Think about this for a second - Where does your pricing fall when compared to other portrait photographers? When was the last time you increased your pricing? Ok, now answer me this, why?
Human nature leads us to associate price with value and quality. By building your brand and business and presenting yourself as elite, your potential clients will save their pennies to work with you. Why? Because you have presented yourself in a way that says "I am the best at what I do". They will treat you with respect.
In turn, you will give them an unrivaled experience, providing feedback on their styling and home decor (when they choose their artwork).
Tune into today's episode and let me know your thoughts on pricing yourself "outside of the bubble".
Connect with Karinda!
Thanks for listening!
Think about this for a second - Where does your pricing fall when compared to other portrait photographers? When was the last time you increased your pricing? Ok, now answer me this, why?
Human nature leads us to associate price with value and quality. By building your brand and business and presenting yourself as elite, your potential clients will save their pennies to work with you. Why? Because you have presented yourself in a way that says "I am the best at what I do". They will treat you with respect.
In turn, you will give them an unrivaled experience, providing feedback on their styling and home decor (when they choose their artwork).
Tune into today's episode and let me know your thoughts on pricing yourself "outside of the bubble".
Connect with Karinda!
Thanks for listening!
Welcome to mindset and Money Mastery for photographers the podcast. We help overwhelmed photographers make more money while simplifying their business by mastering there, you guessed it, mindset and money. tune in each week for practical and actionable tips to take your photography business up a notch. Let's dive right in.
Karinda Kinsler:Today we're going to talk about why it is not a bad thing to be the most expensive. Oftentimes, you'll talk to photographers, and they'll say I'm priced just about like everyone else's. And you know, I still can't get clients, how can I possibly raise my prices? And I am going to blow your mind today and share with you exactly why being the most expensive is not a bad thing. And actually, you should consider being more expensive than everyone else. So let's consider a few things. And the reasoning behind this and kind of my story in my journey of when I really discovered the value in this whole idea. When I was a wedding photographer, I remember feeling like I wasn't booking any clients. And I was just like, oh, this is so annoying, where all my clients, I'm not booking anything. And I kept saying I'm price just like everyone else. What's the problem? And then I have this allies photographer friend named Megan, who said to me, Well, maybe it's because you need to be more expensive. And I was like, What are you talking about? Megan, like, being more expensive is not the answer to my problem. She was like, Yes, it is. Say no, it's not. And she said yes. Because you see you're in the bubble. And I was like, what is the bubble? And she was like, the bubble, you're in the bubble with everybody else you're appraising is the same. So what is there to make you stand out and make you be different? It's like, okay, tell me more. And you see, the thing is, is that whenever your price just like everyone else, our clients don't know the value in your work. They don't know how much better it is than anyone else's. They don't know how technically correct it is. They don't know any of those things. But what they do know is the price of your work. And when you're in the bubble and your price just like everyone else, you don't stand out, when you are the most expensive one. All of a sudden people take notice. People say, Wow, she's so expensive, she must be so good. Man, I will literally save my pennies to work with her. Also, when you're the least expensive, people will notice you as well. But not in a good way. They'll notice you because they'll go hmm, she's really cheap, there must be a catch, something must be wrong. This must be damaged goods or something. So people don't notice things that are priced like everything else. But they noticed the most expensive and the least expensive, which is why I'm here telling you today that it is not a bad thing to be the most expensive. As a matter of fact, being more expensive is a good thing for your business. And it might just be the magical secret that causes you to book more clients. When I took that advice to heart and I raised my wedding prices, I noticed I started booking weddings again. But I also noticed something else. My Brides entire way that they treated me the way they perceived me. The way they communicated with me through the booking process was different. My Brides went to a place of oh my gosh, I have to figure out how to work with Kirinda oh my goodness, I will save my pennies to work with Kirinda I will cut back my budget on other things to work with Kirinda Kirinda must be so good. She must be so amazing. Wow, I just I want to work with you. Even though you're more expensive than everyone else, I have to have you. And it was kind of a weird feeling. And it was something I did not expect when I raised my prices. So I'm gonna encourage you raise your prices, see what happens you might just be surprised about the results. Let's talk a little bit about some different scenarios and kind of help you understand this theory and this idea behind why it's not about identity, the most expensive in everyday life. And then I want you to start paying attention to how this applies in your life. And if you notice yourself doing these things. Have you ever been shopping for a purse? This is probably one of my favorite stories and favorite ways to share this with you. You're shopping for a purse and let's say you're going through Walmart and you see some persons hanging up. But they're really cheap. And you see the price hanging like that purse is so cheap and must be total crap. That $15 per single last me it's like To be any good, it's not going to protect my stuff, it's not going to look good. It's not going to be stylish because it's cheap, it's probably gonna fall apart. Then you go to the mall, and you walk around the mall and you walk into a different stores, there's purses that are $80, all the way up to $150. And you walk around and you're like, I don't know, they all kind of look the same. I don't know what I like, I don't know what I