The gap between a prospective client and a client who has already booked your service is often narrowed down by how well you are at closing a deal! An engagement session, a parent album, or thank-you notes – there is always something that you can sell to a potential client. Knowing how to sell your services well is one of the skills that can significantly benefit your wedding photography business. At the same time, it is also something that you often learn as you progress as a wedding photographer and business owner. The art of closing a deal will surely enable you to take your photography business to greater heights. Therefore, in this blog, we unlock the secrets of how to close a deal successfully and how to use it to your benefit.
How to Close a Deal Successfully: 4 Tips To Make It Happen
1. Set Expectations
Even before you set up your calendar for meeting a client for the very first consultation, try to provide them with information that works as a filtering process. Whether it is via a phone call or an email, share a bit about your brand, your starting package prices, and send links to your website and portfolio – and then confirm the meeting. The goal is to help your client establish a brief understanding of the kind of target market that you cater to. This could help you attract the type of customers that are ideal for your business. After all, you don’t want to spend hours on a wedding photography consultation only to find out that your potential client has unrealistic expectations or an entirely different notion about your brand.
Suggested Read: How To Handle Unrealistic Wedding Photography Clients
2. Talk in Terms of Time Duration
Whenever you talk about your services, try to talk in terms of how long it takes you to work on a project. This is because most professionals try to determine the value of any task by establishing a particular time frame for it. So this helps your audience to draw a clear picture of the time duration of any task and therefore, indirectly, helps establish a sense of value for it.
Moreover, not everyone understands the work and time required for other tasks, such as editing, album designing, printing, etc. Some of your clients may not understand what these tasks require and others might not even be aware about them. Therefore, the easiest way to set a value for each task is to define them with respect to a common parameter that is well understood – and that’s time.
3. Learn About the Client’s Thoughts
You have had endless conversations with your client, answered multiple questions, showed them sample albums, and laid out the pricing structure – now it is time to learn about what they think. And the way you could do that is by simply asking them a straightforward question about their thoughts on it. Don’t leave it to them to tell you how they feel about the services or the pricing – instead, simply ask them. If you are one of those people who are wondering how to close a deal when everything has been said and done, try not to neglect the power of asking questions and seeking feedback. And when they answer your questions, try to read their responses on a scale of how excited/willing or confused/hesitant they are.
Suggested Read: How To Find Your Ideal Client
4. Negotiate, But Smartly
At times, you might find yourself in situations where after asking your client what they feel about the wedding photography package that you just presented, they might find that your price is out of their budget. What to do then? Do you end the conversation without negotiation? And how to negotiate when the client has clearly communicated that their budget doesn’t allow it? Well, since your plan A didn’t work, it’s time to go for plan B.
This is one of those areas where you can use the power of customization. Try to be flexible and ask them if they were to customize a package, what services would it include. Maybe they don’t want the engagement session or the full 9-hour coverage. Hear out their requirements and see if you can work with those requirements in terms of pricing. If so, great! It’s a win-win. If not, again try to explain to them why you have priced everything in a certain way and talk about the value that they would get if they went ahead with the service.
Further Read: Pricing Your Photography: A Wedding Photographer’s Guide
How well you articulate your services and the value they bring to your customer and knowing how and when to negotiate have a lot riding on it. Articulation, negotiation, and customization could work as important pillars for successfully closing a deal. Sometimes, many beginners could find it intimidating at the start, but the more you keep at it, the better you get. Moreover, it is equally crucial to pause from time to time and evaluate what’s working for you and what’s not, and implement the findings in your strategy. We hope you found the aforementioned information on how to close a deal helpful!
At ShootDotEdit, we are passionate about seeing you evolve as a wedding photographer. However, if post-production is taking too much of your time, let us help you with our professional photo editing services. To learn more about how we can help your wedding photography business, check out our pricing plans.