Welcome to the first episode of 2026. I have officially been doing this podcast for over eight years, blows my mind. And in this episode, we're starting the year off running and booking our cells. And I have a beautiful volunteer, a wonderful photographer who's actually coming to my Sicily workshop. I can't wait. Who let me review one of her cells calls in depth. So we're going to dive into this. And I want you to know this is the kind of thing that I usually charge for. I'm giving it to you for free. So you can see more of what it would be like to work with me to really deepen your cell's process, your brand, all of those things that you want to do in 2026. So take out a pen and paper and take some notes. But before we dive in, I want to just remind you that this is a time in your life where beauty, perspective and space to remember who you are as an artist is absolutely. I'm fundamentally key to you growing your business and having a beautiful life. This spring, I'm hosting two intimate creative workshops in Italy, not just to build your portfolio, but to deepen your artistic voice, your vision and the way you move through your work. Yes, we're going to create extraordinary imagery and historic settings. You'll leave with work you're proud to show, but it's more than just workshop. It's a mastermind because before during and after Italy, I am going to teach you how to refine your portfolio, how to dive into what kind of storyteller you are, how to luxury position your work and how to have more artistic confidence. You're going to come to Italy with mood boards that you create of the work that you're going to put on your website and you're going to know exactly where to put it because we will have already decided it before we go. We're going to build the brand before we go to Italy and then we're going to go bring all the images to life. I'm also going to talk to you about the future of AI, the future of photographers in this industry and what's really going to keep you relevant. Italy isn't just the backdrop, it is the teacher. It is going to slow you down. It will sharpen your eye. It will remind you of La Dolce Vita, the beauty and success don't have to be rushed, but get to be embodied and felt. 2026 is the moment to do this and both workshops are almost full. So I've got a couple spots left for photographers and I have spots for florists, videographers and planners. So if you're wanting to know more either DM me on Instagram about the workshops or send me an email at
[email protected]. If you've been filling the poll to build a stronger foundation, not only in your brand, but in who you are as an artist, then this is your invitation. Now let's dive in to today's episode of the Play it Brave podcast. We're listening to the Play it Brave podcast. Join Darcy for a while, rummage around in her wit and wisdom. She's a photographer, an educator and a marketing ninja. Each week she's going to be teaching you all about creating a life full of mindset, money and marketing miracles. Listen to real-world experiences and sure fire strategies from expert guests or to keep you focused on your path to success. Think less hand holding or fist bumps, so stop playing safe. It's time to start playing it brave. Here's your host, Darcy Benincosa. Welcome back to the Play it Brave podcast. And today I'm doing something a little bit different. You're going to come behind the scenes for a real coaching session with one of my favorite photographers, Jasmine. She is not only an incredible photographer herself and I'll have her talk through some of her process of what has escalated her into this next era where she's raising her prices and she's stepping into booking weddings at a higher level. But I also deeply love her because she second shoots for me often when I'm in California and I just think she's a brilliant artist. And when we get to that point where we want to raise our rates, maybe you know the feeling where you're afraid, okay, I've been booking at this price point. I want to raise it. I'm really nervous. People are not going to see the value in what I'm doing and then I psych myself out. So today you're going to hear us walk through the exact structure that I teach inside a lot of my high level one to one coaching packages and my high level masterminds in booking luxury and intro luxury clients. It's the same structure I've taught to hundreds of photographers and business owners who have gone on from booking, you know, maybe in the three four five six range to uping it to eight 10 20 and even 30 K weddings. So what we're going to do is we're going to break some of these old habits that you have around the current price structure and really set the identity shift of who you need to become to go into that next level of luxury. We're going to work on building confidence, especially around selling because it can be like so many artists are so confident in their art. But as soon as it comes time for them to sell their art, they get into scarcity, they get into worry, they get into imposter syndrome. And what's so important when we do this is we need to feel really grounded, really embodied and honestly genuinely irresistible to high and client. So that's what we're going to dive into. What my objective really is for this episode is that you're going to see that there is a mindset shift required when you're raising your prices. Honestly, you're no longer quote unquote selling photography, you are becoming a director and artist with presence, vision and experience. And then we're going to talk a lot about what actually sells to intro luxury clients or luxury clients intro is into that eight 10 12 K range. And then luxury, I think is really that 20 K plus it's not all about logistics. It's not about just going with the flow of the call, it's not about being overly casual, but it's really about leadership confidence, vision and emotional resonance. And then we're going to talk a lot about how you can take control of the call without being pushy because I've found that many photographers let their clients lead the call and that actually hurts the leadership you're trying to build. Then we're going to talk to Jasmine about some of the practical scripts and things that she can use and you can use. So Jasmine, welcome to the podcast. Thank you so much, Darcy, very happy to be here. Thanks for being the guinea pig and being brave enough to say I feel not so confident with myself calls of course anytime. So