IS YOUR PRICE A SECRET?

Though this post was originally published over a year ago, it seems to be just as timely and relevant today.  This is one of the most asked questions I hear when working with photographers: Should I post my pricing on my website?  My answer:

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From a photographer's website I came across recently - under their "pricing" link:

"You're wedding is different than any other I've ever shot, so it would be impossible for me to simply list a bunch of prices without us talking.  I need to know more about you - and your wedding - before I can create a custom quote that fits your needs specifically.  Please contact me today, so we can talk more about your wedding - and how I might be able to serve you."

I’ve noticed, more and more, that a lot of photographers - for whatever reason - are requiring clients to contact them before they will give any kind of pricing information.  And based on what I hear photographers say, it seems that they want clients to engage in what is basically a sales conversation, before they will give detailed information about their pricing.

I think there's a mentality that says "if I am able to talk to someone, I'll be able to convince them of my worth - even if I'm out of their price range."  

Sure, that’s true for maybe one out of every 1,000 inquiries, but it’s not how it usually works in the real world.  In the real world, you are not the only photographer your prospects are considering.  Even if they found you as a result of a referral, most often - they’ll be looking at several photographers. 

As they filter through the choices, they look at whether they like the images, and they look at whether you fit in their budget.  If you make it hard for them to do either of these two things, they’ll move on.  Sure, there are other things that matter before they make a purchase - like whether or not they feel like you’d personally be a good fit - but they’ll never even get to that point if you make it hard for them to get the information they want.

Now, I’m not suggesting you need to put every package, every print size price, every session fee, EVERYTHING right on your site.  I think that generally speaking, MORE information isn’t always helpful.  The key is getting the right information to the right people at the right time.  When someone is browsing for photographers that fit their budget, they don’t need every detail - they just need to know if you fit.

Pricing is one of the issues that photographers - and all small business owners - wrestle with all the time.  It's one of the most important decisions you make, and can impact the health and viability of your business like almost nothing else.  Just as important, is the way you use your pricing - and it's presentation - to reinforce the customer experience.

I think there’s another choice, and it’s the way I’ve chosen to present our pricing.  On my site, I list our starting commission price.  I also give people an idea of the amount of money most of our clients choose to spend.  I help manage their expectations by letting them what we charge, and what people usually spend.  This allows potential clients to quickly decide whether or not our studio fits with their budget.  Does it mean I get a lot less people contacting me?  Sure - and I’m okay with that.  I'm okay with not answering countless emails to couple's that are clearly not our ideal client. 

I send my complete wedding pricing information to EVERY client that inquires.  I let them decide for themselves whether what we're offering is a good fit for them.  I let them know that if they feel like we're a good fit, then I'd love to schedule time to talk.  I don't want to waste their time or mine, so I don't FORCE them to talk to me before I'll give them what they really want - my prices.

I don’t think it does anyone - you OR the client - any good to waste time.  That’s exactly what it does, when you make someone contact you to find out you’re out of their price range. It wastes both of your time.  And it wastes even more, if you make them jump through even more hoops.

So, ask yourself, is your pricing a secret?  If so, why?  If you’re charging what you’re worth, why not at least do yourself - and your potential clients - a favor and let them know upfront what you’re worth.  

YOUR CLIENTS DON'T CARE ABOUT WHAT YOU CARE ABOUT.

They care about: their wedding, their future, their first home, their first child, paying for dinner for 200 people, whether their dress will fit, whether the cake will look like they imagined it would.  They care about whether people will like the centerpieces, if they're going to cry when they see each other.  They care about how they will look in a bathing suit on the honeymoon.  

They care about getting tan for the wedding.  They care about whether the escort cards look right, and who should sit with who at the wedding.  They care about how they can afford everything they want.  They care about what people will think of their wedding.  They care about themselves.

They don't care about: your website, your blog, your twitter status, the award you won that really everyone won but you pretend like it's a big deal anyway.  They don't care about the type of camera you shoot with.  They don't care if you shoot RAW or JPG.  They don't care about your new brand, or your letterpress cards.  They don't care about the new logo and the colors you spent hours trying to get just right.

They DO care about whether or not they trust you.  They care about whether they believe you can help them remember the way they feel at their wedding.  They care about whether you'll do what you say you'll do.  They are about whether or not you'll add fun to their wedding day, or whether you'll be a drag.  

All those other things - the things we care about so much - are meaningless to clients.  Sure, they matter.  Sure, a professional website helps build credibility.  Sure, L series lenses with big apertures help us produce amazing images.  Sure, letterpress business cards are impressive.  But all of it is meaningless because everyone is focused on these things - except the client.  All of your competition has the same "stuff."

