p.1 #1 · Livestreaming tonight (9/4) with Stacy Reeves
Hey everyone - quite a few people tuned in last week and tonight should be a great show that I think you'll get something out of. I'll be doing a live stream interview with Stacy Reeves tonight on my Youtube Channel. If you watch live you can interact and leave questions and comments that we'll respond to. The broadcast will start at 9PM EST.
Make sure you watch tonight, but if you miss it the show will be automagically posted to the channel later tonight. Please feel free to Tweet, Share, Ruthlessly whore the show as many places as possible if you like it.
Tonight's discussion topics:
- Pleasing clients and dealing with upset clients
- Whether our portfolio communicates what we will do for clients
- Relying on artistic license?
- Getting the confidence to raise prices
- How your business changes as you increase prices
- Is the advice you get on photography forums any good?
- The importance of visual identity
- Whether or not you need to live a lifestyle like your clients.
Please feel free to drop questions or topic suggestions here. Check us out next week, Sergio Mottola and Chuck Anerino will be the guests.
p.1 #10 · Livestreaming tonight (9/4) with Stacy Reeves
I remember a couple of years ago she had issue with other photographers so she went onto their facebook business pages and had a meltdown with multiple post. It was an incredible display of vulgar behavior from her.
p.1 #11 · Livestreaming tonight (9/4) with Stacy Reeves
Hey Marcus - I don't know anything about a Facebook meltdown, but you might give it another chance and check out the show - I'm pretty proud of this one and I think we covered some beneficial ground even if the source isn't your favorite.
D. Diggler wrote:
Good show!
One thing I didn't get is why it would be a good thing to be treated like "the help" by high-end clients.
What i like about being a service provider is that the relationship is very strongly delineated. They know exactly what to expect from you and you are treated very well - personal or friendship-type complications never get in the way. I find that I am treated better now than ever before and clients never overstep the relationship or expect more than agreed upon. Also, being viewed as the help or a service provider I am paid better - at least in my experience. When you focus on the service aspect of the business I find that you end up more closely aligned with what the client wants in hiring you and everyone walks away much happier. I think that photographers often want to make friends and do things to be nice in hopes that clients will act the way that they want, which isn't a very direct way to get what you want or to manage expectations.
p.1 #12 · Livestreaming tonight (9/4) with Stacy Reeves
Todd...
The talk was great, lots of good stuff going on. I agreed and disagreed with all sorts of stuff but just like anything else it is valuable to hear both sides even if you do not necessarily have the same viewpoints.
Looking forward to the one next week.
p.1 #13 · Livestreaming tonight (9/4) with Stacy Reeves
You don't hear too much about this on this board but I found interesting the discussion of "sweet spots" and "dead zones" in pricing.
It's just kind of hard for me to wrap my head around why a client who is starting out looking at the sweet spot of, say, $3000, wouldn't jump at the $2000 photographer considering the money savings to be had. Two thousand ends up being in the dead zone.
p.1 #14 · Livestreaming tonight (9/4) with Stacy Reeves
Marcus Watts wrote:
I remember a couple of years ago she had issue with other photographers so she went onto their facebook business pages and had a meltdown with multiple post. It was an incredible display of vulgar behavior from her.
Love you, love your work.
I can't say i have time for Stacy Reeves.
All I know about her is that she compiled elemntary stuff from other photographers about pricing, admitted she didn't know much about it but was compiling that ebook as a resource, newbies started mentioning the ebook and she became popular.
D. Diggler wrote:
One thing I didn't get is why it would be a good thing to be treated like "the help" by high-end clients.
What i like about being a service provider is that the relationship is very strongly delineated. They know exactly what to expect from you and you are treated very well - personal or friendship-type complications never get in the way. I find that I am treated better now than ever before and clients never overstep the relationship or expect more than agreed upon. Also, being viewed as the help or a service provider I am paid better - at least in my experience. ...Show more →
What it sounds like you're describing there isn't about being viewed as the help or a provider, but more about being seen as the expert by people who pay for an expert and who then act in accordance with having brought in an expert.
p.1 #15 · Livestreaming tonight (9/4) with Stacy Reeves
D. Diggler wrote:
You don't hear too much about this on this board but I found interesting the discussion of "sweet spots" and "dead zones" in pricing.
