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If you have a photography service, sending a quote is the first step to doing business with a new client. With Skynova, you can make personalized quotes and get them to your clients easily. We even help you keep track of when your clients see them.
After creating a personalized quote with Skynova's quote software, you can email a private link to your potential client. They then have the option to accept your quote online. If the quote is accepted, you can immediately switch your quote to an invoice and get to work. Skynova makes the whole process fast and simple, so nothing gets in the way of you taking pictures.
If you've used Microsoft Excel or MS Word to make quotes, or even written them up by hand in the past, you know what a hassle getting them just right can be. Skynova speeds up the operation. Our photography quotation template is a fully editable, professional-looking document you can print or download as a PDF. Your client doesn't even have to download anything. Everything is stored online.
Skynova's template provides your photography business with a dynamic system for getting quotes to your clients. Your clients will be impressed with your quote's slick design and appreciate how painless it is to work with you. If you're a photographer, check out the template we've made below just for your business:
You most likely didn't get into the photography business because you like doing administration. Chores like making order forms and price lists can be draining to the artistic type. Taking the perfect photograph can be a labor of love, and you shouldn't have to split your focus with paperwork.
Sadly, you have to make quotes, invoices, and other business documents to get paid for your services. While Skynova can't help you avoid paperwork altogether, we can at least minimize the time you spend on it.
The following is a how-to guide for using Skynova's price quote template to create the best quotes for your company. You'll be amazed at the time you save over creating quotes from scratch.
A good quote should clearly feature the names of both your business and the potential client. In the "Your Name" field, add the name that your company does business under. If you own the business, this might be your personal name, but if your business has a company name, use that instead. Your client must be able to easily recognize your business name.
In the "Customer Name" field, type in the name of your potential client. It might be the name of an individual or a business. For example, if the job is wedding photography, you'll likely be dealing with a member of a family, but if you're doing event photography for a business conference, your client will likely be a corporate entity.
Fill out the "Your Address" and "Customer Address" in a similar fashion, using business or personal addresses as needed. You can add a contact email or phone number under your address to make it easy for your clients to reach you with any concerns or questions.
You can use your email address instead of your physical address if you'll be conducting all of your business online. Your clients might appreciate your personal phone number, but it's unnecessary if you don't feel comfortable giving it out.
Getting a client's information wrong can make your business look really unprofessional. Double- and triple-check your information to make sure you don't offend anyone. Don't forget to check your information, too. You don't want to have to chase down payments that go to the wrong place.
A memorable logo can legitimize your company to your clients. Your logo gives your clients an easy way to remember your business and encourages them to view you as a professional.
Skynova lets you upload your logo directly to your quote. At the top of the quote template page, click "Show Customization Options." Check the box that says "Logo." Under that, you'll see a box that says "Your Logo Here" in blue on the right. Click "Browse" to find your logo in your files.
To maximize the effectiveness of your logo, use a clear, attractive image. Low-quality, cut-off, or off-center images can appear amateurish when the whole point is to emphasize your professionalism.
To keep your quotes organized, you'll want them to be easily identifiable. You never know when you'll have to pull up a quote for a client. Having quick access to them can help you track price changes, settle disagreements, and see how much you've charged for service in the past.
Each quote needs a unique number. You can give a quote any number, but it's wise to use a numbering system you'll remember. If you number one quote, "#400," it would make sense to number the next one "#401."
Many clients will send you purchase orders (P.O.s) as agreements to do business with you. A P.O. shows the amount a client will pay for a specific service or good. Skynova lets you add a P.O. number to its corresponding quote. Click on "Show Customization Options" at the top of the photography quote template page. Check the box next to "P.O. #." A text box will pop up below "Quote #" for the "P.O. #."
After receiving a purchase order, you're required to send back an invoice. While purchase orders state that the client will pay you for your service, invoices state that you will complete service for payment. Skynova customers can automatically convert quotes to photography invoices if they've been accepted. If you've been creating your invoices manually, you know how handy this feature is.
All quotes need to be dated. You can use the day you create the quote or the day you send it, which can be the same day. Keeping your photography quotes dated will help you recall things like how long it's taken for a client to respond and when the last time you worked with someone was.
If it's been a while, and your client still hasn't responded to your quote, you can contact them to see if they're still considering your photography services. At that point, they might hire you, let you know they don't need your services, or continue ignoring you. Either way, you'll know whether you'll be working with someone.
It's not fair to you to fill your calendar with jobs that might not happen, and unfortunately, some potential clients won't be considerate of your time. If someone requests a quote for headshots on a particular day but doesn't show up, you've lost not only the payment for that job, but you've also wasted valuable time.
Having correctly dated quotes can help you know when to reach out to a client and give up on one.
