Clement7

Hello everyone!

I'm starting a new thread on How to Make Money with your SAVS.

I just thought about this since we all have invested on this fine peace of AP equipment and it's about time we start talking about how to earn from it and share ideas to get our investment back.

I know there are a lot of limitations with the SAVS and so many detractors of using it as an AP platform, but hey, for some of us who can't afford to make another investment on bigger helis and prefer a low maintenance, easy to fly (using Ti) AP platform, ---the SAVS is still the right choice and let's all help each other out to make the most out of it, shall we?

Sky High, Scottsic and YvesOttawa have actively shown on the other threads how they use their SAVS for business and I would like to thank them for sharing their secrets and helping out newbies like me solve a lot of concerns about the SAVS and finding work-arounds.

Can you guys help me post your links here again that shows how you made use of the SAVS in your business?

I will also devote this thread to share some of my strategies in getting more business using the SAVS.

Clement7

To add to the capabilities of your SAVS, have you checked the following thread already on how to attach a 6 MegaPixel Digital Camera?

http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/m_4400659/tm.htm

As I have mentioned in my previous posts, there are some clients who demand for hi-resolution shots for billboard use, TVCs or Newspaper/Magazine ads. The SAVS+6MP experiment solved this concern.

Clement7

Here's one strategy that never fails to work.. OFFERING YOUR SERVICES FOR FREE.

Recently, on my way to my client's resort, I happen to pass by a car dealership and saw them amassing a fleet of police cars at their huge parking lot that I guess they'll be delivering soon to the Philippine National Police. So I called my assistant at the office and asked her to find the contact number of the car dealership branch and who their sales /marketing manager is ASAP.. After getting their contact number, I got intouch with them immediately and offered to do a FREE aerial shoot, one layout (the best shot out of 100 shots maybe) of the fleet of TOYOTA police cars. And guess what? My call immediately got their attention and they'll be forwarding my contact number to the president of their company.

I may or may not get the account. But the point I'm making here is that, offering the services for free is a foot in the door.

Should they avail of my free offer, there are limitless possibilities of what can happen next. What if they decide to get another layout or shot? Or make a TVC out of it where my aerial shots will be combined with other footages by their Ad Agency? (Toyota, we're a vital part of Homeland Security... protecting you and the whole nation as well.) What if they decide to get me to shoot the other branches as well? or do aerial for the other businesses of the company's president or the network of their sales force??

The idea of offering free services got me started in my business (my Integrated Marketing Communications /Multimedia biz has been around for almost 7 years now--- www.easysoftwaretech.com), so I'm just re-applying the same strategy to this new AP service of ours.

Clement7

Here's a sample of how I applied AP in my web projects. This one in particular for a resort. A combination of mixed shots from my SAVS, a helium balloon and from a real plane.

[link=http://www.misibis.com]www.misibis.com[/link]

[link=http://www.misibis.com/mabuhaystudy1.jpg]www.misibis.com/mabuhaystudy1.jpg[/link]

Though I should be limiting the posts here on shots made by SAVS.. the samples are just to show you that if you fly high enough, you don't need the balloon or a real plane to do the other shots you'll see on the web site I posted.

Here's the pix again. . I grabbed this using Adobe Premiere:

[link=http://www.easysoftwaretech.com/misibis-SAVS.jpg]www.easysoftwaretech.com/misibis-SAVS.jpg[/link]

Clement7

Here's how Scottsic uses his SAVS in his business:

[link=http://www.slcity.com]www.slcity.com[/link]

You may want to check out his setup through the following link:

[link=http://www.slcity.com/df/garden/360]http://www.slcity.com/df/garden/360[/link]

You can also try visiting the following link for more inspirations on moves to imitate:

[link=http://www.volovisione.com/]http://www.volovisione.com/[/link]

The first video is shot using a nitro-powered Heli.. but I think with enough practice and improved SAVS flying skills you can do the same shots. (though be warned that it's not advisable to fly the SAVS with Ti enabled over large bodies of water).

