Images from Bhutan: The Karma Kingdom
Plus: A reader asks about quoting on projects using a client's potential ROI.
Home. It’s been quite the stretch since last September, but I now find myself at the end of several incredible trips abroad and rooted back in Banff for my favourite season in the mountains: summer! This past week, I spent several days on the Freshfields Icefield for mountaineering, and it felt so good to reconnect with my home mountain range.
Here’s what’s in this month’s issue of Fuelled by Creativity!
Images from Bhutan
Reader Question: Determining a client’s potential ROI
Featured photography workshops and retreat waitlist.
Bhutan: The Karma Kingdom
I had the chance to edit my images from Bhutan on my transit home. What an incredible trip! This small selection offers a glimpse into our trek through the remote valleys and high passes of the Bhutanese Himalayas, as well as the traditional life that unfolds against a backdrop of immense wonder and beauty.
Reader Question of the Month
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Q: When creating a pricing package for a client, what are effective ways to determine the client’s potential ROI and then use that information to create a competitive offer?
A: This is a great question with an answer that’s about as broad as the range of clients you might be working with. But, let’s see if we can explore a framework. I assume that by the client’s potential ROI, you mean what the client might gain from hiring you/your skills and the opportunities that will be created for them (e.g. direct financial gain, market exposure, acquiring assets/images that will serve them long-term, etc.).
When a prospective client approaches me, I take a careful look at their request and take the time to ask questions to clarify anything that may assist me in creating a pricing package that aligns with their needs. It’s essential I understand what’s at stake for the client, even if it’s something I need to glean for myself.
To create a competitive offer, I can try to gauge their ROI, which I’ll get to in a second, but I also need to gauge how much a client may be willing to spend in the first place. At times, I’ll ask straight-up if they have a budget for this particular aspect of the project. At times, they toss the ball back in my court for quoting, but sometimes a client will be very transparent about this, and it streamlines things rather quickly. But otherwise, I research the company to determine their size, how long they’ve been around, and what their budget might be. A quick search for their website, LinkedIn profile and social media streams can give me a good idea. Sometimes I’m able to roughly compare a new client with an existing one to find the right range for a quote.
When it comes to determining a client’s ROI, it’s a healthy mindset to try to anticipate potential byproducts and results the client may not be seeing. It’s likely they understand the base ROI, but when you’ve been in the game long enough, you may be able to see other benefits that have resulted from your services.
For example, let’s say you’re asked to quote on a gig photographing a bus company’s fleet of vehicles. You know from previous experience that it’s beneficial for customers to see the faces of the drivers and staff operating those vehicles. In addition to photographing the fleet, you might also offer to photograph staff both in and out of the vehicles, since you’ll be on site anyway. This can be included as an add-on or a flat rate to ‘sweeten the deal’ — just make sure to account for it in your quote. Tell them that previous clients have benefited from having staff images to use for marketing their services (i.e. people respond more to images of people) and/or on a Team page on their website. Perhaps other photographers quoting on this project won’t have offered such a suggestion, and it will help your quote stand out.
Just don’t make a ton of extra work for yourself for the sake of landing a client; find ways to have this fit within your existing workflow so you’re not diminishing your own ROI. Also, I recommend communicating those points to the client in a way that doesn’t assume they’re unaware of them.
By way of determining the client’s potential ROI, it’s most likely you will have no way of knowing the client’s potential financial gains (or value of earned/unearned media) — say, the value of the marketing campaign that might result from your images. In general, this is simply not information we have access to. So I wouldn’t spend too much time trying to figure that out. I think it’s largely about knowing your own worth, which will naturally change/increase throughout your career.
On that note, for me, one important aspect in this process is determining whether the client is the right fit, whether it’s the type of photography/services they are seeking or their budget. Over time, I’ve determined a minimum day rate, which will align with only certain marketing/commercial budgets, and that’s OK. If I determine I am out of someone’s price range, I look for a way to pivot and still help them out (for instance, someone may want to commission a new image set for all uses and I may instead suggest they choose from my existing stock with a ‘start up’ discount for website-use only). Or when something isn’t for me, I respond with the names of fellow photographers that I think will align with the opportunity.
This is a huge topic, and I’m happy for the community to participate through the Comments on this article!
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Looks so amazing.
Fabulous Paul, what incredible pictures of a mystery place on earth! I think of the Dalai Lama’s trek through those mountains. 🙏🇨🇦🇨🇦♥️