Zenologue

Pricing… you can’t be a professional photographer for very long without becoming embroiled in the subject of how to price your work (well, you could, I suppose, but you would never make any money). Then there is the question of, not only what prices to charge, but also how to make your clients aware of your price list without them either running away or thinking you are trying to pressure-sell them.

Price Lists! Get ‘em Here!

In the time that I’ve been working as a professional photographer, I’ve personally tried different methods of communicating my prices to clients and potential clients, with varying degrees of success. These include the usual suspects:

• Printed pamphlet
• Combined price list and brochure
• Web site page
• By email

However, the problem I found with these methods was that sales just didn’t seem to be where I wanted them to be. I would hand out price lists to prospects who requested them, count the number of web hits to my price list page, or email my list to anyone who asked for it – yet the prospects disappeared as quickly as they came, like ghosts. Unless these people were simply professional price list collectors, it was a complete mystery to me, and it doesn’t take too much of that to think to yourself, “my prices must be too high.“ 

The (Second) Guessing Game:

Looking at my price list, and thinking about the lack of returning prospects, I really did start to imagine that my prices were too high – so I made the terrible mistake of lowering them and trying again. Yes, you guessed it – I got just the same result. So, we get caught up in a terrible cycle of continually fiddling with the prices. Up and down like yo-yo’s they go!

Does any of this sound familiar to you? Are you stuck in that no-man’s land of trying to second-guess your prospects to discover what you think they would pay, rather than what you think they should pay?

Well, you’re not alone – just about every photographer I know has been through this painful process. But, there is an answer:

Shhh… Don’t Tell – Show:

The answer to this problem really requires three separate things. Firstly, you need to decide what your services and products are going to be (i.e. what it is that you are selling). Secondly, you should decide on your prices, based on your costs, competition and income needs. Finally, produce one price list that is yours, and yours alone.

That’s right, just ONE – no one sees your full price list unless you personally show it to them - together with a full and complete sales presentation and explanation of everything you offer.

Now, I can hear you saying, “that’s the craziest thing I’ve heard!” but bear with me here for just a moment.

There is a perfectly good reason why the other methods don’t work effectively. When a prospect looks at a web site and finds a price list, they can see how much an 8×10 or a wedding package is, right? But how are they going to compare that with something they’ve seen elsewhere, except by the price, print size or package contents? Suddenly, your prospect has been magically transformed from someone looking for sensitive, great photography into a robotic price comparison shopper! In the mind of most prospects, all 8x10s are printed equal – but we know that couldn’t be further from the truth. It’s what is on the paper that’s important, not the paper itself. But how can we possibly intervene and explain this to the prospect when they are an anonymous web surfer or someone just sitting at home reading a price list?

Wedding packages are an even more extreme example. Displaying a price for a package on a web site or in a brochure they can take away is only going to make the prospect think, “well, I get such and such for this price, but that other photographer over there will give me x and y for less money.” Now, you and I both know that the “other” photographer isn’t going to put as much effort into the wedding day as you are, doesn’t have the experience you have, won’t deliver as quickly, or simply isn’t artistic. But the prospect isn’t thinking like that anymore – they are only comparing prices.

The same thing goes when the prospect calls you on the telephone. The first question they ask is, “how much?” If you answer that question straight away, they’re gone, and we never hear from them again. Instead, we have to divert the conversation away from the price (at least at the beginning of the call) and on to the emotional reasons for the photography they’re looking for. Once we’ve had a chance to educate them about what makes us unique, then we can gently introduce them to pricing, after which we arrange to meet them personally for a more in-depth chat if the price happens to fall within their budget.

This means that, by the time the client meets with you for a chat, they already know that your prices are affordable to them.

The Personal Touch:

As you might expect, I meet with every client I work with before I allow them to book a session or wedding. Apart from being able to meet them face to face, this is an opportunity to give my full sales presentation before introducing them to my full price list. As a professional salesperson, it is my responsibility to ensure that understand as much about their needs as possible before trying to sell them anything – they don’t care what I know until they know I care about them, and I genuinely do care about them. If money is the only motivator to you as a professional photographer then you are in the wrong business.

There is one copy of my price list, and I keep it in a leather binder, printed on fine parchment paper. To the prospect, it really looks like an official copy, which it is, and no one has ever asked me if they can take it home or borrow it. They simply take notes as we go through it, but they don’t get my actual price list under any circumstances.

If I’m meeting with a prospect to discuss a wedding, for example, it may be 45 minutes to an hour before we ever get to the subject of price. They can see the price list there on the table, they probably know what it is, but I don’t open it until I’m ready to show it to them. If they ask about the price list, and I don’t feel ready for them to see it yet, I simply say, “I’m glad you brought that up, and I’ll be happy to go over my price list shortly. But first…” and then I ask them another question about the wedding.

By the time we do get to the price list, we’ve talked about the wedding day, how the couple met, what they like to do together, what’s important about the wedding, how many bridesmaids & groomsmen they have, the color scheme etc. At that point, they know that I really care about them and their wedding plans, and now the price is no longer a primary driving force. Obviously, they will have a budget in mind, and there should be a package that falls within that range, but their minds are no longer simply crunching numbers and comparing our prices to someone else’s. They are making a comparison – but it’s to do with things like service, quality, attention to detail, personality and so on.

“Selling” – Going Down!

When I guide them through the price list I start with the most expensive option first, no matter if they’ve already indicated a budget to me. This way, I only have to sell down and not up. Selling up is as hard as trying to climb a mountain from the bottom – it’s usually much easier going down than up.

Don’t make the terrible mistake of confusing this process for pressure-selling, because it isn’t – far from it. The purpose of selling down is to help them become involved with a package that’s appropriate for them, even if it does happen to be the least expensive one you offer.

For example, if they had a budget of, say $2,500, and I were to only show them a package for that amount, they will automatically see that as “expensive” and will be more likely to choose the one below it, which may not suit their needs as well. However, if I start at the top and work down, then they’re more likely to choose a more appropriate package.

Marry Me & Get A Birthday Gift!

If you’re still in any doubt about the value to be gained from not allowing your clients to see your price list until you are ready, try this hypothetical example:

Imagine you’re looking for a romantic partner, so you register on a dating web site to try to find the ideal person. The site is unusual in that there are no photographs and no information about any of the people on there. The only clue you have about anyone is how much he or she would expect you to spend on their birthday present. How would that affect your choice? Wouldn’t you be more interested in finding out about their personality, character, age and looks than something that could only be described as a price? Hopefully, you answered yes to that question…

The same principle applies to selling photography. The prospect or client doesn’t understand as much about creative professional photography as we do, so they may not realize which factors they really ought to be concerned about the most. So, they get hung up on the only thing they can relate to, which is the price. At the end of the day, it’s our job, as sellers of photography, to unhook them from the price, and re-connect them with the real elements of what we do.

Summary:

Just to make sure that I do underline this point: I have only one printed price list that I show to prospective clients – there are no prices on my web site, no prices emailed out to those who request them, no detailed prices given over the phone and no brochure with a few photographs and my prices for them to take away.

I am not hiding anything from my clients or trying to decieve them in any way – that’s no way to run an ethical business. But, it does demonstrate to my clients that I value them personally, and their individual needs, above the prices for my services. It also helps to screen out the types of clients who I don’t want to work with – the ones to whom price is the only important factor and to whom values of family, relationships, emotions and memories are not as important.

So far, not one single person has complained about this procedure, or made any negative comment on it. My clients now treat my prices with respect and they understand the context in which they are given, leading to better sales and, in my opinion, an overall better experience for the client.

Pricing Pricing, professional photographer, selling