Engagement sessions offer the chance for you, the photographer, to personally bond with your new clients, increase sales dramatically, and potentially raise the quality of workmanship you can provide on the “big day”. If you’re looking for advice as a couple, keep reading as this could be very helpful for you as well.
Ok, so you’ve sold a couple (or possibly many) on your skills and have their wedding date penciled in the calendar. Now it’s time to really get started. As a photographer I’ve come across many people that claim to not be very photogenic, are shy in front of a lens, or whatever. Waiting until the wedding day to gain the trust of your clients will ensure that you have much more time on your hands since the whole job will be completed in only one day, right? WRONG. It’ll ensure you have a lot of time on your hands in the future because even the best photographer can’t pull off a great wedding shoot if the subject is constantly shying away from the camera. This could very well help your career migrate back to that server job you left as your “last time working with food”. Engagement sessions are your opportunity to break the bad habits of your client, build their trust, and give them the confidence in you that they need to let the wedding day flow naturally with you doing your thing, and them doing theirs.
Schedule it ASAP – As Soon As Possible
The sooner the better with engagement photos. This will allow the couple time to decide if they’d like to purchase additional products well in advance of the wedding and also allow you to capture them with the excitement still in their eyes!
Make it Personal
Make suggestions on clothing, hair, make-up, location, etc. but take the couple’s history into account. Some couples spend their days off outdoors and would rather capture the essence of their lifestyle than get all done up, some are just the opposite and want to capture the many late night lounge dates they share. Focus on details like the ring, important moments or stories they share, etc. Be flexible and take things into consideration like where and how they got engaged, what their lifestyle is like. If the couple wants natural, don’t insist on using your stylist or make-up artist. Sentiment Sells! Look at a recent shoot with a beautiful couple that spends most of their time digging clams and fishing on an island that is part of the Outer Banks, we actually had to ride the ferry to get their favorite place - April Jasinski and Barrett Bodiford.
Charging the Client
A lot of photographers do engagement sessions for “free”. I personally don’t think anything free is worth doing. Charging for the engagement session gives you the leverage to negotiate with your new clients on pricing AND services. Imagine this scenario – the client requests a discount on a $2500 package. You COULD discount the package, appearing a bit desperate and then try to “add on” the engagement session to bring up the final sale, or you could simply say “I’ll tell you what, since it’ll help me get to know you better before the wedding I’ll throw in an engagement shoot free of charge…” BAM -this is called “added value”. Sure, tie it into your $5000 packages – but on a basic level it doesn’t make sense to list it as “free”.
How it ALWAYS pays off…
If they’re good (and since the client paid you they should be) then in all likelihood the couple will insist on using the pictures in their announcement at a minimum. Most of the time you can also count on them wanting prints just because…and as an added bonus, their guests will have more pictures to look through (and buy) and you’ll be generating traffic to your website since they’ll want everyone they know to see the pictures.
More “added value” for YOU
As a personal touch, design some nice 4×4 cards with your contact info (and of course web address) to give out at the wedding and/or reception instead of business cards – or if the couple agrees, to put on the tables. Let guests have an extra card when you take their picture – it encourages them to go to the site and look/buy.
UPSELL MORE
What other angles can we work? How about a studio press guest register featuring the engagement photos on each left page? Guests think they’re amazing and it’ll double as another timeless keepsake for the couple.
These are some of the things I recommend, but if you have any ideas please share..
Nice one.. Thank you..