Does anyone do payment plans

gonzogolf wrote in post #16017787
No fees are charged but the session, but you can get them to sign for a penalty charge. I'm talking a small charge if they back out, not the remaining balance of the "contract. Personally I wouldnt do that because if they dont like my work enough to continue, then thats fair enough. Your plan seems to divide all the sessions up and charge installments.

She's basically trying to pull a cell phone contract deal. You get a little service each month and if you want to try someone else, you have to pay a penalty to leave.

cdifoto wrote in post #16017796
She's basically trying to pull a cell phone contract deal. You get a little service each month and if you want to try someone else, you have to pay a penalty to leave.

It seems that way. I guess you get them amped up in the early days of parenthood where the emotions and exhaustion get you to sign something stupid that locks them into a couple of grand that ought better be put away for financing college.

When they pay for a 1 year plan, how many sessions are you including? Are they able to come in once a month, once a quarter?

As mentioned above, I'd prefer that they just pay for each session that they want to book. If they want 2 sessions in 6 months; session fee x 2, or some discount for the second session.

cdifoto wrote in post #16017796
She's basically trying to pull a cell phone contract deal. You get a little service each month and if you want to try someone else, you have to pay a penalty to leave.

So because I'm wanting to offer the option of installments it's a "cell phone contract deal" but if someone pif it's not?

I didn't suggest paying a penalty to leave someone else did.

I've seen photographers offer pmt plans for this. They list $600 pif or 3-4 pmts for 4 sessions over the year.
The comments comparing me to a cell phone seem to imply I'm sketchy.

So if I hype someone up and they pif for a maternity and baby plan it's cool. If they pay by the session it's cool. If I automatically bill them in the same manner I'm hyping them up and selling what's akin to a cell phone?

It's a contract for service whether someone pays in full or does installments. If they pif and later decide they don't like your work or don't want the remaining 2 of 4 sessions are u gonna give a refund?

cdifoto wrote in post #16017793
Try it. See how it works. What's stopping you, forum consensus?

Nothing stopping me just thinking through all options and considering the "complaints" I read from Photographers about making $ and such.

Aside from that I haven't even finalized prices on anything or even really begun marketing.

Just thinking and looking at options

abbypanda wrote in post #16017862
So because I'm wanting to offer the option of installments it's a "cell phone contract deal" but if someone pif it's not?

I didn't suggest paying a penalty to leave someone else did.

I've seen photographers offer pmt plans for this. They list $600 pif or 3-4 pmts for 4 sessions over the year.
The comments comparing me to a cell phone seem to imply I'm sketchy.

So if I hype someone up and they pif for a maternity and baby plan it's cool. If they pay by the session it's cool. If I automatically bill them in the same manner I'm hyping them up and selling what's akin to a cell phone?

It's a contract for service whether someone pays in full or does installments. If they pif and later decide they don't like your work or don't want the remaining 2 of 4 sessions are u gonna give a refund?

abbypanda wrote in post #16017875
Nothing stopping me just thinking through all options and considering the "complaints" I read from Photographers about making $ and such.

Aside from that I haven't even finalized prices on anything or even really begun marketing.

Just thinking and looking at options

What's the incentive for the customer to enter into a payment plan, if there's no discount unless paid in full and no product until paid in full and what keeps them on if there's no penalty to stop/leave? The difference with gym memberships is they can go in whenever they want. They pay monthly but throughout the course of the month they can get their workout and don't have to contact you and arrange it with you in advance. It's very hands-off for you personally (the business owner) on an individual client basis.

I have no problems with payment plans themselves, but to do it like a Book of the Month Club, I don't see the point. It's better, IMHO, if it's a payment plan for one specific session package...like layaway.

In other words, with no penalty to leave, I see people excited about having a new baby signing up for these and you get one session out of it before they come to their senses and realize a subscription is stupid when they have tons of diapers to buy.

tomj wrote in post #16017590
Accept credit cards and stay out of the finance business yourself.

^^^^^ This. Absolutely, positively this.

Get yourself set up with Square, Intuit or Paypal. Put the app on your Android or iDevice and away you go.

No customer in their right mind would let a small business do direct debit or automatic withdrawal or whatever you want to call it.

cdifoto wrote in post #16018280
What's the incentive for the customer to enter into a payment plan, if there's no discount unless paid in full and no product until paid in full and what keeps them on if there's no penalty to stop/leave? The difference with gym memberships is they can go in whenever they want. They pay monthly but throughout the course of the month they can get their workout and don't have to contact you and arrange it with you in advance. It's very hands-off for you personally (the business owner) on an individual client basis.

I have no problems with payment plans themselves, but to do it like a Book of the Month Club, I don't see the point. It's better, IMHO, if it's a payment plan for one specific session package...like layaway.

In other words, with no penalty to leave, I see people excited about having a new baby signing up for these and you get one session out of it before they come to their senses and realize a subscription is stupid when they have tons of diapers to buy.

The incentive is the entire plan is a package deal.

