Do you want to get to 10k months in photography sales without bringing in more clients? Do you know the sales tips and tricks that will help you get there? Whether you are a seasoned photographer, or just starting out, these photography sales strategies can work for anyone. This is part 2 of the 12 strategies that will help your business revenue grow with each of your clients!
Hey y’all, I’m Tavia and I help photographers learn how to specialize and get fully booked with ideal clients so they can go full time. I do this with my birth photography certification and my 7 step marketing system.
By the time this episode comes out we’ve closed enrollment and it’s been such an incredible experience! We did things differently this time…if you missed out this time but want to join the waitlist for next time, head over to getbirthphotographyclients.com
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12 Photography Sales Strategies to Hit $10k Months (Part 2)
This is part 2 of the 12 photography sales strategies to hit $10k months. Here’s why we’re talking about this…. I’ve never enjoyed being a high volume photographer. I’m just being honest. I prefer fewer, higher paying clients for many reasons, but the primary reason is the relationships I build with clients as well as the lower number of hours I have to work!
So, the word ‘sales’ might make you feel yucky, but like we talked about in part 1 … The sales strategies we’re talking about here today are intended to SERVE your clients in a better way, not pressure them to buy something they don’t want. Money is an exchange of value! The more VALUE you give, the more money you make!
In case you happened to miss last week’s episode, please go back and give it a listen because we go MUCH deeper into each of these, but as a reminder the 6 strategies from last time are…
- Sell Printed Products
- IPS
- Showcase what you sell
- Be a good listener
- KISS – keep it simple stupid
- Make it easy to book additional sessions
Let’s get into the 2nd half of the 12 photography sales strategies to hit $10k months!
7. Make it Easy to Pay You: Payment Plans (offer and make them easy)
What does this mean? Anytime there is an opportunity to pay you money, make it easy for the client or potential client!
First of all, accept any and all payment methods, but especially credit cards. I know business expenses can add up, but it’s worth it to invest in the stripe or paypal swiper, so you can take payments in person and on the spot!
Offer payment plans – this is a big one! With an interest free payment plan option, like you’re offering, CNBC says 48% of buyers will spend 10%-20% more! On a $2,000 order or package that could be an increase of $400 just by offering a payment plan.
For births and portraits – are you offering payment plans? Do your clients know this BEFORE it’s time to pay or order? In all the phases of the transaction (marketing, pre-booking, consult, booking, ordering) are you making it clear to your clients they an opt for a payment plan?
It really is a win/win for both of you because they’re likely to spend more and it makes your income more consistent when you know you have a specific amount in payments coming in each month!
8. Before-the-session upsells (videography, maternity, savings on pre-purchased products)
What does this mean? Let’s say they’re booking a birth with you. Before their birth, you want to upsell them or offer a maternity session. Or say they book you for a newborn session and you want to upsell them for birth. Maybe if they book you for birth, you want to offer them videography. These are small tweaks you can make in order to increase your sales average by offering something after they booked their primary session with you offering something beforehand.
Whew, a lot of photographers are not doing it and it’s actually one of the most likely to work and bring in additional sales!
9 After-the-session upsells
Let’s say you photograph a newborn session and they have placed their order. Before you complete the transaction and take their payment, are you offering additional items?
Adding in 1 simple line can help with this – “anything else?” (and be quiet even though it might feel awkward)
If they order an album, you can offer additional pages. If you sell a portrait package, you can offer an 11×14 print. If they order an album, offer a 2nd grandparent album for 40% off.
If you make this a “today only” exclusive offer that is tough to pass up, that makes them even more likely to take you up on it.
My studio partner has started doing ordering appointments for me at the studio and she is incredible at it. One thing I learned from her was offering the 11×14 at the end. I’d day 50% of our clients end up doing it, and that order add on usually pays for the rest of their products.
These small things really add up over time! So instead of feeling overwhelmed with these suggestions, choose clarity, ok? Choose 1 thing and try it out for a while!
10. Offer incentives
This can be as simple as “if you spend $x you get x”. Like when you spend $1,000 you get a free baby plan (we’ll talk about that here in a second) or if you book a birth package you get 10% off your newborn order.
