Higher sales by making your product or service the solution for clients

Premium Members, click here to access this interview in the premium area.

Nadine van Biljon of www.nadinevanbiljon.com is a London based wedding photographer whose name popped up in the members Facebook Group when a recent discussion on album sales was started – in particular, selling extra album sides to couples after their wedding.

If you've ever struggled to sell anything you want to your photography clients – albums, engagement shoots, a second shooter for their wedding, wall art, etc… this is the episode for you.

It turns out, the easiest way to sell anything you like to any client is to make your product or offer, the solution to their problem and if you can emulate what Nadine shares in this interview, you'll have the clients coming up with the solution themselves! Nadine's approach really is the softest sell which is working remarkably well.

After some investigating, it was easy to see Nadine's work is just stunning – a mix of documentary, beautiful light, vibrant colour, heart felt moments and lots of fun and funny moments. She's been published in print, popular blogs and recently spoke at the Elevate conference in London.

Interestingly, wedding albums aren't included in her collections and are purchased as an add-on. Which says to me, any albums purchased by clients were all through upselling, or so I thought when looking over her website and pricing page.

Nadine's first career was a Sales Executive in the IT industry which may be a hint as to why she's as successful as she is.

Here’s some more of what we cover in the interview:

Nadine's album design and packages – what's included, what's not
The numbers of weddings Nadine shoots each year
Client average spend and the sales process
How to take your photography client from email enquiry to phone call
How to structure your first email response and what needs to be included
A clever way to handle inquiries when tailoring your email response
Nadine's pre-consultation preference and why she uses this approach
Why Nadine will ALWAYS take an album when doing a pre-consultation
Where to put your focus when conducting a pre-consultation
Selling an album as a solution rather than an upsell
How to lead your clients to purchase an album instead of the digital files
Reasons why your client needs to have an album
Why you must establish integrity and trust with your client in preparation for in person sales
How to present the idea of a second shooter or the engagement session to your client
The next little, but important steps after Nadine's sales meetings
Nadine's marketing and discount strategies
The album design process, how many pages and the software to use
Reinforcing the value of the package and helping your clients decide which images need to be included
Why most new photographers struggle to sell their products or albums
Nadine's one on one sales mentoring – the lessons and techniques you'll learn

What’s on Offer for Premium Members

If you’re a premium member, you should have received an email with links to your version of this interview – the full length and more revealing version where you hear the absolute best tips and advice from every guest.

My focus is to get the client to do the majority of the talking but lead by me so that the conversation is constructive and going somewhere. – Nadine van Biljon

If you’re on the fence about becoming a premium member, join with the $1 trial today and get access to the FULL interviews each week, get access to an amazing back catalogue of interviews and ALL future interviews delivered automatically to your phone or tablet.

Plus special member-only interviews.

You'll also receive access to the members only Secret Facebook Group where you can connect with other Premium Members and interview guests to help, support and motivate you to take ideas you hear in each episode and put them into action. There are also FB live video tutorials, role play interviews and special live interviews happening in the group.

You will not find more friendly, more motivated, caring and sharing photographers online.

Joining a Mastermind Group (encouraged by Andrew) has been incredibly valuable and fun, I look forward to connecting with my group members every week. Jina Zheng, Premium Member and Melbourne Children photographer.

And that's not all… you get a set of steak knives… I'm kidding!

Seriously though, that's not all. In addition to everything above, you'll get access to and instructions on forming or joining a MasterMind Group with other premium members. These groups are super motivating, make you accountable and build friendships with other pro photographers with similar motives to you – to build a more successful photography business.

What is your big takeaway?

Following this interview, I’d love to know if you're taking anything away from what Nadine shared. Is there something you heard that excited or motivated you to the point where you thought, yeah, I'm going to do that! If so, let me know by leaving your thoughts in the comments below, let me know what your takeaways were, what you plan to implement in your business as a result of what you heard in todays episode.

