IF THEY ASK ABOUT PURCHASING DIGITAL FILES ONLY

Why are you feeling that JUST the digital file would be the ideal for you?

(ALLOW FOR RESPONSE)

IF THEY SAY SOCIAL MEDIA FILE

(ALLOW FOR RESPONSE) To share with family

ANSWER: If it's to share with family, I'm happy to include social media files of purchased wall art.

IF THEY SAY CHRISTMAS CARD

ANSWER: Oh of course, how fun! I don't typically just sell digital files but if we're doing significant wall art pieces then often I'm quite happy to include the digital file.

IF THEY SAY I WANT TO PURCHASE THEM ALL

ANSWER: Oh...so are you asking about in addition to printed products or INSTEAD of printed products?

IF THEY SAY: INSTEAD of printed products.

ANSWER: Oh...help me understand...why would you want that?

IF THEY SAY I WANT TO PRINT THEM

(ALLOW FOR RESPONSE) - Because we could get it printed OURSELVES.

Yeah, I get it - that sounds like a viable option. But I am just curious...why would you want to do that? You've got all the free time in the world, so you want to spend your time dealing with labs and getting things printed? Why do you want to print them yourself?

(ALLOW FOR RESPONSE) - Well, it's cheaper.

Well, of COURSE it is. But you know, buying a steak at Walmart for $ 7.99 is cheaper than going out to a fabulous steak house for your anniversary, right? but which experience are you going to enjoy more?

Because it's a special occasion, right? You don't spend 50 bucks on a steak, you know, on a TUESDAY, just BECAUSE, right? An $8 steak from Walmart is FINE on a Tuesday.

But people come to us because it's a SPECIAL OCCASION, or because they need, or want something that is better or different, or more than what they've had, you know, doing it themselves or however they have done it before.

It's like, you can walk to work - it's definitley cheaper, but wouldn't you rather drive? How much more would you enjoy that?

So why would I want to spend 50 bucks at a steakhouse? Well, because it's your 40th anniversary. And you want to show your husband, man, he's EVERYTHING to you and he LOVES steak. Right?

So the same is true with portraits. Like why do we do something like this - it IS because it matters. So if it doesn't really matter, then you know, your phone is fine to take selfies and it's FREE.

I get it...you could take a selfie or find a photographer to take a few snaps and print them yourself. It’s completely understandable that you would want and expect that - it’s what the average, typical photographer does.

Then you go to Costco and get a canvas printed but the thing is that they use artificial whiteners in their canvases that yellow over time. That's why it's so cheap, right? It's meant to be consumed and then it fades.

But for us, the way we see family portraits, you know, it's held as a treasure in a family and then handed down - that will NEVER happen with a canvas from Costco, because they don't last long enough to be handed down. And so if you're fine spending money and just having it sort of like, you know, dissolve into dust, I mean, who am I to say different but we create pieces that LAST and they cost more - it just DOES.

So no, we are not the Wal-mart of photography...so you can find that, if that is what you want.

But what is less common, so much so as to be COMPLETELY UNEXPECTED, is to receive expert home decor services with the selections of: which portrait is perfect for wall display, which room is best to highlight the jewel of the home that it truly is, and which size best communicates the degree of importance this portrait holds.

We understand that not everyone needs or wants this level of care for their family heirloom portraits. Plenty of people are happy to have family photos stored on hard drives instead of living on their favorite walls for all to see.

If the later is true for you, it’s no problem, but our services would not be an ideal fit.

If however you are ready to have a portrait of significance and do justice to both the creation and display of it, then you've come to the right place.

Tell me…with all of your past experiences in having digital files, what you drew you to us? What might you want to be different, or more of, or better, than what you’ve had before?”

IF THEY PERSIST

The thing is that most DON'T print them - THEY THINK THEY WILL but they are busy, and they end up in a drawer somewhere - because they don't know what to do with them, don't have time, so it's ends up being a waste of money stuck in a drawer and then one day you computer doesn't even COME with a CD reader and you no longer have access to them.

But let's say you are one of the ones that DO PRINT THEM.

I can appreciate that - THAT IS AWESOME that you want printed products. But here's the thing, you know, as a consumer, you only have access to consumer labs. The best analogy that I can use for that is like have you ever been to McDonalds and gotten a receipt and then looked at it 3 years later - what happens to the paper and the ink?

