that you would like to share?

Or even first five years?

Shamelss bump, I guess.  I have some thoughts, but it seems like this is all or none among the profession...

I'm looking myself or I'd love to help.

i'm exhausted and seeing double, but look up sandy puc and check out her baby plan.

I do 4 sessions, a collage at the end, and one slideshow including all proof images set to music. (NOT digital images, just a slideshow...)  $275.  My normal session is $75.  I shoot on location in their home, its a lot of labor if you do in home studio.  I decided not to offer any "free prints" with it because it was a pain to keep track of.  But babies are my FAVORITE, so whenever I get the chance to shoot a newborn it is worth it!

I'm with Shelly, I love getting newborns!  I only just offered a 1st year plan to my 1st clients a month back & they signed up. 

 3 sessions - birth, 4-6 months & again at 11-13 months.  They get 5 free 4x8 slimline cards with every set ordered for both newborn announcements AND bday party invites or bday party thankyous.  They also get a free 5x7 from each session.  If they come to all the sessions, they get an 11x14 mounted collage. 

I added up what all that would cost at regular price (but didn't factor in the free cards) and deducted 30%.  That's how I came up with my price.  Crazy weird factoring I know, but after listening to Sandy Puc' I decided she was on to something! 

Since I only just started I can't tell you what works, what doesn't!

I offer a Baby Plan that is free sessions at newborn, 3 months, 6 months, 9 months, 12 months. A 16x20 composite at the end and 24 greeting cards or announcements. $225

Perhaps a Shameless bumb as well, but could you all elaborate on your locations, too...

 At the Sandy Puc seminar, she elaborated on offering a lot for cheap.  Your goal is to get them into your studio and then sell them more.  This can be ongoing income for you throughout the year, especially when it is slow.  I don't remember saying she offered anything for 30% less than her normal price, do you? 

 I did write down a figure from her that was $49.99.

Right now, I'm going off of her beginning model and have scheduled a special for 2 weeks.  I advertised for models.  The sitting is free and they get a certificate good towards a free print.  The models I advertised for are maternity models and newborns.  I have a few scheduled.  I am hoping they pay more, but if not, this is going to be fun for me because I can do whatever I want with them! 
 

I just started one. 3 sessions a year with book at the end. They can add on maternity and newborn as well. The newborns I do on location - at their home. The rest is in studio. They save $50 - $75 by buying the package deal up front.

 Shannon, have you booked any?  When I first did this, I didn't lower my prices enough so didn't book any! 

I don't have that many clients yet. I have a big promo for newborn sessions right now that is incredibly inexpensive for the serivce - just hoping to get a few people in the door. I did get some people to do the newborn sessions and gave them all the promo info for the 1st year plan, and I have yet to have one of the newborns be 3 months yet so, I don't know yet. Some seemed interested. I can understand a parent being reluctant to sign up though, it being a large upfront cost and all. Hopefully the newborn session wowed them enough to really consider it.

I don't want to go too low on the deal, my prices are not high enough to begin with, but I'm still working on getting a client base and structuring my business. If I go any lower, it wouldn't be worth it - if you kwim. I'm starting to have a couple clients a month, and that's all I need being a primary mommy.

I've resolved myself to not go any lower on prices, and have stopped obsessing over getting the people in. It's hardest when I don't have any shoots scheduled and I have 10k of gear in my living room doing nothing. I've filled those times with reading new techniques and practicing on my little one. It's funny, once you have a few people and see how busy having a few clients in one week can make you, you don't seem to get that pressure to have clients again. At least for me. And - of course, I'm saying all this this week. We'll have to see how much I have changed my mind about the whole thing next week - ha ha.

I have about 6 Baby's First Year clients going right now.  One just got his first year pics last week, so I'm down to five.    I think that's a lot for my 2nd year in business.

I offer 0,3,6,9, and 12 month sessiosn for a total of $125.00.  Add maternity and it's $150.  About 1/2 of my clients in the program are from Baby Shower gift certificates other clients have bought them.

Do they end up spending a lot of money on their prints?   

average is $200-300 per session.  So - about $1200-1500 for the year...

Wow...I charge way more than most of you.  This is how my program works...total cost is $1250

· Five 1 hour sessions (newborn, 3 months, 6 months, 9 months, 1 year)

· Up to 100 4x6 proofs (20 from each session) in proof album

· $500 print credit spread throughout year

· 20 Page 10x10 Storybook Album

· 16x20 Canvas Collage

*You may pay in 5 installments of $250 at each session.  Receive an additional $75 print credit when you pay in full at the beginning of year.*

If you don't mind me asking you, how many customers do you have this year that have signed up?  

