G.E. Masana, a New York based wedding and portrait photographer has a boat-load of real-world experiences and advice on sales and marketing. If you are a wedding or portrait photographer, this post is for you.

I had the pleasure of speaking with G.E. Masana several months back about six specific strategies for wedding photography success:

The 6 Strategies For Wedding Photography Success

1. Be Strategy-Driven Rather Than Tactic-Driven
2. Strategy: Mean Something Significant To A Significant Number Of People, And For Which They'll Pay You Significantly More
3. Strategy: Responding To Inquiries – Stand Out From The Rest and Get Results
4. Strategy: Purpose Of The Phone Call Is To Set Up The Consult For Success
5: Strategy: “Just Get The Booking” and why
6: Strategy: Sales Without Pressure – Gently Guiding Your Prospective Clients To Sell Themselves On You

Mentoring & Courses

Click here for Mentoring, Coaching & Consulting Options

Maximum Wedding Album Profits contains business nuggets, aha! moments, insights and principles as well as a complete system for selling more wedding photos to place into your clients' wedding albums. A few booking strategies are thrown in for good measure.

Instead of a few hundred, you'll know how to set the stage to make thousands. I've averaged adding another up to $15,000 per wedding from regular every day couples with this system.

G.E.Masana's courses (yes, I bought these) are well-produced audio presentations that will help you move beyond the blocks you have:

How to Raise Prices, Increase Profits, Even When You Think You Can’t – Especially If You Think You Can’t

How To Turn Phone Inquiries Into Paying Clients

Other Resources

Listen to G.E. Masana's tips on sales or selling in Ben Hartley's Six Figure Photography podcast.

Buy the book: When They Say That, You Say This: For Wedding and Portrait Photographers – The Strategy for Handling Sales Objections

A Very Special, Time-Limited Offer

From G.E. Masana:

“So as you know, I'm playing with the idea of teaching wedding photographers my complete systems, strategies and tactics, which would cover everything from marketing to handling inquiries to getting bookings to after the wedding sales: the entire what to say, what to do and how to do it. No fluff and no cheer-leading, no theories, just solid info, everything 100% tested, proven and true.”

If you are interested in learning the strategies from booking to marketing your wedding photography clients, contact G.E.Masana right away. This offer is only for 5-10 wedding photographers, so you must act quickly.

Please include your name, location, how many weddings you do now and how many you want to do in the future, and how much money did you make photographing the weddings you say you have photographed.

If you enjoyed the interview and this post, would you please do me a favor and share it among your wedding photography friends please? Thank you!

Every year I do this, a good number of you step up and use the affiliate links on this post to buy the products you have either heard about or have saved up to invest in for your business. As always, every purchase you make helps pay for this website's hosting, redesign and general maintenance. I am thankful for your support!

Please continue to to visit this post through the end of the day on Cyber Monday, November 27th. I'll add new offers and edit those that have ended or no longer available.

ShootProof offers gorgeous galleries, contracts & invoices, integrated print labs, cloud archiving, mobile apps, and MORE – all with no commission fees! #FocusOnWhatMattersMost and let ShootProof do the rest. New customers save 40% on yearly plans and existing users get 40% off plan upgrades. Plus, receive a FREE studio success bundle packed with templates, how-to-guides, and more. Offer ends 11.27.17

Jenika McDavitt's Psychology For Photographers Resources

Today through Cyber Monday:

Irresistible Website

Award-winning class for a reason! Turn your website into a 24/7 salesperson that speaks to the exact needs and desires of the exact person you most want to draw.

Irresistible Words

Makes what you're already doing faster and more effective. Learn to write blog posts in 20 minutes or less (that people actually read and share), know exactly what you're going to say when you sit down, and create sales copy that actually does the job so you can do more of what you love.

Irresistible You

Why does that person get attention online, while you seem to wait around for people to notice? It's not “personality,” it's a method. Learn all the secrets to presenting yourself online + the secrets popular posters use to get attention (even if you're an introvert).

The ONLY time of year the entire Psychology for Photographers shop is on sale!

Save $50 off any single course.
Save $109 total when buying two courses together.
Save a total of $170 by buying all three together.