In addition they are getting a commitment on photographers part to cover maternity, newborn within first 2 weeks 6 months 1 year. Someone would sign up assuming they want pics of these particular life events, so that would be an incentive as well.

The same ppl who think a subscription plan is stupid probably would find paying for pics at all stupid if they are that worried about diapers. It'd be stupid to fork out $800 in product and service for 1 session if someone was that worried about buying diapers.

I'm not arguing whether or not someone wants it, we are merely talking method of payment

abbypanda wrote in post #16018673
The incentive is the entire plan is a package deal.

So it would be cheaper if they "locked in" vs buying individual sessions?

abbypanda wrote in post #16018673
In addition they are getting a commitment on photographers part to cover maternity, newborn within first 2 weeks 6 months 1 year. Someone would sign up assuming they want pics of these particular life events, so that would be an incentive as well.

"Photographer's commitment" is not an incentive. Any photographer is committed when they get paid, subscription or not. If you give me $500 for a portrait session, my ass is going to show up. If you give me $500 for another portrait session, my ass is going to show up again. No one should have to subscribe to a photographer to ensure that they show up.

abbypanda wrote in post #16018673
The same ppl who think a subscription plan is stupid probably would find paying for pics at all stupid if they are that worried about diapers. It'd be stupid to fork out $800 in product and service for 1 session if someone was that worried about buying diapers.

No there's a difference between making monthly payments on something you're kind of but not really getting and just paying for it when you need it. You said yourself it could be for people who probably couldn't otherwise afford it. Payments do make things easier to swallow in some cases, but usually there's an extra cost to the customer - interest charges for example. It's not common to incentivize the delay of full payment for your services with extra awesome deals. You really should be rewarding those who give you the money right away so it's in your bank account and you can operate with it.

abbypanda wrote in post #16018673
I'm not arguing whether or not someone wants it, we are merely talking method of payment

No, you asked us if we do it, why, and why not. You already had method of payment taken care of from the get go since you said you do it with your gym all the time.

aphphoto wrote in post #16018552
^^^^^ This. Absolutely, positively this.

Get yourself set up with Square, Intuit or Paypal. Put the app on your Android or iDevice and away you go.

No customer in their right mind would let a small business do direct debit or automatic withdrawal or whatever you want to call it.

If you don't mind me asking do you live in the us?

Why wouldn't someone do direct debit? People use direct debit for bills, gym memberships, supplement subscriptions, movie subscriptions, magazines, heck even skin care like proactive, and a whole lot more. Some people prefer it.
To suggest people do it for all those things and they would be stupid to do it for photography suggests that photographing something like a baby's first year isn't something someone would value the same as any of the above. I believe its more valuable honestly.

I signed up for business coaching. There were 3 tiers and I could afford the cheapest. It was $13,000 or $1297/ month for 12 months. Thank goodness I got the option to pay monthly. I wasn't out of my mind to let someone debit me. It provided a lot of value to me.

People do direct debit for tons of other things. People do payment plans for things. Did anyone pay their lease in full?

I'm trying to figure the reasons why it's not done in photography. I read a lot of threads about people saying clients change their mind, or no show or whatever, at the same time the ppa said avg income is $20,000 I think? Maybe $30,000 for photographers. Not much. And I'm wondering if offering pmt solutions is an option.
People could purchase larger packages, or more sessions, or just prepay in Paulette's over time instead of 1 lump sum. There's a lot of options, but no one HAS to do it either. They could always pay in full if they Wanted to.

I believe if it works in other industries it can potentially work here. I think it's something to at least consider

abbypanda wrote in post #16018700
If you don't mind me asking do you live in the us?

Why wouldn't someone do direct debit? People use direct debit for bills, gym memberships, supplement subscriptions, movie subscriptions, magazines, heck even skin care like proactive, and a whole lot more. Some people prefer it.
To suggest people do it for all those things and they would be stupid to do it for photography suggests that photographing something like a baby's first year isn't something someone would value the same as any of the above. I believe its more valuable honestly.

I signed up for business coaching. There were 3 tiers and I could afford the cheapest. It was $13,000 or $1297/ month for 12 months. Thank goodness I got the option to pay monthly. I wasn't out of my mind to let someone debit me. It provided a lot of value to me.

People do direct debit for tons of other things. People do payment plans for things. Did anyone pay their lease in full?

I'm trying to figure the reasons why it's not done in photography. I read a lot of threads about people saying clients change their mind, or no show or whatever, at the same time the ppa said avg income is $20,000 I think? Maybe $30,000 for photographers. Not much. And I'm wondering if offering pmt solutions is an option.
People could purchase larger packages, or more sessions, or just prepay in Paulette's over time instead of 1 lump sum. There's a lot of options, but no one HAS to do it either. They could always pay in full if they Wanted to.

I believe if it works in other industries it can potentially work here. I think it's something to at least consider

Payment plans are done, but subscriptions aren't. Payment plans are usually done to get people to spend a lot of money on one session.

