Bill's comments last week about making things happen and avoiding the Doom and Gloom brought this phone conversation from a reader requesting to stay Anonymous . . .

My inventory was up over $150,000 on December 1st . . . and my sales were up over $100,000 in December . . . my inventory was higher than last year going into January and my January was up $100,000 in sales also. End of January it was about normal so I bought more. It took guts but I guessed what cameras and lenses would be hard to get and what would I not be able to replenish. I sold (Nikon) D3s, (Canon) 7Ds and 5Ds because I had them. I know the big dogs eat first so I had to belly up to the bar and take the risk. It was a good risk, knowing these cameras weren't going to be phased out any time (real) soon.

I had a college student drive over half an hour to buy a 5D in December (with cash!) I was the 5th place he had contacted - he did not even know we existed - now we may have a lifelong customer. He came out to us only because we had it in stock. Once he was here he could see who we were and he seemed to be comfortable with us and like us. Yes these cameras are really low margin - but when we added on PROMASTER accessories like the filters, batteries and the remotes we doubled or tripled our margin on the sales.

What many retailers forget is that 2010 is different - if you don't have it in stock the customer can get it on-line quicker than you can get it from your wholesale source. So we're paying more attention to being sure we have the hot stuff in stock. . . and when we get it we watch it like hawks so if the market shifts we can move it out, even if it's to fellow PRO members who will help us move inventory. Inventory management is critical.

Sure, our advertising was tweaked, yes we hope our people were more attentive . . . but without the product on hand for immediate delivery we wouldn't have been able to make these sales.

Steve Wormser - Stephen Wormser Photography and Custom Framing - Redlands, CA, USA - http://www.stephenworserphotograpy.com

Chris & Bill,

Here is some info on our Dog Days of Summer.

We do a fundraiser for our local animal shelter every year. The fundraiser is done on the last weekend in July. It is done during one of our slower times of the year. It gets people in the door, helps out the shelter and is good PR in the community.

People in our community pay $50.00 for a photo session for their pet. $25.00 of the session goes to our animal shelter. They receive 1 5X7 photo from their session that we pick. The session is scheduled every 5 minutes with the exception of the last 10 minutes of the hour. The 10 minutes gives you a little break, plus helps you if you are running late. The pets are photographed on a white vinyl background. It is easy to clean up if something happens!

95% of what we photograph is dogs. We do photograph some cats and other animals. On Saturday we set aside 1 hour for cats and other animals in the morning. On Sunday we set the hour for the afternoon.

Customers come back in a week to pick up their photos. At the same time we put all of the photos we take for each client on line. Around 20% of customers order extra photos of their pets. We also offer notes cards, bookmarks and coffee mugs.

We also produce a 12-month calendar for the animal shelter with the profits going to the animal shelter. The pets for the calendar are picked through on line voting. We send our clients a link to a voting website. They can send that link to their friends to vote for there pet. We only allow one vote per pet per e-mail address. Last year we collected 500 e-mail addresses just from voting. We then have a big party to introduce the calendar. Our mayor announces the winners one month at a time. The average person who has a pet in the calendar buys 10 copies. They are also the same people who buy a lot of the extra photos, note cards, bookmarks, and mugs.

The book mark is 2"x7". We scanned a piece of mat board to come up with the background. We can print them 2 up on a 5x7 print, then we laminate them. We sold 67 of them last year - almost one for every dog we photographed.

To save paper, DIMA and PMA educational sessions have eschewed paper handouts. The handouts are available on line at http://www.pmai.org/pma2010sessionhandouts/

That's especially handy if you didn't clone yourself to be in 2 places at one time!

The MMIE will leave this link here for a few more issues, then you'll have to visit the archives to find it.

May 4, 2010 - NY/NJ PMA Division offers Insights, Solutions and Answers For Profitable Spring/Summer Sales. Begins with Dutch Treat lunch at Ft. Lee Doubletree 12:30 PM. PRO and IPI will have members-only meetings 2 pm-6 pm. Dinner 6:30 pm, followed by Spring Ahead - Catch The Cash Industry guru Bill McCurry reveals what's new that's working from around the world. He also uncovers the gems from the past that are still working and shouldn't be overlooked. Fort Lee, NJ, USA. For further information or to register contact Alan Neiderman alan.niederman@kodak.com

June 3-6, 2010 - PMA Australia, Melbourne http://www.pmaaustralia.com.au/

June 11-13, 2010 - Save the Date for Dixie Division of PMA. Atlanta, GA area - details to follow!

June 21-24, 2010 - IPI Members' Retreat and Supplying Partners Trade Show, Henderson, Nevada. By invitation.

July 16-20, PRO Members' Convention and Trade Show, Cleveland, Ohio - By Invitation

November 15-17, 2010 - 6Sight Conference - San Jose, CA, USA - http://www.pmai.org/6sight_09.aspx?id=15274

September 21-26, 2010 Photokina in Köln, Germany. http://www.photokina-cologne.com/

September 22-25 - CEDIA Expo, Atlanta, GA

January 30-31, 2011 - DIMA Conference, Las Vegas NV USA

February 1-3, 2011 - PMA Convention and Trade Show, Las Vegas, NV, USA