October 20, 2025 • 16 mins
Many photographers lose inquiries after sending pricing. In this episode, Meredith and her husband discuss how to filter out unqualified leads before they contact you — without sounding rude. They share practical SEO and website strategies like using autoresponders, pricing placement, and smart contact-form questions to attract clients who value your work (and your time).
⏱️ Timestamps
[0:00] Introduction
[0:24] The listener’s question: filtering out low-budget inquiries
[1:00] SEO isn’t just rankings — it’s attracting the right clients
[2:30] Reframing “bad” leads as a timing issue
[3:00] The importance of fast (but friendly) responses
[4:00] How to write a personable autoresponder
[6:00] Why humor and warmth make you memorable
[7:00] Where to mention pricing without sounding rude
[8:45] Using dropdowns and checkboxes in your contact form
[10:00] Alternatives to listing price ranges
[11:15] Keeping unqualified leads for future offers
[13:00] Why “starting at” pricing works best
[14:10] Managing expectations and emotional buying behavior
--
CONTACT
Leave Feedback or Request Topics:
https://forms.gle/bqxbwDWBySoiUYxL7
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Meredith's husband (00:24):
Today we have a question.
Woohoo! Do you want to read thequestion?
Meredith (00:28):
I do want to read the question that you just sent.
Dear Meredith husband, I feellike half my inquiries go
nowhere once I send my pricing.
Is there a way to filter outpeople who aren't in my budget
range before they even contactme without sounding rude?
Meredith's husband (00:45):
Good question.
This is a common pain point forphotographers, is it not?
Meredith (00:50):
Uh it is.
It is.
There are there are severalcamps.
Meredith's husband (00:53):
Yes, I know.
There are probably severalapproaches.
So, first, I'm I'm going totalk about this today,
obviously.
I am not going to talk aboutsounding rude exactly.
That's more of like your salesprocess.
Once people contact you and youare in communication with them,
that's your sales process.
So I'm going to talk about itfrom a marketing standpoint.
Excellent.
And I like this as an SEO topicbecause a lot of people don't
(01:16):
think about this as part of SEO.
People think SEO and they thinkit's just, whoa, high rankings.
That's the goal.
That's it.
That's the end.
And that sort of thinking getsyou into a lot of trouble with
SEO.
That's a in fact it I don'twant to say it guarantees
failure, but it's if you beginyour SEO effort with that sort
of thinking, you're you're boundfor trouble.
SEO, the goal of SEO, and I'vesaid this in my training, uh,
(01:40):
but I'm going to repeat it herejust so we're all on the same
page.
The goal of SEO is to get moreclients through or your organic
efforts, through Google, throughsearch engines by from free
sources, organic.
Okay.
Right.
That includes people comingthrough and contacting you.
Meredith (01:57):
Right.
Meredith's husband (01:57):
Now I understand this is frustrating.
Like when people contact youand they want they want things
cheap, right?
Meredith (02:04):
Right.
Right.
Meredith's husband (02:05):
It's frustrating.
I know I know dealing with itmyself.
Meredith (02:08):
Yeah.
Meredith's husband (02:09):
I dealt with this for still do deal with
this.
Meredith (02:11):
Yeah.
Meredith's husband (02:12):
Um just, I think personally, the thing to
remember here, to just to putyou in the right frame of mind,
it's just the timing that isn'tright.
Like surely you have whereveryou are in your career, you have
not always been there.
Right.
There was probably a time whenthat low ball offer that you
don't like now, where it wouldhave been gold.
Meredith (02:33):
Yes.
Meredith's husband (02:34):
You would have taken it in a heartbeat.
Meredith (02:35):
Yes.
Meredith's husband (02:36):
So just remember it's your timing.
We all start, we all beginsomewhere.
So once you have graduated fromthat level, uh I wanna say it's
a cause for celebration, butjust keep that in mind.
Meredith (02:47):
Right.
Meredith's husband (02:48):
Like don't instantly I do this a lot of
times myself, get frustrated andangry.
Like people, people don'trecognize the value of what I
do.
Meredith (02:55):
Well, but isn't it also up to us to show that value
on our website?
Meredith's husband (03:00):
That is.
That is.
I will talk a little bit aboutthat.
Meredith (03:02):
Ooh, I'm so psychic.
Meredith's husband (03:04):
Okay.
Next.
