Do you truly have a photography sales process? Two components of a solid sales strategy
Image by: @kellysikkema
How to sell and/or upsell images in your photography business
I interacted with a photographer on a Facebook group who was having trouble selling upgrades after clients pre-purchased a set number of images. When I asked what her current sales strategy was, she described that clients choose a package at the start (without details on how). She sends an invoice and plans the session. When she sends the gallery, she communicates prices for additional images. The result? Most stayed with the original package and nothing more.
The photographer considered this her sales process. It’s a process certainly, but not a sales process. Why? Selling involves more than presenting packages and sending an invoice. It involves a strategy to move people to a pre-determined and best fit outcome.
Here are 2 key ways to implement a strong sales process into your photography business along with some guidance on putting the advice into action.
Expert Guidance
Most clients are not really aware of how professional photography works. So they may have pre-conceived notions that may or may not be true, based on Internet searches and things they’ve heard others say.
Our job is to first find out what they know, so that we can assess where they are starting from and how to help them. If they are thinking all sorts of wrong stuff and you don’t know about it, then your eventual sale is being built on a shaky foundation. Their invisible beliefs or opinions can work strongly against optimal outcomes, silently undermining your best sale.
A classic example is when people say they only need a few minutes of a session for “one good photo.” They draw upon personal experience of someone snapping a quick snap of them at a party and think this is what we do too. People may also not be educated on the true cost of a full service photographer if they’ve been widely exposed to cheap minis that pop up often in social media channels. If your clients see a lot of those, they may believe that’s what prices really are, and they experience sticker shock when you present your price. If you know they have only ever been exposed to cheap minis (like for their holiday cards), then you are now in a position to let them how that higher prices benefits them in terms of quality, value, deliverables and customer experience.
Once you know the ground you stand on with client, become the trustworthy hand to help them to get to what they want and what they will love.
HOW TO DO THIS:
Ask what they are looking for and listen to understand what they need and what potential errant perceptions they may have
Ask if they’ve ever had professional photography and if yes, what they liked/ didn’t like. This helps to shape the client experience and prime them for a better sales outcome if they feel taken care of
Make a recommendation even at an early stage and plant a seed. “Typically, my family reunion clients will book the X package because it has enough time for a group as large as yours, and comes with all images. The adult children will usually split the cost and because it comes with an album, it makes a wonderful gift for your parents. You don’t have to decide now; we can start with booking the session and revisit the package once you’ve seen the images.”
Encouragement
Tell me the last time you got excited about something that you were uncomfortable with. It doesn’t happen. We usually run from that kind of stuff! Sales make many photographers uncomfortable. It’s a major issue because we tend to distance ourselves from the sale to protect ourselves from that discomfort. We’ll send a price list, send a gallery, write a note on the price of extra images and then wait to see if the client buys anything else (and then cry into our Cheerios if they don’t!) While it feels safe, you haven’t really served your client. You kind of just pushed that information out at them but provided no encouragement towards an ultimate outcome.
Encouragement isn’t an empty excitement. It’s being completely sold on something that you want everyone to have or experience it. Have you ever had a friend or family member that tried a new product or service and gushed about it and said you absolutely must try or buy? That’s true encouragement!
What does encouragement look like in business? It’s an enthusiastic and knowledgeable support towards something beneficial to someone. It’s meant to trigger them towards an end result that you are both confident and happy with. It’s meant to stoke a desire within them to have what you’ve recommended as the best. This means you have to believe in the value of what you are providing. If your imposter runs things, use mindset training to crowd it out and get back in charge. You have to be your own biggest fan first and foremost and that ra-ra cheerleader energy will also energize your clients in a sale.
HOW TO DO THIS
Create packages that ‘encourage’ an upsell. Base package at xx dollars has 10 image, but for only xx more, you receive double the images AND a bonus something (print, FB cover image, slideshow, print credit etc).
Show sample albums before they’ve seen their gallery to encourage that sale. Or pre-design an album and show it in the gallery software and all they have to do is press “buy” and it’ll be made. Even more powerful, do BOTH of those things!
Remember how I said that people may have pre-conceived notions about photography? Use expert guidance to cut through that stuff and establish expectations in your world, and couple it with an encouragement towards the ultimate solution. And present that solution to them with confidence. More often than not, when people understand something new or are pushed slightly to a better product or service, they will be grateful you helped them stretch.
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