It finally dawned upon me…

The person I was looking for was the one I would need to become.

That’s not to say I don’t seek out teachers and desire to learn. Others can offer guidance and insight. Classical texts like the Bhagavad Gita, the Bible, the Talmud, the Koran, The Tao De Ching and the occasional Bazooka Joe comic lend intelligence, humility and humor to the process of discovery. I am and will always be an eternal student.

But, I’m not driven by the quest to find and place upon a pedestal any single teacher who will make everything okay, show me the light or bless my decisions and actions and diminish uncertainty.

Because, in the end, no one else can stand in my shoes.

No one else can live my fears, dreams, love, relationships, desires, intellect, challenges, life and lifestyle.

No one else can enjoy or suffer the outcome of my decisions or actions.

No one else is better equipped to know me.

No one else can act but me.

Upon these realizations, I began to accept responsibility not only for my life to-date, but for the process of making it come alive from that point forward.  Not for anyone else.  For me. And, increasingly, for those I serve.

I continued to listen to conventional wisdom, but, realizing most who followed it ended up not more, but less fulfilled, I committed to forming my decisions another way.  I adopted a standard that guides nearly every major business decision I make.

Will this career choice allow me to spend the greatest amount of time absorbed in activities and relationships that make me come alive, while surrounding myself with people I cannot get enough of and earning what I need to live well in the world?

And, I also realized much of what makes not only me, but most people come alive comes from a place of service and impact.

When I started making decisions from this place, the world seemed to increasingly become my partner in the career adventure of a lifetime.

Does that mean everything started to come easily?  No.

In case you haven’t gathered, creating your life and livelihood to deliver maximum passion and prosperity is a gargantuan challenge.

But, it’s not about whether it’s hard or easy…it’s about whether it’s WORTH the effort.

And, the answer is a definitive yes.  Especially since recent advances in technology have made possible options and opportunities that simply did not exist even a few short years ago. Launching and scaling a meaningful professional path while minimizing risk has become so much easier.

I can’t tell you where or how it’s going to end.

Frankly, taking full responsibility for the state of my life and happiness still scares the hell out of me on a pretty regular basis.  Such is the nature of working the edge of convention and owning up to the inevitability of uncertainty.

But, it scares me far less than it would to turn my future over to someone else and simply hope for the best.

I have increasingly better-defined goals, core-qualities that are important to build around and experiences I want to bring to my and my family’s lives. But I have also discovered the wonder that presents itself, seemingly spontaneously, when you consistently act in alignment with your authentic Self, then open to relationships and opportunities you never saw coming.

I cannot conduct the balance of my life in a vacuum of inevitable regret.

I cannot imagine the sorrow of leaving this Earth one day filled with visions of a life I dreamed of living, but never had the will to try.

And, I cannot rest with the notion that, in my actions, I might have taught my daughter to do the same.

Like Helen Keller said,

Life is either a daring adventure, or nothing.

So.  What are you waiting for?

Ball’s in your court…

Do not go where the path may lead; go instead where there is no path and leave a trail. ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson

[This post was excerpted and expanded from Jonathan Field's book, Career Renegade]

Bottom Line: What types of marketing changes will you make to ensure your photography success? In order to create changes, you must start doing things differently. Learn new marketing steps and take action on them. Testing one at a time. You will discover what works best for you and you will. Reap the rewards of taking action…today.

Time Commitment: Never-ending.

Photographer: Simon Howden

Photo Courtest of: www.freedigitalphotos.net

All comments must be submitted by Wednesday, March 24 by 5:00 p.m. EST.

I know that many of you maintain your own websites and draw income from your images. With the advancements of digital technology and the internet the issue of pirating, copyright and intellectual property rights abuse has become a significant issue. Washington is beginning to address this matter and is currently on a fact finding mission seeking opinions and information from the art world.

There is an effort being made to develop some new laws and procedures regarding copyright abuse on the government level. As photographers, you have a unique opportunity to bring your opinions about copyright directly to the government. A notice about this was recently sent to all NANPA members asking that you send your input into Washington. If you are a NANPA member I encourage you to follow up on this. For those of you who are not and are interested in expressing your opinion I have included herein the information sent to me by NANPA.

