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9 Tips for Starting to Sell Artwork · Luxe & Legacy Podcast

0:01
Welcome to the Lux and Legacy Podcast.
0:03
I'm Marie from Marie Elizabeth Photography.
And I am Amber from Light Live in Photography.
We created this show for photographers who are ready to run a luxury business with clarity, intention, and elevated artistry.
0:19
Each week we uncover the strategies behind high level brands from shooting and styling to client communication, to marketing, to designing heirloom products that increase your value.
If you want to attract aligned clients, produce, work with a recognizable aesthetic and build a business that supports the life you want, this podcast will guide you there.
Let's dive in.
Today we are diving into something that comes up constantly in our dms, coaching calls and workshops, and that is artwork because it can be really intimidating to start adding these high-end artwork pieces into your business.
And I'm talking about albums, frames, wall art.
Folios, matted prints and how to start selling these in a way that feels natural, confident, and client led.
And none of us, I think none of us got into photography because we're salesy.
I mean, I would say 95% of us probably don't like feeling salesy or we would've gone into sales.
But we're in.
A business that loves to serve people, loves to make people happy, loves to make people feel an emotion.
So we have to make sure that it feels good, like we're actually just providing this service and this extra care to our clients, and that it's not about sales.
So today we are going to go over some tips for starting to sell artwork.
1:57
Yeah, and I find that most photographers want their clients to end up with some kind of printed form of their photographs.
2:07
No one wants.
2:09
The images they take of a family to live forever on a computer or the cloud, you know, only be used for social media.
2:18
We want these images that are art to be passed down to generations.
2:24
I find that is pretty mutually agreed upon among all photographers.
2:30
values legacy and tangible art, but when it comes time to incorporate into your business or talk about it with clients, that's when that awkward feeling sets in.
2:41
You don't want to sound salesy.
2:43
You feel bad charging high prices, and so we're really gonna just delve into some tips on.
2:51
Getting started and being successful with artwork.
2:54
Since we know that these hesitations often prevent people from even trying.
3:01
Exactly.
3:02
So we're gonna just go ahead and dive in.
3:04
Tip number one, introduce artwork early.
3:09
If the first time a client hears about albums or frames is after.
3:14
They see their gallery and they've gone through this whole experience with you, and you send the gallery and then you go, oh, by the way, you can check out some products, some artwork in my store, and then they cross their fingers and hope that they buy something.
3:30
I tried that for many years, you guys.
3:32
I.
3:33
Switched to pick time, gallery delivery, because I thought, oh, it shows the mockups and I can just throw that in at the end of the process.
3:42
And I learned it actually needs to be touched on throughout the process because it takes at least seven times of being exposed to something, especially something very expensive to make people want to purchase it.
Yeah, I did the same thing.
I also switched to pick time because I knew pick time was good for their store.
And having clients be able to purchase artwork from there.
And to me I was like, this way I don't have to deal with it.
Clients can find what they want on their own and you know, Kish, it's a great deal, No one bought artwork, or if they did, it was here and there and it was just like some loose prints.
And so artwork needs to be so obvious a part of your brand from the moment a client discovers you, whether that's your website or Instagram.
So they should.
See artwork right away and easily.
So artwork should be on every page of your website, multiple times on every page of your website.
It should be on your Instagram, in your posts, in your stories, in your highlights it should be so easy for someone to see artwork as part of working with you when they stumble upon your brand, and then the very first conversations you have with your client artwork needs to be a part of that conversation.
So we've talked about how.
We get on discovery calls with clients and I literally pick up an album and show potential clients on the discovery call.
So they are not only seeing our work visually, but hearing me talk about how much I love it.
So our work is part of the conversation even before a client reaches out to me.
But that conversation has continued as we walk through that experience together.
5:39
Exactly, and it shouldn't be just something small on the website that's not noticeable.
5:44
You can use different mock-up designs, you can use Canva that a lot of people have.
5:51
Great free templates or templates you can purchase to make really great mockups so you don't have to actually have pictures of frames in client's homes Mockups work just fine, if not better, because they show it in like a perfect pristine room that is clean and it fits the aesthetic of the client you want to attract.
