Welcome back to the wedding photography consultation tips! I am so excited to share part two with you because “during” the consultation is where the fun and magic is by meeting the couple. Before I go on, I want to remind you to download my FREE wedding consultations guide. It includes more tips, questions to ask, and a worksheet, so you can follow along. If you haven’t read about the wedding photography consultation tips part 1, you will want to go back and read it. It is helpful to know how to prep for the meeting before you even meet with the couple. Okay, let’s dive in!
I want to prepare you for during the meeting as in what to say, how to guide the meeting, and what the purpose of the meeting is. Everyone approaches meetings, sales pitches, and consultations differently, so I truly encourage all and any discussion on what your process is with others so you can learn from them. From there, learn what works best for you because there isn’t a true right or wrong process to your meeting.
Here we go! Picture this: you’re at the consultation meeting. You’re excited and a little nervous, but you don’t know what to say or how to talk about your business or process. You’re trying to figure out what is normal. Don’t panic, I have been in your shoes. After being in this business for the past seven years, I have truly come up with a great process that isn’t too sales-y, or too pushy, but converts your couples into paying clients, beautifully.
1. Get to know your couple
First, you will want to get to know your couple. That’s right! You want to start out with a natural conversation, that might not even be about your business or photography. The basic chit chatting is ok! It gives you a personal connection with the couple. You will find it helpful to know about how they met, how they fell in love, and what the proposal was like, because you will be with them from the moment they book you till the end of their wedding day. For other questions to ask your couple, make sure you download the free guide and worksheet!
2. Educate your couple
The second thing I want you to know is to educate your couple. Educate them on what the wedding day looks like, how you work, how you approach your style of shooting, how you work with your team, and what your timeline is like. This is exactly why I have you bring an album so the couple can flip through it while you discuss these details.
Another tip is to inform the couple when you arrive and leave on the wedding day. A lot of the time your couples have no idea what exactly goes into the wedding day as a photographer and what the timeline is. Educate them on how long each photography part takes, as in portraits take “x” amount of time or you need “x” amount of time for the getting ready photos. Continue to give them as much detail as you can from the moment they book you till the end of their wedding day. Also, walk them through the after the wedding process. This includes the following, what does the delivery of galleries look like, how long until they receive the galleries, and what options they have for albums. The more details you give them, the more comfortable they will feel with your process and timeline.
3. The Close
Last is the close. Some photographers you may talk to will want their couples to sign a contract on the spot or swipe the credit card, but I do things a little differently. To keep it natural and light, I like to give them the following three options:
First, I like to hold their date for them. I will hold their date for a certain amount of time. If I don’t give them a deadline, then it could take forever for them to decide, so make sure to give them a hard deadline before others can start to book you.
Second, tell them what the process looks like if they want to move forward with you. Give them the details about sending them the proposal, contract, and galleries. Educate them on the details, what to sign, when to pay, and what the timeline looks like. To make the process easy, I manage all of this in Honeybook. For further detail and education on what Honeybook is, check out my Youtube video series below!
Lastly, say to your couple “I would really LOVE to work with you!”. This gets missed a lot during the meetings. Let them know if you are a great fit for them! Couples want to work with someone or a team of vendors that are just as excited about their wedding day as they are. So don’t forget to add that in there!
Thank you again for taking the time to read this! Next up is part three to this series. It talks all about the follow-up. This is the most important because it is the part that you will actually book the client. Hop on over to part three! Don’t forget to check out my Facebook Group Photobosses! This is a Facebook community filled with photographers just like you. If you ever have questions, they will help you out!
