We are excited to bring you part 3 of our 5 part ‘Getting Down to Business’ series by Erin

Today, we’re going to try to convince you that…

A) ‘Selling’ not EVIL
B)  ‘Selling’ is in fact, a SERVICE.

And I’m going to keep this short & sweet.

But first, repeat after me, “Sales is NOT a dirty word.”

Hm…I don’t think that was very convincing.

Look at this ridiculously cute baby.

Feeling warm and fuzzy inside?

Now try again.

Sales is NOT a dirty word.

I’m not sure why, but whenever  I mentioned the word ‘sales,’  or ‘selling’ in a workshop, people would suddenly look down, or look away, or start to squirm in their seats.

Perhaps the word brought visions of  the ‘high-pressure cheesy used-car salesman’ character so often seen in comedies.  Personally, I have never met this character…but perhaps I’ve just been lucky!

In any case, if this is the image that pops in your mind – toss that image out!

And, in it’s place, I want you to plant this one idea.

When you ‘sell,’ you are providing a service for your clients.

Your clients have already raised their hand and said, “Professional portraits are important to me!”

Now you owe it to your clients to ensure they understand all the ways they can enjoy their portraits.  And as the expert, they are looking to you for guidance.

There is a good chance they have never heard about wall collections, or canvas prints, or custom albums, or <insert your favourite item here>.  Imagine how much enjoyment the mother of the little baby pictured above would get from waking up each morning and seeing a beautiful wall portrait or a canvas of this joyful image.

You live and breath in the photography world.  They don’t.  And they generally don’t know what questions to even ask (which is why I believe so many simply ask, “do you offer digital negatives?”)

If you meet with your clients prior to your session, you can find out what has motivated them to book this session.  And find out more about how they would like to enjoy their images (while also providing them with a product guide/price sheet so they can start thinking about all the possibilities).

If you don’t meet with them prior to your session, you can have the information in an email/pdf price list/website.

After the session, I recommend you at least TRY a few in-person sales sessions before declaring that you simply ‘hate’ it and just want to do online ordering.  Remember, you are providing a SERVICE to your clients.

So many people claim to ‘hate’ the whole ‘in person’ ordering thing because they are uncomfortable with it.

Put on your big girl panties and go do some!  You will find it is not that bad.  In fact, you might even…gasp…ENJOY it!

(unless of course, you already HAVE tried it, and just simply do not want that to be a part of your business – period.  Hey, it is YOUR business.  You can make that decision.  I just don’t want you to bail out on the idea because it is moderately ‘uncomfortable’)

Whether you have a fancy projector, simple laptop with slideshow, or 4×6 proofs, it doesn’t matter.  What matters is that you DO it!

Before you worry about the “how”(how am I going to do in-person sales, what tools will I use, where will I hold the sessions, etc), first make sure you believe in the “WHY”

So, let’s try this again shall we?

“Sales is not a dirty word.”

Convinced yet?

In the 4th part of our series, we’re going to assume you will come around to the idea that selling is a good thing.  The next step, making sure you are selling for a PROFIT!

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