Intro: [00:00:00] Hello and welcome to the Posers podcast, the place where we skip the fluff. Say the quiet parts out loud and dig into what really matters. This is where photography, psychology, and business collide. I'm Jody, your host, and I'm bringing you my raw takes, hard wins, and a whole lot of unfiltered honesty about what it takes to build a photography business that actually connects and makes money.
So ladies, grab your headphones and get your tits up and your ears open because we are going to build something really incredible together.
Hello, hello, hello, and welcome back, my beautiful posers, to another episode of the Posers podcast. Last week's episode started from a DM conversation with a photographer asking how to attract a luxury client base without alienating the clients that she already has. Now, whenever we dove in to this question, I knew that it was a [00:01:00] massive topic, that we were sort of opening Pandora's box by even getting started with it.
But as I'm diving in, and as I'm answering part one, part two, part three, part four of this question in my head as I'm formulating these podcast episodes, I'm sort of thinking, like, where do we stop talking about this? Because that's kind of the whole entire point. Luxury isn't a start and finish, and it's not a here's how you do this, here's how you do that, and then you're done.
It's something that permeates through every single part of your business. If you kind of imagined your business as a bubble, like your business sort of operates inside of this one big bubble, then luxury would literally be like putting a [00:02:00] blanket on top of that bubble and sort of, wrapping it all the way around it.
That's how luxury feels, for my business at least, and that's how luxury feels for other places where I experience luxury in my life, and in how it is talked about even whenever I am reading and researching about it. So, luxury is obviously not this quick little just raise your prices and then get a natural light studio that has all white furniture in it and call it a day, even though that is not shade, because I'm literally sitting inside of a beautiful natural light studio with a lot of white elements happening.
Not that it has everything white, but, So that is not shade. I'm just simply saying that luxury is not just making sure that you have that studio, or just making sure that you raise your prices, or just making sure that you say that you're luxury in your [00:03:00] Instagram bio. Luxury is a whole entire breathing organism.
It is psychology, and it is perception and identity, and it's the, environmental design around you, obviously, but also it's hospitality, and it's really just human behavior, too. If you listened to last week's episode, then you already know that we spent a ton of time talking about defining luxury correctly for your specific market, because I, I really made the point
I made, I'm, I'm giggling because last week was the first time that I ever brought hookers and blow into a conversation because I was talking about luxury inside of Las Vegas. Is it surprising that it took me a year to start talking about hookers and blow on this podcast? Maybe. But luxury here in my city, in Las Vegas, obviously looks very wildly different than luxury [00:04:00] in, say, Ohio, which is where this DM question sort of originated.
But on, on that episode last week, we talked about studying affluent human buying behavior, and we talked about market research and understanding the actual lifestyle that your clients live instead of just building a brand based on assumptions or what kind of lifestyle you think that those clients have.
We talked about how luxury is less about price and so much more about perceived value and perceived rarity and exclusivity. the episode last week was actually really long and really deep. So, if you haven't listened to it, you should pop back an episode and go listen to that also, because we also started to dive into portfolio curation and artistry and refinement, and how affluent clients are not just evaluating you based on photography, but they're [00:05:00] evaluating based on your taste level and your curation and your ability to have a really refined look to what it is that you're creating.
We talked about how your Instagram feed cannot feel chaotic in any kind of way if you are trying to position yourself as luxury. We talked about the presentation of it all and how restraint and discernment is actually a really big part of the game, because luxury is often so much about what you withhold and not just about what you're showing.
I also mentioned in the last episode how big this whole entire topic and this whole entire conversation is gonna be, and that I don't know how many parts there's gonna be to this podcast that we're talking about this. But what I do know is this is officially part two. And I know that there's gonna be a part three also, but who knows how much further it's gonna go [00:06:00] than that.
So- Honestly, the timing of all of this is actually really insane because while we are, like, actively dissecting luxury on this podcast, while we're talking about the perceived value and the emotional buying behavior and the elevated client experience and all of that, just earlier today, I had a sales meeting.
I had a reveal for one of my clients, and I knew that it was gonna be a really great sale. But it ended up being the highest sale that I have ever had inside of my studio ever. And it's mind-blowing that it was on a one-hour extended family photo shoot that happened right here in my studio. I didn't even have to go outside.
I didn't even have to schlep any gear. I didn't even have to sweat. Actually, that's not true because I sweat even whenever I'm in my studio. But I didn't have to sweat outside in the Las Vegas desert [00:07:00] heat, which is currently 110 degrees right now. Actually, it's not. It's 102, but feels like 110.
