3 Simple Strategies to Finding Higher-Paying Video Clients. EP #295 - Den Lennie

How do you find higher paying video clients in 2023? Well, first of all, higher paying clients expect a lot. If you want to work with premium clients, then you have to provide a premium experience from start to finish. Quick tip, you have to be premium yourself. The simple fact is people who pay a premium expect more as a standard. So you have to ensure that everything you're doing is premium. And in this video I want to share three key ways you can improve that side of your business. And make sure you stick around to the end because I'm going to give you a bonus tip on how to get a price out of someone who is being evasive about budget. So please make sure and subscribe if you haven't already. And let's get on with this video. There are three price points in any market. Cheap, middle of the road and expensive. And you get to choose where you position yourself. Now what typically happens is most people go for the cheap or the middle of the road because they don't know how to ask for a better paying client work. I want to cut straight to the chase here. You want to be providing the Mercedes and BMW and Porsche service, not the Ford and the Hyundai service. That is because it takes just as much work to provide to a cheaper client than it does to a higher paying client. Higher paying clients generally respect your time more. They're more respectful of your skills and your experience and are open to your suggestions. Cheaper clients, on the other hand, typically demand a lot. They want a discount, they want more than has been asked for. They always increase the scope of a project and fundamentally become pain in the ass clients. So let's begin with an airplane analogy. In an airplane you've got economy, you've got sometimes premium economy, you've got business class and up the front you've got first class. Now the plane will get the destination as fast regardless of where you sit on the plane. However, there's a very big difference between spending 12 hours stuffed in economy and the same 12 hours in first class. Generally speaking, significant difference in price as well. However, first class always has customers and so does economy. Now an airline makes most of its money from the business class and first class passengers. And if you want to scale your business and make more money with premium clients, those are the kind of people you want to be working with. But more importantly, that's the level of service you need to be giving to your clients. So when you fly first class usually check in is private, check in area is private. You're driven from your home in a limousine, you Go straight through a private security channel, straight into the first class lounge. You're on the plane first, you're off the plane first, and it's a very quiet and beautiful experience. As opposed to economy where you're ushered in with everyone, you stand in the queue, everything takes longer and there's no priority. The reason I'm using this analogy is it's perfect for describing how you should be treating your clients. If you want to pitch at the premium end. Premium clients expect a lot. So if you want to work with premium clients, you need to tune your entire operation to make sure that every part of the experience for your prospect into a client, into final delivery is effortless and has that business class to first class feel. The first thing I want you to think about differently for this year is become a partner to prospects and clients, not just a supplier. If you begin a relationship with someone just as a supplier, it's a bit like having a leaking tap and calling an emergency plumber. You call around, get someone to come and fix the tap, pay the price, and off they go. But let me ask you this. When that leaking tap is fixed and six months later, your wife or your husband or your partner says, hey, let's redo the bathroom, are you calling the emergency plumber or are you looking for more? My guess is you're going to look for more. You're going to look for someone who's a bathroom designer, who's got great reputation, great website, great reviews, maybe it's been featured in some magazines, who's going to come in and consult with you and figure out what you want, what you like, what kind of tapware you want, what kind of tiling do you want, what kind of finishes, and you want someone to architecturally design that space so it feels good. Now, that's a very different offer from an emergency plumber. The likelihood is in that scenario, you're going to be partnering over a period of time, discussing ideas, putting together mood boards, and overall building a relationship together to execute this project to the point where you are thrilled with the outcome. So as a videographer, think about how you show up to clients. Are you just there as an emergency plumber or are you someone who partners with a client, takes time to fully understand what it is they're looking for, understands all the nuances of the audience they're trying to reach, figures out asking all the different questions that uncover every possible avenue they could explore, figuring out if they need to create social versions of content. What other things can you offer to them that they may not have thought of that will build that relationship. A lot of filmmakers are shy about having conversations with prospects and clients. And sadly often I hear and see examples of sending emails to try to communicate what services they might be able to provide or pointing them to a webpage. We have to be careful not to assume that the prospect understands the video process. And in this