DOUBLE & TRIPLE your mini session average

Summary

In this conversation, Christa discusses the effectiveness of mini sessions in photography, emphasizing strategies to maximize revenue, set client expectations, and enhance the overall client experience. She shares actionable tips on upselling, marketing, and building lasting relationships with clients, ultimately aiming to help photographers increase their average earnings while maintaining a streamlined process.

Takeaways

• Mini sessions can be profitable even for full-service photographers.
• Setting clear boundaries with clients is essential for mini sessions.
• Offering unique products can differentiate your mini sessions from competitors.
• Efficient shooting can lead to quicker sessions and happier clients.
• Upgrading options should be clearly presented to clients during sessions.
• Marketing efforts need to be consistent and persistent to fill mini sessions.
• Building relationships with past clients can lead to repeat business.
• Using samples can help clients visualize products and increase sales.
• Personalized communication can enhance client engagement and conversion rates.
• Creating urgency in offers can drive quicker decision-making from clients.

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Transcript

Christa (00:01.0)
Let's talk all about mini sessions, doubling your average. Can you do mini sessions when you are full service? Is it worth it? We're going to be diving into all of that and so much more. And I'm so excited that you guys are here. I have been chatting with lots of my students who are crushing it with their mini sessions. I've chatted with students who figure out it's not for them. So let's break in. I don't want to hold back here. Now, because I want to jump right in, I know you guys want the actionable steps you need. I am going to end this

Sharing what to do, how to upsell. If you already have mini sessions booked and you already shot them, you already have them booked and haven't shot them, or you haven't booked them at all, I can help you with the pricing to that. So we're going to cover all of that and more. Okay. So here's the first step in order to double, to triple your mini session average, which I have helped students do. I've helped students. One student had three mini sessions and hit almost $3,000.

Another student recently upped her average 300. Another student easily added 100 after. And I want you to add up what that would mean if you could double, triple that, take way less mini sessions, or keep the volume you're doing and just walk away with so much more. I remember the days I would do like 10 or 11 mini sessions, way under charge, and it felt really great in the moment until you realize all of the work that goes into it. And then also I realized, man, I was leaving a ton of money on the table. So the first thing to do is what I call

not including the farm with your mini sessions. I say this with full sessions too, but this episode is about mini sessions. I have to stay on track. Now not including the farm means you don't want to include everything and anything for the client for the mini sessions because you're not going to have any upsells. And then what do you do if the client wants all these extra things that you weren't really planning for? And it gets awkward and you might say have boundaries Krista, but

when you're standing there and the client's looking at you saying, I want this and I want this shot and go over here now and you're creeping up on time, the other client's waiting, it gets kind of awkward, right? But anyone else been there? So we don't want to include the farm. One thing I forgot to mention is mini sessions are only on certain days in certain times. I do not book mini sessions through the year except for on the specific dates. Let's backtrack. Let me share why. Okay. It's a shorter session and one of the reasons it's discounted is because my time

Christa (02:18.526)
is less, okay? Because I'm not driving there and back for each of those individual clients. I'm there. I'm shooting them back to back. That's why I can offer things more discounted than full sessions. It doesn't make sense for me to drive back and forth for a 20 minute session if they're only spending a few hundred dollars, right? Especially when my full service average is 2,000. And so many sessions are on those specific dates and clients understand that. I like, is a specific location, a specific time. I have these time spots open and here are the packages.

So we're gonna do that. We're not gonna include the farm with them anymore. And what we're gonna do is we're actually going to set your mini sessions up where the client, obviously, pays something at the beginning and you show them what's included. And it's not gonna be long gone are the days y'all that we're gonna say, and you get all the digital set I take. Again, what if they want an edit made and you delivered 40 images and now you're re-editing all of these. What if it goes really long? Why is it that some clients can walk away with 50 images and others 10? That doesn't seem very fair.

So instead, pick a few favorite things, like a select number of images, okay? I'm talking like five or less, but Krista, my competition includes 10, 15, 20. I can't compete with them. So that is a mindset block, first of all. The moment you start saying my competition's doing this, my clients won't pay this, like, you're letting that stop you from what is so possible. There's plenty of clients to go around. That photographer literally cannot serve every single client in the area. And then,

offer something in your mini session package that they aren't offering. So in all of my mini sessions, I offer some type of product included in that session fee. My competition isn't doing that. So I can stand out. Let me give you a few examples. Maybe this will kind of get the wheels turning, okay? My Christmas card minis include two mounted prints, which are really pretty, the two matching digitals, and 25 Christmas cards. How awesome is that?

