Episode 233 – The $6,194.40 Client Who Turned It Around for Single-Mom, Crystal

Sarah Petty: I know a lot of you feel like you’ve tried so many things to get your photography business to the point where you’re happy with the income you’re bringing in, and that’s why I’m so excited for you to meet Crystal. Maybe photography makes you happy, but you are wondering if it’s worth it for what you’re making and the amount of time you put in. I’m excited for you to meet Crystal Cooper-Riley from Perry, Georgia. She has a full-time job as an athletic trainer and has been doing photography since high school, but struggled to make it profitable while raising her six-year-old son as a single mom. For years the money just wasn’t there until she worked with my team and I to make the change to boutique. And now she’s had her first “Julie”, $1k or more client order, of $6,194.40. Welcome, Crystal. Where did photography fit into your life? Crystal: Back in high school I picked up a point and shoot camera. Back then it was still film. A professional photographer saw some of my prints and was like, “Hey, you really have an eye for composition.” Those words meant nothing to me then. But he was like, “I’d like to show you. I’ll take you under my wing.” That kind of thing. He was a wedding photographer, and so he gave me my first actual professional camera. He had an extra one. He was like, “Learn on this.” And he started teaching me the exposure triangle and all that which is a little different for film, but that’s really where I started. It was just a hobby. Seeing the difference between my point and shoot camera to the professional camera just made me fall in love all the more. Sarah Petty: When did you start charging people for photography? Crystal: It was years later that I actually started charging because I went all the way through college. It wasn’t until I was actually working on my doctorate and I needed some money. I didn’t want to take out any more loans. Sarah Petty: I love that you value education. Then you started doing photography on the side. Were you selling digital files? How much were you charging? Crystal: I was. I was following what other people were doing. I was doing it for an hour session for $250 with all the digitas. Sarah Petty: Got it. How did you come across my program and what I teach? Crystal: I did the pricing challenge that you put up. It blew my mind. All these light bulbs were going off. It’s ridiculous how simplistic this really is, but you just don’t think about it that way until someone shows you. Sarah Petty: You jumped into my program, Boutique Breakthrough, was that scary? Crystal: I was sick and tired of being sick and tired. I was working three jobs and still barely paying the bills. I have a doctoral degree and I still can’t get my bills paid. Having a proven system sold me to invest. Sarah Petty: I really want to get into when you were fed a system. When we started with you, the first place we start is with the plan. I know that’s where most photographers go wrong. They start marketing before they even know what they’re offering. So this is really the what of your business. Did you fly through that part? Crystal: I did. That part was not bad. Especially since I knew what to look for. Everything was already laid out for me. Sarah Petty: Then we went into your brand. You have to name your company and get a logo and all those things. Was that part hard for you? Crystal: It was a little bit difficult, and I would only say because it was another one of those things that I just had to let go because I was under a different name for all those years. Sarah Petty: Then the third thing we do in this segment is your why. Helping you figure out what’s different about your business and what makes you different. Was that hard for you? Crystal: Yes, because I had never thought of it before. I never sat down to think, why am I doing this? Being in the program made me start to think and actually put purpose to something other than just, you need to make more money. Sarah Petty: If we go get clients and we don’t know what to do with them, how are we going to make money? So the first thing, we have a five-step system, and each of the steps has parts to it. So the first thing we teach you is the seven B’s to the first conversation. There’s seven steps that have to happen from talking about price, creating the value, all the things that have to happen. Was that scary for you? Crystal: Absolutely. It’s still scary for me to be honest. But there’s a script so it just makes it so much easier to follow. That did require some practicing and some preparing. The script made it so much easier. Sarah Petty: Because with any system, like you said, once you know what to say, it’s not so hard. So the scripts we gave you, did that help you and the seven organized ways, things to say? Crystal: Very much so. Honestly, I probably would not have been able to do it without having the script. Sarah Petty: And if it goes badly or you just totally screw it