6:12
So having those mockups on your website in your Instagram and having, like Marie said, even in the inquiry form, it needs to ask questions about what artwork they want to receive from their session.
6:30
That way you're reminding them, oh yeah, this isn't about digitals, this is about physical, tangible products the whole way.
6:38
In a way that's so obvious that the tangible part is more important than the digitals.
6:46
So early exposure sets the expectations and allows clients to get thinking early on about what they want.
6:56
Yeah, or I'll do this later.
I'll do this later.
That's a Yeah, exactly.
Oh, I'll, I'll think about it later.
I have too much going on.
7:04
Mm-hmm.
7:05
Mm-hmm.
So Marie mentioned the discovery calls or the consultation calls, and that's another really important element for me, and that's what made a huge difference and I was really scared to do those calls at first.
You guys, I think a lot of people are scared to hop on the call and show products, but it's really about getting to know them before the session it actually will make you more comfortable to go to this session 'cause you feel like you already know them.
They already know you, they feel comfortable with you.
It makes the whole experience more personal and more fun.
So I've actually loved discovery calls, or not discovery calls, I guess consultation calls since I very first started to do them.
And it's really important to pull out those products that you are.
Loving that you really want your clients to get, because if they haven't seen it multiple times, they're not gonna, they're not gonna really want it, you know? I always do what Marie said and show the albums.
That's probably my number one favorite thing to make sure my clients get is an album as a keepsake So if in their lead form I say, which products are you most interested in? And they selected.
Albums as something they're interested in, then I don't feel weird about pulling out my album and showing it to them.
Right? So I think a lot of people feel uncomfortable saying, oh, and you can buy this.
But if they already said they're interested in it and I'm just showing them what it looks like, I don't feel weird about it.
I don't feel salesy.
So.
Doing the consultation calls, asking them in the questionnaires ahead of time, what type of products they're most interested in can make a really big difference.
Yeah, and that leads us into tip number two, which is let the client lead the conversation.
that basically is.
Kind of backing up what Amber said about we're not trying to sell clients things they don't want.
We're asking questions to see how do they like to enjoy photos Now, how do they want to enjoy these photos 10 years from now, 20 years from now? How do they want their children to enjoy these photos? How do they want their grandchildren to enjoy these photos? We are not gonna push anything on them that they don't want.
But by asking them these questions, I find that a lot of clients simply haven't thought this through because we live in such a digital age where shoot and burn photographers have, I don't know how many years shoot and burn photographers have been around now, but it's been all of my professional career.
And so people are accustomed to that.
They're accustomed to just scan digital gallery and so.
By asking them these questions that are more in of the long game, like how do you want to still have these photos 20 years from now? I promise you, like 95% of people will not say in the cloud or in an online gallery, like people want products.
And so it's our job to figure out what makes the most sense for each particular client by asking these questions.
Definitely.
Okay.
Now we're gonna talk about tip number three.
Show our.
Constantly.
So we talked about having it on your website and talking about it in your messaging, in your questionnaires, but we also want to show it throughout the process.
All right, so you, you don't need a ton of different samples.
You don't need to have a stack of 10 colors of albums or five different expensive frames to show your clients one or two albums and one framed artwork, and some framed corners can go a long way, and you can share them in so many different ways.
With albums, I show them throughout the entire process, unless they said they're only interested in frames.
If they said they're only interested in frames, then that's what I'm gonna focus on.
But if they're interested in albums, I bring them to the session.
I show them on the call.
I show them after the session at the ordering appointment.
So multiple ways, multiple times.
11:38
Yeah, you can do so much with one sample.
11:43
I think a lot of photographers are so overwhelmed when they first start with products because they're like, I need all these samples.
11:49
As Amber said, you don't.
11:50
I started off with.
11:51
One album sample and a few frame corners.
11:55
I don't even know if the frame corners are absolutely necessary if you have like pictures of frame options to display somewhere.
12:02
But thing is, you can do so much with one piece of artwork.
12:07
So for example, every time I have a client album arrive, I have them shipped to me because I use that for marketing.
12:16
But I show that one album.
12:19
So many times.
