Of course, you can’t ask the person on the other end of the phone that question; at least I’d advise against that sort of blunt questioning.

But when a prospective client calls on the telephone to ask about your rates for an upcoming project she has, it’s imperative to know you are talking with the decision maker.  Remember, this is possibly your only opportunity to show your value to the caller, to show that person why YOU are the correct person for her project.  And having that conversation with someone who is not the decision maker will prove a waste of time because the person you’re speaking with is merely gathering information for the actual decision maker.

That’s why in every call, I’ll ask the question, “Is there anyone else I might email a few samples of my work to?”  If the caller gives you the name and an email address for anyone else in his company, very likely that individual is the decision maker.

Now your task is to get THAT person in on the telephone call.  If that’s impossible, you’re at an extreme disadvantage and you’ll instead have to empower the caller to act as your salesperson so she can adequately explain your value to the decision maker.

Simplify your value (again, why you’re the best photographer for the job and what you have to offer that your competitors do not) into concise, easy to remember bullet-points so that the caller can be part of your “team” and do your selling to the actual decision maker.

Determining who is really deciding which photographer will be selected is one of the most important early steps in the sales process.

Blake Discher is a Detroit-based photographer, educator, and SEO expert.  His blog, Groozi, covers negotiating and web marketing.

I have an expression I tell anyone who assists for me, “Never let ‘em see you sweat.” in other words, regardless of what happens on a shoot, let’s keep it entirely professional in the eyes of the client.

I recall a young assistant working with me on an annual report shoot in Monterrey, lMexico. I was in the center of a grouping of tables configured in a square so I could shoot candids of the executives during the meeting.  We had lights in all four corners of the room to illuminate everyone somewhat evenly.

About 15 minutes into the shoot a capacitor in one of the lights blew with a loud bang, startling everyone in the room.  Cool as a cucumber, my assistant Angie walked over, unplugged the light, grabbed a replacement, set it up and acted as if nothing happened.

During the next break the client complimented us on our “prepared for anything” work process.  I glanced over at Angie to see if she had heard the compliment.  I could tell by her slight smile that she did.

Blake J. Discher is a photographer specializing in people for Fortune 500 companies worldwide. He speaks internationally on the topics of web marketing, SEO, and negotiating. To learn more: http://www.blakedischer.com.

By now, it’s very likely that every client you shoot for  knows about Flickr and other crowd-sourcing photo sites.  Look at crowd-sourcing photography from a client’s perspective.  Think about why some clients look to Flickr for photography instead of seeking out a photographer.    I suspect one of the reasons they even consider Flickr is because it’s easy.  Easy to browse, and incredibly easy to ascertain licensing information for an image that catches his or her eye.

Now think about how easy it is to do business with you.  How can you streamline your workflow to benefit the client?  What steps can you take that will make working with you easier?   Because of cut-back and staff reductions, there’s a good chance your client is doing the work of more than one person.  Because of this, “easy” is huge value-added these days.

Added value helps you to differentiate yourself from your competitors.   Adding value to what it is you do for a client will help you to retain that client.   Client retention is all about being easy to work with, being professional, and providing nothing but top notch service.  Doing less will make you a one-hit wonder.

Blake Discher is a photographer and search engine optimization consultant to small businesses.  Visit his lifestream to learn more.

Repeating my mantra “photographers are salespeople first, image creators second”, I thought I’d share two of my favorite blogs on the topic of sales.

The first, written by S. Anthony Iannarino of Columbus, Ohio, offers straightforward suggestions and tips to help you with just about every aspect of the sales process including cold calling to closing to asking for referrals.  Check it out at thesalesblog.com.

Another of my favorites is “The Science and Art of Selling” by writer and sales trainer Alen Majer.  I like his blog because most of his posts are quick tips that can help to get you back on track after you’ve just lost that job you were trying hard to get.  Here’s a guy who’s latest book is titled, “Selling Is Better Than Sex”.  I mean, this guy takes sales very seriously!

Blake J. Discher is a salesperson, photographer, and SEO guru, who reminds himself constantly that sales is a contact sport but still doesn’t make as many cold calls as he should. His lifestream is at www.blakedischer.com.

Suddenly you’re wide awake in the middle of the night. The nightmare was horrible, worse that that monster you thought was under your bed when you were six years old.

In the dream, you received a call from a potential client, all they said was, “Good morning, we need a photographer for a project. Please answer this one question: why should we hire you instead of one of your competitors?”

