The difference between your sales process and the sales process of discounters is night and day. You’re not closing the sale by adding pressure. You’re not negotiating. You close every sale the opposite way. You close sales by doing so many things to please the client from the first interaction to the last encounter.
To get started on the path to mastering boutique selling, follow these five tips:
1. Overcome price objections in the first conversation by focusing on benefits
You can overcome price objections by highlighting the value your photography will bring into their lives.
Price becomes a major issue only in the absence of value. Make sure that, in your first connection, you build value through education. At Sarah Petty Photography, we build rapport by asking many questions about their needs. We tell customers why our business is different and how everything we do benefits them. We educate them on why we only use high-end materials, even though it requires more time, work, and attention. We then share prices. By then, they know if we are the right photographer for them.
2. Be confident in your prices and your value
Be confident when presenting your photography pricing and you’re customers will appreciate a higher perceived value for your work.
Much of the perceived value you create with customers is in presenting your prices in a positive way. It may take some practice if you’re just starting out, but much like dating or interviewing for a job, your demeanor with clients has to be nothing less than confident. Don’t apologize for your prices.
3. Be willing to walk away from a client
When it comes to selling your photography, not everyone can be your client. Becoming a 6-figure photographer means learning which clients to keep and which ones to let go.
It’s a hard lesson to learn, but when you spend time on the wrong clients, they wear you down and make you lose your passion. And, worse, you start making decisions on price and service based on the wrong buyer! We see this all the time when boutique businesses sell via Groupon or other coupon services. All of a sudden, you have swarms of new, price-sensitive clients vying for attention and service. The next thing you know, you’re making business decisions based on the needs of the wrong customers. Your brand suffers.
4. Don’t wait for the phone to ring to sell
As a pro photographer, there’s no reason why you should wait for the phone to ring. You have the ability to create your own sales through your carefully cultivated relationships.
Because you have relationships with your clients, you can go create the sales when times are slow. You have the advantage of creating demand by selling to your current customers, co-marketing with other businesses, or working with a charity to add new clients to your database.
5. Be honest
As a boutique photographer, you need a strong moral compass to always do the right thing for your photography clients
As a boutique business, you have to have a strong moral compass so that you will always be able to do what’s right. If something goes wrong, you need to do the right thing to remedy the situation.
To get more tips on pricing, marketing, and small business strategies, download a free chapter of my New York Times Best Selling book, Worth Every Penny: Build a Business that Thrills Your Clients and Still Charge What You’re Worth at: https://photographybusinessinstitute.com/our-book/try-a-chapter/
Want to learn more?
Are you ready to change your pricing from a fear-based reaction to a business decision?
The profit is in the pricing! Your prices even help you attract your model client while scaring off the clients that just don’t fit.
Join me in this free 60 minute webinar to learn how to profitably price your photography. Seating is limited. Reserve your spot now!
Click on the image above to attend our free webinar “3 Simple Pricing Tweaks You Can Make In Less Than 30 Minutes That Will Get You The Paycheck You Want” on Monday, July 13.