I once learned a valuable lesson in sales when I was remodeling my house.  
 
I purchased a home in Phoenix back in 2010. When I bought it, the family room looked like this:

I had a bunch of plans for fixing it up, including new wood flooring, new trim, fixing up the built-in, and covering the fireplace hearth in brick. Now if you've ever been through a home renovation, you know how exhausting it can be and how many endless decisions you have to make. In many ways, it's like planning a wedding. You don't have a whole lot of experience or knowledge of the industry, but you need to make gazillions of choices that will impact the end result you get to live with for a long time to come. No pressure :).  
 
Being the efficient and decisive person I am, I wanted to work through my checklist and get the process moving. One day I took my mom along with me to a local brick store to pick out the brick for the fireplace. I knew I wanted a basic red brick that might look like it was original to my 50s ranch home. I figured I could be in and out of that store in 20-30 minutes tops with one less thing on my list. We walked into the small store that wasn't much bigger than the family room I was remodeling, and found ourselves alone with the store manager. He was friendly and talkative. On all of the store walls hung one-by-one foot samples of various brick styles:

I filled the manager in on my project in hopes that he could help direct me to the best options for me. As I looked at the brick, attempting to envision them on my fireplace hearth, the manager continued to chat, giving me more and more options. It was clear that he was excited. This guy loved his job and was completely geeked out on all things brick. I loved his passion, but as I was browsing, I felt my blood pressure begin to rise as he piled on the options. I did everything but say the words "I'm sharing all of this with you so that you will help me make a decision," but he wasn't picking up the hints I was dropping. In the end I left the store feeling overwhelmed and confused. I had walked into that store that day fully expecting to give them my money. Instead, I walked out empty handed. The way that store manager had directed his passion and excitement for his specialty had unknowingly cost him a sale.  
 
A few days later I did go back to that brick store. But I put my blinders on, didn't talk to the manager, and picked out some brick in minutes. I was bound and determined. And this was the end result of my remodeled family room:

This experience taught me that customers don't want too many options. They look to the experts for help in narrowing down those options.  
 
As a wedding photographer, I am excited about wedding albums. I go to trade shows and geek out on all of the paper and cover options. I love to feel and touch them. But even though WE are excited about albums, it behooves us as photographers to realize that our clients aren't nearly as passionate about them. They want a great album to cherish for their lifetime, to be sure, but they want to be able to see what they are looking for, point to it, pay for it, and cross one more thing off their list.  
 
If we want to increase our album sales and serve our clients well, we need to make choices easier on them. Just because the album company I use gives me 5 paper options, 10 cover options and 5 album styles, doesn't mean I have to pass all of those options on to my clients. If I were to do so, I would be putting up an obstacle to a sale and unnecessarily complicating my clients' lives. Instead, I have picked out one album size, one cover option and one paper type that I LOVE from my album company, had a sample album created with it, and that is one of the two options I give my clients. The other option is a completely different album from another company -- again with one size, one paper type, and one cover option. That way my client has two choices and can point to one or the other. If they ask for more options on the cover or size of the album, I can always offer those. But I only do so if they ask. Typically they don't. They fall in love with one of the two options, point to it, and sign the contract. DONE. 
 
In your album sales process, make choices easier on your clients by picking what YOU love and showing it to them. Offer one or two options. They will love you for walking them through a world that is foreign to them and for being the expert that guides them to exactly what they are looking for.  
 
 
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And exciting news! If you're a photographer who wants to start offering albums without investing hours of guesswork and trial and error -- we have a solution for you! Check out the Album Start-Up Kit and start maximizing your profit today! 

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Blog post written by: Melissa Jill

Jean Smith does it again!  
 
We're approaching 200 albums designed for talented Detroit wedding photographer Jean Smith in the past 12 years and have featured over 15 of our favorites on this blog.  
 
We. Cannot. Get. Enough.  
 
Jean can do no wrong. She photographs every single wedding day so flawlessly and her composition, use of light, and documentary story-telling skills always impress.  
 
The album designs we are able to create with Jean's work are definitely stand-outs. Take a look at the first spread below, for instance. We love the mix of black and white and color images, the tight and wide compositions, and how each image stands so beautifully on its own yet fits so cohesively together with the others as a unit on this filmstrip spread.

Here are a few of our other favorites from this gorgeous design:

To see the design in full, click through the slideshow: 
 
 
 
Thank you, Jean, for trusting us all these years!