really want. They'll just kind of blend in. Who knows the difference between all these at $100. Versus then you walk out of the mall, there's this really nice luxury shopping area, like I'm gonna go walk through there you go walk through this nice luxury shopping area that's by the mall. And you see the Louis Vuitton store. And through the window, there is this one beautiful purse sitting on the shelf. It has a light shining on it. You look inside the store, and there's a salesperson standing at the door waiting to greet you. There's a lady walking around in there drinking out of a glass of champagne, laughing and having the time of her life trying on all the purses, and they're going to the back and bringing her custom things out and you're like, oh my gosh, I want one of those. I want that purse that's on the wall with the light shining on it. I want that Louie Vuitton bag. I might not be able to afford it right now. But I think I'm going to save my money and come back and buy that. I think I'm gonna tell everybody for Christmas, I just want some money because I want to buy myself that Neverfull I'm going to tell my significant other that I just want an ever full and don't buy me anything, just give me money or buy me gift cards because I'm gonna go buy that, because it's that good. And I have to have it. I can't take the vision of this beautiful purse sitting on the shelf with the light shining on it out of my mind. It just won't disappear. It's there burned in my brain forever. And you might spend the next six months, maybe the next year of your life saving to buy that bag. And when you finally do, it's like sweet bliss. It's like it smells different. It feels different when you touch it. Even everything you put inside of it, it's just better because it's inside of that purse. You wanted that bag. Now was that bag really any different than the purses and all the department store as you walked past? Probably not. But the experience was different. The value and the perceived value is different because it was a shiny object on the shelf. There was only one of them it was limited. The experience was there. You got to walk in that fancy store and take that glass of champagne. Finally, when you were ready to buy that bag, you got to go in and say I would like that purse right there. As you walked out of the store carrying that bag with your new person sign. Oh man, you could feel the envious looks of the people as he walked through the mall and you made an extra lap just because you're like I'm going to carry this bag around because it feels so good to carry this bag that has this person side that I'm gonna go home and start using and you're probably going to carry that purse for a long time. years. It's gonna sit on your closet shelf and you're not using it in a pretty bad, you're going to take care of it. You're going to love that purse, pull it out on special occasions. It will always be a part of you forever till you die that person will be in your closet. That is what you should strive for in your portrait business. You should strive to be the Louis Vuitton purse that people save their pennies for. And I don't know if you've ever noticed this, but pay attention when you're out. When you see a Louis Vuitton bag on someone's shoulder, you see them on all types of people's shoulders. You will see them on people's shoulders who save their pennies for years to buy one, you will see them on people's shoulders who put that back on a credit card because they could not afford it. You also see the back and shoulders of very wealthy people in each and every person that wears that purse is equally as proud and as excited that they own that purse. Each and every one of your clients, the ones that save their pennies, the ones that put it on a credit card, the ones that are wealthy and can afford it and don't even think twice before they buy that five or$6,000 piece of art. They all value that art that's on their wall. They all value the experience you provide them. It's different. It's different than the shoot and burn photographer. It's different than everyone else out there. Because you have made yourself the Louis Vuitton store, you have made yourself a luxury. And you've done this by your branding, your marketing, the experience you provide with your clients, and your pricing. And your pricing is justified because you've done all other things to justify it. You've done all of the things to save, this is better than the purse you can buy at WalMart or any other department store. And that is what you should strive to be in your business. And let's take this another step further. If you're listening to this example, and you're thinking, I could never buy a purse that cost that much money. Current is crazy, I don't get it, I don't get it at all. I'm gonna put this in a different way. And I'm gonna put this in the horse terms for those of you that own horses, because I know there's a lot of Equine photographers that listen to this podcast. So we'll put it out there this way. Have you ever been shopping for a pair of boots for your horse, you're buying a pair of boots to put on your horse's legs, and you're looking online at all these boots to put on your horse, and you're like, that one's really cheap. So it must be crappy. All of these are the same. But that pair is very expensive. They're like $500 for just a pair of boots that we're going to put on a horse ride. But they must be really good. They must be going to protect my horses legs, so much better than everything else out there on the market. So you know what, I'm going to save up my money, and I'm going to buy those, because they must be better. You don't know the difference. But you know, they're more expensive. And as people, as unfortunate as it is, and fortunate for us as business owners, people associate price with value, they associate price with quality. They don't know if your portraits are technically correct, but they know they are expensive. So they must be good. They don't know really that your experience is different unless you tell them but because that price is higher, they assume the experience must be different. So decide where you want to be who you want to be in your business. Do you want to be like everyone else? Do you want to live your life inside that bubble of pricing and experience and all of those things? Where are you going to decide to stand out to be the luxury to be the best to be the most expensive to provide the experience for your clients that justifies that price tag? Or are you going to keep