As a photographer, you'll need to charge for things like prints. Other costs might not be so obvious. For instance, if you have to travel to a job, you'll need to be reimbursed for gas and travel time. You might add a fee for extra services like editing that require expensive software.
It's important to include these items in your quote and let your client know if costs change for any reason. If the price of a job increases too much, you might even have to get the quote reapproved by the client.
For example, you and a client might have agreed on a price for a number of 8-inch by 10-inch photographs. Later, the client decides they'd like to change the size to 11-inch by 14-inch prints, believing the price will be the same. However, you charge a higher rate to print larger pictures.
Under "Item," click the downward arrow and choose "Product" to charge for a material. Under "Description," write the name of the material in a language your client can comprehend. For the most part, photography terms are pretty easy to understand, but you might use words like "deposit" instead of "retainer fee" to avoid confusion.
Skynova's quote template lets you customize unit prices (the cost of each item) and quantities (the number of an item). Filling out these two categories will let the client know what they're paying for. When you're done filling in the numbers, Skynova will total everything for you.
An important decision you'll have to make as a photographer is whether you'll be charging by an hourly or a fixed rate based on each project. Both choices have pros and cons. Charging hourly ensures you'll be paid for all the time you put in, but you'll have to pay close attention to your hours. Also, if a job takes longer than expected, you might have to explain new charges to a client.
Charging a fixed rate by project is easier because you don't have to keep track of anything, and there's no concern about unexpected charges. However, if you charge a flat rate for something like editing, you may miss out on money if a particular group of photos requires a time-consuming amount of alterations.
To type in the number of hours you worked, click the drop-down list under "Items" and choose "Hours." Write an easy-to-understand description like "Family Reunion Photography Labor." For "Unit Price," list the price per hour for your labor, and for "Quantity," list the number of hours you worked. The template will add up the total for you.
If you have a fixed rate, you'll choose "Service" in the "Item" drop-down menu. Identify the price of your service under "Description." The "Unit Price" will be the total cost of the service, and the "Quantity" will be "1." The quantity can be more than "1" if a job has multiple parts. For example, if you've been hired to photograph a wedding, the couple may want you to also photograph related events like the proposal, the rehearsal, or the reception.
Offering clients discounts can be a kind gesture and a clever way to increase sales. You can offer discounts to groups like military veterans or first responders. You can offer loyalty discounts for repeat clients. You can even offer discounts for clients who refer business to you. Discounts are a great way to let a client know you appreciate their business.
Our quote template lets you include discounts with ease. Select "Discount" from the "Item" drop-down list and describe the discount as something like "Military Family Discount" or anything else the client will easily comprehend. Use "Unit Price" to enter the amount of the discount. The discount will show up as a negative number, like "-50.00," and automatically subtracted from the total.
If you think certain charges on your quote could confuse your client, you may want to offer some additional explanation. Maybe a particular part of a job will require you to use artificial loop lighting. You might want to explain the extra charges for the transportation and use of your equipment.
You can also make a positive impact on your client by adding a kind note to your quote. A thoughtful thank-you note can go a long way toward ingratiating you with a client.
You can accomplish either of these goals with the "Notes" section of our quote template. Click in the box and write a message to explain anything you feel needs extra context or write a nice note your client will appreciate.
Using our photography quotation sample template for your business makes getting compensated easier than ever.
Below are a few tips for getting paid for your photography. Incorporating these tips into your business will help you be successful.
A photographer's success depends heavily on referrals. When people are looking for photographers, they often first turn to their social circle for recommendations. Offer discounts or other incentives to build your referrals. Many referrals now happen over social media, so make a business page to connect with your clientele.
Offer clients the ability to purchase the licensing for the photos you take. If you're doing photography for a business, purchasing the licensing for photos will allow them to use them for promotional materials. To do this, you will have to draft a contract, but some businesses can pay large amounts for the ability to use your images.
To maximize your earnings, professional photographers should charge appropriate fees for every service they offer. You can charge for things like creating quality physical or digital prints, editing, making Photoshop documents (PSDs) to use in Photoshop, and doing makeup.
The tax laws for photographers are a little tricky compared to other jobs. While most states don't charge taxes on labor, some consider photography to be in the category of a service or product, which can be taxable.
Navigating billing can be monotonous for a photographer. You don't want to be doing things like designing your own wedding photography contract template. Photographers are passionate about their work and would much rather be out capturing the perfect shot than working on administration.
Skynova lets professionals easily take control of their billing and accounting needs, from designing proposal templates to requesting credit card payments. Our templates are fully customizable and printable, and each of our document templates comes in the form of a free download.
Give us a chance to optimize your billing operations so that you can spend your time following your passion. You'll be glad you did.