012 - [SERIES] The First Year Files: CRM workflows & The Client Experience

Ever felt lost in a sea of emails, contracts, and last-minute scheduling? Today, Grace is turning your chaotic client process into a smooth, predictable journey that boosts trust and referral potential.

Main Topics:

• Creating a simple, reusable client workflow that feels personalized yet automated
• The power of systems like HoneyBook to manage inquiries, contracts, and gallery delivery seamlessly
• How clear communication and set expectations reduce inbox burnout and increase referrals

In this episode:

• Why your client workflow could be the game changer in your business growth
• The essential touchpoints from inquiry to final gallery and beyond
• How to set up automated email sequences that feel human and personalized
• The importance of contracts and retainer payments before sessions to avoid pitfalls
• Tips on crafting the perfect prep email and gallery delivery message
• Practical tools, from HoneyBook to PixieSet, to streamline every step
• How systems increase professional image and create more time for creative work
• The key to encouraging reviews and leveraging client testimonials effectively

Want personalized help?

• Book a coaching session to streamline your workflows and set up automations—link in show note footer!

Remember, your client workflow isn't just a process... it's an experience that builds trust, earns referrals, and makes your life easier. Let's turn chaos into choreography!

Connect with Alex & Grace:

• Alex - Instagram
• Alex - Website
• Grace - Instagram
• Grace - Website
• The Content Club: For Photographers
• The Creative Table: For All Creators

Education:

• Grace - 1:1 Coaching
• The Beginner Photography Blueprint

Must-Have Systems

• Website - Pixieset
• CRM - Honeybook

Arisa Haus Creative Marketing Agency

Grace & Andrew Cacho provide clarity to businesses and personal brands by means of Brand Message Clarity, Audits, Brand Strategy, Content Creation, Photo & Video, Web Design, and Social Media Management.