And I have to mention this justbecause it is an important
factor.
The speed of your responsematters.
Yeah, that's true.
When somebody contacts you, howquickly you get back to them is
from what I understand in thestudies, like the single biggest
factor on whether or notsomebody's going to sign you.
Meredith (03:22):
Yeah, they say within five minutes.
Meredith's husband (03:24):
Okay.
Well, that's yeah.
So personally, I think there isa fine line between uh
appearing responsive and lookingdesperate.
Meredith (03:33):
Right.
Meredith's husband (03:33):
Who is going to have time to respond to an
email within five minutes?
Probably, you know, it mighthappen occasionally.
You might happen to be lookingat your email.
So yeah, I think doingsomething relatively quickly is
is a good idea.
I don't think you need toactually send a manual email
back to somebody within fiveminutes.
I would say you need to have oryou sh should have some sort of
(03:54):
autoresponder set up.
Meredith (03:55):
Right.
Meredith's husband (03:56):
Now, the trick with that is that might
turn people off, like having anautoresponder.
Meredith (04:01):
I don't think how would it turn somebody off?
Meredith's husband (04:03):
Well, depends on what you put in the
autoresponder.
Meredith (04:05):
Oh, I guess.
Meredith's husband (04:06):
Okay.
So my point is don't try tomake it sound like it's not an
autoresponder.
Okay.
Like if somebody's going to getan email 30 seconds after they
contact you.
Yeah, yeah, no, no.
Make it cute, make it friendly.
Don't try to hide the fact thatit's an autoresponder.
Right.
Right.
For example, I think that wouldkind of turn people off if you
try to pretend it's not anautoresponder.
Meredith (04:27):
Yeah.
Meredith's husband (04:28):
A vendor that that both of us actually
dealt with a while ago, I thinkdid a great job with this.
She was a brandingprofessional.
Meredith (04:36):
Oh gosh, yeah.
Meredith's husband (04:37):
Your autoresponder was really cute
and funny.
And it was and it was like,hey, I'm Vero's bot.
And I just, you know, make itcute, make it funny.
Meredith (04:44):
She was amazing at everything.
Meredith's husband (04:46):
Yeah.
If you can make people smile,however, like the for example,
sending a cute autoresponder,you make people smile, they're
gonna want to have you back.
Meredith (04:55):
Right.
Meredith's husband (04:56):
Okay.
I think that is actually um oneof the most important things.
When I think back over my owncareer as a consultant, like I
remember one project, it was abig I was working for a big, uh,
relatively big company for me,and they were being acquired by
a an even bigger company forsomething like a billion
dollars.
It was crazy.
(05:17):
And they so this I was part ofa marketing team.
There were a bunch of externalmarketers part of this project.
Meredith (05:23):
Oh, yeah.
Yeah, I remember that.
Meredith's husband (05:24):
And once this company was being acquired,
they no longer needed amarketing team.
So they started getting rid ofthese external marketers, uh
like me.
I was the last one to go.
They kept me for like a yearlonger than anyone else.
Honestly, I believe it was justbecause I made people laugh
during our monthly calls.
(05:45):
I think that because there wasno reason to have me there.
I was not adding, I mean, Iwas, I like to think, adding
some sort of value, but theyliterally didn't need me.
Meredith (05:54):
Right.
Meredith's husband (05:54):
Like there was no point.
But and yet they kept me thereuntil the very, very uh end.
And I think it was honestlyjust because people like seeing
me.
Meredith (06:03):
Yeah.
Meredith's husband (06:04):
I'm gonna pretend they're laughing with me
instead of they appreciatedyou.
Yeah.
Meredith (06:08):
That's it.
Meredith's husband (06:08):
You make people, you make people laugh,
smile, they're gonna they'regonna want to have you back.
Meredith (06:13):
Yeah.
Meredith's husband (06:14):
So anyway, back to my story.
Your autoresponder uh can beginthe filtering process somehow.
Um don't say like right away.
I think I've done this myself.
I know a lot of people tend todo this.
In their autoresponder, theyjust be like, hey, here are my
prices.
And I had a client, I had aconsultant client just like last
(06:35):
week uh want to do somethinglike this.
They wanted to put a messageabout their minimum package, and
they wanted to put it right intheir hello bar at the top of
the website.
Hello bar, that's like thelittle banner that opens on the
homepage right at the top.
