For many photographers, the biggest challenge is not getting clients in the door; it is encouraging them to invest in printed products after the session. One powerful way to guarantee a minimum sale (and increase the likelihood of add-on purchases) is to learn how to pre-sell print collections. Whether you primarily do high school seniors, newborns, families, or weddings and events, pre-selling collections is a great sales tool.
As far as sales strategies for photographers go, pre-selling is a win for both photographers and clients. Pre-selling helps steer clients to products they’ll love in advance of their session. Plus, this gives photographers a predictable sales average as well. In addition, pre-selling invites additional product purchases after the client selects their images for their original products.
Instead of waiting until clients see their photos, you can create attractive packages that they purchase upfront. This gives you financial security, sets the expectation that prints and albums are part of the process, and makes it easier for clients to buy more later. By offering popular products and pre-sale pricing incentives, clients will know what they are investing in and where they can add on once they see the finished images.
Why Pre-Selling Print Collections Works
Many photographers want to add products like Metal Prints, Folios, and Canvas Prints to their pricing catalog but struggle to find the opportunity to make the offer. For those who do in-person sales or image reveals, the ordering appointment is the place to shop. However, if your business model doesn’t include in-person sales, this sales strategy for photographers can work virtually or through an online shopping experience.
Pre-selling can be the way to introduce customers to product options. Learning how to pre-sell collections can also elevate the photography experience for clients. Not only are they looking forward to seeing their gallery, but they are also looking forward to selecting images and seeing them in print! Pre-selling to clients will take a little preparation, but the payoff is worth it. Here are some ways pre-selling can be beneficial to photographers.
Guaranteed Income
You secure a minimum sale before picking up your camera. For example, if a family pre-purchases a $500 collection that includes wall art and a set of gift prints, you know your baseline income before even starting the session. This creates peace of mind and removes the stress of wondering what clients will order.
Anchors Expectations
Clients enter the session already planning to receive tangible products, not just digital files. When someone pre-purchases a holiday card collection or a newborn album, they anticipate those products as part of the process. This shifts the mindset from “maybe I’ll buy something” to “I’ve already invested, so I know what’s coming.”
Encourages Upgrades
Once the money is spent, clients often forget the “sting” of the payment, making them more likely to add extras later. A couple who has already purchased a wedding album may decide to add a few extra spreads, a parent album, or a framed print once they see their favorite images.
Opportunity For Add-Ons
Pre-sold packages can fill real needs such as holiday cards, wall art, or heirloom albums, while also encouraging families to complete their collection with add-ons. A family who starts with a wall gallery set may come back asking for an extra framed print to match or a small keepsake album for grandparents.
Pre-Selling Sales Strategy for Photographers
Whether you focus on photographing newborns, seniors, pets, or events, there is an opportunity to offer print collections alongside your session. We talked about this in our blog, Creating Marketing Campaigns Around Printed Products. However, pre-selling doesn’t have to be focused on one special event.
However, pre-selling doesn’t have to be focused on one special event. With this sales strategy for photographers, pre-sold products can be the differentiator in your brand.
For Example:
“At Babies & Butterflies Studios, all our newborn sessions include a 5×7 soft cover book.”
“Couples who hire Birch & Branch Weddings get a choice between a 16×20 Framed Canvas or Metal Print for each collection.”
“At Powered to The Pet Photography, each session includes a Wood Display Block of your favorite furry friend.”
“All Christmas Tree Sessions and North Pole Portraits include a Metal Photo Ornament and a $200 Print Credit.”
Pre-Selling With Events
Wedding, Mitzvahs, Anniversary Parties, Engagement Parties and even Corporate Events can all have printed products included with their photography services. Pre-selling print with an event is a sales strategy for photographers who may not have much interaction with clients after their services are completed.
With events, there are so many opportunities to capture images that are meaningful to your client and their families. Including printed products with photography services answers the “What do you do with all these images?” question. Additionally, one of the reasons to add the printed products to the collection before the event is to create value and encourage add-on sales afterwards.
Here’s an example of what you might include in an event collection.
A Professional Wedding Album – Include a set number of images.
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- Opportunities to add more images and upgrade the album cover
- For corporate events, there is an opportunity to add more albums as a gift to VIP attendees.
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Parent Albums – Smaller companion albums couples can gift to parents.
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- Include a set of two with the option to add on for grandparents.
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Wall Art – A photographic print in a small to medium size.
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- Opportunity to upgrade from print to Canvas or Metal, add framing, select a larger size, or duplicates.
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Save-the-Date or Thank-You Cards – Designed from their engagement or wedding images in a set amount.
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- Opportunity to add on more cards.
