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Do You Need Extra Money For Your Photography Business?

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Have you ever said or heard the following statement?

“My normal salary just doesn’t cut it anymore. What I really need is a little bit of extra money. If I had a little bit extra every month, then I could do some of the things I’ve had on my plate for a while now.”

Yep, you probably hear something like that all the time. People always have a hard time making ends meet. They think they’ll have a little extra and their car breaks down. Or their child comes home with a “trip of a lifetime” … how can you say no? Or worse, they have a little extra money at the end of the month and end up blowing it on something frivolous.

Then the same cycle starts in again the next month. And so on.Do You Need Extra Money For Your Photography Business

What is the term “extra money” really doing for you? In essence, its just telling your subconscious that you need more money than you have today. Which means that if you find a penny on the street, you’ve accomplished your goal.

The term “extra money” is simply too vague to do you any good. Its not compelling enough to force you to take action and accomplish what you need to in order to bring in “extra money”. Your subconscious brain takes in that you want extra money, and when you have any amount extra, it shuts down and says “I’ve achieved my goal”.

Which means that the only way you can get your subconscious brain to take action is to give it something to hold on to and work towards.

If you’ve ever caught yourself saying “I need extra money this month”, what do you really need it for?

Maybe you have a new car payment of $300 a month that you always seem to be struggling to pay.

Maybe you really want to take that course you’ve had your eye on, but its $1000 plus airfare and three nights hotel.

Maybe you want to build up your savings for the new house you’ve had your eye on. But even if you sell your current home, you know you’ll need an additional $10,000 for the down payment.

Now you have defined what “extra money” really means. You know you need to find a way to fund an exact goal you have in mind.

You can do that by eliminating something already in your life – no more lunches out on Friday’s with the girls.

Or you can do that by adding in additional revenue – really working on bringing in five extra clients per month for portrait sessions.

Either way, with the help of your subconscious brain helping you along the way, you know have the motivation you need to accomplish your goal of creating “extra money”.

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How To Use Emotions To Sell Your Photography

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Whenever you hear of a forest fire ripping through a community, the news sources knows where the story is. It’s within the people affected by the fires.

So they start interviewing people with their homes in the background burned to the ground.

“I’ve lived there 30 years. I can’t believe it’s all gone. I have what’s important – my family and my pets. But I can’t believe I lost all of my photographs.”

We all have faced fire damage at some point in our lives. Maybe our home hasn’t burned to the ground, but chances are there is a story around you. And every time it happens, we begin to think – “What would I take in a fire situation?”

How To Use Emotions To Sell Your Photography

There is even a fascinating site and book entitled “The Burning House” in which the author asked that very question as he drove around to different states in the US. He asked people of all social classes, ages and occupations. They answered and provided a photograph of what they would take. And of course the results are pretty much as expected – things you simply can’t replace.

Photography isn’t a product. It’s a service. And because it’s a service, people buy because of their emotions – their feelings – and nothing more. If they fall in love and deeply want what you do, they will find a way.

But because of that, you have to give them something they can’t get anywhere else.

You have to give them great photography that’s above and beyond what they can do on their own.

And you have to market it to them so they understand its importance.

Once you have everything in place and you have identified your target audience for your marketing messages, using emotional triggers can help you connect on an entirely different level. Try out these triggers when creating your next marketing piece.

Fear – Fear is an emotion easy to use because we all can buy into the concept. It can be used with the fire concept – “My house burned to the ground, but luckily I saved my photographs.”

Trust – No one wants to leave the “used car salesperson” impression on anyone. Turn it around and you can teach your audience you are there for them through it all – “no hidden fees, no hard sales”.

Value – People will pay anything if they feel they are getting value for their money. Concentrate on your customer service and talk about it again and again.

Competition – People live where they do and own what they own in order to keep up appearances within their community. By showcasing others you’ve photographed in your community – especially recognizable people – will give others the desire to have “the best” as well.