And you know, I understandwanting to to let people know
and do that right away, butthat's that's kind of like
(06:57):
putting it first in yourautoresponder.
And that's kind of like saying,you know, imagine if your
website were like a shop.
Meredith (07:03):
Yeah.
Meredith's husband (07:03):
And somebody walks into your shop and you
greet them, and the first thingyou say is, minimum package is
$5,000.
Hi, my name.
No, that's going to sound rude,probably.
So I guess I am so I amtalking, I'm touching on that a
little bit.
Meredith (07:18):
Well, what's the difference between clear and
rude?
Meredith's husband (07:23):
Well, I think the where you place that
message makes a difference.
It's not the very first thingthat you say to somebody.
Because if what's the what'sthe message that you're giving
somebody if that's the veryfirst thing you say?
Meredith (07:35):
All you value is money.
Meredith's husband (07:37):
All you care about is money.
Yeah.
Right.
Exactly.
Okay.
So I think the best way thebest, in my experience, the best
way to do this to filter outpeople before they contact you.
If you want to, because thatwas the question, how do we
filter out people before webefore they contact so you don't
waste time?
So the best way to do that inmy experience is to put
(07:57):
something about your pricing asclose as possible to the point
of contact.
So so if you could put likelike literally, if you could put
a message on the button thatthey actually click to send a
message to you, that's probablygoing to have the the biggest
effect.
Now that would be a littleextreme.
You don't want to do that.
But but you see my point, youwant to get close to that button
(08:18):
and message anywhere close tothat button.
So what I like to do is I liketo put something in the contact
form itself.
And you could do this with alittle checkbox.
Like when people submit a form,you can have a checkbox that's
required, and they have to checka box that says, I realize
pricing starts at such and such.
That's that would be a littletoo blunt, but something along
(08:40):
those lines.
Also, and I like this onebetter, you can put some sort of
question like what is yourprice range?
What is your budget?
And have that be a drop-downmenu and list price ranges.
And most importantly, whateveryour price ranges are, put the
most expensive one first.
Meredith (08:59):
Right.
Meredith's husband (08:59):
Because they're that's going to catch
their attention.
Because a lot of times whatpeople do with those drop-down
menus is they just they justleave it as the first selection.
They just check the check thefirst one.
I know that for a fact doing atest.
Meredith (09:12):
Really?
Meredith's husband (09:12):
Yeah.
Meredith (09:13):
Can I share what I also have been told?
Meredith's husband (09:16):
Yeah, sure.
Meredith (09:17):
So I I was told one of the things with budget is that
it can be flexible.
And if there's something thatyou really want, budget almost
goes out the window.
Um, because you willrationalize it in some ways.
And if somebody asks you, youknow, you go to a car dealership
and they say, So what's yourbudget?
(09:37):
Your response will be as littleas possible.
I want to spend as little aspossible.
But one of the things that hasbeen recommended to me by
PyGersa, the wonderful PyGersa,is what you rather than give
them a whole thing, a fullpricing thing to look at, say
session fees are this.
(09:59):
And if you're selling products,say like frames, frames start
at these prices.
Clients typically spend theseprices.
Meredith's husband (10:11):
Yeah, that's a good point.
You could put something likethat in the drop-down.
And rather than just have likemake a price range, see say the
drop-down could be like, whatare you looking for?
You know, just the digitals,just a couple prints for holiday
cards.
I want framed art for, youknow, you could you could do
something that's not as, youknow, again, blunt as a number
range, right?
(10:31):
It would still give you anindication of what that person
is looking for.
Meredith (10:35):
Right.
Meredith's husband (10:36):
And then with some forms, you can set up
different autoresponders basedon what their response is.
Meredith (10:42):
Oh, that's cool.
Aaron Powell Yeah.
Meredith's husband (10:44):
And not all forms can do that.
Some can, some can't.
But that that's a good option,especially if you're getting a
lot of inquiries.
If you're getting a lot ofinquiries, congratulations.
That's awesome.
And then if somebody selectsyour cheaper option, again, like
just know that that's not theright it's not the right timing
for you.
Meredith (11:02):
And also people without seeing the value and
being educated are not going towant to spend anything.
Trevor Burrus, Jr.
Meredith's husband (11:10):
Right.
And I'm going to touch on thatin just a second.
But first, if so if whensomebody writes to you and
they're not within your budgetrange, that doesn't necessarily
mean also that they never willbe.