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Design by: Kari (View More) // Design style: Classic (View More) // Blog post written by: Melissa Jill

Today's featured album design is one we created for talented Florida wedding photographer Ailyn La Torre. Over the past 4 years we've designed nearly 50 album designs for Ailyn and each one has been such a treat to create! Her clean, bright, modern and classic photography style lends itself so well to telling the story of a wedding day on the pages of an album.  
 
Ailyn used our Hands-off Service on this design, which really streamlined the revision process, allowing us to communicate directly with her clients, saving her from being the "middleman".  
 
From the bride's stunning Isabel O'Neil gown to the picturesque outdoor palm-lined venue, this wedding day was so beautiful! It was our honor to design an heirloom album for the couple to cherish for generations to come! 
 
Here are few of our favorite spreads from this stunning design: 

To see the design in full, click through the slideshow: 
 
 
 
Thank you, Ailyn, for trusting us with your beautiful images!

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Design by: Shannon (View More) // Design style: Classic (View More) // Blog post written by: Melissa Jill

We get questions all the time from photographers (especially those who are just starting to offer albums to their clients) about which album companies we recommend. Choosing an album company for printing and binding can be a daunting task. After all, there are more than 100 out there to choose from -- all with numerous album styles and options. It's completely overwhelming -- where does one even START!? 
 
There are two suggestions I have for finding a good album company to partner with: 
 
1 -- Ask other photographers who are further along in their journey who they would recommend. Chances are, they've got some experience with a number of companies and can tell you some pros and cons about each that might end up saving you valuable time and money. 
 
2 -- Do some research at trade shows. Trade shows like WPPI are a great place to touch, feel, and compare various products like albums. I believe I counted over 20 album companies represented on the WPPI trade show floor. Because albums are so tactile, it's helpful to be able to see and touch them in order to get a sense for their quality and whether or not they will appeal to you. 
 
When you are talking with other photographers or with representatives from various album companies at a trade show, there are two things I would be on the look-out for when it comes to album companies:

By and far, these are the top two things I look for in an album company. I want to offer my clients a good quality product that will stand the test of time, and I want a hassle-free experience when I place my album orders. Oftentimes you can assess the quality of an album by handling it at a trade show, but the only way I've found to get a sense of what kind of customer service I can expect from a company before using them is to talk with their current or past clients. That's where talking with other photographers who have tried out various companies comes into play. From my experience, photographers are usually more than happy to either rave about their favorite company, or out a company for sub-par service. 
 
Since I fall into the category of the aforementioned photographers, I'm happy to share with you the two companies that I have used for my albums: 
 
Align Legacy Books (Pictured Above) 
Queensberry  
 
 
Queensberry has amazing quality and customer service. But it comes with a price. And I'm a little biased about our books we offer here at Align, but I think it's telling that I also offer them to my high end photography clients and they LOVE them! They are more moderately priced than Queensberry, so more accessible to more of my clients. I love being able to offer two very different types of albums. Click here to see a full blog post featuring my Queensberry and Align Legacy Book Sample albums! You can even click through the full designs at that link! 
 
I think it's also helpful to see which album companies are most popular among Align clients. We've created a Resource List for the Top 10 Most Popular Album Companies used by Align clients, along with testimonials from photographers who use each of them. Also included on the list is a general idea of what each company charges for a standard 10x10 album. You can download it for FREE today by clicking here and signing up for an account with Align -- no order necessary! Or if you already have an existing Align account and want a copy of this resource guide, you're welcome to email us for a copy.

I hope you've found this helpful! If you are reading this post and have a favorite company, please share why you love them in the comments below!

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Blog post written by: Melissa Jill

Oh my goodness! Wait until you see the portraits on the Delaware beach in today's featured album design!!  
 
Delaware wedding photographer Christopher Ginn captured the love, fun and beauty of this wedding day in such a stunning way! And you know we are suckers for some simple backgrounds -- which a beach wedding always affords! These serene images produce such clean spreads in which the subjects pop off the page. They are perfect in album designs! 
 
Christopher used our Hands-off Service which really streamlined the proofing and revision process, allowing us to communicate directly with his clients to make sure the design turned out perfect for them. 
 
We couldn't love this design more! Here are a few of our favorite spreads:

To see the design in full, click through the slideshow: 
 
 
 
Thank you, Christopher, for trusting us with your clients and images!

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Design by: Rachel (View More) // Design style: Classic (View More) // Blog post written by: Melissa Jill