I'm literally taking the Christmas cards off of their plate. And then the cool thing is most people have more than 25 people on their list. So they want me to print and do even more cards for them and they want more images. And I'm able to stand out from every other photographer in my area charging, you know, that same amount for five, 10, 15 images without any products. Okay. Now what I also have is then after we have like the base inclusions that we want to have included and again,

Christa (04:38.838)
Don't let the small amount of images stop you. They're called mini sessions. So I don't do phone calls with these before. I just have a webpage that just shares all of this and shares examples and says, here's a session fee. Here's the location. Here's what's included. And then I have specific upgrades that really make it easy to add on more images and more products. So an example could be five more digitals and 25 more cards or more cards in a really beautiful, like folded folio that they get.

or even more cards, more images, and a small wall portrait or an album. And I walk my clients through that. I am the guide going through that with them. Now, I know it's gonna come up, Krista, that is so much time. I am going to be adding on to every single mini session. Well, when you can double and triple your average, it's worth taking a little bit extra time to not have to do the marketing, to book that client, and also opens the door for a wonderful full service client in the future that just got a taste for what you can bring to the table. I one time had a mini session client come in,

They did some upgrades, which was awesome, but later they hired me to do an even like bigger shoot for them and spent around three grand. And mini sessions were a great way and a low entry point for them to come in the door and get a feel for my full process. And it wouldn't align if I had a completely entirely different process for mini sessions and full sessions or mini sessions or no products. We don't even talk about products, right? Everything is like dirt cheap versus this luxury experience I want my full service clients to have. I want it to align.

Right? I want it to make sense. I want to serve clients on repeat. So as far as the time goes, I want to go ahead and give you some tips on how you can finalize these sales with clients. So if you're saying, well, if they want to upgrade, do I have to meet with them? Like, how do I handle that? Step one, don't overshoot. A lot of the students I coach have even been in the wedding space. And I feel like we're kind of trained, like you are a good photographer if you can get the most images possible in the least amount of time.

And so think of like your camera just like through the session. We don't want to do that for mini sessions. Why? The client doesn't need all these duplicates of like minor changes with the image, but Krista, what if it's their favorite? Like you be the expert, you like take your time shooting when you have the shot move on. So I can get a full mini session shooting done in 10 minutes or less, even less than 10 minutes. I can get it in even five minutes.

Christa (06:59.285)
and nail it. And most of you know that you can do it. You just feel this pressure to fill the time with nonstop shooting. So go ahead, really track yourself. I really take my time now, because I was like that too. I even had a coach that said, Krista, you have to shoot less. You are way over shooting. It can actually even overwhelm the client. Think about for yourself. If you have a session done, let's say it's by a friend, right? I have a ton of friends that are photographers. We've done swaps before. If I get this giant gallery, I'm

downloading like my favorite five and just looking at those and not really pulling up the others because there's just too much in there. don't want those. I don't need those. like this handful. So be the guide for your client and really help them through it, okay? Now let's talk about how they can upgrade options. You can do it a few different ways. I'm gonna share what I do and then I'm gonna share other options so that you can find what works for you. When you're doing your upgrade options, I really like it to be a $200 something upgrade, a $400 something upgrade and a $600 something upgrade.

I like the bundles to be an even amount spaced apart. And I like something starting around 200 something, because it's kind of a no brainer. Like if they really want more, starting with a two, it's not that hard of an upgrade mentally. Okay? So what I do is after I shoot, I choose places where I can set up my setup, my assistant is with me, which is really helpful. So that when we're doing these like back to back to back to back, like if I'm finishing up with a client, someone comes like she can greet them and we make sure that experience stays.

And so because of that, after the session, I plug my card into my computer because I have it set up there. I do a quick call, right? You're the expert in getting up the duplicates. The ones are focused, like really making sure that it's not too overwhelming for the client. And then I actually sit down with the client and we go ahead and just pick their favorites there. I do it right within a program called photo mechanic. It is nothing fancy. Nothing is edited. I take time to intentionally shoot as correct as possible in camera and

If you do mess something up, I'll just say, you know what? I know this image looks really dark. I'm going to brighten it in post-processing. You know what? I know you mentioned you don't like this hair. Maybe that's, you know, sticking out kind of funny. I will fix that for you. Please don't let that bother you. And I make a note of that. So my client can just finalize their sale there. It's great for my clients because they come to their mini session often with their kids. We finalize it after they leave. We're good to go. I literally can order their Christmas cards next day, have their gallery delivered that day or the next, like just get them in and out. And they love that. It's so fast.

