All photographers need the ability to sell well, from selling prints to selling ideas to others to selling themselves. Use these psychological concepts to help you get more of what you want.
It doesn't matter what kind of photographer you are, there is always a degree of selling involved. For those who wince at the thought of doing this, psychology expert and author Nick Kolenda is back with another useful video to help us all become better at selling.
For the video, Kolenda uses a real-life sales demo from a software company to illustrate that even "professional sellers" are getting it wrong. The good news for us is that often, a few small tweaks to what we are already doing can dramatically change the tone and outcome of events. Kolenda goes into detail on 5 key areas: breaking the greeting ritual, building rapport over similarities, rephrasing questions, and more. For many of you, a lot of these concepts will be areas you come across as a photographer on a day-to-day basis. What differentiates Kolenda's videos from others you may see online is that his suggestions are always backed up with psychological papers to support his claims. This not only gives you confidence that what he is saying is worth listening to, but it gives you a useful route for further reading. I know I have used Google to find some of these papers in the past when I have wanted a more in-depth look into concepts he has been talking about.
While the video is not directly aimed at photographers, the ideas discussed are valuable to learn. One key takeaway that really spoke to my photographic practice was when Kolenda talks about how our words mold the reality others see. If your photographic practice involves interacting with others on any level, then being able to sell yourself, your words, or your ideas can only be a positive thing for your career.
What are your thoughts on these techniques? Had any success with them as a photographer? We'd love to hear your thoughts in the comments below.
Lead image by Karolina Grabowska, used under Creative Commons.