Meredith (11:20):
Right.
Meredith's husband (11:21):
You know, especially like if you're a
family photographer, newfamilies, you know, a lot of
times they're strugglingfinancially.
It's not unusual.
Yeah.
I would say personally, keepthose emailed.
Like the people who write toyou and can't afford you now, I
would say keep their emails.
Like who knows what's going tohappen?
Maybe you will offer somethingcheaper.
You'll do mini sessions, or whoknows what's going to happen.
(11:43):
I would keep those emails.
Meredith (11:44):
Because they might all of a sudden become extremely
financially thorough.
Meredith's husband (11:50):
Yeah.
And then again, on that on thetopic you just mentioned, you do
need to educate people whenthey are looking at your site,
obviously, that you are not thecheapest option.
You are not Walmart.
You are not, you know, Amazon.
Yes.
Meredith (12:04):
I don't think they're even around.
Meredith's husband (12:07):
Probably not.
Meredith (12:08):
One another thing to that I could add is a good place
to just kind of have an anchorof your prices is on the contact
page.
So it's very clear you couldhave a prices start at this.
Clients typically invest this.
(12:29):
So they will have an overallknowledge of where you stand and
whether it's something thatthey are open to or if it is
beyond their range.
And then that can also preventyou from getting the inquiries
that may not qualify.
Meredith's husband (12:49):
That's a good point.
And again, yes, the contactpage, as close as you can get to
that button, and you know, andsomewhere on the contact page is
much better than just havingpricing on your pricing page.
Right.
I've had numerous clients have,you know, messages somewhere on
their site, like basically, donot contact me if ABC, and they
get tons of people contactingthem about ABC until you put
(13:12):
that message on your contactpage, get it close to when
they're actually the point ofcontact, and it helps reduce
that.
You can't eliminate itcompletely.
Meredith (13:20):
Right.
Meredith's husband (13:20):
And I will say, like the question, did the
question say something abouthalfway?
Meredith (13:25):
It says, I feel like half my inquiries go nowhere
once I send my pricing.
Meredith's husband (13:31):
I will say that from my own experience.
So people come to your websiteand a certain percentage of
those people will contact you.
Yes.
That's called your conversionrate.
Once people contact you, acertain percentage of those
people are going to hire you.
That would be your close rate.
Meredith (13:46):
Okay.
Meredith's husband (13:46):
From my experience in the business
world, a close rate of 50%.
And I remember this person saidhalf my inquiries go nowhere, a
close rate of 50% would begreat.
That'd be really good.
I think, you know, again, justfrom my experience, you know,
typically you're going to getmaybe, I don't know, one in
five.
Meredith (14:05):
Yeah.
Oh, who it depends.
It really depends.
Meredith's husband (14:08):
So so just know that that you're not going
to book everybody.
Meredith (14:12):
Right.
Meredith's husband (14:13):
So half your inquiries are going to go
nowhere.
Meredith (14:16):
Are going to go nowhere.
Yeah.
Exactly.
Meredith's husband (14:19):
Don't feel bad about that.
Meredith (14:20):
Yeah.
But I definitely think it'simportant to put starting prices
on your website so people don'toverwhelm them with every
single option.
Um, but definitely uh mostclients spend these start at
price.
Meredith's husband (14:35):
The starting at price is a good one.
Meredith (14:37):
Yeah.
Yeah, it just gives an average.
Yes.
And if you ask someone whattheir budget is, they're all of
a sudden in their in theirlizard brain, just focusing on
numbers rather than focusing onthe value of what you're
providing and the quality.
So it it kind of keeps it inthe croc brain of just numbers
(14:59):
and not the emotional, what isthis gonna mean for you?
Meredith's husband (15:03):
Yeah.
Yeah, then I would do insteadof like the drop down with a
because sometimes it's to behonest, especially in my world,
it's very appropriate to have abudget because company because a
lot of my clients are B2B.
Meredith (15:14):
Yeah.
Meredith's husband (15:15):
So they there is a very specific budget.
Meredith (15:17):
Right.
Meredith's husband (15:18):
So when dealing with, you know,
consumers and family members andregular people, yeah, maybe
instead of the numbers say, Whatare you looking for?
I'm just looking for a fewphotos, I'm looking for a
holiday card shot, or I'mlooking for a family album that
I can share with uh my familyfor years to come.