Christa (09:25.312)
and they're eager to send out their cards. Sometimes I have students and I've coached students who just prefer not to do that for a variety of reasons. So another thing you can do is just set up a quick Zoom call with the client at a later time, just like 20 minutes, pop in, have them pick out images and walk them through upgrades. And again, I know there's gonna be someone out there thinking, that's too much time. I've coached a student right now who...

Who did this? Like we kind of were talking about it I really pushed her like, let's try the zoom reveals. And she went ahead and like took the reins and did it and popped in and made a thousand dollars and was like, Krista, that was so worth popping onto zoom to make that extra thousand bucks. Like it's so worth it. Why you could share the value so much more effectively. You can be the guide. You are going to be the one walking the client through helping them. It's not going to be like.

ordering a kiosk like you do at Panera, but you're at like a fancy steakhouse. So that doesn't make sense. Like you're going to be the one helping the client through showing them like, here's what I have. What favorites do you have? Okay, great. Let's go through these. Hey, you have five added on to what was, you know, in your base bundle. I have this upgrade option. You're going to get these five. You're going to get more Christmas cards. This is just a really great option. Do you want to go ahead and upgrade to this option? And they're going to be like, yes, thank you for taking care of that Krista.

The last option would be if you want to send some type of proof gallery, sales will be lowest this way, but that's better than nothing. It's something that you can help them with. If you do that, make sure you put a deadline on it if you're having your client decide virtually. So I want to walk you through a few options. Maybe this got the wheels turning. Some ideas you could do is, again, I love the Christmas card ones. I've also done ones where it's a really pretty like folded folio. Okay, so almost like a little mini book you open and there's just two images in there. I've done,

I've done sessions with that. I've done sessions with just some nice mounted prints. I have a colleague who has done many sessions like for motherhood with a locket necklace with the images. I've had students do it with a really pretty ornament included in their Christmas minis. There's so many different things you can do to stand out from your competition and to serve your clients better. So maybe you're hearing this and you're like, I love these ideas, Krista.

Christa (11:40.972)
Problem, I've already booked my mini sessions. They already have a lot included. Obviously I don't have any products included for them because I didn't know I could do this, but I feel like I could and I would love to try it. Awesome. So what you can do, no matter what, this actually applies to everyone. Get some samples of those products you want to offer. People buy what they see. I don't want to spend money on it. Okay, I understand, but there's sometimes expenses in business that lead to sales. And I always look at that. If I'm dropping money on this, is this going to lead to making more money? And when it comes to samples, yes.

I think seeing something in person really helps people buy it. And that's why even for full sessions, if you're doing virtual reveals, it's really good to still just bring some products to the session for the clients to see and touch and feel. My clients don't pick up my album and ask me, what is the difference between this versus this really widespread like consumer grade line? I don't want to say the name publicly, but you can probably think of one. You don't ask that. The quality is there. Or what's the difference between my wall art versus like a consumer grade line?

or getting it framed at like a local non-frame shop, know, just like a kind of a grocery store with a frame department. What's the difference? You don't have to ask that. The quality is there. It's really clear and I'm able to share it. So if you've already booked the client, couple things. Have a touch point as soon as you can. So if you haven't shot the session yet, go ahead and send an email or a video of yourself. Keep it simple. If you send an email with five paragraphs on products, no one's gonna read it.

But if you send some really pretty pictures and just say, upgrade options are available, I'll have a few at the session, you're gonna get a special 20 % off deal and let everyone know about that, better yet a personal text or that you can now take care of their Christmas cards and ask permission to walk them through it. That's awesome, do that. Then bring some products to the actual session and take three minutes just to say, I wanted to bring y'all over here, can I share, you can ask their permission, can I share a little bit about products with you?

Can I share the options that we now have exclusive to my clients? I wanna take care of this for you now. I know it's a busy time of year. I can take care of your Christmas cards here. Now you can like see and touch and feel our wall art or an album if you want to do that or if you want to add on this ornament or if you want to add on Christmas cards. What I will say with Christmas cards, you can keep it so easy. Literally you can screenshot off of a site.