process of partnering and asking questions, you'll actually create a far greater relationship that will go on to service you for years and years and years. So become a partner to clients, ask lots of questions, inquire about what the ultimate audience and outcome is for a project, and that will serve you extremely well in pitching to higher paying clients. Don't just be thinking about winning the deal and getting the job done. High performing and high earning video production companies have figured out that it's important to build a relationship with a client, nurture that relationship and get to the money conversation only when everything else has been figured out. And that creates strong relationships with high paying clients. And look, it's okay if you're shy. Most of us are introverts, which is why we hide behind the camera. But there are ways in which you can develop skills and confidence and processes which will allow you to become more confident at this side of the business. It's a skill that can be learned. The second strategy is to find a solid niche or niche. Now by niche, what do I mean? What specific problems do you solve for which specific client? And why are you the obvious and only choice to execute for that client? You know, they say in the US niches make them riches. Niching down is absolutely key to winning higher paying clients. Let me explain. Niching doesn't have to be working with a specific type of client. It can be in a style of video or across a number of vertical markets. What's absolutely key is that you must be having one conversation with one niche at a time. In marketing they say when you try and talk to everyone, you end up talking to no one. So niching has more to do with the marketing conversation than anything else. Now the third strategy I'm going to share with you is about creating simple systems and processes for you personally and your business. Personal systems help you execute at a higher level and manage your time better. Now this includes not getting distracted by lots of alerts going off on your phone, not having emails pinging off every five minutes. In fact, what I'm saying here is you want to protect your time ferociously so you can do high value work in short bursts. High paying clients want certainty over anything Else that's why they're coming to a premium supplier. So if you're disorganized, that is not going to bode well. However, if you have solid systems for how people can access you, and there are systems for booking calls and it's organized and it's clear and it's communicated well, then you're going to be laying down a very solid foundation for an incredible relationship with a client that could last years or even decades. So if we talk about your website, a client facing system could be as simple as when people land on your website. Is it clear who you help and what problem you solve? Is it clear what to do next? Is there social proof? Is there evidence that you can do what you say you can do? And what is the next step you want someone to take? It needs to be very clearly articulated so that person goes on a journey where they feel safe and that they can trust you. No one's going to give you money if your website's a mess, your messaging is unclear and it's not simple to navigate to get in front of you for a meeting. Clients want certainty because video is expensive and potentially risky or riskier than a lot of other marketing channels. And so trust is key. And here's the thing, the person hiring you is probably thinking more about protecting their position than anything else. So be very clear that when you engage with someone at a high level, what their motivations are and make sure you give them the comfort that you are the right person to handle this. Clients want you to be a safe pair of hands over anything else. Don't talk about gear any more than you have to. Clients really don't care. Focus on asking the right questions. You want to deeply diagnose the current situation and also find out for the them what done would look like if this was achieved and everything went to plan. That is when you're going to start to form incredible relationships and that premium client is going to feel very safe in your hands. And all this can happen before you've shot a frame or even discussed money. You build trust by being open and transparent. So after every verbal meeting, summarize in an email what you've discussed. This means you've got a record of conversations that have been had and agreements that have been made throughout the process. Now, I promised you a bonus tip, so here it is. If you've got someone in a meeting that's being evasive about how much budget there is, then here's what I would say to them. I'd say, hey, what kind of budget do you have in mind for this project? And they might say, well, we don't really know. And you could say, well, we create projects anywhere from 10 to $100,000 in price. Whereabouts are in that scale do you think this might be likely to sit? That always, always gets some kind of response. If you tell them a range between high and low, you're going to get a much greater idea of where they're sitting and then you can dig a little deeper.

You've been listening to the Video Business Accelerator podcast with your host, Den Lenny. If you are a video business owner who is tired of going it alone and would benefit from mentorship, support and weekly accountability, then mouse over to www.videobusinessaccelerator.com to learn more about how the Accelerator program can help you today. Don't forget to subscribe and rate the show over on itunes and we'd really appreciate you taking a few minutes to leave a review.