We were happy with the new direction we were headed in, but we were still a little nervous about the change. Then I came across this forum thread: What Would You Pay for Custom Photography. I discovered there are an endless number of threads about photography clients who want to pay practically nothing for digital negatives and stories about photographers who charge $75 per session, including prints. Our print prices started at $65, so I was more than a little nervous.

Finally I saw something familiar. One of my clients posted this:

“We did an OpLove session, so I had no session fee and my darling husband got something sent to him overseas. I paid more than $65 per print and $5,000 total [despite other photographers who offered budget photos from $25.] They do not even give CDs, but I would gladly pay that for their work.”

What justified this higher price for her? Was it our work? I’ll be the first to admit that wasn’t the case. My boyish good looks or inappropriate sense of humor? No.

It was the entirety of our sales process, which is designed to give our clients exactly what they want from their session — nothing more, nothing less. That’s when it finally clicked for me: This is what our clients want. This is what they expect. And this is what they deserve.

So let’s dig in to the details of what such a sales process looks like. By the time you’re finished reading this article, you will have clear and actionable steps to take that should increase your sales and thrill your clients.

Oh, and by the way… the client I’ve been talking about? She was the first person who went through this sales process with us.

Let’s do this.

The Ultimate Sales Secret

Ask your client what they want. Then create it for them.

As trite as this sounds, take a second to think about it. What we’re talking about now isn’t sales.

Collaborate with your client and work as a team to create the best products possible for them.

Removing all of that stress around the idea of sales will free you up to provide great service to your clients. They’ll be much happier and you’ll make a lot more money.

First Thing First: Setting Expectations

Throughout the sales process, we are constantly setting and reinforcing the expectations we have for our clients. These expectations include the types of products we sell and the price our typical client spends. It’s absolutely critical you do this. If you don’t, it won’t be until the sales meeting when you find out you and your client aren’t on the same page. You could end up with a much lower sale price than anticipated, and your client could walk away feeling, at best, underserved — and at worst, embarrassed. You don’t want to waste each other’s time.

There are a few places you should be setting expectations.

On your website

Show what you sell. If you sell wall art, blog about the art pieces you’re creating. Shameless plug: If you haven’t sold any wall art but want to start, sign up for a Swift Galleries free trial (affiliate) and use some of our free stock rooms to create custom wall art pieces with some of your favorite portfolio images. Blog those images to show that you intend to create wall art pieces for your clients.

Give them a price range. Let your clients know how much they should expect to spend on you by including a simple message, such as “our typical client spends between $xxx and $xxxx on photography” or “custom wall art begins at $xxx.”

In Person

When you meet with your clients, ask them questions that make it clear what you intend for them to purchase.

This is as simple as asking, “Where in your home would you like to display your images on your walls?” or saying, “Tell me about your design style so we can start talking about what type of album would fit it best.”

Through Past Clients

If your client is referred to you by someone who has your images displayed on their wall, your new client’s expectations for wall art are already set. Conversely, if the client only sees your images on Facebook, there’s a good chance he or she only will expect to receive digital files from you.

The goal here is not to convince people to buy what you want them to buy. Instead, your aim should be to attract people who already want what you offer. If they want what you want to give them — and they have a general idea of how much that’s going to cost them — then you’re both well on the way to a great experience. If any of these things aren’t a fit, happily refer them to someone who is a great fit for them.

Step One – The Planning Meeting

After our client has looked at our website; reviewed our prices, products and process; and decided to move forward with us, the first step is a planning meeting.

The Purpose of the Planning Meeting

• Continue to reinforce expectations.
• “The Funnel” — Start with all of the products you offer, session location options, wardrobe options, etc. Ask open-ended questions about your clients, their style and their desired products. Narrow them down to only the things that are relevant for that client.
• Planting the seed for a sale — Start discussing specific products your client might want and get into detail about what those products might look like and what they will cost.
• Nail down logistics and session details — Decide on the session date, time and location, sales meeting date and time, and wardrobe options.
• Get room images to use in Swift Galleries (affiliate).
• Collect the session fee.

In our best planning meetings, we’re able to take our client from saying “I want some pictures of my family” to “I want a 30×45 canvas of my whole family looking at the camera to go over the couch in the living room, The Starry Eyed Canvas Collection with candids of each of my kids individually, and one of them together to go on the wall next to my bathroom as well as a formal family portrait for the front of our holiday card and a goofy picture of our dog for the back of the card.”

If we can get this specific (which is not always possible, but happens fairly often) then I know exactly what I’m going to shoot when I get to a session — all the way down to the aspect ratio I need to shoot for. It’s awesome.

