MORE CLIENTS
+
BIGGER SALES
+
REFERRALS

- Folio boxes and how you sell them are the key -

KNOW YOUR CLIENTS TO SELL MORE

The secret to more sales is as simple as understanding just what your client wants and expects from your business. The most successful photographers are in tune with what their clients want.

If you don't know your client, you will never understand how they think, feel and behave and therefore it's impossible to understand what they want. So the first step is to identify who your clients are, their characteristics and how they interact with the world.

Know your client, understand what they want, then sell it to them.

Do you know who your photography clients are?

WHO ARE YOUR CLIENTS?

Let's look at Gen Y aka Millenials

Generation Y were born between 1980 and 1994 so they are your wedding clients, your family portrait clients, your newborn clients, your glamour, makeover and boudoir clients. In other words, they represent a large proportion of your target audience as a professional photographer.

Generation Y Characteristics

Photographer clients

HOW DO YOU CONVERT MORE CLIENTS?

Simple. By giving them what they want.

Instant Gratification
Our brains are wired in such a way that makes us LOVE instant gratification. We become more prone to buying when we are reminded that our problems can be solved quickly. In other words, when your clients know they will be rewarded immediately, they will be anxious to buy your products. That's why a print viewing works so well. When your client arrives to view their images, the prospect of being able to take them home that very same day has a huge part to play in your client making that purchase decision.

Value
This doesn't mean cheap! In business terms, the definition of value is 'The extent to which a good or service is perceived by its customer to meet his or her needs or wants, measured by customer's willingness to pay for it. It commonly depends more on the customer's perception of the worth of the product than on its intrinsic value.'

So what do your clients value? They value the experience you give them, the connection they made with you at that initial consultation and throughout their time with you. They value the service you offer, the products you sell and the quality and expertise of the photos you deliver. They value what you give them and how you give it to them. They value your understanding and fulfilment of their wants and needs. It’s not about price, it’s about everything else.

Prints
Yes, we are living in a digital age but that doesn’t mean people don’t want prints. Quite the opposite in fact. It has been proven that as humans, we feel a much deeper connection to a printed image than we do to one shown to us on a screen. People love to see their images in print. When they feel, touch and interact with a print, it evokes an emotional response and therefore has a much higher perceived value in your client's eyes than a digital file. The moment they pick up that photo and hold it in their hands there is an instant connection. They won’t want to put it down or leave it behind. By selling something in print, you're delivering real value to your client. Yet another reason why a print viewing works.

Choice
People want choice, they want variety, they want multiple images. They don’t want to have to narrow their choices down to 1 or 2 images. If you’re a good photographer, that’ll be an almost impossible task for your client and will lead to decision fatigue which may result in a no sale. Instead, give them choice, give them more.

Digitals
People want and expect digitals - that’s just a fact. Why do they want them? The social media craze is in full swing and people have a need to share their photos on social media at a moments notice. They can’t do that with a physical print (well, not without some difficulty). It’s also a peace of mind thing. Photos can get lost or damaged and once gone they are gone forever. A digital copy feels like a safety blanket so if something happens to their photo, the memory isn’t lost for good.

WHat do your photography clients want?

SEE THE BENEFITS

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OF A FOLIO BOX

IT'S NOT JUST ABOUT WHAT YOU SELL, IT'S HOW YOU SELL IT

If you’re not doing in-person sales then you’re really missing a trick and a big one at that! If you are doing in-person sales but you do a digital viewing whereby you show your clients the images on screen or via projector then you’re missing out on the “power of instant gratification”. Let’s just re-visit that for a second and look at the science behind it.

What you want to do is make your client’s brain light up instantly. There are few things our brains love more than immediate stimulation. MRI studies have shown that our frontal cortex is highly active when we think about having to wait for something. This part of the brain is responsible for executive functions such as planning for the future, judgement, decision-making skills, attention span, and inhibition. But this isn’t the part of the brain we want to stimulate - we’re looking to light up the mid brain. The midbrain controls and regulates dopamine production which is responsible for pleasurable reward amongst other things. The midbrain lights up when we think about receiving something right away.