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

When I don't have systems, I just feel behind all the time, even when I'm not technically behind. And these systems really protect your time. I'm not saying I have this fully figured out. I had two babies in less than two years, 15 months to be exact. And it's been kind of a whirlwind figuring out all of this business stuff, but I'd much rather be the photographer that has systems in place than the photographer who is just like chasing inquiries, you know, three pages into my inbox because I didn't have anything to automate them or plug them into a CRM so I can follow up with them more efficiently. I wanted to start a podcast for creative entrepreneurs. So I asked Alex to join me. And I said, say less, I'm in. Welcome to the Say Less podcast, where we actually say a lot more about motherhood, creativity, photography, business ownership, and everything in between. We are your hosts, Alex and Grace, and this is a space for creative women building something meaningful. Whether you're raising babies, raising your rates, or just trying to figure out your next move, we talk about all the real stuff. What's working, what's not, what we're unlearning, what nobody tells you about building a business that has to fit inside a real life. The pivots, the pressure, the sustainability, and all of the seasons. If you've ever felt like you're creating in the margins of your time, your energy, or your confidence, you're not alone here. So say less. Let's get into it. We are doing a lot of episodes on the first year files, basically, what Alex and I wish we knew when we first started our businesses. Six for me, ten years ago for Alex. And today we are going to be jumping into your client workflow. So basically, what your client experience is from the time that they inquire with you to your final gallery delivery, following up with them necessary, all that good stuff. I am so excited about this. This is something that I did not really finalize in my business until a few years in. So I'm hoping that by talking about this, I can save you some man hours of feeling like you're flailing or you don't know where to start. This I think would be the next step, making sure you have systems in place, even if you're not sure what you want to niche down to yet, having some sort of workflow, automations, anything in place is only going to help your business not hurt it. So I just want to start off by saying, as a beginner, you're going to believe that you just need to get better at editing, you just need to upgrade your gear, you just need to rebrand. We talked about all the pretty stuff in the last episode and how that is important, but it shouldn't be the first thing. What if I just raise my prices? Maybe like more people will book me. Then I'll feel legit. And I think while there's a little bit of truth to that, who doesn't love a good rebrand and making sure all your stuff looks pretty? What's actually going to make you feel legit is going to be your systems that are in place. And I've met photographers with insane talent who feel chaotic because they don't have these systems in place, and then photographers with average skill who feel like CEOs. And I think the biggest difference is in the client workflow. So I'm going to kind of do a 30,000-foot view what a client workflow should look like at a glance. And this is meant for photographers, but also creative entrepreneurs, service-based providers in multiple industries, I think can benefit from this. So if you're not a photographer, don't skip to a different episode because this really could help you in your business as well. So with a simple workflow, you want to keep it clean. It doesn't need to be overwhelming. And to start, it doesn't just have to, you don't have to create 10 different workflows for 10 different types of shoots. Make one thing that you can reuse for maybe wedding photography, seniors, motherhood, newborn, whatever it may be, events. Just keep it clean. Don't overwhelm yourself. But this is what it can look like from inquiry to final gallery delivery. So first, you get your inquiry. Immediately, your potential client should get an auto response within minutes. And this is you have to have a little bit of nuance to this. You don't want it to seem like copy and paste. You're just sending the same automated email to everybody. So when you're wording it, it needs to feel like your own voice, all of those things. We talk about a lot using Chat GPT for different things. You gotta personalize some stuff. If you're using Chat GPT to help you write these emails, you have to go back through and insert your voice back into things. So your potential client should get an auto response basically saying, Hey, I got your email inquiry. I am tied up at the moment, but as soon as I get back to my computer, I'm gonna read through this and give it all the attention and care that I can because I want to give you a much more detailed response. You know, maybe let them know you need to look at your calendar to see if you're available, discuss availability more, but you're so, so excited to potentially work with them and you can't wait to chat. So that should be like an auto response that they receive within minutes because of what your um, regardless of what your type of shoot is, whether it's a wedding or an engagement session or whatever. Um, and then you can, this is more common for weddings, but you can offer a discovery call if they want it. So something around 15 to 30 minutes, whatever you think is appropriate. Some people do away with this entirely. You know, if you're in high enough demand, if your presence is known enough online and in social media, people probably already know who you are. They know your personality, they know you work. So they may not want a discovery call, but you you might also want it for you. So scheduling, giving them an option to schedule that discovery call is gonna be really important. And then contract and invoice before the date is secured. So I'm gonna get a little bit more into CRMs, the client relations managers that you can use. I personally use Honey Book, and in Honey Book, you can do