12:20
So the very first time I talk about that album, the client purchases is when they order it.
12:27
And so what I might do is snap like a little photo of the cover material from like my lab's website, snap a little photo of the design option, and share that in my story is like, I'm so excited for this family to have this beautiful newborn album in this sky blue linen or velvet.
12:46
So that's time number one I share about it.
12:49
Then I might share about it again, when I am designing the album, when I'm had the spreads open, I might stop a photo of.
12:57
spread, just, so clients, potential clients can see that this is, you know, part of the process.
13:03
Then when I order the album itself, I might mention that I ordered an album that day.
13:09
When the album arrives, I might stop a photo of the box, talk about how excited I am to look at this client album that just arrived.
13:18
I'll definitely do a video.
13:20
Looking through the cover, opening the album, looking at the spreads, and then I'll often even snap a photo of the album all boxed up again, right? A ship to the client.
13:31
So I don't know how many.
13:34
You have a lot of opportunities to share about artwork from one piece of artwork.
13:40
And if you are thinking, well, you know, I haven't sold artwork so what do I share about, then you can easily just start with your first sample album and you can share about.
13:55
Theoretical ideas in the sense of this would be such a beautiful cover material for a newborn session, or, I love this color linen with this debasing for a family session on the water.
14:11
You can talk about theoretical situations as well to get people to imagine themselves having that experience.
14:20
Perfect tip number four.
14:22
We want to lead with the emotion of having products, intangible pieces of artwork for our families rather than just specs.
14:34
Especially as women and a lot of our clients who book us, they're typically the moms, in my case for sure.
14:41
They typically care more about the emotion, the, the feeling, the confidence than specs.
14:48
And it's the same way with us when we buy a camera.
14:50
When I look up camera gear, I look on YouTube for actual usability.
14:55
I wanna see what it looks like when they're taking the photo.
14:58
I don't care to get a list of specs personally.
15:01
So clients don't care about that either.
15:04
They don't necessarily care about the paper type, even though I do like to show them that little hands aren't gonna rip these.
15:11
That is a point that I love to make because they're super thick and beautiful, but.
15:16
They care more about how it's gonna feel to have that album years from now and have it last and not look like something trendy that that tore and, and just it, they could get cheap albums elsewhere.
15:32
So we wanna make sure that they understand the durability of how these last and how we can make their fam family session worthwhile and something that's more of an investment long term than a short term trendy, quick mass produced thing.
Yeah, I Yeah, I think.
I made when I first started with products was talking a lot about the quality of art there is a place for that.
As you mentioned, you want clients to know that these are fine art products that are going to last.
And I love, I use Mosa for wall art and they have a whole section on their website about how their paper will outlast like.
Any other kind of print you get elsewhere.
And that I think is really helpful.
But you don't wanna like deep dive into the specifics of the quality because that's not gonna sell.
What's gonna sell is people imagining themselves experiencing the artwork.
So I sell albums the most because I love albums the most.
So I talk about how.
I love sitting on the couch with my children looking through an album.
It's beautiful for display on a coffee table.
Guests might pick it up and look through it.
I love that my children will have these one day, like my kids are gonna have these beautiful heirloom pieces that serve as memories for our families.
And those thoughts sell.
So not the quality of the artwork.
Like, yes, there's a time and place to mention.
How things will last, but having people imagine themselves experiencing it, that is going to hook them in.
Yeah.
And having them imagine just sitting on the couch years from now with their kids who are grown up maybe with their grandkids flipping through the pages, and that feeling is going to.
Make them want to purchase something, rather than saying, yeah, you get this for this amount of money and it's gonna cost this much per page.
You know, that doesn't really work as well as when you help them imagine and feel like they're in the future, looking back on these photos in a tangible way.
Tip five is position artwork.
As part of the experience, we talked a little bit about this, about how you should have artwork immediately mentioned, but you should have it woven into every step of the experience.
So basically, anytime you interact or communicate with clients.
Artwork should be a part of that conversation.
So for example, after client's book.
They get sent a planning guide.
There's a whole section on artwork in there.