tell us a little bit about you and your journey with photography because you started a long time ago, you've been building steadily, you had a big push in like your popularity. So tell us a little bit about that. So we understand exactly where you're at in your business. Yeah, so from a very young age, I always wanted to be a wedding photographer, but I had put it on this kind of a pedestal as like a dream career kind of situation where when I finally was able to call myself a wedding photographer and started booking weddings. I felt imposter syndrome from the get go and that's something that I've been really been working through a lot. And so when I do get on some sales calls with people, I feel myself going into some kind of robotic kind of a sales script that I made like years ago for a different kind of clientele and I feel like it's not resonating as much as it used to for clients with the lower budgets. And I have felt myself kind of struggling to portray myself as the artist that I know that I and struggling to really tell them what the whole overall experience could be to work with me. I feel like I talk a lot about logistics so that I can get as much details as possible of their wedding days so that when I'm able to create their proposal and their timeline, like I don't have to keep going back and forth and asking them more questions. I feel like I'm focusing too much on those logistics and not enough about what it's like to work with me. So that's kind of been the struggle that I've been seeing as I'm raising my prices and diving into another level of clients. Okay, you know, this is the thing we study photography, we work on becoming the best artists that we can be understanding the camera, understanding the logistics of the day, how to do all of these things for our clients. And then it's really hard to get actual training on how to sell so I love that you had a script that was working for you and was converting at the price point that you were at, but you're right when we're ready to make that next leap, which I hope all of you listeners are that you never stay too stagnant or stay in the same price range for too long for me. If you've been in the same price range for, you know, two, two point five years and you're afraid to raise it or you don't feel like you can, then there might be some bigger things that we need to look through throughout your process and a lot of it starts with the sales calls. So one thing that Jasmine did that was super, super helpful before we hopped on this call is she sent me a transcript of one of her sales calls so that I could go through it very in depth. And when I was going through that, I found seven things already that Jasmine could improve, so I'm going to go over those quick seven I've already told them to Jasmine, but I'm going to review it for everybody here and then from there we're going to go into sales call structure. So let's kind of go over the transcript now if you're able to get a transcript you're able to record a sales call, I think that would be really, really beneficial for you to review with a coach, maybe that coaches me I'm really good at these, but I'll tell you I have done a lot of private one to one sells calls strategies so that you can see what you can't see because oftentimes when you're on the call and you're doing the thing you don't know that what you're doing might be coming across not in terms of speaking. In terms of speaking to your current client so Jasmine sent me the transcript and from the transcript I came up with seven shifts that she needed to make that will really up it so the first one and I have a feeling a lot of you struggle with this mostly because I see so many photographers who say I want to be your best friend I want to be your bestie I want to be your BFF I want to be like a guest at the wedding. And to me I understand that you want connection with your client you want to feel really like part of the day and not this like poiti toiti you know arrogant artist right which I have worked with before as a second shooter they're out there I know that but we also I think if we're too casual so with Jasmine she has a lot of natural warmth which is a major strength. But right now the casual language she is delivering was deluding her authority and I won't go into the specifics of the language I've already done that with her but there was just very casual language and when you have casual language meaning like hey yeah I'm not sure what do you think blah blah blah then you don't come off as the authority and luxury really requires warmth yes you're not going to be cold and distant and arrogant. But precision so grounded calm intentional not just chatty or overly familiar she was building rapport but not in the best way so that's the first thing that I noticed from the transcript it was too casual. The second thing is that during your calls Jasmine you already know you allowed the couple to dictate the direction of the call so where do we want to talk about most what do you want to tell me about your wedding what you know tell me more about your love story and then the clients may go off on lots of different tangents maybe telling you things you don't really need to know or that's not going to be something that will help on the sales call. High and clients don't want that they hire leaders so when we can lead the sales call with a clear process then that helps us to subtly set a structure meaning the flow of the photography your framework for approaching the wedding day your process this creates safety certainty and trust okay so we do need a clear process. Jasmine had a script that script is no longer working and while you don't have when I say script I don't mean exact words to say though I have those for people who are like oh my gosh just tell me the exact words to say. But a lot of it is the process of showing your value and that is something that we have to do because our clients don't automatically know it step three for Jasmine when I looked at the transcript was to step into her identity as a director you're not a friend you're not appear you're not someone trying to relate to them you are the artistic director of the wedding day experience and what do directors do they guide. They curate they make decisions so the energy should feel like I've done this a thousand times you're totally safe follow me I've got you and you display that throughout the call and I find that so many people