Sell Wall Art at Every Session

Summary

In this conversation, Krista, a photography business coach, shares practical strategies for photographers to enhance their wall art sales. She emphasizes the importance of personal experience with wall art, early engagement with clients about their needs, guiding them through options, and understanding their financial capabilities without making assumptions. Krista provides actionable tips to help photographers create a more engaging and profitable business model centered around wall art.

Takeaways

• I help photographers add in products to their businesses.
• Get some items in your own home first.
• Plant the seed about wall art from the first touch point.
• Be the guide, not just the order taker.
• Overwhelmed clients don't buy.
• Simplify the options for your clients.
• You need to know your numbers.
• It's not up to me to decide what clients can afford.
• Assume the sale, always.
• Help them see photos aren't meant to just sit.

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Transcript

Christa (00:01.612)
Hey, welcome. I'm Krista. I am a photographer turned photography business coach. And what I do is I help photographers add in products to their businesses so they can serve their clients better and up their revenue. And I'm really, really excited about today's episode because it's going to be all about offering and selling more wall art. So right now you might not be selling at all. Maybe you are offering it and you've seen a dip in your sales. I'm going to walk through just some very easy, practical ways that you can sell more wall art at

every single session that you do. So let's go ahead and jump right in. Okay. So the very first thing that will really help you understand the value is if you have something that is professionally framed in your own home, like you're offering clients. So I'm not talking about getting a frame from Target and putting it on the wall. I'm talking about like actual the grade that you would offer your clientele, which for me has always been companies and access points that like my clients don't have access to. Now I use a custom framer. Yes, my clients could go to him and get it framed, but like

They don't, right? Because that's why I want to offer it to them, because they don't do it. They're not wall art designers. I want to take care of it for them. But let me back up here. When I shifted to being full service, I actually wasn't super passionate about having your photos printed. Did you hear that okay? And I share that to say, maybe you've been sitting there wondering about offering products, but you're like, I don't really have pictures of my own home. Or like myself, I didn't really grow up in a home with lots of pictures of us. So I didn't shift to full service just

because I was floored that everyone needed wall art I shifted to it because I needed to make more money. I realized what I was doing, 300, 400, $500 sessions, three grand, four grand weddings was not the vibe. That was not the way to sustainably grow a six figure and multi six figure business. But what happened is as I shifted to it, I started to really see how incredible it was to have your portraits printed in your home. And the way that I started with that is I actually got a portrait

framed that my girlfriend had photographed of Edward and I when we were at a conference and we were six months into being married. So she photographs this. I'm like, okay, let's get this hung on the wall. So I'm offering clients this. I need to have it in my home. It completely changed my perspective on having something printed and professionally printed in a way that you see it every day because I did see it every day. And you know what, y'all, Edward and I are seven years into being married. And I just was staring at it yesterday. It is still on my wall.

Christa (02:23.67)
Even we've moved twice since then. And I look at it and I see Edward and Krista six months into marriage. So if you have kids, something with your kids, if you're single, something with your extended family or you and your pet or just a wonderful portrait of yourself, have something in your home that is the grade that you offer clients in. It showed me, I see that every day. I stare at it every day and I would actually be on calls with potential clients and we'd be talking about wall portraits and I would tell them, look,

Like we're doing these photos for a reason. Like you reached out to me because this is a special time. And what I can tell you is I'm staring at this portrait on the wall of my husband and I in this really special season, but I don't know where the digital's are and I don't really care. And it helped me really see and understand so much more and start to become my ideal client. You do not have to be your own ideal client to offer products, but I started becoming that.

And it showed me how meaningful it was. It showed me how necessary it was to have something printed to really enjoy the session to the fullest. And here's the deal. When you're passionate about something, it's going to be so much easier to sell it because you're not really pushy selly at all when you're just sharing about something you believe in. Same about wedding albums. I know this is going to be more focused on wall portraits, but you know, if you got married and didn't get a wedding album done, get it done in a professional grade and you'll be able to show your clients that.

If you went on a big trip and have some nice photos, get a nice album of that. If you just got some family photos, do that. If your family just went on, like, right, whatever that is, get some professional items in your home. I promise it will pay off. And then you can also use those as samples to show clients that they buy. Okay, so that's number one. Get some items in your own home first, okay? Number two, you want to start planting the seed about getting their favorites framed from your very first touch point. So, so many photographers go wrong here.