As required by an Act of Congress (The PRO-IP Act of 2008), Ms. Espinel and her White House team are preparing a Joint Strategic Plan that will include your feedback on the costs and risks that intellectual property infringement has on the American public.

Here’s how to make yourself heard!

Send an email to Ms. Espinel and the Obama Administration:
intellectualproperty@omb.eop.gov

Begin your letter with “The North American Nature Photography Association has informed me of this welcome invitation from the Obama Administration to share my thoughts on my rights as a creator.”

Include in your email: your story, why intellectual property rights are important to you, how piracy and infringement affect you, and what the U.S. government can do to better protect the rights of creative Americans.

Also include in your email: your name, city, state, and what type of artist you are.

DO NOT include any personal or private information as all comments will be posted publicly on the White House website.

All comments must be submitted by Wednesday, March 24 by 5:00 p.m. EST.

So you want to know what to charge for your photography products and services. You’ve compared and looked at what your competitors charge within a 60 mile radius of your zip code. You figure if you price just a little lower then what they charge, you’ll get the business.



WRONG.







The problem with this kind of thinking is (at a minimum) two fold:

1) Someone will always be cheaper than you.

2) How do you know that what your competition is doing is successful unless you sit down and have a candid conversation with them?

You don’t. Every business owner and entrepreneur struggles with how to price their products.

If we were selling comparable items – like the same brand of toothpaste – that would be one thing.

But we are not. We are exchanging our talent, time and creativity for people to invest in us.

We are conditioned as consumers to compare apples to apples. But in reality, our profession does not allow

for this. How you see, perceive, create and photograph a scene is different from what I, or any other photographer “sees” the same scene. But you already know that. That is why it is important to really think about your pricing strategy.

So if you know all of this, then why do you really want to be the cheapest photographer in town? Price alone attracts a certain level and quality clientele. If you want to be the one to deal with bargain hunters, who will do just that – search for a bargain and haggle with you about your prices and what they can get every step of the way – then pricing below your competition will certainly earn you that status.

But if you’re looking for respect and to be valued for your knowledge, creativity, heart and soul, then think carefully about what you are worth and the value you bring to the table. That, in itself, will sell the client on working with you.

Whatever you’re thinking in terms of a starting price point, multiply that by 10% and start there. The majority of photographers undervalue and under-invest in themselves. While this alone does not tell me that you are charging what you’re worth, it is a good starting point. This guarantees that you are at least 10% higher than what you were originally going to charge. Numbers are just that, numbers.

If you can’t proclaim to the world that you are worth your services, then they won’t proclaim it either, and they’ll be signing the contract with the photographer 3 doors down.

Bottom Line: Pricing is not just about the numbers. Pricing is a series of steps and research – within you – that gets you where you want to be. And before you can set any price or number on your products or services, you need to fully and honestly answer these questions to be clear about who and what you are about, who you want to serve, and the value and experience you bring to your clients.  All of these variables have an impact on your price – not just what your competitors are charging or how good you are (or think you are) as a photographer.

Learn to charge what you’re worth and not blindly follow the industry standards.

Time Commitment: A minimum of 2 hours and at the very least, an ongoing process.

Photo Credits
Photographer: Danilo Rizzuti
Courtesy of: www.freedigitalphotos.net

The question is: What ARE you worth?

At a meeting the other day, a marketing consultant opened her talk by asking the group, “What are you worth?” She went on to discuss all the different ways we minimize our worth or discount our value in desperate attempts to close the sale. After all the pitfalls of pricing and selling were laid out, she closed the talk by asking again, “What are you worth?” The responses around the room were very entertaining as people began to realize or give themselves permission to adjust their prices to make a profit!

As a wakeup call for your own solo business, I want to give you some options to consider ensuring your pricing delivers the profitability you deserve.

1. Educate your customers. When prospects approach you or call/email you for an estimate/quote, this is a buying signal. They are telling you they are ready to buy and willing to spend money to purchase your expertise. – Provide superior service and they won’t look elsewhere and won’t blink at your price. Excellence is priceless.

