Still picking Brett’s response to Monday’s post on client education apart. If you didn’t read yesterday’s post, now is a good time to do it. Got that? Awesome, now onto more picking. Once again, here’s Brett’s comment-
I agree in general. The one thing I do like to educate on is explaining that my prices are based predominantly on supply and demand. In a way it’s still saying, “this is what I cost, take it or leave it,” but it also gives them a little something to chew on when thinking about the cheaper photographers. Hmm, if they’re so cheap, there must not be much demand… I wonder why that is?
- Brett Maxwell
OK, the next piece of the puzzle that I want to unpack is this idea that our clients will think that the cheaper photographer is in less demand that we are. I used to think that I knew who all the photographers in the market were. These days it seems like we are multiplying like desperate rabbits at the end of the world. So no matter how much I think I know the market there is always someone else dominating some niche that I’ve never heard of.
If you are aiming to get beyond the startup levels of the market it is tempting to think it is you against the low-priced world. It can seem like all you have to do is fight against that perception that the client wants the lowest-priced option.
But if the client wanted the lowest-priced option would they be talking to us?
They might be out there talking to the idiots, but no one on this blog. Way too cool for that. We’re trying to provide something higher-functioning. Something fulfilling and desirable. That’s probably why the client is interested in you.
So if the client wants something beyond, and we tell them that the more expensive guy has the more desirable whatever, we might be driving them out of our door and to the guy down the street, unless of course we are the most expensive guy in town. It might be crazy to think but while it is clear that there is always someone cheaper, I’m continually amazed at how high the market has reached – there is also always someone more expensive than you.
If we make the argument that you get what you pay for we have to understand exactly where we stand in relation to everyone else, and we have to have a pretty solid sense of who else in the market the client is considering. I used to be in a market where I was pretty sure that if I wasn’t the most expensive, I was vying for that title with maybe 1 other studio. So that argument had a shot if I knew the client felt the same way. Now I’m in a market where the sky is the limit. In the last month I’ve been in a situation where I was the most expensive within a given client’s choice (and I got the job) and another situation where we purposefully came in a little lower than the highest quote and we lost it.
The bigger point here is that with an argument like this positioning is everything, which means paying enough attention to the rest of the market to be confident that you’re proceeding correctly. Long-time readers of this blog know that I’m not a fan of paying too much attention to the rest of the market or making decisions based on what everyone else is doing. However, once again Brett has brought up a good point, and if you have a solid idea about where you stand you can leverage that to your advantage.
Thanks again to Brett -www.brettmaxwellphoto.com.
If you’ve got a question or a comment drop them in the comment box below or send them to [email protected]. The SEXY BUSINESS Workshop is less than a month away and we’ve still got a spot or two open if you act quickly. We’re also planning the next set of workshops and we’ve have several requests for dates and locations – if you want to throw your two cents in on where you’d like to attend drop me a line at [email protected].
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thanks!
- trr
