Owning a Portrait Studio Franchise

This article offers advice on adding a portrait studio to your existing service, including advice from franchise companies in the industry.

Owning a Portrait Studio Franchise
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Adding a portrait studio to your existing services is an option that many retailers may be mulling over. Perhaps you've lost some revenue recently and are looking for a way to bring in new business. Or maybe you're plugging along as you have for the past umpteenth years and you're just itching for something exciting to add into the mix to satisfy the creative side of your business brain.
But do you want to start from scratch in building up this new niche (do you even have the experience to do so)? Or could buying into a franchise operation be a viable alternative? Whatever your immediate, gut response is to the above scenario, the answer to the franchise question is not as clear-cut as you may think. There may even be some valuable insights from the franchise companies themselves we talked to here that you should take to heart…
CLIX: Three-in-One Franchise With an Emphasis on Fun
One of the hallmarks of the Atlanta-based CLIX Portrait Studios, launched in 1999, is that franchisees get three separate revenue streams for one fee. "We have our portrait studio, event photography, and digital design center," says president and CEO David Asarnow. "At CLIX we don't just let you open up a studio—we really see a synergistic relationship between all our concepts. People visit CLIX because we have a great concept and a great product combined with outstanding service that's aimed at the masses."
The CLIX portrait studio aims to please customers on both an aesthetic and customer-service level. "What we offer is high-quality, boutique-style portraits that are competitively priced and available right away," says Asarnow. "We live in an instant-gratification society. People want what they want, when they want it. We offer minor to major retouching and special-effects images that customers can go home with that day. We offer that instant photographic gratification. People will say, 'CLIX is better than Botox, but a whole lot cheaper!' I guess you could say CLIX is a disruptive marketing force—we look for opportunities within our industry that aren't being served well and find a way to deliver a competitive advantage."
Having fun is at the top of the list for CLIX franchises as well. "We have that 'wow' factor that differentiates us from other studios—we're different from what people are used to," says Asarnow. "We really believe it should be a fun experience. We're probably the only franchise in America that teaches people how to make balloon animals the first day of training!"
So what would someone looking to buy a CLIX franchise need to have? "We look for personality and the 'sparkle factor,' says Asarnow. "More important than a franchisee's background is a positive, can-do attitude." And here's some sound advice that can apply to retailers looking to buy into a franchise or do it independently: "We look to see that they're going to treat their employees well, and that they understand that employees are a valuable resource versus just an expense," continues Asarnow. "If your employees feel valued, they're going to do a good job for you—your business is in their hands."
Being a photographer or retailer would perhaps give a franchisee an advantage, and they'd be able to pick up the CLIX system more quickly than someone who doesn't have photography experience, but to date, none of the CLIX franchisees have a photography background, according to Asarnow. "What makes us different is we have a great system," he says. "We're not just photography—we're sales, marketing, training, and developing. We teach people all aspects of business operation, including the photography."
CLIX, a member of PMA, has, in fact, had a few recent inquiries from people within the photo industry who want help with coaching, developing, support, marketing, advertising, and driving business. "That's where we can help," says Asarnow. "And I've received really positive feedback from photo industry professionals. They like our focus and how we're different from the run-of-the-mill portrait studio you see out there."
Not everyone, photo industry experience or not, would be cut out to own a CLIX franchise, however. "Not everyone is a good fit for being a franchise or being a business owner," says Asarnow. "If they are strong in certain areas and need help in others, we can guide and coach them toward success. We also look to see if they are able to follow a system. There are some people that are just too entrepreneurial and they wouldn't be happy in a franchise. Or some people just don't like dealing with people. They wouldn't do well in such a high-touch customer business as ours. Plus, are they comfortable with local marketing, since we are a community-based business? Do they have a strong work ethic? That's why we don't go out of our way looking for people who are experienced photographers, because there are certain skills we can teach, or we just hire people with those skill sets."
The CLIX training system is a four-week minimum program. "We teach owners and their whole team how to professionally preserve moments, and we do this through a proven and unique training process," says Asarnow. "Week One is focused on getting started; we start with location (we actually have a national real estate firm work with our franchisees), and then we go onto hiring, staffing, business development, goal setting, outside event sales, and on-location event execution. Week Two is studio operation, boutique-style photography, and technical software training. Week Three is customized to each franchise's needs—it's essentially a boot camp where we do one-on-one training. Week Four is an onsite boot camp on-location in their studio before they open to reinforce what they learned at the training center and to assist them in training their staff." Additional training and support is available as needed, including unlimited telephone support, daily and weekly business telephone coaching calls, and trainers that visit locations for additional support. "We're only successful if our franchises are," says Asarnow. "We are really focused on bottom-line, store-level economics, making sure they're profitable and making money."
The CLIX experience hits the road with its event photography. "We take our high-quality product and experience and bring it on-location as well," says Asarnow. "We photograph preschool, daycare, kids' sports leagues—children go home with their images that day. We also do proms and deliver the pictures on the Monday after the prom. On Monday morning, the couple is likely still together, and the pictures are part of the morning buzz. Then we get the reorders because Dad doesn't fully know what he spent on the prom yet!"
