Lessons

Lesson Info

Handling Client Objections

this is key and this is where I get brutally brutally honest ninety nine percent of mom's I'll see people in starbucks and supermarket everywhere I go go michelle I love your work so much and you know I know it's expensive and so I really want to wait till I lose some weight before I come in and have my portrait done and and this is me how long have you been saying that for probably not gonna happen right I mean honestly it's probably not gonna happen and then I say what was the last time you looked at a portrait of somebody really love and thought to yourself really wish they would've lost ten pounds before I'm in that picture taken especially if they're gone they're not here have you ever looked a picture of your grandmother who's not here anymore and thought wolf well she should have lost some weight before letting somebody take her picture no your kids don't care your hang ups during ups not your kids your kids love you no matter what your kids need portrait's with you no matter wh...

at it's what you leave behind for them and they look at me like oh yeah kind of right I'm so honest about mike come on let's go when is that gonna happen it's not because everyone says it it's listen it's the classic new year's resolution I'm gonna do it this year how many people really do it so if you're waiting to do a porch until you lose weight is gonna be too late before you're ready to do it and I would say don't wait till it's too late you never know what tomorrow brings you never know and if something happened to tomorrow don't you think your kids would want to have a portrait with you pictures with you something to remember you by if you were dead tomorrow your kids would want pictures of you guys I know you're not laughing over there but you should be um okay so I never heard anyone say I wish my mother would have lost a few pounds before having that family portrait done no one's ever said those words I know those little things you see on facebook all the time I wish my mother would have lost some weight before she had that portrait done someone said never I hate those things but you know what I'm saying it's true the logic okay one it's not gonna happen to you shouldn't wait right and people will say you have waited too long way too long I'm an expert at making people look good I have spent more than twenty years studying the art of posing people in a natural relaxed way because what's the number one problem with posing women like I don't like to be posed with a natural you know not relaxed so the art opposing people in a natural relaxed way using the right cameras the right lens is correct camera height and angles can actually make the body and face look thinner it's true we showed it yesterday right all of the portrait that we do are professionally retouched to remove blemishes eye bags whitened teeth and softened skin and wrinkles so you're not getting any younger remember aunt anna why did you wait until I was eighty three to have my portrait taken you're not getting any younger if you're not feeling good about the way you look right now it is not gonna get any better so let's do the portrait anyway because you're not doing this for you you're doing this for your children period I'm brutal I know it but I'm just honest and it's so ridiculous I never liked the way I look how many women feel that way there's a whole bunch of people sitting you know what their ipad their computer going yeah she's right and never liked the way I look here's what I think if on ly we could see ourselves the way that people love us see us for just five minutes imagine seeing yourself the way your kids see you the way they love see all of our fears and securities whatever issues we have would just fall away if we could just see ourselves like that for a window of time it would change our whole perspective you know we're way too hung up on our own imperfections and I see that and I say it's moms all the time ago if only you could see yourself the way your kids see you and then it kind of you know takes people back for a second if only I could see myself that way I think our whole perspective would change and then I say well when was the last time you were photographed by a professional oh it's been many many years I don't like the camera hate having my picture taken yeah but when was the last time you photographed by a professional not a point and shoot camera at a bad camera angle and bad light slumped over not walking like you're wearing for sochi you know when was last time most people don't like the way they look in snapshots I have never ever had a mom sit on my couch and say I'm so excited I love to be photographed I look amazing in all my pictures I have never had a woman sit down and say that's me ever right ninety nine point nine percent of the people who sit with may say I hate to be photographed I'm here aren't really doing this for the kids or you know and I know you could make me look good but most people say I'm gonna break your camera it hasn't happened yet I love that's my favorite thing why would someone say that how bad is your self esteem if you have to tell me you're going to break my camera is bad and if only we could see ourselves just for five minutes the way the people who see us the people who love us see us here's where educate mom retouching this is a critical thing remember I'm a minimalist in post production but I totally believe enhancing my clients one because digital is way too sharp and I love this image because it's pretty good right mom looks great dad was a little self conscious of his he's ah works in construction and I guess like the way his hat sits on him like he's got this weird tan line and so he wanted to wear a baseball hat the whole session he said quote I wanna wear baseball how because it covers like this uneven skin on his head I'm like I know you're not wearing a baseball have your portrait section I can I can clean that up later don't worry about it and I would never put make up on a guy that will just make them feel so uncomfortable and even if you think he knows he has makeup on when he comes in to see portrait after he's not gonna like it at all because going like I have makeup on they're like totally look like a girl don't even bother right it is easier to do it later but um and wanted to wait until her daughter had that tooth pulled right I'm like don't wait I can pull that fashion and then to scan all right seriously you don't need to wait for that oh really you can do that yeah okay forget this yeah tooth's gone mom's a little cleaned up and look at his head it's minimal it's really minimal I haven't really changed the image I just cleaned it up of dark and down the background a little bit I took her were two thousand I darkened down the blacks I am you know even now on his skin tone I took mom's bags away everybody just