Lessons

Lesson Info

Maternity Sessions

All right so we're gonna start at the session and actually working with the clients consultation we talked about yesterday is critical everybody I photograph has to come in and take the time to sit on and talk to us I do not have time to do my own consultations I wish I could because there is a disconnect there for me where when I used to do my own consultations I got to know the client a little bit earlier I meet my clients when they walk in the door I have an incredible staff that has been trained to prep them and excite them for the session so people walk in very excited and it's very magical I don't have the luxury of spending an hour or thirty forty minutes with these client because every hour that I met the studio is session time so you have to pick and choose which is better for you some people choose not to do their own consultations because frankly they're afraid of their own pricing and they don't like tell people what because and you must be one of those people because you'r...

e smiling but it's something that um it's very hard to look somebody in the eye and tell them what your prices are and when you go through that process this is where you have to learn to be a courageous person because what happens I'll give you an example when I started photography we use proofs four by five proofs this is back in the dinosaur days most of you never remember this, but we would get our proofs in and a client would come in and they would sit down remember, my prices started it probably ninety nine dollars if that so we would lay out the proves and we would go, you know, through the images and a client would be purchasing and she might get a couple a pretends into five by sevens and wow, if she got a big eleven by fourteen, I was like, my heart was just going like this and I was thinking, how am I going to tell her how much this cost there's no way and we're talking, you know, one hundred hundred fifty bucks were upto hundred fifty I was sweating now I was like, oh my god, you have to tell him a hundred fifty bucks any time it got to over two hundred dollars, that was it? I couldn't I literally could feel myself getting nauseous. I'm like, I can't say this so here is this client placing her order perfectly happy and she was and I would get towards the end and I will be trying to figure out a way what's the fastest way to save him finally I would turn to her and I would say something like well, it looks like your order today is around two hundred and thirty two dollars but you know what? Today we have a special deal and if you want to just even do like a deposit today then I'll probably give you all of these proofs you can have these and you know what? Um we actually have a bonus if you we have a frame for your living by fourteen it's actually complimentary today if you would like that and do you have a carcass if your car needs to be watched what you need a baby sitter because I could totally baby sit your kids I mean I would say the stupidest things it's like I was just blah blah blah blah blah and I would start giving away the house and they didn't even have to say anything to be if I said two hundred thirty two and they looked up like this I was like, hey hate me oh my god they're going to kill and I was horrified and I would start apologizing and giving things away and I could totally see that you're who I'm talking today too because I couldn't feel that you are also have that same thing and the reason that issues were so passionate about what we do and we love what we do so much it's impossible to get people I mean it's impossible to expect to be paid for this again I did that, and I lost a lot of time with my family and the people that I love, sorry, because I didn't have the courage to tell people what I was worth, and eventually when you wear yourself down and when you're exhausted and you haven't seen your kids for days and your marriage is in trouble and you feel like here it's, kind of the whole world's going to explode, you're going to find that courage, but you don't have to wait that long to get there. You don't have to let the world come to an end before you get there, you have to look at yourself, you have to look at others around you and say, if they could do it, I can do it, and if you don't think I could do it, get out of my way, honestly and that's where you have to get to and the next time you look up at that client and you tell her the price here's, the rule in sales, you tell the price and what do you d'oh shut? That is an actual and I don't even use that word, so I'm not trying to offend you, but that is an actual written rule in the world of sales, they say, you you say the price. You shut up and the next one that speaks loses, and that is a really rule in sales, and that makes sense to you, right? If you want anything comes out of your mouth, you just lost somehow some way. So we state state the prices, we say, uh, just too close, it will say it's two hundred and thirty five dollars, how would you like to pay for that? And that's just put it back on their left. Does that work so instead of its two hundred thirty five dollars, done? Don't, uh, you know, and waiting for the end of the universe it's going to be, how would you like to pay for that? Because they're going to look you in the eye, and they're going to say, uh, and when they do that, they just lost it if they because if they say, oh, visa, then you go great if they say, uh, do you have a payment plan? You say? Absolutely and if they say, uh, you know what? Let's? Go ahead and look at this and maybe take something, something off you didn't lose anything. He didn't give anything away to get your payment if they can't afford it that's fair. That they're just being honest with you, but if you're giving it to them you have no idea if they a wanted it or be had to so I don't mean to soapbox you there, my dear but it's all about you you and all of you at what point do you do you bring up pricing though? Is that something that out of the gate in the confrontation of very