The CLIX digital design center has become a gathering spot of sorts at its different locations. "A few years ago I saw some scrapbooking companies starting to display at PMA, and because of this we developed our digital design center, which is really a photo lounge or spa," says Asarnow. "People can scrapbook without the scrap—we do it all digitally. They can use our predesigned templates, create their own pages, or give all their images to us and say, 'Here, create a scrapbook for me.' We have digital scrapbooking parties and classes, and we also offer video scrapbooks. We've even had scrapbooking birthday parties for teens. If people want 4x6s, they can drop off their media cards or discs—we'll even take out the red eye and color-correct; or, if they want to play with their images themselves, they can do that, too. If they want DVD slideshows, we can make that for them as well."
Overall, CLIX (which was recently listed in the top 100 franchises launched since the year 2000 in Franchise Market magazine) wants to be a major player in the photo industry and for its customers. "Most important is our commitment to innovation, to being leaders, and to creating a world-class portrait studio and franchise business operation unlike any other out there," says Asarnow.
GRINS 2 GO: White-Glove Treatment at Grins 2 Go
Grins 2 Go is another portrait-studio franchise trying to set itself apart from more cookie-cutter-style portrait studios. Established in 2004 by the Babla family, Grins 2 Go integrates three business concepts into its experience: portrait photography, digital photo prints, and custom framing. "Coming from a background in printing/franchising, we were searching for an industry that was fragmented, was in flux due to emerging technology, and where customer service value could be brought to the market," says president Harish Babla. "The photography industry fit the bill in all ways. We created two concepts: our retail studio and our home-based/mobile on-location franchise."
The digital print studio at Grins 2 Go offers prints via a Lucidiom APM, with printing done on Mitsubishi printers. "We offer this service as a convenience to the customer," says Babla. "The thrust of our business is portraiture and custom framing. We have automated mat cutting, electronic pricing, and a large selection of framing and matting options."
And besides the current 18 franchise locations, there is also the Grins 2 Go On Location concept, which uses a franchise van to deliver mobile services. "Our franchisees are focused on three different market segments: portraits, organized portraits (faith-based and preschool portraits, for example), and events (business and consumer)," says Babla. Each on-location van is equipped with lights, cameras, and a complete computer setup.
It's the customer-service value, however, that Grins 2 Go stresses the most. "The Grins 2 Go studio revolves around the customer," Babla explains. "Our studios are located in neighbor shopping centers where a mom is likely to shop. Everything we do in the studio is for the customer. The environment is warm, inviting, and different. We take time on stage and in the viewing, and the customer has complete control over the choices they want to make."
For example, Grins 2 Go offers three different styles of photography, allows customers to select the images they want for their portraits, and touches up every portrait that is sold before delivering it the next day. "No customer will ever leave our place unhappy," says Babla. "If for some reason they are unhappy, our simple Grins guarantee kicks in: we will reshoot, reprint, or refund, no questions asked."
His devotion to the customer may seem like common business sense, but that's not what Babla found when he was researching the Grins 2 Go concept — and it's something that any retailer or photographer planning on starting their own portrait studio, franchise or not, should heed. "People can get hung up on the craft and might forget the business aspect or the customer aspect," he says. "When we were doing our research, we dragged our kids to probably 16 or 18 studios; we went to places like Sears and JCPenney, as well as to independent portrait studios. And out of all of them, in not a single one of them did they ask me my name, my wife's name, or my son's name. My daughter was accidentally asked her name in one studio after she glared at a photographer who called her 'honey.' Calling a customer by their name is the number-one rule of customer service! And yet I don't think this is unique to the photo industry: merchants in our society have made the customer accept mediocre or poor service as being acceptable. I don't believe in that — I believe the customer should be put on a pedestal."
Grins 2 Go also carefully hand-picks its franchisees, and potential buyers must by into the franchise's overall philosophy before signing on the dotted line. "A potential franchisee first and foremost needs to share our vision and our values," says Babla. "Our company prescribes to a code of conduct based on the 'Six Pillars of Character,' and we have a mission statement and our Grins guarantee. Once we get past that, we are looking for people that are financially capable of doing the business, as well as people that are passionate about customer service, interested in being immersed in their communities, have a creative bent, good with employees, and, above all, willing to work within a system."
A note of interest to photographic industry retailers: potential franchisees also don't need any photography industry experience. "One of the hallmarks of running a successful business is not necessarily knowing the craft," says Babla. "We are not looking for people with photography experience, since our franchisees are not the ones taking the photographs—we want them working on growing their businesses. Besides going through our one-week certified photographer training program, our franchisees hire people who are trained in photography. In fact, we insist they have at least a college-level education in the field."
So where does this leave those retailers who do have years of photo industry experience under their belt and who knows the ins and outs of the equipment and the marketplace? Does a franchise portrait studio operation make sense for them? "The answer is a cautious yes," says Babla. "It will depend on the person and their willingness to say 'OK, I've been an independent business owner and now I'm thinking of joining a franchise.' With that comes the requisite boundaries. Just because you know how to make burgers doesn't mean you should necessarily buy a McDonald's; your expertise at making burgers is certainly valuable, but at the same time, you've now got to do everything their way. And at Grins 2 Go, we're building a brand, and we want that customer brand promise to be consistent. You have to be comfortable working within the franchise parameters. We are huge proponents of franchising—a franchise provides training, support, peer interaction, ongoing research, and negotiated purchasing that an independent business owner is likely not to get."
So is owning a portrait studio franchise a viable option for you? Only you can decide after asking yourself some of the questions posed in this article. But whether you buy a franchise or choose to venture off on your own, treating employees like the important resource they are, offering high-quality products in lickety-split time, and keeping the customers' needs and wants as your main business mantra are valuable lessons that everyone should take home.
author: By Jennifer Gidman




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