Welcome to part two of my two-part series on photography business blinders where I’m shining a light on the four main areas I see my students lacking in execution that is holding them back from rocking their photography businesses. Last week we covered the first two areas that I really see happening in the early part of the process before the session.
You’ve had your first phone call and you’ve booked your client. You met with them before this session, which is where all the selling happens, and then you had your session. If you’re like a lot of my photographer students, you think all the fun is done once you have your session. If you close the gaps in execution that’s surrounding these two areas of your business, you will love sales because you will know how to serve the client.
3. Improve your presentation skills
I always say, if they’re crying, they’re buying. We are selling emotionally packed images of people and the people that they love. We’re putting their images to music and presenting it to them while we’re sitting right next to them. This creates a tug at the client’s heartstrings and it elevates your images to the realm of fine art. Let’s start with image creation or culling. This is taking the images from the session and sorting them through the lens of what is the best? We have to sacrifice our personal attachment to the final product for the sake of a stronger, more effective narrative. Just like your goal as a professional photographer is to tell the story of the people you’re photographing and the relationships, the same concept needs to be applied to culling images.
Another big part of my selling system is the order in which we show the images. We love creating a simple slideshow of the images and narrowing down to the best images. We build the presentation and we make sure that we’re reverse engineering the presentation based on what the client wants.
4. Not rushing the sales conversation by leaving out emotional storytelling
By the time you’re sitting down with the client in the boutique in-person sales presentation, you should have built a lot of rapport with your client. Now you can sit in your gorgeous, emotional-inducing presentation, and bring the heat with your emotional storytelling and relating to them personally. Let’s keep going with the example of the family having their first family portrait. They have those college kids who are leaving for college and we reach the part in the presentation where we’re pulling up the images and it’s time to make their decision. I might say something like, “oh my gosh, I’m really drawn to number 15. I love how the kids are up front together and they’re laughing. Lok at the relationship between Henry and Oliver and Eleanor’s in the middle. And I know you said the boys are so protective of her. They both have their arm around her and they’re just so in love with their sister. And then you and dad are behind them like they know you’re there for them, but they’re out front and they’re going off into life, but they know you’re there with them. And man, if this were my family, I would love that for decades.”
How could any parent say no to that image and that centerpiece in their home that tells the story of my three kids and how crazy my two boys are about their sister? What has more value than that image and the meaning that I just bestowed upon it? This is how you elevate your images to the status of art in your client’s eyes. You tell emotional stories about it. This helps to reinforce your status as a professional and justifies the investment the client is making.
Now that you are aware of these four areas, make a plan to implement these tactics. And when you start to see big changes in your business, we want to be the first to know and celebrate you.