get nervous about like oh my gosh will they book me are they going. So many people not just photographers so many business people ruin a sales call because they're worried about making the sale you can't be worried about making the sale on the sales call I know that sound silly but like if you're just trying to drive the sale they will feel that and you need to be there showing up to serve I know that's where we get to but really being that director so i'll go into more specific on this but one of the things I do is I let them present their vision to me and then I present my vision. I'll present my vision to them after I hear their vision and i'll go into that a little bit more because jasmine and I are going to dive into her refining how to get the vision out of the client so that's number three is step into your identity as the director number four is remove all wishy washi language I am calling jasmine out for this there is a lot of wishy washi languages and that means phrases like we can totally do whatever it's really up to you I mean if you want we could that communicates uncertainty not elegant so we can totally do whatever you would replace with here's what works best it's really up to you you would replace with the ideal flow for your day is and I mean if you want we could is replaced with what I recommend based on my experience is this this is luxury leadership so you're going to remove all wishy washi language where you just don't sound certain number five this is just like the chef's kiss you want to mirror back their exact words so I do record myself calls because I like a transcript because if I miss something about when they're explaining their vision to me I do take handwritten notes while I'm talking to them so that I can mirror back on the call but one of the biggest mistakes that intro photographers make is that they don't use the clients language back to them so if your couples tell you they're emotional buying criteria early on but you don't reconnect to that criteria when you present your offer you will lose them they will not feel hurt or understood or like you understand the vision that's why it is so important to ask them their vision most people just ask what's your vision that's not a good enough question that's very broad and we need to bring it down to so you end the call with and everything you've shared and I'll give you an example everything you've shared the intimate feel the family moments that you want captured like blink and blink and blink the editorial look that you're looking for for your couples portraits like you basically list back to them the exact things they said to you this alone will change the dynamic of how you're connecting on a sales call that really closes the emotional loop and it really increases conversions okay we're almost done we've got two more number six is hold the space as an expert guide so right now in jasmine's transcripts she really slipped into participant energy like I'm going to just participate in this call instead of her energy and a guide listens deeply takes notes reflects with clarity shows patterns anticipates needs and leads with calm confidence so your role when you're doing these calls is really to hold the emotional tone of the call not match theirs you might have a groom that's not that interested in wedding photography but showed up to the call I hope he's more interested you might have a bride that's like all over the place with different mood boards and ideas or chaos or confusion or they could be overwhelmed you don't match that energy you hold the tone of the guide like hey I've got this I'm a professional I know how to hold you through this process and number seven finally is like maintaining professionalism while staying warm so professionalism doesn't mean cold I kind of talked about that with number one and warm doesn't mean casual so jasmine's sweet spot is actually elegantly warm and clearly professional a photographer who is approachable yet refined a creative who feels like a trusted partner not a chatty friend so jasmine those are the seven things I know we've talked about these before what kind of a haaz from when I reviewed your transcript to when you got this feedback did you have like what kind of was hitting home for you the most I think for me was you pointing out the casual language and the passive attitude that I have towards my calls I kind of had a feeling that I was going more into wanting the couple to like me more so than wanting them to trust me as a professional and having you point those out was huge for me because I can't unsee it now I'm like I'm very conscious of it now which is good which is a good thing because now I want to make those changes so that I can become a warm professional like you mentioned at the end there yeah I love that and if I hadn't reviewed her transcript these are the questions I would ask jasmine so jasmine you can choose one or two of these that you feel might be helpful as we dive into like a more I've done the assessment so now we're going to move into the creation of what your new sales calls are going to look like so the questions that I would ask most people is how do you currently open your calls like walk me through the first 60 seconds do you set expectations or do you just let the couples start talking first and what energy are you trying to communicate at your new price point so you can take one or two of those and let me know so when I first go through the sales call when I first open up I am trying to check in to make sure that we are basically good to go so I ask like how's your day been is this still a good time to chat how's the wedding planning been going which I feel like are kind of generic questions that they tend to get asked a lot when they're trying to find their vendors I do ask like what was the proposal story like how did you to me I try to open it up for them to tell me what their love story is like itself but I do feel like I could give them a little bit more direction with that instead of just letting them like you say take over the call yeah so for me I love the question what energy are you trying to communicate at your new price point or just what energy are you trying to communicate so when I get on an initial call I start with a very happy up beat these full energy and I tell them this is actually going to be really fun so I like to set the energetic tone of I am so excited you're here you know I wouldn't be like