contract, invoice, payment all in one file before their date is secured. And it's really important to let them know like I can't hold this date until this is secured. Um, you say it a lot nicer than that, obviously, but contract and invoice before date is secured, and then your you'll they'll get a confirmation of some sort. Prep email one week before session. So this is thinking more like lifestyle session, whatever they need to prep, whether it is, you know, I just want to touch base, here's a reminder about our shoot, here are some outfit ideas based on our location. And granted, these are all like main touch points. So of course you're gonna have a lot more email communication in between each one of these steps, but this is just again 30,000 foot view, most basic but most necessary touch points in your client workflow. So they're gonna get a prep email one week before session. Just got to make sure everybody's good, make sure they hear from you. Shoot day comes. I personally believe that you should like touch base with them the day before. And then also again on shoot day. This is where you can offer them your phone number. So it's a little bit easier to get in contact with you. So your shoot happens, everything goes great. You need your delivery timeline clearly stated in your contract first. But after your shoot, I would send a reminder email just saying, like, hey, I had a really great time. Um, just a reminder. And if you have a few sneaks to send them, they always love that. But remind them like I will have your photos back so quick. The five days that it's gonna take me to edit, colon edit these is gonna go by so fast. And I can't wait to get these in your hands as soon as possible. And then do a gallery email and review link. So in your final gallery delivery, I would do the gallery link. And then at the bottom, um, I would just like attach your Google review. However, you collect reviews, maybe you have Google, a Google form set up, some sort of form where you can ask them about their experience. Google obviously is invaluable. It is like mega lead source. We can't just rely on Instagram. So make sure you have Google review link in that email and then follow up. Maybe follow up two weeks later, maybe a month, especially if they haven't given you a Google review. I would insert that into that follow-up email as well. But keep it open-ended. Don't make it feel like they have to respond to you. Just one final touch point to let them know. Even 30 days after their session, you're still thinking about them. It really adds a nice personal touch, and they're probably more inclined to refer you out to someone else. So let's take a look at what your workflow can practically look like. And again, this is an episode geared mainly toward beginner photographers or photographers needing a reset. But the idea is that this system can be applied to many different creative jobs and service-based businesses. So let's get into it. Your very first email after a client sends you an inquiry. This should be automated. The moment someone fills out your contact form, they should get an email immediately, not I'll respond when I see it. It should say something like, I received your inquiry, here's my pricing guide, here's what happens next. I'll respond personally within 24 hours. Now it's up to you whether or not you want to include your pricing guide. Some people don't include a pricing guide right away. They wait till they have one touch point back from the potential client before sending a pricing guide because you can get ghosted. And so if you want a little bit more dialogue before a client just turns you away because of pricing, you can save that for a follow-up email in between these main touch points, but you can include that in your automated reply. So what I use for CRM, and Alex has been using this for 10 years. She's been, she's like one of the founding members using Honeybook. I love it. When she sent me the very first second shooter contract through Honey Book to me when we first started working together, that's that was my introduction to Honey Book. So I love it. I've been using it for six years, and I don't know that I'll use anything else personally. So what's really great about Honey Book is you can set up these automated emails, workflow templates, all of those things. If you're still manually responding to every inquiry from scratch, you're working too hard. And I don't say that to be mean. I say that to like just be honest. If you are getting burnt out sending personalized emotional responses to every single email inquiry you get for potential new clients, you're gonna burn out so quickly. And it kind of takes a little bit of the beauty out of the job. I I don't know about you, but I would much rather set up an automated email. Um, even if it's just one touch point in my workflow, one automated email can really help set up the entire client experience to where you look forward to client um client touch points more, talking to those clients. The next thing is going to be your contract and invoice before the date is secured. Never hold a date without a signed contract and paid retainer. And if you're just starting out, you'll probably have a lot of like friends and family in your life that are like, oh, look at you, so professional. And you're like, yeah, I am so professional. Thank you very much. So it might feel a little bit cringe to have all of these systems in place when you haven't been doing photography for 10 years, but like I've been doing it for six, and I wish that I would have had these kinds of things set up in my first two months. And so I feel like it just increases your longevity for the job long term. So contract and invoice before the date is secured. Like I said, in Honey Book, you can send a proposal that includes the contract, the invoice, the payment schedule. And now your client can actually choose a payment schedule if you so desire them to. And you can customize the design to have like a cute front page. You can customize the fonts, you can add pictures. Um, maybe you're doing a wedding and you did their engagement session, you can change photos in their final like wedding guide. Like there are