playing in the field with everyone else are you going to keep blending in in a sea of fish? It's up to you, you get to make that decision. But I'm going to tell you, it's much easier to have to sell 10 purses, the cost 10 times more than anywhere else than to sell 100 purses to make the same amount of money. It's that much easier to convey that you are good at what you do and that there's value and that you are worth it when your prices reflect that. And furthermore, is going to change the way your clients treat you. You're going to find that your clients respect to you, and love you and value your time and your talent and your energy that you put into your portraits. They're going to trust you as the expert to do what you need to do to provide them with beautiful art. They're going to see you as an artist, and not just a photographer, they're going to see you as an artist, but also a stylist, an interior designer, all of the things because you are the expert of everything that has to do with getting their portraits on the wall, you hold their hand, you guide them, you support them, you encourage them, you make their life easy, and they pay you well for it. And they're excited. They're thrilled to pay you well for that. Your portraits and you as a photographer do not have to be something that is affordable. And something that people can do multiple times a year doesn't have to be clients don't need that. Clients don't really need for many sessions a year, all the different seasons of their kids know, they need one stunning portrait that they're going to cherish for a long time. They might only come to you once every three or four years for the important things. They may come to you because their child's graduating or going to college, or there's some special milestone, you don't need them to come to you every single year, they might come to you because they have a new dog or their dogs getting old, or they have a new family member. Or there's something important in their life we're celebrating. They don't need to come to you constantly. And you can be okay with that. I can be okay with that. I had a client straight up telling me hey, we're going to spend a lot of money with Kirinda. She told her husband this I've told this story on the podcast, hey, we're going to spend a lot of money on this art. This is different than what we do with our other photographers that we go to. This is Art Kirinda makes art for us. This is art that we're going to buy and put up on the wall. We don't need to do this every year. But every once in a while we can come to Kirinda and update that piece of art and get a new piece of art and I'm cool with that. I'm good with that. I don't need to be their photographer. Every single year all the time, give me new people give me people and their exciting life changing events, the important times, because that's when they call me. They go to other people, for them between stuff. This is the difference here, decide what you want to be, decide that you're okay with standing out, decide that you're okay with being the most expensive. And for those of you that are listening to this, and thinking, You know what, like, I don't want to lose my clients that already have, or I don't want to not be able to serve my friends or my family or whatever it may be, what I'm going to tell you is that there's a chance that you might still be able to serve those clients, and those family members. And those people that are already in your system and be more expensive, there's a chance to those people might be willing to spend more money with you. But you've never given them the opportunity to to spend more money with you. So they haven't, there's a chance that those people are ready and willing to hand over 1000s of dollars, when you've only asked them to hand you over a few 100, there's a chance that those people are ready and willing to buy a five or $6,000 piece of art for their home. But you've never given them that opportunity, there's a chance to those people are willing to buy a book, and pay for every image that goes in that book. But you've never asked them if they want to. So there's a chance that people do want more people do want more help. They do want help with their outfits. They do want help with their styling, they do want help figuring out which portraits are their favorite, they do want to help designing wall art for their home. They do want to help printing their portraits. They do want all of these things, and they are ready and willing to pay you more money for it. But you've never given them the opportunity. So ask yourself today, why am I afraid? Why am I afraid of being more expensive? Why am I afraid of charging my worth? Why am I afraid of giving my clients the opportunity to spend more money with me? And then ask yourself, what do I have to lose? Really what I have to lose, you make more money, that's what you have to lose, but you're not going to not make more money, you're going to make more money. If you raise your prices, right, you might lose some clients that you know you don't serve anymore that you don't love working with. You're gonna find a whole lot of clients that are ready to spend more money with you and you're going to love working with even more than the crappy clients that you're dealing with when you're charging hundreds of dollars for your portraits and I can guarantee you that I really want to hear how this episode made you feel how this whole idea of being more expensive makes you feel. Send me a DM on Instagram at mastermind money and tell me what you're thinking about now that you have this idea planted in your head about being the most expensive. Does it excite you does it terrify you? Does it make you want to go raise your prices right now? Or does it make you want to crawl in a hole because the thought of raising your prices freaks you out? Send me a DM and let me know because I want to hear about it. I want to hear all of your thoughts about how you're feeling about raising your prices and being the most expensive.
Unknown:Thank you so much for listening. If you enjoyed this episode and you'd like to support the podcast please make sure you share it on social media or leave a rating and review. As always, you can check out the links and resources in the show notes over at master your mind money.com To catch all the latest for me you can follow me on Instagram at master your mind money. And don't forget to join our free Facebook group photography business tune up with Kirinda Kay, thanks again and I'll see you next time