Ever wonder what separates photographers who book dream clients at premium prices from those who get passed over for “cheaper” options? The truth might surprise you – it’s rarely about having the most expensive gear or the perfect portfolio. In this behind-the-scenes episode, I’m pulling back the curtain on a recent booking that went over budget and a dream wedding rejection that taught me everything about what luxury clients really want. If you’ve ever lost an inquiry to price or felt like you’re just not standing out in a crowded market, this episode will give you some helpful insights you need to position yourself as the obvious choice for your ideal clients. Listen to the episode below, or keep reading for a summary of what’s covered.
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The Power of Learning from Both Wins and Losses
In today’s episode, I’m giving you a behind-the-scenes look at a recent booking and also a recent rejection. I want to share what I’ve learned from both experiences, what you can learn from them, and what I’m doing about it because I think it’s so helpful to hear from others’ experiences. That’s one of the cool things about me being an educator – I’m still doing it. I’m still in it with you, and I’m really excited to bring you behind-the-scenes with me in this way.
Before we dive into the episode topics and content, I want to give a little shout-out to Rachel Traxler. She has a podcast called the Gold Biz Podcast. We’ve actually both been guests on each other’s shows, and I got this podcast idea from one of her recent episodes. I actually didn’t listen to it, so I don’t even know what she talked about – I’m putting my own spin on it – but since I took this idea from her, I wanted to give credit where credit is due.
When Dream Clients Say No: My Recent Rejection Story
Let’s start with the rejection first, and then we’ll end with the positive because there are things to learn from both. I’m going to share with you what I think you should take away from it, and hopefully it ends up helping you convert more of your inquiries that you really want to work with.
The Dream Wedding That Got Away
My recent rejection was a dream wedding that I would have loved to photograph. It was a New York destination inquiry, and they had the vision for their day that was just so beautiful. They literally wanted to get married downtown, and they have a friend who has a flat in the city that’s quite large. So it was definitely going to be more of a luxury celebration that was more intimate at the same time and more just down to earth.
Those are my kind of couples. I love the luxury details, I love luxury planning, I love fashion forward – all of these things. I was like, oh my gosh, this is a dream. And it just seemed so down to earth. What they shared in their inquiry with me seemed like 100% the kind of couple that I would love to work with.
I also realized through this inquiry that I would love to go back to New York seriously. Not only just because it’s New York, but because there is a special ramen restaurant that actually originates in Japan. My husband and I went there whenever we were in Japan in 2023 – we went multiple times and it is absolutely incredible. A few years ago we went back to New York after having gone to Japan, and we realized that Ichiran ramen is also in New York, which was just mind blowing to us. It’s literally the only one in the States unless that’s changed since the last time we looked. Because of that, I would love to go to New York, and I’m sure my husband would too just for that selling point alone.
Through this inquiry, through all the things they shared with me, through even their budget, it was all 100% aligned. So maybe you’re wondering, okay, but Claire, where did it go wrong? Because you said it was a rejection.
The Unexpected Technical Requirement
They responded back to my inquiry response (which I share with you for free, by the way – if you’re like, I don’t even know how to respond to inquiries to get them on a call, to get them to book with me, then I have four free inquiry email templates that you can snag. I’ll have them in the show notes and description for you. They are the exact ones I use, and sometimes I can’t believe I give them away for free, but I do).
So I responded to the inquiry, really connected so much with them. They felt connected too, but she responded asking some questions about the film that I shoot. To this point, mind you, I have only ever had couples just ask like, “Hey, can we add film onto our package?” before I had it included in all of my packages. I have never been asked this kind of question from a couple before, and I thought it was so interesting because I never would have imagined that a couple would know what medium format film is.
One of the things that she really wanted was a photographer who was well versed in not only 35 millimeter film, but also medium format film. I had to share with her that I have only personally photographed 35 millimeter film and that that’s what I’ve done since 2022. I love film and it’s something that I heavily value the intentionality behind. I offered that if they were interested in working together, even though I have not photographed medium format film, I’d be more than happy to take that on for them so that they could have their dream wedding gallery if they felt called to working together.
In the end, she decided to choose a photographer who had a more extensive film portfolio for 120 films specifically.
The Learning Lesson: Paying Attention to Market Demands
What I learned through this is being in the entry level luxury space – that is what I would consider my pricing bracket. I’m booking between $10,000 and $15,000 weddings consistently. I would consider this to be a learning lesson that in order to get more into that market (and this was even a higher budget than that), I’m going to have to change some things and learn some things and pivot along with what’s being requested of me.
