In May of 2022, I had the fantastic opportunity to be a guest on Nathan Chanski’s podcast, “Passion with Purpose.” We talked about sales for over an hour—from my philosophy and approach to sales, to how I prepare for the sales call, even to how I tackle upselling and more. Over the next few months I’ll be posting parts from that conversation that I feel are important to share. 

You can listen to the full podcast here. 

*The dialogue has been edited for clarity and brevity.

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Ellie McMakin: The other thing that I will mention too, is that there are going to be common objections that you could get at the end of the call. I'd love to address a few of those objections really quick.

Nathan Chanski: Sure! 

Ellie McMakin: Perfect. First off, if the partner isn't on the call, I would highly recommend offering to do a call with the partner included. 

Nathan Chanski: Like a separate call?

Ellie McMakin: Yes. And the reason for that is to make sure that the person relaying the information doesn't feel like a middleman. You just dumped a lot of information and they're probably talking to a bunch of photographers and that stuff is hard to keep straight when you're talking to that many vendors and they're relaying information, call after call. I would say that the number one thing that I would do is try and get their partner on a follow up call if you can. 

Nathan Chanski: Okay. 

Ellie McMakin: If they're like, “They're just so busy. I don't know if they'll have time,” then I say: 

“Hey, I completely understand that you need to discuss with your partner, but I wanted to know, is there anything that you could potentially think of that your partner could object to?” 

And the funny thing about that is, usually when they respond to that question, it gets to the heart of what they themselves are actually worried about. 

Nathan Chanski: Interesting!

Ellie McMakin: If you're asking them, “What do you think your partner could be worried about? What do you think the objections are from your partner, if you can think of any?” 

They may be like, “We might think it's too expensive.” 

You can say, “That totally makes sense. If it's okay with you, I'd love to share with you what the journey's going to be like moving forward,” just constantly adding that value. You are going to have really great opportunities at the end of your sales calls to get to the heart of what they're really worried about. And when you're able to answer what they're really worried about, the deal is yours. 

If you get someone that's like, “I still want to talk to my partner.”

Then I will hit them with my three-day money back guarantee, and say, “I know that you really need to talk to your partner about it, I completely respect that. How about this? I don't want your date to go to someone else because we do book up really quickly. If you're comfortable with it, let's reserve the date for you, so the date is yours, and if your partner comes back and has any problems whatsoever, I'll give you that money back, no questions asked.”

And in my 12 years of being a wedding photographer, I've only given money back once. 

Nathan Chanski: Wow. That's so good. I think there's a lot of people that just don't know how to handle objections or they wouldn't think to do something like a money back guarantee. I think sometimes we don't want to put skin in the game, but if you can put a little skin in the game, it might be completely worth your time. 

Now Ellie, let's say someone were to say, “Ellie, I just feel like your prices are just a little bit steep for us. I just feel, for a photographer, they're a little expensive.” What would you say in that situation? 

Ellie McMakin: Yeah, absolutely. The knee jerk reaction that most small business owners will think of when they hear someone tell them that they think their price is expensive is think, “Oh my gosh, I need to offer a discount!” And that's a projection of what we're the most afraid of, honestly—that people have not seen our worth and are not valuing us. 

That was my initial thoughts, my first year in, when they told me I was expensive. I was internalizing it. 

When they think that you are expensive or when they think it's too much, what is really happening is a misalignment of everything that you've shared with them that demonstrates value, versus what they think the price is worth.

What you need to do in that sense is take a step back and reflect: is there anything about my process or working with me or the journey together, or my level of experience, or my ability to reassure them—is there anything that I have not shared with them? And more often than not, you have likely left something out that is a critical component in what they need to hear in order to make a purchase decision from you. 

For example, we will get so deep into what is included in our pricing collection—you get a gallery, you get an engagement session, you get this and this and this—but you haven't shared that you've been doing this for five years and you've served over a hundred clients.

When someone is saying “You're too expensive,” you need to take a step back. They're not saying that you’re not worth it. They just haven't heard everything that they need to from you in order to make a purchase decision. What haven't you told them?

Usually it's in that moment, when you figure out what is missing, that you're able to completely turn around and they're like, “All right, let's do it, send over the invoice.” 

Nathan Chanski: Plus I think when we show that we are proud of our prices, I think that can completely change the narrative for everything. 

To lead with a vision, like you're saying, and be like, “Yeah, I'm going to agree with you. My pricing is a little bit more premium, but here's why: because I'm doing this and because I'm doing this. I have a reason for that. And it's because I want to serve you guys the absolute best. And I want to give my all to this project.”

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If you’d like more help with your sales calls, check out my sales training, “Effortless Ethical Sales”—or for even more in-depth guidance, consider my Business Conservatory program, an all-encompassing membership program to help creative business owners level up their business. 

For more from Nathan Chanski, you can follow him on TikTok or on Instagram. 

Stay tuned for more updates from this conversation!

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