The second video is made by a DF.. SAVS shots are a lot better than these since SAVS design took care of bad vibrations.

How to stabilize the video? Go to the following link and get a copy of DFI's stabilization software for captured video (it's free for DFI clients):

[link=http://www.rctoys.com/videos.php]http://www.rctoys.com/videos.php[/link]

for Mac users, you can try out iStabilize for free through the following link:

[link=http://www.pixlock.com/index.php?option=com_ content&task=blogcategory&id=18&Itemid=82]www.pixlock.com/index.php?option=com_ content&task=blogcategory&id=18&Itemid=82[/link]

Please feel free to add to this thread any links of shots that you were able to earn some bucks out of.. and other suggestions on strategies to get more business. By doing so, this will help a lot of people get ideas on how to make the most out of their SAVS investment.

Sky, can you help me out here with the other links that could help people use their SAVS for business?

Sky High

I think you've just about covered it.

If you carefully look through the pages of this forum you will find all kinds of info. Real estate companies are either ignorant, real cheap or both, but mostly real cheap in my area. They all like it and think it's really cool but nobody wants to pay the rates that it's worth. It may be different closer to the Atlanta area or in larger markets because I haven't tried there yet, but I doubt it. I also don't think the quality is good enough pulling frames from video for the real estate industry to justify the rates I want. When a still camera mount is perfected I might look into that more. Real estate is not my target market though. The market I have my sights on has large budgets and is willing to pay for unique shots with video and like you being in an isolated area, I have industry contacts that are very interested in this platform. However, interested doesn't mean anything until you get paid. We'll see.

Clement7

I did? Hehehe

. . . please do help me be on a look out for more business applications of the SAVS posted at other threads.. I'm sure everyone who goes through this thread would appreciate how to generate more funds and prepare for the next upgrade of the SAVS.. an option for bigger /more powerful rotors perhaps to be able to carry more payload without the pricetag of the X-pro??

There is this formula that I use to help you get more clients now.. and it's a universal concept that can be applied to any type of business. I'll share it with the group next week. For the meantime, I'll give others a chance to contribute.

Sky High

You might want to check in the AP forum for more ideas. I wouldn't expect too many people that are in the AP business to give up unique ideas because of competitive reasons. However there are alot of ideas that have been posted by pros and people that do it for fun.

AP Forum
www.rcuniverse.com/forum/forumid_81/tt.htm

yvesOttawa

Sky, you've nailed that sucker right on the head!!

These guys ARE the cheapest *****s on the face of the earth [&:] I've given up on that market now and have focused mostly on city and urban planners. These guys are record keeping nuts IMO and love to track changes on a weekly basis and how better to do it than through AP.

Of course I would love to land some filming gigs with my HD setup but nothing around here as of yet.

I am far from doing this full time but then again, the marketing of my business is the most difficult.

scottslc

I work in real estate, you'll never see cheaper people. I'm fortunate because I have a clientele and I can work the flyer in with other photography. Here's your nich though. We have big developments going in. Each has it's own web site. I'm going to go out and chat with the developers about web content for the flyer. Big tracts of land with some construction going on. The developer can spread the cost over lots of different houses. Might be attractive to them. I'll keep you posted.


Logic tells you the df quality isn't going to compete with a 3 chip professional camera. But for producing web content, it's just fine. To my thinking, anyone with a web site in the travel industry, city and parks, historical societies among others would be fair game for interesting, different web content. You might not get rich, but if it pays for your broken parts, why not? You might have to do a few freebies to build up a portfolio.

Scott

Clement7

Great ideas guys! Keep 'em coming!

Here's how I keep my sales pipeline full.. Every day I devote a few minutes to make cold calls to prospective clients/companies just to ask for the names of their marketing/sales managers, vp and president... then I send them a short fax /letter describing what I can offer and how their company can benefit from it.. I send copies of my short letter to their sales/marketing, as well as the vp and president of the company.. I make it a point that a copy gets to the desk of the one who signs the checks.. else I'll be wasting my time dealing with lesser luminaries.. then I make a follow-up call and hope to get an appointment to make my pitch..

