Today I went to a Pictage User Group (PUG) meeting. It was a great time, and we didn’t really talk much about Pictage. It was more of a chance for a group of peers to hang out. I heard a lot of feedback throughout the meeting about where people stand on albums and client meetings and bookings. It was really interesting to hear the broad range of feelings. It was also interesting that while everyone wants to act tough about their pricing in front of their friends…they back down immediately for clients.
From the marketing side of things, I can’t disagree with negotiating more. When you are running your own business, yes, you need to figure out where you stand in terms of pricing. Especially when most of what you need to charge for is your time. But the problem many photographers don’t realize ahead of time, is the slippery slope that negotiation starts. Once you drop your price for one thing, why would they not ask you to do it again. And who are we kidding, they ALWAYS do. Once a client asked for a refund for an engagement shoot that was included in their package.
The most important thing I want to tell anyone out there who is doing anything creative…”believe in yourself”. You have to believe in yourself to eliminate negotiation. If you are willing to negotiate just for the sake of negotiating, in many cases, you are telling the client that you don’t feel like you are worth what you are asking. And if you don’t think you are worth what you are asking, drop your prices. And then stick to the price you set.
Please don’t misunderstand my message. This doesn’t mean that everything has to be completely written in stone. Removing negotiating from your client interactions will save you more in the long-term (time, energy, money, advil…the list goes on). And then reward the clients you love (which will probably end up being most of them). The clients that you are able to go above and beyond for, who will appreciate everything you do. That is who we want to work with, right? The reason they think you are going above and beyond? Because you didn’t just throw it in to begin with. Because they didn’t make you feel worthless, as though you had to give them something to make up for something.
That’s my rant for the day, and I am sticking to it! I also heard a lot about album design which made me think of my post last night… but more on that later. I don’t want to bore you all week!
Chatter