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💡Steve Saporito, a business coach based in Melbourne, Australia assists wedding and portrait photographers to truly be in service to their clients.

Tune in and watch this exclusive interview with Humberto Garcia and Steve Saporito who discuss all things, clients, how Steve grew his studio into earning $100k per month, and the secret formula needed to help photographers to leverage relationships in their business

You can learn more about him her: https://www.stevesaporitoeducation.com/

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💣6 Places to Find Your Ideal Client: https://programs.thehighrollersclub.io/6-places-ideal-clients
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About Humberto Garcia:
Humberto Garcia is the world’s leading photography business growth expert.

Humberto is the founder of Photography to Profits and a high-performance coach to six-figure photography business owners. He coaches photographers drawing on his experience as a photographer and sales systems engineer, coupled with the leadership skills earned during his decade-long service in Marine Corps Special Operations.

About Steven Saporito:
Steve Saporito is the creator of Steve Saporito Education. A program aimed to help photographers create a business that cares for its clients in a way that truly makes a difference to the relationships that your clients value.

Steve Saporito Education clears the confusion when it comes to what clients actually value and are willing to pay for, which creates the ultimate photographic experience through the clients eyes. Steve’s passion is to help people become the best version of themselves through creating and refining the systems and mindsets.

https://www.stevesaporitoeducation.com/

Transcript:

Humberto Garcia: [00:00:00] I am live here with Steve Saporito. He is an extraordinary marketer and a consultant to photographer businesses, and he builds seven-figure businesses all over the US, Australia and all over the world. So, thank you so much, Steve. Thanks for being here.

Steve Saporito: [00:00:37] Thank you! I’m excited, totally excited. Let’s get going. It’s 1:00 a.m. here, so hopefully I can answer some questions.

Humberto Garcia: [00:00:46] Yeah. And by the way, I want to let people know the way I found it was I saw you speaking on stage at PPA and I went to a ton of different talks and a bunch of different stages sponsored by everyone. And when I saw that your name was there, the headline was absolutely amazing. I was absolutely blown away. And I have to let the viewers know, like, I followed you around the expo and I just had to learn everything about you. And thankfully, I kept in touch online and you agree to talk to us. I know I have a lot of questions for you. And specifically, you know, nowadays with, you know, a lot of photographers wanting to get to that level or a lot of people thinking that level is even possible. So before we even get there, like, can you just tell us, like, how do you even get started in photography? What was your journey to get here being such a big role, role model and consultant for me?

Steve Saporito: [00:01:39] Wow. OK, well, I was a chartered accountant and didn’t really enjoy the accounting world, working out people’s taxes and then giving them a bill at the end of it. Even though you saved somebody 20 grand and $20000 in tax, and then they only think about what they have to pay. So I ended up purchasing an existing photography studio in a shopping mall and I loved photography at the time and hired photographers, hired makeup artists and I grew that business into 3 more stores. So we over the course of 15 years, it took me 10 years to actually make money. It took me 10 years to physically work out what was going on and how to make money. And then I opened up a studio and then I opened up a third overflow studio because my first one was booked out, fully booked for two months, sometimes three months ahead.

Steve Saporito: [00:02:49] So I needed somewhere else to send all these extra people that we couldn’t fit in. And it was only meant to be running two days a week, but it probably ran 4 days a week most times and pretty much did 80 percent of the income of my top store.

Steve Saporito: [00:03:10] So that’s my main store is doing about $130,000 a month every month when I sold it. And then that secondary store was doing between $60 and $80,000 a month. And my other store, which was on the other side of town. Stupid move because it was a lot of traveling, was trading at about $90,000, rarely cracked 100. Which was disappointing. But anyway, at the time I didn’t know any better. I thought that was pretty bad.

Humberto Garcia: [00:03:42] So I guess I’d be curious, what made you specifically pick photography out of everything you could have done and knowing all these other businesses and how much money they made? What would make somebody who in their right mind choose photography?

Steve Saporito: [00:03:55] Well, I love it. I loved it. I love the concept of it. And I am putting my accounting hat. I did a feasibility study for one of my clients. And I’m like, oh, this could be really profitable. I’m looking the numbers. The model is good. If the volumes right, the average sales right. Then, you know, should be easy to make money. It wasn’t that easy for the first 10 years because there was a lot more to it. There’s a lot more psychology, I think, because people buy emotionally, I didn’t factor that whole emotional part of it in, but once I mastered the psychology behind how to set up the store, what people were attracted to, and how to help people value themselves enough to buy photography. I think that’s the biggest key to this, is that it didn’t matter how great our work was, it didn’t matter how great my makeup artists were. It didn’t really matter. You know, we improved, improved and improved, but it didn’t seem to make a lot of difference to profits or turnover. But once we started really diving and helping people find out what mattered to them and understood the psychology behind why people buy from us, then the business just took off. So I just loved it. And it was so far away from accounting. I hated accounting. I think I wanted something that was polar opposite to what I was doing for 8 or 9 years. So that university degree went to waste. Well not really, because I still use it to a degree.

Humberto Garcia: [00:05:41] So I guess my question would be for a lot of people, that might be a very foreign thought. Right. Like buying a photography business. So let’s just say somebody right now and I know that was a while back. But what would be the make the biggest difference? Right. Like, what made you want to buy someone else’s business instead of starting it from scratch? Was there any benefits financially?

Steve Saporito: [00:06:03] I was one up for sale and the staff already employed. It was already doing okay. Right? Okay. Turnover. And I kind of figured, well, you know, I’ve been my family’s been in business their whole lives. I took on accounting as a distraction for eight or nine years. And then, you know, coming back into business, I didn’t think it was going to be any different. So buying existing ones seemed easy because all the equipment was there. I kind of figured by the time I set it out, pay for the equipment, because back then the equipment wasn’t as cheap as it is now. We were paying, you know, 30 grand for, you know, a basic camera. And, you know, by the time you add it all up, it was probably easier just to buy one outright. But when you say, you know, it’s foreign to a lot of people that, you know, to buy a studio, I’ve had maybe five or six of my clients sell their businesses, sell their studio. So I think that if you’re building a business that we should all be building businesses that are sellable. And at the end of it, if you can cash that in for whatever that is, you know, a paddock, some sell for $700,00, some sell for $200,000, only one got over a million dollars for their business. So it’s doable. But you have to be focused on creating a business that sellable.

Humberto Garcia: [00:07:34] So I guess on the other side of that. Right. So, of course, I agree with you. I think the biggest payday someone can have is basically every day they sell their business. And just out of curiosity, when someone goes to buy a business and I’ve been kind of learning a little bit about this is there’s different. Let’s just say there’s different levers people can pull. Right. Like they can either pay X amount right now or they can pay X amount over time. So you can’t get the premium pricing with a bottom some upfront, which a lot of people think you’re gonna buy a business. You got to pull $700,000 out of your bank account and now you’re in the owner. Have you seen that? Is that something in photography where like owners are willing to, like, stay on, you know? Are you buying over time? How did that work?