My my third cousins.
Meredith (15:38):
Right.
But yeah, if you just put itthat way, then it's more
tangible and then they'restarting to think about it in
their minds rather than justfinancially.
Meredith's husband (15:46):
Yeah, I like that.
Meredith (15:47):
Yeah, I do too.
I didn't come up with it.
Today we have a question.
Woohoo! Do you want to read thequestion?
Meredith (00:28):
I do want to read the question that you just sent.
Dear Meredith husband, I feellike half my inquiries go
nowhere once I send my pricing.
Is there a way to filter outpeople who aren't in my budget
range before they even contactme without sounding rude?
Meredith's husband (00:45):
Good question.
This is a common pain point forphotographers, is it not?
Meredith (00:50):
Uh it is.
It is.
There are there are severalcamps.
Meredith's husband (00:53):
Yes, I know.
There are probably severalapproaches.
So, first, I'm I'm going totalk about this today,
obviously.
I am not going to talk aboutsounding rude exactly.
That's more of like your salesprocess.
Once people contact you and youare in communication with them,
that's your sales process.
So I'm going to talk about itfrom a marketing standpoint.
Excellent.
And I like this as an SEO topicbecause a lot of people don't
(01:16):
think about this as part of SEO.
People think SEO and they thinkit's just, whoa, high rankings.
That's the goal.
That's it.
That's the end.
And that sort of thinking getsyou into a lot of trouble with
SEO.
That's a in fact it I don'twant to say it guarantees
failure, but it's if you beginyour SEO effort with that sort
of thinking, you're you're boundfor trouble.
SEO, the goal of SEO, and I'vesaid this in my training, uh,
(01:40):
but I'm going to repeat it herejust so we're all on the same
page.
The goal of SEO is to get moreclients through or your organic
efforts, through Google, throughsearch engines by from free
sources, organic.
Okay.
Right.
That includes people comingthrough and contacting you.
Meredith (01:57):
Right.
Meredith's husband (01:57):
Now I understand this is frustrating.
Like when people contact youand they want they want things
cheap, right?
Meredith (02:04):
Right.
Right.
Meredith's husband (02:05):
It's frustrating.
I know I know dealing with itmyself.
Meredith (02:08):
Yeah.
Meredith's husband (02:09):
I dealt with this for still do deal with
this.
Meredith (02:11):
Yeah.
Meredith's husband (02:12):
Um just, I think personally, the thing to
remember here, to just to putyou in the right frame of mind,
it's just the timing that isn'tright.
Like surely you have whereveryou are in your career, you have
not always been there.
Right.
There was probably a time whenthat low ball offer that you
don't like now, where it wouldhave been gold.
Meredith (02:33):
Yes.
Meredith's husband (02:34):
You would have taken it in a heartbeat.
Meredith (02:35):
Yes.
Meredith's husband (02:36):
So just remember it's your timing.
We all start, we all beginsomewhere.
So once you have graduated fromthat level, uh I wanna say it's
a cause for celebration, butjust keep that in mind.
Meredith (02:47):
Right.
Meredith's husband (02:48):
Like don't instantly I do this a lot of
times myself, get frustrated andangry.
Like people, people don'trecognize the value of what I
do.
Meredith (02:55):
Well, but isn't it also up to us to show that value
on our website?
Meredith's husband (03:00):
That is.
That is.
I will talk a little bit aboutthat.
Meredith (03:02):
Ooh, I'm so psychic.
Meredith's husband (03:04):
Okay.
Next.
And I have to mention this justbecause it is an important
factor.
The speed of your responsematters.
Yeah, that's true.
When somebody contacts you, howquickly you get back to them is
from what I understand in thestudies, like the single biggest
factor on whether or notsomebody's going to sign you.
Meredith (03:22):
Yeah, they say within five minutes.
Meredith's husband (03:24):
Okay.
Well, that's yeah.
So personally, I think there isa fine line between uh
appearing responsive and lookingdesperate.
Meredith (03:33):
Right.
Meredith's husband (03:33):
Who is going to have time to respond to an
email within five minutes?
Probably, you know, it mighthappen occasionally.
You might happen to be lookingat your email.
So yeah, I think doingsomething relatively quickly is
is a good idea.
I don't think you need toactually send a manual email
back to somebody within fiveminutes.
