calls vs potential sales, and X amount of sales vs cancellations.
Or how far in advance things are planned vs cancellations.
I know my rates, not very specific, but general ballpark to email/calls and booked shoots.
Synergy Visuals wrote: How many models/photographers make a formal analysis of the amounts of cancellations/no shows and use that as benchmark for any revenue estimates? As part of a simple business model?
It makes me wonder because most businesses do that.
It's not rocket science...
They do, really? McDonalds makes a formal analysis on how many customers flake out and go to Burger King instead? How do they do that?
Seriously, in about 17 years, I've never had a flake out on a tfp. But then, I do my research, and only work with experienced models. It's the "wanna-be" new models that I avoid.
On paid gigs, once I get a deposit, they never flake.
Ruben Sanchez wrote: They do, really? McDonalds makes a formal analysis on how many customers flake out and go to Burger King instead? How do they do that?
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