Okay, so I know that this is the compounding effect of years and years of intentionally building an environment and a brand around my business that feels luxurious. Before anyone ever even steps inside of my studio, before anyone ever even comes in and spends a dollar, they know that they're going to have a really incredible and luxurious experience the minute that they step into my ecosystem.
Because luxury is not just one thing. It's not a font. It's not a logo. It's not saying the word luxury in your Instagram bio a few times. It's a whole entire world. It's the accumulation of a thousand tiny details [00:08:00] stacked together in a way that really makes people feel something. And one of the places where this gets underestimated is that sometimes photographers would maybe think that the, the type of...
the style of the photos is what is the key point in luxury, or the fact that they have a studio is the key point in luxury, or simply the price tag of "Oh, I'm expensive," then that's luxury. Or even that you're full service or that you have a client closet or that you have a couple of things like that.
They think that that signals luxury, but really the thing that signals luxury is the whole entire client journey itself. Because that whole - entire experience is what really matters, not just the photos. [00:09:00] pillar of luxury is this full service experience that they're gonna have with you.
But I think that where the misconception comes into play is that the full service journey is because you're offering products, because you're offering albums, because you're doing design service for framing, and then you're doing the install, that that's the part. But that's not it. It is the whole entire client journey.
Okay? So luxury even starts long before the photo shoot ever happens. Okay? It actually starts before someone ever inquires with you. It starts with the perception. It starts with that bubble that's kind of outside of the business that I was, like, mentioning before. It starts with how everything feels. It starts with how your [00:10:00] Instagram feels, how your websites feels, how the language inside of your emails feel, the language inside of your captions, how that feels.
Whether your business feels very calm and very intentional versus whether or not it feels like there's a sense of desperation in wanting to book shoots. Because affluent clients are not just buying photos, or they're not just buying a photo shoot. They're buying that emotional certainty that comes along with who they're hiring.
They wanna feel taken care of. They wanna feel guided. They wanna feel like someone incredibly competent is in charge. If not they wanna know that you are not just competent, but that you're the expert, that you're the go-to, that you are the authority in your industry. Luxury clients do not want to make more decisions.
[00:11:00] They want to make fewer decisions. The luxury buyer expects that they're gonna hire an expert, 'cause they always want the best. They think nothing of hiring an interior designer, a private chef for a dinner, a housekeeper, a nanny. Every single part of the hiring process They understand, like, how valuable their time is.
And so with that hiring process, they understand that outsourcing to these experts is how they buy their time back. It's absolutely part of their world and how they operate. So luxury is leadership. Luxury is them knowing that they can hire you and then forget about it because you'll make the best decisions for them.
Sometimes even my clients know that I will make better decisions than they would even make. in fact, I actually just had a photo shoot [00:12:00] this morning with an incredible family. And the dad, who I'm actually really great friends with now we used to do weddings together and things like that. But the dad is actually the best florist in our city.
Not even just in our city. He is an incredible world-renowned florist. He flies all over the world for events in every single country. He literally works with Kris Jenner, okay? His eye for design is easily the best that this city knows. So he came into the studio this morning, and he told me he brought his, he's got three boys and one little girl, and the little girl is the baby, and it sh- ugh. They're just a dream to photograph because you can only imagine, like, how gorgeous they come head to toe. Absolutely perfection, this family, okay? And I don't even have to get my stylist involved because he loves design and [00:13:00] styling so much that he wants to do it for his own family.
And that's perfectly fine because I trust him just as much as I would trust myself. So, he came in, and he told me that he wanted a photo almost exactly like what we did for their last session. But their last session had the little girl. She was a newborn baby. And even though I don't do newborns, I did newborns for him.
So she was a newborn baby in this photo, and he came in, and he was like, "I just want to basically recreate the same exact photo," but now Valentina is a year older, and so it's more of a full family photo instead of the baby being wrapped and we couldn't even see her face in the other one 'cause Mom was holding her down in her lap.
So I mean, not holding her in her lap the way that you would a toddler, but you know what I mean. She was holding the newborn, so we couldn't actually see her face. Anyways, tangent. Okay, so he came into the studio this morning and told me that he wanted a photo [00:14:00] almost exactly like what we did for that session.
And so I told him, I was like, "For sure," "I'll grab that for you." But Let me cook. Let me do what I do. And, and I told him, I was just like, "You sit back. I've got this." And I reminded him, I was like, "Do you know who you're dealing with? Do you know who you're talking to? You know that you come to me for a reason, okay?"