2. Many prospects perceive value and price as equal. A lower price can actually hurt your credibility and sales because they associate the best quality products and services with premium pricing. Listen to your customers. – Do some competitive research and be sure you are not shorting yourself.

3. Periodically calculate your profit margin to be sure what you charge, after expenses and overhead, pays you a good living. Covering expenses, overhead and payroll is not enough.

4. Periodically do the numbers to be sure that the actual cost/hour and price/hour give you the necessary profit margin. Your daily rate may sound reasonable. But if you bill for 7 or 8 hours and put in 12 -14 hours, you may actually be paying yourself less than your lowliest employee or intern.

5. There are ways to keep your prices fixed to maintain value and yet be flexible. Add the flexibility by designing different bundles of services or different packages of hours/month or hours/project to be contracted.

6. Set your fees just a bit above what you feel comfortable asking for. Then, bump them up incrementally until clients complain or you stop getting reorders.

7. When asked, be upfront about your prices, and then zip it. Do not apologize for your prices, defend your prices, or justify how you derived the price.

8. Yes, there are strategic times when negotiating a price is in your best interest. For example: a unique packaging of services for a new type of client, or the pilot or beta testing of a new product or program.

9. If you still think your initial consultation/sales presentation with a client should be for free, set some boundaries and expectations and clearly state the value and your investment in preparing for that initial consultation. Another way to approach this is to charge for the initial consultation at your full rate and if they purchase your product or service, that fee gets applied to the final invoice payment.

10. If you close the sale and get paid on that one sale but provide value-added services of following up in a number of ways, are you losing money from the opportunity costs? Maybe you can charge a small premium to provide stellar customer service. Clients will value it more if they have to pay for it.

You have to appreciate what you are worth before your clients will. Decide what you are worth in the marketplace. Be sure your fee or rate has a profitability factor built in. You are worth it.

Bottom Line: You’re services and skills are worth more than you believe. Notice I did not say “think”? I want you to believe in yourself and your work. Until you believe in what you stand for, you’ll always limit yourself to the true freedom and wealth that comes as a result of offering your unique talents.

Just for a moment, no matter how uncomfortable it makes you feel, write down what you believe you are worth. Study your product prices and session fee; put a number that represents what you are worth for each one. No matter how crazy a number, if you feel it’s $10,000, write it down. Don’t rationalize it. Just do it.

Post it where you will frequently see it and sit with it for the next 48 hours.

Part of getting what you want to be is learning to ask the right questions. Instead of asking “why?”, start asking “why not?”

Time Commitment: 30 minutes

Photo Credits
Photographer: Danilo Rizzuti
Courtesy of: www.freedigitalphotos.net

I couldn’t have said this better myself and is consistently what I teach people. I’ve pasted the email below. Read on:

Here’s some more information so you get the most out of your “emotional swipe file.”

Mega-successful marketer Jay Abraham is famous for saying: “People are silently begging to be led.”

It’s a fact that most people feel that way. Ever try to get a friend or spouse to make a decision? Sure, some people are decisive, but most prefer that you make the decision for them.

All you need to do is make it easy for them.
And add a little empathy.

They want to be led by a leader who has their best interest at heart, not someone who is only looking to get them grabbing their wallet and forking out some bucks for you.

I’m sure you feel that way too, right?

So, using emotion, you can paint their picture, provide focus, and show them what’s POSSIBLE. The more you do this, the more you show them what they’ve been denied for so long.

The more they appreciate your intent, the more empowered they’ll feel to take the action you suggest. (Clicking on a link perhaps?)

Your responsibility for being in business is to solve problems. That’s why you need to be sure any products you recommend are in the best interests of your prospects. (At least 2 or 3 out of
a hundred.)

When you feel strongly they are, it comes through in your writing.

After all, you can’t take prospects to the “promised land” unless you are convinced your product or service will deliver. It’s ok to say that, if YOU believe. The prospects who NEED to hear the message will believe, and they’ll reward you with a purchase.

There’s a reason I’m telling you this. I’ve met lots of nice people at seminars. They corner me to pick my brain about writing money-making ads and emails that pull in the bucks.