Steve Saporito: [00:08:17] Most of them got a cash upfront amount and they’re required to stay usually six weeks for a transition. So that’s all negotiable. That’s all part of the negotiation on the sale. But the owners tend to stay for a handover and because their staff as well, that they’re going with the business that are re-employed with the new owners, then the team pretty much knows what to do. As an owner, you almost need to make yourself irrelevant on the floor and insofar as making the business work, you shoot because you want to shoot yourself, because you want to sell, not because you have to. And you know, when you’re preparing a business for sale, having all of those people in place that can do all of that makes your business a lot more valuable. So most people are looking for a return on their investment. And anywhere between two to three times, if there’s a decent database, if the alliance is to set up and, you know, the marketing is set and proven with a you know, usually a 5-year track record, then you tend to get the best money after that 5 years.

Humberto Garcia: [00:09:40] Yeah, I guess that’s right. Right. You know, and even sometimes I get in that trap or I always try to be cognizant of like photography is not different than anything else. But what does someone do it? Or is it change if somebody has a studio that’s designed around just their brand name, it’s just them as a person, their whole studio is named after them, does that make it make it exceptionally hard or how do they position themselves? Because someone might come in and say, hey, look, I can’t take over Joe Schmo studio. I’m not, you know, John Smith.

Steve Saporito: [00:10:09] So that. Yeah, that’s a valid point. Are the people that aren’t trained. We addressed it early on in that if it is, you know, Steve, separate our photography, then we need to come up with another name. If the plan is to sell it in order to build a business, that is gonna be sellable. So it’s a lot harder to sell something and for someone to come in and take over a business that’s named after you. So the studios that so far have been sold or have had generic names so well, not generic, but not named after that specific person.

Steve Saporito: [00:10:51] And it was done intentionally, I think because of my accounting background, you sort of advise people, you know, get your get all your company set up, make sure that you’ve got some way to go. So then that way you’re not paying the highest amount of tax. And think about whether you want to retire in the next 10 years, because as we build the business, then it needs to be named something that you could possibly sell if that’s something that you want to do and some people, you know, it’s not something they’re interested in, but I kind of figure if you can work for, you know, 5, 10, 15, 20 years in something at the end of it, why not sell it? And $700,000 to do something else with is good money. I mean each business is going to be valued differently.

Humberto Garcia: [00:11:48] Yeah. So I guess on that topic of valuations, is there something that like you know through your training or the studios that work with you, something that they’re doing that maybe other people might oversee and tell the top of my mind, maybe things like they don’t have their books straight, you know, they’re not accurately keeping track of things or they don’t have a system or processes. Everything is just kind of ad hoc. So like the business wouldn’t be transferable to somebody if someone does as well. How to get your clients and you know that person looking to buy it as the seller says, well, from my Facebook page, I have a really good word of mouth and people call my cell phone or, you know, how do people start positioning themselves as there’s something that, you know, those studios do differently?

Steve Saporito: [00:12:30] Well, through the training that I do, I’ve mapped out every system that there is in running a business. So depending upon what course there are workflows.

Steve Saporito: [00:12:43] So the workflows just mapped out. And it’s like a tree diagram and there’s step one, step two, step three, step four. Everything’s mapped out. So having a studio manual helps raise somebody’s confidence in buying a business so that every single procedure is mapped out, and documented. And, of course, a solid database that is current because a lot of people may have a database, but it’s not kept fresh, it’s not kept current or they’ve switched between multiple databases. And none of them really have any of the information that is needed or, you know, sometimes they don’t have a database at all. So a prospective buyer probably isn’t going to be looking at anything that doesn’t have a solid database and, you know, solid marketing that’s in place, those relationships that are in place and documented and agreements signed between the two parties. So all of that, I think a lot of the times when I’m coaching people, they don’t tend to have marketing that is documented. Agreements aside, if there is a third party relationship with another business that they’re now feeding you clients. And there isn’t really a studio manual that documents all the procedures that have to happen. And it’s got to be profitable. So, you know, nobody’s really going to be looking at investing a lot of money if, you know, if it’s not profitable. So making sure that every sales are up there is really important, too, because nobody you know, if it’s profitable, you’ve got a lot more office.

Humberto Garcia: [00:14:36] Yeah. And I’m sure, you know, even with that in mind, having the. I’m going to sell this at some point. You treated differently, right? It’s almost like you treat it like someone’s looking at your books or looking at it from the outside. I’m assuming that probably also makes it easier to start new studios if that person say isn’t retiring. So is that something they also use, like those manuals, the marketing material, the processes for selling? That’s something you see people are able to like just transplant into other cities? And how does someone even go from, most people aren’t even be able to build one? How does someone know that they’re ready for a second studio?

Steve Saporito: [00:15:14] The second studio, well building your first studios is the primary thing, and a lot of people aren’t running it at capacity. You know, they’ll come to me and say I’m thinking of a second studio. But in most cases, they have maximized the current one. And it’s much easier to make a lot more money out of the first one than it is opening the second one. The one thing that I learned when I opened up my second studio was that it made my initial studio dive because my attention was now split between the two.

Steve Saporito: [00:15:47] And what I thought I’d be making double the money, that just didn’t happen because, you know, both studios sort of as one came in and the other one dived and then this one dived with it as well. So I was actually making less money until I figured it out. And then, you know, they both started going up, so. Really, you’re not ready until the systems are in place and you’ve got good people trained to to run, basically run it with you. Having the staff in place and the right training in place and the documenting all of the systems is really, really important. Understanding the systems.

Steve Saporito: [00:16:28] I’ve got a lot of clients that have moved from one city to the other, and all they’ve done is implement what they’ve learned to another city and it doesn’t take long to start new, a new studio. But while you’re running a one in the background, it tends to put a it’s a lot more work, you’ve got to be a lot more prepared. I think you’ve really got to look at have “I have I filled all my days? Are there, you know, have I maximized my team and how I maximize the time that I have?” What most people don’t look at is the average sale. So is the average sale where it should be, because maybe for that he focused on his increasing their every sale by five hundred dollars or a thousand dollars that could possibly make them more money than opening that second store.

Humberto Garcia: [00:17:21] Yeah, that makes sense, and I think yesterday, I mean, you were talking about somebody that had basically moved from Hawaii to somewhere in Virginia. And I guess that’s that’s actually a huge question. People normally have is especially for like military families and people where maybe a spouse has a full time job somewhere or family reasons. They move and instantly they just think all this work I’ve done, people only know me here, my social media is only here. I’m done. I’m not going to go to the clients and they’ll get to the new place and you know, it’s slow. And, you know, they’re just kind of they’re spinning their wheels everywhere. Like, how does that how does that work with someone that’s working with you? Would you normally advise them? Do.

