Talking to and advising photographers around the world in my role as a photography business coach, one of the objections I hear from photographers when I talk about putting up their prices is…..
“But… my clients buy based on price.”
This is perhaps true to a small degree, as some of your clients will buy on price, but certainly not the majority of clients that you want .
If people really did buy on price as some photographers starting out in the industry believe, I guess we would all be driving around in the cheapest car, wearing the cheapest clothes, drinking the cheapest wine, and everyone would be flying economy.
We would take our families on the cheapest holidays, never go to a restaurant, as we would cook all of our meals, from the cheapest ingredients.
I read an article just the other day about the world’s most expensive cars.
Cars like the Hennessey Venom GT Spyder WRE ($1.3 million), Lamborghini Centenario ($1.8 million), and Aston Martin Vulcan ($2.3 million).
I guess these car manufacturers wouldn’t be wasting their money and time if no one bought them.
It makes sense that most people don’t buy on price, even though we sometimes like to think we do because it’s the logical thing.
The fact is, the majority of our buying decisions are based on emotions.
Our decisions are emotions based, we then use logic to justify our purchasing decisions.
It is the logic that stops us feeling guilty for spending a large amount of money on a new pair of shoes, or may be an item of clothing.
So you might be thinking…
“OK Bernie…I understand that most people don’t buy based on price.
But what about the ones that do?”
Surely if I raise my prices I’m going to miss out on some sales. ”
Maybe so…
But if you think about all the worse clients you’ve ever had… I’m talking about the slow payers, the no payers and the complainers, you don’t really want them as customers anyway.
I would guess that they all have one thing in common.
Your conversations with them are ALL about price, and they were the type of customers who were always demanding more from you.
You must understand that those who do buy on price are always the customers who complain the most.
They are usually on a payment plan and default on payments.
Am I right?
What I find as a photography business coach, is that the problem is, especially when a photographer starts their business or they are short of money, they don’t like to turn any business away.
The reality is that the subject of “pricing” is not just about how much you charge, but more about how you have positioned your photography business in the marketplace.
Position and price your photography to attract the customers that you want.
No one wants the super totally price conscious hard to get on with customer.
Not even me.
From Part Time To Full Time
Wanted to let you know that my interview on Photobizx is now LIVE.
In the interview I share a ton of good stuff on going from part time to full time in your photography business.
Check out the page and feel free to get involved with any comments asking any questions that come up.
The Show’s link: http://photobizx.com/231
