Jul 4, 2025
Are you getting ghosted after sending your pricing? Constantly second-guessing whether you should share your rates on your website or wait until after a discovery call?
If you’re struggling to book consistently, it’s probably not your pricing strategy that’s the problem. In this episode, I’m breaking down the biggest myths around pricing timing and sharing what actually matters when it comes to attracting and booking your dream clients at premium rates. We’ll dive deep into transparency versus strategy, why your business foundations matter more than when you share pricing, and my personal approach to pricing that’s helped me book $10k-$15k wedding packages. Listen to the episode below, or keep reading for a summary of what’s covered.
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Welcome back to the show, friend. I am so excited to dive into this topic with you because I know pricing is such a vulnerable conversation for photographers. Our work truly is priceless – we’re capturing timeless moments on one of the most important days in people’s lives. But here’s what I’ve learned through years of mentoring photographers: the question of when to share your pricing isn’t actually the make-or-break factor you think it is.
I recently came across another educator who was saying that if you want to book $7,000 plus weddings, you need to share your pricing only after a discovery call through a beautifully branded proposal. While that’s not necessarily bad advice, they were positioning it as if you’re not getting booked for higher pricing because you’re sharing pricing before your discovery call. Listennnn, that’s just not true.
If you share your starting pricing on your services page and contact page, or if you share the average investment with details about what’s included, and you have someone inquire who puts their hopeful photography budget on your contact form, then there’s no way it’s your pricing that’s causing you to get ghosted. It’s actually everything that comes before and after your pricing – your brand positioning, your messaging, your marketing, your website, the experience they felt with you, your inquiry process, your portfolio, your personality connection, literally anything but your pricing.
I have always chosen transparency as my approach. Even at the very beginning of my business when I was going back and forth on this decision, I ended up discovering that I would rather have my pricing on my website and get more qualified inquiries rather than having more inquiries for the sake of more inquiries that weren’t actually qualified.
Having starting pricing on your website actually leads to more inquiries because I’ve heard from clients that if they don’t see starting pricing, they’re probably going to click out and find someone else who does have starting pricing. Buyers are changing in 2025 and beyond – they want more transparency because people don’t have time to waste.
When you share your starting pricing, let’s say $2,000 for example, you’re going to get fewer inquiries from true budget shoppers who might only have $500 for their entire wedding day coverage. Instead, you’re going to get more people who say they have $3,000 to spend, and that’s where you can use the information they provide on your contact form about their hopeful budget and what they’re looking for to sell them into the right package through your inquiry response and discovery call process.
I know some of you might be wondering what happens if you share your starting pricing at $5,000 and there’s someone you’d love to work with whose budget is $4,000 – what if they don’t inquire? Here’s the thing: if people are really connected to you, your brand, they follow along with you, they see your personal brand, they know your personality, they feel like they already know you through your marketing, messaging, brand positioning, and website – if they already feel bought in on you, they will still inquire and they will likely try to make it work.
I’ve had this happen countless times. When you have that mindset of abundance and confidence in your pricing, people will reach out saying they love your work and want to work with you, asking if there’s anything you can do or any custom package you can create. They’re not looking at it in a budget way – they’re genuinely trying to make it work because they want to work with you specifically.
I share my starting pricing on my website and maybe the average investment on my contact page, but I save my full packages and pricing guide for when a client inquires. You might wonder why that’s not as transparent as I could be. The reason is client experience – you only want to give the information that’s necessary to move to the next step.
I believe it’s overwhelming for clients to see all the options before they’ve even had a conversation with you. They may not even know what they’re looking for yet. Through my inquiry response email, I communicate that none of this is set in stone, these are my packages as our starting place, and on our call we’ll chat through their vision and day more to make sure we choose a package that really fits their needs and desires.
This approach communicates enough customization and personalization while being transparent. When someone books a call with me, they already know the investment levels and they’re genuinely interested. This saves both of us time and means I’m more likely to book with them if we’re a good fit because they already know my price range.
Here’s what I really want you to understand: there are multiple ways to handle pricing timing in your business. Anyone who tells you it’s their way or the highway should be a red flag because there are so many ways to do everything in business. What’s non-negotiable is having your business foundations in place.
Your brand positioning, your portfolio, your marketing, your messaging, your website, your client experience, your inquiry-to-booking process, your organization, your pricing guide, the sales psychology, pricing psychology, and buyer psychology that you implement throughout your brand – these are what get you to the point where you’re booked for your highest packages.
I book $10,000+ wedding packages, and the reason I’m able to do that isn’t because I have the “right” strategy or share pricing at the “right” time. It’s because I’ve mastered these business foundations that help me feel confident, and no matter how I decide to share my pricing, they help me actually get booked.
What I really want you to take away from this episode is to stop second-guessing your pricing strategy based on what everyone else is doing or saying. Instead, focus on strengthening your business foundations – your positioning, marketing, portfolio curation, client experience, website, and organization. Treat your business like you are a business owner and put your blinders on.
It’s so easy to look around at what everyone else is doing, and when you’re struggling, you’re in a vulnerable place. But when all these foundation elements are dialed in, that’s when your business feels so much more sustainable, consistent, and profitable.
Choose whatever approach aligns with your values and feels authentic to how you want to run your business – then commit to that and stay in your own lane. Your dream clients are out there, and they’re probably not looking for the cheapest option anyway. They’re looking for you, the perfect fit for their dream day.
Thank you so much for listening to this episode. I hope you found real value in this conversation about pricing strategy. If this resonated with you, please screenshot and share this to your stories, tag me @itsclairehunt, and share it with a friend who might need to hear this too. That’s truly how this podcast reaches more photographers just like you. I’ll see you in the next episode, and hopefully at my workshop on August 12th!
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