Steve Saporito: [00:18:04] Well, there’s there’s two options. When I started meeting all these military families, I’m not coming. This is amazing. I move every three as I could potentially build a business and sell it, cashed in every three years. This is like it sounds amazing because, you know, when I when I was opening studios for my clients, you know, within two weeks a month, we had it up and running. And 3 years is enough of a track record to, you know, to get something for it. It’s not going to be, you know, optimal because 5 years is 5 years. Track record is a lot better. But it just means that. You can constantly be building, building, building, building, and rather than just closing the door and leaving and having to start again, you know, get a cash payment for whatever the business is worth, and then you get all that money to then put into the next one and and start again. But obviously you’re selling that business, and selling the business name. What I’ve had a couple of other people do is that they’ve found a photographer trying, the photographer trying to salesperson. And because they’ve set up the relationships with all those different alliances, all those different other businesses as third parties that are sending them clients. That relationship is with that original person. So they’ve just kept a photographer, kept the sales person. And those leads are coming in that pretty much already because of the relationship that they’ve had. They’ve pretty much already condition to buy because of the third party. So, you know, the business is running, even though that could be in another state. In this case, Virginia.

Humberto Garcia: [00:19:55] Yes, that’s funny. So it’s actually a big contrast to think that’s the worst thing that can happen for a photography business and that’s the best thing that could happen for a photography business. So as far as moving are people keeping the same name, are they do they have to completely create a new brand or how does that work?

Steve Saporito: [00:20:16] Well this particular in this particular case where she kept the photographer was running then she’s kept the same brand and she’s kept the same name and she’s just operating out of two places. If you’re selling then you have to come up with a new brand. And because you’ve sold that brand, you sold the name. And so when you’re moving to another state, you start again.

Steve Saporito: [00:20:36] Just make sure that there’s no exclusion clauses that stop you from trading within, you know, your certain area. But usually when you’re moving states, it makes no difference. Those sort of clauses don’t tend to affect you. So you just come up with a new name and away you go.

Humberto Garcia: [00:20:58] So one thing I always hear from photographers, too, is like, well Humberto what if someone comes into my studio and then they start siphoning off my clients and they’re shooting out of their backyard or they have access to my email list? Like how do I safeguard that? What would you say to that? You know, is that like a real concern?

Steve Saporito: [00:21:16] As an employee?

Humberto Garcia: [00:21:19] Yeah, like an employee. Because, you know, I understand, especially in a lot of industry is like there’s always like a feeling of guardedness, right. Where it’s like, well, you know, if I show this and what stops this person from going and opening their own studio and beating me at my own game, you know.

Steve Saporito: [00:21:36] Yeah. I mean, I think there’s a lot of people do have that concern. But usually, you know, the photographer does the photography part of the role and the salesperson does the sales part of the role. Rarely do you have people doing multiple for all the roles, because we all know that there’s more to it than just photography, taking photos, there’s more to it than just selling, there’s marketing, there’s relationship building. There’s all the other stuff. So I think the other thing is that if you’re giving people consistent work and you’re paying them and you’re rewarding them really well. Most people don’t leave. Most people don’t do that because you’re looking after them. So when you are consistently marketing and you do have the businesses consistently making money, then nobody has that fear because they can’t go out and make as much money as they’re making, you know, working for you. In most cases, because they should be rewarded well. If we’re making money, why wouldn’t we pay our staff well?

Humberto Garcia: [00:22:41] And that’s a good point. And I guess I have trouble finding like a writer. I have trouble finding a graphic designer remotely like all over the US. So, where are people finding employees for this? Is this something they post on Indeed? How are they finding people? Referrals?

Steve Saporito: [00:23:02] Usually a lot of the times it’s a past client. So a lot of the times hiring somebody has been through the experience and understands the experience and is already a raving fan that has the talent that you need and you need to hire personality. So you always hire a personality and train skill. So you can train somebody to do almost anything if they have the right personality. So you always, always, always look for personality. You were always when you’re interviewing somebody, ask them behavioral type questions that reveal all of those traits that you’re looking for so that way you know that you’re hiring the right person for that role.

Steve Saporito: [00:23:56] You know, for a retouch, you don’t want to be hiring anybody that, you know, loves outdoor sports and loves, you know, teams, you know, team sports and is an extrovert because they’re going to be sitting behind a computer the whole time and they’re not going to love what they do because they want to be out and about meeting and greeting people. Whereas your salespeople that you do want that extra bit. You do want that person that wants to be part of a team and loves all those extra, extra things to do. And it also helps you learn how to manage them if you understand what type of personality they are.

Steve Saporito: [00:24:34] So, you know, sometimes letting somebody go, often, you know, by the milk rather than you picking it up is that break that they need that makes them a lot more productive. So just understanding their behaviors, understanding what’s important to them really, really helps.

Steve Saporito: [00:24:51] A lot of the times the rewards. It’s more important for them to receive rewards are not monetary rewards. So some of the studios that I train, you know, they may plan, you know, if they reach a certain target three months in a row, then they’ll take them. I’ve got one studio, the tactics. They actually two or three now, they take their team overseas. And it’s a holiday thing that they do. If they have target, then they go overseas. And, you know, they tend to go overseas every month because they hit target. You know, it’s three months in a row. But then if they hit it three months or rather than a month for the hit it again, then they’re away again in month five. If they do it again, like it all sort of compounds.

Humberto Garcia: [00:25:38] I guess, to take almost like a one-step back it up. I guess my question would be like for someone listening in there, they’re just like, well, that sounds amazing, but I don’t have an amazing studio. And by the way, I’m going to also preface by saying I’ve watched a lot of these studio tours you’ve done of folk studio. These places are amazing. Literally, they look like it like a showroom floor for like a designer or an interior. They’re amazing.

Steve Saporito: [00:26:09] It’s a photography studio. It should be gorgeous, shouldn’t it?

Humberto Garcia: [00:26:15] Yeah, I agree. So I guess, you know, some of these topics, it’s like, you know, number one does this system building? When does it start? Does it start only when you have a studio? Does it start when someone’s still shooting in their garage? In their basement? And then how did Amy. Yeah. How does someone know when they’re ready to get a studio?

Steve Saporito: [00:26:36] Well, almost everybody I start working with is doesn’t have a studio hit its brain, so most people are working out of home, out of their garage, out of the trunk of the car and we just teach them the system. So it’s more about consistency. Building those alliances, getting the marketing in place, then getting the systems in place so that when the clients are coming through, we converting them into quality clients. My belief is that great clients are made, not found.