I talk about artwork, during a client's planning appointment, prior to the planning appointment, I ask them questions on a questionnaire about artwork.
session day, I might bring an album with me or I might mention, oh, this image would be so beautiful on the wall.
It might show clients.
behind the camera, straight from the camera so they can see.
And imagine if they told me they wanted like a statement piece for their living room, might show them some images of the session that I think would be beautiful for that to get them excited.
And so when it comes time for them to actually purchase artwork.
The conversation has been already going on.
It's just confirming what they want based off their images.
So you don't feel like selling.
You feel like you are serving them fully I love that you said if they were wanting a statement piece, you went behind the camera and you, you knew this shot would be a great framed photo, and you show them and you talk about it in the session.
I also do that sometimes when I am posing, I'll say like, oh, let me get this really sweet shot of dad holding her hand, or the little, the little chubby legs.
And I like to mention these are the type of moments that look so great in a album because we're telling a story, we are creating moments and we wanna include things that really have a variety of images.
So.
We're getting distance shots, we're getting action moments, we're getting sentimental moments, we're getting closeups.
All those things tell a story and encourage that to be put in a book somewhere that we can have on the shelf as just an heirloom storybook of their own family.
20:07
Absolutely.
20:09
Tip number six, and this is a tough one, but it is share pricing confidently and talking and saying the number of.
20:20
How much you are selling something for can be so intimidating.
20:26
And this was a very hard part for me.
20:28
I've mentioned before, I'm an introvert.
20:30
Like the last thing I wanna do is ask someone for anything, let alone ask them to pay me thousands of dollars person or on the phone.
20:38
And this is a skill.
20:41
That needs to be practiced.
20:42
You don't need to expect yourself to be good at this right away, but if you practice saying the numbers out loud, practice saying them in front of the mirror so you can look at all your expressions, any subtle clues you want to appear confident Honestly, sometimes the best thing you can do is fake it till you make it, and that's because back to my teaching days, and would have to be on all day.
21:13
You know, no matter what kind of mood I was in, I had to.
21:19
Elicit responses from my students.
21:21
I had to present myself in a certain manner.
21:25
When you're talking about pricing, you want to appear confident because if you, or if you show any doubt or a client's senses any doubt, then they are immediately.
21:37
You know, not sold.
21:39
There's no buy-in.
21:40
They need to know this is something you believe in 100% so they can even be interested.
21:46
So take time just to practice saying the numbers.
21:50
And one last thing that I always do is I'm on Zoom calls with clients for discovery calls and ordering appointments.
22:00
And for me, I am an introvert, people pleaser.
22:04
So.
22:05
I only look at my own video and that helps me not try to read any subtle cues from clients and start like second guessing myself.
22:17
If I am looking at my own video, like I am focused, I am going through, I can be confident, I can adjust anything I'm doing to make myself seem more confident.
22:29
So that's just a little trick that helps me.
I love that.
for me, pricing.
First of all, a lot of my pricing is gonna be put very simply in a beautiful heirloom investment guide.
It's gonna be.
So clear.
It's not confusing.
We don't have a ton of different options.
Simplifying that is really important so that when people hop on the call with me.
They're literally never asking me what the price is.
It's about working with me, and it's not about the price at all.
for me, that part of the pricing when I'm booking them is never an issue.
I just assume they have read the investment guide that I sent, and if they book the call with me, that means they're okay with it.
And that gives me more confidence going into these consultation calls, I'm confident that they're going to book.
So having that confidence and not saying like, oh, do you have any questions about pricing before you book? You know, I just, I assume you just wanna work with me and that you got the pricing.
It doesn't even come up really.
where I have to constantly work on it in for myself is when I'm sending really big invoices and I still struggle with this, and so I wanna encourage you guys to get a friend or a few friends that you can practice with, talk to about it.
We have to normalize it and relax into it and talking it out with a friend.
having people that you practice with, you can, hop on another call with other people in, maybe you're in an education group, like I have a light livin and transformation course group on Facebook, and you guys can message each other to practice doing these ordering appointments where.
Say the numbers until they feel boring and neutral.
Practice, practice, practice.
24:27
I like how you said.
24:29
Just assume they're fine with the pricing because that is awesome.