I would say you need to have oryou sh should have some sort of
(03:54):
autoresponder set up.
Meredith (03:55):
Right.
Meredith's husband (03:56):
Now, the trick with that is that might
turn people off, like having anautoresponder.
Meredith (04:01):
I don't think how would it turn somebody off?
Meredith's husband (04:03):
Well, depends on what you put in the
autoresponder.
Meredith (04:05):
Oh, I guess.
Meredith's husband (04:06):
Okay.
So my point is don't try tomake it sound like it's not an
autoresponder.
Okay.
Like if somebody's going to getan email 30 seconds after they
contact you.
Yeah, yeah, no, no.
Make it cute, make it friendly.
Don't try to hide the fact thatit's an autoresponder.
Right.
Right.
For example, I think that wouldkind of turn people off if you
try to pretend it's not anautoresponder.
Meredith (04:27):
Yeah.
Meredith's husband (04:28):
A vendor that that both of us actually
dealt with a while ago, I thinkdid a great job with this.
She was a brandingprofessional.
Meredith (04:36):
Oh gosh, yeah.
Meredith's husband (04:37):
Your autoresponder was really cute
and funny.
And it was and it was like,hey, I'm Vero's bot.
And I just, you know, make itcute, make it funny.
Meredith (04:44):
She was amazing at everything.
Meredith's husband (04:46):
Yeah.
If you can make people smile,however, like the for example,
sending a cute autoresponder,you make people smile, they're
gonna want to have you back.
Meredith (04:55):
Right.
Meredith's husband (04:56):
Okay.
I think that is actually um oneof the most important things.
When I think back over my owncareer as a consultant, like I
remember one project, it was abig I was working for a big, uh,
relatively big company for me,and they were being acquired by
a an even bigger company forsomething like a billion
dollars.
It was crazy.
(05:17):
And they so this I was part ofa marketing team.
There were a bunch of externalmarketers part of this project.
Meredith (05:23):
Oh, yeah.
Yeah, I remember that.
Meredith's husband (05:24):
And once this company was being acquired,
they no longer needed amarketing team.
So they started getting rid ofthese external marketers, uh
like me.
I was the last one to go.
They kept me for like a yearlonger than anyone else.
Honestly, I believe it was justbecause I made people laugh
during our monthly calls.
(05:45):
I think that because there wasno reason to have me there.
I was not adding, I mean, Iwas, I like to think, adding
some sort of value, but theyliterally didn't need me.
Meredith (05:54):
Right.
Meredith's husband (05:54):
Like there was no point.
But and yet they kept me thereuntil the very, very uh end.
And I think it was honestlyjust because people like seeing
me.
Meredith (06:03):
Yeah.
Meredith's husband (06:04):
I'm gonna pretend they're laughing with me
instead of they appreciatedyou.
Yeah.
Meredith (06:08):
That's it.
Meredith's husband (06:08):
You make people, you make people laugh,
smile, they're gonna they'regonna want to have you back.
Meredith (06:13):
Yeah.
Meredith's husband (06:14):
So anyway, back to my story.
Your autoresponder uh can beginthe filtering process somehow.
Um don't say like right away.
I think I've done this myself.
I know a lot of people tend todo this.
In their autoresponder, theyjust be like, hey, here are my
prices.
And I had a client, I had aconsultant client just like last
(06:35):
week uh want to do somethinglike this.
They wanted to put a messageabout their minimum package, and
they wanted to put it right intheir hello bar at the top of
the website.
Hello bar, that's like thelittle banner that opens on the
homepage right at the top.
And you know, I understandwanting to to let people know
and do that right away, butthat's that's kind of like
(06:57):
putting it first in yourautoresponder.
And that's kind of like saying,you know, imagine if your
website were like a shop.
Meredith (07:03):
Yeah.
Meredith's husband (07:03):
And somebody walks into your shop and you
greet them, and the first thingyou say is, minimum package is
$5,000.
Hi, my name.
No, that's going to sound rude,probably.
So I guess I am so I amtalking, I'm touching on that a
little bit.
Meredith (07:18):
Well, what's the difference between clear and
rude?
Meredith's husband (07:23):
Well, I think the where you place that
message makes a difference.
It's not the very first thingthat you say to somebody.
Because if what's the what'sthe message that you're giving
somebody if that's the veryfirst thing you say?
Meredith (07:35):
All you value is money.
