Ask the agent

A cheaper photographer is undercutting me. Do I lower my price?

If price is the only reason she stays, she’s loyal to the discount

Twelve listings in, and the thing holding her is the number. That is what her text tells you. Not that she is unhappy. That nothing else came to mind.

Her text isn’t a question. She already compared you, on price alone, and she is giving you one chance to win the comparison. You can’t. There is always someone cheaper next. You can’t win that race, only run it.

So the decision in front of you is not what number to send back. It is whether the number is the only thing you have ever given her. The number is not the decision. The product is, and the time to build it was twelve listings ago. It still gets built tonight, because the next agent is going to send the same text.

Never discount the core. Discount the upsell.

So what do you text her back? Not a lower number.

Photos stay at 100 percent. The reply: "I won’t match him on photos. I’ll throw in video at half on this one so you see the difference in showings."

She still gets a deal, so she can say yes without losing face. Your photo price never moves, so the next comparison starts from the same number it always did.

I sat next to the agents who grind their photographer down on price, for ten years. They leave the day someone’s cheaper, and they tell the office about the deal on the way out. The ones who stayed with a photographer stayed for something the cheap guy didn’t have.

Build a product she’s loyal to, not a price

That reply saves one listing. This is what keeps the next twelve.

The rule I gave Abidur: if some kid offers free photos, she shouldn’t care. At Cineminn that is ten free VA hours at delivery, the marketing kit, and a short onboarding questionnaire so every house gets shot her way.

She fills in the questionnaire the day you book, so the house comes out the way she pictured it. She gets VA hours at delivery that put her listing in front of buyers. She gets a kit that makes her look like the obvious choice to the seller. None of that fits in a text that says cheaper.

The next photographer won’t handle her with that care. He will send a link. And if she leaves anyway, over price, she was never yours. The twelve listings were a discount she hadn’t noticed yet.

Straight answers

Should I match a cheaper real estate photographer’s price?

No. Matching tells her your price was padded, and the next cheaper guy starts the cycle again, lower. Hold the photo price and discount one upsell instead.

What do I say when an agent asks me to lower my quote?

"I won’t match him on photos. I’ll throw in video at half on this one so you see the difference in showings." She gets a deal, your photo price stays where it is.

How do I keep agents from leaving for a cheaper photographer?

Give them something price can’t replace. At Cineminn that is ten free VA hours at delivery, the marketing kit and an onboarding questionnaire. If price is the only reason she stays, she is loyal to the discount, not you.

Related questions

• An agent said ’We found someone cheaper.’ What do I say?
• The agent wants a discount. What do I say?
• How do I get agents to value quality over the cheapest option?

Julian Lundgren sold real estate for ten years before he shot a listing for money. He runs Cineminn, a Minneapolis real estate photography studio, and writes these answers from the agent’s side of the table. Send a question to info@cineminn.com.