The question we forget to ask ourselves is: what do our clients really care about?  Why don't we spend more time caring about those things?  Can you imagine what your business might look like if your clients felt like you REALLY cared about them - and the things they care about?  Can you imagine what might happen if you spent more time thinking about your clients, and less time thinking about "strategies" to get them to give you more money? 

You should care about what your clients care about.  You should care about them.

WHY CREATIVE BUSINESSES FAIL

Creative businesses fail for the same reason as every other business fails.  Too many expenses, not enough revenue.  Creative types (photographers, artists, etc) tend to think about forming a business around something they are passionate about.  That's fine.  You should absolutely be passionate about something if you're going to give your life to it.  You should love what you're doing.  You should be GOOD at it.  This is no different than people who are passionate about helping other people, going into social work.

Ok, reality check time.  Being passionate about something isn't enough.  If it's going to be a business - it HAS to be profitable.  It HAS to make money.  Not only is this common sense, but the IRS won't even let you call it a business if you don't have what they call a "profit motive."  There are several indicators they use to determine whether an endeavor is a business or a hobby, but the bottom line is - you have to be acting intentionally so that the result will be that you make a profit. 

On the other hand, it takes 3+ years before a new small business makes money.  Read that again - you should be prepared to operate in the RED for 3 years before actually drawing a paycheck.  Knowing that, wouldn't you want to do everything you could to increase your chances?  Then stop treating it like a hobby, pull it together, and start acting like a business.

The reality is, that many creative/photography businesses don't understand or even manage their expenses in a meaningful way.  This causes them to make decisions about their business without all the information.  For many photographers, bookkeeping is simply an exercise in making sure you can do your taxes each April.  You keep a loose understanding of how much you brought in, and somewhere there's a box of receipts (or post it notes, or whatever).  

While it might be true that you have enough information to file your taxes (assuming you're actually filing them, declaring all your income, paying your sales taxes, etc), you still won't have any understanding of the health of your business.  A few months ago, PPA released their Benchmark Survey.  It's got some great information, and I HIGHLY suggest you read through it.  I'm going to summarize a few things for you - and hopefully help you think about how you can have a healthy business.

1. Start by understanding what it costs you to be in business.  This means, how much does it cost you to do business, whether or not you ever sell anything.  These are fixed expenses.  This includes your lease, your capital expenses like camera gear and computers, insurance, business licenses, employee costs, advertising, accounting, and legal.  It includes your utilities, your telephone, your website, and everything you spend money on just to keep the businesses alive.

For most photographers, this number is staggering when you start to really look at it.  Most photographers forget that the wear and tear on their vehicle is an expense of their business.  Most photographers don't consider that there additional utility costs (even if you're a home based business), associated with the additional work you do. 

According to PPA, these expenses should be no more than 30-40% of your revenue, depending on whether you're a home-based, or retail-based studio.  

2. Most photography businesses fail to accurately account for Cost of Goods.  These are all the things that go directly into the production and procurement of your products.  Materials, Prints, Labor, equipment use, consumables, and more, all add up to the expense of selling your product.  

If you really want to understand the health of your business, doesn't it make sense that you'd want to know how much it costs you every time you sell an 8x10?  How would you even know where to begin to price that 8x10 if you have no idea what it costs you?

PPA suggests that these expenses be no more than 35% of your revenue or 25% if you're a retail-based studio (to make up for the additional overhead associated with a storefront).  

3. Treat yourself as an expense of your business. My recommendation is that you start early by managing your cash flow - and pay yourself a set salary.  In the beginning - this probably won't be much, but if you have a good understanding of your expenses, you'll know what you're able to pay yourself.  Often the temptation is to simply pay yourself out of the "proceeds" of a wedding.  You deposit the check in your account, and figure you'll just pay for the album - or whatever other product they order - as it comes.  

Realistically, this NEVER works.  You end up paying for albums with your next clients retainer.  You end up paying your studio expenses from your personal account.  The minute this starts - you can start counting the days until your business fails.

Instead, be realistic about what your pricing will allow you to make.  Be realistic and start the habit now of paying yourself a set amount - based on your revenue and other expenses.  This will allow you to manage both your business AND personal budget/cash flow - especially during off-season. 

4. Only buy it if you NEED it AND you can afford it.  New gear doesn't make you better.  New gear doesn't get you new clients.  A new website won't automatically increase your bookings.  

There are a lot of cool gear that I'd like to buy. I don't need it and I can't afford it.  That's why I won't be buying new gear anytime soon.  Sure, it's true that if you can afford it, sometimes you can buy things you don't "need."  That's the entire point of making money right?  But if you're borrowing money to buy gear that takes you 4 years to get a positive ROI out of, and 5 years to pay off, do you think you're business stands any chance?

