zofia Posted November 30, 2006 Share Posted November 30, 2006 I'm on the fence here. On the one hand, I like that it filters out couples who want the moon for $500, and gives searchers the honest info they're looking for. On the other hand, I like knowing that people are scoping me out and calling for a quote. Plus, I don't want to discourage anyone who's on a budget that I may be able to help out. What do you think. What are the pros/cons? This is what I've got now. I think it's fair, but I know that if I was searching for a photographer, I'd like to know what the charge right away.... Thanks, Z. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
picturesque Posted November 30, 2006 Share Posted November 30, 2006 Say "full coverage starts at $xxxx." Also say "quotes for special circumstances provided by request" or something similar. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
michelle a. Posted November 30, 2006 Share Posted November 30, 2006 Hi Zofia..... I decided to go with listing beginning package price, rather than all of them. I don't know if I've made the right decision or not. I guess I'm on the fence like you..... maybe they should all be listed???? I'd also love to hear what others think..... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
darrin ballman www.crossl Posted November 30, 2006 Share Posted November 30, 2006 I've gone back and forth on this plenty of times...! Most of the time I have listed package pricing. I just recently went back to listing them after a few months of no pricing, and "starting at" as well. For me, my inquiries and percentage of booking goes up when it's readily available to them up front. I'm sure others have experienced differently - but for me it's worked. I definitely grew tired of fielding inquiries from the $1000 budgets. I guess if it was me shopping, I would want as much info up front as possible so I wasn't wasting their time or mine - but that's how I tend to work anyway. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tana_minnick Posted December 1, 2006 Share Posted December 1, 2006 I hate calling someone to find out a price. If it's not listed, I move on. Too much trouble. I also hate when you do call and they want to know everything about you and try to reel you in. I always think - oh shut up and give me the price already. There are plenty of other photographers who do have their prices online. That's what I think. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
roxyandkaidotcom Posted December 1, 2006 Share Posted December 1, 2006 I agree with Tana ... I want all the info up front. The more info, the better. I took my pricing off for a couple of weeks and I got NO emails. I put them back up and they started coming in again. Wait ... maybe that's cause I'm CHEAP! LOL Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cjogo Posted December 1, 2006 Share Posted December 1, 2006 I just work around their budget--none of our prices are ever listed. Each coverage has it own "personalized" price. We just charge by the hour--and a sliding scale, at that. Not disclosing to the client, of course :: But :: depends on the venue spot ( easiest to work ) how many are in the wedding party, etc. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zofia Posted December 1, 2006 Author Share Posted December 1, 2006 Nadine, I'll probably go with that for now. I have listed a sample package, but I took it off when I noticed that no one else was advertising their packages. Darrin, Tana, and Sarah, that's how I feel as well. But I'm skeptical because none of the other photographers advertise their prices. Our area has both high-end travelers, and frugal weekenders, C Jo, I think that's what clients are afraid of when they see someone without a listed price. They think, I've gotta sound cheap and poor to get a lower price. I can see clients being upset if they call twice and get 2 different prices. I guess I'll sit on it for a while. Thanks! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
craig_shearman1 Posted December 1, 2006 Share Posted December 1, 2006 I've been both the photographer and the customer so I have feelings on both sides of this. I've always been in favor of being very open about prices. From a photographer's point of view, it either weeds out people who can't afford you (if you've expensive) so you don't have to be bothered with them (called "qualifying" the client) and if you're low-priced lets them know that they can afford you. From a customer's point of view, someone who doesn't list their prices indicates to me that if I have to ask I probably can't afford them and so I usually don't bother to ask. Someone who wants to drag me into the studio and put me through an hour of finding out about me comes across like the used care salesman who says "what will it take to put you into this car today?" I think that's a huge waste of time for the customer who has a $500 budget talking to someone who doesn't shoot for less than $5000, and a waste for the same photographer who no matter how much he shows the bride that he's worth $5000, $500 is all she's got in the bank and she isn't going to sell her car to hire you no matter what you say. