business practices

There’s no money in cheap

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Some photographers still insist on pricing below cost or competing only on price. In the race to the bottom, these photographers will always win, or lose, depending on how you look at it.

If a photographer sells very cheaply or works for free, hoping that customers will one day agree to pay much more or that a huge volume of work will magically appear, then this photographer will be greatly mistaken.

On April 6th, CPI Corp., the company that owned and operated all of the Sears portrait studios and about 20% of the Walmart portrait studios, in the USA, shut down its US operations. Its Canadian in-store studios are, so far, unaffected.

CPI, (in)famous for its dirt cheap portraits and free prints, was ….. (wait for it) ….. losing too much money. It owes about US$174.8 million. Creditors gave the company until April 6th to repay US$98.5 million. So CPI is a winner in the race to the bottom!
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Pricing ups and downs

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Many (most?) photographers struggle with pricing their services. Price too high and customers will think the photographer is gouging them. Price too low and customers will think the photographer does inferior work. Either way, the photographer loses.

Some photographers think that if they lower their existing prices, their business will increase. Their plan is to charge less and make up for it with volume.

But this means the photographer is going to do the same work and provide the same level of service, all for less money. Then they’ll do it many times over again, always for less money, and somehow it’ll earn them more money. But these photographers fail to understand three things:
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Working for free

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Photographers, do yourself a favour and read this article by US brand strategist Patty Soffer:

Freebies are the scourge of freelance workers everywhere. Beginners notwithstanding (yes, we all pay our dues) many are tempted to work for free because they believe it will lead to paying work. News flash: it won’t. It leads exactly nowhere. When the un-payer decides to ante up, they hire someone else because they want to work with professionals who value themselves. Clearly you don’t if you were willing to give it away for nothing.

– Patty Soffer

 

When someone asks you to work for free, it means they think your photography is worthless. When you work for free, it means you agree.

The best situation is to charge what your photography is worth. But if you must offer a discount, rather than work for free, simply charge less than what your photography is worth but more than what it costs.

 

Grammatically Correct

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Today, March 4th, is National Grammar Day in the USA. However, here in Canada, we don’t got no Grammar Day to write about.

A few days ago, I had reason to review and edit photo captions from a number of photographers. The spelling and grammar were atrocious. The photographers should have been extremely embarrassed that they weren’t smarter than a fifth grader.

All of these photographers work for daily newspapers and they assume that someone else at their newspaper will correct their captions. But after checking some newspaper websites, this was not always the case. A photographer’s poorly written caption was often copied verbatim onto the website.

Every self-employed photographer knows, or should know, that good grammar and proper spelling are essential business tools. Grammar and spelling add to a photographer’s credibility and professionalism.

 

Flash Forward

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Over the past two months, I photographed in a few Toronto offices, from small to mid-sized. Here are a few random observations:

• Businesses seem to be much more paperless. I can recall when offices had entire walls, and even hallways, lined with filing cabinets.

• Fax machines are pretty much obsolete.

• Just over half of the offices I was in had their employees working on laptops. This may make sense in terms of cost and portability but one wonders about the health cost. Many employees’ necks and shoulders were hunched over as they were working on their laptops.

• No desktop computers meant that the office lacked the familiar sound of keyboard (and mouse) clicking. I guess this sound will disappear like that of a typewriter.
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Precedent Setting

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Everyone knows the saying, “you only get one chance to make a first impression.” While this is true, it goes further than that.

As with any business, a professional photographer should remember that when dealing with a new customer, everything the photographer does sets the precedent for all future interactions with that customer.

For example:

  • how the photographer answers the first phone call
  • the number of spelling mistakes in the first e-mail
  • showing up late for the first assignment
  • improperly dressed for the assignment
  • missing the deadline on the first job
  • poor quality on the first job
  • pricing below cost or working for free

Each “first” interaction with a customer sets the standard for that customer’s future expectations.

Precedents are quick to set and slow to undo.

 

Trash the risk

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Last week, a Quebec woman drowned while being photographed in her bridal gown during a “trash the dress” photo shoot. A “trash the dress” is where a woman is photographed a few days, weeks, or maybe even months, after her wedding while wearing her bridal gown in a wet, dirty or otherwise unorthodox location. One would have thought that this fad disappeared after the 1970s but it became trendy again a few years ago.

The family of the victim released a statement which seemed to place blame on the photographer:

These character traits made [the victim] very trusting in others. … One thing we are certain about is that [the victim] would have never put her life at risk. Her love for life, for her husband and for her family would never allow it.
(…)
She trusted [the photographer’s] recommendation for the location and felt safe enough to attend the photo shoot alone with the photographers. She followed their directions and put trust in their professionalism.

While no lawsuit against the photographer has been launched, (the funeral has yet to be held), one might guess where this is heading.
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