No code needed, sale price waiting in your cart! Offer cannot be combined with any other offer or past purchases.

FStoppers Video Workshops

To receive $30 off use code “BF30” for the following:

Fstoppers Intro to Lightroom: The Ultimate Crash Course – Now only $99.99
Photography 101: How to Use Your Digital Camera and Edit Photos in Photoshop – Now only $69
Making Real Money: The Business of Commercial Photography – Now only $269.99

To receive $50 off these individual tutorials, use code “BF50” for the following:

Photographing The World 1: Landscape Photography and Post-Processing with Elia Locardi – Now only $249.99
Photographing the World 2: Cityscape, Astrophotography, and Advanced Post-Processing – Now only $249.99
Dylan Patrick's The Cinematic Headshot – Now only $149.99
Joey Wright: Swimwear Photography – Lighting, Posing, and Retouching – Now only $249.99
Peter Hurley: Perfecting the Headshot – Now only $249.99
Mike Kelley's Where Art Meets Architecture 2 – Now only $249.99
Mike Kelley's Where Art Meets Architecture 3 – Now only $249.99

To receive $50 off these combo packs, use code “BF50” for the following:

Peter Hurley: The Art Behind the Headshot and Perfecting the Headshot – Now only $349
Peter Hurley: Illuminating the Face and Perfecting the Headshot – Now only $449
Peter Hurley Tri Pack: The Art Behind the Headshot, Illuminating the Face, and Perfecting the Headshot – Now only $549
Mike Kelley: WAMA 1 and WAMA 2 – Now only $449
Mike Kelley: WAMA 1 and WAMA 3 – Now only $449
Mike Kelley: WAMA 2 and WAMA 3 – Now only $449
Mike Kelley: WAMA 1, WAMA 2, and WAMA 3 – Now only $649
Elia Locardi: Photographing the World 1 and Photographing the World 2 – Now only $449

Photography Concentrate

Two of the best teachers I know are Rob and Lauren Lim of Photography Concentrate. Their ebooks have ushered me along the path of a working photographer for years now. I highly recommend their ebooks which are now all on sale through Cyber Monday.

Use the code: PCBLKP17 to shave off 50% of all their resources on their site.

Pixellu Smart Albums & Smart Slides

SmartAlbums is a must-have album builder that’s intuitive, quick, and simple. Check it out at www.pixellu.com and buy before November 27 to save $100 on your purchase!

SmartSlides is the world’s simplest slideshow maker, allowing photographers to build gorgeous slideshows in just a few minutes. Save big by signing up at www.pixellu.com before November 27 – the Pro annual plan is just $1 per month for the first 6 months!

The dates of the Pixellu sale are as follows: Nov 20th through November 27.

Melanie Anderson's The Focus Tour

One of the best things about a community that meets often (like CTPPA or Inspire Photo Retreats) is just that: there is a sense of community, connection and even camaraderie among photographers.

But sometimes, that is not possible. Family obligations, work obligations or distance can be factors. So, it's no surprise that Melanie Anderson was one of the first photographers in the industry to see the need for creating such a community online.

She calls her site “Focus 365” – https://www.tiffinbox.org/find-your-focus-365 – and for a limited time, you can get access to it PLUS nearly 120+ individual courses taught by some of the best working photographers on the planet. The catch is two-fold: there are only 100 seats available and this deal disappears when those seats are all gone!

Visit the site – https://www.tiffinbox.org/find-your-focus-365 – yes, it is an affiliate link – and click on BLACK FRIDAY PROMO to get all the details!

PhotoBizXposed Premium Podcast & FB ADs Workshop

One of the best (I would say definitely in the top 10) podcasts is Andrew Hellmich's PhotoBizXposed. For a very limited time for Black Friday, he is offering a 50% off his premium subscription. His immensely popular FB Ads course is also on sale. Check it out!

Buyer Personality Quizzes by Isabel Azalia

Back in this post about buyer personality quizzes, I interviewed Isabel Azalia about her buyer personality quizzes. These are definitely unique products for photographers.

Depending on the genre of photography services they are seeking from you, all kinds of questions you can ask them will give you a better understanding of who they are, what their personalities are best suited for and ultimately how best to serve them.

