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Pre-Consultations and Business Discussion

So the one thing that you didn't say is I've actually spoken to krista prior to doing the shoot, I actually spoke to krista and asked her all of these questions, I believe that the pre consultation you do is way you've sold all of your images, and so this is really, really important. I've written this all down for you on the pdf so that you can reference it and that you can really learn this language. The first thing I do is take it before shot. So this is right where I would take christa's before shop. I also don't ask people if they wanted before shot taken I just I just make it happen. I said, come on, it's, take you before shot the second thing I do is on my ipad now I have catherine horse top model release I love it and it's just so easy to use the top model release easy use on my ipad. All I have to do is hit create and my whole um and then I choose adult. My whole release is right there. And what I do is I get my client to fill it out while she's in here makeup so I'm just going...

to take it over here and say, krista, this is your model release and I need you to fill that out and sign that for me, what happens with the top model release ep is if you're on location, you can take the air with you, you fill it out, the client does all of the details, you can then take a photo on your ipad off the client to reference them as soon as they sign and it's got just a a soft head sign it emails a copy off the release to both myself and the clients, so she's putting email address in it seems that straightaway to them and straightaway to me, she can reference it when they get home. I know there's going to be a lot of questions about model releases. I do not photograph anybody, and this I have a model release because I've been called out drink it called out without a model release, you don't own the images, and this they sign that release, and the questions are usually how to get people to sign. How do you would it remember? I'm quite assertive. Come on, it's taken before shot here's your model release, fill this out and sign it. There is no conversation around it. These are the rules to my studio, I can't photograph you unless you sign that release, because I need to have the rights to all of those images and yeah, I just kind of what I just kind of direct it quite quickly I don't sort of make conversation out of it the before shot for me is one of the most important things to advertise with my bass marketing is because I take this before sharp I don't make it back me you can see this image here that I took of christa it's beautiful she's fresh faced she's got to hear in a ponytail it's really simple arms by the sides people I'm getting all these before shots posted on facebook and there's all these here and it's great but the idea is it's a clean face before shut very similar to a passport further directly face on yes a lot of my passport photos of smiling because I kind of like that idea that everybody's a relaxed and you know not looking like a mug shop and try and always have the here up or back and some way the body looks at least flattering when the amber by the sides and I want my before shop to look nice but I don't want it to look two nice I'm seeing before shots coming up on facebook where the before shots actually look better than the afters and so I really want you to work on making it look like a before and after so make it look like a transformation make it look like that she's gone from fresh faced but comfortable to a beautiful beauty shot or glamour shot this is really, really important that I want you to work on this from here on in I call this point off contact so this is how many points of contact I have to sell my work I'm a photographer but I am a saleswoman fist I'm selling my photography I'm selling myself I'm selling my experience s and I'm selling my studio from the first second that somebody calls me to tell me that they want to be photographed by me as soon as they call me or email me my first point of contact remember the role and if you've seen me, you've seen it a hundred times show don't tell stop sending priceless and wordy wordy e mails out to people send an email piri if with a video link to a behind the scenes shoot or it's our video about you that's interesting don't go on about yourself go on about your experience you really really want to see them images not numbers images still images is still the biggest open length still the highest social media point the biggest reason to open an email twitter feed anything if there's an image on it, people will look at it people will always remember your images my pdf booklet now is being designed on issue issue is an amazing software heaven look at it online issue dot com I iss iss u u dot com it's you can actually download on open pdf magazine flip herbal that looks like a magazine with a seam down the center so I'm currently my pdf is on here I've designed it like this on a magazine so I'll just bring that up so that you can see it and it's all my can and as I flip through the magazine you can read all about the process of my shoot I want to entice everybody that comes into my studio I want to entice them into my studio with beautiful product and at the same time I need to educate them on the price so you can see at the last page of my priceless there are three things go back to the keynote for me you can see that a photo shoot with mae is a full package is three thousand three hundred dollars that includes a folio box for twenty images a sixteen twenty four here and make up the location of your choice in a cd of everything you purchase locate that's my full package my priceless breaks down tto war portrait's mounted portrait on the wall and folio box images I think take you through behind the scenes and then you link to samonas video so it is so easy to entice people on email who have no connection to me whatsoever they don't know me they haven't spoken to me and all they want is to find out about the process I'm not selling myself to them I'm selling my my experience so for made the consultation getting them on the phone is the first way to selling everything all of a sudden I have to do this so I'm going to go through this quickly because we're going to talk about it again this afternoon but this is all on the pdf for youto loon so you have to talk about money when they call the first thing somebody says to you when they call you is how much is this going to cost me and I do not want you to scoot this issue I do not want you to say so how did you hear about me it's like no, I asked you, how much would it cost? And you are avoiding that subject so money is not a not afraid of money. I'm not afraid of what I charge I want to build the value of what I sell and so the first way I do that is I say my images started one hundred eighty dollars on the wall and they go up from there okay? I'm giving them a starting point that is a safe zone so you can give them a