Does In-House Photography Save You Money?
Here’s the reality: Most dealerships believe hiring a photographer is costlier than doing it in-house. We’ve worked with hundreds of dealerships across the country in our 10+ years of expertise, and we know this to be true. However, utilizing a respected lot services provider to manage your inventory photographs can save you money – though it may not appear that way at first glance.
Unforeseen Hassles and Expenses
For a dealership, convenience and control are important. It may appear a better option if you have an in-house staff member responsible for taking inventory images since you don’t have to worry about a vendor’s schedule or the type of photos they typically take. But when you consider the logistics of having just one or two people in charge of getting your inventory online, it may generate unforeseen problems.
For example, it would take a great deal of time and resources to properly train – and retrain – one person to be an expert in capturing photos that will sell your vehicles effectively online. When you factor in turnover being a persistent problem in the sector, this can considerably add to the time and financial cost of managing photographs in-house. Consider how much time it would take to post a job ad, conduct an interview, select someone for the position of your current photographer, and educate them to that level.
Here Are a Few Things to Consider
There’s also the time it takes to manage these individuals and make sure they adhere to deadlines and the hours required to double-check their photo quality regularly. In addition, everyone takes a few days off or plans vacations. While it may seem simple enough to have one person handle all your photos, there are a few things to consider:
- What if your photographer is absent for two to three days, and no images of your vehicles are captured in that period?
- Who would take your photos the next day if your in-house photographer quit without notice?
- How much time and resources will it take to replace your existing photographer with someone new?
- How much would the number of leads you receive go down if you didn’t have any vehicles photographed for two weeks?
- What would that decrease in lead numbers imply for revenue?
These factors can significantly affect your ability to generate traffic and revenue on your site and lot. Consider the advantages of a photography business with over ten years of expertise servicing more than 300 car dealerships when selecting one. Today’s sales environment is about time to market, and even a one-to-two week “snag” may result in thousands of dollars in revenue loss.
The Ideal Solution
Choosing the right vendor can solve all these problems, making your job easier and more efficient. At your dealership, a fantastic photographer will have several individuals prepared to take over the job of shooting photos at any moment, making factors like staff turnover, vacation time, illness days, and other elements irrelevant.
There’s also no need to waste time interviewing, hiring, or training a photographer – before they go to any dealership, we have over 100 training stages for our photographers, ensuring that they are experts before taking their first picture of your inventory. You don’t need to conduct frequent Q&A since you’ll know if our photos fulfill our criteria, and they will certainly satisfy yours.
The Takeaway:
Overall, although it might seem best to outsource your photography to an in-house team member, the operational costs and pitfalls can often outweigh the benefits. When you partner with the right photographer, the problems listed above become a thing of the past, and you’ll see immediate benefits.