A lot of my students have heard this sentence from me a million times…. “there is no CEO of photography”.
There isn’t any right way to run a photography business. No matter what *I* say in this blog post… you get to do exactly what you want with yours. I want you to! I want you to run your business how it best works for you. Some of you are not listing pricing on your website and it’s working brilliantly for you! Maybe some of you are even profiting more because of that strategy. I am just sharing today why I really love having it on mine and what it’s done for me and my business.
For YEARS – I thought I wasn’t supposed to have pricing available on my site according to some things I read. The most common justification for that was that it was a wiser sales tactic to “get someone in the door” – AKA have them email you for pricing first, and then reel them in. Convince them to stay. But I have to be honest… I am not a saleswoman and I NEVER will be. It is incredibly against my nature to “convince” someone they need something. I have turned down hundreds of Instagram partnerships & brand deals because I just can’t even, lol. I can’t tell you I love it if I don’t. I am an affiliate for a TINY amount of brands and that’s because they are real things in my life that I love and use and believe in. Salesperson? No. Sharer and offerer of things? Yes, lol.My tactic always has been – I have this thing and if you want it, it’s there. If not, I get it.
Here are the reasons that I have my pricing on my website:
- Many people won’t bother inquiring when there is no pricing listing. Nine times out of ten, I won’t even inquire with someone if I don’t know their pricing. So basically, I am doing this because this is how I (and many other) people prefer to shop around. You know what’s funny? In my life I can only remember ONE TIME I took something in a store to the counter/salesperson that was missing a price tag and asked them how much it was. ONE TIME. ONE. I won’t even try to buy something if I don’t know the cost, lol!
- I want less emails, and this saves me a TON OF TIME in my inbox. I will never forget the year I decided to put pricing on my website. I started to receive waaaaay less emails and at first, it worried me… did I make a mistake? But then guess what…my booking rate INCREASED. It went up. How? People were coming to me already knowing ballpark what I would cost. Instead of answering 10-15 inquiries a week and not hearing back from most, I started to receive less emails and book a higher percentage. Remember, more emails does not mean more money just like more followers on social media doesn’t mean more money or success either.
- When people do email me, they’re already almost ready to book simply because they know the pricing. The question then becomes am I available, or is there another aspect of my experience that works for them. If not, that’s okay! I send them some other photographers info and try to make sure they get taken care of. But it’s so nice to spend most of my email inquiry time on people who already know what to expect when it comes to pricing. So much of the work has already been done simply by how much I reveal right there on my website!
- I don’t have anything to hide from other photographers. I understand that a lot of people view people in their industry as competition and can be a little closed-off when it comes to sharing their information, their “secrets”, their pricing and their client experience details with them. I get it, and I think in a lot of cases – it does make sense. But I just don’t worry about it. Never have, never will. We have what… a quarter of a million visitors per week on average during the busy season here? We NEED a ton of photographers. I’m not worried if they can see how much my sessions are and the details of my client experience. Someone can take literally every single thing I do and replicate it (and… they have, lol) but I am still Amanda and they can’t match my personality which is one of my greatest assets. They can be themselves and attract the perfect people for them, but my people end up finding me because they know and love us, and the feeling is MUTUAL 🙂
If you read these reasons and they do NOT resonate with you, please do the opposite, haha! Just go with what works for you! But if you aren’t worried about others seeing your pricing, you want to give potential clients info up front and you want less emails… this may be for you. There’s no right or wrong way. But I’ve been doing this for 13 years and I TRULY wish I had done it sooner… it would have saved me a lot of trouble when it came to excessive time in my email inbox!
Sending love from Hatteras Island! XOXO