Action Steps to Sell Photography Confidently

The past couple of weeks we have talked about your attitude toward money that affects your ability to sell your work. Here are some action steps that might help you improve your profits.

Do not discount or renegotiate your prices when pressured.

Study your business. Know all of your expenses, overhead, and goals. With accurate information you will be able to arrive at prices you know are correct for your studio. You do not have to justify your prices to your customers but you will have confidence behind the numbers and will less likely to feel pressured.

Selling is a numbers game. Ask any good marketing person and you will learn that a postcard mailing, for example, has a typical response rate of three percent. By tracking each step of your process and looking at the results, you can develop a formula for success. You might also find that 20% of your clients account for 80% of your income, so spoil those clients and keep them!

Write a sales script. One way to overcome your own hang ups or programs about money and sales is to write out scripts that are the message you really need to say. We all get ideas, or programs, about money and sales as we grow up. If your parents had issues, you may carry those issues on or behave in the extreme opposite. Well, these programs that might say “that art is too expensive,” “you are not worth it,” or “you can not afford it” need reprogrammed. Writing a sales script is a good way to prepare yourself for discussions about money and prices.

I found once I wrote out responses, or scripts, to difficult questions or unreasonable requests, the questions and requests stopped coming.

Practice with clients you are more comfortable with. If something is scary, who wants to start with strangers?

This is a great strategy I use when I am making any kind of change. For example, when I wanted to start having clients sign an agreement that they had place an order and will pay for it, I simply said to them, “thank you, I know you would not break this contract, but it helps me practice and build my confidence for when I have someone new that I am unsure of here.” There is no reason you can’t say this to everyone indefinitely either, no one will know who is who.

Remain calm. It is easy to get emotional whether it is excited or scared. Keep your cool and act as if you get huge orders every day. Stay optimistic as your thoughts and body language can give you away and influence the outcome of the sale.

Set a sales goal and assume you will make it. Again, your assumptions can influence the outcome. If you remain optimistic you will do much better than starting out negative and with no idea what the sale should be.

If you are anything like me, it is easy to be overwhelmed. You want to do it all and you want to do it well. The advice I go back to again and again is to start with one. Pick the most important step that will make the most positive difference the fasted and start with that. As time allows, go to the next.