How to book more photography clients

When I started going full force in my photography business after my twins were born, my confidence was shaken a few times.

It was enough for me to question whether I had what it took to book more photography clients than I had when photography was just a hobby.

It has probably happened to you, too, no matter how long you’ve been in business.

I wasn’t used to feeling so uncertain about my abilities.

I’d had 10 years of successful career experience in sales and marketing. And while I was newer to photography, I didn’t expect to have any issues booking more photography clients than I had when I was just part-time working days at the advertising agency.

But I did. This was ME selling ME, not another company or product.

I’ll never forget the first time a potential client called to ask about my photography and they didn't book a session.

15 years later, I still remember her name.

I was crushed.

I KNEW we had a connection.

We talked for a long time about this being her first baby.

I reminisced about when my twins were born.

I was building rapport.

I was SURE she would choose me.

But then…she didn’t.

And I started to second-guess myself.

Replaying the conversation over and over in my mind.

Were my prices too high?

Did I say something to turn her off?

Did the neighborhood my studio was in hurt me?

Was my photography not good enough?

After a few months of going through this and beating myself up each time, I got fed up.

And I FIXED it so that I started booking more photography clients.  Here’s how:

1) I got clear on what makes me different from any other photographer in my market.

Sure, I may be the only photographer who has this backdrop or lens or a studio in a certain area, but my clients don’t CARE about that.

I had to do some digging and find out what they cared about in choosing a photographer and what I had that made me different.

And once I could explain this, I was able to book more photography clients because I made it clear what the advantages were of working with me.

A lot of what makes me different is in the experience I deliver to clients when they are with me.

The portrait experience starts with the first time we speak on the phone and continues  as we meet in-person to plan their session.  I see my clients at least 4 times after they decide to book a session with me. When I invest that much time into a session, it's easy to see how I'm different than a cheaper competitor.

2) I wrote down what questions I needed to ask on the first phone call that would help me weed out the clients that weren’t right for me .

Now I can do these first phone calls in my sleep and BOOK more of the photography clients who are right for me nearly every single time.

I ask things like:

"How did you hear about me?" This helps me to determine if they are a referral and which samples of my work excited them.

"What are your kids involved in? and "Where do they go to school?"

These two questions help me find a shared affinity that they won't have with most other photographers.

"Why do you need a session now?"  This helps me start to understand what type of products they want me to create for them (it's never going to be  a high res jump drive of images because I don't sell digital files of my photography).

After I did these two things, an amazing thing happened.

I started booking the clients who were right for me and selling my photography. Every single time.

No more second-guessing myself or my abilities.

Now I know EXACTLY why a prospective client doesn’t book me when that happens.

How?

I follow this same process and ask these same questions every single time a prospective client calls.

It takes me 15 minutes and it’s fool-proof.

I only book the right clients for my photography business and the ones who get away, get away for a reason. They are the clients I don’t want.

If you have questions on what my first phone call booking process looks like, ask away. I’ll do my best to answer what I can below.