avoid pricing dead zones
One of the biggest fears I see in photographers is the dreaded Pricing Deadzone BUT…. What if I told you that I have NEVER hit a pricing dead zone in my business? Seriously, I haven’t! Nor do I fear hitting one.
Okay, let’s back up. If you are like wait, “what is a pricing deadzone,” let me explain.
A Pricing Deadzone is a price range in which you will have more trouble than normal booking in.
Now, to be honest, I believe that it is 100% possible to book in any price range. Why? Because people do it every single day. Every single market has photographers that range in prices and plenty of those photographers see success in what some call a “deadzone”
So why do some see success in a price range but others don’t? Let’s break it down…
- Those who see booking success means that their offers are in alignment with the needs of their clients!
- Those who know how to showcase the VALUE of their offer will see more bookings than those who worry about the price range their offer falls into.
- Selling an offer based on a price is the easiest way to make your client focus on the price tag. If you sell your offer based on the emotional connection of your offer, then you will be able to get your client to see value over a price tag.
Do you see a trend here? People will take action when It comes down to the emotional value + the connection the client feels with the offer, not the price tag!
So, how do you sell based on connection in order to avoid what feels like a pricing deadzone?
The number one mistake that I see photographers making when it comes to trying to sell their products is that they are relying on their product to sell itself or the price of the product to position the offer to sell well.
Think about it like this, when you hear a photographer pitch a mini session a lot of times they talk about the facts of the offer. They talked about how many hours the session is, how many photos they give back, how this is a discounted session, how quick of a turnaround time they have, or even the location they’ve chosen. The problem with this is, every photographer does this. Every photographer can offer a 30 minute session with 5 images at a cheaper price. It isn’t unique nor does it allow them to stand out in a client’s mind.
The reality is though those pieces of their offer are just facts. People cannot connect to facts like they do emotions. Trying to sell through the idea of a fact is going to make your job a lot harder because most times clients don’t actually care about the facts of the offer nearly as much as they care about the outcome of the offer and the emotion that comes with getting their images.
Let’s say you are offering a client a 30-minute session, with five digital images, at a popular local park, for $179. What connection points does that offer actually bring to your client? There’s nothing in there that actually allows your client to feel connected and feel excited about your offer.
If we were to rework this offer and say something like –
Are you ready to get updated family photos to send out with your yearly Christmas card? What about some new photos to hang on your walls that perfectly capture the fun-loving personalities of your children? Or maybe it’s just been a while since both you and your husband have been in photos with your kids, and now it’s time for you all to get behind the camera as a family. Whatever the reason is, my mini sessions are set up for busy families like you to be able to update their photos and while creating new memories with each other! Join me on December 1st and 2nd at Peterson Park quick and fun mini family session to help kick-off the holidays!
Do you see how much more enticing that second option was. We didn’t talk about price, we didn’t talk and images, we just connected with our clients and made sure they understood the value of our offer so that way when they hear the facts of the offer they’re already sold.
This process of understanding how to emotionally connect an offer to my clients is the number one way I have been able to sell my services at any price point I desire! Because when I make my services value stand out, the price is a small detail in the overall offer!
So, do I think “ pricing dead zones” can be avoided? Yes, I 100% do and you can avoid it too!
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