DISCOUNTS DAMAGING
YOUR BUSINESS?
Hi, i am Thompson, an idea guy and a photographer. When i
stated practicing my photo business as a wedding and portrait photography i was
patronized by my family and friends, but you know what it was on a discount for
them to happily support my business.
What that a good one?
This is something i and many photographers are facing when
just starting to practice their job.
You start by shooting family and friends
to demonstrate your skill for them to know. and you do it for free. why would you place charges to do
something you have passion for?! like that amateur photographer also believe
they are still learning, so what they are doing is not worth anything.
It should Not take you long to realize that you carry a
valuable skill, and the kind that others seek out. friends will magically come
for you from their woodwork when they hear about the magic you can do!
Before now you realize that new tools, blogs, portfolio
websites, and further training cost money. If you REALLY want to take that
FURTHER step, you need funds. You now need to figure out how to bargain your job.
The difficult issue is how much to charge, how to handle
your new client base consisting mainly of your family and friends. then next
difficult situation is how to take care of
the friends of friends And probably friends of family, who are recommended to
coming to you expecting the same discounts
When client start coming to you cos of how much you cost, not
because of how good your work is, then you have a very big problem!
How much do you need to charge is a topic on its own (which I will discuss for another
day!), but one thing I can assure YOU – you can’t go by shooting everybody for
free. At a point you have to draw the line, otherwise you and your business
will fall fall apart.
To determine how to handle discounts thing is a personal
thing, so all I can really do for you is to share my experience on the subject.
Hopefully it will gives you some good direction, or key points to consider.
Have A Policy
Are you seeing yourself in the above situation (as well as some
frustrating mistakes like that) I have developed a good policy for discounts. Yes
DISCOUNT!
Discounts:
I only offer discounts to immediate family (luckily I have
small families, otherwise this could be
revised) and very close friends.
The main reason for discount is that, quite simply, I WANT
to photograph them. I love to shoot the people i love, so it’s win-win for me .
However, if discounted period start time takes up a lot of
your time, you may have to reconsideration your policy. You have to develop
much work into your discounted period, and end up earning less money. This can
very fast damage your business, since you have less time now to shoot your full-paying
client. Be careful son.
I also advise you to let those family and friends who are
receiving YOUR discount know that the price you Are charging is a confidential
and not to advertise with their friends and friends of friends about it. because their friends will surly see their photos and
if eventually the find out about a big discount you offer they are not going to
take your job and prices seriously when they ask.
Sale prices:
In a season of a year I will offer a promo on my portrait
session fee. This is a wonderful way to
give out discounts fairly. Everybody has
an equal opportunity of the discount, not just your family and friends.
Referrals:
This is One point I admittedly have not been doing great at
yet – though it’s good paying attention to.
Photography business is
a referral business!
When you shoot a photo of a customer that you absolutely
love (everything works perfectly, they are a dream family, friends or couple,
etc.) then chances are OK that their friends will automatically be your ideal customers. You need
referrals from them to stay up to build your photo business with the right costumers
.
I have organized a referral program that offers a discounted
session fee to my friend, and a credit to the original customers as a thank you
for giving me more business.
Here is the Wisdom
This topic is very frequently discuss and stressed about. In
my research work I have come across a couple of wisdom that will help:
If you really want to “sweeten the contract” for a customer,
offer
additional service or products rather than bringing down the prize.
Reducing the cost takes a good amount of money from your pocket. Adding a
service or product costs far less due to
packaged markup, but still adds value
for the customer!
Rather than shooting it for free, shoot it for a little fee.
When services and products are free customers tend not to value it. Even if you
are charging a bit, they will realize that what you are doing is worth
something. It is a small thing that tends to make a great subconscious
difference.
Above all, make it official. HAVE A CONTRACT, Schedule time for meetings, ordering and viewing
sessions, etc. Let them know that you are serious about what you are doing as a
profession.
Hopefully this has provided some insight to beginner
photographers in how to metamorphose from the practice phase. Because of business,
handling discounts is strictly personal matter that each photographer have to manage
it differently. Just keep in mind that photography and It business is a
valuable skill and that your effort, time, and your technical know-how deserve
proper benefit.
Do you have any discount strategy that work greatly well for you? Share it in down the comment area!
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