Ultimately, the conversation turns to products they sell. Many ask me about ethics in selling. Many tell me about this or that idea, but they never get traction because they focus on trying to sell to “everybody.”

I’m here to tell you… you CANNOT sell to everybody. You’re only looking for a few (like 2, 3 or heavens…4%) to buy. Hitting on only a select few emotions in each marketing email narrows and strengthens your response.

So, a word to the wise… target your emotions with laser precision.

I’ll get more detailed on how to be empathetic in my next email.

By the way, I found a short, interesting article about how people make buying decisions. Click here for some fascinating info on buying psychology: “Buying is Not a Rationale Decision”

You need to know this stuff if you want your words to create money out of electrons in cyberspace.

All the best,

Million Dollar Mike





Bottom Line: What problems are you solving for your clients and how can you translate that into strong emotions that your clients will relate to? What do you need to do to create that experience for them?

Time Commitment: Spend 60 minutes writing out all the emotions you want your perfect client to experience. Then strategize ways to make it happen.

Photo Credits
Photographer: Michal Marcol
Courtesy of: www.freedigitalphotos.net

What’s the first thing you educate yourphotography marketingmarketingon? Is it price? Oh, I sure hope not.

Once you’ve gathered some personal information from your clients, your guarantee should be the first thing    they know about.

What, did I hear you say you don’t have a guarantee? Here’s your first and last warning: You can’t and shouldn’t go into business without one. If you don’t want to die a slow death, then work on your guarantee.

I guarantee lots of things:

• I guarantee you’ll be in tears if not so emotionally moved when you see your pet’s portraits.

• I guarantee that if you invest with me (anything – session fee, portraits – large or small, canvas or gallery) that it has to pass my inspection before ever getting to you, then it needs to pass yours, or you don’t pay me for them, you tell me to keep everything and I refund any monies you’ve paid me.

• I guarantee (to the original wall portrait investors) that if your wall portrait is ever damaged, fire, flood, peed on, kids got muddy prints all over it, wear and tear, or the dog ate it – I will replace it free of charge. And I print out a special guarantee on parchment paper with color ink that looks very official  that has the owner’s name(s) written right on it to as well as my personal signature . It must be for those owners only though – not if it gets passed down in the family as an heirloom.

• I guarantee your pet will have a positive experience with me and that I will treat him like my own (which means lots of kisses, hugs, pats and cookies)

• I guarantee that regardless of whether or not I feel I “got the shot”, I will always put the animal’s welfare first and am really great at reading them and recognizing when they are done. When the animal says they are done, so am I. (Please note that sometimes the owners are not even aware of when their animal has had enough)

• I guarantee I will never push the animal beyond it’s capabilities and that if you see me doing something the animal does not like and I don’t recognize it, you tell me immediately and I will stop. Period. End of story.

I have a ton more guarantees – and I never use the word SATISFY. If that is all I am doing that I have not done my job. I want you thrilled, joyous, ecstatic.

Your guarantees need to be strong enough to differentiate you from your competition, and you must be able to carry it out and feel comfortable with it.

NEVER promise something you cannot deliver or don’t believe in. It must be tailored to you.

But it must be strong, unique, and something that tells prospects “you have nothing to lose by trying me out (or everything to lose by not trying me out)”.

There are 3 reasons why people won’t do business with you:

1) They don’t want or need what you’re offering – period (not the right target market)

2) They aren’t ready yet (lack of funds, don’t quite need your product yet, timing is not right)

3) They don’t trust you

As you can guess, #3 is going to be the one objection you can tackle if that is all they are concerned with. By offering a strong guarantee, you take away a whole lot of #3 and empower them to do business with you.

Which one of these do you feel more comfortable with:

• 30 day money back guarantee
• 60 day money back guarantee
• 90 day money back guarantee
• 1 year money back guarantee
• Lifetime guarantee

Ah, but won’t that produce more returns? Studies show there are more sales as a result than
returns. And many people forget or are too lazy too do anything once they have owned your product for a longer period of time.

The only way to know is to test it if you are nervous about doing it.

