You Get What You Pay For

You often get what you pay for and if you’re like me, you sometimes have to learn this lesson multiple times, unfortunately. Several years ago I made an investment in my marketing that filled a void (I’ll leave the details out as it’s not really relevant). When I looked at various solutions, some were clearly more expensive than others (by almost 3X)  and my sense was those more expensive solutions would yield a better result. But rather than go with my gut, I chose the less expensive option. The result was OK, but not ideal – it just has never really felt right.

So fast forward to today, I’m embarking on replacing that solution with the more costly option – and already I’m seeing how much better it is and I’m confident this will be something that will really work for my business. And when I look back on investments that I made that I felt good about – most, if not all have met or exceeding my expectations.

I’ve had clients who have shared similar stories about their experience with headshots – they’re redoing them because they weren’t happy with the results from the previous photographer (who was less expensive) and the ultimate cost will be more than if they had gone the better route to begin with. Of course there are always mitigating circumstances – budget constraints, a decision maker who just wants to get the job done so they can “check the box”, goes with the lowest price and figures the results will be “good enough”, etc..

I was networking at a gathering of marketing people last nite and we got onto the subject of AI and headshots. He told me he used an AI program and for $31 got a new headshot – and showed it to me. I’ll admit that not only am I biased when I look at images, but I also see things that most people don’t notice or pay much attention to. But I couldn’t help wonder if at some point he may realize that the image really doesn’t show the best of him and reflect his expertise. And what he/we’ll never know is whether he didn’t get a particular job because someone else’s image, that was professionally done by someone who really knows what they’re doing, created a better first impression.