I want to be asking questions finding out what they want, hearing the language they use and I want to emulate that language back to them so that I seem very relatable and make them identify with me. – Nadine van Biljon

If you have any questions that I missed, a specific question you’d like to ask Nadine or if you just want to say thanks for coming on the show, feel free to add them in the comments area below.

iTunes Reviews and Shout-outs

Each week I check for any new iTunes reviews and it's always a buzz to receive these… for a couple of reasons.

Firstly, it's confirmation that I'm on the right track with the interviews and that they really are helping you improve your photography business. That's awesome!

Secondly, iTunes is the biggest search engine when it comes to podcasts and it's your reviews and ratings that help other photographers find PhotoBizX. More listeners means more interviews and ultimately a better show.

If you have left a review in the past, thank you!

If you haven't and you'd like to, head to https://photobizx.com/itunes and you can leave some honest feedback and a rating which will help both me and the show and I'll be sure to thank you on the show and add a link to your website or blog if you let me know the URL of your website and your name.

Alternatively, if you've left a review for PhotoBizX and are looking for more backlinks to help your SEO, leave a review for the new Photography Xperiment Podcast and email me your key words or keyword phrase and where you'd like me to link to.

Here is the latest review:

Excellent Interviews

In iTunes by Asheville Newborn Photographer, Coley Blackall from the USA on April 24, 2018

I am shocked every time I listen to an interview on this podcast. Every single one delivers so much value.

The database of photographers interviewed is incredible. Everything you ever wanted to know about growing your photography business is here. I love particularly the variety of guests on the show. Andrew has everyone from documentary style, newborns, weddings, pets…

Thanks Andrew for consistently having such amazing guests on the show.

Links to people, places and things mentioned in this episode:

Nadine van Biljon Website

Nadine van Biljon on Instagram

Nadine van Biljon on Facebook

Fundy Designer

Oversharing

As photographers, it's impossible not to get wrapped up with the work we create – that's why we do it, isn't it?

I remember my early images as I was beginning to understand depth of field, exposure, how to shoot silhouettes and other lessons as I was developing into a photographer. Each stage saw me rapt with what I was creating and it was impossible to not share my photos with anyone who'd be half interested – usually my wife and family.

Looking back at those early images, some of them were awful! I'd be embarrassed to show them now. That's normal though – it's part of developing new skills and learning.

The scary thing is, it's too easy to share what I shoot today – through social media and email, it's easy to over share.

What's difficult and requires possibly more skill and certainly restraint is to curate and share only our best work. At the very least, share the work we are most proud of – with MOST being the key word.

Less is more needs to be in the forefront of our minds. Showing less makes it easier to impress and easier to sell.

When I sent out a 6 minute slideshow link in my email last week…. that was plain dumb. The ONLY people interested in seeing that slideshow are the people featured in the slideshow and their closest family. Anyone else would have been bored sh%$less. I broke two things I aim to remember and preach often… Less is more. Attention is valuable, don't squander it.

Here's what I should of done last week (at the very most)… create a cut down version with a faster tempo and faster transitions for less than 2 or 3 minutes. One minute would be even better but there were no songs that short available in the SmartSlides app.

It's difficult not to get wrapped up in your own work, which is how it should be – it shows passion and love for what you do.

Remember when sharing though, keep it as short and to the point as possible when sharing with anyone outside those featured in your work. This alone will add more impact to what you do and the way people see your work. I'll be doing my best to do the same in future.

Thank you!

Thanks again for listening and thanks to Nadine for coming on and sharing so much about her thoughts and ideas on developing a successful photography business based on problem solving for clients which ultimately leads to more sales in a natural way.

Having an album means that they can re-live the memories from their wedding whenever they want to and hand it down to future generations. – Nadine van Biljon

If you have any suggestions, comments or questions about this episode, please be sure to leave them below in the comment section of this post, and if you liked the episode, please share it using the social media buttons you see at the bottom of the post!

That’s it for me this week, hope everything is going well for you in life and business!

Thanks and speak soon

Andrew