Step Two – The Session

The session is an integral part of the sales process because it’s when you build excitement for the products your client wants. We do this by showing images on the back of the camera when we know we’ve nailed one of the photos they want, and saying things like, “This is perfect for that canvas we talked about over your couch” and “This is going to look great in that collection we talked about for your master bedroom.”

This strategy for building anticipation is more powerful than you think. Yes, your client will be more excited about their images. But even more importantly, during the time between the session and sales meeting your client will be able to visualize the image every time she walks past her couch. She’s selling that product to herself! Better yet (another shameless plug), use Swift Galleries during your planning meeting to show her what those photographs will look like at the correct size.

Step Three – The Sales Meeting

We’ve found that a set progression through our sales meeting helps us to be sure we cover all of our bases.  And it’s just plain easier. Here’s how we work through the sales meeting (and how the Swift Galleries IPS Mode is set up):

1. A slideshow, twice —  The first time through, we tell them to sit back and enjoy the images and not to try to decide which ones are their favorites. The second time through, we ask that they start thinking about which ones are their favorites.

2. Sort the images into “yes” and “no” — If it’s a “maybe”, just put it in with the “yes” pile. Better to have these to draw from if we need them.

3. Choose large portraits or collections — We start with the “statement” pieces first when choosing our clients’ wall art images. We often have these layouts pre-designed and saved as Suggestions in Swift Galleries with the products they said they wanted during the planning meeting and also fill with the images we were excited about during the session. We’ll tweak these with different images if they love something else. We use Swift Galleries for this (surprise!) so that we can show them exactly what these images will look like on their wall, at the right size.

4. Albums and miscellaneous products — Our clients are consistently surprised at how many images they love from their session. Even after choosing five or six wall art pieces, often a client wants to find a home for all of the other images too. So we’ll sell them albums or other products that fit more than one image. It’s a good idea to come up with some products that will allow your client to purchase more than one image but won’t take up a huge amount of space in their home. We sell an Easel Collection (a small easel with eight 8×8 mounted prints) for this very reason, so that our client has a way to display more of the images they love. In Swift Galleries IPS Mode, we’ll just add these non wall art products to their order as “Add-Ons” during the checkout process.

5. Gift prints — We offer a discount on any image in 4×6, 5×7 or 8×12 that our client has ordered elsewhere (i.e., a discounted 4×6 on an image that appears in an album or in a wall art collection). We then combine that “sale” mentality with suggestions on for whom or why they should buy some gift prints. For example, “Father’s Day is coming up. Do you need any images for Grandpa? If you want a small print of one of your wall images, it’s discounted off of the regular price since you already ordered it there.” As with everything else in our process, this is not pushy salesman stuff; it’s simply asking your client what they want and giving it to them. These get added as “Add-Ons” in Swift Galleries, as well.

6. Take their payment — Tally everything up, and take their payment manually or automatically through Swift Galleries. We offer payment plans on anything over $1,000. Half down and half due one month later.

If you use something like PayKit.io, you can set this up to automatically charge the card on the date due, which saves everyone the hassle of arranging the second payment.

We’ve taught this sales process to photographers for years. We consistently hear from those who’ve made the switch that they are seeing giant increases in their sales and getting referrals from happy clients. The photographers who put off making the switch always mention that they wish they had switched sooner.

So there you have it. It looks like a giant process when it’s all written out, but it’s really not. You are simply asking your client what they want and creating it for them. By doing this, you’re providing your clients with a service they couldn’t get from most of your competitors, and they’ll pay you a premium for it. In the end, you’ll have higher sales averages, and your clients will be much happier with their experience than if you had simply delivered the images on a disc and sent them on their way to figure out what to do with those images on their own. So get out there and start making more money while making your clients happier!

The Perfect In-Person Sales Tool

Come see how simple wall art sales should be with Swift Galleries.

Swift Galleries makes In-Person Sales simple by helping clients visualize exactly what their images will look like on their own walls, at exactly the right size. And because Swift Galleries was built around the exact process you just learned, you can be up and running with it in mere minutes.

• Swift Galleries works across all devices and operating systems – so design on your iMac, sell on your Android tablet and even check your sales stats from your Windows phone.
• As a web-based app, there’s nothing to install and no need to ever worry about running the latest version. When we release an update, it’s available immediately as soon as you log in.
• Swift Galleries was built to fit seamlessly into your business, without you having to change things for us. So sell the products you love, from the labs you use, online or in-person, on any device.

Click here to try it absolutely free for 14 days

You can use the best gear in the world, take the best photos in your market and have a solid sales process in place but, if you’re not creating products your clients will love, then you’ll have a difficult time keeping your photography business afloat.

At Swift Galleries we use wall art as a sales tool. This post will teach you how to choose the right space, photos layouts plus inspiration for galleries for every room in the home.

Choose a room for wall displays

Here are considerations to help let the room set the tone for a wall display showing.

