I know we all think it, photographers, but we don't say much about it. People contact us about our prices, we either direct them to a place that has the prices listed and hope they respond kindly and say they want to book. Or we send them back an email w/ prices OR we try to avoid the talk of prices altogether. I've tried various approaches. I was wondering to myself, "oh my gosh, will they book w/ me? Maybe I should send them an email and give a discount!" This is where I've been all over the map. I started out doing sessions a bit cheaper, but once I raised my prices as my quality got better, I did book some very high end clients. The type of clients who value photography, not just snapshots of the kids. They wanted custom portraits and I delivered just that.
So, what makes some people willing to pay your asking rate and some not? It has to come down to two things.
1. The NOTS: They simply can't see the forest from the trees.
They see the price tag alone and not the value of the images. These are the clients who will go to Sears and be completely happy with their images and post them all over facebook, white vignettes and all. These are the clients who can not see that they spend money every single day on unnecessary items and if they sacrificed a few things here and there, they could afford custom portraits that look like they belong in a gallery. They could have amazing pieces of art to pass down to future generations and grandchildren. However, these type of clients just want photos, lots of them if possible, they want them now and they could care less about the editing process.
2. The Customers: They love your work and want you. Period.
If a potential customer loves your work, they are going to book with you. It may not be right away. They truly may not have the money at the time, but you can bet they are thinking of ways to make it work! They are looking at your images, hoping the time arrives that they can book. They are putting it into the budget. They understand the time that goes into custom photography. They realize you don't just shoot the images, go home and throw them on the computer ready to print or *cringe* put on a disc. They know you are going to retouch every.single.photo. you choose and they trust your talents. That's it! They TRUST in you! The clients that come to me, I usually will ask them a few questions, and ultimately, most of them say "I just love your work, I trust your vision." These are the clients you want, the clients that you will make happy.
I used to be afraid of people paying me. Can you believe that? I feared having paying clients because I feared letting them down. I feared them trusting me and them not delivering. Can you see where I'm going with this? Your price, regardless if it's $75 a session or $500 a session, is still your work! If a client is not happy, it's not going to be about the price. They know going in what your work looks like, what you usually produce and if they don't, that means you either don't have a big enough portfolio and maybe shouldn't be charging yet at all, but focusing on building that, OR they didn't look at your work, they only looked at the price. You need to consult with them before taking that session fee and make sure your WORK is what they want, NOT the price. I've sent clients to other photographers before because of this. They asked me to do things with images I don't do to my images, so I was happy to refer them to someone else who would (good example- selective coloring).
I'm not afraid anymore. I've set the price and while I may make adjustments here and there, I see that there are clients, my clients, in the population who will book with me based upon my work alone. The dollar amount is to cover my costs and not much more at this point. I have bills to pay, loans to pay off for school and occasionally, when I do get a bit extra (I should put that towards the loans), I will invest some more into photography with some new backdrops, a new piece of needed equipment, etc. ultimately making the experience for my client better because it will improve their images or give them more options.
That is my thought for the afternoon...
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