Remember the $10000 photography sale I posted about?

Well, I wanted to talk a little bit about how that went down. Now first, I want to say that this is not a normal sale for me: a $10000 photography sale doesn’t happen very often. However, my sales normally range from about $2800 to $7500. So, how did this sale happen?

First, she found me on Google.

She found a website with high end images, that was clear, concise, had copy that spoke about HER and HER WANTS rather than me and my talents. And a website that led her on a simlpe journey from finding a portfolio to inquiring. Second, we communicated about her needs.

This was a rare occurrence where I didn’t get on the phone with her because she was in Hong Kong when she booked and was travelling to see family in Vancouver. She was wanting to book an extended family session with her in-laws, and her sister-in-laws family. I asked her a little bit about her family, the occasion and what dates she’d be in town. Now, I don’t love extended family sessions, so I make my booking fee fairly high for these sessions because they are generally a head ache and a lot more work. So I quoted her an $1800 booking fee, with $800 applied to her artwork.

She immediately agreed and booked at that price.

This showed two things to me: one, she understood the value of what I was offering, and two, money wasn’t an issue for the session.

Because I understood just how qualified she was, when we struggled to book the consultation and actually meet to go over pricing and products, I wasn’t too concerned.

Normally, with every session I take the time to walk each client through my full pricing list, showing them each product as we go. With this client, I sent over the pricing list so she had it ahead of time and asked what she was thinking of. I also opted to bring my albums to the session so she and the two other families involved could see them as well.

At the session, she and the two other women flipped through the albums and agreed they loved my largest, most luxury album the most. I reiterated the pricing and feature differences between the albums and they remained steadfast in their preference.

Knowing this could potentially be a very large sale, I stayed longer than normal to serve as best as I could and ensure I was able to capture each grouping they wanted in multiple locations. In order to hit a $10,000 photography sale, I like to ensure I have a large variety of images so clients can say yes to as much as appeals to them.

The $10000 photography sale was made after the session

But the thing that made the biggest difference between what was looking like it might be a $6,000 session and a $10000 photography sale was the ability to be flexible, hear my clients wants and respond in a way that made it easy for her to say “yes” to what she really wanted.

After a few conversations, I knew she wanted to purchase the luxury album as a gift for her mother-in-law, and wanted a handful of digital images. But I also knew that she and her sister-in-law had both loved the album. Because I know my numbers, as well as charge profitably, I was able to entice her into a larger sale by offering a bundle discount on three matching albums so she and her sister-in-law could have one as well.

Because I know my numbers well and knew how much I could discount each album and still make a very decent profit, the price difference between the one album and the digital images and the bundle and the digitals was a no-brainer as it essentially made her additional digital images free.

How can you duplicate this for your own $10000 photography sale?

You may be thinking, that’s great Kelly, but how do I do this in my own business. Here are the key takeaways that made this sale happen:

• Having an SEO optimized, easy to use and beautiful website is key to qualified clients who are willing to invest finding your business.
• Communicating with your clients, listening to them, their desires and needs allows you to best serve them and offer what they are looking for.
• Be upfront and honest about pricing so they are prepared and not caught off guard, and you aren’t disappointed when they can’t afford much.
• Know your pricing and price profitably, so you can make exceptions and allow deals to better serve clients and encourage them to get what they really want.

Want to learn more about how I run my business? Check out these posts:

• How to become a Profitable Photographer
• Hybrid IPS Photography
• What is IPS Photography?

If you want to earn more while working less and need some help figuring out how to transition your business to IPS, I offer my Virtual IPS Blueprint Coaching Program. For 3 months, you receive access to me through the student Facebook Group, weekly Group Coaching calls and one hour long 1:1 coaching call to be used in the 3 month program. On top of these, you get lifetime access to the Virtual IPS Blueprint Course, which is an A-Z roadmap on how to set your business up for IPS, sell without feeling salesy, profitably price your products, and appeal to luxury clients. Find out more below.