Hey guys! Welcome back to the podcast. If you’re new here, I’m so glad you found this episode. It’s a good place to start in my world. I’m all about getting you results in your photography business, but I do it a little differently than most. I’m gonna lay it out there for you. I don’t beat around the bush & I won’t waste your time on long drawn out fluff. Time is precious - for you and for me. So, let’s do this!

Let’s talk about the ways we make decisions for our clients.

How dare we do that really? I mean, it takes a lot of audacity to make a decision for another person & we do it all the time!

We have to get out of our clients’ heads, out of their wallets. And out of our own heads sometimes too.

How many times have you said “they think I’m too expensive”?

They won’t book that early around here.

They only want afternoon or evening sessions

They only want the digitals

They don’t want the big wall portraits

I’m new. They won’t take me seriously.

I’m old. They won’t connect with me.

Let’s go with the first one. “They think I’m too expensive.”

Do you think that they think that? Or do you know? Sure, some people will tell you to your face that you are too expensive. But let me offer you this. In one week this year I had someone tell me that my prices were too high. That same week, a client placed a $7500 portrait order. Expensive is relative. What was expensive to the first client was chump change to the second one. Stop worrying about being “too expensive”. This is a topic for another day, but maybe you’re just talking to the wrong people.

Stop assuming what your clients want and need. If you assume that your client only wants digitals and only offer that, then she doesn't even have the option of seeing that beautiful album you could design for her. She has no idea! Or she has to seek out what she wants from someone else. I can’t even count how many wall portraits I’ve printed of older siblings because mom wanted one but that photographer didn’t offer it to her.

You will miss out on so many opportunities and income because you’ve already decided that they think something you want to offer is too expensive.

If you decide that they won’t book that early, that they won’t book a morning session, that they won’t take you seriously - then they won’t.

And it has NOTHING to do with them! It has EVERYTHING to do with you!

We create our own reality with the things we choose to believe.

Here’s a story of a friend of Brian’s. He went to a car dealership to buy his dream car - a McCleran. I don’t even know how much these things cost for real, but I know they are multiple 6 figure vehicles, probably more than some of our houses. Honestly, I didn’t even know how to spell McCleran, so I had to go look it up.

He walked into the dealership & they made the decision for him. He called it the eye test. They didn’t take him seriously. They decided he couldn’t afford it in advance.

3 days later he had one shipped in from California. This vehicle was beautiful. And in his Facebook post, he called out that dealership that decided in advance that he couldn’t afford it. It was a modern day Pretty Woman moment. That first dealership created their own reality. They decided he wouldn’t be a customer and so, he wasn’t. What if they had decided when he walked in that he could be their perfect customer? What if they didn’t decide in advance that this was gonna go really well? Totally different outcome.

How many calls have you made to potential clients where you doubted before you ever made the call that they would book you? How many consults have you shown up for not believing they would be choosing a date on your calendar & putting down that retainer that day?

Don’t make decisions for your clients. Let them make their own.

Here’s another way this happens. And please know that I am talking to myself here too. I have done & still struggle with the same things you do. I’m not superhuman over here.

We make things mean something when they honestly don’t mean anything at all.

Awkward silence - Oh no! They must think I’m too expensive. Maybe they are just processing which card they want to put the balance on.

Hasn’t called me back - They must have booked with someone else. Maybe their kid got sick.

Didn’t accept the invite on instagram to collaborate 5 minutes after you posted - She must not like her pictures. Maybe she’s at practice. Maybe she’s taking a nap. Maybe she doesn’t want that much attention.

Do you know what most of this is? It’s judgment and it’s lies. We judge people ahead of time. We tell ourselves lies. We make up stories and we give things meanings that don’t exist.

That’s just your brain doing what your brain does. It’s trying to protect you. It sees danger. It sees possible rejection, and all it wants to do is keep you safe from that. Rejection hurts! So good job brain! Right?

Here’s what we can do when one of these lovely stories comes up. We can say, hey thanks brain! I appreciate what you’re trying to do there, but I got it from here. We can recognize it! Call it out. And then we get to choose something else to believe instead of what our brain offered up to us.

Business is full of choices. Life is full of choices. We get to choose the way we see things & the way we interpret them.

Let me know what you think & that you were listening today. If you had any aha moments, I want to know what they were. I love it when you share! Your sharing is why I am able to do this. You getting the word out about what I do here on the podcast and in the business coaching space is how I am able to keep bringing you content week after week. My goal is always to help you & photographers just like you build more profitable, productive & purposeful businesses so that you can spend more time doing what you love with the ones you love.

Ok. Let's continue the conversation over on the Senior Studio Success Facebook Page. I’m always up for a good business chat. Or you can send me over on Instagram. Have a great week y’all!