Steve Saporito: [00:27:12] So we make clients and then we bring them through this, an experience whereby we help people discover what’s important to them about their relationships and what matters to them. So then that way when we photograph that part of them, then they just want to buy the photos. It’s it’s about creating career, adding photographs that people genuinely want to buy. Would love to surround themselves within their home. So then it just makes it easy. You don’t even have to sell. Really. So once that system is in place and you’ve proven that you can repeatedly do it and there’s money in the bank, which doesn’t take long to build that, once you’ve got the system in place, then it’s OK for you to if you want to sign a lease or, you know, buy a bigger car because you want, you know, your habited to run your business out of your car and you’d prefer to give off a kind of service whereby you go to them and you’re designing artwork in their homes and you’re displaying it in their homes for them at the end of it.

Steve Saporito: [00:28:24] So each person is different. Not everybody wants a big studio or not everybody wants a premises. Some people will want to buy a building and then fit it out and create the studios in it. Others will rent. But I’ve done lots of transformations in, you know, using segments of people’s homes. So maybe a basement. I’ve done a few quite a few basement conversions where we’ve converted a basement into a studio and design consultation room and garages. They work as well. And then some people have built an addition to their home that becomes the studio. So sometimes it’s in an office block. It just depends on what’s available or, you know, lately we’ve done it. We’ve got a few in. Is it industrial parks, is that what you call them?

Humberto Garcia: [00:29:24] Like an industrial park area? Yeah.

Steve Saporito: [00:29:24] Yes, it’s more of a factory. More of a factory type scenario where a big space cheap range because it’s in the middle of nowhere. Pretty much. And then we just divided it up and create the space. But it’s got to start with the system. You’ve got to prove first that you can make the money. You’ve got to prove that you can bring the marketing and create quality clients, have the quality product for them to buy, create photographs that people want to buy. So it’s all client focused and about making creating raving fans. So that way those people are then referring you more people like them and then everything sort of automates and just compounds and and runs because the clients love what you’re doing for them and they want to share you with their friends and family.

Steve Saporito: [00:30:19] And sometimes they’ll bring in, you know, bring you into their business because they kind of figured that this could be a great reward for their clients, because they’ve had such a great experience. You know, they kind of figure, well, you know, I’m looking for something to reward my clients with these days, especially retail is struggling. They need to somehow build loyalty with their clients. And what we do is perfect for that. If we give people a meaningful transformational experience.

Humberto Garcia: [00:30:52] That does actually sound amazing! It’s funny because I used to have a really good friend that was the marketing manager at Saks Fifth Avenue and she was always trying to create experiences for the clients. It was basically clients that spend over a hundred grand with the store. They would get special invitations. They’d go to these boutique experiences and just thinking about it. It’s like, you know, people that are dying to find alliances with people to provide that for their clients.

Steve Saporito: [00:31:23] Also, lots of holiday planners as well. Like that, that renting out luxury homes with that home, they have lots of experiences that go with the home. So being part of that package helps as well. We’ve had a few of those as well.

Humberto Garcia: [00:31:47] Wow. So, I mean, and that that I guess in a sense, like, of course, that’s marketing and it’s a different type. It’s different from what people think. It’s like, hey, I’m gonna go put something out there. Hopefully people come get me or find out and love me. And I know a lot of people have a wall or resistance where they like it, feel sales, they to go ask people to partner with them or feel sales. I get alliances like how do they break out of that and make that approach to offer someone that they might think, wow, these people are out of my league. This is extremely luxury as home. They would never refer their clients to me. Like, what’s the first step to, like, building that bridge?

Steve Saporito: [00:32:25] I think the first thing that has to happen is you have to provide an incredible client experience. It’s because everything grows from that. So really, really focusing on understanding what matters to a client, really understanding how to communicate with people, to make them feel comfortable and build instant trust, understand how to build rapport with people. And. But like asking talk, I think the biggest mistake photography when I’m training to break habits, the biggest habit we have to break is we need to stop talking about ourselves. And we have to start asking questions about our clients because this is their experience and not our experience. So the better we get at asking quality questions of our clients, asking us, asking a mother what is unique about her child? What does he bring to the world? And even if I have three children, if you would just focus on one. That that one child, because he deserves to be celebrated.

Steve Saporito: [00:33:34] As for who he is. What is unique about that child? What is he? What do you see in him that nobody else sees? Because if I can photograph that for you, that part of him that only you see and you understand, then that’s what we’re going to bring to life. So really what we’re doing is increasing our client’s awareness and sensitivity to those things that are important to them. And what we’re trying to do is create the best version of that family, the best version of that couple that we possibly can before we photograph them. When you do that. Then the clients just want to buy from you. You don’t have to sell, really, because. We are now. We’ve created something magical for them. That they just want to buy. And when we do that, they then refer us more people and it all snowballs from there. That’s when you become delicious as a brand to your clients and to other brands. Because of the experience or it has to start with the experience. Tricky marketing schemes. Yeah. Do you know they bring people in but they never get to bring the same caliber of person, even as when you truly, truly believe in your clients? Truly see that in every single person as there is a hidden gem. And you know, these days so many people are in relationships but are really lonely.

Steve Saporito: [00:35:26] So many people are looking for moral in themselves, they wake up every morning, look in the mirror and think, well, what happened?

Steve Saporito: [00:35:37] Like, who am I? And those tend to lose part of themselves over time. So just helping people rediscover that is part of what we do in our process. Just it’s almost like taking a rough diamond and polishing it. And we hand it back to those people. We taking these people and we just, you know, making them brilliant again. And then they go back to their families because of the experience that we’ve given them as completely different people, because they’re now receiving each other differently because of the questions we asked, because of the awareness that we’ve created for them.

Humberto Garcia: [00:36:19] You know, it’s funny because, you know, from when we started, someone listening might say, well, Steve was trying to say that needed processes and you need to make basically a conveyor belt that’s going to be cookie cutter experience for everyone. But you’re creating. And I know I’ve heard this. It’s almost like bespoke equals be broke. And that means that like if you keep doing ultra custom experiences, marketing and sales conversations and every time it’s different. And again, it’s not going to be processed and it’s going to be transferred to anybody. But you’re going to spend a lot of time reworking and reinventing the wheel where what you’re describing is like, you know, that tree, that diagram. But then at the same time, it is everyone feels like it’s custom because it is because you’re having specific connections with each person and you’re learning about them and they go through their journey. And while it’s not bespoke on the side of the studio where they’re, you know, having to, like tailor every experience, it feels like it is to the person.

Steve Saporito: [00:37:25] It totally does. I think people mistake systems for being, you know, mechanical. Cookie cutter. But the systems are pretty much understanding the psychology behind different types of personalities and being able to adapt to different personality types.

