I was fortunate enough to be invited to visit some studios last week in Brisbane, Gold Coast and Sunshine Coast Queensland. They were all Wedding Studios that offered Portraiture to their clients, but believed that their clients were really focused on their wedding, so they never really sold any portraits.
They all offered a Pre-Wedding Shoot. many clients never too it up with the exception of one studio. According to him, all of his clients took up the offer, because he felt that it really helped him build a rapport with the clients. Rarely did they spend any money with him for the engagement shoot, but he did feel that it helped and was part of his service.
This raised a few questions in my mind.
1. Why is it that out of the three studios that I visited, only one actually was shooting Pre Wedding Portraits?
2. Although the other photographers said they offered Pre Wedding Shoots, why did their clients not take up this opportunity?
3. Why did the clients that took up the offer of a Pre Wedding Shoot not spend any money?
When I was given a tour of all of these studios there were a few things that were consistent. All of them shot weddings, and that was their primary income. All of them wanted to supplement their income with some portraits, but could not either get their clients to take up a portrait offer, or if they did, they would not purchase from that shoot. All of them had beautiful displays for their clients to look at. None of them had any displays that related to portraits on their wall.
I am a strong believer that a client that is looking to book a wedding is primarily focused on booking someone that will be able to interpret them and their special day in the form of an album. The album is their primary focus. Secondarily they may be looking at purchasing something on the wall, but most expect it thrown in as part of a package.
Only having displays of Wedding Couples at a Wedding, sends a clear message to your clients that Weddings is all you do. They can never foresee using you for any other purpose. In fact, when I questioned all three studio owners as to wether their clients come back and have some portraits done later in life they all commented, that those that they managed to contact had no realised that they also did portraiture, and went elsewhere.
Displaying other Niches in your space sends a clear message, that other times of their lives are just as valuable. Pregnancy, New Love, Newborn, Toddlers also represent signifiant parts of our lives that deserve to be recorded and valued. It also may entice them to refer a friend that is in a different part of their life cycle to them. Perhaps their friend has just had a baby and has not had some beautiful portraits created for her.
I also had a look at some of the shoot across all three studios. They were also consistent in that they all looked like mini wedding shoots without the big dress. There really was not a lot to buy in terms of variety. Non of the shoots had the couple photographed as individuals.
People like to buy from abundance, and it is from abundance that they believe that they are getting value. Give your clients the opportunity to buy from you and treat them as if they will. You will be surprised at what you will get in return.
Studios that are shooting variety, and have Portrait Displays on their walls are averaging around $2,800 on their “Pre Wedding Shoots”. Treat each part of the process with value, and your clients will value it in return.