Instant Gratification – Words like “now’, “today”, “by Friday” or “limited edition” gives people a sense of limited access. They know if they don’t act soon, they may lose the opportunity all together.

Belonging – When people love what you do, they want to be a part of something bigger. That’s why memberships, clubs and referral programs work so well. If you reward them well, they will be back.

Time – The biggest thing we’re all missing in today’s world is time. If anyone offers us a way to get more out of the day, we’ll happily take them up on that offer. Marketing messages that appeal to that desire for more free time or a time to enjoy an experience are extremely effective – “don’t come to a studio, we come to you and photograph you anywhere you desire, giving you any experience you choose to have”.

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8 Reasons Some Prospects Will Never Buy Your Photography

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8 Reasons Some Prospects Will Never Buy Your Photography

What’s the number one thing you hate about selling?It’s probably rejection.

As humans, no is the hardest word to hear. We want people to say yes. We want them to like us. We want them to fall in love with what we have to offer – we love it, why shouldn’t they?

When they say no, it fills us with doubt. Then we start questioning everything around us.

Is our business set up wrong?

Are our prices to high?

Are we not offering the right stuff?

Do they not like me?

Did I come across as too [rough, mean, uncaring, etc]?

It’s hard not to take things personally. But as a business owner, there is one thing you need to learn:

Prospects aren’t rejecting you; they are rejecting the offer you are making them.

It isn’t about you; it’s about them.

They could be rejecting you because:

1. The offer isn’t right for them.

2. The price is wrong for their budget.

3. They don’t believe in your message.

4. They already have someone else in mind – they’re going through the steps of looking at other photographers simply to confirm they are making the right choice for them.

5. They don’t like your photography – that’s okay, your unique style should never please everyone.

6. They are bad at making decisions.

7. They have no idea what they really want.

8. They are having a bad day and aren’t ready to make a decision.

And in every one of these cases, it’s okay that you don’t close the sale. This person isn’t right for you. You are better off spending your time on someone who loves what you do and what you have to offer.

Remember, a no isn’t rejecting you. It’s simply a way of telling you that they aren’t ready to close the sale. Leaving room for someone else who is.

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10 Ways Your Sales Presentations May Be Hurting Your Sales

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I recently wrote a post 13 Ways To Make Sure 2013 Doesn’t Suck For Your Photography Business. I’ve been doing a lot internal planning with my own business for 2013, and I used that post as a trigger for all of you to start thinking about what you want the New Year to bring into your own lives. In order to stick with that theme, I’ve decided to run a “13 Days Of Photography” feature throughout December to help provide you with a ton of ideas and tips on things you can do for your own business starting on January 1st. Here is 10…

One of the hardest aspects of running a photography studio is the sales process. Most of us aren’t born with sales skills. And though we can learn it over time, it may be the one thing holding you back from success. If you can’t sell, your business can’t thrive. Take a look at these ideas to see how you can improve your sales process.

1. Your selling process isn’t defined

What do you hope to accomplish during your sales process? How long is your sales process? Do you have clearly defined goals along the way? The only thing that builds and grows your business is sales. Yet that’s probably the one area you leave to chance and just “go with the flow”. You take classes to become a better photographer, and to learn how to market your business. Why not take a sales class too?

2. Your selling process isn’t planned

Instead of leaving it to chance, create a program that puts your sales strategies down for each stage of the process. How will you introduce your services? How will you get them to say yes? What will you do to keep them happy with their yes decisions? How will you get them to say yes to more throughout the process? The more you define in your strategy, the more successful you will be with it.

3. Cold selling has evolved

Remember the days of getting a list, picking up the phone, and making a “cold” call to someone? Nope, me neither. That’s because traditional cold calling hasn’t been around in a long time. Yet that doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist – we just approach it different. Thanks to the Internet, the customer is now more educated than ever before. They do their research, they understand your business, and they educate themselves on exactly what they want. Your job is to be the expert and help them bridge the gap between what they know and what they need to know in order for you to close the sale. [Read more...]

