In this episode of The Portrait System Podcast, host Nikki Closser speaks with Bentonville, Arkansas, photographer Nidhi Dahiya about how she maximized profits with her photo sessions in five years—increasing her sales average from $300 to $11,000. Dahiya, who also works full-time as a behavioral business researcher, in large part credits her success with her strategy of shooting multiple genres for each client within their photo sessions.

Dahiya was born and raised in India and immigrated to the States 21 years ago when she was in her 20s. She says she has always been a workaholic, and she enjoys maintaining her full-time job while doing consultations with portrait clients during the week and shooting portraits on the weekends. Dahiya says her work as a behavioral business researcher has been invaluable to her sales techniques, informing her strategies, such as offering freebie images along with pre-payment deposits. When it comes to her final sale, having more options leads to bigger sales, and setting the stage for that variety begins in the consultation.

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Dahiya says, “Let’s say, for example, a client is coming in for her branding images. Then I’ll be talking to her about her brand, what her branding color is, what her vision is, what her personality is. I’ll also be talking to her about, you know, other aspects of her personality . . . That’s what a personal branding session is. It’s getting to know this person authentically. . . showing who she really is authentically and [her] showing up in her marketing like a real person.”

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In this way, a personal branding photo session can easily move from a studio shoot to several on-location shoots and even family photos that can have a marketing message of “from my family to yours.” The more genres Dahiya can show her client, the more likely they are to buy more images. To support this strategy, Dahiya has all her genres included in her marketing magazine to plant the seed for all the options her clients have when they have a shoot with her.

You can learn more about Nidhi Dahiya’s portrait business tips and her photo sessions on her web pages: Nids Creations Photography and Thrive Code Academy.

The Portrait System Podcast helps portrait photographers navigate the world of photography, business, money, and much more. Hosted by Nikki Closser, the podcast is powered by The Portrait System, a comprehensive, online educational platform that teaches all aspects of running a successful portrait photography studio.