If you're a regular listener to the Photography Business Xposed podcast, you'll be familiar with Steve Saporito, AKA The Portrait Doctor and his clarity of thinking when teaching how to generate terrific sales for portrait photographers. In todays episode, Steve came to my Central Coast studio to record a Q&A podcast episode and while here, we decided to record Steve's appraisal of my photography studio and business.

The interview starts as Steve arrives at my studio and from the get-go, he has suggestions or improvement form the way I gave directions to the studio, access to the studio and the layout of the room. From here we went into systems, data bases, display prints and setting up my business to sell.

As much as this episode feels almost selfish, I have a feeling that many of the things that Steve critiques about my studio may well be relevant to you and your photography business, hence the reason for releasing this as an episode.

Here's some more of what we cover:

  • Learn how to make your studio work for you and generate more portrait photography sales
  • Why branding is important when showcasing your work and your clients will actually expect it
  • 3 ways to grow your business and avoiding the most expensive way to grow your business
  • The importance of a working and efficient database
  • What you can't be ignoring as you get busy when trying to grow your business
  • How to style your studio to inorder to emphasize your work and sell those display sized prints
  • How the appearance of a studio, including the access can greatly impact a client's overall experience
  • Different selling techniques to use when selling your canvas artworks and albums
  • How to display your artwork in order to guarantee not only bookings but also after-sales of your photography
  • How to make clients fall in love with your product
  • Why you shouldn't stop at just selling your main product
  • Stop selling products that clients can easily find somewhere else, offer something unique
  • The “Power of Language” and why you need to work on it for the benefit of your business
  • Why being price-focused on your business can hurt your business
  • Why it is important to use a projector when showing photos to your clients
  • The importance of showcasing only your best product
  • How to strategically arrange your studio's furniture to maximize space to showcase your product and catch your client's attention

Following this episode, you should be in a position to critique your studio in a way that may not have ever done before. You'll be armed with a number of ideas including what you can do to improve your branding, drive more sales and create a better experience for your clients.

One thing that Steve is continually preaching is that if we can improve our clients experience, we will have bigger and better sales, more so than anything else you do in your business including the photography. I have a list of changes to make, what about you?

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 episode where you can hear lots more implementable content from Steve. In this episode, I open my heart to Steve and ask his advice about changing the direction of my business.

Some of the topics we discuss include:

    Photography as a catalyst and a reason to help people see more in themselves and have a personal transformation in their own self worth and self value

    How to blend in your passion to shooting what you love with your business

    Why infusing something that you want to do in your business is more important than totally giving up your current business and pursuing a whole new concept in your photography business

Impact Images photography studio

Impact Images photography studio

What is your big takeaway?

Following this interview, I'd love to know what your biggest takeaway is – what is the one thing that you'd like to implement or learnt from what was shared? Let me know by leaving your thoughts in the comments below.

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

If you'd like an easy way to show Steve your thanks, and support for the show at the same time, click the link to create a tweet and automatically let him know you're listening: https://photobizx.com/tweet

Impact Images photography studio

 

A Special offer from Pet Photographer, Charlotte Reeves

In episode 36 of the podcast, I interviewed Australian pet photographer Charlotte Reeves where she shared a ton of great information in regard to not only having a successful pet photography business but simply managing any type of small photography business and having multiple income streams.

One of those income streams included her first ebook, Fetching Photos and just this week, Charlotte has released her new book, Dog Shots; a recipe book of 30 fresh and fun ideas to help you spice up your dog photography. It focuses on utilising locations, working with light and obtaining expression, with a special emphasis on capturing action.

As a special offer to Photo Biz Xposed podcast listeners, Charlotte has generously offered a promo/discount code that will take $20 off the purchase price of any selected product or combo. You need to enter the code TAKE20PX at the checkout to receive your saving.

Head to photobizx.com/dogshots to find out more about the book.

The Resources Page

Remember the ever expanding resources page that has a listing of products, programs, hardware, books and directories mentioned in each episode of the show. If you’re looking for something that a guest has mentioned on a previous episode but just can’t remember who or what it was – you’ll find it listed in order on the resources page.

iTunes ratings, reviews and Shout-Outs

Each week before recording the podcast I check iTunes for any reviews and each week I'm excited to see what you've had to say about the podcast. This week I was blown away to see five fantastic reviews! Thanks you so much to:

Chris Gillham from All Reasons Photography

Arthur Rosa from BRAZIL! Who says “Interview with the world's best. Enjoy it!”

Backdrifters from the UK

Globe Drifters from the United States

James Reazor from The Pace Podcast who gave the podcast another try and changed his earlier rating and review.

Sincerely, thanks so much for your ratings and reviews, I appreciate the time you've taken and it's a big help for the show. It's these iTunes reviews that make a big difference to the podcast being ranked well and found in the iTunes store. If you have the time and are happy to leave an honest rating and review, head over to iTunes.

Photography Podcast iTunes reviews

Don't feel your comments have to be long, involved or gushy, an honest opinion is all I ask. Don't be shy about leaving your business name in the review either – that way I can add a link in the show-notes and show my appreciation with a proper thanks and a Google loving back-link to your website.

Get in Touch or Leave a Voicemail Message

If you'd like to get in touch, ask a question or make a suggestion for the show, you can email me andrew@photobizx.com, find me on Twitter https://twitter.com/andrewhellmich or on Facebook at https://photobizx.com/facebook – I'd love to hear from you!

Impact Images photography studio

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

In Tuition To Succeed – Steve and Kelly's NEW training website

The ART of Business – New webinar for July (Free)

Steve Saporito’s Website

Steve on Facebook

Steve on Twitter

Learn Pet Photography with Charlotte Reeves – Charlotte's new website for pet photographers

Dog Shots – Charlotte's new book for pet photographers

Impact Images photography studio

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

If you've been enjoying the podcast, I'd love for you to tell another photographer about it – it could be in a Facebook Group you're a part of, a photography forum, with a photographer friend or on twitter.

If you do have a twitter account, simply click here: https://photobizx.com/tweet or use the share buttons below.

Thanks and speak soon Andrew