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Types of Clients

We're going to talk about like I said getting into your client's head, but we're also going to talk about who you're consumerism remember earlier I discussed the two types of moms and granted I say moms your dad sometimes make those buying decisions however most of us in photography especially the portrait in wedding world know that it's the woman of the family who makes those buying decisions okay, so there are essentially two types of moms and we're gonna discuss those two types and how they buy what their motives are for buying okay, so and then we're gonna get into the psychology of the sales. So what happens in the pre consultation through the entire session into the sales appointment? What mental processes is occurring in your client as they lead up to that sales appointment and the point I want to drive home to you guys is sales occurs from the first phone call up until the order an appointment it doesn't occur at the order employment I mean that seems like an oxymoron doesn't w...

ait a minute I'm supposed to sell at the in person appointment, right? No, you're doing it all up until the first order employment so keep that in mind and that mental process that your client goes through during that time period is super important to recognize because that's going to help you when it does come to helping them at the viewing appointments okay, so what you learn the segment? The two types of consumer mindsets who is your client? Okay, how to us how a step by step sales process can help you get inside your client's head how mindsets changed during the sales process okay, how a client's mindset actually transitions and changes throughout the process because it does it takes a huge change how budget influences psychology and how psychology influences budget which budget can change and I'm sure you've all had it happen, especially those of you who do sell in person you'll get a client in and they think they're going to spend a certain amount and then that gets blown out of the water and they spend way more than they anticipated this happened right and that's what we wear, what we want it would be nice with every client doesn't happen with every client, but it does happen and that's a really nice thing, but there are certain things you khun dio as a seller that helps your that helps your client accomplish that with ease and comfort I guess is what I should say, so those are the kind of things we're going to touch on in this segment on what I we're going first dive into is the buying mindset okay, why do clients acts so weird sometimes what you mean by weird okay, well this is the buying mine why what a woman get up before dawn to shop the fifty percent off thing after thanksgiving sale at target and then go to the gourmet market down the street for organic groceries which cost fifty percent more than a general grocery store she crazy or she just misunderstood she's misunderstood okay, now this is a an interesting concept of who target clients are and what they're buying motives are okay so yeah, that seems like an oxymoron why would a woman get up at dawn or two a m for that matter no thanksgiving night now that the store's open on thanksgiving night for those of you americans obviously that's ah major holiday and black friday is when all the retail outlets mark everything down it's like christmas holiday shopping it's the launch so those of you who are not in the united states probably wouldn't know what that I'm talking about but after thanksgiving is called black friday it's when all retail stores in the u s deeply discount everything and get people to come in the store and buy for the christmas holidays so ah woman will get up to him okay not me but teo too since left at two am to go shopping to be the first through the door to get the door buster deals okay but then that afternoon she'll go spend two or three hundred dollars on gourmet groceries why would she do that? Okay she's misunderstood um and I think that's very important to recognize and what we're going to talk about to kind of explain this are the two types of consumers okay there's the traditional consumer this consumer is driven by prices, features and status okay, they love a good deal they will also spend money on products that offer status. Okay, so think about like donald trump he's really rich right? Okay, he loves a good deal he buys property at rock bottom prices right? But he will go into a nightclub and purchase three or four hundred dollar bottles of cristal champagne because it's a status symbol he will buy things that offer him that status and I'm just you know, I don't really know donald trump but I'm just using a zen example and who knows if he really is this type of consumer but I guess I'm just trying to explain to you that ah very wealthy person can be a traditional consumer. Okay, these consumers spend wildly in a good economy they will charge the credit cards up to the wazoo they reign in tight when the economic growth stalls okay, they just remember in two thousand eight when the economy crashed those people just pulled it all in okay the majority of the world are traditional consumers that's why we feel these economic stalls so much is because these people just reign in tight and stop spending money they will on ly spend if they can get a good deal this mindset is very slow to change that's what economic growth and recovery is so slow think about two thousand nine those of you who have been in business since two thousand nine the shooting burners hundred dollars get the whole session in one hundred years on disk before their skill are happen that stuff up like crazy it's a good deal right it's a good fantastic deal you can't make any money on it it's a fantastic deal okay? They're still out there but slowly the mindset is changing and when I want to talk to you now is about the neo consumer neos are driven by quality design experience and authenticity okay they are a highly individual people and they looked for things with personal meaning personal meaning hello photography okay, they look for products that are outside the mainstream can you think of products that might be outside the mainstream apple apple's on the borderline though they're starting to become more mainstream. But remember when apple was in the nineties and like you were artsy fartsy if you had an apple gotta mak e it was like a kind of a you're this little odd person