does this call still work for you they're obviously on the call with you so don't give them any doubt of like oh no I am so busy and this is so hard and this is taking a lot of time and there are so many wedding chaotic things happening and oh my gosh the thing that just like we don't want to get them spiraling on anything that's going wrong about the process what we want to do is set an energy that is exciting and you know so you could say something like I am so excited that we're here today honestly these kinds of calls are the most exciting thing for me because we're going to dive in and get real clarity around exactly what your vision is and you know most photographers might say what's your vision and that you're going to let you speak but I'm actually going to ask you a couple of really terrifying questions about your vision so that we both know exactly what it is without any confusion and that makes them feel really held like oh I thought I knew the vision for my wedding day and everybody just asked me what the vision is what is she going to ask me that's deeper than what's the vision you know what I mean and so to me that's that's the first place I really like to go is setting them up on the vision because everything that happens is getting them clear on their vision and their identity who are they as this couple getting married and so getting the vision questions better is really important so we can kind of dive into that do you when you ask them about their vision what do you say very simply what is your overall vision for your wedding day and then I just let them tell me you know however that is yeah and that's what most people do so it's fine it's it's not like we've been taught to do anything different but I like to really tell them what the vision means so we could say something like hey here's how our time together is going to flow we're going to start with your vision of the day but then I'll walk you through how I also envision the day after hearing your vision that wording wasn't the best but honestly let them know they will share their vision and then you're going to share your vision because that's the place where you see if both visions align so then you could say something like and when I say vision I simply mean the feeling and the atmosphere you want your wedding to have what's the mood what's the emotional tone and what are the moments that really matter for you to have more than anything else this really helps me understand what you want to create right so then you lead them through what is the atmosphere they want their wedding to have if it's an adventure allotment you know then it's going to be different than if it's a 900 person wedding in a luxury mansion in Honduras which they have a different atmosphere versus a Italian Tuscan allotment with 30 clients they might just want the atmosphere to feel something very different so hearing what they want their atmosphere that really helps me as the photographer be like okay these are the galleries I'm going to send like this is how I'm going to start putting together their day and I write down the atmosphere then the mood the emotional tone the moments that matter most and this is the stuff I'm taking notes on because this is the stuff you want to repeat to them at the end of the day I'm going to give you guys a few more vision questions just so you can take some notes so you could ask like what feeling do you want your wedding day to have or are there certain moments or relationships that you already know you want documented with intention when you think about looking back at your photos in 20 years what do you hope they capture I think that's you know gives you guys some kind of an idea and you can brainstorm your own but really get the client to speak to their vision so that's going to be the next thing that you're going to build with intention jasmine is how to get them to talk about their vision and you hold the space and then you're going to write that so you know in the past jasmine really kind of went straight into logistics and sort of missed the emotional resonance so when we ask their vision and then we reflect back to them then what is next is we have to kind of think how do we then show them that we are aligned with their aesthetic so jasmine do you have a way once you hear their vision to then show them hey I am a match for this vision like what goes through your mind when they share their vision I do try to remember some key words that they mentioned when they're sharing their vision and try to bring it back to myself and share and be like oh that's really awesome like maybe like I shot a wedding kind of in a similar manner previously before or like I personally love doing you know family photos with the couples and stuff and that's something that's important for me so like something to kind of tie back to how I like to photograph the wedding days so that they kind of feel more seen I love that yeah I think that honestly getting a few key words like I want my wedding to feel really glamorous and fashion forward I really value like I just photographed my nephews wedding and I love his new wife and to her she was like the pictures I get with all my nieces and nephews are so important to me they're like my favorite people and I want a lot of really we did a lot of like royal portraits of the kids and different types of things so that we really saw that vision come to life so when I hear their vision then what I do is I mentally go through my shoots kind of like you and I think of pictures images that I've taken that can really reflect and show to them now some may call me crazy I say I don't know what I say type A but I have some galleries that already go with different things so I have a glamorous editorial fashion forward gallery of various images I have a gallery that has like you mentioned a lot of the family formulas but more artistic and so if you have photos to show them when it's your turn to talk after you've gathered the information that will help them on the call visualize why they booked you in the first place now I do think a really important question you can ask the couple at the end like after their vision is what made you reach out to me today like what about my work made you want to connect today and hearing them say so the words they exactly say oh you're this kind of a photographer or these kinds of images or this kind of feel those you need to write down a lot and it's also