beginning? Absolutely we do not address pricing on the phone, which will cover tomorrow we try not to, but let me tomorrow tell us exactly how to make everybody out there in the audience come back to find out these things, but we will cover in depth exactly the words and there's a very just like I said, how would you like to pay for that? Those little statements are some of the most golden gems that if you're paying attention um they work there is an entire phone conversation we're gonna cover tomorrow that everybody that's calling saying, well, how much is innate by ten will tell me what packages tell me I'm gonna give you every objection and I'm going to tell you how to effortlessly walk out of it so that they will literally be asking you for favors and you're not going to be worried about them, so we're gonna cover that, but as far as when that is a great quest absolutely. The consultation once you get in the door and you're face to face and when you do it, you're going to sit up straight. You're gonna look him right in the eye and you to be very, very proud of your work and your prices because you deserve that. Um, in the consultation, in addition to the location looking investment pricing is going to be covered. That is really, really important now, with pregnancy sessions, we want to find their comfort zone. We had a mom come in today and she was literally kind off walked in the door and I literally grabbed her arm said okay, let's, just go let's get right in here. And as you could see, I was running the photo shoot's today, like, I run my seminars, so it was like, come on going on going on, I gotta cram this down your throat so that was very overwhelming for these moms and kudos to them for being so patient because that was very stressful and chaotic. And we had moms with sixty old baby's first child we had mom that walked in the door and I snagged it right out of the gate. So, uh, actually is highly entertaining for me. I know you guys are all back there going holy uh, I lost her all right, good night, everybody and make it uncomfortable. Um, but I work at that level, but I have a very personal side and I think you've all seen this. Now the emotional soft side of me is always exist in my sessions. However, the staff I surround myself with knows that I'm like this. I'm a very nice boss. I'm also a very strong person. I'm a very nice owner of the company, but I'm also a strong owner of the company. You can be both, you don't have to be soft and fluffy and wussy and give it away. You can be soft and fluffy and strong and honestly, it makes a difference because there's a point where I could draw a line in this sand if I have tio and I'll shut up just like I said before and wait for that person to speak next, because I know that if if if I have to, I have to win because I'm going home and I'm going to go see my kids and that's how I make it work. So with pregnancy, the consultation is really critical because I want to make sure that I know exactly what they're expecting I don't want them to grab them by the arm and say, take your shirt off. Because there is a position there and we have a lot of men photographers out there that are that's a big they're really concerned about that um you know I have men all the time say ew ladies have it so much easier you can play with the babies you could get women naked you could do you know what I think it meant naked teo techniques work all over but no, but I need to know where they stand so we have three styles of photography when it comes teo pregnancy and when a client comes in we sit down, we talk about them we say there are three styles of photography we're going to show you a little slide show of each one and you tell me how you feel about them the first one is traditional now traditional tow us means clothing on, so typically we use these four things like if dad is going to be in the picture um and mom's not super comfortable if they're siblings if their babies children that are older we always say they're nice enough to show grandma so like you could show your telling me to everyone you're not some people prefer no skin at all they just come in and clothing want to showcase the roundness of the belly others like this image they want to showcase the belly but that's all but you can imagine the reason I say nice enough to show grandma imagine if she had her shirt off. That'd be really awkward picture right now because that boy's probably nine or ten so just wouldn't look right. So there are occasions where clothing does have to stay on. Absolutely not. My favorite look works brilliantly sells very well, but I mean it's not as personal as I would like to go with the client. The next syriza's fabric wraps we taught you how to tie up type a pregnant woman way taught you that, but people struggle with that. I c clamps down people's backs and I see I forgot about that icy clamps down people's backs and I could see that that's something that is a distraction and a retouching issue. So of course we are going. Teo, find better ways to go through that. I'm gonna quickly show you some images and then we are going to go to break here. So this is a fabric wrapped. This is nothing more than a piece of muslin andre made that brought top like we showed you today. This is also this fabric. I put this in here because this is an example this woman flew in from out of state. She was only five months pregnant, so she's breaking my rule her tommy did not across the breast line and you can. I mean, I literally was saying, push it out when I was making her boys, because and it's a beautiful shot, however she's, just not pregnant enough. So I just wanted to throw that in there in case I forgot to tell you that earlier, um, uh, this is just the muslin wrapped up. And I mean, this is a little more mysterious and interesting, and I don't think any clients gonna want thirty by forty. But I also don't want to do this all day long. I mean, six months old sits but pregnant women that you do have a little more to work with, that you can play with. So I try to do some things that are just for me.