lower amount, print him out and then talk about images got from there depending on how many you buy my beautiful folio buck starts at twelve hundred dollars and goes up from the air so I can create a pig is just for you so right now what you've heard is one hundred eighty dollars in twelve hundred dollars I want to tell you how much my images started, but I want to educate you without saying, you know, some people spend three thousand dollars some people spend six thousand dollars it's entirely up to you every time I say something, I bring it back to you have the power over this not there's some hard sell or I'm going to get stuck doing this the final images of your choice there's no hard sell I say that too every one of my clients I don't hard sell the idea and this is how I am speaking to my client the idea is that I take photographs of you that you love so much that you want to buy them that you have to buy them this is not something that I'm trying to sell to you this is something that I am doing for you and trying to create exactly what you want everything you purchase will be given to you on saturday there is no conversation around that do you? After digital prints, everything you purchase will be given to on cd and then I finished then I've talked about money I've given them that how much I've sort of worked in the money and then I instantly go teo how did you hear about me? Because this is where I want to reward my evangelists the people who are out marketing you and talking about you all of the time they were sending you lots of shots I need to know who referred you so that I can really toward them and assume I reward them they will send me more clients interestingly enough, that person who keeps sending me you know that I keep rewarding for sending me all that work they will not only keep sending the work but they are actually step it up once I reward them it's a good way to lead into more conversation because I find a lot of people get to sales pitching on the phone instead of just starting conversation. How did you hear about me for status is one of the most easy ways to lead into what's next who would you like to be photographed with is the first question I asked because as soon as they bring somebody into the shooting I can talk about the experience so if they say do you mean I could be photographed with somebody else? I say yes who would you like to share this with? Is it your mom your sister, your partner, your husband, your children, your best friend? And as soon as I say that I opened up now to doubling and tripling my sale because I'm bringing two or three people into the shoot but the conversation around that is simple when would you like to be photographed? We'll pin them down to a day do you want to plan this around a night out is the first thing I say because it's non threatening and then as soon as they say plan this around a night out I talk about the experience remember you are going to look fabulous you going to be here makeup done by professional makeup others I suggest you play in and night out afterwards they love it so much though plan an evening around your shoot the mohr they plan and commit to the shoot the more money they're going to spend with you because they're actually committed to a result and I believe the answer to selling all portrait is educate experience and tyce asked listen and price okay simple educate experience entice ask listen prize it's simple educate your client on how much you cost sell the experience to them so that by the time they get there they are so excited about coming into your studio and you know what ninety nine point nine percent of the time when I'm speaking to a client on the phone I say thanks krista will see you on tuesday they always say to me I'm so excited so and I look forward to meeting you because I've managed to excite them and entice them into coming into my studio and getting excited about the experience ask you mask ask people how they want to be photographed you must ask them how they want the here and make up and then you ask them if they like it and then you ask them again when the makeup artist is not there, you must ask them what they like about your work on your website and then you must ask him how they dream of being photographed. I've asked her these questions I know the answer that's how I managed to style her shoot if you do not ask, you are not offering a service, you're just assuming they like your work enough so that you can wing it it doesn't work like that. The more I offer my client exactly what they want, the more they spend with me it's quite simple, right? I will email my pity of prices and video links to behind the scenes shoot so let's book you in so straight away I've educated them. I've talked about the experience I've enticed them, I've asked them questions I've listened to how they want to be photographed, I've talked about price, I've talked about money, I've talked about experience, I will email you my pity of prices and video links to the behind the scenes shoots so that you can see ah full shoot and how it works it's really exciting to watch and that's how we're gonna work with you so let's get you booked in when would you like to be photographed and straightaway that question there is a call to action so a lot of the time it's like when you're in the sales room and you can't quite get the money out of them and you say, how would you like to pay for that it's just a simple call to action the call to action is to finalize what you're doing on the phone because people will talk for ever what are you gonna wear at this point people will book a session with you now this is where your consultation starts you have two choices you can do it on the phone well, they can come and do it in person. The idea is that both of them work if you give them the time okay, this consultation could take twenty to forty minutes but if it means I'm going to get a three to five thousand dollars sale, I will take the time to do this conversation. This is a conversation, not a pitch the case right right from the beginning when you're on the fire and you smile when you talk because people can hear you smiling, it really helps with help this people as well because I have helped this gray jj no one calls you unless they want a book this is a role I've had in my studio for five years. The phone does not ring at least they want to book a a decision with you so if they managed to call you you talk to them and they don't bow position that is your fault. Okay? Every frankel that comes into our studio is my average sale my average cellar three and a half thousand dollars so if you get lazy, you lose money that means that every time you answer the phone three and a half thousand dollars talking to you right there or whatever your average sellers have your average cell is higher than mine or lower than mine that's exactly what you're losing if you hang up the phone and do not make a connection with that person so if you get lazy, you lose money. This is we're