At the end of the session, they're like, man, time to buy your wall art. And the client is like, what? Like time to buy whatever, right? They haven't even thought about it. I would be really overwhelmed too. Versus if right from the beginning, you realize y'all, they reached out to you about photos for a reason. It wasn't just to blow some extra money. Like why not get photos? Like there's a reason, a big life event, a milestone, something for their family. They see their kids getting older, their anniversary, whatever it is, there's a reason.

Christa (04:46.594)
This session means something for them. You might need to dig for it a little bit, right? But it's meaningful in some type of way. And to me, that deserves to be documented so much more than a digital gallery. And I share that with them at the beginning, that like, where would we put this in your home, right? Like, let's talk about this. Where are these images going to live? Even down to if they're like, well, we just want a bunch of digital, right? What have you done with the images from your past session?

And often it can really start getting the wheels turning. I'm not gonna get them to the finish line there. I'm not gonna get them to pre-buy five pieces of wall art on that first touch point. But what my only goal is to really get the wheels turning, that there's more we can do here, that they're going to be going home, looking at their walls, thinking about it, and imagining having a beautiful portrait to walk by every day. So you need to help them see from the beginning that photos aren't meant to just sit on the digital cloud. They're meant to be seen, enjoyed, and passed down, and you're gonna help them with that. So I build this really intentionally.

with my touch points on the front end before the session even happens and they're already thinking about Wall Art. Number three, be the guide, not just the order taker. So if you slap down, I don't care how fancy your PDF is and email it to them and you're like, but Krista, it was beautiful. It had all these pictures. It told about my story and why I love prints and they didn't buy anything from it. Yeah, that makes sense because you weren't really being the guide, right? The reason that your clients aren't getting Wall Art and albums done

is they're not wall art designers and album designers. So instead of that, be the expert and guide them through it. I do this by before the session, I actually sit down with them and it can totally be virtual. And I talk through like, where could this artwork go in their home? Like I get really clear on their space. And instead of asking like wall art, yes or no, well, they say no, and you're completely shut down. I'll ask more open-ended questions of like, hey, if we get them incredibly gorgeous portrait of your family that we're talking about, like where in your home?

Where do we hang this? Where is the best place you have a wall that like there's gonna be a lot of traffic. You find yourselves gathering around, you find yourselves chatting and like what is that space in your home, right? How would it feel to have this incredible memory documented and in a gorgeous way sit like on the wall for you to see every single day. Okay, great. Are we loving this size? This is a great go-to. If we need something a little bigger, we have this or do we need a little smaller?

Christa (07:11.916)
None of these are yes or no questions. And it's not being pushy. It's serving. It's being the guide and helping them through it. OK, we have browns and golds in your home. What do we think about one of these frames? And that brings me to number four. You want to simplify the options. OK, I use a custom framework. I have over 2,000 frame options I could present to my client. That would be a terrible idea. Luxury places aren't slapping down a phone book menu for you to choose from. It's actually even usually more curated in restaurants and designer bags, whatever it looks like.

So we actually want to simplify because overwhelmed clients don't buy. That's why your online gallery sales are down. They're not going to buy. They don't know what they need. They don't know what they want. They don't know which of my 2,000 frame options they want. So I'm going to be the guide and walk them through it. And I'm going to ask questions about their space and then present them with a couple options that I'm like, hey, based on what you think, I love this. I think this would be a great fit. But you tell me, are we loving this or do we need to go a little bit warmer? little warmer? Great. I have a couple options here that are a little bit.

of a warmer frame tone. We love in this one, that's a favorite, right? That's different than slapping down 50 frame options, like which do you want? Same with sizing, okay? They don't know what size they need. And I use the example that when Edward and I got married, I had my friend take some bridal portraits. And I had this vision, y'all bridal portraits in the South. I went, was explaining this to a student who lived in Ohio. I was like bridal portraits. And they were like, what?

