Lara White

3 Keys to Successful Portrait Sales

In order to have successful portrait sales, you must do in person sales. I know, I know, no one loves this idea at first. It's not as easy as emailing a link, but the tremendous increase you'll see in profits and client satisfaction is well worth the time. The key to successful portrait sales is a 3 step process that starts before you schedule the session. All three sessions should be scheduled at the same time, so it locks that time in for both you and the client.

Planning Session

The process begins with an in-person planning session. The purpose of this session is to educate your client on how to get the most from their session, discuss clothing, location and activity options, and most importantly, get a sense for what finished products they are interested in. By going over the product options you offer and seeing what they are interested in, this gives the client time to consider the price and imagine the piece in their home. Think of it as “planting the seeds for the sale.”

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PBH_Whats_a_Wedding_Worth_to_YouIn my previous article we strategized that maximizing profits beats reducing costs.

But a lot of photographers have tunnel vision when it comes to how much their average wedding is worth to them.

One of the things that trips us up are the standard “rules” for determining how much of your sales should go to photography marketing. You’ve probably heard them. I know I’ve heard it said often to earmark 5%. That is, if you want to gross $100,000, for example, that 5% of that ($5000) should go to your marketing.

I think there’s a better way to figure this stuff out.

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Google+ is the social media site that was designed for photographers. It's the best place for photographers to interact with other photographers to learn about and be inspired by photography. But don't think you are going to find your friends and family there. It's not Facebook.

Aside from sheer inspiration, it makes sense to hang out on Google+ if you are a photo educator since that's where your potential customers are. But otherwise it's a bit of a ghost town … so far.

However, even if your target audience is not photographers, a presence on Google+ can still go a long way to help your business.

How? Search engine results.

But before we get to that, let's look at how Google+ works.

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Hello Lovelies!

This week is the official launch of my brand new book: Photography Business Secrets: The Savvy Photographer's Guide to Sales, Marketing, and More. Of course, I couldn't be more excited!  This project is the culmination of many, many months of hard work. I have tried to pack this book with all my experience, all my best tips, tricks, successes and failures. If you are starting a photography business or want to an inside seat as to how a successful photography business is run, you've got to get this book. To celebrate the launch, we are giving away a couple copies this week.

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Can you believe WPPI is almost here? I am sad to have had to cancel my appearance, due to some unexpected medical issues, but I'm sure you'll have a great time regardless!

Now is the time to prepare for the insanity that can overwhelm you if you aren't careful. To make sure you are prepared, I've made a list of 10 ways to get ready to have the best event of your business career!

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