The next thing I do on a daily basis is ask for referrals.. I aim to get at least one referral a day from a friend or from former clients.. Aim to get one referral a day and I'm telling you, you'll end up pretty busy doing projects and you wont have time anymore to check out this forum.

On a weekly basis, I either put out a two liner ad at a local community newsletter or go for a blitz and come-up with a halfpage print ad. I make sure that my message includes a call to action so prospects will start calling as soon as they see your ad. (50% off for confirmed bookings by June 30, 2006).. it's just like those infomercials "But wait! If you call within 10 minutes we'll give you a bonus package worth $$$ absolutely free!"

Next, send a periodic update to former clients of what's new with your company, who you have served recently, your other products and service offerings..


BUT WAIT!.. there's more!

Before you can be able to accomplish everything I stated above, first and foremost you have to create a template already of your letter. Devote at least two hours for you to do a simple flyer that you can fax immediately, a sample letter of your offerings with your word processor so you can fill-in easily the prospect's names and send it.. And have a web site ready for them to check out instantly. Also prepare a 20-second script that briefly describes what you do.. so that when you're in an elevator or you bump into someone who can be a prospect suddenly asks you what you do, you'll have a ready answer... again, all you need is just a couple of hours to prepare your marketing collaterals, so that when you do all the activities I stated above, it will be a breeze to sell your business.

Oh, btw, when you make your calling card, make sure you include a list of services you have at the back of the card. I noticed in the U.S., people sometimes include their picture on their business card so they can be easily remembered. Some photographers I know use their best work as background of their cards to serve as a sampler.

So here's the summary of the daily activities again:

1. devote a few minutes to do called calls
2. aim to get one referral a day
3. aim to give out at least three business cards per day

and for weekly:
1. advertise! advertise! advertise! (two liner ads works for me.. if it's a bigger ad, make sure that it will be placed on the odd pages of the newspaper pages 3,5,7 etc.. most people have this tendency to check out articles /pictures on odd-numbered pages than even-numbered pages)

monthly
1. update clients of your other offerings... come up with a one-page newsletter..

If you do plan to give out freebies, well at least try aiming for the popular companies/brands or the city government to establish your credibility.. so you can name-drop and use them as reference when talking to prospects. You would definitely sound big if you say" Oh I've done projects for "Lexus or BMW dealership".. Your prospects wouldn't know anyway whether you got paid or not.

yvesOttawa

Oh yeah, we all know what we do with those received faxes, eh? Sorry to rain on your parade and your enthusiasm, but for one, I've tried most of what you said and the ones that requested anything from me (less than 2% responded from calls, emails and letters sent) felt that they had a right to negotiate pricing. Like I'm selling nick nacks on the *****ing street or something.

Since May I haven't called anyone or sent anything out and have only advertised in the local newspaper. No more door to door for me [:'(]

Sky High

Yves, I'm glad you said it because it was real hard for me to hold back. I have done my share of free demo work for general use and for specialized use for current clients that I know have budgets and that I already do other work for. I'm a big believer in seeing is believing so I will make free demos but only for specific types of applications and clients and not for the typical business because they just don't have the budget. I think if you're going to get the rates that it deserves, you have to target specialty markets that recognize it that way. That's about all I've got to say about that. (Forest Gump)

I think one of the biggest mistakes that you can make, at least up front, is telling a prospective client that the platform is remote controlled. They seem to instantly think of it as a toy and there goes your premium rates. It doesn't matter that it gets the same, if not very similar shots, as a full size plane or helo and costs much less. They can't get past the idea of paying a few thousand a day for some images from an R/C aircraft. Show them demo pictures first, and they'll know it's way too low for a plane but not necessarily for a helo. Don't tell them it's R/C unless they ask. Of course, if they are at the location while you are shooting, they will see what you are using but that's what the up front demos are for, to impress upon them what they are going to get and already have the images in their head before know how it's done.