Chris and Adrienne Scott

What is the mood of the space?

Does your client have a formal living room with big, ornate leather furniture, muted wall and accessory colors and many leather- bound books? You’ll probably want to go with images where everyone is looking at the camera and layouts that are symmetrical.

Funky colors and playful accessories throughout the room? Spontaneous, candid photos and asymmetric gallery layouts will be right at home in this space!

How will their canvases interact with existing furniture or artwork?

Be sure to consider how your client’s new canvases will work alongside the furniture they already have in their space. Balance the size and design of the galleries to complement the furniture or any architectural features in the space. As a rule of thumb, always try to hang artwork at, or as close to, eye-level as possible.

How will their artwork interact with the existing colors in their room?

Try contrasting bold wall colors with muted or black and white photos to make them stand out. Muted wall colors in a playful room just beg for bold splashes of color, images with interesting compositions and layouts that show off different subject sizes. Don’t be afraid to “break the grid” and work with asymmetric and funky layouts!

Kate Whitmore Photography

Ideal room size for wall displays

How much wall space does your client have?

Don’t try to sell the biggest piece for your client’s space, sell the right piece for their space. Sometimes this will mean filling a space from side to side, and top to bottom. Sometimes a collection of smaller images is perfect. If they’ve got a large, white, blank, boring wall to fill, go nuts and fill it with a mix of large and small images. Symmetrical layouts that fill a space are an easy way to make a bold statement on an otherwise boring wall. If you’ve got only a small amount of space to work with, or other busy elements nearby, something smaller and understated will be the way to go.

How far away will your clients be when looking at their artwork?

If your clients have a large room and you’re trying to fill a space on the far wall, large pieces will work well there. In a smaller room, say a bathroom or hallway, where you’ll be much closer to the piece when viewing it, you’ll want to go with much smaller images. Think of it as sitting too close to the IMAX screen in the theater, you don’t want to have to physically move your head in order to see the entire image.

Don’t sell the biggest piece for the space, sell the right piece for the space.

What photos to choose for wall displays

Pay Attention to Resolution

When choosing photos to be printed large on canvas, you’ll want to be sure to use the largest files possible. Most modern DSLR should be able to create an image that will print well on larger canvases. Thankfully, you can get away with a few more imperfections on canvas, since the viewing distance is greater for a large image, and you won’t be right on top of it when looking at it.

Mix it Up

When creating a canvas gallery of family photos, choose a full-family photo, as well as combinations of groups and individuals. So you might do a large full family image, surrounded by a photo of just the kids, each parent with the kids and each kid individually.

Mixing Color and Black and White Photos

Mixing color and black and white photos in the same wall gallery can be an easy way to create a dynamic, eclectic canvas collection,

so don’t be afraid to give it a shot. We’ll talk a bit more about how to pull this off when we discuss choosing layouts in the next section.

Be Careful When Cropping

Before you crop your photo, be sure it’s exactly what you want, since you’ll degrade the quality of the final print (because the resolution will be lower than a full-size image). Also, if you plan to print your photos on gallery wrapped canvases, where the photo wraps around the edges of your canvas, you’ll want to leave a little space to be sure nothing important is going to wrap to the side.

This photo would make a fantastic wall image, but that adorable family might wrap around the bottom edge if printed on a gallery wrapped canvas.

Kate Whitmore Photography

Consider aesthetics

Tell a Story

Think of your canvas galleries as pages in a photo album. Try to tell the story of that day, moment or event through the images you choose for your galleries. If it’s a wedding, include portraits of the bride and groom as well as photos of the little details that made that day so special. If it’s a gallery of a client’s kid’s first day of school, tell the story by including photos of his clothes laid out before he woke up, him brushing his teeth and pouring his milk before jumping on the school bus for the first time.

Choose a Consistent Mood

Try to keep the mood of the photos consistent within your canvas galleries. If the main image your client loves is playful and candid, stick with playful, candid photos for the entire collection of canvases instead of mixing in more formal photos as well.

Try to tell the story of that day, moment or event through the gallery images you choose.

Chris and Adrienne Scott

Set the Scene

Don’t be afraid of negative space in your canvas galleries. By using a lot of negative space, you’re helping to tell the story of the moment because you end up showing so much of the surroundings. Since canvas photos are typically printed large, fun compositions with a lot of negative space tend to work really well!

The Same Rules Apply

You know all those rules you try to follow when creating your images? Things like the rule of thirds, leading lines and such? Yep, those all apply here. Yes, sometimes these rules are made to be broken, but for the most part following good photography compositional rules will make for a much more interesting and aesthetically pleasing canvas gallery.