Customers feel instant gratification when they are rewarded for doing business with you. When a client is on the verge of completing a purchase, they are heavily influenced by how quickly they can receive gratification for parting with their hard earned cash. This is why a print viewing is so powerful. You can tap into the power of instant gratification by allowing your client to take their images home with them that very same day. Job done.

Light up your client's brain with instant gratification

When a client is on the verge of completing a purchase, they are heavily influenced by how quickly they can receive gratification for parting with their hard earned cash.

CHOICE + PRINTS + DIGITALS

As we've said before, the highly successful photographers know what their clients want. That’s why they always sell in print but for every print their client purchases, they also include a high resolution digital file of that image. It's another box ticked in their client's mind.

Another key advantage of selling a folio box is that your client doesn't have to limit their choice to just a couple of images; they get to take a selection of their favourite photos home with them and the digitals too. This is a real plus in the client's eyes and it avoids the wet blanket of sales that is decision fatigue. A tired or confused mind will end up saying no. Today's generation want variety and they want choice. They don't want to have to narrow it down to just 1 or 2 images as they would for a piece of wall art.

That’s why we’ve designed our folio boxes – so you can give your client the best of both worlds in one neat and very beautiful package that screams quality and reflects your brand as a professional photographer. Pair that with an online gallery that your client can save to their phone allowing them to share on social media quickly and easily. Now you're ticking all of your client's boxes.

Give them a selection of matted prints in a beautiful heirloom box along with the digital files.

Using a reveal wall in a print viewing

GIVE VALUE

When you can see that you’re ticking all of your client’s boxes, you know you’re delivering real value.

By offering a print viewing to your client, you’re creating excitement, you’re giving them a selection of beautiful prints to take home with them, you’re giving them the digital files to share and save, you're giving them an online gallery for social sharing, you’re giving them a beautiful product that they can treasure forever, you’re giving them something to talk about and you’re giving it to them NOW.

You’re giving them something to talk about and you’re giving it to them NOW.

The result - one very excited and very happy client and what do happy clients do? They talk! Ding ding ding - you guessed it, we’re talking about referrals.

Give your clients what they want to maximise your sales opportunity

INES SCHAEFER TALKS ABOUT WHY

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SHE SELLS FOLIO BOXES

LET'S COMPARE FOLIO BOXES WITH WALL ART

Wall Art versus Folio Boxes
Benefit Folio Box Wall Art
Instant Gratification Yes No
Short / No Lead Time Yes No
Mutliple Images Yes No (unless multi aperture)
Shareable Yes No
Brandable Yes No
Decisions by client
  1. The prints for their box or they simply choose all
  1. Style of frame
  2. Size of print/frame
  3. The photo to be framed
  4. Where to hang it
  5. How to hang it

FOLIO BOXES V ALBUMS

Albums versus Folio Boxes

COMPARE THE PROCESS

Folio Box with Print Viewing
  1. Purchase folio box from supplier
  2. Edit, print and mat 30 images
  3. Client chooses some or all prints and takes their folio box home on the day
  4. Give yourself a pat on the back and treat yourself to a night out ;)
Album
  1. Edit images
  2. Client chooses style of album and number of pages
  3. Do a digital viewing or send link to images for favourite selection
  4. Client chooses album design style
  5. Design the album
  6. Send design to client for proofing
  7. Perform any requested edits
  8. Send to client for final approval
  9. Place order with album company
  10. Client waits for it to arrive
  11. Photographer arranges collection or delivery of album

If you're a wedding photographer, you can sell companion/parent boxes with a unique set of prints in each – you don't have to settle for a duplicate of the main box

BE DIFFERENT

STAND OUT FROM THE CROWD

Every Joe Bloggs photographer sells wall art and albums.

Set yourself apart by offering something different, something special, a product you can be proud of that reflects your brand and delivers what your client wants.

Stand out from your competitors

Stand up, stand out, be different.

LOVE WALL ART?

No problem. It's the perfect upsell!

Wall art is a perfect upsell with a folio box

When you’ve sold the folio box, ask your client
if they have any favourite images they’d like enlarged for the wall.

MOST POPULAR PRODUCTS

Here is a selection of our most popular Premium Folio boxes. Choose a design to get started and customise it to your liking in our online product designer.