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cjogo Posted December 1, 2006 Share Posted December 1, 2006 ZOFIA " C Jo, I think that's what clients are afraid of when they see someone without a listed price. They think, I've gotta sound cheap and poor to get a lower price. I can see clients being upset if they call twice and get 2 different prices." It happens in the real estate--buying a car --- We do have a set price ( lowest denominator for profit ) The reason they are returning a call is that they are {#1} interested in your services & {2} usually want to re~negotiate. Just tell them :: > to purchase only what they can afford <... we just offer less service but, keep our prices profitable. We try to discourage "shoppers" ...we do no advertising..referral only. So when the call does come our way ..we know they looking for our quality > right up front. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zofia Posted December 1, 2006 Author Share Posted December 1, 2006 I've updated by site by including "Packages starting at...". All better. I feel good about it. Thanks everyone! Z Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kari douma Posted December 1, 2006 Share Posted December 1, 2006 My take on it is this... I don't want to spend the time giving someone all my pricing and information if I am not what they are looking for. On my website they can see my work and my prices. If they still are interested they can call me to set up a meeting. I don't want to have that meeting with them and then find out that I am not in their price range, and we both just wasted an hour. I'm sure saying what your packages start at would help that. I am the type of person that I want to know everything before I call. I have looked at houses, cars, and other things online. If the price isn't listed, I just keep on looking. I don't want to waste my time calling to find out it wasn't what I was looking for. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rachel k. Posted December 2, 2006 Share Posted December 2, 2006 About +/-40% of the photogs in my area list their prices on their site, as do I. I've gotten calls from, mostly from mom's of the bride strangely, who said they only called because my prices are out there. That's enough for me to keep 'em up. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
j_c38 Posted December 2, 2006 Share Posted December 2, 2006 Put your prices on line. Filter out the shoppers. A good webpage to sell your product with the prices there will weed-out a lot of lookie-lou's. When someone does contact your, sell yourself and your product, they're interested! Either way, you can't go wrong. Maybe you have a unique marketing idea to sell yourself and draw all sorts of people in. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
michelle a. Posted December 2, 2006 Share Posted December 2, 2006 This has been a great thread.... I changed my mind because of it and now have my fees listed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vladimir_pcholkin___washin Posted December 2, 2006 Share Posted December 2, 2006 I have all my prices on my website. Every bride thanked me for that. B&G need to talk to so many different vendors to plan their wedding, every minute counts. Few clients told me how frustrated they were to meet a photographer just to learn that his/her prices are to high for their budget. Myself, I would rather play ball with my son, than I meet with clients who expect me to do a day of work for $500. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zofia Posted December 4, 2006 Author Share Posted December 4, 2006 I guess I'm just afraid of offending my fellow photographers locally. It's a small island. I have always charged conservatively. I could either raise my prices, a lot, and post them, I suppose. But, I'm a new business here and I really need the work and exposure for now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jenacolson Posted December 5, 2006 Share Posted December 5, 2006 I completely agree with Vladimir. When you're planning a wedding, every minute counts. Today's brides (who are generally the one making the plans) are just as busy as everyone else and on top of it have to plan a wedding. Speaking from experience as a bride-to-be, the last thing I wanted to do when booking a photographer was waste my time emailing and calling just to find out that s/he was way out of my price range. So we went with Marc Williams. (Hooray!) You can make sure to say something on your site about prices being negotiable and mixing and matching packages to fit the clients' needs. At least then it indicates that they have some leeway in pricing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
patrick_lockwood Posted December 6, 2006 Share Posted December 6, 2006 Personally, if you demographic is low to middle income couples, I believe you are hurting yourself. If your demographic is the high end of the business, then probably not. The reason that I believe you are hurting yourself if you don't post prices if you are targeting low to middle income persons is that, you will never know how many potential customers you alienated, who left your site, just because you didn't list prices. If I were a budding groom, I would have skipped your site because my logic is simple: I don't have time to email lots of photographers, and I only want to contact those who are within my budget, and if you don't post your price, I just skip to those sites that do since I usually assume ( like I would in a restaurant that had priceless menus) that because you don't list prices, you are probably too expensive for me. Of course, and on the other hand, if you work is that compelling, and your ad copy gives language that you are "affordable", I would probably contact you regardless of whether or not you posted your prices. So, you have to weigh in all these things. Patrick Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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