24:33
Like a very helpful part of it.
24:35
Assuming it's a yes, because if you are questioning, oh my gosh.
24:41
Like I'm gonna say this number out loud and they're gonna say no.
24:45
You might show some subtle visual cues or voice inflections Basically reveal you're not super confident about your offers.
24:58
And again, clients will pick up on that.
25:00
I have some sales that are bigger than my averages, I have to remind myself of that too.
25:07
Last year in a two.
25:09
Span, I had an $8,000 sale and a $10,000 sale.
25:14
And at the very end of an Oregon appointment, you know, I'll type everything up on invoice and share my screen and walk clients through it.
25:20
And so I am saying the numbers out loud and showing clients what the total is gonna be after sales tax, if everything is really helpful to me in saying everything confidently.
25:34
Definitely.
25:35
And did you have any who were some of your examples of that kind of expanded your mind of like, okay, this is normal.
25:42
This is normal to send invoices for 8, 10, 15 grand.
25:47
I think that's the other thing is a lot of the time we're always thinking about the people who are charging less than us, rather than the people who are charging more than us and focusing on that and then shrinking ourselves because of that.
Yeah, so photographers like Shannon Griffin, who we had on the podcast a couple weeks ago, she is so wonderful with expanding your mindset, but also thinking about.
Other things people spend money on.
You know, money is so relative to people.
So what I think personally is a lot of money like pennies to someone else.
What I am very.
Scared about and having a client pay, they might be used to paying so much more for other expenses like travel.
A lot of my clients really value travel and that costs a lot, a lot of money.
I was planning my daughter's birthday party.
And, I was thinking about having a face painter and balloon artist, it was gonna be like $300 in my mind.
I'm like, that's, you know, that's a lot, but you know, it might be worth it for this.
And I'm thinking, okay, it's $300 for that half hour or 45 minutes that they'll be here.
And there's very, very little prep in that.
And it lasts for that day, know, it's not going to last years and years and years, like photos will.
And so I know so many photographers who charge $300 for their images, right? And it just goes to show people will pay things that you wouldn't expect them to.
And I mean, there's so much value in what we do.
Tip number seven, share your belief in the artwork so clients are going to mirror what you believe is valuable.
In conjunction with the photographs.
So if you genuinely love and value albums and frames, you're gonna really talk it up to your clients and be really passionate about it, and really fully believe that this is.
The best option for them.
If you're gonna spend a lot of money on a session with me, don't let it go to waste sitting in your cloud.
You know, like don't let it fall to the wayside.
10, 15 years from now.
I guarantee you will not know where that folder is that had your images on it.
But you will know where that album is.
You will know where those frames are in your home.
And so it's not gonna go to waste.
And I think a lot of people think, oh, I'll always remember where they are on my cloud.
But it's just, there's just too many images that we take nowadays.
It's just impossible.
So to me, sharing about the artwork is really serving them in a beautiful way.
And I love frames because people can have them up in their home all the time.
They can walk by them all the time.
But my favorite thing is albums like Marie talked about, that's her favorite too.
And I'm super passionate about it when I share about how it's your family's story and how we can really document more moments from the session.
And I love designing albums 'cause it feels so easy.
It's just the best service to add on to what I do.
So that's what I sell with most of my sessions is definitely an album.
sharing your belief in.
The artwork that you're selling is gonna be key to actually selling them.
29:26
Yeah, same albums are my favorite, and so I get a family album every year of my own family, and I will share about that on my Instagram.
29:35
I usually will custom design the debasing and share about that, and so I'm most passionate about albums when I'm talking about them, and so that's what makes them the most popular investment with my clients as well.
29:48
Tip number eight is give yourself permission to grow into it.
29:53
Don't expect you to be at all of these things right away.
30:00
I find that my confidence always grows with experience and so you will get better and better as you go along.
30:09
So don't let that stop you from starting, because starting, I mean, it's so worth it in the end.
30:17
And so you're gonna just learn by doing, have a plan, make sure you share work a lot, but give yourself permission to learn as you go through this process with your clients.
30:30
Yeah, you're never gonna start knowing everything, and the more you do it, the more comfortable you get.
