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Transcription is a powerful tool to improve the quality of your work. You want to make sure your clients and your business are as successful as you can be. In this episode, I'm breaking down my system that I use to make sure the client's always happy with the project every single time. And all we have to do is put in a little bit more time in the pre production stage in order to save ourselves from the headaches of revisions.
Welcome to the creative biz launch podcast, where we talk about how to grow your creative business and scale it to six figures, whether you're a [00:01:00] photographer, filmmaker, or designer. You'll find something of value here. Now I run a product photography business. So this video we'll be talking about how I avoid revisions for product photography clients.
But if you're not a product photographer, you will get a lot of value from this. Whether you're a photographer, videographer, designer, whatever your creative freelance path is, you'll find some value from here. I'll be discussing the high level principles that we use inside my company, along with some specifics.
Get ready because this will be a great episode for those that struggle with client revisions. We've all dealt with those clients that need the photos tweaked, the video edits changed, the music changed, and there's an easy way to do this and a hard way. This episode is breaking down the five steps I take in order to avoid these kinds of revisions.
This ensures that the client is happy right from when they sign the contract. To when they received the final assets, you don't really need any special skills for this, and it will save you a lot of time in the long run. Let's get into it. First off, you need to charge a lot. Yes, [00:02:00] that's right. The more you charge, the less revisions you'll get.
Pricing is a weird. You need to charge a lot because if you don't, the client won't think of you as an expert. You do have to be good to justify your costs, but if you're already a good photographer or creative, you don't charge enough. This will be a red flag in the client's mind. If you're good, you should be charging a lot.
So they think that you're good and that they actually don't feel like they have to micromanage you. If you don't charge a lot, they're going to think that you don't know what you're doing. And this is a weird psychological. thing that happens. The client will think that they're going to have to hold your hand through the entire process and they're going to expect to need revisions because you're not charging enough.
A professional photographer who's charging a lot while the client won't expect to have to have revisions from this person. So this is like a mental thing that happens with the client because you're not charging enough. So I think the photos aren't going to be good enough. On the first pass, if you're good, charge a lot.
This will weed out the bad clients. It'll make you look more [00:03:00] professional and position yourself as the expert.
If you're asking a client thousands of dollars for a project, rather than a few hundred, they'll assume that you know what you're doing, because why would someone charge so much if they didn't know what they were doing for me? My most basic package is two grand. Only goes up from there. If you need help pricing, there's a free workshop in the show notes.
They'll walk you through my entire pricing process and how to build out a package that you can sell for thousands. Okay. Number two here, onboarding. As soon as the client signs on, you need to be involved. The client is paying a lot of money to work with you. So you have to make them feel justified for paying that number right away.
As soon as that contract is signed, send them a welcome email. This could be as simple email that says, Hey, we're really excited to start this project together. Thank you for trusting me with your brand. I can't wait for what we'll create together. And bam, right there. You've shown that you care about this client.
Make sure to send this email as soon as they sign your contract. And this can even be a custom built automated [00:04:00] email that you have as part of your overall system in your business. And my first email to the client, I'll let them know what the next steps are in the process. Whether that's an onboarding form or deposit or whatever we have to.
Get figured out for this specific client. I highly recommend that you actually utilize an onboarding forum because this forum will gather some relevant project information. They'll make sure that you're both on the same page from the very start. The forum also makes the client perceive you as more professional.
And again, it helps them justify working with. You
step three of this is a mood board. The mood board is the place where you can share what the project direction will be. Pull relevant examples from the onboarding form and make sure that you're both on the same page going into the shoe. After the client submits the onboarding form, take all the information and create a mood board from the info.
That you can present to the client. The mood board is also one of those bonuses that I have as part of my overall package. Not everyone offers a mood board. So this sets me apart from others. I also promise that they'll receive the mood board within 24 hours of submitting an onboarding form. [00:05:00] And I stick to that.
