My clients don’t ask for professional albums, so don’t I sell many. Sure…that’s totally understandable. But, I’m going to have to ask, why put all the responsibility on your clients to do the leg work?
Imagine you go to a nice restaurant. You have a wonderful meal. As you are leaving a server passes by with the most amazingly looking dish. You ask the hostess about the delicacy that just passed by. She informs you that it was the special appetizer for the evening. Spoiler alert – your server didn’t mention the specials. You wonder, “What else did I miss?” The reality is you couldn’t have ordered something you didn’t know existed and you were happy with your dining experience. But in a flash, that’s all changed and now you feel … frustration, regret …and left out.
Don’t let this happen to your clients. You are the expert. It is your job as the professional to share with your potential customers everything that is available to them – from engagement sessions, to sign in books and wedding albums Now, I’m not suggesting that you show them every leather color available under the sun but show them something! Showing a beautifully handcrafted leather album is an EASY conversation starter. The goal of this conversation is to find out more about what the customers is looking for, likes, is expecting, is unaware of or has a total misconception about – professional wedding albums.
Take some time to listen. Below are some assumptions – I don’t even want to call them objections – that your customers may have followed by simple suggestions on how to set them on the right track.
- Couples may not realize that you offer professional albums simply because their friends, their sisters, hairdressers and coworkers only received digital files from their photographer, so that just must be the way things are.
Make albums your differentiator. You take the time to select beautiful professional products that are unavailable to consumers so that your clients can have printed photographs and amazing keepsakes!
- Clients may think that there is only one option for an album. They’ve seen their parents wedding album from 1975 and it doesn’t suit their tastes.
Having fresh contemporary samples will have your brides desiring albums that match the clean fresh style of their wedding details.
- Customers may feel that albums are an additional investment that they might not be able to manage after paying for the wedding reception and honeymoon.
Placing albums in collections that are purchased prior to the wedding and offering payment plans to chunk out the costs makes the process in decision-making easier. After the wedding they don’t need to pull out their credit card they just need to select their images, so the wedding album design can begin.
- The “albums” they’ve seen are unimpressive. Clients have seen DIY consumer books of their friends’ vacations, birthday parties and celebrations. They have preconceived idea of what to expect quality wise, and nobody’s excited.
Have samples and show samples. Beautiful detail shots on your website help to tell a story. Placing a thick page leather bound album in someone’s hands is a sensory experience. It’s like getting into a luxury car. There is no comparison to entry-level consumer products.
It’s easy to understand where some of the disconnect is between what your client assumes and what is actually available from a professional photographer who provides full service – not only digitals but beautiful wedding albums.
Showing samples and listening, can help you clarify and connect what you offer with what your client didn’t realize that they wanted and didn’t know to ask for.