I've currently got 3 (one w/ twins, so 4 kids).  But they are all friends and are getting special discounts.  Remember, I just moved to a new city less than 2 years ago...so a lot of people don't know I exist.  And I haven't done a big marketing push for this program yet.

I started doing a 6 session first year program last year and had about 15-20 kids sign up (still working on all of them) and my first plan baby turns 1 in a month :-)  I can't wait.  It is like a huge milestone for me.  I would go to their home for newborn and have them com eto me for everything else.  The plan costed $125 and they got a free 8x10 ($15) at each session.  They always bought more than that and like someone else mentioned, it is consistent work.  I realized that I was spending a lot of time on the process for what I was making and with so many clients I felt I could definitely slow down so I raised my prices this year.  I also discovered that parents weren't buying big prints so I raised all the prices of my smaller ones to make them closer to the larger prints.  One last thing I learned was that often parents would call after the baby was already born (so no newborn session).  After all these lessons, I came up with the following 3 plans:

Newborn and 1 year - $100 with $25 print credit per session

Pregnant, newborn, 6 mos and 1 year - $200 with $25 print credit per session

6 sessions (the standards) - $375 with $50 print credit per session.

I am flexible on when they do the sessions (had one client that wanted to do 4 mos and 1 year and I let her and it resulted in over $300 in sales after the discount). 

I am in a big city and still charge a lot less than most photographers around here but I am working it up slowly.  The only challenge I have seen so far is that some of my previous clients have referred friends that wanted the same deal that they had.  As it has turned out though, they (the referred, not my clients) were also the type of people who say they will call you back the next day to confirm the appointment and then I haven't heard from them in a month (which is fine cause until they pay they don't get their name written down).  I have only had a couple of people book with the new prices because I just started them June 1st, but so far it seems to working out better than my old packages....hope that helps.

I do a Year in the Life series... It's my most popular service. I actually book those about 2 to 1 over single sessions. Mine includes 5 sessions over the course of about a year with online proofing, and a custom book at the end of the year. It's $375... I think one of the reasons it's so popular is that I don't market it as a newborn product. I encourage all moms to consider it as a way to keep up with the family's pictures, share images with friends and family, and create beautiful wall art for the home. Moms love it...

I actually came up with it as a way to stretch my marketing dollar. The most difficult thing for me starting out was finding new clients, so the program keeps me working, pulls in new clients, and provides a really nice service to my clients.
 

Here is my plan. I just started offering this in the beginning of June. I have 4 clients so far. 2 of them has already had done a

session or two and contacted me and I gave it to them at a discount. Or if I know I have a client that will spend 400 or more on photographs I will mention this option to them.

I did not think I would have this many this quickly so I have been pleasantly surprised!  ( oh and I am located in Indianapolis)

• Photographs taken in your home during the first week of the baby being home
• 50 custom made newborn announcements
• One custom made tryptic featuring 3 photographs from the newborn session
• 3 more sessions through out the year. It can be 3,6,9 or you can spread it out a bit more. Feel free to include siblings and family or pets in the photographs
• $800 dollars in print credit to split between your 4 sessions.
• 50 custom made Christmas Cards/or Birthday invitation cards, your choice
• At the end of the year you will get all the photographs on a dvd And a custom made photobook featuring some of the best photographs from through out the year.

Here's mine.  I haven't booked any yet though so I'm wondering if I should reconfigure it.  

Baby's first year package - 4 portrait sittings for baby's first year, typically newborn, 3 mos, 6 mos, and 1 year.  Each sitting includes basic portrait package (1 8x10, 2 5x7's, and 4 wallets). You also receive 20 custom designed birth announcements with newborn shoot and a custom designed soft cover coffee table book at end of program. A $400.00 value.            $250.00

If your plan is already what I consider inexpensive, I would not offer any prints with it, because some people will never purchase any. Also, i don't do the free 8x10 either because some might scan it. I only offer the 24 announcements or invitations and 16x20 composite print for $225.

Man-O-Man, you guys are seriously cheap. I'd be filling out an app for McDonalds at these prices. Some of you are getting less than $25 a sitting?! Does it not take eveyone a day to do a sitting, and edit and prepare the proofs? Talk about your cheap labor. I'll hire you people to come do my dirty work!

I agree with someone, that offering prints from each session would make me think the client wouldn't order anything additional so you are really lowering your earning potential.

I think the announcements, collages, and books of the year should be the bonus items, because that's something unique to getting pics done several times a year.

I'd be careful too how much discount you give on your first year program. Too big a discount is going to devalue your whole image.

But - who am I to tell you what to do, since I don't have any yet . . .