A couple days ago, I posted about how to deal with clients who complain about your prices. I didn’t have time or space to delve into the real reason behind these complaints. The reason a client feels free to complain about your prices is that they didn’t know what they were looking at in the beginning. They will complain that you charge too much and ask if you can ‘do a deal’.
So it’s all about expectation management. You tell them exactly what to expect and they’ll expect it. Now, this doesn’t mean emailing them your prices right up front. How many times have you walked up to a restaurant window to look at the menu? And no matter how hungry you are, if the prices seem outrageous, you’ll walk on. Because you haven’t tasted the most scrumptious food ever and realised that it’s a stinkin’ good deal at any price! Your photography is a beautiful filet mignon which you have to taste before you agree that it’s worth 10x more than a salisbury steak. But if your clients haven’t already experienced your service, had fun in their session and fallen in love with all of the shots that were birthed out of your heart and theirs, of course they’re going to think that your prices are too high. Afterall, they’re probably still just thinking it’s paper and ink. They haven’t fallen in love yet.
{Booking expectations} So the first point of expectation for me is on my website. Right there on the prices page – bam – it says that the price for an 8×10 is £30 and collections start at £350. It also states my session fee and tells them that the fee is due upon reservation. So right from the get-go, no one is going to get in touch with me if they aren’t happy with those guide prices.
{Session expectations} Once they’re booked in, I explain how the session will hopefully go, what kinds of things I do to get people up and moving, how I feel about posing, etc. We discuss wardrobe and I email them things to read to get themselves thinking about the session style & wardrobe.
{Finishing expectations} When we meet on the day and have the session, I then let them know that within 3 days/5 days/7 days (whatever you choose) their gallery will be ready to view. The gallery will only be up for 30 days and I tell them this.
{Ordering expectations} By the date promised, I upload the viewing gallery. I keep the email very simple. I give them a link to their gallery, attach the price list and remind them of the gallery expiration date. And then I wait for the order to come rolling in!
You absolutely have to make everything clear every step of the way and there will be no quibbling when it comes time to purchase the photos they have fallen in love with.
{True Story} this subject just reminds me of something funny that happened to me. I met a client who booked a session in Orlando and for whatever reason, I hadn’t discussed my fee which was $200. I guess I just assumed she knew because we had discussed doing a session earlier in the year and at that time, the fee was plain. Anyway, we had a totally amazing session which produced a fully stocked disk of beautiful images worth thousands of dollars. At the end of the session, as we were about to get in the cars, she handed me the money and said, “was it $20 or $25?” I was gobsmacked but without skipping a beat, I just said, “sure!” with a smile on my face. In any other circumstance I would have said, “Um no actually it’s $200″ but you know what? That was my fault for not having everything clear ahead of time. In the end, it was a beautiful evening spent in the sunset and amazing shots were produced which I can use for years myself. And you know sometimes, you just gotta laugh :*)
