Restaurants and photographers

What do restaurants and photographers have in common?

When it comes to choosing a restaurant, or a photographer, a consumer in a larger city usually has many hundreds of choices. In the eyes of the customer, most restaurants, and most photographers, are more or less the same.

Why choose one restaurant, or photographer, over another? Convenient location? A positive previous experience? Price? Good word-of-mouth? Maybe the web site looked nice?

Restaurants rely on their menu to entice customers. They usually post menus online and near their front entrance. But compare how restaurants present their menu.

Restaurant A might use a bare bones approach for its menu:

Grilled Cheese……………………$5.95

Hamburger with fries ………..$7.95

Cheeseburger with fries……..$8.95

This style of menu emphasizes price and encourages customers to take cost into consideration when making their food decision. This bare bones menu also suggests that the restaurant serves commodity meals, food that’s just okay.

Restaurant B might go with:

Grilled Cheese Delight: Canadian cheddar or mozzarella cheese grilled to the perfect gooey-ness you love squeezed between two slices of whole wheat bread and toasted to a golden brown, just like when you were a kid. 6.95

Hamburger Heaven: Fresh ground Canadian Grade A beef grilled the way you like it and topped with lettuce, a juicy tomato slice and a tangy pickle. Accompanied by a huge scoop of our famous crispy french fries. 8.95

Cheeseburger Paradise: Even better than being in Hamburger Heaven because now you get your choice of cheddar, swiss or mozzarella cheese melted over your delicious, perfectly-grilled burger. Of course you get enough of our famous crispy french fries to fill you up. 9.95

This menu puts the customer in a positive, anticipatory mood. This is an example of selling the sizzle, not the steak. Also notice that these prices, which are higher than the first menu, don’t call attention to themselves by not having a “$” sign and by being buried in the description. A dollar sign reminds people of the financial pain of having to pay.

If the following two items were on the same menu, which would you order:

Grilled Cheese………………….$5.95

Grilled Cheese Delight: Tangy Canadian cheddar cheese grilled to the perfect gooey-ness you love and squeezed between two slices of whole wheat bread toasted to a golden brown just like when you were a kid. 6.95

A price-conscious customer might ask the waiter for the difference between the two. But most folks would probably order the second grilled cheese because of the emotional connection made through the description. They wouldn’t mind the higher price because they would assume the lower-priced meal must be a lesser sandwich because (a) it costs less and (b) the restaurant couldn’t be bothered to say anything nice about it.

What does this have to do with photography?

Talking or emphasizing price is a left-brain activity and it forces the customer to be analytical. But triggering emotional responses puts the customer into right-brain activity which helps create value in the mind of that customer.

If the conversation with a customer revolves around price, for example, “How much for a photo of . . .” or “What do you charge for . . .”, then price will never go up, only down.

If the conversation centers on value and solving a need for the customer then price becomes a secondary issue.

If a photographer has an online price list that looks like a restaurant menu, it might prevent any conversation from even starting:

Business Portrait: …………………..$425.00

Corporate Events: …………………..$225.00/hour (two-hour minimum)

This type of list emphasizes cost and the pain of paying. It forces the customer to be analytical with the prices and then make decisions based on those numbers. Photography price lists like this simply don’t work.

Not publishing a price list will (hopefully) entice customers to contact the photographer to ask for more information. This should start a conversation with the photographer asking the customer what they’re looking for, how the pictures are to be used and what they’re expecting to gain from the photography. These are all right-brain activities. These questions are intended to highlight the potential value (the sizzle) of the photography (the steak).

When a person goes to a restaurant, they don’t go to eat a grilled cheese sandwich. They go to satisfy their hunger problem and to enjoy the restaurant experience. When a customer goes to a photographer, they don’t really want pictures. They want to solve a problem by using photography. They also hope the professional photographer can provide a good experience.

Sometimes a photographer might need to have an online price list. This is common for portraits, weddings, actor headshots and some event photography. But be sure to learn from restaurant menus.

In this situation, first build value by including a description written to trigger the right emotional responses. Describe and sell the value. Include the price in the description using the same colour and same font size as the description.

When it comes to price, people assume prices in smaller font sizes (link to PDF) are a better value than prices in a large font.

Don’t call attention to the price by using a dollar sign. A dollar sign is about cost not value. Don’t use a line or a dotted line (called “leader dots”) to connect the description to the price as this encourages price shopping.

Instead of:

Business Portrait: …………………..$425.00

Corporate Events: …………………..$225.00/hour (two-hour minimum)

Maybe try something like:

Business Portrait: You will make the best first impression with a distinctive portrait custom-created to suit your business and your personality. Your portrait is designed to be a perfect fit for your web site, your social media and your press releases. A high quality portrait is no longer a luxury, it’s now a necessary business tool. Our highly regarded photography will reflect the corporate standing you’ve earned. 480 per person.

Corporate Events: A lot of time, money and stress are going into your event. Your company is depending on it to be successful. Be sure to follow through with the proper photo coverage specifically designed to produce the best pictures for both media handouts, social media and your corporate use. You can always rely on us to provide professional coverage without disrupting the event and to deliver the finished pictures on time. 250 hourly. Two hour minimum.

Stop using commas and the two decimal places in your prices.

In photography, don’t use the ninety-nine-cent trick. Never have prices like $499.99, $749.99, etc. Customers associate this “99” type of pricing with grocery stores and cheap department stores. That’s not good company for your photography business. Even-numbered prices are assumed to be a sign of quality.

If you sell picture packages, always list the higher number first. Headshot photographers should try this.

Instead of:

Two finished images for $400

Try:

$400 for two finished images

Customers always do simple arithmetic in their head when evaluating offers. The first statement says it will cost $400. The second says it’ll cost $200 per picture.

Next time you’re at a restaurant, analyze the menu for its marketing impact. Pretend the menu is a web site. Does it encourage you to flip to the next page with anticipation or with desperation? Does the quality of photography pull you in or push you away? Does the menu emphasize price, food quality or the dining experience? If the menu has in-depth descriptions, do you find yourself reading them? Why? Do these descriptions have any influence on what you order?

Now apply this to your photography web site.