In addition to those quizzes, Isabel now has a series of quizzes that will help you and your client decide how best to dress for the photo session. These are all on sale through Cyber Monday (that's tomorrow). Use the code is blackfriday2017 that gives 60% off of everything.

Fundy Designer Goes On Sale!

Fundy Designer is a comprehensive platform for designing albums, sharing designs and even creating slideshows. It's wicked fast, too! For Cyber Monday, take $100 off your purchase. You'll make that $100 up in about 2 minutes, I promise you.

Zack Arias's Dedpxl Sale

Everything on Zack Arias' Dedpxl.com site is 50% off. No codes necessary. Those of you who are starting out using your flashes or strobes … this is the workshop that helped me get over my fear of using flashes. I would totally recommend that One Light 1.0 and One Light 2.0 workshops in a heartbeat. No one … NO ONE … comes close to explaining the use of flash as eloquently and usefully as Zack. Please consider all the other opportunities to learn from Zack through this site as well.

If you take a moment to think about it, Mario Masitti is right. Lighting, posing, editing, sales, and marketing are all topics that are critical for portrait photographers.

Over the last five years, Mario has taught photographers the in's and out's of portrait photography – both the craft and the business.

Five Courses In One

After making multiple individual courses available, Mario recently bundled them all up for you, the portrait photographer.

The Modern Portraits Master Course by Mario Masitti is a bit of a monopoly. You get Mario's take on Lighting, Posing, Marketing, Editing and Sales.

Go ahead and click the links above to explore each of the options. You'll notice that they are each marked at $94.99. But you can score the entire course – all five “modules” – for only $394.99 (and if you are quick, you can get 25% off that price when you use the code: NEWYEAR25.

Variety & Depth

I haven't seen anyone offer so much under one banner course. And, if there are such an options out in the interwebs, I suspect it costs twice or thrice as much.

Poking into some of the course material, I can tell you that the master course has a ton of visual examples; photographs from actual photo shoots with clients and links to videos, where Mario talks you through situations that you will encounter. Each module has its PDF ebook to go with it, so you never feel left out in the cold.

The Modern Lighting course, for example, includes a 56-pae PDF ebook, a 25-minute supplmental lighting video and two special bonuses.

Mario's Crazy Guarantee

This straight from Mario's website: “Every Sessions With Mario product is backed by a 100% Money Back Guarantee. If you don’t absolutely love the course, it’s on me!”

Feel more comfortable now buying Mario's The Modern Portraits Master Course

Mario's promise:

This Master Course was designed for portrait photographers looking to take their portraits AND their business to the next level – to shoot better images, edit faster, market smarter, and sell bigger. With no-frill videos, beautiful PDFs, and awesome challenges, the Master Course equips you with what you need to grow into a 6-figure portrait photography business and rock your next seasons in 2017!

Interviewing Mario

It was a pleasure to connect with Mario, especially to discuss this new venture called The Modern Portraits Master Course. Check out our chat below:

Did you know that at one time Orlando, Florida family photographer Isabel Azalia designed lasers? Now, she reads her client's minds.

Totally true!

More than what or how she does this, the question should be why she does it.

Isabel spent the last six years formulating client quizzes that she sends out in efforts to get to know them and ultimately serve them better. The better the experience, the thought process goes, the greater the chance they will buy more and refer future clients.

As a scientist, she needed something more precise and so she developed her personality tests and questionnaire that dives deep into a client's psyche so she can capture that family as they truly are and make the whole photography experience stress-free.

Interviw With Isabel

Intrigued by her client quizzes, I asked to speak with her to find out more. Here is our conversation about how she uses client quizzes in her family portrait photography business:

So tell me, how well do you know your clients? Be honest with yourself. When the phone rings you book a session, but more often than not, you have no clue who they are, what their likes and dislikes are, how they see themselves or what they ultimately want in photography artwork for their home.

Wouldn't you want to change that? You will get to serve your clients at a high level. In the process you'll create a sustainable business that is known in your community.

Client Quizzes

For more details about Isabel's client quizzes.

Customizing Your Quizzes

Isabel is making her client quizzes available to you so that you can customize them with your own logo and then share them with your clients before your next portrait session. Talk about a huge WIN.