(ALLOW FOR RESPONSE)

Brown, the ink disappears. They don't care about the quality of the receipt - they don't guarentee how long that receipt will last - they got your money, you got your receipt. It's like a consumer lab.

As a Portrait Artist, we only use archival quality materials and that's the difference in like a letter that was handwritten 100 years ago - have you ever seen those? Paper is THICK - ink is still legible - things were made to last. How long the portraits last is a better value for our clients so that's why we make sure everything is museum quality.

So why should that matter to you when it comes to your portraits?

(ALLOW FOR RESPONSE)

Because often when people ask about digitals I find that they are value conscious - they want the best bang for their buck - they think they can just print it themselves have the same thing and they are golden. But that is a fallacy.

It's like going to the Dollar Store and expecting the same quality as a garment from Nordstroms or one that is handmade couture.

We're happy to include them, you know, with things that had been purchased because that give our clients archival prints AND a corresponding digital.

So what we'll do is at the Ordering Sessoin, I'll present the best of the best, ready for you to choose. Using my professional software, we'll compare side by side and in groups to find exactly the ones you love most.

People who come to us KNOW that family is everything - and they want to make sure that their FAMILY knows that. And we move heaven and earth to help them have this.

So what can we do to help you make sure that you show YOUR family that family is everything?

Okay, maybe so what I'm hearing is we don't want to go overboard. Right?

(ALLOW FOR RESPONSE)

We don't want to do too much just for giggles we want to do like what feels like the perfect thing because we don't have an unlimited budget just to do whatever we want for no good reason. We want to be purposeful - Is that what I'm hearing?

IF THEY SAY: I am not sure that I can afford the perfect thing.

I get that. So let's figure out what the perfect thing is. We'll just see. Let's go figure that out. Just put that over here for a minute. And just let your eyeballs tell you what makes you happy. is cost the only factor in your decision when choosing a photographer artwork?

How does that sound?

(ALLOW FOR RESPONSE)

I understand. So are there any limitations that I should know about? Because I just want to make sure that I, you know, I stay in line with, with how you like to do things and what feels comfortable for you. So is there anything that would help me to know, as far as you know, any limitations that you're having?

I just like to ask, because sometimes, you know, people have like, kind of a set budget that they, they want to respect other people feel like, you know, they really want to see it first, and then decide and really get a sense of what this is going to do for them before they make that decision. So, like I said, I'm just trying to know, like, kind of what what road is best to go down.

How does that sound?

(ALLOW FOR RESPONSE)

Well, so let me ask you, XXXX, do you want me to only make suggestions that are in line with sort of like the lower end of the budget? Or do you want to just kind of see what's possible, and then decide? Like, would you be willing to kind of just see what you might enjoy, you know, depending on what it was doing for you, or do we really need to kind of stick like to what it costs? Is that the most important factor in your decision? Because if it is, I mean, we didn't even have to show you like, you know, some of the more glorious sizes. Most often, I tell people:let's take a look at everything and let's see, like, what's too much? What feels perfect and what's not enough?

How does that sound?

(ALLOW FOR RESPONSE)

IF THEY SAY: I want to stay in XXX lower end of the budget range (ONE THAT IS TOO LOW)

So you know, at that range, it's kind of like, your favorite song turned down really low. And you have to kind of strain to hear it. I mean, it's there. It exists, right? But it's not something that impacts you, and not something that you can like, kind of sit back and appreciate because it's, you know, the lower end of the range, you know, our our eight by 10 Start at 500. We can apply your deposit to that.

How does that sound?

IF THEY SAY: I want to see the possabilities



IF THEY PERSIST IN BEING PRICE SENSITIVE

Really, we can make this decision, you know, two ways.

One, what does it look like?
How does it feel?
What kind of impact does it have?
Versus what does it cost?

When you make the decision based on what it costs, we can't care what it looks like.

When we make the decision based on what it gives us, the feeling it creates in those that it impacts, you know, that's lasting. And then it happens to cost this much and we will work that out.

So for you making this decision, you know, which of those two ways feels the most important to you?

Either one is fine.

It's just that you do need to care about one thing more than the other.