up, you can go back to the system and go, ah, this is where I screwed it up. Versus just going, I’m no good. So you’re first “Julie”, $1k or more client order, was she easy to work with? Crystal: She absolutely was. And it was really educating her on what I do and why I do it. And then being able to create that value, it’s like she realized, or I realized, this is really what she wants. She was like, “I love this process. I love this system that you’re working.” I explained it to her and she was like, “I love this. This is what I want because it’s true. I get overwhelmed and you’re taking that overwhelm from me.” Sarah Petty: What did you tell her when she reached out to you? Crystal: I told her I just started a new program to help my business and if she minded, I would wait a couple of weeks to do our session until I’ve gotten everything lined up. And she was like, “Yeah, I’d love that.” So it was just- Sarah Petty: The next step of our system is to meet with the person before the session. So when you met with her, what were you photographing? Crystal: So her family is her dogs. She had an idea of when I came to meet with her at the in-person consultation what she wanted. And I shared my price list with her. So she already had an idea where everything was starting. The whole time I’m like, “She’s going to kick me out the door. She’s going to kick me out the door.” But I kept it cool. And I was like, “Hey, this is the price list. This is what I offer.” She was like, “Oh, great. I love it.” But I know it’s because of the way I served her that she was all in. We went and looked at her walls and we talked about what she wanted on her walls. She was ready by the time we got to the actual sales part. She already had in her mind what she was wanting. It was just a matter of which images it was going to be, not whether she was going to buy or not. Sarah Petty: So you did her session and then you went back and presented her options. And how did that go? Crystal: It went really well. With the presentation, it was like she was in tears with the first picture. The music is going and the first image comes up and she’s like, “Oh my gosh.” She’s bawling through the whole thing. She was just so touched because these are her babies and they’re big babies and nobody else wanted to photograph them because they’re such big babies. It was a lot easier selling to her because she had really already sold it to herself. Sarah Petty: That’s what people don’t realize either. Wasn’t it interesting now that you’ve gone through that … So many people have anxiety about that presentation where you’re just sitting helping them. There’s nothing hard or scary about that, is there? Crystal: No. There’s not. Now that I’ve been through it, no. Sarah Petty: That’s my goal in Boutique Breakthrough is that you go through it with one client so that you can feel it. Because until you do it, you have this anxiety and this fear about the unknown. And once you do it, you will be excited for the future. So you get to the end and it’s like $6,000. What were you saying to yourself when you were going to tell her the total? Crystal: I tried to go in with more of a positive mindset that I can’t do this. This will be a big sale, this will be. So I was trying not to say anything negative to myself because I didn’t want to ruin the sale and be the one that’s like, “Well, I know that’s a lot.” I didn’t do any of that. None of that. Once we went through everything and added it all up, and I looked at it and I took another look at it and I just like, “Okay. So this is your total.” And I showed her, and then I said it out loud because I was like, “I’ve got to get this number out of my mouth and I have to say it confidently.” And I did. And she was like, “Okay. How much do you need now?” Sarah Petty: And you left there and she didn’t freak out and she paid you a deposit. What were you saying when you drove away? Crystal: I was like, “She’s going to call me back in just a second. She’s going to call me.” But she didn’t. She was very grateful for the process. And she was telling me, she’s like, “Oh, I’m going to tell everybody about you. You’re going to get so sick of people calling you.” Sarah Petty: That is marketing. When you do a great job for people and you serve them at that level, you should be getting organic referrals from everyone. How are you feeling now about where photography fits in your life, Crystal? Crystal: I feel like it’s definitely a major part of my life. I really feel like I’m trying to find a way to be able to lean more on my photography than my current job. I want to be in a position where if for some reason something happens with this job, I know that photography will be able to sustain me. So I’m trying to get myself to that point. Sarah Petty: Your story is going to inspire so many people. I’m so grateful you came here today to share your story and give hope to people who are feeling like they’re underground. I really appreciate you. Download the Episode Transcript Here