Bottom Line: Create your guarantee today by answering the following: Who am I? What type of personality am I and what approach makes me different from other photographers? What products do I offer that no one else offers? How am I different and what do I do differently that other photographers won’t do?

Goldmine Tip: this is a great place to find out your customer’s concerns and address them in a guarantee!

Time Commitment: As long as it takes. This one is too important to dismiss.

Photo Credits
Photographer: Simon Howden
Courtesy of: www.freedigitalphotos.net



www.PhotographyBySki.com





I skimmed his website and noticed that most, if not all, of what he highlights in yellow are his unique selling propositions (USP’s). He hits upon the concerns of his clients and objections that he might encounter.

Also, he archives his newsletters and continually keeps in touch with his clients on a regular basis. I know. I subscribe to his online newsletter.

Check out his guarantee – he takes all of the risk off of his prospective customers who may be hesitant to give him a trial run.

What can you take away and use in your own photography business from him (without plagiarizing)?

I don’t know what he gets for web traffic or conversions, but he stands out differently then just a website with a gallery. Check out his blog, facebook page and Twitter pages as well. There are a ton of ideas you can take away and do similar things with in your own business. This should help get you jumpstarted with new ideas and add to your arsenal.

http://photographybyski.com/blog1

Bottom Line: What can you do to stand out differently on your website? Is your site or blog just pretty pictures or do you make offers to visitors and capture their names so that you can stay in contact with potential clients? Create an opt-in box for visitors to sign up for your updates and specials so that you stay at the front of their minds.

Time Commitment: Hire a website designer or do it yourself. If you know how to create an opt-in form or have an auto responder service, you can copy and paste the code in a matter of minutes to create the box that captures their name and email address.

Photo Credits:
Photographer: Salvatore Vuono
Courtesy of: www.freedigitalphotos.net

You should try to get as much contact information about your clients when you are speaking with them and during the time you work with them from start to finish – from your initial contact to final delivery of their product.



Here’s an example, let’s say one of your standard questions you ask is: So where do your kids like to eat the most, where do you go most often? What are your top 3 restaurants? You can make this a casual conversation while you are building rapport – but at the same time you are gathering information about your customer’s buying habits.

You find a pattern of similar restaurants or eating establishments that many of them go to. You make notes of this on the forms you use to collect the information (which you should be doing anyway so you can remember little things about what they mentioned and use that to generate conversation down the road, such as if they were going on vacation you can ask them later – how was your vacation?).

Let’s say they eat at a local pizza place and many of them have that in common, or they shop at a certain store for kids clothing. This is valuable information. You then segment your marketing lists (online and offline) to specific areas each client has in common with others. Sometimes it will be more than one area and overlap – since we all have several interests and hobbies.

Maybe it’s by geographic location and town or zip code. Don’t you think those folks will feel special and elite if you send a promotion to them about something going on only in their area and no one else gets the same promotion? You could run a special for only residents of a certain zip code.

I happen to know that one of my clients likes root beer floats. There are several ice cream shops in the area that I could approach to joint venture with to add value to my packages and products as a way to say “thank you” and that they can give to their customers to cross promote me. I can joint venture with them and once I find out the percentage of clients I have on my list that like ice cream – I can go to the ice cream shop and ask them for a coupon from them that will give my clients added value and bring them additional business.

It can be anything! 20% off the total order, buy one get one free, 50% off.

Do you live in a particularly hot area – even though many of us like ice cream any time of the year (especially New Englanders)?

Can you imagine how many families and kids get ice cream cones in the summer? (Hint: an added summer promotion from you and the ice cream store).

The more you can find out about your customers wants, desires, shopping habits, spending habits, places of recreation, vacationing habits, etc, the more you can put them in specialized categories when you send out special promotions and reach that hyper responsive audience.

This will not only give you additional opportunities to market to these people, but you can offer a special package and one that commands a higher price because it speaks directly to them, for photographing them in flight or from the ground or just as an X skydiving member. This kind of information allows you to charge premium prices because people will invest in a specialist rather than a generalist.

You will then get more businesses to joint venture and cross promote with to their customers because you are both speaking the customer’s language.

Think beyond the “generalities” and beyond what your competition is doing and this will help you differentiate yourself and stand out from every other corner photographer.

