109: Stacey Owen – Perfecting The Sales Process & Social Media Struggles
October 10, 2023
“Nobody ever started a business or to become an entrepreneur to be sat there miserable.”
STACEY OWEN
Hey everyone! It’s Sally here, from Studio Ninja. Today’s episode is all about Stacey Owen – Founder of Pepper!
Stacey Owen—a leading lady of creativity!
Stacey is not only a professional photographer, but she is also a co-founder of a non-profit co-working society and the founder & CEO of Pepper—an award-winning creative agency that provides modern marketing and content strategy to small businesses and entrepreneurs around the world.
How does she do it?! Well, Pepper was created when Stacey was on the brink of burnout as a successful photographer (running Noir Stories and Stacey Krolow Photography) and was unable to find someone to outsource to who was specifically niched in the creative industry—someone who understood the creative mindset and how art is the passion that drives us.
Light bulb! After exhausting all avenues and talking with other friends in the industry, she realized there was huge potential for starting her own company made up of badass marketers for creative-type business owners. While Pepper began as a virtual assistant company that worked with North American creative clients, in less than a year, the company went international and started working with clients around the world. Pepper is now a creative agency that provides services such as custom marketing strategies, SEO, branding, websites, social media management, blogging, newsletters, Pinterest, and more for creative entrepreneurs from many different industries, not just photography!
In 2020, a lot of Pepper’s creative clients—who are largely in the wedding photography and videography industry—took a blow to their businesses due to the pandemic and Pepper wanted to do something to boost them up! This is where Conference + Chill: The Virtual Photo Gathering was born. It was one of the first of its kind! C+C was a live, virtual conference that began with a 4-day, virtual event in July of 2020 and ran for two years, providing positive energy and epic education that was accessible to everyone!
Since then, Pepper has developed educational marketing courses through Pepper U. This do-it-yourself option for business owners allows entrepreneurs to learn at their own pace and acquire marketing tactics relevant to their businesses. But they didn’t stop there! Pepper has also created individual courses tailored to address some of the most common questions we’ve received. These courses encompass education on Google Business Profile and Google Analytics. Pretty amazing, isn’t it?
Stacey is a passionate business owner and an entrepreneurial-minded go-getter! She is fuelled by the creative and brilliant brains that surround her, turning ideas into reality, and having meaningful conversations with cool individuals doing cool sh*t!
Check out some of the biggest points from Stacey’s interview below:
What do photographers commonly struggle with?
There’s two main things that I see photographers struggling with when it comes to sales.
And now specifically I’m talking about once you get the enquiry, how do you turn that enquiry into a consult and that consult into a booking? So number one is that there’s no structure whatsoever for photographers are just winging it. They’re like oh they I tell them what I have and then they book me and then I send them my invoice and they give me money. Like it should be pretty straightforward. But the thing is, if you don’t have a really clear structure, if you don’t know your process inside and out, you’re going to feel so uncomfortable. There’s going to be like these sticky points where if you are unclear, it’s going to come across unclear to your client or your potential client, and they’re going to feel that and they’re like, oh, do I trust this person as much? The biggest thing with sales is really trust is building trust with that potential client. And then the other thing is most photographers feel like sales and just the word of me saying sales, I’m sure everyone right now are like 80% of you or like cringe gross, I hate it.
I just want to shoot. Can people just hire me, hire me for my work and just pay me money? So it’s it’s not. I use the word sales because we all understand what that means. But really it’s about problem solving. So your clients are coming to you because they have a particular problem, like they’re getting married in a certain part of the world, maybe close to you, and they’re looking for a photographer that understands their needs, that fits their style, that’s going to, you know, meld with their energy on the day off. It’s going to fit right in to their friends and family. That is a problem that you are now solving. So if you think of it that way, that’s a mindset shift. And it’s a whole different conversation. And it’s no longer like this gross, cringe salesy thing. You’re not trying to sell someone and something they don’t want.
Once you’ve got the inquiry – what next?
Um, there’s a couple of really cool things that you’ve kind of touched on there. So if they’re on social media, if that’s how they found you, obviously it’s a really great idea to follow them back and engage with some of their content, show interest and who they are and their lives that can really stand out. Instead of just sending your information like the inquiry comes through and you’re just sending a generic like, I’m stoked or I’m excited, you’ve inquired with me, here’s my pricing and packaging. Take a look, let me know if you have any questions. And like just very like standard. If they’ve inquired with three other photographers, they’re all saying the same thing. Well hopefully not, hopefully not. But very commonly. Yes, that is what’s happening.
