Conveying Your Value to a Client
with client budgets tight these days what can you do to convince them that you are worth it? Lowering your prices is an Ill-advised plan because those clients will expect the lower rates when things get better.
Instead promote the VALUE you will bring to the assignment . By emphasizing value with phrases like " our approach to this assignment will bring real value to your customers' perception of your widget..." or "the value we will bring to this assignment will result in images that will make your prospective client more aware of the benefits of your service..."
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You can also emphasize the long term benefits of your work. Conveying to a client in your own words concepts like "long after the sweet fragarence of the floral arrangements had faded, photographs that stink will be a reminder of where costs should not be cut" or "four color press releases won't make up to photographs that miss the moment..."
Let me stress- these are phrases that illustrate concepts and using that language might come across with the unspoken perception of you being " how dare he tell me how to spend my money..."
In the end, you need to convey to your prospective client that you are the best choice for the assignment and right now in a cost-conscious economy, emphasizing your services as valuable will help them make the right choice-you.
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5 comments:
Ahem!
Photographic value is like a quality tool. If you buy only on cost you get cheap junk. If you buy Value It will repay in quality over and over again.
Great Topic and article!
Had to jump in on this post too, but I think there is only one suitable response:
Amen!
This, is of course if you do have Value. Just because you read Photo Business News does mean you do. ...If you know what I'm getting at.
Back in 1985 I assisted a sweet-natured architectural photographer who satirized the race to the bottom with the phrase "I may be slow, but at least I'm expensive." It's a phrase he'd utter if he tired of working with a client he found irrationally demanding. He was confident enough to say it in front of the client. It meant he intended to *raise* his prices for that difficult client if the client ever called for another project.
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