Session Fees!
What they are and how to use them in your business!
Why are session fees so important? Session fees are so important for a variety of reasons! First and foremost, session fees cover your time! Your time is as valuable as a doctors or attorneys time. Would you go to the doctor, an attorney or another professional and not pay them for their time? NO! Session fees are necessary to appear professional. Therefore, charge for your time appropriately.
Session fees cover your initial expenses in creating images. Yes, you do have up front expenses. Every time you push the shutter release, you are incurring expenses such as, editing and retouching time and wear and tear on your camera and other equipment. Charge appropriately.
Session fees are also important to help you cover the cost of any proofing that you do. You might say 'I don't print proofs.' Even if you don't print paper proofs but you send out a CD slideshow or use projection, you still have the cost of the CD, the program that you use to create the slideshow, the royalty free music you purchased for the slideshow, the projection program, and your time that you invest in creating these 'proof less' proofing systems. Charge appropriately.
Session fees are also qualifiers. The dollar amount you determine your time is worth, will pre-qualify your potential clients. If someone is strictly looking for a deal and they see that your session fee is $90, they probably will not call you. The deal seeker will search out a photographer that does not have a session fee.
The greatness of session fees is they can be flexible! You can choose to discount session fees during different times of the year that you want to increase business, or give a discounted session fee as a reward or to a select group of people, like our military, firefighters and other social servants!
In our studio, we have over inflated our session fees by double what we expect to get. Our one-hour session is $180. When we discount it by 50%, we are getting the amount we really want to have, which is $90 an hour. When a potential client calls, we invite them into the studio for a 30-minute consultation. As a reward for the consultation, we give them 50% off their session fee if they book and pay the session fee that day.
We have found that June is a slow month for us. We want to photograph more high school seniors in June. Every June, all session fees are 75% off. July's session fees are 50% off and August's session fees are 25% off. This multi-staged approach also works with families. Start your multi-staged discount program on family session fees in August. August is 75% off for families. September is 50% off and October is 25% off. This system helps to even out your business so you are not crazy the third week of October trying to figure out how to 'squeeze' everyone in!
So now you are asking, 'How do I determine what my session fees should be?' Sit down and think about what you would want to be paid if you were working at a 'normal job.' Is that $25, $50, $75, $90 an hour? Then do some research on the other studios in your area. What are their session fees? You don't want to price yourself at the same price point as the others in your area but at the same time you don't want to price yourself out of the market. Define what your client gets, from their session fee. In our studio, our clients get up to 3 appointments with us, The consultation, The session, and The ordering appointment, all for $90 (after the discount has been given)! Use this as a selling point! WHAT A DEAL!
You are now armed with new and valuable information regarding session fees! So GO! Revamp or add session fees to your pricing! Happy Shooting! Happy Selling! | 