I'm not saying it wouldn't work. I just don't see how, from a consumer perspective, I am going to be convinced to lock into something like that...or stick with it when there's no penalty to drop out. People spend big on photography for life events, and there are really only so many of those. It's not like a gym where you have to keep running your ass off to stay in shape. The maternity might be a good example where it could work but after that, what is there? Seniors - that's once. Wedding? Hopefully once. Annual Christmas card? Annual family portrait? We're talking about things that happen either once in a lifetime or once yearly at most. That's not really something people want monthly payments for.

cdifoto wrote in post #16018690
So it would be cheaper if they "locked in" vs buying individual sessions?

yes it would, they would get a big lump price for committing to the whole plan I think on this respect you are arguing whether or not someone should sell this plan vs how they pay for it. This plan is not my idea. I see a lot of people offer it. You pay in full and you get x sessions and x product. I am only offering another payment solution. Lets face it, if someone likes you enough to do their maternity pics, why wouldnt they return to you to do their newborn pics? It makes total sense. If someone does baby pics why wouldnt they use you for 6 month pics? You guys are acting like people will just go find someone else and its totally ok. And I'm saying if your service is good and they like you once, why on earth wouldnt they like you again? This package solution is not my idea, again. I see people offering it. I am jsut thinking that a payment plan is another way to bring the package to people. I think hiring someone to do your maternity, newborn, 6 month and 1 year pictures is a valuable service a lot of people will want.

It doesnt ensure they show up, it ensures the customer gets priority. My gym sells memberships. If someone outside wanted to hire me for personal training and someone from the gym wanted me, the gym members would get priority. In other words, you can commit to have availiblity for this person. Because they have committed you know they will have a baby X month, the baby will be 6 months in such and such month and 1 year in X month. So you start blocking off your calendar in advance for this person, instead of hunting them down and hoping they'll remember to show up or contact you at 6 months, 1 year, etc. This is not the only incentive. It's just one. The other incentive is merely financial: they cant afford to pay in full for the plan so they are making payments.

This same argument applies to any membership. Why commit to a term on a lease or anything then. Just show up and pay each month and find something else if that doesnt work out.

This is my point exactly. PIF always gets a discount. I never said charge interest. But lets say you have such and such mom who wants maternity pics done. She can only afford to pay a maternity session in full. she wants the baby plan, but doesnt have the full amount in 1 lump sum. Why not offer payments? The photographer isnt delaying anything on his end really b/c the kid isnt gonna be 6 months old for at least 6 months anyway. By offering payments neither party has to hunt the other down and do a bunch of nonsense for pre session consultations, or anything, it's all set up up front.

I know, and you guys are telling me you dont do it b/c it's akin to a cell phone deal, and that basically you dont want to deal with it. And I'm thinking it's a possible solution to increase revenue.

I think a lot of the argument you guys have is the concept of the plan itself. The year plan is not my idea. I see people selling it, lots actually. I'm just saying sell it with autobilling instead of lump sum payments. You dont have to hunt people down for $ and they dont have to hunt you down and hope you arent booked that month.

The baby isnt the only plan option this could be used for:

Say you do a portrait sale and customer wants the large package but can only afford the $500 small package b/c you require payment in full. Why not allow them to make 2-3 payments set up monthly to get the large package? If you are going to commit to buy the large package they would commit to auto draft for 2-3 months. It isnt that big of a deal. "I can tell you really want the $1500 package. If I could break this into 3 payments billed monthly will that work?" I dont see why that is a bad option at all.

cdifoto wrote in post #16018717
Payment plans are done, but subscriptions aren't. Payment plans are usually done to get people to spend a lot of money on one session.

I'm not saying it wouldn't work. I just don't see how, from a consumer perspective, I am going to be convinced to lock into something like that...or stick with it when there's no penalty to drop out. People spend big on photography for life events, and there are really only so many of those. It's not like a gym where you have to keep running your ass off to stay in shape. The maternity might be a good example where it could work but after that, what is there? Seniors - that's once. Wedding? Hopefully once. Annual Christmas card? Annual family portrait? We're talking about things that happen either once in a lifetime or once yearly at most. That's not really something people want monthly payments for.

You are right there are a lot of 1 time events. But I think theres a way to make it work. Weddings, I could easily see that for engagement and wedding plan, with payments leading up to the wedding so it's all paid in full but easier than a lump sum. This works for the photographer b/c they dont have to chase them down after for pmt anyway.

The penalty for dropping out, well its an agreement. No different than any other agreement. Now it's up to you whether you want to use collections or not, but most people, if they know they are committing to something and they are a good customer they will pay it, especially if you get some $ up front, they have an incentive to continue, b/c they will have lost that $.

You could charge a drop out fee. You very well could. I wasnt saying you shouldnt, I was just saying I'm not the one who suggested it on this thread, and if you are gonna get permission to charge their card a drop out fee, and they will agree to that, why wont they agree to let you charge pmts every month. I'd rather someone charge me payments than have my CC lingering out there knowing someone can charge it at will if I cancel.

So try it. Be innovative. Get rich.

Wait...

You paid $13,000 for business coaching and you're here asking about payment options? Am I missing something?