really good reflection to see if the brand you're putting out there is the brand you want to be putting out there because if they're saying words that you're like I do not see myself in that way at all I must not be branding well I must not be putting out the right images so do you have in your call do they do you ask them ever like why did you reach out to me you're like what are the main words your clients say to you about why they want you to be their photographer you know I actually don't really ask them straight up why they decided to reach out with me or inquire with me I do ask something like what is most important to you about wedding photography or like what are you hoping to get from your photographer but for some reason I feel a little scared a little nervous to kind of straight up be like why did you inquire with me and I for some reason try to keep it like super general like that and now you're like pointing that out to me that I do something like that so but yeah I ask like a more general question versus asking them directly why they inquired with me yeah I think it's missing a real opportunity we don't have to say in like a again an arrogant way of like who what about me made you want to book like that would be you know weird but just say I'm so excited you book this call what about my work or what you've seen online made you decide to book this like what stood out to you about why you do want to work with me and some may say oh you were a referral but even my referrals will say my friend got photographed by you and their images look like they were straight out of a magazine I get that response a lot and that's exactly the response I want because I am more of an editorial photographer oh my friend booked you know you shot their wedding in Paris I'm also doing a destination wedding they just said it was so easy and seamless and you knew everything so then I'm like okay they really are tied to the client experience that I gave and they might not care as much about the art they're caring more about the fact that I'm really competent I handle the logistics so whatever they say in response to that question tells you what's really important to them if they're just like you were a referral then they might not still understand their vision and then I would dive in a little deeper one thing and then I noticed on the transcript that you sent me is that couple kind of hijacked the call a little bit and they started rapid firing logistics like I don't know should I get married at this time and what do you think this should be and where should we do this and I've got you know twenty people in my bridal party do you think that's going to be okay and sometimes your people can go on about all the logistics before you've set the emotional tone so we really need to make sure we understand the bigger picture what they're looking for what the atmosphere what the mood is before we go into the logistics and I would save the logistics a bit for the end okay so now going forward you're going to find the most jasmine way possible to see why did you reach out today what about my work really drew you in and hear them because that's the selling point if they tell you exactly why they want to work with you then it's really really powerful and then you don't get into the logistics too soon into the call what other questions do you have about your call jasmine like is anything coming up where you're feeling like tension or nervousness or still like you are not quite sure what to do after getting that first initial vision I think a quick question I have is like how can I have that conversation about logistics without it feeling very logistical I guess like you know like I'm asking like do you know what time your ceremony is starting like where will you be getting ready is it kind of close by the venue and I feel like sometimes it can sound like I'm just reading off of a list of questions I have which I am because these are the questions that I feel like I need in order to create their photo timelines that they better understand how my services work kind of a thing but I feel like it could be better yeah and this is where you're still thinking like a 5k 7k photographer because 5k and 7k photographers are not worried about the timeline on the first call because the planner will generally be doing that and you will have very little control over it so if they're wanting you to build a timeline you're going to know they're already a little bit of a lower budget client and this is where you maybe are getting confused with like your new identity is oh I want to serve them I'll give them a timeline I'll do this I'll do that but that's serving a non luxury client so I would not go into timeline now what you can do after vision so you get the basic atmosphere you understand what photos are really important to them then you can say paint me a picture of your day what does you know what's the flow of your day going to look like and have them do that in like two or three minutes but this is not the call to answer every single timeline question and if they do want you to put together a sample timeline that would be something I would do after the contract is made and you could then do it in like a Google form like what time of day is your ceremony what is this what is that and then you don't spend this call making them go over the logistics because what this call is meant to do is build their emotional excitement not answer logistical questions and this is where you then so after the vision and after like okay tell me how your days flowing and what you're supposed to focus on that is not the logistics it's the fun oh my gosh so you're gonna have a cocktail party do you already okay are you switching your dress at all during it are you gonna do more than one dress ooh what does the nighttime dress look like like this is what I do oh does it have feathers I have these beautiful blur images from a reception I can send you to show you like what the cocktail dress photos can look like because that is another star of the show are you doing a big cake cutting ceremony what kind of ceremonies and rituals are really important for your day you're doing that tradition that's so great like get the traditions get the rituals get the story not the logistics you should not be saying what time is your ceremony yeah let me think about where the sun's going to be there let me think about where we should do the family foremost