having staff is a big problem. Nobody sells you a studio or yourself like you do. So as soon as your staff again getting lazy on the phone you have to find a way to motivate them. I find fear motivates staff really well I'm so kidding, right? Yeah, but, um one of the most hurtful things it is a business owner was listening to my staff on answer the phone and not put anything into their consultation there consultation is where my first to me that with the sailors made it's where the excitement is created, the enticing is done and I cannot tell you this if you just take the time now right now to just talk to that client, do the pre con spend twenty minutes longer than your spending now on pre consultation connect with them get to know you you know, I've been working a lot with mop wanna hime up juana hello half I know you're in hawaii watching my planner and I were talking about this in new zealand when she came over she said recently she'd had a shoot and she didn't connect with them and they came to the shoot and they didn't really seem to care they're a bit hung over from the night before we were talking about what she'd done wrong and she done all of her consultation on email and what happened was they had no connection to her no connection to her experience, no connection to a process so they treated the shoot like that and you know, she and I talked about it a lot and I was like head you spoken to them and connected with them personally really given them your time and if it it would have been very, very different the whole process would have been different okay, all I know is this I get very busy and in my studio I let this consultation lapse every time I let the consultation lips it's reflected in my sales kate there is no secret here when I let it go I don't make money so if you want to make money if you want to make this work give us a smooch if it is you can the more committed that they are to the process the more committed they are to tuning up in spending money the conversation is worth the time. Trust me, this is where all of your selling is done. This is where you talk about do you have attend to do you have a tan yourself? I asked krista if she ever had a spray tan and she said, well, I don't really spray ten but I would like to get my at least ten because here a bit pasty I'm gonna photograph here leagues today so I want her to have a spray him I asked him, does she have any special makeup? Does she were any allergy makeups? Does she have any special way that she liked to hear? Done? I am a here farmer s o I liked mihir down a special way. If I was going to a photo shoot, I would book in with my stylist the day before the morning before and get my here down I'm not somebody that would let a stylist do my here because I I love my hair done a certain way and I'm really I'm really, really finicky about it and if I got to a shoot and the stylist did my here in a way that I did not like I would be really disappointed I wouldn't be buying images I need to ask these questions I need to tell them to prepare the skin to turn up with no makeup on to be moisturized. The more effort I put into this the more they come and prepared when you look at my hips website what images air you drawn to? This is the first question I asked them when they come in. What images air you drawn to because those are the ones that they identify with. And how do you dream of being photographed? Can you dream of being photographed? So, krista, um how do you jamie thank photographs if you just turned around for one minute have you got a micro fine? Can you answer? Can you answer that question? How do you dream of being photographed if you could think of a way? Like if you look at all the images on my website, what do you like? I I just love that I like the more classic images, and I think all of your images are pretty classic, but I really like the black and whites kind of love vanity fair magazine so it just all of those portraits are amazing every time so I don't know does that help? Yes it does so black and white benedict fear to me is quite stylized very beauty his lots of movement and emotion and but also you know that they're not friendly portrait there they're sort of a mixture between sort of classic sixty I love anything yeah just vanity fair for mai is decent traded color not black white um so I'm very much into decent trading so I would go to the situation before he put it into black and white but now that I know you like black and white I will give you both option it's okay yeah especially with this new editing software amusing they create the best black and white side either saying ok, what images do you love on my website right when you just remember what then we just stand out to you? Well, you know, the most recent images maybe of tiffany I really like the horizontal of tiffany and it might be the first one in your image box yeah it's just I don't know there's something about it yes, I'm back please so that really got people on what you like just kind of more serious maybe yes ok it's beauty to me so I can't any other images that really stand out to you that you love I really loved who is the girl on the last creative live who's she had beautiful dark skin flush it a black head wrap and say see yes yeah, her images were amazing. Okay, see you like all a real monetize she liked the black b flat. Okay, um, these are the questions I ask, what do you dream of? How do you dream of being photographed? Would be one thing I find myself constantly photographing people, and every now and then I do what I've always said it every now and then I dropped the ball and I cookie cutter, I don't ask. I don't ask or I may be asked, but they don't go for the hero and if I don't get it here a shot um I'm really not giving my clients to service that they think they're gonna get from me. So really, really important this comes down to this consultation, how they gonna be photographed and what they're gonna wear and what I really need teo do now is move into how I'm going to start issue. The more effort I put into this with them, the more they're going to buy a few shoot children, I'll tell you right now I have a photographer friend who puts shopping for her children in her service, so she adds two hundred and fifty dollars, to her physician price and she gets the size of the children, and she goes and shops for little outfits for them and the appearance know this, that she does this. She talks to them about it and it's, part of her service, because so many parents turned up first shoots. Family portrait not wearing the right thing, because sending an email with a hollowed of information does not work. Okay, talking to them on the phone does sending both, or sending a pdf with images, not words, you know, so show them white tops. Show them white shits. Show them what that when the family looks good wearing denim, but show them, don't tell them to. Many people turn up, and they're just not prepared. The more prepared they are, the more money they're going to spin.