Message Body:
PRICES
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MY REPLY
Thanks for the email! First thing I need to know is the date.
Sigh... wtf do you even say to this?? I mean I have the starting price right on my rates/contact page and you have to scroll past it to get to the email form...
Had this happen last week as well.
Part of me wants to blow this off and the other part wants to see if FM as a collective can turn this phish into a client...
Did you check her email on FB? Recently I got similarly simple request from a girl, who's boyfriend turned out to be also wedding photog I just love playing those mind games :-)
Clients may hire you, but you also hire your clients to a degree. If someone can't respect your work/time enough to make a complete sentence, it's not worth responding to. I don't want to work for people who don't respect those things.
more than likely, she was googlin every tog in the area and didnt even look at the site and only looking for the email form only... and got tired and lazy of typing lol.. wedding.... prices...
Yeah BUT. You say you could really use the income. Principles are nice. Maintaining your pride is nice. But that doesn't pay the rent or put food on the table. If push comes to shove, sometimes you gotta bend over a bit and do what you gotta do. Yeah, I know it sucks.
Actually as crazy as it may sound, you might win her as a client with such approach. As long as she follows scrnario of "too tired to type same email to 30 other photogs".
I had a bride email me last year and said "prices please"
I replied " date and location please"
She replied with the date and locations but 1 word answers
I replied lets meet to discuss your options
She replied again with 1 word answer saying. ok
I replied back with my address, date and time
She said ok
well that date came and so did she. she said thank you so much for emailed me so quickly. she was at work and could not get caught emailing or texting from her phone but she needed to get some wedding planning done. so she had to be quick about it. hahahaha
Guess who is shooting her wedding in a few weeks? yep, this guy.
paparazzinick wrote:
I had a bride email me last year and said "prices please"
I replied " date and location please"
She replied with the date and locations but 1 word answers
I replied lets meet to discuss your options
She replied again with 1 word answer saying. ok
I replied back with my address, date and time
She said ok
well that date came and so did she. she said thank you so much for emailed me so quickly. she was at work and could not get caught emailing or texting from her phone but she needed to get some wedding planning done. so she had to be quick about it. hahahaha
Guess who is shooting her wedding in a few weeks? yep, this guy. ...Show more →
Good to remember. It's tempting to jump to the sinister reasons, but often there's a pretty reasonable one.
Message Body:
PRICES
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MY REPLY
Thanks for the email! First thing I need to know is the date.
Sigh... wtf do you even say to this?? I mean I have the starting price right on my rates/contact page and you have to scroll past it to get to the email form...
Had this happen last week as well.
Part of me wants to blow this off and the other part wants to see if FM as a collective can turn this phish into a client...
As a Business Development Manager with several years sales experience and more importantly sales training I would like to offer my view on this one and share what our business uses as it's core sales technique (a technique that rarely fails if done well).
So our sales training and technique is based around what we call 'need creation'. In summary it is about identifying a potential customers need and then developing on that need until you reach a point where you can then offer a solution to the customers need. A need usually stems from a problem or a desire for some form of product or solution that in itself links to a problem.
So, in the case of all you wedding photogs, your potential customers problem is that they have a wedding but don't have someone to photograph it. Once customers identify that they have a problem they will usually put out a request to someone (usually more than one person) that can resolve their problem. Sometimes this is done in a very vague fashion and often the customer doesn't even know just what they need to resolve their problem at this stage. All they know is that they need a photographer.
So, in this instance the customer has shown that they have a problem by asking for prices. They have dangled a worm on a hook, and if you now take the correct steps to develop their need you can make a sale here. The purpose of need creation is to get the customer to understand their problem or 'need' so that when you offer a solution they can clearly relate your service as being a solution to their problem. This is the hard part as 9 times out of 10 customers rarely understand their problem or need and therefore don't know what they need to resolve it.
So this is where you come in. As an experienced wedding photographer you can help them to understand their need by talking to them about what they can expect on the day, from a photography point of view, and then how you have the necessary skills and experience to meet the demands of a wedding.
This is the difference between a good sales person and a bad one. Bad ones will try to sell to you by merely telling you about their product or service. They completely miss the point that in order to make a sale you have to be able to show how your product or service meets with the customers need. If you just rattle off about how good a photographer you are and how expensive your gear is this will mean nothing to the customer, but if you can encourage someone to tell you exactly what they want, and can then show them how you can meet with their requirements you will usually get an order. The saying goes that the best sales person is one who listens twice as much as they talk, hence why we have 2 ears and one mouth.
So in this instance, you could reply and say, 'I am available on that date and my price is $2000' (or whatever you charge). They will take your quote and then go and get loads more and the chances of you getting the contract are slim.
However, if you go back with an open question to get them to elaborate and start a discussion you will have more chance.
So I would suggest going back with something like:
'Thank you for your recent inquiry. You will be pleased to know that I am currently available for that date.
However, firstly I need to know a little more about your wedding and your requirements so that I have a clearer understanding of what you are looking for.
Please can you tell me more about the wedding, such as where the venue is, how many guests there will be, and what type of photography coverage you are looking for.
Kindest regards'
The phrase 'can you tell me more' or 'tell me about...' is one of the most powerful in a sales persons arsenal as it is an open question and gets the customer talking. In your initial reply all you said was, 'firstly I need to know the date', which is a very closed response or closed question. This prompted the rather unhelpful response you got which is '31st August'.
Another example of a closed question for example would be, 'do you need a wedding photographer?'. The customer is very likely to just say 'yes' or 'no' which is very unhelpful. But if you said 'tell me about what you're looking for in a wedding photographer', you have already assumed that they need one and they will then start to tell you what they want from you.
Try the response above, and my guess is you will at least start a conversation with this person that may lead to a sale. If they come back with venue details and info about the wedding you have opened the door for further conversation and can then start to match your service to their 'need'.
When the need creation technique is executed properly it is probably the best sales strategy there is and can often lead to a sale from even the most basic or vague inquiry, such as 'prices?'
I just love playing those mind games :-)