if you had a mac, you know, but it was everybody loved matthew over those days something that's dating myself I told you so some companies out there really target that unique feeling work, we're different. I mean, apples whole mantra was think different. Ok, so these consumers spend judiciously all the time, but we'll spend a lot on products they deem worthy, so they think a product is worth it. They will spend the money on it. If they see a product as a commodity, all of a sudden they will act like a traditional and demand the lowest price. So think about those shooting burners. If they think of your studio as a commodity, like a shooter and burner, they're going to demand the best deal from you. Why do you think you have so many people? Well, if you do, you'll probably change your business. If you have a lot of people calling you and wanting to negotiate your prices with you, chances are you need to be a little bit more unique and out of the mainstream. They need to look at your work and think that it's worthy of spending money on that it's so different and unique that it's worth the extra dollar. It's, not a commodity, and this can mean I mean, when you think about being unique, it's, a matter of everything in your business, not just how you photograph, but how you treat your customers what your place of business looks like how you market to your consumers how you educate them I mean how you act to them all these things add up to be a unique business it's branding okay, so if you have a really unique out of the mainstream brand than anu is going to thank your product is we're spending money on okay, so just remember that golden rule if a neo thinks all of a sudden that your product is a commodity, they will demand the lowest deal and that's, that woman who goes to target at two a m for the black friday sales, but well, then go out and spend fifty percent more on organic groceries from whole foods to her whole foods is worthy it's out of the mainstream it's not safeway or albertsons or kroger. Okay, it is unique and it's worth spending the money on where is target on black friday is a commodity get anything in target, penny mean, you name it all the different stores wal mart, it's a commodity they demand the lowest price. Why do you think walmart pushes its brand as being cheap as being cost effective? Because that's the consumer they're trying to target their targeting the traditional and there was plenty of successful business models out there that target traditional sze but as a small business one man show you're gonna have a tough time competing with that. So your goal is to really target those neo consumers who think that your product is worth the extra dollar because of its out of the mainstream it's unique it's worthy and just by being photographed like alone and selling that emotion that is so unique to the client, you're goingto be one step ahead of any other business who does this, okay? And, you know, these air a lot of this is just theories that I've pulled from other people, and I really believe in and there's lots of different arguments for these things, so I think it's important, teo note there are lots of different ways to think about this, and I'm kind of giving you my take that I've learned over the years from other people, but this really made sense to me it resonated. Do we have any questions? At this point? I'm sure there's lots people wanting to talk about this little more, so I don't want to leave it until we're and I think that's good, I mean, this really resonates with me doesn't because I buy my clothes that goodwill and I shop at wolf it's. Yeah, I am sure you are the new I am absolutely this person, so it does resonate with me d photo says they're not quite understanding what you're saying could you clarify some more? I don't know. I don't know how we can simplify this for de photo, but maybe we can break it down even more let's just kind of go over and break it down one more time clients purchase for a reason. Their motivation to buy something happens for a reason and many different reasons whether those b, you know, they buy something because it's quality it's designed well, they're getting a good experience out of it. I'm talking about the new what's up on the screen right now or you're really authentic about how you do something. I mean, if you as a business or doing things these things, you're going to attract a different type of consumer than if you're all about just status and features like let's like let me go back and slide here in country what I'm talking about. Um, hon dai, you hundred car maker they released harvest a sonata. I don't remember nana. Anyway, they released a car in two thousand eight that was just packed with features we cool luxury features hon dai is the on ly car company in the world who grew during the recession because of the sale of the hundred I think it was a sonata I could be wrong, but I mean, think about that economy is take all over the world no one spending money to remember that it was almost like scary like there was this aura going on run around hyundai in two thousand eight was growing on sales because of this car why it was a good deal it was packed with features and so traditional who have that buying mindset who buy for those reasons or buy cars for those reasons I should say bought hundreds like crazy because it was a good deal on it had a lot of features that are normally in luxury cars does that make sense having d photo that that'll make a little more sense but then you look at the neo consumer it was a different kind of they buy for different reasons they buy because something is high quality they buy a product the house high quality or they get a great experience with that business or they feel like it's really designed well you know apple has this has the neo consumer down because if we ever get by if I phone or a computer it comes in this gorgeous box it's so simple it's like you just pull the iphone out the chords they're the phones there and a little instruction manual and that's it it's like you just turn on and go that's design I mean that is amazing design and quality right there you just open an apple box you're like oh this is so pretty all right? I mean and it's a good product. I mean, their innovative thinking about how the iphone took over the world. It's amazing. They're computer company. They cellphones. Okay, yet people like hewlett packard tried to produce those mp three players. Nobody. But