Should a new real estate photographer shoot for free?

Only if you have nothing at all to show, and only with an ask attached: a free shoot for two or three introductions in her office. Once you have one real listing in your gallery, free is over.

What should I discount instead of my real estate photography price?

The upsell. Photos stay at 100%. Offer the drone, a floor plan or the first video at half off. The agent gets a reason to try the extra and the thing she buys every time keeps its price.

Does a free shoot help build a real estate photography portfolio?

One real listing does, and that is all you need to stop waiting. Just don't call it a portfolio when you ask. Say you're building relationships with local agents.

Answers › Bold takes

Ask the agent

Should I shoot for free to get my first real estate clients?

I was thinking about doing it for free to get experience, but everyone says don’t. I haven’t started because I don’t think my portfolio is good enough.Asked by a photographer on William Bateau, Palm Beach County, Florida

Free isn’t the mistake. Free photos are. A free shoot tells her what you’re worth before she’s seen the work, and every quote after that starts at $0. Keep the photos at full price and give away the upsell instead. There is one time free makes sense, and it comes with a string.

Free photos set your price at zero

She learns your number before she sees your work. That is the order a free shoot puts things in, and it is backwards. The $0 lands first, and it sticks.

Every quote after that is a raise she didn’t ask for. You shot the first one for nothing, so a real number on the second one reads as a hike, not a price. Now you’re re-selling her on paying at all, and you’re doing it from zero.

And look at who says yes. An agent who takes a free shoot is not an agent you want. She didn’t pick you for the work. She picked you for the price, and the price was nothing.

Every quote after a free shoot is a raise she didn’t ask for.

Never discount the core. Discount the upsell

I learned this with my own money. Early on I ran "50% off your first two shoots." People booked. It pulled the cheapest people I have ever met, and they treated me like the discounted guy, forever. The discount was the first thing they knew about me and it never wore off.

I know that agent because I shared an office with her for a decade. The agent who says yes to free is still negotiating with you in year three.

So the photos stay at 100%. If you want to put something on the table, give the drone, a floor plan or the first video at half off. She gets a reason to try the extra, and the thing she will buy every time keeps its price.

And if you discount, discount three, not two. "Three for 33% off" beat "two for 50%." Less off, and one more shoot in the calendar.

Never discount the core. Discount the upsell. Three for 33% beat two for 50%.

Free is for the proof you can’t show yet, with an ask attached

There is one time free makes sense: you have nothing to show. No listing, no gallery, nothing an agent can click. That is the only case. Already have a portfolio? Never free.

Even then it comes with a string, and most people forget the string. The ask, word for word: "I’ll shoot it, but introduce me to two or three people in your office." You’re not giving away a shoot. You’re buying introductions and one real listing for the gallery.

Which is the real stall in William’s question. He hasn’t started because the portfolio isn’t good enough. Waiting for a good-enough portfolio is the stall. One real listing ends it. Not ten. One.

Last thing. When you make the ask, never say "portfolio." Say you’re building relationships with local agents. Same shoot, different story.

The line

I’ll shoot it, but introduce me to two or three people in your office.

The big lesson

Never discount the core.

Do this

This week: rewrite your offer tonight. Full price on photos, one bonus on the upsell, one ask attached.

The agent opener scripts

One observation, one question, and the day 3 and day 10 follow-ups. Free. Then take the sixty-second roadmap quiz and I tell you what to fix first.

Get the scripts Get my roadmap

Straight answers

Should a new real estate photographer shoot for free?: Only if you have nothing at all to show, and only with an ask attached: a free shoot for two or three introductions in her office. Once you have one real listing in your gallery, free is over.
What should I discount instead of my real estate photography price?: The upsell. Photos stay at 100%. Offer the drone, a floor plan or the first video at half off. The agent gets a reason to try the extra and the thing she buys every time keeps its price.
Does a free shoot help build a real estate photography portfolio?: One real listing does, and that is all you need to stop waiting. Just don’t call it a portfolio when you ask. Say you’re building relationships with local agents.