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Gift Print Credit – Add a small collection of traditional gift prints; 2-8×10 and 4-5x7s
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- Opportunity to order additional small prints as thank you gifts for special guests.
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How to Pre-Sell Print Collections with Portrait Sessions
Portrait photographers can leverage seasonal needs, gift-giving occasions, and home décor trends to create collections that give sessions added value and open the door to additional product sales. Of course, special holiday promotions can include a small print or gift item like an ornament, but a more robust collection feels like the beginning of an experience, not just a giveaway to get clients in the door. Not that there’s anything wrong with that concept—that’s just a different blog topic.
Here are some ideas for collections that can be pre-sold for different session types. Think of these pre-sold collections as a starting point for the final sale. You may want to highlight a discount off your a la carte pricing to entice customers to commit up front. Help to build on the benefit of a pre-sold print collection by listing which different products can be used.
When creating these collections, be sure to figure in the cost of goods, services, and your profit margins when setting the prices.
Fall Family Sessions:
The Gallery & Gift Collection
1-16×20 Photographic Print – For the Home
2-8×10 and 2-5×7 prints – For Gifting
This collection has a little of everything and room to add on more gift prints, additional canvases, and holiday cards.
High School Seniors:
The Senior Special
25-5×7 Grad Announcements – For Sharing
1-8×10 Easel Back Metal Prints – For the Office
1-5×7 Easel Back Metal Prints – For Gifting
There is an opportunity to multiply those announcements and gift prints.
Newborns
The Sweet Pea Collection
1-11×14 Canvas Art Block – For the Family Gallery
25-4×6 Birth Announcements – For Sharing
2-5×7 Prints – For Grandparents
This collection created a repeat customer as they added Canvas Art Blocks from each of the baby’s milestone sessions to their family gallery.
Extended Family Sessions
The Generations Collection
1-16×20 Gallery Wrap – For the Grandparents
$300 Print Credit – For Additional Family Prints
The collection allows for an upgrade to the size of the canvas wrap, framing, and more copies for families to display in their homes.
How to Pre-Sell Print Collections and Boost Sales
Getting the client to invest in a session before seeing their images might seem tricky. However, focusing on the benefits of having a collection to fulfill with great images may shift client’s thinking about the importance of their session. This session is going to go on their walls, this session in going to be sent as a gift to grandparents. Knowing these images won’t just be spending time in the cloud, may make them more thoughtful as they prepare for a session, and as a result, this can lead to getting images.
Think of the opportunity to pre-sell a collection as an opportunity to help clients. Pre-sold collections should meet a customer’s need, or a need they didn’t realize that they had. Pre-selling 3-20×30 metallic prints might not seem helpful to a growing family, but one small wall portrait might be the start to something bigger or a repeat customer. If clients have plans in the future to print photographs for family, why not include Metal Prints with Easel Backs so your customers have finished products to deliver to their loved ones?
Here are some tips for pre-selling print collections.
Bundle Common Needs
As mentioned, make your offer make sense. Include items that fit the session and the potential need. New babies need birth announcements, families need wall art, and seniors need albums for all their favorite images.
Offer Incentives
Give special pricing only for pre-purchased collections. For example: “Save 15% when you pre-purchase your print collection.”
Position It as Smart Planning
Frame pre-purchasing as helping clients check something off their to-do list early. “Buy your holiday cards now and you’ll thank yourself in December!”
Something to Be Desired
Pre-sell enough to secure your minimum sale, but leave plenty of room for upselling once clients see their images. Be sure your pre-sold collection leaves the door open for more. If this feels too “sales-y”, rethink that! You are helping! If 25 holiday cards aren’t enough, you can offer more. If an 11×14 print is too small, you can help find a size that is right.
Make It Tangible
Show samples of albums, cards, or framed prints during the booking process to help clients visualize their purchase. If you don’t do in-person sales, have beautiful product images, printed and digital brochures, and a great online purchasing set up to get customers interested in more.
Learning how to pre-sell print collections is not about being pushy; it is about guiding clients toward meaningful products they will treasure while ensuring your business thrives. Pre-selling is a fairly easy sales strategy for photographers to implement. By bundling smartly, offering incentives, and positioning pre-purchases as both practical and special, you create a win-win: guaranteed sales for you and lasting heirlooms for your clients.
This blog was written by Maureen Miller, CPP, contributor for McKenna and contributor to marketing and client experience at Zookbinders. With 25+ years as a professional photographer, Maureen owns and operates her successful studio, Maureen T Miller Photography. She is an advocate for making money and doing what you love. Her motto is, “Photography is a BIG DEAL!”
Images by Maureen T Miller Photography.