A couple of weeks ago, we talked about step 1 in our pricing exercise - calculating your fixed and variable costs — the foundation of every pricing decision.
Then, last week, we moved on to step 2, defining your income goal — the number that keeps the studio lights on AND lets you meet your personal financial goals.
Now it’s time to bring those two pieces together and see what they mean in real dollars and cents.
💵 Step 3: Do the Math (Without Crying)
Here’s the part everyone dreads — but it’s not that bad, I promise.
If you’ve figured out your fixed costs (like rent, insurance, subscriptions) and your variable costs (like printing, packaging, and credit card fees), you already have the hard part done.
Now plug those numbers into this simple formula:
(Fixed Costs + Variable Costs + Desired Profit) ÷ Number of Sessions = Minimum Session Average.
That’s your magic number — the lowest average sale you can have and still hit your income goal.
For example, if you have a desired profit (DP) of $80,000 after expenses, and your fixed costs (FC) are $12,000 with $100 in variable costs (VC) per session, shooting 60 seniors a year looks like this:
$12,000 FC + ($100 VC X 60 sessions) + $80,000 DP = $98,000 minimum needed sales
Which translates to:
$98,000 ÷ 60 sessions = 1,633 minimum session average
That’s the target average sale per client you would need in this case. Of course YOUR numbers will be different - your numbers, your reality.
It’s not a guess. It’s not what feels fair. It’s what keeps your business sustainable.
Now that you know that number, the question becomes: how do you build your price list so your clients naturally land right around it?
🎯 Step 4: Create a Product Mix That Supports Your Goal
Once you’ve got your target average, your job is to make sure your product offerings are designed to guide clients there.
If your desired average is $1,600, you might have a $1,400 collection that feels like a great deal and a $1,900 one that feels like an “upgrade.” Most clients will land right where you want them — between the two.
It’s not about manipulation. It’s about creating packages that reflect what your clients actually want — AND what makes your business profitable.
🧱 Keep It Simple: 3 or 4 Options Max
Too many choices overwhelm people. When clients freeze, they don’t buy.
Three to four collections are plenty. Here’s a basic structure that works beautifully for senior photographers:
1️⃣ The Starter Collection – Your lowest option. It’s there for the client who has to have the cheapest thing, but you don’t want to sell a ton of it. Keep it minimal. Maybe a few digital files or prints, but not much more.
2️⃣ The Sweet Spot (Your Target Collection) – This is the one you want everyone to buy. Price it around your desired average — maybe just slightly higher. Include the things your clients value most: digitals, a few small prints, maybe a proof box or album credit. It should feel like the best value.
3️⃣ The Premium Collection – Your “wow” option. Loaded with extras like wall art, albums, or premium editing. Price it significantly higher than your sweet spot so it makes your middle package look even more attractive by comparison.
4️⃣ (Optional) The All-In or Add-On Collection – This one’s for those rare clients who want it all. It’s your “sky’s the limit” package — and even if you never sell it, its existence anchors your other prices and makes your main package feel like a bargain.
💡 The Psychology Behind It
Clients rarely buy the cheapest or the most expensive option — they buy the best value.
That’s why your middle collection is the hero. It’s where the features align perfectly with what your ideal client actually wants — not just what you think they should want.
If you’re offering three packages, 80–90% of your sales should fall right in the middle. And if you’re not seeing that pattern? It’s a sign to tweak the structure or the included items until clients gravitate there naturally.
💬 How This Played Out in My Own Studio
When I was building my own product mix a decade ago, I realized my $900 average wasn’t going to cut it if I wanted to hit my income goals. I needed to get closer to $1,200.
So I started paying attention to what MY clients were really asking for — and it wasn’t giant wall art or canvases. It was digitals.
Parents wanted easy access to ALL the images. Seniors wanted them for Instagram. And everyone wanted to stop arguing over who got which photo.
So I created a digital collection that included all the culled photos (usually around 50 images for a two-hour session) on a USB key, with basic retouching, a full set of 5x7 proofs, and an image box to keep them in.
I priced that collection at $1,400 — about 20% above my target average — and built a few higher-end digital bundles above it that included wall art and albums. I also built a cheaper basic package with prints only that was priced slightly under a thousand dollars.
And you know what happened? The $1,400 collection became my bestseller. Some people bought the cheaper basic print package that brought them in the door and some bought the higher end digital/print collections, but my session average actually jumped to $1,400 almost overnight.
Clients felt like they were getting everything they wanted, and I hit my numbers without ever feeling like I had to “sell.”
🧠 The Takeaway
Your product mix should be strategic, not random. Every collection should have a purpose:
- One sets your floor.
- One hits your goal.
- One raises your ceiling.
The magic is in how they interact — guiding clients right where you want them to land, while still feeling like they’re in control.
Because the truth is, the best sales process doesn’t feel like selling at all. It feels like helping people get what they want — and getting paid well for it.
P.S. Be sure to come back next week when we’ll talk about how to analyze your market (without falling into the comparison trap). Spoiler alert: copying someone else’s price list is like borrowing their glasses — you won’t see any clearer, and you’ll probably just get a headache.