It's just kind of hard for me to wrap my head around why a client who is starting out looking at the sweet spot of, say, $3000, wouldn't jump at the $2000 photographer considering the money savings to be had. Two thousand ends up being in the dead zone.
I think that the 'dead zone" relates more to the idea that at a certain price point your price doesn't do anything to differentiate you from the competition. In most markets there are a ton of people charging $2500-3500 for basically the exact same line items and when all that stuff is exactly the same almost anything you can do to stand out is a benefit. I didn't get the chance to mention this in the live stream but I think the $10K+ level is pretty much a dead zone too. Hardly any of the people who claim to be at that level actually shoot anything - maybe 5 or less per year and then they have associates and workshops to actually make the money at a much lower price point.
Then again some people use the term "dead zone" to refer to the spots between markets where clients aren't looking. Some people get stuck around $2K between the Craigslisters and middle end of the market and can't book unless they go up or down. Likewise for most markets there can be an upper middle (say $4-6K) where you aren't exactly right for the middle but not built to appeal to a higher-spending client and that can also be a dead zone if you haven't effectively branded yourself.
With respect to sweet spots most studios hit a stride where they find that is is just easy to book and going upward makes it much harder. Prior to the recession we found a sweet spot upselling off of a $4200-4900 base. It worked great and we booked a ton. Now, it is much harder but given the goals that we have worth it to be higher but have to work harder for each booking. I met with a wedding coordinator last week that told me that the sweet spot for bookings was $8500 - anything more would be difficult to market and anything less wouldn't get on the list.
p.1 #16 · Livestreaming tonight (9/4) with Stacy Reeves
TheGE wrote:
What it sounds like you're describing there isn't about being viewed as the help or a provider, but more about being seen as the expert by people who pay for an expert and who then act in accordance with having brought in an expert.
There was talk, too, that when working for the low-end bride, you are also viewed more as "the help" - with the difference that the low-end bride will micro-manage you and is generally "demanding".
The impression I got from the discussion with Stacy is that the low-end bride is the LEAST pleasant of all to work for. Not only is the low-end bride paying you a pittance that SHE, herself, wouldn't even work for, she is (on top of that) going to be unpleasant to deal with.
p.1 #17 · Livestreaming tonight (9/4) with Stacy Reeves
TRReichman wrote:
Then again some people use the term "dead zone" to refer to the spots between markets where clients aren't looking. Some people get stuck around $2K between the Craigslisters and middle end of the market and can't book unless they go up or down.
This is the "dead zone" I was referring to. I think Stacey said it along the lines ... at 2000 you have to work to convince the Craigslist bride that you're worth stepping up in price and you ALSO have to work to overcome the concerns of the the bride who was planning on spending the sweet-spot 3000 that you lack experience or have some other "fault".
p.1 #18 · Livestreaming tonight (9/4) with Stacy Reeves
TRReichman wrote:
I met with a wedding coordinator last week that told me that the sweet spot for bookings was $8500 - anything more would be difficult to market and anything less wouldn't get on the list.
p.1 #19 · Livestreaming tonight (9/4) with Stacy Reeves
D. Diggler wrote:
Why wouldn't anything less get on the list?
Relative overall budget of the wedding. If you are having a certain type of wedding they probably aren't going to go for a lower-budget option when mid-to-high level options are available. Probably not going to put cheap tires on that new luxury car, or something like that.
p.1 #20 · Livestreaming tonight (9/4) with Stacy Reeves
Yes.. Exactly what I was looking for in discussion... the dead zone.... Anyway to look for it in your market other than asking planners? since looking for prices for photographers you won't know if they book allot of clients to see if they are in the sweet spot or not...
Is it really important to be on the sweetspot? Or can your branding and sales help you where ever you are?
