Perception is everything!

[ito4u]

Holly, awesome post... you put it best, perception is everything in this hobby and especially in business.

Free and ideas like cheap, discounted can diminish a customers perception in a heartbeat as it can express a lack of value on the professionals part. Sometimes if you come across desperate, you've destroyed your opportunity to grab new clients.

I admire your ideas of being uncompromising because, you are the "Professional" and you know better because, you are getting paid. That's your value. If the client knew what you knew, they sure as hell wouldn't pay now would they?

[HotHolly]

There is a psychological different b/t DISCOUNT and FREE. I'm not sure I fully grasp the differences in their entirety, but I think FREE retains more value than a discounted item.

Example: If you see a dresser marked 70% off in the store, you look at it and wonder what the heck is wrong with it. The discount negated its full value. And the amount of the discount starts to make you suspicious and wonder what rational reason its that cheap.

For photographers - if you're too cheap or the discount is too great, most people think it means you suck and offer inferior products and service.

FREE: That does something else entirely. People act like they know what they were given has value (and the same value) and its exciting b/c they didnt have to pay for it. Some photogs give away free 8x10s with the session. That's common.

Periodically, to give business a boost, I seek out the 'right' person to gift a FREE session to. They act grateful and have a totally different demeanor than those who got it at a discount. They tend to buy more too, and be less problematic clients in general.

The best example of free that Ive had was with a hairdresser. I gave her a free session (I wanted a baby model). The session was worth over $300. She was thrilled I chose her baby for it. Boasted to everyone she knew and that free session grossed over $800 in post-session sales.

The trick - you have to have a value on a product to give it away for free. Not charging people isnt the same. Your work has no value. If you put a price tag on your session and then give it for free, then they know it would have cost them $X amount and the client acts radically different.

[toverman]

When I worked in advertising, we preferred the word "bonus" to "free."

[HotHolly]

Originally Posted by toverman

When I worked in advertising, we preferred the word "bonus" to "free."

That's interesting. Can you site sources that back that up?

[toverman]

Originally Posted by HotHolly

That's interesting. Can you site sources that back that up?

It was an in-house advertising department for Dillard's. Very little of what we did made sense, but that did to me. Marketing and advertising are both so subjective.

Think of it this way, though, in the realm of add-ons and "gifts with purchase" (another advertising thing). Because you have to buy something to get it, the extra thing or service isn't really "free." It's a bonus. Bonuses are special. They make you feel/look/smell good. Your mileage may vary!

[w9ctm]

Holly,
You are really 'spot on' with your thoughts and reasoning. I followed every bit of it. (What does that say about me...???...)

Your analogy is good as well.

If I may...... I used to shoot a lot of video when I lived in Illinois. Had a friend/competitor (Tom) that did the same. Tom shot a wedding every weekend. I shot one per month. I charged 4 times what Tom charged. Tom complained he had no free time, and Tom's wife complained he was always working weekends. I took lots of overnite rides on my motorcycle during the off weekends and enjoyed most of my weekends doing other things besides working. Tom had lots of CRAP brides and had to deal with their discounting/I don't like this and that issues. I had very appreciative and easy to work with brides. Why? I charged more. The perception was that my work must be better and I certainly know what I am doing because I charge so much more than Tom does.
Every so often, when I would visit Tom while he was editing a wedding, I would recognize the bride. She tried to book me, but was unable to because either I was already booked for that weekend, or she tried to have me reduce my price, which of course I refused to do. So Tom got her, or she got Tom, for a reduced price.

Quality is a perception. It is in the eyes of the beholder. If they perceive that your work is better because it is higher priced, they're right. (At least in their mind they are).

[HotHolly]

Originally Posted by w9ctm

Holly,
You are really 'spot on' with your thoughts and reasoning.

oooh! im scary sometimes!!! lol.

i sometimes wonder how much temperament affects MY perception of things. like, Tom's situation sounds like a nightmare to me. maybe he likes it? i dunno. i just know that when you look at your bottom line, it's gotta add up to a positive number. And hopefully a good one. Ive seen very shrewd businessmen who offered really low rates on portrait sessions or wedding photography - then they nickle & dime you on EVERYTHING. I found that rich clients dont like busting up their brick of money and doing a little here and a little there - they like to pay all at once. Middle class likes to pay it out in segments.

