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Pay for photographer?

I bet there are also a few service techs with down time that can mow the lawn and keep the flowers watered out front so the dealership has a nice clean professional curb appeal GENIUS ! Why hire a professional grounds crew when you can do it in house. Finance managers could probably clean the bathrooms in the morning before things get rolling and cars are being delivered as well.





:ltbulb: pay for photos by the car and pay it to employees who have downtime. Genius! :tiphat:

Now I want to warp back to 2005 when I was at this point. Yeah, I can see where it would take some work, hand-holding, and holding people accountable. But talk about a win win win!

Win: get cheap photos
Win: sales agents (most downtime) get to earn some extra money
Win: sales agents get better acquainted with the inventory... getting them to walk the lot is impossible
Win: employees get excited to be a part of the website/marketing

Con: photos might not be of great quality... that's trainable
Con: someone might have to "remind" people to take photos
Con: how to manage the same car getting photos multiple times

There are a lot of other logistics I'm not listing out here that come to mind. However, all the objections that are coming to mind seem to be overcome by training. I have maybe 10 minutes into this thought path, so take this post with a grain of salt.
 
I bet there are also a few service techs with down time that can mow the lawn and keep the flowers watered out front so the dealership has a nice clean professional curb appeal GENIUS ! Why hire a professional grounds crew when you can do it in house. Finance managers could probably clean the bathrooms in the morning before things get rolling and cars are being delivered as well.

:lmao:struck a nerve eh? :poke:
 
A fascinating thread to re-read. No one spoke about how complicated and important recording the options, packages & trim are (me included). I've just completed an inventory audit study. Used cars are a mess out there. Min wage players race thru the options checklist. No manager has the time or patience to police the options data.
 
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Why are recording options / trims / packages the responsibility of the photographer, I would think the person who sets the price of the cars needs to know this before it can be priced. Also why are many photographers producing window stickers and buyer guides when there is such a high monetary penalty if not done correctly. Seems like a lot of responsibility for such a low level paying position
 
No manager has the time or patience to police the options data.

Ya they do, and should, when they are booking out the vehicle. Problem is that all the "systems" don't talk to one-another.


And, to update pay -- in todays world, shouldn't this be a $15/hour "livable wage" job??!! LOL

Seriously, hourly should be structured to make is a 36-42K/year job including bonuses in a mid/metro market. And should really be based on what your expectation are. A 350 car/month store would be asking the person to do 15 vehicles a day, while a 125 car/month store would be 6 vehicles a day (average). How many can a person do, and at what quality you expect.

IMO --- As you will most likely do it to your standards -- take a camera, stage/move the vehicle, take the photos, move back vehicle, replace batteries in camera, go for bathroom breaks, take your lunch, edit photos, upload them, etc -- on 5-10 vehicles yourself. If it takes you an average of 30 min per vehicle (for all that) then you have a 16 vehicle per day expectation level. Adjust as appropriate - base the payplan, hourly, and bonuses on that...and work back the math.
 
New Member here as of 3:00 pm 1/28/2019... after reading your forum on Photography for Cars...
Not sure if this is the right section for this response or not. But, here goes anyways. Been taking pictures of onsite vehicles now for almost 10 years. Easily now well past 300K worth of pictures posted on WWW.
Outside pictures year round here in the 4 seasons of New England. Simply the SONY HX 300 Bridge Camera the only way to go. Started with a Sony HX 200, than into the HX 300. 9 + years only 2 cameras, and hundreds of thousands of pictures. Still going strong with the HX 300. Great in any type of lighting situation. However, I do position the cars/ trucks in the best lightening situation I can, time of day and weather. Also, as far as hiring outside contractors to take pics. Cars, new and used come in, and sometimes, ( especially with new cars), I have the pictures taken and posted on our website within hours of its hitting the ground. Used cars, usually within a day or two after it has gone through our recon department. No outside vendor or contractor can do that. Nor will they take sometimes up to 50 pictures per car, depending on features.

I might add to this, that I consider myself a very serious, high end, semi- professional photographer, who has practically grown up with a camera in his hand. No "sales person" trained or not, can do what I can do with a camera. You get what you pay for.
So, for what it is worth, that is my "two cents" added to this discussion.
 
I might add to this, that I consider myself a very serious, high end, semi- professional photographer, who has practically grown up with a camera in his hand. No "sales person" trained or not, can do what I can do with a camera. You get what you pay for.

No doubt! There is a gigantic difference between someone who knows how to frame light and someone who just snaps photos. Yes, one gets what is paid for.

Thanks for joining the forums Jon :thumbup:
 
You guys who want to get your employees with some "down time" at a lower rate, to take pictures of your vehicles and place them on the WWW.
Fine, if that is the first impression we wish to give your potential customers. Heck, if you are going to do that to save $$ why don't you just get a few monkeys to service your used cars. You might not even have to pay them. Heck, turn it into a zoo for children and charge admission to watch then service those cars.