30:37
You'll get really, really good at it.
30:39
But you have to start somewhere and you can't think oh, I have to be perfect before I can sell artwork.
30:45
Just start where you are.
30:47
Start simple and listen to your client's needs and talk about artwork more often than feels natural to you now, and it will become more comfortable, more natural for you.
31:01
Our last tip for you today is tip number nine.
31:05
Don't overwhelm clients with too many options.
31:09
this rings true for everything you do in your business.
31:13
Like you don't want to over deliver photos because then clients can get decision paralysis with picking their favorites.
31:21
It is especially true with artwork.
31:24
I have three printed artwork options that I offer in my business.
31:30
I find anything more than three, you start to get a little iffy there because clients are going to be more overwhelmed.
31:39
The more options there are.
31:41
It's kind of like if you're taking an exam and there is.
31:46
A multiple choice question, and there are four possible answers compared to a multiple choice question where there are six possible answers.
31:55
You're gonna be really overwhelmed with more options.
31:58
So keep it simple.
32:00
I recommend starting with one, maybe two options that you really like so you can talk about them in a way that gets you excited so that excitement rubs off on clients.
32:11
Start small so you're not overwhelmed, and so your clients aren't overwhelmed.
32:16
Definitely one of the biggest mistakes photographers make is handing clients a massive price list with confusing product prices that are all different.
32:27
I don't even really go into the price of the frames at first on the pricing guide, I have some simple, so they get kind of a reference point of where they start at.
32:38
But it's really just digital collection album frames, and it's like three chunks on the pricing, and it's just so easy to read.
32:50
No one should have questions about what the cost is for these things, and that's how you're gonna book.
32:57
Because if they're confused and they're like, oh gosh.
33:01
I don't even know what this says.
33:02
I feel like I'm gonna end up paying an arm and a leg, and I'm just confused.
33:07
Then that will even hold up your booking.
33:09
Not to mention, hold up what artwork you sell.
33:13
So starting simple with what you love.
33:16
And I don't give them a full quote until we've had the actual ordering appointment and I know exactly what they want.
33:23
Okay, so keeping it simple, keeping your pricing guide really, really easy to read.
33:30
I offer matted Folio albums, but only for my mini sessions.
33:35
So those are kind of like a, not cheaper because they look cheaper or are actually less quality.
33:41
It's just that there's less images as the base amount.
33:46
And that's a perfect add-on for my petite session days when I do Christmas or motherhood minis.
33:53
But normally I don't even talk about those, and I don't ever talk about matted prints as like an alone, thing.
34:00
I really only talk about albums or frames, and that's it.
34:04
Yeah, keeping it simple.
34:05
I also find like what your investment guide looks like matters a lot.
34:11
Like I've seen investment guides that have so much text and so many different sessions.
34:17
look at it and I'm like, I don't even know where to begin, and I know how to.
34:21
You know, read this kind of stuff, so I can't imagine what a client would feel.
34:25
So you wanna make sure everything is super, super easy to understand because people are so busy these days.
34:32
They're not gonna sit down, open the PDF on their desktop and read every sentence.
34:37
They might open it on their phone and like scroll through, just really skimming things.
34:43
So it needs to be so easy to understand.
And don't forget to include the mockups on that Yeah, it's a good opportunity for visuals.
34:53
All right.
34:54
Well, thank you guys so much for listening to us ramble on about artwork and some tips that we recommend for getting started.
35:03
Basically, what it comes down to is when artwork is personal, when it's something you value and get excited about, it stops feeling like you're selling.
35:15
Definitely, and it starts feeling like a service.
35:18
you are giving them the opportunity to keep these images in a more long-term, beautiful way and preserve their story so that it actually lasts.
Yeah, it's not about selling products themselves.
It's about selling an experience.
35:39
Marie and I both offer amazing education for photographers on this topic.
35:45
Whether you're looking for shooting and editing, posing, or coaching for your photography business, you can click the link below to check out my website and my Instagram.
Can I actually have a mini course all about artwork and products.
It's called Portraits That Sell.
so I'll include a link to that as well in the show notes.