IT'S NOT WHAT YOU THINK...

You have a choice to make.  You have to decide, which is more important: to APPEAR successful, or to actually BE successful.  Once you've decided, act accordingly. 

The temptation is great to focus on what others think.  The temptation is strong to "appear" successful.  We want people to think we have it all together.  We want our families, our friends, our peers, our industry and our clients to think we're doing well.  It's pretty natural - all temptation is.  It's our nature.

It's actually not bad to "appear" successful.  People are attracted to successful business, it gives us confidence that our experience will go according to our expectations.  The thing is, it seems that there are so many times when the temptation to "appear" successful causes us to skip over actually "being" successful.  

We take short cuts.  We focus on the approval of our peers.  We make up stories, and convince ourselves that they are true.  We worry about what people think, and do everything we can to make ourselves look like a huge success.  What if instead we did everything we could to actually BE a huge success.

Full disclosure: I DO THIS ALL THE TIME.  We all struggle with it, and anyone who says they don't is lying.  It's why my FILTER is so important!

Here's the deal.  It's such a huge waste of time.  If all the energy that was spent on "looking" successful, was spent on "being" successful, imagine what your life would actually be like. 

You can't pay for groceries with the appearance of success.

The appearance of success doesn't help you provide for your family.

Eventually, people figure you out.  Every time.

Appearing successful doesn't pay your mortgage. 

I care about what people think about me - I can't help it.  I write this blog, and every time I click publish- I wonder what people will think.  The truth is, my business struggles with the same things yours does.  I worry about whether we'll book enough weddings.  I stress over the client meeting I just had, hoping they book.  I get anxious about hard to please clients.  I struggle to manage our expenses so that we can make a good profit.  

The bottom line is this:  I work REALLY HARD to actually build a business that will support my family and our life.  I work REALLY HARD to take care of my clients. I'd rather be able to do both of those things, then waste time worrying about what people "think" might be true about my business.  

Here's a few other posts that cover this ground and might be interesting to you:

WHO ARE YOU TRYING TO PLEASE?

ATTENTION VS AFFECTION

YOUR CLIENTS DON'T CARE

WHAT ARE YOU BUILDING?

INTEGRITY: BE THE SAME ON THE INSIDE

YOUR CLIENTS HAVE A PROBLEM

Every time your phone rings, it's because the person on the other end has a problem.  They have a problem - and their hope is that you have a solution.  If they went through the trouble to call you, it's because they believe that you can help solve their problem.  

As a wedding photographer, it's tempting to believe that our clients have a wedding photography problem.  We think 'these people are getting married, and they want some photos taken, that's why they called me.'  Not only that, but they clearly want the best possible photos that they can afford - so they called me, the best in town.  

In fact, more than a wedding PHOTOGRAPHY problem, our industry has tempted us to believe that our clients really have a "wedding PHOTOGRAPHER" problem.  We seduce ourselves into believing that it's about our style, our personality, even our ability to entertain and impress.  We have convinced ourselves that it's really not even about our photography - but about US.

I do think that there is certainly an important connection that we make with our clients.   And I believe that connection helps us to solve their problem.  The mistake we often make is that we're trying to solve a wedding photography, or wedding photographer problem.  It's understandable - since most of clients believe that is their problem as well.  

Unfortunately, it's not.  I think there's a different - deeper - problem that our clients really bring to us.  I believe strongly that the problem isn't that they need pretty pictures of their wedding, it's that they want to remember the way they feel at their wedding.  See, our clients call us because deep down inside, they want to know that they'll be able to experience their wedding every time they look through their album, or watch their slideshow.  

Clients don't hire photographers because they want to remember what their wedding dress looked like - they want to remember what it felt like when they first put it on and looked in the mirror.  They don't need detail shots so they can remember what the reception venue looked like - they want to remember what it felt like to walk in and be surrounded by the people they love most.  They don't care about first dance photos - they care about remembering the first time they embraced as husband and wife.

They come to us because they hope and trust that we'll be able to offer them a solution.  They bring us a huge challenge - to create for them, images that bring them back to the emotion of their wedding day.  

It's about them.  It's about their wedding.  It's about the story that started long before we ever got involved.  It's about the details, the people, the moments, the smells, the light, the color, and the excitement.  It's about everything they've dreamed about, coming to life before them.

When the phone rings, they have a problem.  They want to remember the experience - and the feeling - of their wedding.  Our job is to be the answer to THAT problem.  The photographers who truly succeed, and build businesses full of happy clients, are the photographers who dedicate their craft and their art to solving that problem.

The next time the phone rings - or you get an email inquiry - think about being the solution to the real problem.  What might you do different?