So what did I do? And what can you learn from this? I went out and I researched some 120 film because I was like, never again do I want to lose an inquiry for not having film in my portfolio and specifically medium format film. I researched the cameras that are the best for medium format and essentially came to the conclusion that the Contax 645 is on my bucket list. But first, before I went for the highest ticket, highest dollar of gear that I could possibly purchase (because I know that’s what I want), I decided to also search for a nice entry level 120 medium format film camera and came across the Holga camera, which is literally $60. I ordered it on Amazon, so it is in my Amazon storefront if you want to know the exact one I got.
That’s what I did. I purchased this $60 one, had it delivered in time for my next wedding, photographed a few rolls, got it developed already, and I am literally obsessed.
Key Takeaways from the Rejection
What this should tell you is that you need to pay attention to the objections that your potential clients are having. You need to pay attention to the conversations that you’re having and really take things into your control that you can. This was one of those things where I was like, never again will I be not booked because I don’t photograph on 120 film.
However, the other lesson for you is that you don’t have to buy the best of the best gear in order to get started. This is something that I see happen so often where photographers really hold themselves back from – let’s just even use the example of investing in education – because they’re like, “Well, I need to invest in this gear first. I need my gear.” And it’s like, well, if you don’t have the inquiries and bookings that you’re hoping for, then what are you getting the gear for? You’re quite literally putting yourself in the hole before you even have inquiries and bookings to show for it.
Obviously you have to have gear in some kind of a way, but that’s where you can start small. You can start with renting. You can start with not the best camera or not your wishlist camera, as long as it will perform and function how you need it to – like let’s say a dual card slot. As long as you have that, if you’re shooting a wedding day or things that are very important, then you’re pretty good to go. It’s not going to be a make or break deal breaker, if you will.
The same kind of approach is what I took to this, where it’s like, I want to learn first. I want to make sure that even this feels aligned for my business, where I want my business to go. Like I mentioned, being in entry level luxury, I think I have learned that film is incredibly important for the market that I’m attracting, and especially being in the entry level luxury. It’s just going to become more and more important, not only to couples, but also to planners.
Never Stop Learning and Growing
What did I do? I took matters into my own hands. Again, I invested in a 120 film camera (I’m probably not saying that right – it’s probably just a medium format film camera with 120 film, you know what I’m saying? Your girl is still learning).
Even let that be something you can take away from this as someone who’s been very successful, honestly accidentally scaled my business to multi six figures without even trying to do it. I’ve been booking the $10,000 to $15,000 weddings – honestly didn’t plan on getting there either. If you would have told me in 2021 that that’s the price point I’d be booking for, I’d be like, “Huh, are you serious?” I never would have imagined that. I remember thinking that those photographers were so far out of reach. Yes, the market has changed, the economy has changed a little bit, but regardless, I just never would have thought that’d be my reality.
Yet here I am, and it’s all because I’ve continued to grow and learn and not become stagnant with my art or with my business.
The $10K Booking That Started at a $9K Budget: A Success Story
Moving on to my recent booking, there is so much for you to take away from this one. So get out your notebook and take notes. Essentially this was an inquiry that came in from a planner referral, a planner that I work with quite often and I’m very blessed to get multiple inquiries from. This was a dream couple – literally everything about their day, 100% what I want to photograph and the kind of couple that I want to work with and all of it. Everything, even the planner. I’m very excited about all of it.
The Initial Inquiry and Budget Challenge
The inquiry came in where they had a budget of $9,000. So in my inquiry response, I responded to it, connected with them, really led with that and guided them toward the package that I think would be the best fit for them. They ended up booking a call.
First things first, I offered a call time that was earlier than my calendar actually showed, just to show that excitement. I talk about this in my free workshop where, in your inquiry response, if you can share your discovery call link (the actual booking calendar link) and also offer some custom times to hop on a call within the next day or two, that is how you really can lock people in because it does show that excitement. That’s exactly what happened here.
Normally, I don’t take calls on a Monday, but I did that for this couple because I really wanted to be able to chat with them since they seemed really excited and I was excited to work with them too. It doesn’t mean you have to drop everything and cater your entire schedule around couples or clients, but it does mean in those situations where you can and you’re excited to, it can really pay off.