Steve Saporito: [00:37:45] Understanding how an average person reacts. It’s where do they tend to look when they’re making decisions? When and where do they tend to when they’re imagining what something will look like in their wall? On their wall? Where would they tend to be looking in that room and then placing product according to what the average person’s normal people will feel? The average person is as a thing as normal. You know, the average person what where they tend to look, where they tend to draw their information from. Most of what I teach is helping people are up. Realistically. I’m just teaching people to be normal human beings in front of a client rather than something mechanical that’s trying to make something up all the time. You know, people come to my workshops and it’s like I just want you to be human. All I’m teaching you to do is to be human. How would you behave if you were meeting a friend? How would you want to be treated if you were meeting a friend? What would you say to that person when you’re meeting somebody for the first time? Friends introduce you to a brand new person. You know, what is the first thing that would come out of your mouth? And we just you know, there’s a system, but the system’s all about how to be human. So you had to bring the energy back into what we do.

Humberto Garcia: [00:39:09] So these client experiences and, you know, getting these clients I know you mentioned something earlier where you said, you know, the clients created not, you know, found. Where I guess to start, like if someone says like, hey, I need clients. You know, I feel like my experience in my work is good, but I just need to get in front of them. Like, where are they going to create those clients? You know, where have you seen. Has brought in, you know, the most bang for ever. And where are the studios you’re working with? Where they start?

Steve Saporito: [00:39:46] That’s a big question. There are three basic ways to grow a business and we are told, you know, the three ways out to get more clients, which we’ve been sold to.

Steve Saporito: [00:40:01] It’s an industry is the only way to grow business. The second way is to get your clients to use you more often. And that is the easiest way to grow business and the most cost-effective way. And because you’re already educated those clients. It is the easiest way. It’s the one way that increases your average sale as well, which is the third way to grow business is to increase your average sale. So normally when I bring clients on board, the easiest life for them to, you know, to start generating more funds is to reach out and re market to their better clients that they’ve already got. Are you doing that now? Christmas is around the corner.

Steve Saporito: [00:40:42] What does your Christmas card campaign look like? That should be ready to be hit, you know, rolled out in November? What about your Valentine’s Day promotion? What’s happening there? What networking groups are you visiting? What’s happening in those networking groups? The networking groups to get new clients but when you’re marketing for Christmas, you’re marketing for Valentine’s Day, you’re tapping into your current call on. And in most cases, then that gives them the opportunity to refer you more people just like them.

Humberto Garcia: [00:41:19] How are people bringing back repeat clients? I mean, is this something like, you know, or are they just sending off an email or a text message or are they like picking up the phone?

Steve Saporito: [00:41:32] Well, they said usually if it’s a campaign, they’ll send out a gift certificate with the letter and then possibly picking up the phone. I put a challenge out at the beginning of this week to my group and say to them, look, this week, let’s just think of a client that, you know, really touched you that you really did feel a connection with and just call them and say, hey, it’s been six months, it’s been a year I’ve been thinking about you couldn’t help but call you, what what have been the highlights for the past year?

Steve Saporito: [00:42:14] And there’s been people posting. I can send you some of the posts. You know, some people are booking 2 to 3 people a day. We don’t even have to ask for the booking because once we start asking clients about what have been the highlights for the year and they start talking about that, they start talking about their family, we start asking questions about what that means to them and they’ll say, oh, my God, do we need to come? I have another shoot. And the clients pretty much bring up wanting to come back purely because we’ve reached out to them. I travel a lot and it’s I make an ambition to talk to as many people as I can. I will normally have one or two people crying in the lounge waiting for the plane. And, you know, they find each other. So what do you do for a living? And so. Well, I train and photographers, you know, and they’re like, oh, my God, no wonder. You know, I’ve never spoken to anybody like this before. You’ve been incredible to talk to. You got to come and take our photos. So it’s as simple, as caring. It’s as simple as seeing somebody. You know, when people say to me, I’ve got no clients, I just say open the door, walk outside and, talk to people and the people that literally do that. I’ve got 3 or 4 people that consistently will take their kids to the park and just talk to other parents. And they book, you know, 2 or 3 people a week just by taking their kids to the park.

Steve Saporito: [00:43:52] There are clients everywhere. Most people are dying for somebody to see them. Most people are lonely. And they just want someone to see them. And somebody to see something good in them. And when we do that, there’s an abundance of clients because everybody wants to be celebrated. Everybody needs this.

Humberto Garcia: [00:44:21] So someone tells you like Steve, that gives me anxiety. Like, I can’t muster it, like go talk to a stranger or compliment anyone. Like what?

Steve Saporito: [00:44:32] Talk to the people you know. Talk to the clients you’ve already, you’ve already served. And, you know, most people when you do this process properly, most people will book again. Are you doing birthday mail and sending out some sort of an offer? So, you know, when they say they have anxiety, there’s got to be a point when they have to start talking to someone.

Humberto Garcia: [00:45:05] Yeah.

Steve Saporito: [00:45:06] We’re in the business of people. So if you’re a portrait photographer and you’re taking photographs of people, then, you know, we have to love people. We have to celebrate people. We have to welcome people. We have to look for that hidden treasure inside of everybody. As photographers, we have to be like the archaeologists of emotion, because so many people have buried their emotions so far deep inside them that they don’t feel them anymore.

Steve Saporito: [00:45:41] So for us to then talk to somebody and find out what’s important to them. Find out what moves them emotionally. Why do they love this person? Why is this person important to them? What does this mean? What does it mean for them to have this child like you’re pregnant? Great. So, you know. What is important to you about this job? What do you wish for them?

Steve Saporito: [00:46:12] What? What is going to make him the perfect dad? What’s going to make her the perfect mom? So we’re asking both sides, but we’re photographing people. We have to face them at some point. And it’s so much easier on the phone than facing somebody face to face.

Humberto Garcia: [00:46:24] Yeah, that’s that’s a really good point. And I I might be a little bit of a millennial because I feel very passionate about this online. I know it’s a little bit more disconnected. But I think online now, like it’s made it so you can even reach out and connect with even more people much faster.

Steve Saporito: [00:46:45] That’s the only problem. It tends to be a little superficial. You can’t be without the conversation. And I suppose you can have conversation online, but you can’t hear the time. So you’ve got to listen for what people mean. And tonality constitutes 38 percent of all communication. So listening to somebody is talking and what they mean is really important. So, you know, there’s there’s a certain point where you need to get people off social media, off email, off texting as quickly as possible because you’re missing out on a huge chunk of that communication that’s necessary for them to truly open up and for them to discover what is important to them. So then you can give them photographs that for them is meaningful and is life-changing.

Humberto Garcia: [00:47:46] For sure. And, in the High Rollers, we are adamant people got to get people on the phone. And I can’t tell you how many times there are people that are just like, no, I don’t want to be on the phone. I just want to email people and hopefully they’ll just pay my invoices. You go into a studio and, you know, they want your help and they tell you they don’t want to be on the phone. What’s your reaction to that?

Steve Saporito: [00:48:07] We hire somebody great at it. If it’s giving you anxiety and you suck really bad at it, then you’re not allowed near the phone. We just have to hire someone because what is the costing you not to have somebody that loves being on the phone? Normally, 5 to 10 clients a week. How much is that worth to you? And I don’t know what averages, you know. The people in your group are getting that, you know, for my clients. That’s. That’s 15-20. Sometimes $30,000 a week.