Todd, I was thinking about the bonus thing. That goes with the assumption that a purchase is required, right? Did you run any adds with a bonus where no purchase was required? Just wondering.

[J Eddington]

I disagree with you on the word free. If they get something for "free" it really has no perceived value. BUT if you "Gift" them a 8x10 (or what ever) it has the value that you normally charge for the item. This may be different depending upon the market, but when gifting to $$$ clients it is recieved better. "Free Gift" is redundant. It can't be a gift if it is not free. I am trying to remember who taught me that. But everything else is right on.

[ziffle]

Holly,
Thanks for the post.....
Nice job on the store and the floor.

I actually followed your post too and i'm a geeky engineer.
You have some very valid points.
(note to self: re-read tomorrow)

Later,
_Mark

[trac76002]

Soooo true. You definitely nailed it. Thanks so much for sharing :)

[HotHolly]

Originally Posted by J Eddington

I disagree with you on the word free. If they get something for "free" it really has no perceived value. BUT if you "Gift" them a 8x10 (or what ever) it has the value that you normally charge for the item. This may be different depending upon the market, but when gifting to $$$ clients it is recieved better. "Free Gift" is redundant. It can't be a gift if it is not free. I am trying to remember who taught me that. But everything else is right on.

Im gonna be a geek and ask you to site your source. All the psychological marketing geniuses I've been reading say the word discount diminishes and FREE retains value and did studies to support their claims. The book Im reading now is SWAY. Its about irrational behavior and buying. It's very interesting. Most people dont buy rationally no matter what. Which is ironic, b/c they think they do. Photography is an emotional sale. Personally, Ive never gotten studio marketing for FREE promos to work well (with the exception of giving the session fee free). I assumed it was fault within the ad itself and not the premise. If you recall where you heard that, I'd like to read up on it. ;o)

[lucian]

Very good post, Holly.

When I was stationed in Maryland (77-80) I had to take out my cameras to help make ends meet. The guy I was working with were shooting small weddings for GI's at $175. Not much money, even then.

We and our wives brainstormed one night. I was out voted 3-1 for raising prices. We doubled everything across the board. Within six months we had put 5 photogoraphers on payroll for weddings and were booking $1K weddings before we snapped a shutter.

And we removed CHEAP from our vocabulary. Cheap is negative. INEXPENSIVE is a much more reasonable word.

[w9ctm]

Holly,
Sometimes you have to get fed up with things. At that point you start seeing clearly. You know what you need to do. Usually it is something you have been thinking about for some time, but haven't been able to justify it in your mind for whatever reason. When you get frustrated, you will think more clearly and rationalize more positively and come up with the decision that you have needed to make anyhow.
At least, I know that has happened to me in this manner before. I can't believe I am that much different from everyone else.

That's how I ended up raising my prices when I did video. I got sick and tired of whining brides, and noticed when I reviewed my brides and the packages they had chosen. The whiners always wanted the lower priced ones, and they were the real thorns in my side. After a bride threatening to sue me because she couldn't decide what was wrong with the video, so she just wanted her money back. (although my contract clearly stated that I chose what did and did not end up in the video as I was being hired for my creative talent, and the bride acknowledged this in the contract...) I even reviewed the video in my studio with her and her husband, her parents, and her sister, who was the bridesmaid. They all sat there and cried at the appropriate times and laughed at the appropriate times, like it was right on cue. The bride still didn't like it. ( I personally think it was because she was heavier than she pictured herself)
It was then that I decided there had to be a better way to do this. I was frustrated and thought about all that I had read, and discussed with others in the business. I stayed in the studio all night to create a new pricing structure, create brochures, price lists and everything and updated my website. I did it before I could second guess myself and change my mind.
Second best thing I ever did for myself.