Clement7

Hi Yves!

Ey! No prob! This is what the forum is all about! To openly share insight, foresight and hindsight.. The ones I posted may or may not work in your location. It really depends on a lot of factors like the amount of competition in your area and how your prospects absorb your message and find practical applications for it.. I myself almost gave-up with doing AP but it suddenly became an edge over the competition. Im in the business of providing integrated marketing communications solutions (ONE SIGHT, ONE VOICE). Whenever I bid for a Corporate Video projects /Training videos for companies, I add in the AP as a bonus.

Ever since I realized that there's no one perfect solution for helping clients sell more-- It's not just having a web site, or a video presentation, or a great flyer /print ad. It's a combination of all these, thus I started using the term "Integrated Marketing Communications Solutions".

What I'm saying is that whenever I meet with clients, I do my intro then I let them talk. My intro includes a simple MSPowerpoint presentation establishing the credibility of my company and showing just one case/sample of how I was able to help out a company similar to the prospect's industry. Then I ask them what their main concerns are and how they see the solution I presented can help them with their concerns. Once they start talking, that's when I take down notes and try to pinpoint exactly what they need. The following day, I would send them a summary of what we talked about during the meeting and thanked them for their time and inform them that I'll be ready with a proposal for a SOLUTION within two days. Then, that's when I assemble a team of associates to help me brainstorm and provide the solution. I pay these friends of mine on a per project basis, thus no monthly overhead for me. With my current setup, I only have a secretary manning my 861 sq ft office. I dont have full time employees in my business, but I do have partners who have their own businesses to run. My roster of partners include a scriptwriter, a voice-over talent and a web developer--all of them very respectable with their field of expertise. I take care of the video and photography, graphic design, sales and marketing our solutions.

So bottomline: provide solutions to clients and get partners to do the other things you can't do yourself (a web developer, a scriptwriter and a voice-over talent) to integrate the AP. Or find a company where you can partner with to provide AP in their current offerings like Architects, Engineers (for documenting their projects) and multimedia solution providers..

When placing an ad, try placing it where real-estate agents place their ads. These developers always check the pages where they placed their ads to see if it was printed right.. there's a bigger chance you'll be noticed by your target market.

Feel free to react to my ideas posted above. Im here to learn as well on what's REALITY in your location. This is a good exercise for our brains.

Re Sky's statement about not informing your prospects that you'll be using just a R/C, you have a point there!

In my case, our clients really don't care about what equipment we'll be using to shoot the video, as long as it's sharp (use 3CCD cameras), with good visuals, great voice-over and nice background music, they simply don't mind as long as you deliver. And with web site development, they don't care if it's in HTML, ASP, PHP, with SQL or ACCESS... as long as it gets the required functionality right on the dot.. and same with AP, as long as you can provide them with the right video and stills, then no need to inform them upfront that you'll use SAVS. Just mention that we will use whichever is appropriate to get the job done which does not involve expensive helicopter rentals and pilot fees. In my case, I have a helium balloon as my backup and the SAVS+6MP experiment to get hi-res shots.

Repackage, get partners, bark on the right tree, offer your AP as add-on package to other professionals and provide integrated solutions...

yvesOttawa

Hi Clement,

I just want to let you know that I wasn't trying to be a smart ***** nor to put down what you are trying to do in any way. I really respect people who have ambition and bring tons of great ideas to the table like you've been doing.

I was just sharing my experience with marketing my AP services around the area. I currently do not have any competition other than a fixed-wing pilot taking shots from his Cessna and charging $400/hour for crappy 6MP shots at 1000 feet.

The market looked very promising with many people (mostly real-estate agents) showing interest that they would contact me to get shots done of country homes and hobby farms. This is where my "cheap *******s" comment kicks in. These guys (at least the ones around here) will not give you what the services are worth but essentially want what you've got for free. Now, what I think is happening at least here in the Ottawa area is a hot market for real-estate. The homes around here are not staying on the market for very long. I have since given up on the RE market and have moved on to urban planning and development divisions of the municipality. It appears to work out ok so far.

