I just returned from Imaging USA, PPA's annual convention. It was great to finally see old friends in person, even though we were required to wear masks while we were there.

If you are not a member of Professional Photographers of America (PPA), you should consider joining for several reasons:

1. Your membership helps support our industry.
2. You get indemnification insurance included in your membership which protects you from a serious mishap.
3. PPA conducts a Benchmark survey that, among other things, tells you how much money you need to make in this business to stay afloat. For example, if you are operating your business from a home studio, your costs of sales should be 25%, general expenses 30%, and owner's compensation and net profit should be 45%. Take these benchmarks and look at your business to see if you are aligned. I can also help you figure this out. Send me an email at dougmattice@mac.com, and we can get on a quick call together.

BP1: If you have a home studio doing less than $150,000 per year in business, or a retail location doing less than $250,000, you either have a hobby or a spouse with a good income. And that assumes that you have a firm handle on expenses and your Cost of Sales should be about 25%

BP2: You can't make a living selling 8x10's. I'll talk about what to charge in BP3. If you're like many, the price you are currently charging is less than what it costs to produce it. You can't just take the print cost and mark it up four or five times. Other factors such as your time to prepare the image, shipping, retouching, etc., must also be considered. What do you need to do? Simple, don't just sell small prints. It would be best to sell collections, packages, wall portraits, and albums. Every sale needs to be maximized so you can earn a good living doing what you love.

BP3: How much should you charge for an 8x10? That depends on whether you are high volume or low-volume studio. If you're a prestige studio in a big city doing low-volume work, you might charge $300 or more for an 8x10. If you are doing high volume, you might charge $35. It all depends on your market, photography and marketing skills, and overall costs. Your cost for the first 8x10 includes the time it took to shoot, download, edit, backup, retouch the file, send to the lab, and then package. Oh yeah, don't forget the price of the print. If you get less than $50, go over it again, you may have missed something. For figuring your time, $30 per hour is the recommended figure by PPA.

BP4: In my opinion, the minimum price for an 8x10 should be $85, assuming you are not doing high volume business. Anything below this will not provide you with a sustainable business because your profit margin will be too low.

BP5: Frames should be your second-largest source of income for your studio. Every time you sell a wall portrait, you should frame it unless it's a Metal Print or a Gallery Wrap Canvas! (Note, Gallery Wrap Canvases can now be ordered with a floating frame.)

More on Framing

You don't need an extensive inventory to sell frames. Many projection software companies (like ProSelect) can show you the image displayed in the frame, even on the wall. So even if you don't have a studio or storage space, you can still sell frames. Here's how I do it.

When my client orders a canvas print, I assume that they will need a frame. To offset them having to think about how much a frame will cost, I automatically add the frame into the portrait price. I don't get anyone asking what the price would be without the frame. If someone took issue with this pricing structure, I would deduct $200 - $300 off the cost depending on the frame/print size. People are busy, and most do not want to take the portrait, find a framer, select a frame, then wait for it to be framed while paying $200 or more.

At the projection appointment, I say, "this portrait will look great in this mahogany frame, but I also have it in pewter or gold if you prefer a different finish."

So how much do you charge for a frame? On lower-priced frames, I mark them up 3.5 times. This factors in the shipping and framing costs. So if I have a frame that costs me $60, I sell it for $210. Now, if I have a frame that costs me $150, I'm not marketing it up to $525 (3.5 times) before adding it to my price list. It takes about the same amount of time to frame a $60 frame as it does a $150 frame, so I'd mark it up 2 to 2.5 times.

One more thing on frames that should help you sell more in your sales session. It would help if you guaranteed the frame, same as the print. Tell them to hang the framed portrait in their home and if for any reason they don't like it, return it for another frame or a full refund. I have only gotten two returned frames in over 30 years.

Should you sell your digital files?

I do not offer digital files as a replacement for my printed work. I don't think it is a good business model, and I have seen countless photographers go out of business from doing the shoot and burn model. I usually include small "social media" files of the retouched images they ordered prints from. I do not deliver the digital files until after the order is complete and certainly not before the sale, or the excitement will be gone, and your sale will suffer.

How do you answer people who say they just want the files, not prints? 

I tell them I am a PRINT studio. Since every image has my name on it and reflects my reputation, I must control the process every step of the way, from the initial exposure to the retouching, color correction, printing, framing, and final delivery. If they persist, I turn them away because it's not what I do. Frankly, this is not a problem for me because usually, people only want digital files for Facebook or Instagram.

I hope this article helps you see the importance of charging correctly and profitably for your products and services. If you would like to work with me to produce a profitable price list based on where your business is at this time, give me a call at (703) 858-9090 or send an email to dougmattice@mac.com.

I wish you great sales!