385: Craig Turner-Bullock – How to make large dog photography wall art sales

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

Craig Turner-Bullock of www.furtography.co.nz is a New Zealand based, award-winning dog photographer. His awards include Dog Photographer of the Year 2020 and New Zealand Institute of Professional Photography Portrait Photographer of the Year for 2018. He's also an official Fujifilm X Series Photographer.

Originally from the UK, Craig is difficult to miss with his purple coloured hair. His photography is gorgeous – colourful, bright, full of personality and distinctively his.

One thing which immediately stood out to me when visiting his website was his pricing. Packages start at $2000, and his most popular option is $3500.

There's also an emphasis on his Dogarama prints – which are beautiful, large panoramic wall art featuring… you guessed it… Dogs.

And he has a knack of attracting his ideal clients, who he knows intimately and are willing to make sizable investments in his wall art.

In this interview, Craig goes into detail about his complete sales process which begins with dog treats at his mandatory pre-shoot consultations with every dog photography client so you can make large dog photography wall art sales consistently.

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

• What clients think about Craig's higher than average photography prices
• How Craig deals with clients who believe his pricing is expensive
• Who exactly is Craig's ideal domestic clients
• Who are Craig's commercial clients
• What makes Craig's business the success that it is
• Where does the bulk of Craig's income come from – commercial or private pet owner clients
• Why commercial clients contact Craig for photography work
• Where Craig sources pets to photograph for commercial photography commissions
• Creating a dog model database for commercial clients in the pet industry
• What Craig thinks about personal photography projects and why he continues to shoot them
• How often Craig does personal projects
• How Craig prices commercial pet photography work
• The importance of curating your portfolio carefully
• Who are Craig's private clients
• How clients find Craig's business to be able to book him
• Ideas to market Craig's dog photography business in vet clinics
• How Craig converts an initial inquiry into a photo session and sale
• Why Craig is not fond of making phone calls to prospective clients and client enquiries
• What Craig's pre-session consultation room looks like
• Why pre-session consultations are vital to Craig's wall art business
• Utilising dog treats in the pre-shoot consultations with client dogs
• The need to meet dogs before every photo session
• The importance of picking the right place to photograph dogs
• Craig's packages in detail
• Craig's Dogorama packages
• Craig's sales process in step-by-step detail
• Having a finance option to help clients purchase photography wall art
• Holding charity workshops to help beginner photographers

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.

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.

Being able to harness a relationship with the small local businesses is quite powerful. – Craig Turner-Bullock

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.

Seriously, 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 Craig 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 today's episode.

Curating your portfolio carefully is something that you can do really easily to attract the kind of clients that you want to attract. – Craig Turner-Bullock

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

PhotoBizX Daily Vlog Challenge – Earlybird pricing is now available – STARTS Monday Nov 2nd

Why utilise video in your photography business? The number one reason – to make a personal connection with our prospective client, faster than ever before.

You can do this with video on your website, email replies with video plus advertising and retargeting with video. 

There is no faster way to make a connection than you talking to your clients via video. 

If you generally book most of the clients you meet with face to face, imagine building that bond earlier in your process and before other local photographers. It'll mean more bookings for you. Fantastic right? As long as you can be yourself and make the same kind of connection you do in person. And you can! 

Want to learn how to get comfortable being yourself on camera?

This Challenge will get you there. 

The improvement and transformation in members videos has been extraordinary as we add something new to focus on throughout each module – from lighting, framing, eye contact, intro and outros – all with daily prompts.

Everyone involved is getting daily feedback, and it's easy to see the fun we're all having as we progress.

The next Challenge is starting soon! Click the link and add your details to get involved: http://dailyvlogchallenge.com

The way it works

1. Watch the daily video (with topic/Challenge included) uploaded into a separate post each day – excluding weekends.
2. Record your video reply and upload into the comments for that unit.
3. Once your video is uploaded, leave comments or constructive feedback (if requested) on at least 2 videos from other participants. 
4. Wait for feedback on your recording and implement suggestions into your next Challenge.

That's it, as simple as that. 

Photography Pricing Masterclass

Want to improve your pricelist and lead clients to the products you most want to sell… for the kind of profit you could be generating?

Photography business and mindset coach, Johl Dunn will show you exactly how in this Pricing Masterclass.

Get the same fantastic results Michelle is seeing in her business!

For more details and to sign up, click this link —>>https://photobizx.com/pricing

The Masterclass includes…

• The actual class delivered via video by Johl
• Any future live training (plus the recording) – next delivery will be December
• A one on one call with Johl to discuss your pricing (included free for PBX Members, USD$40 for non-members)
• Access to any future iterations of the course
• Access to the FB Group where Johl will answer follow up questions

Details and registrations here: https://photobizx.com/pricing​

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 mean more interviews and ultimately a better show.

I think personal projects are really important in helping photographers grow. – Craig Turner-Bullock

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 keywords or keyword phrase and where you'd like me to link to.

Another great way to get a backlink to your site is to send a video testimonial. It doesn't need to be fancy and your phone will be perfect. Click record and tell me how PhotoBizX has made a difference to you and your photography business.