You’ll also learn who your ideal client is and what motivates them.

Bottom Line: Add 4 non-related photo questions to your list of questions to ask your clients to drill down and start discovering who they really are. You can then take this further and continue to drill down on each level to a sub niche, and a sub sub-niche, etc. until you are so specific that you have 5 people you know who like to tandem skydive at X place 3 times a year during the month of August.

Time Limit: 30 minutes

Photo Credits:
Photographer: Bill Perry
Courtesy of: www.freedigitalphotos.net

Do you undervalue and doubt yourself about what to charge and what you are worth? Think about how one photographer handles her clients who shop on price alone and see where you can apply this valuable lesson.

“We had a conversation with a photographer when we first started out and he asked us a couple of interesting questions… the first one was ” If you were getting married, could you afford your own services?” He proceeded to tell us that if our answer was yes, than we were too cheap. You want to sell to people who are able to spend more than you can, because they have friends who will afford your services as well.

If you can afford your own images… RAISE YOUR PRICES. You don’t want to sell to people who purchase like you do if you purchase on price alone.

When we get a request for pricing (email) for weddings we will start asking questions and then state that we have so much we want to know that it would probably be easier for them to come in to the studio, that way they can also see if our products are even what they want – and give  them an average of what couples spend on our services – if you don’t have one that you like yet – make a price list and tell them that most brides will spend between $xxx and $yyy with your studio depending on what they are looking for…..

If the average is what they expect – they schedule an appointment pretty quick… if the answer is ‘well I was only planning on spending $500 on the wedding photos’ then we tell them that we probably aren’t the photographers for them because we would have to give up something (either quality or service) in order to fit their budget…Sometimes, they find a way to afford the extra.”

That speaks volumes to me as a fellow photographer.

Think about this next one:

“There was a study done by Jonah Lehrer on how the brain processes the decision to buy. According to CT scans of the brain, the desire to buy something stimulates the pleasure center of the brain. The part of the brain that reacts to a price tag is the same center that remembers what causes pain. If the pleasure center of the brain becomes more stimulated than the pain center, the person will buy.

The trick is to stimulate that pleasure center as much as possible. Make them feel good. Give them images that they like to see. Make them look good.”

So what can you do to stimulate that part of the brain that causes pleasure instead of pain?

Bottom Line: Make a list of 5 things you can do to create positive and fun interactions with your client during that first initial meeting. Can you burn soft scented candles, brew some coffee, bake chocolate chip cookies?

Time Commitment: 20 minutes to create a list of activities that stimulate the senses during your initial contact with the client.

“If you want a piece of photographic paper, it’s $2, if you want an image on it, it’s $165.”

Photo Credits:
Photographer: djcodrin
Courtesy of: www.freedigitalphotos.net 

I walked downstairs to the basement and immediately noticed it was cold, dark and small. Cold in the Fahrenheit sense. It was very claustrophobic, not even remotely close to “homey” or “fuzzy warm”, and their studio was behind a curtain with not much room with lots of clutter.

There was one woman at the studio who greeted me.  I told her I was just walking around, checking out all the shops in the plaza since I had never been there before despite my living here the past year and a half. (Note to self: opportunity to talk more and with and engage the client)

She immediately started talking about herself, asked if I was interested in having any family photos, asked if I was interested in a bridal show (WHAT???), if I had any pets, if I had any services (because they were doing an upcoming bridal show in the area and had a booth and were looking for other people to share the table), told me she had a Bachelor’s Degree in Photography from a specific college in California, moved to the area with her husband, had 2 kids, was from Vancouver, had just turned the heater on, apologized for the floor having salt on it – in other words – ALL OVER THE PLACE except for being focused on me…

All in the span of 10-15 minutes. She never even stayed on one topic but rattled off one thing after another after another.

I took mental notes and of what not to do and how she was making me feel as a prospective client. Now you may be thinking,  Audrey, you just told her you were only checking out her studio amongst the other stores. You’d be right, except that I have the choice to skip stores and I chose to visit hers. I still ended up there.
Now I asked her a few questions to get to know more about her (practicing my skills as a marketer and I even asked her the price of a couple of canvases and showed interest –hit over the head buying cue. When I asked her how much (opportunity for her to learn more about me) she simply answered (for 2 different sizes I was looking at), that they were “custom made” and she’d “have to look them (the prices) up in the book”.

