The WALK-IN

Hey — Ben here!

Today, I’m sharing with you my favorite strategy to get clients for my videography business — the Walk-In.

Why it is my favorite?

In comparison to other strategies, you get:

• less competition

• very high conversion rates

• real life lessons to improve your social skills

• natural face to face interactions

• instant feedback

Here’s how you do it:

1) The preparation

To execute this without unnecessary loosing time, you need to plan out the Walk-In-Day:

• find a location with as many SMBs as possible

• take a quick look at what they offer

That means, you should look out for a city area with e.g. a lot of SMBs.

Here are some of the best types of businesses:

• gyms

• event venues

• car dealerships

• restaurants/cafés

• bars and nightclubs

• real estate agencies

• boutique retail stores

• construction companies

• health and wellness centers

• local hotels and bed & breakfasts

• medical offices (dentists, chiropractors..)

If you don’t know your area well, use google maps and type in “car dealership” or whatever type of business you search. Markings will show you where you find the most of them.

What to look for

Now check their website and socials for high quality video content.

If they don’t have any, they’re a potential client of yours.

Even if they have good content already, this doesn’t mean they won’t work with a new videographer. They may have other problems which you don’t see in the content. Though, if you’re trying this for the first times, focus on businesses with bad content.

• It’s uncommon that SMBs have someone in-house who can shoot and edit good content, until they are really big.

That’s why you should look out for businesses which aren’t part of a chain and have less than 40 employees.

With this in mind, plan a route within this area to work these Walk-Ins off.

The setup

Take what you shoot the best with. Even if it isn’t your best camera/lens.

Because you want to shoot quickly and don’t loose time on potential free work, just take your go-to handheld rig. Even body + lens is enough if you handle it better.

But: If you're focusing on a specific type of business, think about what fits the best.

E.g. if your route contains mostly car dealerships, think about taking a precalibrated gimbal with you (if you can handle it well). Use a zoom lens so you don’t need to recalibrate.

Your outer appearance

Dress well. Smell well. Speak well.

Focus even more on the first two if you have problems with the talking. That’s an even better reason to start with Walk-Ins, because you need this skill and you will only learning it by doing it.

If you want to appear friendly, dress friendly. Don’t put on only black clothing. If you’re comfortable with it, wear a stylish colorful top. Something that feels attractive and natural, but also clean. Ideally no big writing or branding. Just a clean and friendly outfit.

Also, Don’t cover your face with sunglasses or a hat. Show yourself.

That will generally work with all businesses.

In rare cases of a special business like a law firm, you can dress more chic with a nice shirt. But don’t exaggerate it. It might make some people feel uncomfortable when you’re overdressed and they feel underdressed.

Please put on deodorant and shower before the trip. You won’t smell it, other people will. Especially on hot days.

You should feel comfortable too!

This is very important, especially because you want to show confidence in what you are doing.

Just think about it as a nice day talking to interesting people doing what you love — shooting videos.

2) The execution

Here’s the easy step by step:

1. you go into the first business of your route

2. you ask an employee to shoot a free video for the business

3. you shoot the video

4. repeat with the next business

But hold on. If you thought the execution only contains these steps, you’re wrong.

The deal which will make you money comes afterwards. But more about this in a sec.

What if the employee hasn’t the authority to give you the allowance to shoot?

You will ask for their boss or at least the manager.

Propose what you want to do in a really nice and short introduction.

Don’t make something too big out of it.

Just introduce yourself and offer a free short video about their business or one of their products, depending on the business.

(You can directly try to charge money but in my experience it is always better to offer something free to set your foot in the door).

Here’s my standard line for car dealerships:

“Hey I’m Ben, would it be okay if I shoot a quick video on your [newest model] and then send it your way?”

If they don’t say yes, they will ask what I’m doing this for.

“I just stopped by and saw your cars. The [newest model] would look great in a montage. You can use it freely.”

This might seem weird for some of you, but I won’t directly talk about a deal or anything. This comes later when they are excited about the video.