I'll usually spend about an hour making this, so it doesn't cost me much time, but it helps massively in actually getting on the same page with creative direction. And it reduces those revisions that may happen later on. Setting a mood board helps the client know that the project is going in the right direction before I even start shooting any photos.
As for software here, I use Notion. That's how I run most of my creative business. We have lots of databases in there, and a specific one for mood boards. Each client gets a new document, and it's super easy as sure. Through notion, if you're a creative business launch students, you already know you have access to that mood board template, so use that and send it to your clients if you're not a student, just reach out and we'll get you signed up for that program.
Okay. Next up prep call. So the prep call happens after the client has had a chance to actually see the mood board. and review it personally, I'll try and book them for a call one to two days after they've submitted their onboarding form. This gives them a chance to actually review the mood board, [00:06:00] compile a list of questions for you and make sure that you're both ready for the call.
So there's no time wasted here. I'll do my prep. Calls through zoom. It's great to put a face, the client here, and it's really useful in sharing your screen when you want to go over relevant examples, either in the mood board or from other sources, the prep call usually flows really naturally, but you still have to be prepared here.
Remember you're the expert here. So you're the one that's. Guiding the call. This is a crucial stage where the client will see how confident you are with the project. And if you're confident here, then the chances of them asking for revisions go way down because they know they're in good hands. At the start of the call, you'll just have your usual small talk.
They'll probably say how. Say they are to work with you Next, I'll quickly go over the mood board. I'll walk through some of their answers on the onboarding form, and I'll go through a rough shot list. I'll go through the photo examples I've included in the mood board as well, and if applicable, I'll pitch a few different video ideas and see which one they prefer to go with.
After this, I'll see if they have any questions about the process and we'll answer those. [00:07:00] There's usually a few that come up, so just be ready to answer as best as you can here. If they ask you something that you aren't sure about, or you're not really confident to go into that in the moment, just tell them you need to look into it.
And you'll give them a more accurate and detailed answer via email. After the call, it's also a good time to ask any questions that you might have for the client. If there's anything in their onboarding form that you were confused about, ask them, asking questions is a good thing because you're learning exactly what they want out of the project.
These calls usually last anywhere from 15 to 30 minutes, and these shouldn't be intimidating. You shouldn't be nervous for these because you've already had that sales call with the client. You already know that they want to work with you. They've signed on to actually work with you, so they trust you. So there's nothing to be nervous about.
In these calls, you're just establishing guidelines for the project here. Now, if you don't know the sales call process, I just mentioned, we also teach that in the free workshop I mentioned earlier, again, that is in the show notes and you can sign up [00:08:00] for free. It's 60 minutes full of pure value. Okay. Now the next step here is actually something that I found really helps me.
And what I do is I provide a large photo gallery for the client to choose from. After the photo shoot, I'll always provide the client with a set of photos to pick from. If they sign on for 10 product photos, I'll usually shoot a bunch more, probably 15 to 20 for them to actually pick from. And these aren't final edits, they're rough edits, but it gives them options so that you don't have to go back and do a reshoot.
Photos, depending on how your business is structured, this may not make sense for you, but the type of product photography I do, this makes complete sense for me. If you're someone that does really, really intricate setups, this might not be the right route for you. Again, this is a case by case basis. So if I send them 15 to 20 photos, they'll pick 10.
And even if they don't like a few from that big set, they'll still be able to find 10 that they absolutely love here. All right. So we learned that we have to charge a lot. We have to have an onboarding process. [00:09:00] Send the mood board, have a prep call, and then send a bigger photo gallery than what clients are normally used to.
And these are the five steps that have helped me in my business. Feel free to apply one of these, all five of these, whatever you think will fit inside of your own creative business. If you're going to do anything, definitely just raise your rates and have a prep call with the client before your shoot, because these two things will really help reduce those revisions.
Portray yourself as the expert, have that confidence and your revisions will go way down. Thank you so much for listening. If you have an extra 30 seconds here, please give the show a rating. It helps another creative entrepreneur discover the podcast. Thank you. And I'll talk to you in the next one.
