Most people are creatures of habit. When we found something that works for us, we keep on doing it. I was speaking last year with Wayne Kaulbach of Skylight Images. He specializes in portraits, high-end portraits, expensive portraits.

During the conversation, I asked him how he gets new customers:

We both live British Columbia, Canada, and many public schools and most private schools have yearly fund raising with silent auctions. A silent auction is a variation of the regular auction. There is no auctioneer and the bidders write down their bid on a sheet with the goods/services going to the highest bidder.

After drilling, probing and pulling teeth, he revealed his secret sauce:

1. Offer a portrait shooting session and one print.
2. Give the value of the portrait shooting session and the print.
3. Display a few sample portraits.

The problem, with these silent auctions, was that a lot of the people that won the silent auction would not call to make the appointment for the portrait session.

So back to the drawing board and make some fine tuning:

1. Offer a portrait shooting session and one print.
2. Give the value of the portrait shooting session and the print.
3. Display a few sample portraits.
4. Put a very short expiry date for the portrait session.

Bingo! Almost all the winners call within a couple of weeks. The short expiry date is what gave the “kick in the ass” and got the people moving.

This works very well for Wayne, can you modify it to fit you? or simply copy it?