When marketing its products or services, a business is usually told to focus on selling the benefits of those products or services. Sell the sizzle, not the steak. But this isn’t entirely accurate.
Human nature is such that people are motivated by the need for risk aversion. People will act more to avoid a loss than to gain a benefit. We fear loss more than we desire a benefit. This is known as the Prospect Theory.
From the New York Times:
…most of us find losses roughly twice as painful as we find gains pleasurable.
A professional photographer seeking new clients should frame their marketing more around loss avoidance and minimizing risk rather than just pointing out potential benefits. New clients are usually concerned with avoiding risk since they’ve never worked with that photographer before, (i.e. “Can we trust this photographer do the job properly?”).
An example of the Prospect Theory is the old saying, “a bird is hand is worth two in the bush.” This proverb means that a lesser but certain advantage is better than a larger but risky potential gain, or, that it’s better to hold what you have rather than risk it for something better.
The Prospect Theory is often evident in TV game shows where contestants won’t often go for the big prize if they already have another reasonable prize in hand.
A second concept worth noting is the Endowment Effect which is directly related to the Prospect Theory. The Endowment Effect says that a person will place a higher value on something once they have established ownership, even if that ownership is only virtual.
A good place to see the Endowment Effect in action is online classifieds where people often try to sell their used possessions at prices well above market value.
Some examples of “virtual ownership” or “mental ownership” and the Endowment Effect include:
• Clothing store sales staff encourage customers to try on clothes. This has little to do with getting the correct size. Shoppers tend to buy more if they’ve tried on the clothes because they’ve taken “mental ownership” of those clothes.
• New car dealerships make sure the customer gets into the driver’s seat while the salesperson stays outside the car. The customer can now savour “their new car.” The salesperson will enhance the mental ownership by asking, “How do you like your new car?” or “Would you like to take your new car home today?”
• Professional sports rely on people taking “ownership” of their local team. For example, here in Toronto, the teams are always marketed as “your Toronto Maple Leafs”, “your Toronto Raptors” and “your Toronto Blue Jays.” Come out and support your team. No matter how poorly a team performs, fans will always adore, support, and pay for, their team.
To help minimize risk, salespeople will often reassure the customer: “That new shirt looks good on you”, “You look good in that car”, “That’s a really good buy”, “That’s one of our best sellers”, “You got a really good deal”.
Let’s bring this together for photographers.
• Market your photography services with an emphasis toward minimizing risk and avoiding loss rather than just listing benefits. Keep in mind that benefits are in the eye of the customer, not the photographer.
Simple examples:
• Instead of: When you hire us, you get a photographer with 20 years experience.
Perhaps: Our 20 years experience means we deliver on time and on budget.
• Instead of: Our professional business portraits will make you look good.
Perhaps: Our professional business portraits are guaranteed to bring out your best.
• Instead of: Our corporate photography will make your company look good.
Try: Stop losing customers to the competition. Enhance your professional image with our photography.
Or: Is your web site pushing customers away? You need our corporate photography to keep customers interested.
• There’s little point in discounting prices to gain business. If customers expect a discount, they will expect a bigger discount next time. It’s just human nature.
Instead of discounting, perhaps try keeping your rates the same and offering a guarantee to eliminate customer risk. Example: We guarantee you’ll be happy with the portraits or your money refunded. (In 25 years, I’ve never been asked for a refund.)
• Reassure your customers. Use phrases like, “We make sure that…”, “You can rest assured that…”, “You can be confident that…”.
Instead of: Our public relations photography is perfect for press releases.
Perhaps try: You can be confident that our public relations photography is perfect for press releases.
• Always be proud of your own work. The customer can’t be confident if you’re not.