The Discovery Call That Sealed the Deal
We had our call just one day after they had inquired, and the bride’s mom was part of the call as well. I just went through my discovery call script, honestly, from start to finish, which really allowed them to feel 100% confident that I was the one for them. Even before that, they felt it, but through having a call with me, that is the thing that solidified it.
Let me just say here that if you haven’t purchased my discovery call script, this is the invitation to do so. When you know how to lead a call from a connection-based standpoint and you know a lot of the buyer’s psychology that goes into why people make decisions and so much more, and just knowing how to actually proceed with next steps – what that looks like, do you make the ask, do you not, how do you word that, how do you make sure that they know exactly what the experience is going to be like to work with you – I want to invite you that if you’re struggling with discovery calls, if you’re struggling with converting, or if you kind of just feel like you’re floundering around and need a little more confidence (even if your booking rate is good), then I welcome you to go to the show notes and description and find that link for the discovery call script and purchase it. It will be 1000% worth it, I promise.
Handling Price Objections with Confidence
This couple told me at the end of our call that they absolutely loved chatting with me, but they do have a couple of other calls lined up just because I am the highest price photographer that they’re looking at, and they just had to weigh out all of their options. I was like, “Oh my gosh, totally understand that. Please take your time.” I gave them my process of how dates work and all of that good stuff. We got off of the call, and I promised them that I would follow up with them in a week if I hadn’t heard from them sooner.
During this week, I didn’t hear a thing, and one could think like, “Oh, they’re going to ghost me, they’re not going to work with me because they mentioned at the end of the call that they’re going to go with somebody else potentially because I am the higher price photographer.” No, I kept that confidence the entire time. I led the conversation as I would if they had said, “Hey, we’re going to book with you.”
The Follow-Up That Changed Everything
I followed up one week after utilizing one of my email templates that’s within my 30 plus email templates for photographers. I’m just going to read word for word her response. She said, “Claire, been dying to write this. Please (and all caps) do us the honor of taking our wedding photos. Spoke with a few other sweeties, but you are one of a kind. The package you put together for us is packed with value. Just signed the contract working with my mom on payment now. So excited.”
The cool thing about this is that this couple had a $9,000 budget. They still chose to book the custom package we created at $10,000 after talking with other photographers because of the value, the experience they had, my booking process, the connection, the professionalism, and so much more.
What Really Made the Difference: Client Feedback
The thing that this couple told me that stood out the most that I just really want you to know – we chatted actually yesterday, we did their engagement session, and we kind of talked through this process a little bit because I knew I was going to be recording this episode for you. They shared with me that there were so many photographers that they had talked to that honestly just felt like they were in this for fun.
These are real words that she used, specifically the bride used. She’s like, “Some of them seemed like they would show up late to your wedding with a Starbucks in hand and just have no cares in the world. Others seemed like they wouldn’t do anything the entire process, even though they say they will, because they just had this lackadaisical feel to them. There were others that just honestly seemed again like they were more in it for the fun and less professionalism.”
They told me yesterday at our session that truly the professionalism and feeling like I had an actual business is what made them feel confident to work with me, even though my pricing was a lot higher than some of the other photographers they had talked to and just a little bit higher than some other ones.
It was sweet because I actually didn’t know this, but she said whenever her and her mom were on a discovery call with somebody else, that her mom texted her while they were on the discovery call and she said, “Claire is better, we need to get off of this call.”
The Foundation of a Profitable Photography Business
I find that so funny and honestly such an honor too, because listen, for those photographers who ended up rejected (that’s dramatic, but rejected) because they chose to go with me, I want to teach them how to avoid this in the future. At the same time, this is why I’m bringing this forward – because from this real experience, I’ve been able to hear from a couple who is willing to pay high dollars. They aren’t just budget shopping, but the mom even wanted to do the due diligence of like, “Why is Claire more worth it than this price point of a photographer?”
This is why I teach business so in depth because, yes, your portfolio is important. We learned that through the rejection that I had, right? That’s part of it sometimes, but usually it is going to be due to the fact that your business foundations are not solid enough to instill that confidence and the value and the experience that they’re really searching for, even if it’s at a higher price point.