Or spending a certain dollar amount unlocks a % off or product credit or gift!
Offering things like this can be a simple way to upsell without having to do much extra work!
The 11th Photography Sales Strategy to Hit $10k Months is my favorite (have I said that already)? But seriously this doubles our revenue for each client who takes advantage of it!
11. Baby Plan!
Photographers sometimes have a hard time getting their mind around the fact that they’re specializing in birth or newborn photography… like does that mean they can’t photograph other types of sessions? Of course it makes sense to keep growing with these families as they grow right? They’re already clients, they already know and like you… and you them.
ENTER the baby plan! Ok so I’m going to lay out exactly how we do this, so if you’ve wandered, come back to me ok ? And you might wanna take some notes here!
We do NOT offer the baby plan before their session! REPEAT. I do this for a couple of reasons….
- I don’t necessarily want everyone to join the baby plan and I don’t know this until I’ve worked with them
- It’s too much in the beginning and it will overwhelm them, a confused mind doesn’t buy!
At their newborn ordering appt, we offer the baby plan. It is $150 and covers 3 sessions. A sitter session, a 1 year session and a family session in baby’s 2nd year. They have an ordering appointment after each session, just like the newborn session. So they’re still ordering products. Most of our baby plan clients spend $800-$1500. It’s a win for the client because they’re guaranteed a spot on our calendar and they’re saving a ton on the session fees.
I’m willing to take the hit on the session fees for the regular, recurring income each month. We almost always have some baby planners each month which reduces the “hustle” to try and get more clients. They’re already there! So I can look ahead to, say October and know that we have 3 newborns and 4 baby planners so I’m good to go, I’m booked for October!
Ok we’re at the final strategy, but of course I have 2 bonus strategies for you after this so hang with me.
The 12th Photography Sales Strategy to Hit $10k Months is one that has some serious power to increase not only your average sale, but also to enhance your client experience and that is…
12 Consult before the session
This goes along with point 4 from the previous episode, but taking it a step further. Instead of just being a good listener, actually have an in person consultation with your portrait clients. I know a lot of you are doing this for your birth clients, but what about portraits?
This does a couple of things:
- It gives you an opportunity to really find out what they want from the session
- They can touch and feel the products
You can even take this a step further and PRE-SELL at the consultation. If they seem like they want an album, let them know they can go ahead and purchase it now (and give them some kind of incentive like a discount or a print credit if they do)!
Even if you don’t pre-sell the album if you know that’s what they want, it will change how you shoot the session! With a consultation you can get a lot of clarity about the goals for the session and this will greatly improve customer satisfaction too!
Bonus Strategies
13. Put together wall galleries of your favorite photos for them to see
Imagine being your client for a moment, ok? You watch a slideshow of your photos, there is music, it’s your baby, you’re getting emotional, it can be a lot! Then your photographer is like “Oh which is your favorite, which do you wanna buy?” and you’re like, “Uhh…I don’t know, all of them?!”
Imagine if at that moment the photographer made it super easy for you and pre-designed some wall galleries of THEIR favorite images. Now you can clearly see what the images look like together and what sizes they are and what the total price is. And it might be a little more than you were expecting to spend…. But it looks so good together and this is so much easier than doing it yourself right?
That’s the power of putting these wall galleries together for your clients! It takes a little extra time before the session, but again it’s stellar customer service that will WOW them AND likely increase your average sale.
14. Keep track of your average sale each month and make a game for yourself to increase over time
Note what’s working to improve your average sale and what’s not.
These 14 sales strategies, as you can see, have been amazing for the profitability of our business and I know they can do the same for you! Remember, don’t try to do all of this at once! Choose 1 or 2 strategies, keep track of your sales for a while and see which have an impact. Do this repeatedly over time and I know that you’ll be thrilled with the results you’re going to have!!
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My friend, if you have a passion – it’s not an accident. Not everyone loves photography, or event planning, or real estate… whatever your passion is, it’s there for a REASON. What are you going to do with that passion? Get out there and make it happen! Have a great week y’all!