And we're very close friends, and so I could banter with him no problem. But he ended up loving what I did way more than what he came in here for. Because also, I'm in this really great creative space right now. I've been composing images in a really fresh way lately. And so him coming in was just perfect timing because I didn't do anything that was my standard look.
And I did a lot of new stuff, and I did a lot of playing with different composition and things like that, and he was blown away. And [00:15:00] that's the feeling. Clients have to know that you've got them, okay? They have to know that they're walking into your space. So even from the very first inquiry, it's actually...
You know what? Go back and listen to the last episode if you haven't. I'm assuming by now we're this far in, I'm assuming you have. But it's like I mentioned in the last, uh, episode, in last week's episode, that my first response to an inquiry is never about pricing, even if they ask for it. I'm vetting them just as much as they're vetting me, and that energy is really apparent.
I'm not, I'm not popping off something with, like, all caps that is like, "OMG," "I'd die to work with you," with 12 exclamation marks at the end. And I'm not sending a thesis that's touting off, like, all of the bells and whistles of my [00:16:00] process and my client closet and my, and that I'm a natural light photographer and that I've been shooting for 20 years.
And that "Oh, I know my prices are expensive, but if you can't afford that right now here's a list of other services that I'd gladly trade for instead." Have you guys seen that trend on social media that is like, "Hey, if you can't afford me right now, here's a list of all of these other things that I'll take in trade for payment"?
Do not, do not activate me, okay? You guys didn't activate me. I just activated myself. Do not even get me started on that trend because that is a topic for a whole entire different day. But there is a huge energetic difference between "Oh my God, I'd love to work with you," with 14 exclamation points versus guiding and owning the conversation and understanding human behavior and leading The client to the booking process.
One of those [00:17:00] feels frantic, and the other one feels authoritative, and that really, really, really matters. So that client journey, even though we're saying that no, it starts at perception, it starts at that bubble, it starts at how... As, like how everything feels for your business. Now it's starting with that first inquiry and how you step into that, how you let yourself be perceived from that exact moment.
And that really matters. Because then once you get that booking, then they're gonna go through the whole entire pre-session experience with you. And if they already have one perception of you, then leading into this next section of your client journey would be impossible, unless if you had owned the conversation when they were booking.
Because then we're gonna come into wardrobe styling, and mood boards, and location planning, and all of that. And what I'm [00:18:00] doing is I'm leading clients, I'm leading them through thinking just the points that I actually need from them regarding a small glimpse into their vision, and if they have a preference on location.
And maybe the overall feel, the overall vibe. Like, how they want the shoot to feel, whether or not they want you know, something cozy in the studio, or if they wanna feel a little bit more dressed up if we're gonna go outdoors what the location is, what the feeling is, what the vibe is.
That's all I really need from them. Because other than that, I make every other decision for them. My stylist sends over a list of options for the mom. She chooses her favorites. She orders all of her favorites. She sends me try-on photos. And then I was gonna say she, she chooses the final look, but really she doesn't.
She thinks that she's choosing the final look. But really, I'm steering her into the decision that I want her to make. So [00:19:00] I make these final choices. My stylist builds the rest of the wardrobe around her look, and then I approve that design. That gets sent over to the client. The client orders everything.
And then they show up with every single detail styled down to the color of the dog's leash if we have a dog, and whether or not we're, like, rocking a knee-high sock on the baby or not, or whether or not there's a black or a brown leather watch on dad. Okay? It is styled. It is curated. And then it's executed.
I'm not just sending them suggestions, and I'm not just, you know, showing up to the shoot sort of crossing my fingers and hoping that they followed the style guide. Because I'm pairing the The depth that needs to come with the luxury experience, with the execution of making it happen. And [00:20:00] then I'm obviously making sure that everybody is on time, because timelines matter a ton.
We all know this. The shoot is planned to the exact minute that hair and makeup is arriving, and what time they are set to leave their house, down to the exact coordinates where they are supposed to meet me. Whenever they get there, there is a craft kitchen style setup just waiting as if they're walking onto a set.
There's umbrellas, there's fans, there's chairs that are available for them for in-between shooting breaks. Okay? Then we're on the shoot. My posing method is unrivaled. The photo shoot is an experience in and of itself, and then all of the communication afterwards is streamlined. So whenever your process feels organized and it feels dialed in, and it feels like you're...
it's like a well-oiled machine, your clients never have to wonder what happens next. [00:21:00] And that creates an emotional relief, an exhale. Okay? And then also gratitude that they were able to pay someone to make that process not only as painless as possible, but actually highly enjoyable, and that they not only took photos, but they created a memory inside of the memories.