just so many things you can do. You can add a confirmation page, you can redirect them to different a different link after they finish, going through the proposal. Um, and then you can actually automize a follow-up email after they finish the contract and sign the contract. So all in one click, you can have it as a template and then personalize it based on who you're sending it to. When money and boundaries are unclear, resentment grows. And I I have experienced this too often where I maybe it was a friend or it was early on in my career and we just like didn't bother with a contract because whatever. And then maybe their gallery, their wedding gallery expires after a year, and you know, that's standard for me. And they go to look at their gallery after that year is up and it's not there, and they're like, hey, where are my pictures? And I'm and I'm referencing a contract, like I sent it to them, but it's they didn't sign a contract. And so now the unarchiving fee that I also have for after photos, you know, expire and you have to go back through and re-upload them or whatever to get them to the client again. That's money that I'm also not making. And so there are just a lot of things that can be avoided when you do just like just use the contract every single time. Contract and invoice and payment before you ever take a photo, even if it's partial payment. Um, and I think this applies across industries. I would even go through and highlight the most important but looked over parts in your in your shoot contract or whatever service you're providing. I personally am a nursing mom, so I have to put in my contract when and how often and how long I need to pump, and that my team and I need to sit down and eat dinner at a wedding when the bride and groom are eating dinner, when payments are due, and what happens if, you know, they they don't pay by certain deadlines. And it really isn't to be harsh. You know, you look at a 30-page photography contract and it's like, whoa, overkill. But honestly, that you you don't need a contract until you do. And I would rather be completely covered and have that protection than not have it when I need it the most and things go haywire and go crazy. So that is my that's my two cents on contract and invoice. Prep uh email templates. So this will be like, let's say it's a lifestyle session, engagement session. One week before your session, you want to do location confirmation, what to wear, what to expect, what not to stress about. Ask them if they have any other questions, if there is parking information that they need to know, tell them all this stuff a week before, and then like double check with them. Maybe you don't hear back from them like the day before the shoot, uh, because you will you will touch base again before the session. And like I don't rewrite this every time. It's a template. I tweak names and personal details and I hit send. And I I think we need to normalize these systems because as business owners who want to scale, we want to shoot more. We want to, we want to, well, you know, depending on who you are, you might want to be shooting less, but you you want to be able to work more. And I think the more you can systemize your email templates and client workflow, the the more you can just focus on, you know, shooting and editing and all of those things. Delivery timeline, non-negotiable. This is huge. Your delivery window should be stated before you ever shoot. It should be in your contact instead of I'll try to get it to you soon, or like maybe it'll take a few days. Your gallery will, you know, be delivered within seven business days period, and then stick to that. Your confidence and their confidence is gonna build from that predictability. Okay, now I'm gonna get into the gallery delivery email. When you send the gallery or you want to sneak peek, tell them thank you, tell them how to download everything, include the link to download, include a Google review link. Gently encourage them to tag you on social media and Facebook, but don't require it. Remind them that these are their photos, share it with grandma, share it with whoever, download it, frame it, whatever they want to do with these photos. They these are their photos. You should have in your contract not to further edit them or sell them. But I actually have an example email open right here. So this is post-wedding, uh, an email I would send post-wedding with sneak peeks, which my clients get a day or two after the wedding. Usually I try to do by next day. So here's what it is the subject says stop in all caps what you're doing, sneak peeks incoming, and then I have hi, and then the little client names, smart field. I need you to mentally prepare because I am all caps losing it over these. Your sneak peeks are ready, and I truly hope you're as obsessed with these as I am because lots of question marks, all caps, the joy, the vibes, the love, it's all right there. Your wedding day was such a dream to be a part of. The emotion, the people, the way you two look at each other. I could relive it a hundred times and still get emotional. I had to get a few of these into your hands, ASAP, because they were simply too good to sit on. And then I have all caps in bold. Go see your sneak peeks, and then I'll put the link right below with the code to access them. And it says, please feel fully encouraged to share these anywhere and everywhere. Send them to family, make them your phone background, the whole bit. And if you post, tag me so I can freak out with you all over again. Your full gallery is coming soon. And if these are just the previews, whew, it's going to be so, so special. Also, real quick, when you come down from the excitement and have a quiet minute, if you'd be willing to leave a quick review about your experience so far, it would honestly mean the world to me. Your words help future couples feel confident in supporting my business more than you know. I have my Google review link right there. And then I say, still so grateful I got to capture such an incredible day for you. More magic coming very soon. Congrats, Mr. and Mrs. Blank. So that is a very meaty email, but I am letting them know that I had such