Meredith's husband (07:37):
All you care about is money.
Yeah.
Right.
Exactly.
Okay.
So I think the best way thebest, in my experience, the best
way to do this to filter outpeople before they contact you.
If you want to, because thatwas the question, how do we
filter out people before webefore they contact so you don't
waste time?
So the best way to do that inmy experience is to put
(07:57):
something about your pricing asclose as possible to the point
of contact.
So so if you could put likelike literally, if you could put
a message on the button thatthey actually click to send a
message to you, that's probablygoing to have the the biggest
effect.
Now that would be a littleextreme.
You don't want to do that.
But but you see my point, youwant to get close to that button
(08:18):
and message anywhere close tothat button.
So what I like to do is I liketo put something in the contact
form itself.
And you could do this with alittle checkbox.
Like when people submit a form,you can have a checkbox that's
required, and they have to checka box that says, I realize
pricing starts at such and such.
That's that would be a littletoo blunt, but something along
(08:40):
those lines.
Also, and I like this onebetter, you can put some sort of
question like what is yourprice range?
What is your budget?
And have that be a drop-downmenu and list price ranges.
And most importantly, whateveryour price ranges are, put the
most expensive one first.
Meredith (08:59):
Right.
Meredith's husband (08:59):
Because they're that's going to catch
their attention.
Because a lot of times whatpeople do with those drop-down
menus is they just they justleave it as the first selection.
They just check the check thefirst one.
I know that for a fact doing atest.
Meredith (09:12):
Really?
Meredith's husband (09:12):
Yeah.
Meredith (09:13):
Can I share what I also have been told?
Meredith's husband (09:16):
Yeah, sure.
Meredith (09:17):
So I I was told one of the things with budget is that
it can be flexible.
And if there's something thatyou really want, budget almost
goes out the window.
Um, because you willrationalize it in some ways.
And if somebody asks you, youknow, you go to a car dealership
and they say, So what's yourbudget?
(09:37):
Your response will be as littleas possible.
I want to spend as little aspossible.
But one of the things that hasbeen recommended to me by
PyGersa, the wonderful PyGersa,is what you rather than give
them a whole thing, a fullpricing thing to look at, say
session fees are this.
(09:59):
And if you're selling products,say like frames, frames start
at these prices.
Clients typically spend theseprices.
Meredith's husband (10:11):
Yeah, that's a good point.
You could put something likethat in the drop-down.
And rather than just have likemake a price range, see say the
drop-down could be like, whatare you looking for?
You know, just the digitals,just a couple prints for holiday
cards.
I want framed art for, youknow, you could you could do
something that's not as, youknow, again, blunt as a number
range, right?
(10:31):
It would still give you anindication of what that person
is looking for.
Meredith (10:35):
Right.
Meredith's husband (10:36):
And then with some forms, you can set up
different autoresponders basedon what their response is.
Meredith (10:42):
Oh, that's cool.
Aaron Powell Yeah.
Meredith's husband (10:44):
And not all forms can do that.
Some can, some can't.
But that that's a good option,especially if you're getting a
lot of inquiries.
If you're getting a lot ofinquiries, congratulations.
That's awesome.
And then if somebody selectsyour cheaper option, again, like
just know that that's not theright it's not the right timing
for you.
Meredith (11:02):
And also people without seeing the value and
being educated are not going towant to spend anything.
Trevor Burrus, Jr.
Meredith's husband (11:10):
Right.
And I'm going to touch on thatin just a second.
But first, if so if whensomebody writes to you and
they're not within your budgetrange, that doesn't necessarily
mean also that they never willbe.
Meredith (11:20):
Right.
Meredith's husband (11:21):
You know, especially like if you're a
family photographer, newfamilies, you know, a lot of
times they're strugglingfinancially.
It's not unusual.
Yeah.
I would say personally, keepthose emailed.
Like the people who write toyou and can't afford you now, I
would say keep their emails.
Like who knows what's going tohappen?
Maybe you will offer somethingcheaper.
You'll do mini sessions, or whoknows what's going to happen.
(11:43):
I would keep those emails.
Meredith (11:44):
Because they might all of a sudden become extremely
financially thorough.
Meredith's husband (11:50):
Yeah.
And then again, on that on thetopic you just mentioned, you do
need to educate people whenthey are looking at your site,
obviously, that you are not thecheapest option.
You are not Walmart.