Choosing your gallery layout

Featured and Supporting Images

Now that you’ve selected a space and images for your client’s new canvas gallery, choosing a layout is simple! The first thing to consider is whether or not there is one image that you’d like to feature among the rest. If your clients do have a favorite photo out of the bunch, make that your largest piece and place it at eye-level. Build the rest of the gallery around this featured image, with smaller supporting canvases.

Erin Smagala Photography

Balancing Canvas Sizes

While it’s totally fine to create asymmetrical gallery layouts, it’s still important to keep a balance in your designs. Consider your featured image to be the center of the see-saw of your gallery, keeping as much “weight” on one side as the other. Did you add two small canvases to the left side? Great, add one large canvas to the right, and you’ll be good to go.

Balancing Color

As you start adding photos to your layout, be careful to keep similar colors separate from each other. If mixing black and white with color images, try to alternate them throughout your gallery so you don’t end up with one side more heavy with black and white or color than the other.

We maintained balance in this gallery by separating similar poses, locations, groupings of people and similar colors across the entire layout.

La Dolce Vita Photography

Balancing Content and Composition

Along the same lines as the previous two points, try to maintain balance in the compositional style and content of the photos in your gallery. If you have a few images with a lot of negative space, spread those out across the gallery instead of placing them near each other. If your chosen photos have multiple locations or similar poses, spread those across the gallery as well.

When in Doubt, Triptych or Grid

If you’re just looking to create a balanced, clean gallery layout, you can never go wrong with a triptych, which is just a fancy term for “group of three photos”. Triptychs are tried and true and they’re about as visually appealing as any layout can get. Not feeling a triptych? Try a grid, instead. Both layouts epitomize balance and can be easy to fit into just about any space.

If you’re just looking to create a balanced, clean gallery layout, you can never go wrong with a triptych.

Chris and Adrienne Scott

Gallery ideas for every room

Steal these ideas outright, or use them as a jumping off point for creating a beautiful, one-of-a-kind canvas collection for your clients’ homes.

Living rooms, sitting rooms, family rooms, dens, etc.

Chris and Adrienne Scott

The Tried and True

Formal living room with a traditional feel? You can’t go wrong with one large family portrait over the couch or fireplace. If one canvas doesn’t quite fit the bill, try a large family portrait flanked by a portrait of mom and dad on one side and a photo of the kids on the other. We’ll talk about this a bit more when discussing choosing images and layouts, but collections that show off different groups of family members can be a fun way to feature all of the unique personalities in your client’s family!

Tell Your Family’s Story

Don’t worry about filling a space all at once, instead add a new piece to an ever-growing, always-evolving gallery as your clients’ family reaches new milestones. This is a great way to bring their life into their home and to create something that will be handed down and cherished for generations.

And Now for Something Completely Different

Feeling bold and want to try something new? Build a gallery that turns a corner in a room and invites viewers further into the home as they experience your one-of-a-kind gallery!

Hallways

The Long and Short of It

Hallways are a great place to create a long gallery of smaller images. You can tell a story with these types of galleries, by starting at one point in time and moving chronologically down the hallway. Or mix it up and just give them a fun collection of images to enjoy as they walk from room to room. The important thing to remember here is to keep these images smaller, so that they can enjoy them from the up close and personal hallway.

Kid Clusters

Forego the long line of canvases and opt instead for multiple small clusters of canvases throughout a hallway. These work well if you give each kid or family member their own canvas cluster, like their own little star on their home’s very own Walk of Fame.

Give each kid or family member their own canvas cluster, like their own little star on their home’s very own walk of fame.

McLellan Style

Kitchens and dining rooms

The Art of Cooking

Kitchens are a fun place to mix things up with other types of images. Create small groupings of canvases featuring up-close black and white photos of various kitchen utensils or colorful fruits and vegetables.

The Family that Plays Together

Kitchens and Dining Rooms are also a great place to show off candid, fun photos of each family member. Shoot a series of close- up goofy photos of each member of the family and display them proudly above the dining room table. Pair this with some word art or fun quotes about family and you’ve created a space worthy of gathering around and talking about the day!

Kitchens and dining rooms are a great place to show off candid, fun photos of each family member.

Bedroom Displays

La Dolce Vita Photography

Family Gallery

Fill the space above a headboard with a gallery of family photos. Don’t be afraid to go big here, as there is typically plenty of wall space over a queen or king size bed.

Wedding Story

Tell the story of your client’s big day in a simple 3-image collection of the first look, first kiss and first dance.

Film Strip Fun

Create a fun film-strip across multiple canvases of your client’s kid playing with blocks that spell out their name.

Ten Little Monkeys

Embrace your inner child with a cluster of photos of the kids (or the entire family) jumping on the bed, displayed over a kids bed or in the master bedroom!

My Family and Me

Create a two-image canvas gallery that includes a family portrait and a portrait of your client’s kid to go over their bed.