That's luxury. And I wanna make a quick point here, too, that for the actual photo shoot itself, your energy becomes part of the product. Okay? I'm gonna say that again really quick, 'cause this, this one thing could literally change how you think about a photo shoot. Your energy becomes part of the product.
Okay? So imagine this. If you are going out on a photo shoot, and there is stress or there is awkwardness or the actual photo shoot itself is not [00:22:00] enjoyable, and you sort of fluff it off, and you tell them "Oh yeah, nobody feels comfortable doing this," or, "Oh yeah," you know, "family photo shoot day actually just kinda sucks, and, you know, you just gotta grin, grin and bear it, and you gotta...
You can hate the process, but you can love the product," that is not true. If you have a photo shoot, and then you create photos for that client, and then that client takes those photos and put the, puts them into an album, or they put them up onto their walls, every time they walk by those photos that are on their walls, they are going to think, " God, that shoot was awful."
They are going to think, "Oh wow, we look really great, but I remember how awful that day is." That's why I say that whenever they're on a photo shoot with me inside of my posing method, then I am creating memories inside of the memory that they thought that they were going to come and show up and create.
Okay? Your [00:23:00] energy becomes part of the shoot. If you are stressed or awkward or not quite sure of yourself behind the camera, then your clients are going to feel that, and it's going to impact that environment and the environment of the product, because, again, your energy becomes part of the product. But if you show up and you are grounded and you are directive and you are confident and you are warm and you're intentional, then they feel that too.
And your clients are buying the emotional atmosphere as much as they are buying the photos, especially if they are thinking about booking you again and again and again for the years followed, because that for sure is what they are buying. And honestly, this is why psychology matters so much in posing, but also so much in client interaction, because people remember how they felt in your [00:24:00] presence, not just the images afterwards, but how they felt while they were making the images and while they were in your presence.
And that has just as much to do with how much money you will make in the sales room than what your actual photos would demand. All right? So then, if we're talking about this whole entire client journey and how we're weaving the luxury into the whole entire tapestry of it. So then after the shoot, the experience simply continues.
Luxury brands don't disappear just right after the transaction happens. So this is where your guidance and then the reveal and your presentation, and honestly never underestimate that presentation. Never underestimate how much the ceremony of it all matters, because people wanna feel like they purchased something with significance and value.
Just as much as you enjoy the seamless [00:25:00] packaging that, like, whenever you buy something from the Apple store, whenever you're opening those Apple products and it's so satisfying to pull those little tabs and literally everything is packaged exactly... the packaging is obviously built around the object.
You enjoy that. You enjoy that just as much as you enjoy the designer gift bag on your arm as you shop, right? Luxury clients will pay attention to these details coming out of your studio too. So- You can see now how the price itself is not the signal, that the perception of value is the signal for luxury.
And that perceived value is created through consistency. Consistency in your visuals, your communication, your experience, that emotional safety that I was talking about, and in leadership. So clients at the luxury level, they want to know that if they spend this [00:26:00] amount of money on something, then they're walking into a guaranteed level of excellence and care.
And that is what luxury brands actually solve. They solve that uncertainty. So tying everything in from last week to this week, your language should sound intentional and authoritative. Not mean, not aggressive, not assertive, but authoritative. Your environment, whether you have a studio or not, should feel elevated.
Your visuals should feel cohesive. Everything should feel like one continuous point of view, one standard, one identity, one feeling. And if any part of that experience feels inconsistent, then it's going to chip away at your perceived value. So next week, we are going to dive into the other part of this question that, [00:27:00] uh, that this photographer asked in my DM, because now that we've defined luxury and we know the touch points of how to actually execute it, then we're gonna talk about how we can move from the bargain shoppers to the luxury client without alienating the audience that you might currently have.
Okay? That is it for today. Bye for now, posers.
Outro: Okay, so that is a wrap on this episode of the Posers Podcast. If you loved it, please subscribe, rate, and review because honestly, algorithms are needier than all of our ex-boyfriends combined. And ladies, I need all the help I can get. If you've got thoughts, questions, love letters, even hate mail, please send them my way.
I actually read every single one of them. So until next time, stapled, stay messy and don't let the bullshit win. Tits up. Ears open and go build something. Incredible. Bye for now, friends.
