Note: This post talks about my prices which are in British Pounds. I know most of you are in America, but don’t worry about it. Just pretend I’m saying dollars, ok? Nevermind the exchange rate – that only affects people traveling. If you’re trying to grasp the value of something, it’s not any different. For example, an iPad in America is $399 and one here is £329. Not much different.
My inbox overflows with emails that I can’t answer. This pains me because before my business {and this blog} really took off, I had the time to answer them all. I try my hardest but I’ve had to stop beating myself up. I used to stand in line at the grocery store, hide in bathroom stalls, pretend I was off doing something important just to squeeze in the time to answer these emails. I just can’t do that anymore but what I can do is keep blogging. When I get a topic over and over again, it seems like a pretty good idea to just blog about it because obviously there are many people wondering the same things. One of these things is pricing.
Pricing is the greatest conundrum in the world of professional photography. Tied only with the question “how do I get clients?” I try my hardest to avoid both of these topics because, as I explained last week in this post, you have to -HAVE TO- work to find your own pricing happy place. You can not not NOT set your prices based on:
a.} other people’s prices
b.} ebooks
c.} or numbers that fell out of thin air
You have to work to find your prices. And so I hesitate to talk much about my prices because I fear that people will just copy & paste them and then get discouraged into quitting when they don’t work. But I’ll go ahead and oblige the many wondering minds and explain my pricing. The most important thing to pay attention to here is the though process behind these numbers and not the actual numbers themselves.
Another note: this post is about my portrait session prices, not my product prices. And not my wedding prices. I’ll post about that another time. My session prices are public and not at all hard to find. In fact, they’re here on my Gracie May Photography website. But my product price lists are reserved for viewing sessions or clients who request them. Not because they’re secret but because I feel it’s important to feed clients information at the right times. How many times have you walked by a restaurant and looked at the menu outside and decided to keep going? You make your judgement based on the numbers without experiencing the food, superior customer service or the ambiance offered inside. Perhaps the product is valuable and the prices are warranted.
{my session fees}
I have my sessions broken down into three different price points. I believe this offers an option for all different economic levels and draws in the type of clients I am striving to serve. Now, most people will choose a middle option when given three choices. However, most people will also choose something you’ve recommended to them if you’ve gained their trust so make sure to recommend the right session for their needs.
All three sessions listed below have the same foundation: an on location portrait session. I put the same work and attention to detail into every session. They last the same amount of time. The clients receive the same service, the same adorable packaging and the same little surprises that I love to offer. The only difference is the number of images to view and the product options.
{A la Carte} My first session option is called “a la carte”. It’s the most bare-bones session I offer. The session fee is £80 which barely covers my time. Which is ok because I make my profit in the sales appointment. There are 20 final images to choose from.
In the past, I have suggested this session for:
- A client who said she knew she’d have a hard time choosing from too many options and only wanted a few.
- A client who was after a piece for a certain wall in her house – so basically she was commissioning a portrait rather than having a whole session and then figuring out what she wanted to do.
- I would recommend this session for clients who have to work to budget my services into their finances. They will likely also take advantage of my 50/50 payment plan at their viewing session.
{A la Mode} My middle session is £170 and consists of the session and a £100 print credit. This middle option is a great one because it helps clients not only budget in their session but part of the funds they’ll want to spend at their sales appointment. I would recommend this session for anyone who can swing for slightly more than the A la Carte session. When they book this session, I made sure to tell them that “print prices start at £30 for an 8×10″ so they’re realistic about what they’ll be able to get for their £100 print credit. I don’t want them thinking they’ll be able to get a big canvas and then feel embarrassed when they find out they can’t.
{Ooh La La} Ooh La La is my highest price point and the session that many people want to know about because it includes the digital files. This comes at a higher price because once I hand over those files, my job is done and the further sales potential is finished. Although I can make considerably more than £450 at a sales appointment, this is still a pretty good profit considering that I don’t put in the hours for order fulfillment, delivery, etc. I have many clients who come to me from out of town or out of the country and for these sessions, the only available option is the Ooh La La session. I also regularly sell this session to fellow photographers because I can trust their ability to responsibly print their products using the digital files.
So those are my three session options – any questions?
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