I was going to take a break from this mini-series about struggling for bookings but I changed my mind and I’m going to see it through. This is the penultimate issue… pricing!
I’ve actually written about pricing before, way back in newsletter 028 – so feel free to have a read of that which is all about pricing myths. This is kind of a follow up to that – I just gave it a read and I still agree with almost everything I said back then!
Interestingly though that was also a mid-August issue which suggests to me that we all worry/panic about pricing and bookings around this time of year. Take heart from that.
Because this series is aimed at solving the problem of low bookings I’m going to answer a few of the questions I think we ask ourselves when bookings are low, around pricing specifically.
Do you need to drop your prices, offer discounts or something like that?
Probably not, but also maybe.
If people see your work and your price, then enquire, and you’re not converting that to bookings then your issue is sales. You need to look closely at how you’re responding to these enquiries and your post-enquiry ‘sales pitch’ however you go about that… emails, brochure, zoom call etc. They’ve seen your work and your price, so your job is to seal the deal. It also goes back to the marketing touch points thing I spoke about last week. Does your brand post-enquiry match up to your brand pre-enquiry? I’d focus there.
If people see your work with no price, then enquire, see your prices and ghost you at that point then it’s more complicated. You’re holding back a key piece of information and forcing people to enquire, that’s a very low quality enquiry at that point and your sales job is harder because you have to say how much it is and convey the value at the same time. So it’s still a sales job, and not necessarily a pricing one. Lots of the people who ‘ghost’ in this scenario will simply not be able to afford your price. But again if those touch points are conveying your brand the same pre- and post-enquiry then you stand a chance of still converting some of those enquiries.
In both scenarios, if you’re getting ZERO responses after sending prices then your pricing itself may be an issue but I’d look to work short term with a mentor who can help you analyse this area of your business, before just dropping prices. It’s too much for an email newsletter. Pricing psychology, presentation, communication skills, packaging, deliverables, client experience etc – what you charge is so much more than simply the numbers after the pound sign.
I used to be in a situation where I relied on deposits for my cash flow. I know a lot of people are in a similar situation.
That meant at times when I wasn’t taking as many deposits I felt a lot of pressure to make sure every enquiry booked, and that was usually through some kind of sweetener or discount.
I changed that since Covid. I didn’t like being reliant on deposits. So I started focusing more on longer term cash flow and eventually lowered my deposit amount and now I don’t panic as much during a low booking month.
What I mean by that is a decision to discount a wedding for next July for example, should be based around your cash flow next year, not your cash flow today.
You can set up a very simple spreadsheet to help you track this kind of stuff. I’ll work out a way to share the one I use.
The short answer for this is if you’re all about short term cash flow then if you feel like giving a discount will get you a booking that gives you the cash flow you need, then give the discount.
But if you can, start working towards a position where you’re more aware of your month-to-month predicted cash flow so you’re in a stronger and less reactive position.
Discount is sometimes saying ‘I’ll give you £x off if you book’ but you can potentially be cleverer.
Say you’ve quoted £2500 for full day digital coverage.
They say ‘we love your work but our budget is £2000’.
You say ok I’ll do it for £2000. That’s straight up devaluing your time.
That’s fine if it solves that short term cash flow issue for you. But maybe you can be cleverer about it?
Here are other ways using the example above to get down to £2000:
But also maybe there are ways you can ADD stuff for ‘free’ to achieve the booking at £2500. If you use an online gallery with print store, maybe even a £500 voucher towards print credits? If they place a £500 order it won’t cost you anywhere near £500. Same goes for offering a cut-price album or some discounted wall-art. You’re actually then making the package more valuable to them with no impact on the value of your time.
Usually I know most people will have an opinion of who is the best in their area… and maybe know how much they charge, and then base your pricing off that.
Like when I was ‘growing up’ we all idolised The Lawsons in the North West and none of us felt like we could charge what they charge so we kind of priced ourselves as a percentage of The Lawsons.
They were and still are amazing.
But this is a silly way to price/value yourself.
Don’t do this. Work on your photos, your marketing, your branding and client experience and then like I said above work out the income you need and the number of weddings you want to shoot and then calculate your target average booking price.
If you’re not feeling like you’re making enough money, but you’re happy with your price and the number of weddings you’re shooting then maybe it’s time to work on your aftersales strategy.
Prints, albums, wall-art are the obvious ones. Just by making people aware you offer this stuff, you’re infinitely more likely to sell it and increase your sales per couple.
But if you do family photography, make sure your wedding clients are aware of that. Same goes for commercial photography.
I saw something on Threads earlier this year that a bride didn’t look at anyone under £5k because they considered those photographers under £5k as ‘too cheap’.
I’ve studied pricing psychology a lot and to be honest I’ve not come to any real conclusion.
Fender guitars also make Squier guitars. They look incredibly similar and they – to the untrained ear of a non-player – sound the same.
Someone with the budget for a Fender isn’t going to buy a Squier.
Same goes for the brands Epiphone and Gibson. If you want a Gibson, an Epiphone which looks and sounds the same isn’t going to cut it.
And I understand this in product retail.
I’m yet to fully understand this in terms of what we do. I don’t think the vast majority of clients place an awful lot of value on anything beyond the photos they see. And I don’t think the vast majority of clients see the differences between one good photographer and another.
So we go back to the guitar analogy.
Rather than think ‘oh I’ll buy the squier and save myself a couple of grand’, I know I’d personally rather be talked into buying the Fender. And I’d probably feel way better about that purchase too.
It’s weird. But that’s branding, marketing and sales AND pricing. It’s how you convey the value in your whole product, service and experience.
For the ‘too long didn’t read’ brigade… charge what you feel you’re worth, and then work harder to convey the value. If you need to discount or drop prices in the short term to get some people through the door and money in the bank then do it. You can do what you want and need to do. Don’t stick at a price just because it gives you industry status, if it’s not serving you personally.
Thanks for reading!
Adam