So you really want to stand out. You want to connect right from the get go. So things you can do is use a software like loom and create a video and embed that in your email. And, you know, let them see your face, let them hear your voice saying their name. That’s already a deeper connection than just a generic like, hey, Jane and John, why do we always use those names, by the way? But Jane and John like to like, let them feel your energy, let them feel connected to you. They’re going to maybe in the back of their mind wondering, have we met before? Like, are we like, do we have we, you know, like it’s already that, oh, like I’m already closer to this person than the next photographer that just sends the email and and the other thing is, don’t send your entire package right away. That completely cuts off the communication of talking about truly their needs, being able to customize it based on what they need, and for them to understand the value.
Because a lot of people, they have no idea the value of what it is that you’re offering. They just see the number. They don’t know if that’s high, they don’t know if it’s low. They just are confused. And then they go, bye bye, bye bye. They’re gone. Like you can say something like, A lot of people start at this price with me. Or like this is kind of an average if you really feel deeply, that’s important to you. But I actually recommend that you get them into a consult first, discuss their needs, ask them questions, actually listen, ask clarifying questions and like. Then provide them with the solution which are your packages. So another thing you can do also on social media. And I think this is a common thing now that we’ve all heard, which is a fantastic idea for not doing it already, is just sending them a DM, whether it’s a voice or a video, another casual way to connect with someone. So you’ve replied to their consult.
You’ve done something above and beyond the generic email and attaching your PDF, which you are no longer doing after listening to this podcast, and then you need to follow up. Most likely they will not book right away, and if it’s over zoom, or if it’s like a virtual or even a phone call meeting a consult you should include something like Calendly or Acuity, which is a booking link. So there’s not this back and forth we’re interested in booking. When’s a good time to chat with you? We’re interested in booking a consult. When’s a good time to chat with you? The more back and forth and the more confusion, it’s harder to book with you. They just won’t. Life is busy. They won’t do it. They’ll just go. That’s where a lot of people ghost. So include that link. Or even if it’s in person, you can even have an in-person link like these are my top favorite spots for meeting, but let me know it works for you. But these are my available times.
What is your go-to advice for someone who feels stuck with their marketing?
So what I find when I talk to photographers that are really feeling those things, it’s maybe they’re a bit newer and they have really not a clear idea of exactly what it is that they’re offering, and how do they stand out from the rest of the photographers out there, and then how do they engage with their potential clients in a way that is on brand for them, because they don’t know what’s on brand for them? So I think it goes back a little bit further. So if you’re newer, that’s something to really look at. And then the other ones I see where people have been in business a long time, got really comfortable relying on their word of mouth, but then they didn’t do anything to nurture that. They were just they were just receiving because things were going really well for them. And then maybe the other marketing tactics they weren’t doing, or they just like go by the wayside and then they’re in this place where it’s nothing’s happening. All of a sudden my business is slowed down and I don’t know what’s happened.
Two years ago, it was like the best year of maybe, maybe not two because it was Covid, maybe 2019, 2019. It was like the best year. And of course COVID’s a thing. But so those photographers again, I’m like, okay, so maybe you’re confident in your work and you’re confident. In like who you are as a photographer. But what are you offering that’s exciting? How are you connecting with people like, have you just gotten lazy? Have you just kind of like. People just come to you and you’re not, like, working for it. Maybe people feel that energy too. Like, does this person care? Like, are they interested in me or are they just kind of like, I don’t know, like you just don’t have the same kind of energy like I want personally, I want someone that’s very excited to work with me and provide the service that I’m looking for. And if someone’s just kind of. I don’t know, just kind of like. Apathetic people can feel that as well.
Thank you!
Thanks again to you all for joining us and a huge thanks to Stacey for joining us on the show!
If you have any suggestions, comments or questions about this episode, please be sure to leave them below in the comment section of this post, and if you liked the episode, please share it using the social media buttons you see at the bottom of the post!
That’s it for me this week, I hope you all enjoyed this episode.
See you soon,
Sally
About Stacey Owen
Stacey Owen—a leading lady of creativity!
Stacey is not only a professional photographer, but she is also a co-founder of a non-profit co-working society and the founder & CEO of Pepper—an award-winning creative agency that provides modern marketing and content strategy to small businesses and entrepreneurs around the world.