Auditing Your Business Foundations
This is one of those things I want you to take away – to really audit the parts of your business that you feel like are lacking the business knowledge. Whether that’s through your marketing, whether that’s through your actual branding and how professional that appears to look, whether it’s through your personal branding, how you show up on social media, whether that’s through the portfolio that you are showcasing (because yes, we are artists – you’ve probably heard me talk about that before – it is so important for us to have beautiful work, it is the finished product that we deliver to our clients, so if that means that you need to up level your portfolio), whether that means your actual website and having a funnel that guides them through the information that they need when they need it and in a way that really does get them to the point of feeling so confident that you’re the one for them, or whether it’s through your actual pricing and sales process and inquiry process and booking process, or whether it’s through your client experience and the organization that they can feel you have in your business, the professionalism – all of these things are your business foundations.
These are all things that I teach very, very in depth in my mentorship program Book It. Just let this be an invitation to you that if you want to learn how to have a solid business, not just be treating this as a hobby, not just be charging whatever Sally down the street is charging, not just guessing, not just hoping anymore, but actually having the step-by-step education to get where you want to be specifically and implement education in a way that really is applicable to you and where you’re at and help you level up the things that need to be leveled up rather than just always guessing and hoping for the best, then that’s who Book It is for. I would love to invite you to apply – I’d love to get to know you in this way and just see if it could be a good fit for you.
When Price Isn’t the Deciding Factor
I love the fact that it didn’t come down to price for this couple, and I think that’s a dream for so many photographers – where they’ll actually end up being booked for higher than the couple’s budget and what they even mentioned they had to spend on photography because they can’t go with anyone else because you really stand out. That’s one of the things that my couple said too – that they really felt like they knew me.
I’m not even marketing that much on Instagram right now. Seriously, if you go look at my Instagram, the last time I posted on my photography Instagram that I just created (because I kind of switched everything to just education and now I’ve built this separate photography Instagram, which is great), I shared the last time in June, you guys. That is so bad and also at the same time, let that just even be your permission that whenever you build things correctly, you can have an omnipresent marketing strategy and omnipresent presence that doesn’t even require you to have to post on Instagram. I think that’s another takeaway, and I would love to teach you how to do all of this really in depth in my mentorship program Book It.
The Power of Professionalism in a Crowded Market
It is my hope that through this episode, it’s been encouraging to you to hear a little bit of the behind the scenes in my own business and just that rejection and also this booking. I want you to really be reflective on how you can make sure that you’re being mindful of the feedback that you hear and even being mindful of this feedback that I got from a couple to make sure that you’re showing up in the best way you possibly can and just keeping in mind that professionalism really does go a long way. Building those business foundations goes such a long way.
People can feel when you’re just a creative, they can feel when you’re just a hobbyist. They want to feel so confident that you’re going to care for them really well, especially on a day as big as their wedding day. That can feel kind of fluffy to say and it’s like, “Well of course I’m going to care for them,” but really that is a fear that clients have.
I hope through this episode, you’ve gotten some great little golden nuggets here and there. This was really fun to share, so thank you for listening in my friend. I’m so honored to have you here, and if you have not already subscribed to the show, come follow me on Instagram – I’m at @itsclarehunt. DM me, I would love to connect with you.
Key Takeaways:
- Pay attention to client objections and market demands – they’re telling you exactly what you need to improve
- You don’t need the most expensive gear to get started; invest strategically and learn as you grow
- Professionalism and solid business foundations matter more than having the lowest prices
- Show genuine excitement and flexibility when connecting with dream clients
- Confidence in your pricing and process can help clients see your value even when you’re the higher-priced option
- A strong discovery call process can be the difference between booking and losing a client
- Building an omnipresent marketing strategy means you don’t have to constantly be posting on social media
What’s Covered in This Episode:
- Behind-the-scenes look at a recent wedding inquiry rejection and what I learned
- How I quickly pivoted to meet market demands for medium format film photography
- The complete booking process of a $10K wedding that started with a $9K budget
- Real client feedback on what separates professional photographers from hobbyists
- The importance of business foundations over just having a great portfolio
- How to handle price objections with confidence
- Why professionalism is your biggest competitive advantage
Resources Mentioned:
- Free inquiry email templates
- Discovery call script for photographers
- 30+ email templates for photographers
- Book It mentorship program application
- Amazon storefront for photography gear recommendations
Thank you so much for tuning into today’s episode. I’ll be back in your ears with more photography business education every two weeks, so be sure to subscribe to the show. If you’re loving the episodes, I want to welcome you to leave a five-star review on Apple or Spotify so the podcast can reach more listeners just like you. While you’re at it, screenshot this episode, share it on Instagram, and tag me @itsclarehunt. I would love to know what you enjoy hearing the most so I can create more episodes that really do serve you right where you’re at. Until next time, my friend!
