Clients

Personal work should be boosting the process of getting clients to know who you are.

Ask yourself, does this image emphasize how I think or what I offer clients when they hire me?

All in all, this is about sharing what runs your creative engine.

HOW TO GET THE JOB:

Be the director the client will hire you to be, from start to finish.

Have your plan in mind and confidently share it as, “This is the way to go,” to achieve their goals.

There is no need to buffer it with safe comments like, “My opinion is…” when you want to be hired as the creative lead carrying out your creative vision.

Q:

Do you think the purpose of the Creative Call is to give a verbal and preliminary treatment to clients before the actual treatment?

A:

Yes, the creative call is when we introduce our verbal treatment, noticing the back and forth reactions sparked by the hot topics clients want to discuss. We use this call to monitor how the 2-way conversation flows, giving us a more concise roadmap to our treatment.

When bidding on a job, clients may ask us to dive deeper into the basis of the costs. Put your business mind to work by understanding what the client needs to hear from you. 

Our estimates cover us for unexpected real-life additions like grip truck availability, insurance changes, crew covid testing results, overtime, etc. 

Our bids are not as black and white as clients would assume, so get ready to explain the gray areas in ways that speak their language.

Q:

How do I know what to charge for interior shoots? The scaling of projects is all over the place.

A:

We are in an industry with no set rate structure. It’s a bit of a guessing game based mainly on usage licensing terms, the size of the company hiring us, and our experience in the different types of photography. 

Each photographer has to come up with their midline rates based on previous jobs, the word from others, and where they are in their career and go from there. It will always fluctuate, but the one solid component of negotiation skills is asking for a higher rate than you expect, which can work in your favor.

Q:

What steps should you take if you failed to fully deliver on a client project, and how do you bounce back?

A:

I assume an issue arose, and communication had not relayed the proper message. What caused this; how could you have handled this differently? The real fix to this situation is understanding and learning from the experience. React to this client in the manner you wish you had done initially, address this with expertise and professional know-how. Any time we mess up it can work in your favor by shedding light on an area of our business that needs our attention.

Q:

What is the importance of a “one-sheet” attachment promo in an email sent to a potential client? How many images and should this promo include any descriptive text about the images, background/bio, pitch, etc., or should all of the text be in the body of the email?

A:

When saying hello in an email, it can be good to have a fast visual sampling looking like it belongs in that email. The key to a one-sheet promo is that it’s a quick relatable read of a small number of images only, not needing that extra step of being clicked to open.

Q:

Are elaborate/over the top promos worth the money to get a client’s attention? If so, should more simple promos be sent first so you are potentially already on the client’s radar?

A:

Depending on your budget, I like to stick with consistent, well-designed promos with a quick, concise message. The expensive promos we can send or hand to clients could be a striking piece that ends up on their wall, getting the attention of a long-standing art piece. I’ve seen this happen, but it’s like going to Vegas and playing the High Roller risky games.

Negotiation points to use when clients ask specifically for a eduction in Creative Fees:

1. Scaling down any area of their usage terms.
2. Trimming amount of images, variations, and angles on the shot-list.
3. Reducing the number of final images included in usage terms,
4. Limiting shoot days hours maximum.
5. Time-saving production tasks they take over like prop shopping, producing, retouching, casting, scouting, etc.
6. Predetermined creative concepts/shot list they supply before the shoot day begins.
7. Guaranteed faster final payment and/or larger advance payment before the shoot begins.
8. Bulk discounted rate based on future projects

Q:

What do we do with our email promo “clicked” lists?

A:

To know who CLICKS from our email promo to our website supplies valuable feedback shaping our marketing direction. Analyzing this relevant resource can be what you need to know.

1. Put them on a hotlist and use every method to follow up with them, including following and engaging on IG.
2. Look up all the others at that agency or company on Agency Access, yodelist, and LinkedIn to get them on your lists. If your work is applicable for one person at that place, I will put money down that the same is true for the others.
3. If one of your top dream list clients didn’t have any clocks, you know you have some changes to make.
4. Compare the marketplace segments clicking percentages to see which category of clients your work is attracting vs. which types are not being drawn in.
5. When you get an unusual amount of clients or lack of clicks from one email, use that to analyze what was different, like your subject line, the time or the day of the week, wording changes or design.