Still dreaming, you’re stammering a bit, your blood pressure rises, you’re scrambling to compose your thoughts, perspiring.  In a defensive attempt to slow the conversation and wrestle back control, you blurt out the question you always ask: “Tell me a bit more about the project so I can better answer that question.”

The person on the other end of the phone said: “No. All I want is that single question answered. Our decision on whether or not to hire you will be based solely on your response.”

That’s when the dream became unbearable and you force yourself awake.  But staring into the darkness, you’re asking yourself, “How would I answer that question?”

You’re not selling a commodity unless you want to be.  In what ways is doing business with you different?

We complain constantly about customers beating us up on price.  But imagine for a minute that they didn’t care about price.  Have we so conditioned ourselves into believing that every call will eventually become a negotiation on price that we are somewhat unprepared to demonstrate our value instead?

So what is your value?  How are you different?  Your value could perhaps be reputation, ease of doing business with you, or the speed at which you work, resulting in less interruption of the client’s business.  Maybe it’s your grasp of the latest technology, the ease of ordering prints from your studio, or your people skills, meaning you’re experience helps you to be comfortable with any CEO of any company.  Or perhaps even something as basic as talking about the awards you’ve received from high-end competitions that the client might be aware of.

Whatever your differentiation is, talk about it during the call.  Sell your value.  If you focus that sales conversation on price, the price will likely fall.  If instead you focus the conversation on value and how you are different (read: better) than your competitors, the price will likely rise.

There’s an old saying in sales:  Sell the sizzle, not the steak.  The reality in our changing industry is that the sizzle is your value.  Not your photography.

Sweet dreams.

Blake J. Discher does a lot of stuff, the most satisfying of which is being the father of a six year old who is quite convinced there is a monster under his bed.  To see what Blake does, have a look at his lifestream at www.blakedischer.com.

Most of us are now using Twitter and Facebook as marketing tools with varying degrees of dedication and success.  Did you know you can use social media to keep current about industry news or any other topic that interests you?

I remember at first being overwhelmed by the vast amount of “information” coming through my Twitter feed and someone recommended SocialOomph.   It’s great for filtering out the Tweets that are of no interest to you and best of all, there’s no need to have one eye on your feed as you sit at your computer doing other important tasks such as marketing or post work on your images.

To use it, create a free account at the site and then set up alerts to track keywords in the public Twitter stream. SocialOomph will monitor Twitter and periodically email you a digest of the tweets that contain those keywords.

I have alerts set up for the keywords “ASMP”, my Twitter ID “bdischer”, another of my companies “go-seo.com”, my blog “groozi.com” and several other keywords to help run my business.  On a personal level, because I have a few vintage Triumph sports cars, I also have alerts for “TR6” and “TR4”.

Even the free version of SocialOomph is a bit like Photoshop in that there are so many things it can do you could spend hours setting up all sorts of social media reporting.  At the very least, you should set up keyword tracking; it will help you to more efficiently manage the vast amount of information flowing on Twitter.

Blake Discher is an SEO expert, photographer, vintage sports car driver, and best of all, father of a six-year old boy. Check out Blake’s lifestream at http://www.blakedischer.com.

In my negotiating seminars I always make a point of letting my audience know that in order to be successful, I think we must be salespersons first and photographers second.

My sales career began when I sold franchises for a quick-print franchise.  One of the first things I learned was that all successful salespeople have clearly stated goals that they continuously work to achieve.  We’ve all heard that saying: fail to plan and you’re planning to fail.

Each month, set one important goal: how many new potential clients you’ll initiate contact with to show your work, commonly known as a cold call.  Don’t just set the goal, write it down.  Better yet, print it out the number on a letter size sheet of paper (with a large enough font size to fill the height of the paper) and tape it to the wall in front of your desk.

Don’t think for a minute that cold calling will be unsuccessful in the summer because those potential clients will only be on vacation.  In this difficult economy vacations are shorter and less frequent.

When you accomplish this month’s goal, make the next month’s goal more challenging.  You’ll find you’re making more contact with potential clients that will inevitably end up with more requests for estimates.

Setting goals helps you in three ways: they help you remain critically focused, they help you to “stay on track”, and accomplishing them help give you the necessary confidence to accomplish the next, more challenging, goal.