that's a whole different conversation after they've booked you and one that the planner will usually have with you this is about what rituals what dresses what exciting things are happening this is them getting into their because I'm the fashion photographer I want to know what the fashion is like I want to know what the special moments I want to know if they're doing a first look so those are more the kinds of questions and you want to keep them again what in that energy of this is so exciting this is my love story this is the day I've been waiting for yeah that's super helpful for sure so those kinds of questions are after the contract has been sent out and signed yeah they're boring questions we don't we don't worry we don't want to go into boring work mode they need to see you as like this incredible storyteller who's already helping them feel more excited about their story yeah so isn't that nice you don't even have to do logistics anymore you get to ask them the fun questions and this is where you can be professional but not too casual so you can't be like oh my gosh my bestie she also had a dress like that and blah blah blah blah no you can say something like have you seen the new line of cocktail dresses that I don't know galley a lot of does it have it but whatever this designer has I'm gonna send you a few I was just a bridal fashion week and these new dresses if you haven't gotten yours they're incredible what does that do that shows that you know fashion if fashion is important to your brand it is to mine it shows that you're on the up and up of the recent trends it shows that you will be helpful in the things that are fun and exciting so you don't go off on a casual tangent you become the directed leader to this fashion piece or have you seen this or do you have a vision for the wedding cake is it going to be big multi-tier are you having it more of this is it important to you so you want to get the storytelling elements so that's what I would do there and then once you've got all of those then what I would do is explain your process so you know you can say something like I feel really good about your vision you want this this this repeat back to them exactly what they said the wedding day sounds divine it sounds like you're going to have these really beautiful fashion elements with your second dress and your shoes this moment is going to be really important to you so you mirror back to them the favorite parts of the day in the story and then say you know just to kind of wrap up this pro you don't have to say wrap up this process but I'm going to explain now what my process is and how I work to create the photos that are blank and blank and blank and blank right these are the photos that are this and you again repeat back to them exactly what they want these are the photos that in 20 years you're going to still feel this feeling because luxury is selling to a feeling and an emotion not a logistic and then you explain your process now I have several things that I say that are pretty quick but that explain my process and a little bit about my history so one of the things that I do and everybody has to figure out their thing you are not going to have the same thing as me and so you have to then reflect internally why am I so good at what I do and this can be a conversation that is easy and you're like oh I'm good at this and this and this or if you struggle with being nice to yourself or understanding your differentiation or understanding how you add value this is where you could really struggle so Jasmine you and I can brainstorm this part if you're struggling with this part I'm going to give you an example of mine so one of mine is I studied directing at New York University and I worked on Broadway and directed large scale musicals and plays what being a director taught me when I decided to go into wedding photography was this why do I mention that because it puts me already as the director as the storyteller and I talked to them about how storytelling and directing and art is so important for me I get some of my biggest inspiration from and I can say a mix of fashion photography museum paintings you know I could talk about how used to give tours at the Louvre and this painterly fill is why I still shoot film another thing that I mention is that I'm six feet tall because it's a major bonus because I'll tell them hey I'm going to always be taller than you usually than the bride a lot of times in the groom and I'm going to get that best selfie angle now height is a really good thing of mine if it's not yours you just don't mention it the other thing that I can talk about is my trusted second shooter and then also I usually pull up a gallery or two that I have prepared in advance kind of doing my sleuthing stalking of the couple and say this is sort of how I picture you I also have a gallery that's like all my most creative images and I pull them out and say I'm not going to just get the safe shots I'm going to turn you into art I want there to be an artistic portrait like this painter or like this you know beautiful photographer of old like this is what I'm going for and when I show them the actual photos some of them they may not have seen because they might not be on my home page or they might not be on my social then that brings them back into the feeling of this woman knows what she's talking about and she's an artist and so I tell them my vision back to them which mirrors their vision and highlights my value so that's what I do it works really really well and it gets them really excited and I will say things like see how I did this photo what if we did this of you but we did this thing to it and I take them through the way that I would tell their story this converts like crazy now you have to be really good at understanding what your client wants and how to show them the image and how to create the image like what you would do to put them in that image and how you would differentiate it for them that works just perfectly and by that time they're usually ready to be like I am so ready to book you this sounds so exciting I'm excited I feel like you're seeing things that I didn't even know could be seen I feel like you're totally getting the emotion and the drive behind what I'm wanting and I feel like you're totally an artist and creator who can bring these kinds of images into well so I'm going to pause their jasmine and just say is there anything about how you present