Photography Marketing & Selling Secret #18: Put as much time into presenting & selling your images as you do into creating them!

Are You Throwing Thousands Of Dollars That Should Have Been Yours - Into The Trash Every Week?

There’s a huge mistake most portrait and wedding photographers all over the world are making these days that is costing them hundreds of thousands of dollars. Do you know what this mistake is? Are you making this mistake yourself?

Here it is: most photographers put a huge amount of time and effort and talent into creating their photographs, but then they screw it all up by taking little or no time to present the images to their clients properly, and help the clients make their buying decisions.

Now, I realize that most of us don’t like to sell, because we think it’s pressure or trickery or manipulation. But that is not selling. Selling is finding out what people want helping them to get it. It has NOTHING to do with pressure, trickery or manipulation.

One of my cardinal rules of success in photography is to ….  spend at least as much time presenting the photographs to my clients as I have spent creating those photographs.

This means no thumbnails to take home. No images posted online. No paper proofs.

The client comes into the studio, in person, and makes her decisions with our assistance, as we project the images, into a frame, over a sofa.

Now, you may be thinking that this is a lot of extra work, and that you don’t have the time to do this. But let me warn you – you’ve put all that time and effort into creating these beautiful photographs, now take the extra time to present the images correctly, or you will be leaving thousands of dollars on the table, and your client’s will be going home with not anywhere near the number and sizes of photographs that they should have.

You see, the question is: Do you believe in what you’re doing or not?

If you believe in what you’re doing – and in the value of photography that you’re creating – then you owe it to your client to assist her with her buying decisions so that she gets the maximum amount of enjoyment out of her beautiful photographs. Please understand, I’m not talking about pressure or trickery here, I’m talking about taking really good care of each of your clients – in person – so they end up owning photographs that will give them the maximum amount of enjoyment for years to come.

I know it’s tempting to just present your images online for the client to order from, but you’re really doing her a disservice by not spending any time with her after the photographs are created, and helping her with her selections.

So if you honestly care about your client’s, and honestly want to earn a great living doing your photography, and honestly believe in the value of your photography, then please take my advice and invest some of your time and money in discovering how to present your photographs to your clients personally – in such a way that they will get the most enjoyment out of your beautiful images.

That’s the least you can do for your clients, and it will do amazing things for your cash flow and profits, too.

All the best,

Charles J. Lewis, M. Photog., Cr. A-ASP

Tags: marketing photography, photo marketing, Photo Sales, Photo Selling, photography marketing, Photography Sales, Photography Selling, Photography Success, selling photography