looks better oh you can do that well yeah do you think models magazines look like that when they walk in the door they don't right and so you know and that's the other thing like in society we think oh look they look like that all the time you seem pretty pictures magazines you know runway they look like that all the time oh heck no everybody looks the same when they wake up in the morning a big fat mess right it's just I'm just saying so this is one way that educate mom explaining to her that this is what we're going to do to help her feel better is another one my favorites professional portrait or too expensive seriously wait till I get to my in your face reality marketing later because that is some funny stuff but too expensive compared to what do you have portrait's of your grand parents yeah would you sell them back to me today I'll buy him from you I'll buy him for you for the same amount of money you're going to spend on me ah buying I know it seems expensive now but really this is priceless this is what you leave behind this is what your children will see your grandchildren your great grandchildren when you're long gone dead and buried and your children have grandchildren of their own this is what they have it's not expensive a three hundred dollar technical I something listening to you buy a new one every couple years right that's not that's expensive that's because it's going to go away that technology is going to be obsolete in a year is going to be new color a new technology bigger staying at that level but you're always gonna have family portrait ce right so if you think they're expensive your client's going to think they're expensive if you think you're worth it if you really believe if you really believe in your heart that family portrait are worth everything we have two things when people pass maybe a piece of jewelry and portrait so I have my grandparent's uh wedding portrait from uh nineteen twenty thirty something on the wall and it's an eight by ten contact print it was shot on eight by ten view camera it's only one made sure could I scan it and get a copy that's the only original I have it is an original there's a little tear in it and it's perfect and I wouldn't sell it for a million dollars that's my grandparent's I'd be selling a piece of my soul right and part of thing is as photographers and his business people on his emotional artists we have to have to have two believe in the value of what we do in order to feel the value of what we sell and so that we're not like well the session is this much something you know my session fee is this my prices start here my average client spends about this or invests oh okay you know when you walk into an expensive car dealership they don't go well the car is eighty grand you know cars dented it and it comes with this this and this and this and it is the most amazing vehicle you were ever gonna drive in your life worth every penny you never see a good salesman go yeah it's an eight hundred thousand dollars house do you like it like this I mean in this house is is price below market value it's a hundred thousand dollars it's below market value it's a deal this is way below market value because I can guarantee you in ten years this is gonna be worth more the car you drive off the lot depreciates in value the portrait you take out of my studio will appreciate in value over time hands down so why are we so embarrassed to actually charge for our time and our work and so many people are it's such a huge problem you see it all the time people just like I don't know what to charge and I'm free to ask for money people are afraid to ask for money listen there's a good story perfect um is a great story so I do um it was my biggest portrait sale it was like I don't like ten thousand dollars fifteen thousand dollar portrait sale and you know they bought a couple of wall portrait's gifts for grandparent's album like huge and I'm just going through I'm taking the order from adding up and done it on michael kay great and and I was like okay I'll be right back and I left the client in this hill's room and I go into my little office with my girls and like right and like I'm trying to be quiet like and in my mind like how am I going to tell her it's this number because she probably not realizing it right and I'm like okay get my stuff you go back out to go okay I'm back I go you have ordered this this this and this and this is your total how would you like to do that today I'm shaking on the inside I'm like pooping myself I'm like I'm scared and she's like oh let's do it on my american express okay great take the cargo back do you want to do have for the whole thing today I'll just do the whole thing I run the card go back out great here you go here's your things sign it great what will be ready in this amount of time thank you so much I walk her to the door close the door go but only crab my biggest sale ever my gosh oh when I saw my client boom I'm calm of course it's ten thousand dollars everybody spends that kind of money yeah baby oh my god I was a wreck it's seriously I was a wreck I totally remember it it was like no big deal no big deal we have to remember that too because here's the thing about photographers we tend to price ourselves for what we think we can afford you have to if you want to start getting into hiring clientele you may have to price yourself out of your own socioeconomic level and that's hard because some of us feel like well I can't spend that kind of money on portrait well maybe you can't but your client that you want can wants to and is looking for somebody as good as you to do it right I can't buy the eighty thousand dollar car I'd like to have my dream car is good my client's drive those cars right but I'm not quite there yet it's okay doesn't matter to me I want you know I don't want the compact car I want the luxury car so I'm gonna I'm gonna keep striving for that and so so many photographers get caught up in the would never spend that kind of money on photography that's way too much money like who's going to spend that you get stuck in your own economic base is opposed to starting think outside that economic base go to the high end malls walk into the high end stores see what the price of high end products are there out there people are buying them it's there but you have to create the reputation the image the branding that the guts but you gotta have the guts to go yes and so we're finished with your order and edited and that's ten thousand dollars and how would you like to do that today half for the whole thing right so it's spit and what if I could not afford myself if I had a higher portrait photographer I couldn't if you can afford yourself it might be a problem if you could afford yourself it might be a problem maybe unless you're super rich and then that's totally different story but you see where I'm going that right