Despite many of our clients initially thinking that we just turn up and press a button*, any photographer knows that the demands on our time are huge, many and varied.

 

As photographers we are selling our time, not paper or digital files. Clients are buying our expertise and creativity, not a piece of paper. The more efficiently we manage our time, the more money we can make.

 

1.       Don’t be afraid to turn clients away

 

This seems crazy in the current economic climate, but bear with me. If you can tell by speaking with your prospect that they don’t particularly value what you do and they’re only interested in the price then don’t be scared to let them go. Of course most clients will focus on the price initially so be careful here – don’t be too quick to give up. But, if you spend time talking with them on the phone and the following warning signs continually crop up then it may be wise to let them go:

 

• They’re not willing to meet you in person for a no-obligation chat. This is the only way to effectively build rapport, FEEL your passion and get the client to SEE the quality of what you work
• They’re belligerent and just don’t seem like someone who will be pleasant to work with. These people are likely to result in a poor sale, be no pleasure to photograph and are more likely to suck up a lot of time
• They’re constantly trying to pressure you on price, even after they’ve met you and seen what can be done with nicely sized wall portraits or beautiful albums.

 

I realise it’s hard to turn down the money, but the time you’ve saved by not photographing that client can be better served improving your sales and marketing. How many hours would a ‘bad’ client take up if they booked you for a wedding or a family portrait? Anything between 5 and 25 hours? In that time you could have arranged for several more exhibits or referral programmes which will form the foundations of a successful business.

 

Your ambition should be to be a high end photographer who charges a decent amount. Therefore, not everyone will be your client, nor should they be.

 

2.       Things to prioritise

 

Start the day with a plan. Prioritise the things that will make you money now, or have the potential to make you the most money in the future. If you find yourself doing things that don’t tick either of these boxes then put them off until you have a quiet period.

 

So, every morning you want to plan out what client work you’re going to do that day and what you can do to get THE MOST clients in the future. Exhibits and partnerships are the two best ways to get those new clients. They’re also two of the easiest things to put off as they take a bit of effort. But if you take the time to prioritise and execute these initiatives a wonderful thing happens. You’re getting so many enquiries that it becomes much easier to pick and choose your clients.

 

3.       Things to put off

 

There are several things that distract us from what we should be doing. They’re the mermaid on the rocks, or the chocolate cake on the dessert trolley! They’re fun and they may even make us feel like we’re being productive, but they’re not the MOST productive thing we could be doing. These are just some of the culprits:

 

• Photography chat rooms. You’ll pick up all the doom and gloom and some terrible advice so they’re best avoided from a business perspective.
• Social media. Sending hundreds of tweets or posting random things on your Facebook account won’t bring in many more clients unless you have organised a specific plan. For example you could tweet or post about a new report you’ve produced on how to plan the perfect wedding. This would lead people to your website and give you their contact details in return for the report. You could then follow up using the contact details they’ve left. That’s a plan; but most people use social media in a random way and waste hours and hours without getting any new clients.
• Practising Photoshop techniques is all well and good, but beware – Photoshop is a time sucking black hole. Yes it may be worth setting aside an hour or two a week if you’re not happy with your Photoshop skills, but you must be strict with yourself.
• Don’t obsess over the latest gadget. Your equipment is unlikely to be what’s holding you back; it’s your sales and marketing skills.

 

4.       Improve your wedding photography workflow

 

Obviously you want to ensure your wedding photos look as good as possible straight out of the camera, but there is inevitably a lot of post processing, saving, editing and organising to do. This video explains how I do it to save time:

 

 

5.       Don’t take too many photos in the first place

 

I used to show my family portrait clients between 50 and 100 photos. It took me around 3 hours to do all the post production work. I thought that people would think they were getting better value for money if I took more photos. All it ended up achieving was giving the client information overload. There were so many photos they couldn’t choose which ones they wanted to display as wall portraits in their home. I recommend keeping down to around 15-30 photos.

 

This is one reason why many clients end up asking for a CD because it saves them making the decision. If you do find you’ve created too many photos then creating a family album is a better solution than giving them a CD. The album will have a far higher perceived value than the CD and ensures you’re staying in control of your work. You see the trouble with CDs is that the client could end up printing them at Boots (or Wallmart if you’re in the US) and the quality will be terrible and your art will be judged accordingly.

 

Never forget that your time is so precious. Create systems to ensure your time is used as efficiently as possible and is focused on the things that make you the most money, now or in the future.

 

*Every step of your photography system should be educating your client to the value of photography. This includes important steps like:

 

• Taking time to meet them ahead of the session
• Only showing them photos of a decent size
• Taking time to ask lots of questions to understand exactly what they’re after. This subconsciously tells them how much thought goes into a photography session
• Projecting your photos into a 50 x 40 inch frame when you present the photos

 

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