And was like, it's just a Southern thing. But you get a full portrait session done in your wedding dress before the wedding, and you get like a portrait printed and framed, and you display it at the reception. Then you have this beautiful portrait after. I wanted that. So I was just, I wasn't even getting into the products, y'all. I was a photographer still shooting, burning. So I found this site, ordered this bridal portrait, and I ordered a 16 by 20, because that sounds big. And it came in, and it was so small. Y'all, so small, we just stuck it on the dessert table.

Because to me, that sounded so big, right? Your clients don't actually know what's going to work best in their space. That's where you come alongside. Simplify it, be the guide, and help them with that. Help them with the size. Make it simple. Don't present 50 sizes. Show them the two sizes that's going to work really well for their space. Being overwhelmed kills the sale, but having clarity and simplicity increases it. Number five, you need to know your numbers. So when you understand your cost of doing business,

Christa (09:27.86)
what things are costing you, what your products are costing you, you can enter with so much more confidence. So instead of thinking, my gosh, this is so expensive, Krista, no one's ever gonna pay for this wall portrait. Knowing your numbers is going to remove so much of the drama. That way you can confidently say like, hey, I know what it costs to run my business well. I know what it costs me to offer this wall portrait. And I know that this is why I am charging X. So I have a little wiggle room if I want to ever do some type of discount or sale for my client, but like,

I know how much of my costs that's eating out of. So that will help for those. Every now and then I'll get a DM like there's costs involved to offering products. And I'm like, yeah, there's also costs involved to just operating shoot and burn and not offering products. Like there's always costs involved. But when you know them and understand them, you can be confident and clear about what you're doing. So it's actually not about how you feel. The numbers don't lie. So just having confidence in why you're charging what you're charging will increase your sales. Okay. Finally, that leads to this.

We want to take ourselves out of our client's wallet. I cannot tell you guys how many times, I could give example after example, I'll name a couple, where a client came in and I made assumptions on them that I shouldn't have made. And they ended up being incredible sales. And you would never have thought that by what they drove or the places they went to or even where they worked. And I've also had the flip where I've had some clients come from very affluent businesses or houses, be real sticklers on price.

So it's really not up to us to decide what our clients should and shouldn't spend. This is a huge red flag I see in the photo industry. Christa my clients would just never X, Y, and Z. And I always come at it with who are you to tell your clients what they should and shouldn't spend? And put yourself in that position. So, I'll give you the example that Edward and I, we moved and I knew I wanted this really nice bed from Pottery Barn. I thought about it, I dreamed about it, and Edward and I are not big furniture spenders. A lot of our furniture is secondhand or from like TJ Maxx, okay?

But I knew like this was the splurge and we had the money set aside and we were like, let's go. Now, can you imagine if I'd walked into Pottery Barn in my hand-me-down old Navy skirt, right? Seeing a young couple there in their twenties and they said, here's the clearance beds. This isn't, you know, the big canopy wood one that you want. Like I got these on clearance over here. That would have been really easy to do. And you know what? I actually got that a little bit from the salesperson. It's not a good feeling, right? So instead of deciding that for your clients, my goal

Christa (11:51.63)
is for all of my clients to have the same experience and access to the same products. And they can tell me if it's a fit or not. But I'm not going to assume that. And I remember one of the first years I was doing this, guys, there was, and I'm going to be vague about this. I would never want someone to identify who it was. But a single mom came to me. And it was in February one year. And she reached out. And I knew some details about her story. And it wasn't good.

She kind of came in and I assumed I hope she understands this process I don't really know if she's gonna buy things that kind of my foot off the gas a bit and she ended up being one of my best clients that year and She saw the value of these photos with her kids and she knew she needed them on her walls And this is one of the only times this has happened She came back to me to buy more wall art because she loved it so much How silly of me to ever assume that I don't know people's life events

I don't know what people are, know, what they have with their money. Like, it's not up to me to decide that. One time I sold three wall art portraits to a couple basically living in an RV because they saw the value. I've sold portraits to people building a house and don't know exactly where they're going to frame it, right? Like, but they saw the value. They knew they would treasure this long-term. So I lead them through the process and I share about the finish line and why we need this on the wall, no matter their case. And then they can tell me if it's a fit or not.

But I always assume the sale, I always assume they want this, that they need this. I never assume they can't afford it, because that's not up to me. So be the solution, be the guide, show your clients what's possible. And when you implement this, you're going to see incredible things happening with your wall art sales.