a great time. It's not like a here's your gallery, hope you like it, and then nothing else. I really try to give them a next step, and that is leaving a Google review while they are still on the high from the wedding day. I try to get pictures in their hand as fast as possible while the excitement is still there. So that is my example email. That is a template that I do reuse for weddings. And then gallery delivery. I'm just gonna throw this out there. I do use Pixie Set for gallery delivery, mostly because that's where my website is also hosted, which we'll get into on another episode. I do like PickTime. Uh, I actually prefer Pick Time. Pixie Set is a much more cost-effective option. Pick time is really great though, and then shoot proof is is also an option. So I'll put those in the show notes. You can decide what you want to use. I'm a mom. I'm running a household, multiple businesses, and trying to maintain a social life. When I don't have systems, I just feel behind all the time, even when I'm not technically behind. And these systems really protect your time. I'm not saying I have this fully figured out. I had two babies in less than two years, 15 months to be exact. And it's been kind of a whirlwind figuring out all of this business stuff, but I'd much rather be the photographer that has systems in place than the photographer who is just like chasing inquiries, you know, three pages into my inbox because I didn't have anything to automate them or plug them into a CRM so I can follow up with them more efficiently. So we have photographer A, who responds manually at random times, books with Venmo all the time, no contract, delivery whenever I feel like, you know, I can finish editing and feels anxious, waiting for any sort of reviews, whether that be Google reviews, people posting and tagging. And then you have photographer B who has an inquiry auto-reply to touch base like immediately, a CRM like Honey Book that sends a contract and invoice really efficiently with all the info they need, clear delivery window, seven days, two weeks, whatever you want to do. Um, a delivery email that includes a review link. I would say put that in your gallery delivery or your sneak peek delivery and in your final gallery delivery email, and then a post session template. So these could be the same $500 session or whatever you think, like $350, maybe it's a $3,000 wedding. It could be the same, um, different stress level, different authority, same creative talent. And if you're not a photographer but you're a service provider, this still applies. Every client journey should feel predictable for you and for them. It takes a lot of the guesswork out of everything. Um, and honestly, it's it takes the stress off of you, but also it's a lot more professional to your clients. And you could take really great pictures and still get a referral. I'm not saying that doesn't happen, but if your if your systems and your workflow is like top tier, client experience is top tier, you're definitely gonna get some referrals. So I'm just gonna go over, I'm gonna go over our top to bottom, beginning to end inquiry to final gallery, everything you should have in place for your client workflow, all of these client touch points, knowing that there will be some stuff in between, some more touch points in between. Let's say your client has questions or anything like that. This is this is zoomed out, 30,000-foot view what you should have as like your most basic. Honestly, it seems like a lot, but this should be your most basic workflow from inquiry to gallery delivery. So we have inquiry, auto response within minutes, and customize that. A discovery call if they want it or if you want it, contract and invoice before date is secured, a prep email one week before the session, shoot day, obviously, shoot day contact. So you should give them your phone number at this point, delivery timeline clearly stated. So reiterate that after their shoot, follow up with them, let them know this per my contract. This is when you'll get your gallery delivery. Maybe send them a few sneaks if you have it, and then your gallery, final gallery email and review link. So you can get those Google reviews, and then a follow-up whenever you want to, two weeks after that gallery delivery, and that can also be automated. So if you're using Honey Book, there's a project pipeline, if you will. So you get to the end of the pipeline and it's like, I am planning this session and then editing this session. You can complete it or archive it. So before it's archived, I would have one more automated email. Email set up to follow up two weeks or a month after, depending on if it's like a session or a wedding or an event, whatever your your thing might be, just to touch base with them again. Like, hey, I just wanted to let you know, like reiterate how amazing it was to work with you and leave it at that. And then if they haven't left a review, or like just remind them. If you haven't left a review, just a reminder, this helps my business so much. Would look, you know, I'm looking forward to potentially working with you again in the future, period. So this can seem like a lot. And then you get into customizing it for different types of sessions, like weddings or engagements, having questionnaires, things like that. Really super important to have in your templates. I'm going to just throw this out there as well. I do a beginner photographer business coaching or creative entrepreneur business coaching, very beginner. So if you want help setting up these systems, if you don't know what to say, I do offer that. I'll put the link to all of that information in the show notes. But basically, like one hour Zoom call, one-on-one session. I would love to kind of help you get your business set up with honeybook and all of those things. Alex and I are here to help you. Again, this this is it sounds intense, it sounds deep, but we are we're so excited to help, you know, just set you up for success. We learned so much of this on the fly as entrepreneurs. We we're just figuring it out still. So if you made it this far through the episode, thank you so much for listening and we will catch you next time. Bye.