People running cottages and bed and breakfasts (no resorts around here) are good to do business with as well.

Like you mentioned, it is most likely up to the area you are in that will determine if your AP business will float. You also appear to have an established pool of customers that you can tap, so that's always good. My "other" line of work is software development (specifically business systems for managing content like electronic documents and record keeping) so it is difficult to approach my clients from that part of the business with "how about an aerial shot of the office?"

Hey, keep it up. I love to hear other peoples ideas and experiences as well.

yvesOttawa

Hey Sky, I agree with some things you said, but mentioning that RC is used may help in attracting MORE business than not mentioning I think. People in residential areas or near the city may think that you won't be able to get closer than 1000 feet if your flying a fixed wing aircraft. Saying that you will land a 200-300 foot shot of a property and not mention RC implies you'll be coming in with a heli so you're REALLY EXPENSIVE.

It could be interpreted either way I guess. But I'd rather come clean now when they book than showing up with my "toy" and saying "here I am, what kind of shot do you want?" while holding my radio and DF (or TREX).

One lady actually didn't understand why I would charge for travelling by car. She kept saying "well why don't you fly and take 1/4 of the time to get here?". So I kept repeating to her, "Mam, it's a radio controlled helicopter, you know? the small ones that people can't get into?" [&:]

Sky High

LMAO!!!

When I said toy, I meant how most people refer to it when they ask about what it is. In other words, I don't think R/C is taken seriously because the regular folks don't know how far R/C has and is advancing. Yes, I agree that someone would more than likely think that you would be using a full size helo if they weren't familiar with what R/C can do now. I was mostly talking about not telling them if you had already shown them demos that show the low altitude. I had alot of compliments about the low angle that I was able to get with some demos that I shot of a school campus. They said the images had more depth than typical manditory higher altitude shots by full size aircraft that have to shoot more vertically on the target area.

Clement7

That was funny!

Re your T-REX, I almost bought one out of frustration with getting hi-res shots with the SAVS. When I tried attaching the 6MP digital camera, did some test flights and saw that it's now possible to take hi-res shots, I deferred buying another AP platform.. With the T-REX, I was planning on using the T-Rex mount by Airfoilhelicams..

[link=http://www.airfoilhelicam.com/t-rex.php]http://www.airfoilhelicam.com/t-rex.php[/link]

How does the T-REX perform? Is it as easy to fly as the SAVS? How did you mount the camera on your T-Rex? What do you use for triggering the digital cam? When do you choose to use your T-REX over the SAVS? How fast is it to setup and go? How does it handle wind as compared with SAVS. I'm sorry for asking too many questions. I just would like to satisfy my curiousity on how's the AP experience with T-REX.

Sky High

I don't know what you are referring to when you said 3 CCDs but the SAVS miniature camera does NOT have 3 CCDs. I wish it did but it only has a single CCD with around 480 lines of resolution. Even though it doesn't have the same quality of 3CCDs, it's alot better than a CMOS camera. Even if you record to a 3 CCD DV camera on the ground it doesn't matter because the image is not being recorded through those CCDs in the camera, just to the record heads from the external input. It may as well be DV clamshell. You can get 3 CCD miniature cameras but they will cost you a about $1500 or more.

Clement7

Thanks for clearing that out, Sky!.. What I meant with my statement is using 3CCD cams for ground level shots, like how Scottsic did in his interior shots, to mix and complement with the CCD shots from the SAVS.. I'm working on a simple 30-seconder TVC for a resort client, will post my initial draft here by Wednesday next week.. it's a combination of shots using Sony's VX2000 mounted on a steadycam jr., aerial shots using a Canon 300D (Rebel) attached to a 6' helium balloon and hi-res stills and 1CCD videos from SAVS.

