Nathan Padgett Offline Upload & Sell: Off
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glort wrote:
Interesting.
I don't ever remember being asked!
I tell people what it is which is I don't have a specific style. I try to tailor the pictures to what the clients want and use a whole mix from very traditional to more modern. The many years of experience I have allows me to create pretty much any look they are wanting and a range thereof.
It IS important to be able to articulate and answer the question though but it seems this is not what it seems on face value.
I wonder why you are being asked?
I can understand if it's when you are in a social or other situation where they find out what you do and can't see your pics but if it's when they are looking at pics and sitting in front of you during an interview or in an email from your site, I'd have to wonder what is on their mind to cause them to ask a seemingly obvious and apparent question?
The thing that makes sales easy is people are sheeple and tend to all ask the same questions. Just as in this case, you can then think them through beforehand and instead of dreading the question, you are hoping they ask because you know you can notch up more brownie points with your killer answer.
In this case however I'd be trying to get more to the root of why they are asking in the first place.
That could be for the short term your very Answer is: " Why do you ask?"
After you get a few replys and work out why they want to know, you are going to be in a lot better place to PRE EMPT the question all together and answer it before they ask which is brownie points with a heap of credits thrown in.
I'm thinking that perhaps the question isn't what it seems.
People ring and always ask me " How much do you charge" even when they may already know. The reason they ask has far less to do with price than the fact they can't think of any other way to start the conversation. What else are they going to say? They generally won't start with "are you free on XX date?" because it's a commitment question if you say yes.
Perhaps they are not asking what your style is, they somehow just don't know what else to ask?
Maybe it's something some bridal BS rag has put in an article telling them they have to ask this in order to find a good shooter. They have so many pages of editorial they have to fill in order to pad the ads out a bit they will often print or publish any old crap at all to fill the white space and keep their editor happy.
Rather than rush to find the golden nugget answer ( unless others are getting the same thing and can tell you why) I'd be tending to try and fully understand the question first.
I suspect it is not what it seems and if that is the case, trying to answer it on face value may even be shooting yourself in the foot.
I'd be using the old sales technique of " Put the shoe on the other foot" and turning it back to them"
" Whats your style?"
What style are you looking for? OR....... Why do you ask? ( is there something confusing you in what you are seeing?)
Make sure you are understanding the REAL question before you try to answer it, preferably BEFORE they ask. ...Show more →
Great great stuff Glort. You really nailed it on several points. Gives me a lot to think about.
I often try to give an answer similar to yours, such as my style is variable and often depends on the couple or the "feel" of their wedding. I just don't know if that's what a lot of couple want to hear. It's not as sexy to some brides as saying your a "artistic, natural light photographer, with an emphasis on emotion". I almost bet if just started saying stuff like that, I'd book a few extra weddings. Lol.
Love your thoughts on the "golden nugget answer" which I was struggling with. I love the idea of asking them, "what style are you looking for" or "why do you ask?" I've always found, if I let the couples do most of the talking, they will talk themselves into booking.
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