Your “sales pitch” will get better and better the more you practice.  You’ll get more comfortable selling yourself and develop your own style of selling.  You’ve probably heard it already,  emotion is the “secret weapon” used by successful salespeople.  People buy emotionally and justify the purchase logically.  Make your cold calls friendly and smile while your talking, the person will “hear” that smile on the other end.  And most importantly, let them know why you’re a good fit for them.  You need to always be selling!

Good luck!

Blake J. Discher is a photographer, SEO consultant, and educator. He speaks nationally on the topics of web marketing and negotiating. Visit his lifestream at www.blakedischer.com.

When you’re on that call talking to a potential new client, remember to count to two before you answer any questions or ask new ones.  This two-second buffer will help you to be a better listener because you won’t need to be thinking about what you’re going to say next while the other person is talking.  The best negotiators are good listeners first, good at selling second.

Blake J. Discher is a photographer, SEO consultant, and educator. He speaks nationally on the topics of web marketing and negotiating. Contact Blake at b@blakedischer.com.

Even in these stressful economic times, your business will be more successful if you are willing to recognize one fact:  you need to be a salesperson first, and a photographer second.  Many photographers take great photographs, but far fewer excel at sales.  When I speak to audiences about negotiating, I’m always quick to point out that sales skills are what help you to demonstrate to the client why they should hire you instead of your competitor.

Know your prospect:

One of the first things I do when a potential new client calls is to take a very quick look at their website during the early stages of the call. I’m looking for details that will help me to determine how they use photography, how sophisticated their use of design is, and the overall “look” of their brand.  I’m learning as much as I can in those seconds about the company for two reasons: first, so that I can talk about the site and show them that I have an awareness of and interest in their company.  Second, it gives me a sense of how much value they place in their “image” in the marketplace.  The more value they place in their image, the more they might appreciate the value I can bring to the photography they’re after.

Sell your value, not your product:

By value, I mean the things I do that differentiate me from my competition. You’ve heard it many times, sell the benefits, not the product.  Your product is photography, but what you need to share with the client are the benefits she will get in working with you.   Do you work quickly?  Then talk about how non-disruptive to the client’s facility you are during the shoot.  Do you bring along a monitor?  Then talk about how she’ll be able to see the shots as you take them and can be assured your getting what she wants.

For the client, photo shoots are stressful.  You’re reassuring her that you are the correct person for the job; that she can have complete confidence in your ability to pull off a successful shoot.

Remember, if you focus the conversation on price, the price will likely fall.  If instead you focus the conversation on value, specifically the value you bring to the project, you’ll help the client justify in her mind why she should hire you for the shoot — even though your price may not be the lowest.  Marketing guru Seth Godin says it best,  “You need to increase your value. If people don’t want to pay, it’s because you’re not delivering enough value for the money you’re charging. You’re not selling a commodity unless you want to.”

Blake J. Discher is a photographer, SEO consultant, and educator. He speaks nationally on the topics of web marketing and negotiating. Contact Blake at b@blakedischer.com.

One of the best and least expensive ways to grow your business is through referrals.  But for a variety of reasons, most people are reluctant to ask for them. Maybe it’s fear of hearing “no”.  Maybe they think happy clients will just spread the word about “their favorite photographer” without any prompting from you.  But we’ve all heard that time-tested axiom that states an unhappy customer will tell ten people about lousy service, and a happy one will share with perhaps one other person about the great service they’ve received.

After every shoot, once the images are delivered and the client is happy, I’ll always ask the question, “Hey Brian, I appreciate the opportunity to work with you on this project, the shots look great, and I was wondering if their was anyone else you knew that might use this type of photography?” This is the best time to ask, everyone has a good feeling about the recently completed project.  The names Brian gives you are incredibly valuable leads.  In a sense, John has “vouched” for you and your product.  Referrals carry immediate credibility.

The next thing I do is call those people John referred and say something like, “Hi Cheryl, I’m a photographer here in Detroit and I just finished a project with your friend Brian Jones.  It turned out great and he suggested I introduce myself and my photography to you.”  If you repeatedly get Cheryl’s voicemail, don’t worry, you can leave that message and follow with an email with some samples of your work and a repeat of that introduction, being sure to mention the referrer, her friend Brian.

Then, be sure to update the people that give you referrals.  It’s one more legitimate reason to make contact with an existing client, and people like to know you appreciated their help.  Something like, “Hi Brian, I just wanted to thank you again for referring Cheryl to me and give you an update about how that worked out.”  This sort of “reaching out” to your existing clients will help to keep you “front of mind” and they might even send you more business just because you’re keeping in touch.

Good luck!