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Sales Strategies You Should Avoid Because They Don’t Work

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No matter how you bring in your prospects, it all ends up at the sales process. If you are good at selling, you’ll convert more prospects to clients. And if you aren’t, you won’t.

That’s simple enough. Yet a lot of photographers don’t think twice about their sales process. They spend all kinds of time producing a great website or having an awesome brochure. Then the client leaves without booking, or worse, never contacts you at all after viewing your marketing materials, and you’re left sitting there wondering why.

Do you use any of these tactics in your sales process?

Leave the next step to the prospect

Pull out your brochure. Pull up the emails or letters you send out when someone first contacts you. How do you close out all of your communications? If you use phrases like “if you’re interested, please contact us” or “I’d be happy to meet with you if you want more information”, you are losing the majority of your sales due to lack of enthusiasm.

If a client is immediately interested in what you do and asks for a brochure or more information, they are inviting the sales process. By you throwing the ball back in their court with vague messages, you aren’t living up to your true potential. Instead, keep the ball in your court. When you have a name, never tell them to call you. Try substituting closing statements like this: “I will call you next week to find out more about your plans.”

Selling  features rather than results

Photographers get caught up in the package and pricing of their business instead of focusing in on what the customer truly wants. If you sell them on the 8 hours of time, 36 page album, or CD with the digital files, you’ve turned your business into a Chinese restaurant where people simply pick and choose based on cost.

While customers may say “how much for an 8×10”, it’s because they don’t know what else to ask for. Photographers in the mainstream have turned this industry into a product only business, when what many customers truly want is a great experience. Focus in on the results, and how you can provide 110 percent customer service that goes way beyond your competition. [Read more...]

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Are You Missing Your Most Obvious Customer?

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Every week you attend a networking meeting. Every week you go you talk about what you do. Every week you say hi to “Joe” and chat about the weekend.

Then one day you decide to meet Joe for coffee. After a ten minute conversation, he says “sign me up”.

Wow. That was easy, right?

Yet in many cases, that scenario plays out all over the world time and time again.

Why?

Because we simply fail to reach out and connect with the most obvious person that can use our services: the people we know best.

This happens for two reasons.

1. We get busy and don’t take the time to connect on a personal level with those around us.

2. We don’t go into enough detail when explaining what we do.

Connect

To solve the first problem is easy. Think about all the people around you. People you network with on a regular basis. People you run into when you’re dropping your kids off at school. People you worked with at the last event you attended.

This week – right now – pick out one person and call them up and invite them out for coffee. Don’t try and sell them. Simply meet them for coffee and talk about anything and everything. Get to know them on a more personal level.

Then when you’ve had coffee with that person, think of another. Call that person up and invite them out for coffee in the next week. Get to know them on a more personal level.

And so on. [Read more...]

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12 Words That Will Change The Value Of Your Photography

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1 Little Secret That Can Help You Bring In More Photography Sales

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What if someone offered to teach you one thing that could improve your average sales, would you be interested?

What if you could start using it immediately – on the next client that walks through your doors, even if that’s just five minutes away? Who wouldn’t want that?

And what if this one little secret made your clients love you so much, they started referring their friends and family to you over and over again. That’s pretty powerful stuff, isn’t it?

By now you’re probably asking, what is it, what is it? And that’s the point. The point is in the questions.

Within sales, there is a simple technique called sales tie downs. They help you improve your sales process by getting your customers to agree with you in small steps along the way. You begin getting them to understand and resonate with you long before you whip out the contract and have them sign on the dotted lines. There is less friction, less questions, because they already understand what you are doing. Are you following me?

Sales tie downs are short questions you add periodically throughout your sales presentations to get your customers to start saying yes along the way. When they are used to saying yes, the final yes is that much easier.