your strengths to your clients that you want a brainstorm I think hearing what you were saying there were a few things for me that were coming out that I would love to touch on one being how I've been traveling for my entire life I got my first passport when I was eight so I know how to do destination weddings and how to travel properly and everything another thing was that I got my English literature and reading was always super important to me growing up and everything that one I'm not entirely sure how to because I feel like the story teller photographer I don't know point of view or something like that is like a little overdone like that kind of terminology in wedding photographers brands but maybe there's something there that I could say like you know I read my whole life I know how to paint a story through my photos so how we can make those things even stronger is with the travel I want you to tell a specific destination wedding story where something went kind of wrong and how you made it amazing okay so we sometimes tell them a story of like oh and then this and this happened at the wedding but I was able to do this and this and it just like I can show you those images they look amazing and with the story telling yes I think of a photographer just gets on and says I love stories and I love telling a story and telling a story is something I love then we're super bored but this is where you're making it personal and this is where your personality is coming through so you could say something you know what I would say like I booked a wedding in Scotland and and it's in a castle and it's this and I'll be like oh my goodness do we need to do a Bronte-esque you know engagement session like withering heights along the moors of England because I'll tell you what my love language is Bridgerton and you know or Outlander and I studied English but all I ever really did was read Gothic novels like Brontes or something and you could sort of if they feel like if you could sense that they're more literary and they would get that then you show your personality through your knowledge of same things right does that make sense so you're not just like I got my degree in English and I love that you can just say I've studied literature but I'll tell you and you relate it back to them those Brontes they had it right so if you want to do a Heathcliff and Catherine romantic love session on the moors a few days before your wedding let's do it and you're giving them creative ideas of things they maybe never even thought of but they'll be like okay working with this person is going to be a lot of fun and they're already giving me ideas of things I didn't even know I wanted but you're still showcasing your personality and your value right you're showcasing that you are a story led person that's super helpful for sure is mentioning how I always come with at least a team of three something that I should mention as well like I always have a non-shooting assistant as well as my second shooter absolutely absolutely because this is how you'll position it and you guys always want to position it of why your process is this and why the rest of the world does this you can say you know in photography everybody works with two photographers and I get it they want two different versions of this we need one photographer on the groom's face when you're walking down the aisle but one thing that I feel really strongly about and that is included in every single one of my bookings that I have three because there is that space where we need the third assistant to do this and this and this I say that often with lighting I'll say I bring in a third lighting assistant to do this and this and this which makes your images this much better right so you want to have a really strong philosophy around why you do the three and then paint yourself better higher you know more elevated than the people who only do two because when they hear that and they hear why then they get on the next call with another photographer and they're like yeah and then my second shooter and they don't even talk about it you're going to stand out that's perfect so one of the things I feel really strongly about is you want to present the offer an experienced based language not packaged based language most people say I'm going to send you over three packages and I think package is like it's a set of things that people get and they're used to but I think if you can showcase it as the experience like this is the experience that we can give you we can give you the experience of the Heathcliff and Catherine engagement session three days before the destination wedding we can give you the experience of this instead of like you'll get one engagement session you'll get eight hours of coverage you'll get like everybody's doing that so if you can really work on experience based language it's very very helpful and if you want to pre-qualify them in the initial emails by putting your pricing range I don't think that's a bad idea it is hard to have exact pricing on a website I find because so many variations happen and I can't just put my packages online because I travel to all corners of the world and it's always going to look different so do experience based language not packaged language and then you're going to invite them to the next steps clearly you're going to tell them exactly what is happening this is what I'm going to send over this is what you can review and then sometimes you could even say and we'll get on another call to discuss if you'd like or you can just say I'll follow up with you I do like getting people on another call if they're a yes and they want to go over the package if they're really busy and don't want to get on another call and they're just a yes I also just leave it at that so do you have any questions about ending or closing the call I don't think so I think I'll be trying to get them on another call after I send them their proposal I do have a question about the proposal send off thing because when I'm sending off the proposal I have like one collection on there that's like custom to them I tell them beforehand I do custom collections and that's also why I ask all those logistics so that I know exactly like how many hours of coverage will need if they do need the engagement session or not like rehearsal dinner all that stuff so that it's on there maybe sometimes it'll send a second one as well if I think that they would prefer to have like