What would knowing more about your clients do for your business? Will you use client quizzes to serve your clients?

It has been about a week since I got back from Inspire Photo Retreats. The experience of being there, with 250 other photographers, is still reverberating through my brain. It was a relaxed and yet very informative conference. I highly recommend you go next year. Other than the fact that you and I will get to finally meet, you'll truly be inspired. I guarantee it. If you are following me on Facebook, you likely saw a few images from the event in Portland, Maine.

Getting to Inspire was a bit of an adventure. My friend, and fellow photographer, David Apuzzo, set out at about 10 am on Sunday. We had heard about a looming snowstorm that was going to pile in a foot or more of snow in Connecticut, Massachusetts and yes, all the way up to our destination, Portland, Maine.

Given that my wife had to go to work the next day, I insisted that she take the four-wheel drive, Subaru Forrester. I chose to take the Toyota Sienna, a minivan (with terrible tires, mind you), to Maine. The four hour trek was mostly uneventful until we hit Portsmouth, New Hampshire. We managed to evade swaths of snow. Dave excitedly pointed to the space in between packed clouds on his phone's weather app that we were threading through. It was exciting to race Mother Nature.

But when we got to Portsmouth, we got hit with snow coming at us sideways. The wipers on my cars which were functioning just fine started to give me some trouble. As the snow came down, I kept using the wipers and the wiper liquid to clear the front of the car. My visibility was diminishing and it became somewhat uncomfortable to drive. I noticed that while the passenger side of the windshield was getting cleared up quickly, the driver's side was not. Dave and I both assumed that we had run out of windshield wiper fluid. My wife had foreseen this issue and insisted that we carry a bottle of wiper fluid with us. And boy did that come in handy. The temperature in New Hampshire was down to 7 degrees Fahrenheit and my fingers were quickly going numb, but Dave helped me pour some of that wiper fluid in. In fact, Dave stepped up and bought two big jugs of it at the gas station.

But that didn't help one bit. The nozzle on the driver's side was either frozen or clogged up. What were we to do? We had at least another hour of driving ahead of us. Then it was Dave's brilliant idea that got us through. He suggested that I simply drive behind some of the other cars and big rig trucks. His rationale was the snow and spray flying off of the cars ahead of us would land on my windshield and all I would have to do would be to use my worn wiper blades.

Guess, what? It worked! Like. A. Charm. I probably owe Dave a beer or two just for that. (Do collect, Dave!)

Now, imagine you at the helm of your photography business. You can go at it alone or you can have a trusted advisor, like Dave was for me on the perilous trip. Which will get you there safer and faster? For my photography business in Connecticut, I lean on a few people to coach me.

I've already mentioned Jeff Jochum. If you aren't clear about what it is that you are meant to do, he will help you get there. It's not an easy process but his video coaching is top class in my opinion.

Steve Saporito is the other business coach, I listen to. He is based in Australia, but let that not stop you from listening to our recent conversation about what he does for photographers, why he believes his approach is the most natural and how his teaching can benefit you.

Steve and his business partner, Kelly Vanyai moderate a lively Facebook group (open to only those who have signed up for their courses) where if anyone has a question, all you need to do is to ask and either they or an eager bunch of peers will jump in to help you. I've found it very helpful so far and I am already seeing results. What I personally love about Steve and Kelly's approach is that there is nothing “salesy” about how they want us to work with our own clients. Just as much as Steve and Kelly are our trusted advisors, we in turn become our client's trusted advisors and help them make the very best image selections for their life.

On February 20th, 21st and 22nd, Steve and Kelly will be hosting an intimate workshop in New Haven, Connecticut, for a few select studios. Yes, I am going. Did you have to ask? Find out more about this unique opportunity in Connecticut to learn from them face-to-face here. They will also be at WPPI offering a similar workshop there.

Clearly I am not the only one reaching out and working with business coaches. Maggie and Jason Henriques just wrote a post. Go read it! Also, Jasen Arias also posted about working with Jeff Jochum and Steve Saporito here.

Of course, there are other business coaches and mentors helping photographers, but from my exhaustive search and perspective Jeff and Steve make up the one-two-punch that I needed to restructure my business. If you have any questions about them, feel free to post them below or ask me directly.