Sky High

Okay. I thought that's what you meant but wasn't sure. I thought the DF camera was 3 CCD at first myself but DFI said that it was not. One day!

yvesOttawa

Hey Sky, yeah I know you meant it as how people refer to it. They are right though. When you think about it, we are trying to justify the purchase of these pricey toys by talking about doing it as a business, but we'll never really make money off of it. Some of us will be lucky to break even. I just buy more stuff whenever I get paid by someone who booked my services.

Clement, I love to fly CP. It is the real deal if you know what I mean. You don't get the stalls and wobbles like you get when reducing altitude with fixed pitch. The rotor just spins at a constant head speed. It's great. Electric's gone a long way to. I have no desire to go the nitro route.

As for the mount, the airfoil is alright. The triggering system is easy too. They are mostly driven by an additional channel on the Rx. I trigger mine off of channel 8. You can also do it the same way you did with the DF so that it triggers all the time.

The DF is still handy when flying near people. The Trex is still too dangerous and is quite heavy with the gear and all. PLus, I fly without liability insurance (way too exepnsive) so I am in risk assessment mode all the time.

Clement7

Hi Yves! Thanks for the insight re T-Rex!

You're right about this too! Maybe I am in constant denial about making a wrong decision in getting the SAVS, or maybe not.. For those of us stuck with it (like me hehehe), I'm trying to find ways to do something to maximize its potential and get something back from this investment.

Doing AP with SAVS alone without any other value-added service will prove to be a difficult path to follow and make money out of.. It really should be partnered with something and offer it as a packaged solution. Like as I mentioned in the previous posts, try to partner with another service provider like architects, construction companies, web developers and video producers or real-estate agents...

In my case, I use it as an edge over my competition. Offering Web Development and Video production with AP included as a bonus. When it's time to bid and clients are given a choice between two suppliers who can do the same job, both having the same good portfolio and reputation, and both proposals are priced almost the same, the one with the added value service like AP will most likely win. It's my bargaining chip!

Though I have to admit that it's not the only one I use to do AP, but as you have mentioned it in your recent post, it's the most practical to use when we're talking about safety. For me, it's the cheapest to use and quickest to do AP with. That's why I still prefer using the SAVS over the helium balloon. Helium refills cost about $100 per project, so I only use this when the client demands for higher altitudes 200' up to 500' and are willing to pay for serious AP work. I also have this concern about transporting the heavy helium tank which made me end up buying a trailer.

I did consider getting a nitro Heli but my problem with it is the safety and excess weight issues--how I will be able to travel out of town by plane with it and do AP at destinations where there are no Hobby Shops to get nitro from (like island resorts). Airport security does not allow flammable liquids in checked-in baggages and I wouldn't risk trying to get a nitro container through.

So what's my point is saying all these? Even though with its limitations, the SAVS is still my preferred AP platform. It's the cheapest to maintain, quickest to setup and fly right out of the trunk of your car (DFI's real-estate video). And to earn money with it, it should come with a packaged solution.

aviewfromabove

Hi Guys. It been a long time since I last posted. Nice to see that RCUniverse has a different forum for Draganflys. I have been making a lot of $$$ with my 3 units. It turned out to be very easy. I have been doing work for 4 different real estate companies. I guess I started about 2 years ago. Most of my work now is country clubs, lots of golf clubs where I live. So far I have made around 160K. My setup is simple. I use MAC to download the video to, a little Final Cut Pro and I burn to a disc or upload to their web site. For the last 3 months I have been working with a local engineer to re-invent the wheel. RCtoys really has no patents on their products. The just buy off the shelf items. I have a few (hobbby-toy) companies who will be looking a my final product in 6 weeks. This unit will be larger with a longer battery life and will me much stronger. And better yet it will be made in the USA. No more waiting a month for an order or parts. I can't really answer any questions now on the product, but I'm sure it blow you away.

scottslc

Anyone know of an ir camera that would work with the df? I was chatting with a guy who does insulation and how it would be a great benefit to be able to show the hot spots on a home from the air.

Other ideas for making money: land scapers and roofers...

Scott