is there a computer company it's all about the way they presented themselves and their their product to the world and that's? Why consumers bought in a neo mindset the apple iphone. Okay, it's, an experience to open an iphone it's, authentic product. And now apple's kind of getting to that more mainstream feeling. So they have to be really careful about how they continue to market their products. Yeah, so so mean, I would like to know where do you just that they find the neo clients you go. Stockholm foods are good will on seriously stop the goodwill. Do you shop at whole foods? Well, it's first it starts off. We're going to talk a lot about this. Tomorrow first starts off with really defining who you are is a company and why you do what you do and really defining those things will help you send out a message of marketing with that brand and purpose very clearly stated, and then what happens is when the consumer starts to think that you are unique and worthy and then when you come in, they come into your place of business, and you start treating them without authenticity and that experience all of a sudden, they think that your product is worth it, so they're willing to spend more on it. But if you're just like every other photographer down the block and you're more expensive, they're gonna look at you as a commodity and be like, oh, I can just get this down the street, why don't I need to go more expensive? They're going to go in person on the street, so that means you, as a photographer and a business person, really wanted to get your question of seconds away. You was a photographer, and did this person have to really work hard to make yourselves unique? I think that's the answer, and how do you get those clients? We're gonna talk about targeting clients, and I'm a baby photographer, so I focus mainly on baby vendors and stuff like that, but I I'm a cheapskate market cheap. I don't advertise, I don't like newspaper magazine, I don't do that it's, facebook and partnerships with other vendors on, and if you buy the course, you actually get our complete vendor marketing kit that you can, and you guys are all getting the that you can change the psd file so you can kind of just changed. We want it's a packet that we give tio other businesses that we want to target with, who share our same target market, who want neos, who are having babies. And when you partner with those kinds of businesses who have the same target market, you just elevate yourself like that. I think that's the best way I would sing to get those kind of customers I think you want my answer is always question absolutely. Hey, I was just wondering what it is exactly that leads to the commodification of your photography. I know we've kind of gone over, but I wanted a little bit more clarity now, that's a really good question. Think about your town and think about all the photographers that air in your town and their work what it looks like. Okay, so there's there's two parts of this there's what their photography looks like and then there's how their business treats their customers. So if you look at how their work looks, is it similar to yours different? You're on the right track. Okay, has a unique look to it that's good. Do you have unique products that you can't get anywhere else? That's good, I create a product we just started carrying a product called own it's, a watercolor print and I printed in house with torren edges, and we float, mounted off the page. And I started doing this from a competition. Prints, and my customers love it so much that I started doing it for them. And it's, you know, no one else in my market doesn't it's a unique product that speaks my brand mean, that tourney edge, organic textural stuff going on. I mean, that is me and my work. So all of a sudden, not only do I produce unique products, but my work doesn't look like anybody else is in town. And then when you come into my business, right here in the in the little sandbox business here, we treat you with an experience that is unique and authentic. An authentic is probably the key. Authenticity comes from my wife. I do what I do because I want to cherish the feeling that the mind cannot remember. Okay, that's, my wife, you change the day you have a baby, you change, you have a new reason to live. You have a new reason to love you are a different person, and it defines the rest of who you are. For the rest of your life that's, my wife and I preached that toe all my customers and that's, how I call out that I that I'm going to help them do the same thing that if you believe what I believe I'm going to help you I'm going to solve your problem so that's I think how to make yourself unique is to really focus in on your purpose define it and then scream it to the world what your purpose is along with the fact that you're going to do it in a way that is like no one else not only with how your work looks but how you treat them as a customer when they come through your door so just can't you know this is a different way of looking at consumers the new oversees the traditional it's probably something you haven't really heard very often if you search on youtube you can find a lot of information on this and it's just an interesting concept so for further study I would definitely recommend doing that. So the question is this who is your client generally? Not every situation but for the most part boutique studios one man show type of things are neo consumers this's my sales room over here on the left by the way, if anybody's interested volume studios tend to target the traditional okay so of shooting burners a volume studio whether or not they're actually making money is a whole other question but the fact that they're doing something in high volume at a low price then it's a commodity, it's it's, a volume type business. So I have to ask you, do you want to be a commodity? Do you want to be something that consumers could get anywhere, just like the guy down the street? I don't want to be, what is it I don't want to be? Because I'm a creative I create, I'm artistic. I want people to look at my work because it's me it's, different. And so this whole point of getting you involved in this and doing it is to help you to find your own inner purpose, why you do what you do, and then taking that and making amazing business out of it. That has a sale system within it that can keep you organized, forecast your revenue and and make you have a wonderful business.