Doht!

Well duh, at least look them up in the book and quote the price to me. (Sorry but this lady is never going to get business if she continues in this manner).

She did find out I had dogs (only because I deliberately volunteered this information to see what she would do with it and where she’d take the conversation) and she told me to bring them in for a photo. Didn’t ask, just told me to bring them in and get a photo done. And when I made an objection – which is what you want so you can address client’s fears and figure out if you can work with the client – that my dogs would never behave and be too stressed out to come to the studio – she just continued to say I should bring them in. She could have said one of her unique factors was that she works all the time with pets or in this case, with dogs, in the studio and knows how to get them to be calm.

Nope. She continued to look for a quick sale by blanketing me with a list of potential reasons of why I might come in and have a portrait done by them.

Suffice it to say, the only thing she knew about me was that I had dogs, not how many, not what kinds, not how old – just dogs.

And that conversation lasted about 15 seconds.

I threw her a bone and she totally missed it – no pun intended. Oh, but she did manage to sell me a $1 raffle ticket (tried to sell me $6.00 for more chances) for a local high school in my state (Vermont – her studio is in New Hampshire) for a chance to win some cash.

Oh boy, that’s the most exciting thing I’ve heard so far. I get something for a buck.

I gave her a buck. Too bad it had nothing to do with her business.

——————————————————————————————-

Now on the flip side:

After that experience, I stopped at my local post office to pick up my mail. I noticed a man in a truck with a beautiful Bassett Hound, his truck clearly was in an accident on the back right passenger side because the bumper was ripped up. But I noticed this Bassett Hound and thought, “If this man is still out there in one minute when I come back, I’m going to approach him for my pet project.”

He was still out there, I knocked on his window, complimented his dog, petted his dog, found out the dog’s name and the owner’s name, found out he is local and told him I was a local photographer working on a pet project, etc, and if he was interested I’d give him my info so we could talk more and set up a time to photograph his dog in his home.

The guy was beaming from ear to ear and so proud of his dog and how I loved the dog (I really did or I would not have bothered him). As I went in to get my mail I prayed my business cards came in. They did not. He asked me for a business card.

Darn.

I wrote on a piece of paper my name, telephone # and website so he could check me out as being legitimate.

Ask them questions and more questions to find out what they want and what their motivating factor is for wanting a portrait created. And then ask them more questions after that until they think “Wow, she does care and is listening to my wants and needs. I really like her. Let’s do this.”

Unfortunately there are too many stories of businesses who practice no people skills or have ineffective methods – or Don’t be the woman described in the first story – showing outright desperation and grasping at anything I might want a photograph of . You must stay focused on what’s important – the customer.

Always listen for the opening, the chance to get them to talk more and open up. They will give you plenty of opportunities as I purposefully gave that woman many in the 15 minutes I was there. But she was talking so much about herself and everything else that I didn’t care she had a Bachelors in photography – which, by the way, she practically shouted out to me as I walked into the other room and gave me all her credentials of having gone to school for 7 years, oh and by the way, she does commercial photography and did I have a business and any products I want photographed. All desperation speaking.

Yikes. I can make my head spin without any help from someone I am potentially going to pay, thank you very much.





Bottom Line: You are not in the photography business – you are in the PEOPLE business, the marketing business and you must treat it as such to develop those relationships and get to know your clients, their details and let them do all the talking. In the next 7 days, think like a marketer. Bring a pen and paper with you and as you patron various businesses, write down and take notes of what you like and don’t like. What would you change if it were your business? Then write down under each entry what you would do to improve client relations to make them feel more like a VIP in your presence.

Time Commitment: Tape to your bathroom mirror or on your computer –  “It’s never about me. It’s ALWAYS about the client.” What steps do I need to take to show my clients they are my most important asset? Sometimes you need to be the outsider looking in to see what’s really going on.

Photo Credits:
Photographer: Tony Dowson