Mistakes Making Decisions Based on Price
Shortly after starting my business I realized I needed to make some investments in marketing – website, etc.. The business was doing well for a startup but it was clear that if I were to take it to the next level, I needed to up my game. I created some loose specs for what I wanted and talked to several vendors about doing the work, and contracted with them for the work. I made my choices based primarily on budget vs. what my gut (and years of experience) was telling me. Fast forward, I eventually reinvested in those pieces, this time going with my gut and the results exceeded my expectations. I realized I was never happy with the outcome of the original investment, and it wound up costing me more in the long run – it’s not like I couldn’t afford to go the more expensive route initially – I just set an artificial cap on spending. The kick in the head for me was that I’ve had this experience before in making purchases both personal and for business.
I can’t tell you how many times I’ve heard a similar story from clients of mine who hired me to update headshots of their team even though they were done not too long ago by another photographer. They decided primarily on price, many people did not like their photos, and now they’re paying for another photographer (me) to come in and shoot these people again. Not only is costing more, but there is an additional disruption, people already have a negative experience they have to overcome. Having a bad experience also negates the potential positive impact providing new headshots to staff members would have had.
Cost is not the only factor however – the amount of time allotted per person also plays a key role. Shooting someone every 2-3 minutes is not going to yield the same results, across a broad spectrum of people, as allowing 10-15 min per person. It takes time to help people relax, establish some communication, coach them, review the results, go back in and shoot some more based on those results, etc..
Ultimately, the choice depends on what your goals for the session are – if you just want everyone to have something better than a selfie then a higher quality headshot may be overkill. On the other hand if you plan to utilize these images in various channels, on various platforms (eg, website, trade publications/websites, speaking engagements, etc), or as a perk for your clients then a higher quality result is likely a better choice – unless you’re OK learning the lesson I did.
