Check out your clients beforehand
Osmosis- If a customer cannot afford my services, I usually dont fret. They'll find someone to do the job, at a lower price and likely at a lower quality. I have no problem catering to the market I want to cater too.
Jim - This is so true, I feel the same way.
Dennismc -Someone making only 23k a year, can not afford anything but the walmart/sears studio shots, but I am sure they would like a nicer set done. Where do they go then? Or is it better to leave them to the sears/walmart outfits and continue the acceptance of that level of work? Which in turn hurts you guys even more?
Jim - I would, they can't afford me. How do you think I was able to keep abreast of the upgrades in photographic equipment and computer hardware and software? It wasn't by charging $50.00 a session. Besides, those aren't the clients I'm looking for. One good hint is to look at the car they are driving and the house they are living in. Some times folks will act poor, just to get a good deal.
I had a lady that wanted to purchase some of my stock photograph as wall art. I had to drive all the way to Bainbridge Island where she lived in a 1.5 million home overlooking Eagle Harbor. There was a Land Rover and Mercedes parked in the driveway and yet she still tried to get me to cut my prices in half. Her husband works in Bellevue making over $850K a year. I know this because while working at the Seattle PI, we did a story on him. Instead of driving over or catching the ferry, he motors his own boat over, ties up in a rented slip and gets in his jaguar and drives from there to work. I just laughed and said, "Thanks, I'm flattered that you want my images, but not at the prices you're wiling to pay, because I can't afford to let them go so cheaply, especially for 16 x 24 inch prints." I already knew why her husband budgeted the photography for as we talked about it earlier and she was only going to offer 1/2 price he and I agreed on. After a quick phone conservation to him and after he called her back did I get the whole price. I guess she needed the extra money to get her hair and nails done at a full body spa.
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