Christa (14:00.0)
I even like y'all like this is how, this is so ratchet. Do people say ratchet anymore? We help with our church teens and they say these words and I'm like, I don't know. Is ratchet still in or am I old for saying that? Okay. But literally y'all, how I show my Christmas cards is I go on the website from where I ordered them from. There's a couple of different companies. Miller's and White House Custom Color have some really pretty options. You can just screenshot it. And then I put it on a Canva doc, got it printed and, and

at Staples and three hole punched and stuck it in a three ring notebook my clients could flip through. Like I want them to see it. The cards don't even have to be in person. I want the designs, like them to be able to see each design. Keep it simple. There are thousands of options you could do. Keep yourself to like five to 10 that you think your clients will like and help them through that. Be the guide. Then when they order them, order a couple extra for yourself so that the next year you have some samples that you can hold and touch and keep in person, okay? So take a few minutes after the shoot to just walk them through it.

Ask what they think. Ask if you can help walk them through anything. If they're interested, have a call after where you guide them through options and show them mockups. Now you might say, okay, I've already shot them, Krista. I've already photographed the client. What now? Still run a sale on some products. Again, great option if you could text, the closer the touch point, the better. Texts often convert better than emails because they're more personal and still share about your amazing product line and what you can do and that you're running an exclusive discount like

this week only for the client or like we can get it in before the holiday so they can have it in their home and you'd love to share more and have an incentive. So like you could use a price incentive or it's on sale for a certain amount of time but there has to be some urgency. The other urgency could be like if you order by now it could come in before the holidays. you know, another urgency piece could, again, what did we talk about y'all? I'm losing track here. We talked about like the timing urgency piece, the money urgency piece.

Maybe you're placing an order that next Friday and say I want to include it in that order and placing if you want to place it. I can get it to you so fast. I can get your Christmas cards to you before Thanksgiving or the first week of December or whatever that looks like. Maybe you're here and you haven't even announced many sessions and you want to. You're a little late to the game. I hear you happens to me too. Go ahead and give this a run. Set it up and test it. Now I want it and with some tips on how to fill these mini sessions so that if you're like I love this Krista.

Christa (16:22.87)
I'm afraid I'm not even going to book them. Let me give you some tips. Show up till you're blue in the face. While you feel like you're being annoying to people, people are barely seeing one touch point. So I have an upper level group called Inner Circle. Uncapped is my signature program where I teach all of this, literally what I'm sharing here, as well as how to implement a full service process. I actually have a container above that.

for students who want an even higher touch point. They want my hands in their business even more enough that they've had the basic setup. And we were having a conversation in there. We're a very tight knit group. And a girl said, I feel like I have been annoying showing up on stories, promoting my minis and Instagram. And I said, raise your hand here if you feel like she's been annoying you. And no one raised their hand because very few of us even saw any of her posts. And it's not to discourage you. It's just to say you have to keep showing up. People have to see something an average of eight, 10, 20, 30 times.

in order to commit. Again, not to discourage you, keep showing up. I had another student who one time was booking up minis and sent out an email blast and said, Krista, no one booked. And I was like, okay, well, we sent one email blast, we gotta keep at it. And she did and ended up filling her spots. So keep that in mind. Now, if you do not book spots and want to book more, I would personally reach out to past clients who are a good fit. So even if the client came to you this year, often mini sessions are for a different reason, right? For me, it's a lot to get Christmas cards.

and more holiday themed. And so it's still aligned even if they had a session earlier that year. And finally, if you really want to fill spots, the cool thing about not including the farm with your session fee is you can invite someone in. Maybe it's someone you've wanted to connect with in your community and they are attached to your ideal client. This could be a great gift for them to say, hey, I see you over there. I want to support other local women-owned business owners and would just love to have that connection with you.

Here you go, I'm gonna come on in, I'm including what I included for everyone else, like the two images, whatever that looks like, maybe you take out a product, but I'm gonna include something for you. You totally can buy more if you want, but I wanna do something for you. That's a great way to build that connection with someone outside of your circles and tap into it. Another thing you could do is if you have a really awesome past client, they're a top client, they always spend a lot with you.

Christa (18:38.134)
and maybe they aren't ready, they didn't really want to book or something, you could always gift it to them as a spot, a Christmas gift saying, thank you so much for using me this year. I'd love to repay you with this. And again, include the basics and they can upsell from there. All right, y'all, I hope this was helpful. DM me, I would love to hear from you at Krista with a C-H underscore Renee, R-E-N-E, if this was helpful and let's connect.