just like all day unlimited hour coverage kind of a thing but if I'm not asking those kinds of logistic questions on this initial one how do I give them a custom proposal that fits like their hourly range do you know what I mean yeah for sure and maybe I wasn't clear by logistics I mean like your ceremonies at four this is here this is here like where you're trying to figure out the timeline I don't believe that that is on here so when you go through the day of there are questions like okay so you want to start at this do you want a first look like you do need to kind of get a few of those questions and you could do that rapid fire kind of at the end like for me to put together your custom proposal I need to know a couple of things are you wanting full weekend coverage do you want rehearsal dinner do you and maybe you have five or six questions that you can get from them easily that part does need to be done so you can build the proposal what I was more getting at is like a very strategic timeline type thing so you you were focused on trying to put a timeline together in this call I don't think this call is the place for a timeline but you do need those kind of general questions so when they tell you all their vision and then you share your vision then you say what we're going to do now is I'm going to put together a custom proposal for you and this is where you could say I just have a couple very specific questions and I would keep them very quick and then if you find they have hesitation on any of it like I don't know if I want rehearsal dinner coverage I don't know if I want day after then you can have your pitch for both of those good idea because most people are either going to know like it's a no I don't want that or yes totally I can't imagine that not being it's the ones that are maybe that you'll need to just give a little bit more information and what will help is if you can show them a quick gallery like here's a really beautiful rehearsal dinner coverage the reason why I think it's powerful to get this part photograph is because blank blank blank if you want the day after coverage this is what I love about it especially if you're doing like a really beautiful theme with you and your planner right and this is why it's so important to show them a whole wedding weekend that you have because then that is more likely to book wedding weekend clients if you already have a wedding weekend portfolio. Does that answer your question? Definitely yeah definitely clear that thank you. Okay sweet so I did come up with a bit of a script I probably am not going to go over it on this call but I will send it to you but for anybody who really wants to dive in more to their specific value proposition their specific tone and energy I'm going to do another episode just on sales energetics because most people just think it's pricing or it's photography or it's strategy but honestly your strategy does matter your pricing does matter your photography matters but your energy on the sales call is the difference between getting a couple to think we loved the chat and we want her how do we book her right and I think I've displayed that in many ways on the call today how I bring that energy to my sales calls so we'll all go over sales energetics on another podcast if you guys are liking this topic jazz when I'm going to send you over some scripts that I wrote out for you as well as some vision scripts and then really how to end it is with that like I'm going to deliver you this and then you need to let them know exactly when you'll have it ready hopefully within 24 hours exactly what their next steps are in the meantime you could give them something fun to do or look at a gallery or something exciting or even you know if it were me and they weren't sure if they wanted to I'm just going to use the Heathcliff and Catherine withering it heights session on the more I would probably put a mood board together for them right after I got off the call of what my vision would be send it to them and say hey I'm working on your proposal but I can't get this shoot out of my head how fun would it be to create this because you do want to show that you're the artistic creator I did generator it gets them super excited to be the star of their own wedding day that's how I would end it and I think that's it that's pretty good any other questions jasmine before we hop off I don't think so I think we went over everything really really well and this all makes sense to me too now which is really nice good the one thing we didn't quite get into is presenting pricing I don't have time to get into that today but again that could be another really fun one to go over especially if you're nervous about your pricing right now I just wanted you to have the outline of the call how you feel about your pricing and how you present it is probably the next step for you to be coached on the nice thing is you just join the Sicily workshop so I will coach you on this because we're going to be working together for six months so I can coach you and the others on how to really present your pricing because it is a very important thing so thank you so much for being so open and thanks everyone for listening to work that really does become necessary every time you raise your pricing if you don't just change your number on your proposal you have to change your identity you have to change your energy you have to change your leadership and you have to change the way you guide a client through a conversation so if you loved this episode and want more high level coaching like this you can tune in each week and you can share this with a friend who's ready to also book at a higher level and you could also join me on one of my luxury retreats in Italy or book me for a sales package coaching a mini program that I do each month remember luxury clients aren't buying your packages they are buying your presents all right everybody have a good day you've been listening to the play at brave podcast love what you heard wonderful you can shout about it in the reviews I bet you know someone who needs a shot of self belief then don't keep us a secret if you've missed something crucial we've got show notes for this and all past episodes over at darsiebrincoza.com forward slash play at brave thanks for tuning in but don't forget the world teaches you to play it safe stand up stand out and start playing at brave
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