Mini Sessions Might Be Killing Your Business

0:00Are you a photographer possibly running

0:02mini sessions? In this video, I'm going to

0:05tell you exactly why they might be doing

0:07more harm than good and actually killing

0:09your business. Before I get started, I

0:11will preface this by saying there are

0:12plenty of photographers having a lot of

0:14success with it.

0:15And if this is you or someone

0:17who's doing well with it,

0:19good on you guys. I want nothing but the

0:20best for your businesses, and I hope that

0:22your success continues. But for the most

0:25part, and especially for someone starting

0:27their business, trying to build a

0:28following and trying to actually build a

0:30brand and hopefully get to the point

0:32where they're charging the rates that

0:33they want for the work that they do, I'm

0:35going to tell you that in a lot of cases

0:37this can actually be doing a lot more

0:39harm, and I'm going to get into them right

0:40now. Number one: nobody knows about you.

0:44You think that doing a mini session

0:46is actually going to help get your brand

0:48out there, and it's going to get you more

0:49clients in the future. But what's

0:52actually happening is you're going to have

0:53a lot of people, let's just say our

0:55sample size is a thousand people. You

0:57have a thousand people that don't know

0:59anything about you, learning about you

1:01for the first time and thinking that

1:03your worth is attached to your mini

1:05session price. And a lot of times with

1:07those mini sessions, especially if you're

1:08not a seasoned photographer, you're not

1:10doing in-person sales. We're going to be

1:12doing it for a very low cost.

1:14That could mean $100. It can be, and as

1:16I've seen, as low as $45 and getting up

1:19closer to $299 or $300. Regardless, what's

1:22going on here is that hundreds of people

1:24are seeing your brand for the first time

1:26and they're going to start associating you

1:27with very inexpensive work and possibly

1:30even the fact that you give away all the

1:33digitals and that you're ultimately a

1:35low-price photographer who offers very

1:37similar services to everyone around you.

1:39The second reason is despite building

1:42good rapport, despite having great

1:43sessions, it's going to be really tough to

1:45get quality referrals and follow-on

1:48shoots, especially if those people are

1:50paying extremely low prices. Everyone

1:52that you refer will most likely know, and

1:54if they come back, they're going to be

1:56expecting very similar pricing. So while

1:58you might make a few extra hundred

2:00dollars, maybe even two thousand or two

2:02thousand, we're branding ourselves as an

2:04inexpensive photographer. We're not going

2:05to get many quality referrals out of it,

2:08and if we ever book future shoots with

2:10those people, they're probably not going

2:11to lead to higher-paid sessions. The

2:13third reason

2:14is there's a much better way. And I

2:16actually agree with something that Sue

2:18Brice has said. If you guys aren't

2:19familiar, she's an amazing portrait and

2:22glamour photographer. She's a Creative

2:23Live instructor, and she has an amazing

2:24educational platform. But I once heard

2:27her say that if you don't charge at

2:29least a thousand dollars for a portrait

2:30session, you're not a professional

2:32photographer. And this really stuck with

2:34me at the beginning of my career, and I

2:36still actually think that this is one of

2:38the best pieces of advice I've ever

2:39heard. So you might not be charging a

2:41thousand dollars yet. What do you do?

2:43I've actually outlined it in this blog

2:45post, which you can read in the

2:47description. But ultimately, what I

2:49suggest is you stop charging all

2:51together and line up sessions with the

2:53exact kind of people that you want in

2:55your portfolio.

2:56You style them, and then ultimately you

2:58set up an IPS session where you set up a

3:00low-pressure sale situation. Gives you an

3:03opportunity to practice your in-person

3:05sales. Gives you an opportunity to make a

3:07lot more money, and it lets you build

3:09your portfolio exactly how you want. And

3:11most importantly, it gets you reviews,

3:13testimonials, and ultimately doesn't hurt

3:16your brand like those pesky mini

3:18sessions. And that concludes my video on

3:20why mini sessions might be killing your

3:22business. And I want to know in the

3:23comments, what is your experience been? Do

3:25you recommend them? Do you find them

3:27profitable? I want to know. And if you do,

3:29what's your secret? I'd love to start a

3:32discussion on it. So make sure to like

3:33and subscribe and head over to the blog

3:35post. It's much more detailed, and there's

3:37also a number of free resources such as

3:39Facebook Ads guides, price lists, and even a

3:42consultation guide completely free. So

3:44head on over there, and I'll see you in

3:46the next one.