Some people hate doing in-person sales, but I love it! I mainly love it because it’s not really a sales session. The way that I think about it is that you are there as the expert to help your clients pick out the products that are perfect for them and their business. In fact, I really don’t sell at all. I simply provide a service whether that be helping them design their products or give my input on which images would look great on certain products or places in their home.

That said, there are some must dos during every in-person sales session. I make sure to have a routine so that every client is getting the exact same experience and that there’s no disconnect from one client experience to the other.

PS: Have you checked out this post and this post about In-Person Sales yet? If not, go do that first!

Have Sample Products

It’s really hard to buy something if you have never seen or felt the product. That’s why it is absolutely essential to have products and showcase to your clients exactly what the product that they’re ordering will look like. For every session, I make sure to have samples of my products available such as albums, image boxes, acrylic blocks and more. Doing so allows your client to envision how these products will fit in their home and solve their portrait needs.

Embrace Being the Expert

While it might be easy to sit back and not give your opinion, you’re actually doing your client a disservice if you do so. This may be their first time designing an album whereas you’ve done 5 just this week! They might not know that one image will look good as a full spread or that you should pair two images with the same outfit on the same page. For every in-person sales session, I make sure that I am giving my expert opinion and explaining to my clients why some images work better than others. This will not only put your client at ease, but it will also build their confidence in you and remind them why they picked you as their photographer versus someone who just hands over the disc of images and doesn’t provide this personalized service for them.

Be Grateful

The last thing is that I treat every client the exact same and am grateful for each and every client that I have the opportunity to work with. Whether they spend my minimum order requirement or it’s the biggest order I’ve ever had. I always treat each client the same and am grateful that I had the chance to be their senior photographer. In the end, it’s you that they chose to capture this milestone in their lives. While it may be harder to feel grateful when your client only spends your minimum, keep in mind that they had the option to go to any photographer and it’s you, your experience and your brand that they ended up going with. ❤️

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Sean Brown is a senior portrait photographer based out of Vancouver Washington and Portland Oregon. His goal is to bring out every senior’s personality in their images and is dedicated to making sure that every senior session is different so that no two senior images are alike. Sean is now booking the Class of 2020. To learn more about being an SBP Senior, click here.