Somebody has needed a decent photograph for two years. The one she uses was cropped from a wedding. She hates being photographed, she does not know what to wear, and she has no idea whether it costs fifty pounds or five hundred.
So she carries on using the wedding one, and so do eleven other people in her company.
The checklist
Publish these and the individual books, then the team follows.
1. Publish the price
For an individual session, with what is included and how many images. It is the first thing somebody checks and the reason most do not enquire.
2. Publish how many images they receive
And whether they choose. People assume one photograph and are pleasantly surprised, or assume hundreds and are disappointed.
3. Publish the duration
Because somebody fitting it into a working day needs to know whether it is twenty minutes or two hours.
4. Publish what to wear
Actual guidance. Colours, necklines, patterns to avoid, whether to bring options and what works for the context. It is the single most requested advice and it reduces the dread.
5. Address the discomfort directly
That most people dislike being photographed, that it is normal and that the session is built around making it painless. It is why somebody has waited two years.
6. Explain how you direct people
That nobody is left to arrange their own face, that you will guide posture and expression and that it is a conversation rather than a stare. It converts the anxious enquirer.
7. Explain the retouching position
What is standard, what is not, and that somebody can ask for more or less. People worry about looking unlike themselves.
8. Explain the usage
Where the images can be used, whether the employer can use them and for how long. It matters for team shoots and it is rarely stated.
9. Publish the on site team option
That you come to them, the setup required, how many people per hour and the price per person. It is a far larger booking and it is almost never advertised, which is the corporate route in corporate coaching enquiries from HR teams.
10. Explain the consistency point
That a team needs matching images, that this is difficult to achieve piecemeal and that it is the reason to do it in one session.
11. Explain the new starter arrangement
How somebody joining later gets a matching photograph, which is the objection that stops companies booking a team session.
12. Explain the space you need
For an on site session, because an office manager needs to know whether a meeting room will do.
13. Publish the turnaround
When images arrive and how, which is the practical detail in how photographers handle pricing enquiries with a chatbot.
13b. Say what happens if somebody hates the result
People who dislike being photographed arrive expecting to dislike the outcome. Offering a reshoot, a different selection or simply more time, and publishing that you do, removes the risk that stops somebody booking something they have avoided for two years.
14. Capture the enquiry at any hour
Individual or team, numbers, location and deadline, alongside the different anxieties in newborn and baby session enquiries from nervous parents and the brief taking in commercial and product photography enquiries.
Getting started
Publish the price, duration, what to wear and the on site team option, then capture enquiries at any hour. SpideyChat for photographers answers from your published pages, plans are on the pricing page, and the chatbot ROI calculator works through the numbers.