Humberto Garcia: [00:48:44] So, you know, I’d hate to have this conversation and not talk about not talking about average sale. So for a lot of people, we’ve also we’ve been talking about creating your ideal client. Is that just does that stop at the booking phase? Does that stop with the whole experience getting into the point of sale? Because time and time again. You know, I see it in Facebook groups. I see it in her email responses. People will write us and say, well, you know, they said this one thing during the sales process and I want to know the one word I would’ve said or the one-sentence have tripled my sale. What is that magic key? So like, how are they getting to those ridiculous numbers that you just you know, that you just said, right. Like 50. I know. And I’ve seen some posts where wedding photographers were talking about their $18,000 sales and up. So where is that? And is there a line that just triples sales?

Steve Saporito: [00:49:38] It’s an explanation. It’s building a relationship with somebody and it’s about building trust. And for you to really, truly understand what’s important to those people and deliver on that. It can’t be done with a sales line. These clients, even before you’ve taken a photo, have imagined what you’re going to do for them because of the conversations that we have with them.

Steve Saporito: [00:50:07] So because of those conversations, they’re seeing their child with that look of pride on their face as they finish creating this block of their lego. And they’re telling you what that means to them to be the first person that their child looks towards with that look of pride. And they’re describing to you every stage of, you know, him completing the app and looking up at them. And what that means for them. They’re seeing that on their wall.

Steve Saporito: [00:50:45] You’ve quoted them however much you believe, whatever product, find out about the decor. Find out about where it’s gonna be displayed in their home. And then, you know, you might be quoting them fifteen hundred, twelve hundred, whatever that is for whatever product you’re going to sell them. And so in their mind, they’ve seen it on the wall already that they’re falling in love with it because that’s what they truly want.

Steve Saporito: [00:51:10] And, you know, they’ve got 2 or 3 weeks now to think about, okay, this is going to cost me this much money by the time they came. Come in. It’s almost like a supermarket. You put things in the shopping cart when you get to the just. You know, you sort of know how much it’s gonna be. But there’s no surprises because people are fully aware even before they’ve come into the shoot, that something’s going to cost them a certain amount of money. So it’s all done, you know. Over time, I mean, those wedding photographers. It’s because they’re getting those numbers that they’re getting them because they they are crediting those relationships with those clients. They’re calling the parents. They’re finding out, you know, my motto is, we’re not just photographing a bride. We’re not just photographing a groom. We’re photographing somebody’s son.

Steve Saporito: [00:52:03] When we’re photographing somebody’s daughter and we need to find out who this person is as a daughter to their mother. Who is she? As a daughter to their father? Because that’s a completely different relationship. And for him to have that voice and for him to describe who she is will change the way you see that person. And will change the way you will photograph that person in a way that those photographs become so much more meaningful to that couple. To that to those parents. And to the bride, obviously. And we do the same with the groom. Who is he is your son? How has she how has this woman elevated him? What has she brought out in him that nobody else has been able to bring out in him? Who is he as your son? What are those qualities that he brings to the world that you see in him? Because I want to say that I need to see him through your eyes. And I think that once we do that. The photographs become saturated with. What people honestly, truly love about that person, which then makes them incredibly valuable. Yes, we need great composition. Yes, we need great lighting. Yes, we need great, you know, posing. But that third element that heart, that soul to a person, that’s where that’s what people spend money on.

Humberto Garcia: [00:53:40] Yeah. Wow. Yeah, I feel like I’ve taken so much from you. And, you know, people listening have too. It just opens up a lot of potential and a lot of blind spots. And I feel like even I’ve had or, you know, for the listeners.

Steve Saporito: [00:53:55] I really mean my daughters are teenagers now and, you know, have boyfriends and whatever. But, you know, for her photographer called me and asked me about my daughter, what she means to me, what to buy. Seeing her, you know, that would be incredible. Would I not buy from you? Because you asked me that about my daughter, even though it’s her wedding. So, you know, a lot of the photographers that I’m training are not only selling albums and designing albums to the bride and groom, but the parents are buying albums because they want on a custom designed album because of the conversations that we’ve had of what’s meaningful to them. You know, the mother of the bride isn’t that interested in getting ready photos of the groom. She wants to fill her album with its photographs that are relevant to her. She’s got people that she’s talked to us about as the photographer who are important to them and why they’re important to her. People that maybe she hasn’t seen for a really long time. But it’s still really important to her. And if we’ve taken the time over time to call her, find out what’s important to her. Talk to the dad, you know. What does he got to say to his daughter? What is his message that he wants to wants to say? When you hear these dads, you know, with this with their speeches and some of the speeches that I create, it’s just tear your heart out. What if that happened a year before? Because those brides half, half time look shocked that he’s even felt this way because he’s never, never said it before. What if we gave them a whole year of that? Before the wedding, and she knew that and they were able to build an even stronger relationship leading up to the wedding. Imagine what the space would look like or sound like. Hurry. At the wedding, once all of that was said a year ago, because we started that conversation, we started initiating all of that and.

Steve Saporito: [00:56:03] I called him to express what what he truly loves about them. So, you know, a lot of these sales are coming from, you know. Albums that have a maxing out spines because people genuinely are seeing the soul of what we are doing for them and a genuinely loving what they’re saying so that it becomes irresistible and they know we we tell them upfront as we as we’re talking to them, you know, that could be an incredible double page spread. And they know that the album’s going to be maxed out in some cases to volumes. The parents given the option to design their own. So in some cases they’re selling two, three albums to every winning.

Humberto Garcia: [00:56:52] I’m going to assume that this, with The High Rollers with Jenn Bruno Smith and me, I’m going to assume that this doesn’t change much when it comes to like you are right. Does this not change a lot when it comes to pets or other portraits?

Humberto Garcia: [00:57:06] Because I feel, as you know, a lot of times we tell ourselves stories of like, well, that’s great, Steve. But like, that’s a wedding. Weddings are important. You know, someone’s boudoir is just, you know, whatever. So maybe this doesn’t apply. And I feel like everything the reason this works across all different states, country oppose.

Steve Saporito: [00:57:23] Totally applies. It’s all the same. It’s totally all the son. So, you know, even for pet photography, you know, asking somebody what has that? What? Find out the dog’s name. Let’s pretend just Molly with my dog’s name. You know, what has Molly brought to your family? What is her personality like?

Steve Saporito: [00:57:46] What does she bring to each one of your children? What’s the relationship that she has with Olivia? What does she bring out in Libya? That a human bring out? So if you watch my daughter Olivia, when she’s with Molly just alone time, she’s a completely different person. She’s a much more likable and lovable person, which is around Molly. And for me as a father to describe that to you. And for you to capture that part of her that I would love to see more and more of, that’s invaluable.

