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This is the blog for professional photographers, and those who aspire to be. Our aim is to help professional photographers build long-term, sustainable careers.
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What are we actually selling?

When people contact us about their wedding, if they are doing a general search, they most often ask, 'How much to shoot our wedding?' Eventually they get around to 'What do I get?' and finally 'Are you available?' This email just came in. It says it all really.
To whom it may concern,
Would it be possible to be sent a full price list of your wedding packages?
Thanks, Justin
We all want our clients to care, because it is the caring that makes them better clients. So what are we selling? Are we selling a product at a price? Are we selling our ability to make great photographs? Are we selling our ability as a digital artist? Are we selling our ability to tell a good story  (the one where the Princess wore white and the Prince was dashing – off to a wedding) and somewhere there is a happy ever after? Here atwe are selling something for them to care about. We are selling them more than just photography. We have photographs that show our skills. We have stories that talk about our experiences. We have albums that show our ability to put together a good fairy tale. We have a studio that reflects our attention to our clients' needs and our drive to be our best. We are not selling 400 images in a box, two enlargements and an album with 20 sides. We are selling them an
experience
. How much should that cost? The next question is how do we get our clients to recognise that? Cheers, Johannes
Tagged under Albums, Clients, Customer Experience, Feedback, Photography, Sales
This entry was posted in Loves not enough by Queensberry Website | Leave a Comment
Jerry Tomko
on
June 27, 2009, 6:28 am
said:
OMG! You are hitting the nail on the head! So how do we combat this! How do we make the brides realize this, when you have all these others sending them the pricelist in an email? Because they ( the photographers) do not care, then the brides do not care, and all EVERYONE is concerned about is PRICE - both the photographers AND the brides are PRICE CONCERNED! I wonder what would happen if ALL professional photographers, not these AWACS ( amateurs with cameras), said NO you have to come in and see the rpoducts, then the brides would HAVE TO! But as long as we perpetuate this, it will get worse. I am looking forward to part two fo this series!
 
Reply
johannes
on
June 30, 2009, 8:15 am
said:
Hi Jerry
The sad truth is we will never change the world.
If you can introduce your clients to the idea that 'you' caring makes the difference then you have taken a small step.
If your competitors see that this gives you an advantage then some of them will follow this idea ... and then one day more people will make sure that it matters.
We all know that if you all compete on price then nobody wins. Yet we still do it!
At Moda we answer the question ' How much?' with our own set of questions, like Where when who etc.
This is the beginning of us showing that we care.
Don't just ask questions, tell the brides why things are important to you ...
There will always be a cheaper version of something. Its a fact of commerce.
Cheers
Johannes
 
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