What to shoot

The only thing you should have in mind is the format.

Think about where the video should be postet. Their IG account? their website? their YT channel?

Here’s what many videographers get wrong with free content.

You don’t need to make a complex short film or anything.

If the quality is good, the complexity won’t make the difference if they want to work with you or not.

E.g. for a car montage, 6-7 clips are enough to make a nice little montage.

If you haven’t done this before, look up car montages on YouTube and take big inspiration. You can also use an edit template or even copy a video you like. Just look out for copyright.

Here’s an example👇

I wouldn’t recommend shooting in any log for this unless you can’t live without it. They unnecessarily take your time even with good luts.

Do everything you can on auto, except the white balance.

While editing just put on a lut on all clips and copy from YouTube or use a template as said.

You should prepare yourself some templates depending on the type of business you can use every time. So you can e.g. always shoot the same clips with cars. Make a shot list.

Later when you have the deal, you can put all your creative effort in the work but at first don’t waste time.

How to send

Ask the employee for the contact information of the business owner. But before that, always ask if he’s on site.

In this case, again, explain what you are doing. If he’s skeptical, show an example video you made for another business.

In the best case, he will give you his number. This will happen more often than you think.

Then you can send him the video on WhatsApp.

When sending the message, don’t text anything about charging money or anything.

Just type something like

• "Hey [name], here’s the video I made for your business yesterday. Let me know how you like it"

The money making part

There is a second big misconception with this strategy.

Too many videographers think that they’ve done anything do get the deal after just sending out the video.

That’s completely wrong.

Don’t expect them to come at you, it’s your job to land the deal. From beginning to end.

After you sent out the video, wait for at least 3 days for an answer. Don't stress if he doesn’t answer directly. Most business owners are busy.

In some cases, the owner will directly ask for more content. Or he’ll ask how much you would charge.

But in most cases your inner salesman has to be released.

You have three options:

1. text him

2. call him

3. vist him

Suggest to shoot a specific product or try to hear out what the owner really wants. Often he wants to show himself on socials but he may be still a bit uncomfortable.

Make him feel more confident with his ideas. If you don’t visit him, offer an in person meeting to discuss a potential deal.

But always focus on what he will win.

It’s all about him. And what his investment in videography will turn out to.

Always talk about his business and how videography will help him. Make him feel like a star.

Especially when you sense a big ego in him, it’s super important to strengthen his ideas.

Still, you are the expert. You know what works best. And show that. Share knowledge on what will work and what not.

Closing the deal

There are a lot of (free) templates for contracts out there. I don’t have the right to advise you on that, so talk to a lawyer;)

The contract should be for the benefit of both sides.

But what I can say is make the friction as small as possible. If the owner wants to work with you, you should close the deal fast.

If he wants to work with you, visit him in person and give him the contract sign.

Make it quick, but don’t rush. Otherwise he will suspect something is off, which will damage his trust.

Pro tip:

Bring a little gift, a nice printed postcard with a picture you made of their business or something similar. Make it personal. Something that they will hang in their office.

They will think about you.

Monthly retainer

This is the best way to earn a stable income with your videography business.

Depending on the business, this can even be easier than landing a single shoot deal, because they exactly know what to expect.

For many business owners it will make more sense to post regular content than to have single content drops. They mostly know the basics of social media.

Here you need to explain the importance of regular content for the growth of their business.

Show examples of other local business which successfully grow trough social media. There are plenty.

If you have one client which sees success with your service, show this as an example every time.

Additional services

Always offer additional services. Always.

Things like:

• managing their socials

• content scheduling and posting

• creating paid video ads

• writing captions

• repurposing content for all platforms

• consulting them on social media strategy

• comment moderation if needed

It’s way harder to get news clients instead of selling your full potential to existing ones.

That’s a wrap.

Let me know how you liked the past 8 minutes.

See you next Saturday,

— Ben

P.S.

I made a X account where I will share more videography business advice daily.

Check it out (Link)