Humberto Garcia: [00:58:26] And by the way, I feel like this is something also that isn’t doesn’t take forever to implement. I feel like when they improve this experience and make the connection, they’re improving the ultimate product. Right. And everyone is always so wrapped around, like, how do I market? Like not having the kind like you mentioned, like how do I do my next little gimmick? How do I do my next little, you know, quick fix. I know I’m talking about like they’re always focused on like how do I do that? Next thing they’ll convince people. But there’s just not enough time put into like how do I improve my craft or product or experience?

Steve Saporito: [00:59:05] I think a lot of people are looking for those quick little phrases or something that I think is the magic bullet, but in actual fact, it’s just all about caring enough and asking the sort of questions that add value. So, you know, my motto is add value at every every point you can. So, you know, sometimes we know that, you know, a couple need a little bit more time. So we’ll put off the shoot and maybe we’ll call a call up the husband and say, hey, you know, if you were to create a perfect day for Rebecca, what would that look like? Because know, I’ve done that for a long time. Yeah, well, I know, but what if you did do it? What if you were to create a perfect day for Rebecca, and she opens her eyes. What’s the first thing you’ve got planned for her?

Steve Saporito: [00:59:52] And just get him to talk about it. You know, if he wants to create a perfect day. And then at some point, how hard would it be for you to do one of those things? When’s the next time you could possibly do one of those things? And, you know, bringing couples together before a shoot is what we need to be doing. Because if we can photograph the best version of a couple that we possibly can, then we become irresistible. And we don’t need all that stuff you’re talking about. Because they fall in love again. He’s done something to go out of his way.

Steve Saporito: [01:00:34] And, you know, if we can help people go out of their way for each other again, then that’s all people need. Really? That’s what it’s about. And just encouraging them and opening up the possibility of, well, could you could you possibly not go to the gym one day this week? So then that way, when she does open her eyes, you’re actually with them? That means something to her. Could you write a note maybe and leave it beside a bed? So the moment she opens her eyes, she knows you’re thinking about her. Like, how much time does that take for you?

Humberto Garcia: [01:01:08] Yeah. I mean, those are really great points, and one thing I focus a lot on digital and, you know, just advertising. So basically, I guess I simplify it as I normally tell people that from what you’re saying, that experience is a core product. And if you add all these fancy Facebook and Google and you add all these fancy email automations, you’re just going to amplify what you have. So if you had a bad product, a bad experience, you’re gonna find out even faster and more people are going to find out faster. But if you have a good one and you have and you’re in, you care and you provide amazing experience and you know and you have that, then you’re just going to like accelerate it. You’re gonna add fuel to the fire. But I feel a lot of times, you know, people don’t like I was saying they don’t focus on the product and then they just add the fuel and then everything blows up and they’re like, wait, it must have been fate. It’s Facebooks fault. My business isn’t growing.

Steve Saporito: [01:02:08] The experience has to be right first, because if you then going to put your clients on and we do these quite often, we will have a client of the month where we showcase the client and their story. Usually, you know, the people that know them the best, are the first ones to comment, the first ones to reach out, the first ones to one book, another session with us because they’ve seen the difference that this is created for that relationship that that that we know suddenly, you know, dad’s actually taking. Taking a couple of hours on a weekend to take his child to the park and is actually, you know, pushing him on the swing without having his phone in his hand and, you know, doing this rather than, you know, physically being present for that child. You know, I’ve interviewed a bunch.

Steve Saporito: [01:03:13] I interview the clients of my clients. So I need to be the families that a lot of my clients are photographing and listening to a 13 year old tell you that since they’ve had the photo shoot, you know, it doesn’t feel like they’re walking into an empty home anymore because mom and dad pay attention when we come home now.

Steve Saporito: [01:03:36] You know, listening to these kids, they so wise, they’re incredible. And, you know, if we can do that, you know, photography to me is a tool that opens up the doors for us to bring families together and to help people just be better people and give children back their parents and parents, back their children and whatnot.

Humberto Garcia: [01:03:59] Yeah. And that actually reminds me, I have have like a memory burned in my mind. I had when I was starting my photography career, I was photographing a lot of military members and I was basically, you know, offering them the session. I was practicing my sales process on the back end and everyone was saying no to me at first or people would just kind of look at me like.. cool. You know, I was a special Marines operator and they’re like, sure, we’ll do a photo shoot at some point. They would blow me off. And one one day I asked somebody I really respected him and his wife. And his wife was a like a midwife at a hospital. And she told me beforehand brought him in. Tell me about their kids. And she was like, my kids, they are not going to they’re not going to be nice to each other. They’re just are always at each other’s throats. They’re gonna beat each other up like. Good luck with that. And by the end of it, I had so many photos of these kids, like holding hands and like hugging each other and embracing each other. That no kidding, my entire business was basically set just from that midwife telling everyone in the hospital. I just remember thinking like now that the photos were amazing or anything, they were at the park and they were competent. But I think it was that, it was that she loved just telling stories of the photos and the kids in that day. And it was just night and day compared to what she explained to me with the kids we’re gonna be like and they tend they turned out to be an amazing experience for all of us. We went for ice cream afterwards and they were very surprised at the end of it.

Steve Saporito: [01:05:29] Yeah. I think that’s what makes the biggest difference, I think. For a lot of relationships, we stopped getting curious, you know, as time goes on, we believe that there’s nothing left to discover about that other person. And if we ask the right questions, we just sort of raising people’s curiosity because we’re curious. And it’s amazing how much people learn about each other. You know, 10, 15 years on and we spark up a new curiosity. We start up a new discovery process where people actually start going out of their way for each other again. And when we do that, then we start taking photographs that mean something to someone.

Steve Saporito: [01:06:16] It’s not that people don’t value photography. The reality is that most people don’t value themselves enough to be photographed. And, you know, if we can help people feel more valuable, help people feel as though their relationships are worth photographing, then there’s an abundance of clients everywhere. We don’t even have to try.

Humberto Garcia: [01:06:38] And that’s a great point about, you know, there’s always something more to learn about people. I’d heard Jordan Peterson, a clinical psychologist, talk about this and he talks about how, like, even if you have a best friend or a wife that you think, you know, there’s so much more and they own people only reveal enough about you, about themselves to keep you interested, because if you knew everything about somebody, you’d basically be bored with them and you wouldn’t want to interact with them anymore. And as long as you’re willing to ask questions and be curious, they’ll always be willing to reveal a little bit more about themselves and as they grow. It’s not like they’re just a static person at 20, 20 to 40. They’re completely different people. So they have different things to reveal at that time. It’s really interesting to think that you could do that with a client, right? That you can get that deep with them.

Steve Saporito: [01:07:28] Yeah. And you can you really can. The stories that people have incredible and to look at somebody at face value, that’s not what we’re about. It shouldn’t be what we’re about. We shouldn’t just take somebody in and treat them like an object. Understanding somebody’s soul, understanding somebody’s intention, understanding, you know, a couple. Why? And for them to know their why. That’s the most important part. Because we’re curious about it. They get to learn about it.

