Now that I take on a bunch of client work I’m noticing it’s pretty common to be ghosted after I reply to inquiries about pricing and availability. I pride myself on quick responses and I keep my emails short and sweet to not overwhelm. I’m priced on the mid to high end side for my city ($400 for a 1hr shoot, video work starting at $1,000), however, I don’t have a public-facing pricing sheet based on the back and forth advice I see on the internet. I’m thinking it’s mostly just sticker shock from people expecting to pay way less?
Do other professionals experience the same behavior? If so, any tips to help combat it?
I also see it on the other end when I’m reaching out to potential clients I’d like to work with. Zero acknowledgement that I even tried to contact them, even with referrals.
I move on. Not all clients are your clients. Cheap clients want cheap photographers. You’re not in their price range, and that’s fine. There’s not much you can do to combat it apart from putting a basic pricing guide on your site, or saying your commissions start at $XXX.
Imagine you’re in the market for a new kitchen. You get quotes from 10 companies.
Will you contact 9 of them that they don’t have the job?
Welcome to life.
Not sure what you’re expecting? You want people to email you back saying you cost too much? What would motivate them to do that? It’s not like they get anything out of that
Put your pricing sheet on your web site. Potential clients will then filter themselves, allowing you to concentrate on the ones who can actually afford your service.
It’s common…it means they’re shopping around and getting pricing from different photographers and they decided not to go with you. Nobody owes you anything until you’ve got an agreement/contract.