When going freelance in any profession, you will get faced with rejection after rejection. Not getting enough love on social media, emails not being replied to, and inquiries not leading to bookings are frustrating parts of running a self-employed photography business. “Don’t take it personally,” they say. But how? As a photographer, you are your creative work and it can be difficult to separate the business from the self. In this article, I’m going to look at a few techniques that can help to do this and in return, help deal with rejection. Most of the examples work for all photographers. However, I am writing this from a commercial photographer’s point of view. The Quote That Wasn’t Accepted I’m starting with this one, as it’s probably one of the most frustrating of all situations. Did you quote too high? How many quotes did the client get? Sometimes, clients tell you that their budget is tight on the job and that’s why you weren’t selected. Other times, you’re left guessing. I always ask for the budget, whether they tell me that is another matter. If this happens to you a lot, reassess your quoting process and how you present your prices. They clearly like your work, but the business side could be improved. The Inquiry That Went Nowhere Not all inquiries lead to bookings. As they already liked your work, do you need to improve your customer experience by better replying to initial inquiries? Email templates or even automation can help here. I’ve been on a shoot before and quickly hit reply so as not to take too long to get back to the potential client. A template email will be a well-crafted and thoughtful response that you can send out quickly, even if you don’t have the time to on the spot. Without a thoughtful response, your communication may be lacking, and you may not be coming across as excited about the project as you actually are. The Existing Client Rejection Unless you really messed up, then it is difficult to understand why you wouldn’t get more bookings with an existing client. Stay professional and keep letting them know how much you enjoy working with them. There are so many reasons why you might not get a booking right now: your price, their other regular photographers are more available again, or maybe they don’t need anyone at all. As always, keep following up with past clients and let them know of your new work and how much you’d like to work with them in the future. The Social Media Rejection Is lack of likes bothering you? People really shouldn’t worry about likes on social media too much. That’s my humble opinion, unless you’re a content creator and your work depends on them. Keep posting and putting your work out there. Social media is still a valuable marketing tool. If social media gets you down, I have discovered a few techniques that can help: Hiding the likes count on Instagram […]