Steve Saporito: [01:08:01] And when they look at their photographs, it’s it’s a completely different experience because they know the story and they feeling something very different to when they, you know, when they come in approach you originally, they don’t really know what to expect. They’re definitely not expecting anyone to pay attention to them and it just self-propels, people just love it. And why not? We’re making people feel better about themselves. We know so many people are assigned to us that, you know, we’ve made their marriages so much better.

Humberto Garcia: [01:08:39] It almost sounds like the photographer like when they’re providing this experience or getting this this connection. They almost turn into like a coach of some sort or some sort of like life coach.

Steve Saporito: [01:08:52] Well, sort of. I mean, it’s just about being curious rather than when somebody rings you and says, you know, I’m a cancer survivor rather than saying, “Oh, my God, I’m so sorry. I should give you all my old blueprints for free”. You know, ask them, what does that give the cancer has given you?

Steve Saporito: [01:09:07] You know, how has that impacted your life right now? And people have the most incredible stories. And it’s almost like that. You hear inside because they’re just over everybody feeling sorry for them. And in most cases. The life began the day that they found it found out our cancer survivor and they’ve lived much more fulfilling lives, much more fulfilling relationships since then. And it’s, you know, for them to to be able to explain that without somebody feeling sorry for them. I know it’s a difficult thing for a lot of people to approach. But, you know, the reality is when you ask people that question. It’s been totally positive.

Humberto Garcia: [01:09:54] Yeah. And that’s that. You’re right. I mean, for a lot of people, the first thing is to either acknowledge and just kind of bulldoze someone’s story and just kind of get to the point because it feels like every time someone gets on the phone, it’s like the only thing we know to do is just tell them about ourselves. And it seems like you’re stopping photographers. You’re getting them to like listen and actually listen, not just, you know, head nod and say, well, my studio so great because of my awards and my ears. But they’re asking questions. And I feel like in the end that ends up making the sale or the booking process just a lot easier for them.

Steve Saporito: [01:10:35] It is because the clients are attracted to you and they just want to book, you know, for boudoir. We would otherwise bring the husbands and find out. What is it about her that is unique? Why is this the woman you decided you wanted to spend the rest of your life with?

Steve Saporito: [01:10:52] What was special about her? Take us back to that moment that you knew this was the one. What was happening? Why was that important? What expressions are you loving right now? How is that? How did you know? And you know, to give that gift to somebody? Because a lot of men are vaults that don’t express any of that, because we just haven’t given ourselves permission to do that.

Steve Saporito: [01:11:21] So, you know, to call them in and find out at about, you know, what? What they love about that person. You can’t help but look at those photos differently. You can’t help but photograph that person differently because you know their story and you know more about them.

Steve Saporito: [01:11:37] So it just changes it. It will change the way you shoot purely because you have heard what this person means to somebody else.

Humberto Garcia: [01:11:49] Yeah.

Steve Saporito: [01:11:55] I was about to go off on another complete tangant! You’ve got to reign me in.

Humberto Garcia: [01:11:57] That’s probably unique to boudoir, is that and I’ve seen the horror stories of like people posting in groups and saying, you know, I got a text message from the husband. He’s threatening, and they’re getting these like nightmare clients. Could it have something to do with, you know, just the the process where the inquiry was taken in and just the communication and, you know, how do they avoid that? Because I can imagine, you know, it’s probably pretty scary to get that, especially you’re a woman photographer and then you have a guy texting you that is going to come down to your studio and rip out your hard drive or something.

Steve Saporito: [01:12:39] Well, we always come from involved as quick as possible because not only will it triple the sale, but having them involved and having them express what they love the most about this person, and for some women having him actually for the for the first time stand up for her for the first time in a really long time, stand up for her and and. And hear what he has to say about her. To have him there during design consultation. Standing up for her.

Steve Saporito: [01:13:17] Letting her know what he loves the most about whatever photo that he’s, you know, that they could be deciding on because he’ll speak very differently to her. A lot of the women have found very, very empowering because they needed that person to stand up, stand up for them. And I needed to hear that he cared enough to make the time and to do that for them. So, you know, and even, you know, understanding who this woman is as somebodies best friend sometimes is really, really important, too. So, you know, that was another angle that we would take in boudoir sometimes, you know, you don’t have access to the husband. So who are you as somebodies best friend?

Steve Saporito: [01:14:04] And finding out from that person. The qualities that she brings. You know why she, your best friend? Who is she has a best friend? You know, if there were three ways you described what is unique about this person to you, what would that be?

Steve Saporito: [01:14:20] And then you know, this is where the system comes in and, you know, you filter all that down. But if the system’s all about becoming curious and and teaching people what we would do normally if we were genuinely interested with people understanding different personality types and and adapting to each personality type. So then we don’t have horror clients because in most cases, those horror clients tend to be the opposite personality type to us and we just don’t know how to deal with them. So just understanding. Okay, I’ve got an eagle coming in now. I need to do this as opposed to I’m dealing with a dove.

Steve Saporito: [01:15:01] Who is that old caring person, you know, very different to an eagle? So, you know, just adapting what you do tends to avoid all of that.

Humberto Garcia: [01:15:10] So, you know, we could talk for hours on this and like that topic is very interesting. If somebody wanted to learn more work or they find out more about you.

Steve Saporito: [01:15:20] stevesaporitoeducation.com. I’ve got an online platform. There’s lots of them online videos that cover everything that we’ve talked about pretty much and map it all out for you. There’s a platinum membership which, you know, get you to downloads and all sorts of things. Or you can buy individual courses individually. It’s up to anyone else. And I run workshops in the US and in the UK. So there’s workshops as well. But there’s that online is very accessible. So, stevesaporitoeducation.com.

Steve Saporito: [01:15:56] Awesome, I will put that in the notes for this as well. Well, Steve, I really appreciate it. I’m going to see you at PPA.

Steve Saporito: [01:16:02] I’ll be speaking again. They’ve asked me back, I can’t believe it! So excited.

Humberto Garcia: [01:16:08] DO you already know the topic?

Steve Saporito: [01:16:11] Yes. Yes. But I haven’t worked on it yet, so I need to start working on that now. But it’s very much in line with what we were talking about. Creating quality clients. So it’ll be fun. I loved it last year, so I was so excited when they asked me back. I couldn’t believe it. I’m like, oh god. That’s great.

Humberto Garcia: [01:16:33] Again, I thought your talk was one of the best ones, and that’s why we’re here.

Steve Saporito: [01:16:37] Wow. Thank you. That’s awesome.

Humberto Garcia: [01:16:41] I really appreciate it, Steve. Thank you so much for being with us.

Steve Saporito: [01:16:45] No worries. Thank you.