Too often, sales becomes an automated process where you walk through your presentation without focusing in on what the prospect is thinking or doing. You have your set sales pitch and you plod along no matter what, just trying to get everything in order. It doesn’t work. If you lose your prospect and they don’t engage, they tune out. They begin thinking of other things – other photographers that may be doing things better. [Read more...]

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How Many Photos Is Too Many To Post

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You just finished a great portrait and are excited to share your images with the world.

You created around 100 images during the portrait session. When you look through and edit them all, you have around 25 that are extraordinary – they really are your best work to date.

Two days after the portrait, you place 25 images on Facebook to showcase your newest work. Your client is super excited – she LOVES them. She starts tagging them, sharing them and talking about them with all of her friends.

Then comes ordering day – the day she is supposed to come in to order her prints. She calls in the night before and cancels – something has come up.

You finally get her on the phone three weeks later and set up a new date. That too comes and goes with no client orders.

And so on. And so on.

What happened?

They were your best work yet? You really thought this client would be different and want the images you created. They were your best work to date. And you’ve booked several other new clients just by showing off these images. They were great! So why no orders?

Let’s step back and analyze the situation.

When is a client most excited for their images?

At the time you take the images.

She’s worked hard to get the portrait sitting on the books. She’s shopped for the perfect clothes. She’s motivated her family (if it’s a family portrait) to be looking and feeling great. Everyone is at the top of his or her game that day.

If they walk away from the sitting without seeing their images, life settles in. Things happen and they move onto new thoughts and ideas. The water heater breaks. The car needs new tires. Registration opens up for the kids for school – books and uniforms and signups for sports. The money flows to different areas.

And when they log onto Facebook two days later and see 25 of the best images. Wow! They get to see the best of the best … for free! What could be better than that? And what they really wanted was wallpaper for their computer, a few images for their iPhone and iPad, and a way to blast the latest portrait around to family members around the world. You accomplished that for them – they simply shoot a message to their family and friends to check out Facebook.

Now you’ve eliminated the two things that motivated them to buy – excitement for seeing the images, and timing to spend their allotted budget on images.

How do you get around this? Put the two motivation items back into your selling routine.

First, learn to sell ten minutes after you shoot. If you’re out on location, sell through your laptop in a coffee shop or back at the clients home. If you’re in your studio, have them wait in your sales room while you do a quick edit and put a presentation together. Either way, this is when they are most excited about their images. This is when they will buy the most. Don’t let this opportunity pass you by.

Second, never, never put images on Facebook before the order takes place. Use Facebook to entice them to buy – never to release the excitement ahead of time. If you really want to entice them, one image with a “wait till you see the rest…” is more than enough. Make your Facebook (or blog, or SmugMug, or whatever you use) a part of your package – you get the online images after your order has been placed. To do it before hand is sales-suicide.

Social media hasn’t killed the photographer; not knowing how to sell has killed today’s photographer.

Take back the way you sell and you’ll quickly find your business thriving.

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What Will You Do With Your $100,000 Check?

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One of the reasons you may be having trouble believing you will ever have a six figure business model is because you can’t “see” yourself with a $100,000+.

What if you had a $100,000 in your hands? Would it change the way you look at your business?

Then its time to do something about it.

Pull out your check book and write yourself a check. Make it out to you – and make it for $100,000. (You can change the amount if you have something else you are striving for. Just make sure it’s a worthwhile goal.) Date it for some point in the future that gives you enough time to put your plans into action. Then keep it for motivation.

It may sound crazy, yet a lot of people do it.

Jim Carrey wrote himself a check for $10,000,000 when he first arrived in Hollywood.

Jack Canfield took a one dollar bill and modified it (via magic marker) into a $100,000 bill. He taped it to the ceiling of his bedroom so it was the first and last thing he saw every single day.

Yes, I agree. It may sound a little silly to go through this act. Why not just make it a goal instead? [Read more...]

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