The Science of Business Portraits

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If you’re reluctant to get a new business portrait because you think you don’t have the looks of a movie star, then science is on your side.

A 2013 Princeton University study (link to PDF) found that a person with average facial appearance is perceived to be more trustworthy than someone with above-average looks. In fact, the perceived trustworthiness of a less than average-looking person was found to be about the same as for a very attractive person.

. . . we found consistent evidence for the notion that face typicality is an important determinant of perceived trustworthiness . . .

We’re also more attracted to average-looking faces. Many thousands of years of evolution have hardwired us to prefer average looks. Remember that most actors and models are only average looking (link to PDF) and they just have better stylists than the rest of us :-)
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Pushing and Pulling

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If finding new customers was easy, a lot of ad agencies, marketing companies and public relations agencies would be out of business.

For corporate photographers, there’s only one true way to get customers and it’s simple: be trustworthy.

Of course, people won’t trust a business they’ve never seen or heard about. So you must be visible before you can build trust.

To be visible to your potential customers, you can either push yourself in front of them or you can try to pull them to you.

“Push marketing” means you send information to your potential customers. For example, you might send postcards, newsletters or portfolio pieces to photo editors and creative directors. This is a targeted approach since you choose who gets your marketing. Other types of push marketing such as newspaper, magazine and website ads can be less targeted.
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Don’t Phone It In

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Why not give a customer a price over the phone?

If a photographer simply tells a potential customer, “The price for your photography project will be $4,000,” then the customer may be left wondering about things like:

Does that include expenses and sales tax?

Does that price include post-processing?

When and how do we have to pay?

Exactly what are we getting for our money?

After we pay, we own the pictures, right?

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Discard Discounts

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A photographer can’t discount their way to success. If it was possible, don’t you think every photographer would be doing it?

When you discount, you penalize customers who pay your normal price. For example, after buying a $400 winter coat, do you feel cheated the following week when the same coat is discounted 50%?

When you discount, it means you have no other value to offer the customer.

Discounting attracts price shoppers. Is that what you want? If you offer a discounted price of, say, $99 for a business headshot, then you’ll attract $99 customers. If they like your work, they’ll tell all their $99 friends and you’ll get more $99 customers.
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Ninety-nine percent chance

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There’s a ninety-nine percent chance that the next potential customer who phones will ask, “How much?”

So how are you going to respond? Just hem and haw? Mumble something like, “It depends”?

Ideally a price should not be given over the phone. It’s always better to use e-mail. When you give a price over the phone, the customer will remember only the price and nothing else you said.

A customer asks “how much” usually because they don’t know what else to ask. While price may be important to them, the true reason they call is that they’re trying to figure out if you’re the right photographer for them. Do you understand their needs? Can you do the work properly? Do they feel reassured by you?

When that inevitable question is asked, you have to be ready without missing a beat. The way to do this is to have a prepared script or checklist which includes a number of questions for the customer, for example:
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Quotable Stress

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A photographer wrote to say:

“I don’t know why sending out job quotes still stresses me out too much after all these years. I tie too much emotion to my business at times.”

She went on to say that she wanted to learn to separate her business from her emotions because, she said, it’s not personal, it’s just business.

 

If you view your photography as art then perhaps you should also view your business as an art. And art tends to be emotional.

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