You are not, you know, Amazon.
Yes.
Meredith (12:04):
I don't think they're even around.
Meredith's husband (12:07):
Probably not.
Meredith (12:08):
One another thing to that I could add is a good place
to just kind of have an anchorof your prices is on the contact
page.
So it's very clear you couldhave a prices start at this.
Clients typically invest this.
(12:29):
So they will have an overallknowledge of where you stand and
whether it's something thatthey are open to or if it is
beyond their range.
And then that can also preventyou from getting the inquiries
that may not qualify.
Meredith's husband (12:49):
That's a good point.
And again, yes, the contactpage, as close as you can get to
that button, and you know, andsomewhere on the contact page is
much better than just havingpricing on your pricing page.
Right.
I've had numerous clients have,you know, messages somewhere on
their site, like basically, donot contact me if ABC, and they
get tons of people contactingthem about ABC until you put
(13:12):
that message on your contactpage, get it close to when
they're actually the point ofcontact, and it helps reduce
that.
You can't eliminate itcompletely.
Meredith (13:20):
Right.
Meredith's husband (13:20):
And I will say, like the question, did the
question say something abouthalfway?
Meredith (13:25):
It says, I feel like half my inquiries go nowhere
once I send my pricing.
Meredith's husband (13:31):
I will say that from my own experience.
So people come to your websiteand a certain percentage of
those people will contact you.
Yes.
That's called your conversionrate.
Once people contact you, acertain percentage of those
people are going to hire you.
That would be your close rate.
Meredith (13:46):
Okay.
Meredith's husband (13:46):
From my experience in the business
world, a close rate of 50%.
And I remember this person saidhalf my inquiries go nowhere, a
close rate of 50% would begreat.
That'd be really good.
I think, you know, again, justfrom my experience, you know,
typically you're going to getmaybe, I don't know, one in
five.
Meredith (14:05):
Yeah.
Oh, who it depends.
It really depends.
Meredith's husband (14:08):
So so just know that that you're not going
to book everybody.
Meredith (14:12):
Right.
Meredith's husband (14:13):
So half your inquiries are going to go
nowhere.
Meredith (14:16):
Are going to go nowhere.
Yeah.
Exactly.
Meredith's husband (14:19):
Don't feel bad about that.
Meredith (14:20):
Yeah.
But I definitely think it'simportant to put starting prices
on your website so people don'toverwhelm them with every
single option.
Um, but definitely uh mostclients spend these start at
price.
Meredith's husband (14:35):
The starting at price is a good one.
Meredith (14:37):
Yeah.
Yeah, it just gives an average.
Yes.
And if you ask someone whattheir budget is, they're all of
a sudden in their in theirlizard brain, just focusing on
numbers rather than focusing onthe value of what you're
providing and the quality.
So it it kind of keeps it inthe croc brain of just numbers
(14:59):
and not the emotional, what isthis gonna mean for you?
Meredith's husband (15:03):
Yeah.
Yeah, then I would do insteadof like the drop down with a
because sometimes it's to behonest, especially in my world,
it's very appropriate to have abudget because company because a
lot of my clients are B2B.
Meredith (15:14):
Yeah.
Meredith's husband (15:15):
So they there is a very specific budget.
Meredith (15:17):
Right.
Meredith's husband (15:18):
So when dealing with, you know,
consumers and family members andregular people, yeah, maybe
instead of the numbers say, Whatare you looking for?
I'm just looking for a fewphotos, I'm looking for a
holiday card shot, or I'mlooking for a family album that
I can share with uh my familyfor years to come.
My my third cousins.
Meredith (15:38):
Right.
But yeah, if you just put itthat way, then it's more
tangible and then they'restarting to think about it in
their minds rather than justfinancially.
Meredith's husband (15:46):
Yeah, I like that.
Meredith (15:47):
Yeah, I do too.
I didn't come up with it.
Popular Podcasts
Las Culturistas with Matt Rogers and Bowen Yang
Ding dong! Join your culture consultants, Matt Rogers and Bowen Yang, on an unforgettable journey into the beating heart of CULTURE. Alongside sizzling special guests, they GET INTO the hottest pop-culture moments of the day and the formative cultural experiences that turned them into Culturistas. Produced by the Big Money Players Network and iHeartRadio.
The Joe Rogan Experience
The official podcast of comedian Joe Rogan.
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.