Photography Pricing… Professional photographers can’t spend too long worrying about pricing their work. There’s also the issue of pricing. How do you educate clients without making them feel pressured or bailing out?
Since I started my studio as a professional photographer, there have been many ways I have presented my prices to potential clients and clients. There are the usual suspects…
* Printed price lists* Brochure and price list
* Web site price page
* Sending price lists via email
However, I found that these methods didn’t work as well as I expected.
I would give price lists to potential clients, count the visits to my price list webpage, and then email my list to anyone who wanted it. Yet, the clients disappeared just as fast as they arrived, almost like ghosts. It was a puzzle for me and you can use isshpath as a ghost mannequin services.
Looking at my price list and seeing no return customers, I realized that my prices were way too high. So I decided to lower them. You guessed it, I got the same result. We can easily get caught up in a vicious circle of fiddling with fees.
Do you recognize any of these? Do you find yourself stuck in a rut of second-guessing your prospects to figure out what they would pay to be comfortable Photography ?
This is not a common problem for professional photographers, and there is an answer.
Don’t tell – Show
Three things are required to solve this problem. You first need to decide what products or services you want to sell (i.e., what you are selling). Second, your income requirements, production costs, and competition should all be considered when determining your fees. Finally, create a price list that is entirely yours and only yours and ghost mannequin services provider.
You are correct. Only one person can see your entire price list unless you give it to them personally, and this includes a sales presentation and a detailed explanation of all you offer.
You can hear me exclaiming, “that’s the dumbest thing I’ve ever heard!” But bear with me for a second.
There’s a good reason why other methods don’t work. A customer can easily see the price of a portrait or wedding package by looking at a website. How are they going to be able to compare it with other fees?
Your prospect is now a price comparison shopper. Most clients believe that all 8x10s should be printed equally. But we know better. The quality of the paper, not the print itself, is important. How can we explain this to prospects when browsing the internet or reading a price list at home?
A wedding photography package is a great example.
A price list or pamphlet that lists the price of a collection will not convince the prospect. Both you and I know that the “other photographer” won’t spend as much time on your wedding day, won’t deliver the same level of service or isn’t as professional. The prospect may only be interested in the Photography price.
It is the same when a prospect calls you by phone. The candidate will first ask you, “How much?” If you don’t answer the question immediately, they will disappear, and we won’t hear from them again. Instead, we must divert our conversation away from the price (at minimum at the beginning) and onto the more logical reasons they are looking for in photography. After we have had an opportunity to educate them about our uniqueness, we can then gently discuss pricing. If they are happy with the price, we will arrange to meet up for a detailed consultation.
The prospect will already know that your prices are reasonable when they meet with you for a consultation.
The personal touch
As you would expect, I meet every prospect before they allow me to book a portrait session. I have the opportunity to present my entire sales presentation and show them my price list. As a salesperson, it is my responsibility to make sure I fully understand their needs before I sell them anything. They won’t care if I don’t care about them until I do. You are not in the right business if money is your only motivation as a professional photographer.
One copy of my price list is kept in a leather book. It’s printed on high-quality paper. It looks like an official copy to the prospect, and nobody has ever asked for it.
It can take up to 45 minutes to meet with a client to discuss a portrait session or wedding. Then, it takes about an hour for us to get to the price. Although they have the price list in front of them, I make sure they understand it. I only open it when I feel ready. If they ask me about the price list and I don’t feel prepared to show it to them, I say, “I’m so glad you brought it up. I’ll be glad to look over it soon.” First …”, then I ask them questions about the portrait or wedding Photography .
Before we get to the price list, it’s been a long conversation about the wedding day.
We’ve discussed how they met, their love for each other, and what is important to them. They now know that I care about them, and that price is not the only thing that drives me. They will have a plan, and a collection should fall within this range. But they are not comparing our prices with others. They’re making a comparison, but it’s about things like service, quality and attention to detail.
“Selling”: Start at the Top
I always start with the most expensive option, even though they have already specified their budget when I look through the price list. This way, I can only sell down and not upwards. Selling up can be as challenging as climbing a mountain, and it’s often easier to sell down than it is up.
