15 Ways to Increase Your Portrait Revenue

By Michael Shilling
Friday, September 3rd, 2010

Here’s a few ideas that will actually increase your portrait revenue…. trust me these are tried and tested in the height of a recession! It’s not about the hard sell but you do need to be able to say no once and a while.

Portrait Photography

  1. Always charge a shoot fee. Even if you give it back as product credit you’ll still have the client financially committed.
  2. Raise your prices and throw away your old price lists. Don’t be tempted to offer old clients old prices. That was the old you…… you’re more experienced, spent lots more on bettering yourself and your product…… your prices should reflect that.
  3. PROJECT! If you can’t show your work on a 60 inch plasma then use a projector. The bigger you show it, the bigger they’ll want it!
  4. Don’t do viewing online…….. ever! That’s just lazy and you know it!
  5. If you have to do a viewing at a client’s home then chances are they’ll have a bigger TV screen than computer screen. Your laptop + a HDMI cable (and about 5 adaptors in you’re a Mac)…… easy!
  6. Only show you’re biggest and best products. It’s much easier to sell someone a 24×20 when you’re showing them a 60×40 compared to a 10×10.
  7. Don’t sell prints…… unless they are beautifully framed of course!
  8. Don’t sell digital files……. I’ll say that again but a little louder …… DON’T SELL DIGITAL FILES! It doesn’t hurt to throw in a couple of free Facebook images though.
  9. Sell books instead in prints…. “If you like all of the images then why not have them in book?”…. “It’s much better value for you”.
  10. Don’t show too many images at a viewing. 30 – 60 is a good number.
  11. Make your ‘discounts’ obvious and promote them…. oh, and stick to them!
  12. Never show unedited images. The client isn’t going to realize that you can remove something…. but as soon as you tell them you can, you’ve just opened Pandora’s box!
  13. Create a couple of sample of triptychs and multi aperture layouts so show the clients after the slideshow.
  14. Be upfront about pricing (and discounts) from first contact.
  15. Create a ‘signature range’. Use a special frame or different print process….. and make them nice and big. Show example of how your signature shot might be displayed as a signature wall art.

Whatever of the ideas you choose to use make sure you make your own list of ‘rules’ and stick to it. As soon as you treat clients differently, especially in regards to discounts, you’ll just get yourself into trouble down the road.

Good luck!

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Categories : Grow Your Business
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Comments

    • If you’re not using any yet then a nice acrylic or metallic range is good for a signature product.

      Worth thinking about the next time you go to a photography expo or trade fair.

      I always try and have an idea on what type of product I’m looking for at these sort of shows…… helps me have a little focus (excuse the pun).

  2. And about selling books – don’t sell them too cheap, especially not cheaper than selling 4 individual prints. You still have the work to retouch 4 images, whether they are separate 4×5 prints or 4 images on an album page. Plus the design time to create the album.

    • Totally… you always want to keep your costs down to at least 20%.

      Personally I wouldn’t put that many pictures on a page… I like to have 1-3 Images per spread but it depends on the shoot.

      A colleague of mine finds the pricing of these books a little high for his clients so rather than sell individual prints he simply sells a set in a sample album.

      Works well for him as his product costs are only 5%… and he has a very happy client!

  3. Great Article! I have been in business over 20years and utilizing these tactics for a long time. My area is OVER saturated with new photographers doing the opposite. Thanks for the encouragement!

  4. Could you point me in a direction to learn how to view on a TV? I need more info than laptop/cable. I edit the photos and then put them where to view? What are you talking about? I feel so lost. Meh.

    • Viewing images from your laptop on your TV really is easy and only requires a few things.

      1. Your laptop needs to have a video out port. The port will look kind of rectangular in shape with about 25 little holes in it.

      2. Your TV needs to have a PC video input. Again the port will be kind of rectangular in shape with about 25 little holes in it.

      3. You need a cable to go between your laptop and your TV. Most likely this will be a VGA cable. You can pick one of these up at Staples or online at Amazon.com. They come in different lengths so you’ll need to determine how far from the TV your laptop will be. There is a maximum length though and it’s not advised to hook multiple cables together without a signal booster between.

      4. Once the laptop is connected to the TV, use the TV remote to switch between video input modes to select the PC input.

      5. On your computer, in the display preferences you’ll need to select the appropriate screen resolution for your TV (your TV is now acting like a big external computer monitor).

      6. Now you just need to tell your image software what screen to use to view the images on. This is a little more complex and without knowing what type of computer you’re using (Mac or Windows PC) and what software you’re running to display your images, I can’t give you specific instructions.

      Let me know how it works out for you 🙂

    • HDMI is the way to go if your computer supports it. The new MacBook, MacBook Pro and MacBook Air have a Mini DisplayPort as their video out connection. Apple sells a Mini DisplayPort to HDMI adaptor that also has audio support for $34.95. This is a great option for connecting to your big flat panel TV.

  5. Oh! Thank you so much. I have a brand new 46″ flat screen, so I’m sure it will support this. I run Windows 7 on an HP Pavilion Entertainment PC, and use CS5. I’ve always just used Bridge to let people view photos, but now I’d like to look more professional. This sounds like it will do the trick! Windows media will probably do this?

    Thank you again! I’m excited to try this!
    ~Heidi