Over the past few years I’ve managed to build a pretty streamlined operation for how I book and manage clients. I want to take you through each step and hopefully inspire you to develop your workflow in some way.
First off, none of this would be possible without Honeybook. If you aren’t using a CRM like Honeybook, I highly recommend checking this out. This is great for anyone who is booking 5+ paid projects a year. If you want 50% off your first year and a free 30 minute mentor session from me. Hit the button below. Yes, the $400 a year ($200 with my code) isn’t cheap, but it will be the best money you spend on your business. Trust me.
Step 1: Get an inquiry
I’m assuming you’ve got Honeybook or something similar. You’ve created a contact form on your site that links to your CRM (see mine: https://www.tonywodarck.com/contact). My one suggestion for your contact form, add a question about who the couple is. This allows you to have something to connect with them on right out of the gate in your first reply.
Now that you’ve got your inquiry, reply ASAP. The couple is searching for their photographer. Replying quickly builds a sense of trust and confidence immediately. In your reply to the couple, state whether you’re available on their date, try to connect with them in some way through the info they gave you, whether you love their venue, share similar interests, anything.
Give them a few times soon that you’re available to jump on a call/Facetime/zoom. You’re trying to get them on a call ASAP.
STEP 2: The Intro Call
I look at this call as three parts:
Section 1: Get to know the couple. Ask a lot of questions, who they are, etc. Try to understand their personality, their hobbies, passions, work, etc.
Section 2: Tell them a bit about yourself. Use the info you’ve gathered in the first part to continue to try and connect with them. Play into the things they mentioned they like about you. Tell them your process, how you direct and shoot, and anything else that would be helpful for them to understand how you work.
Section 3: Answer any questions they have. I usually have a few I like to ask to get the convo going if they don’t know questions to ask. Questions such as: what they’re most excited about for the wedding, why an engagement shoot is so important, wedding party size, how printing and photo delivery works, contract and payment, etc.
I typically don’t get in to numbers too much on this call. I follow up the call with my full pricing so we don’t need to get too sucked in to talking about money on the phone. I should add, I have my starting prices listed on the site, which helps eliminate surprise and weed out the convos with couples who I’m clearly out of their budget.
Bonus tip: Take notes during the call in the notes section of Honeybook on their project. That way you can reference them a few months later when you’re reviewing their questionnaire prior to their big day.
STEP 3: The Followup
I immediately followup the call with a link to my pricing and some more FAQs. This is a private password-protected page I’ve made on my website. This is super easy to do in Squarespace, I’m not familiar with Wordpress or other sites, but I imagine there’s an option. By using this website instead of the Honeybook brochure I can update the FAQs, my pricing and anything I want on one page. The Honeybook brochures work great too if you’d rather use those.
Here’s a peek at mine: https://www.tonywodarck.com/wedding password: love
Things to note on this page: The packages are clear and easy to understand. The middle package is the “most popular” and what about 90% of my couples book, checkout the next steps and FAQs. Please feel free to repurpose this template for your site, but please don’t copy and paste it in it’s entirety like I’ve seen people do. (face palm emoji)
Step 4: Booking
I’m at the point where the inquiries I get are usually pretty “warm leads”. Meaning they already know me, follow me on Instagram and love my work already, or even more typically these past few years, a past client or wedding vendor has referred me. This has led to me booking 75% or so of the inquiries I get that I’m available for. Now that we’ve had a call, we’ve connected and they feel like they know me, they’ve looked over the pricing, they’re ready to book. They typically hit me up and say something like: “We love and trust you and would love for you to be our photographer”. This isn’t by accident. Along every step so far I’ve tried to be as an outgoing, honest, trustworthy, and personal as possible. Most couples go with the middle package I’ve helped guide them in to because it’s what most people want. 8 hours of coverage, an engagement shoot, and a second shooter.
STEP 5: CONTRACT & PAYMENT
Now that they’ve decided what they want (Riserva Collezione) I send over a proposal through Honeybook. This includes what’s in their package and my contract. I am using a modified version of Laurken Kendall’s contract and it’s been working great. The beautiful part about Honeybook is that it’s adding in all the custom text from your inquiry and the package info you’ve gathered. Meaning it’s auto-populating names, dates, locations, and package details. They can now review your contract, sign it digitally and pay the first payment via check, credit card or bank transfer. Once I’ve got that set, they’re locked in.
STEP 6: Preparing for the Wedding
Hopefully you’ve convinced them to shoot an engagement session. This lets your couple get comfortable in front of the camera and build trust in your process and the work you do. It lets you all get comfortable together. I have been bringing an example of my heirloom layflat albums to the engagement shoot so they can feel and understand the quality. The album sells itself when I get it in my couples’ hands.
Now that you’ve shot their engagement the last step before the wedding is my questionnaire. I built this and send it to them through Honeybook. This is one of the best steps to my entire wedding process. It helps me gather the info I need to knock it out of the park. It lets me see any potential red flags we can work through prior to the big day, I can gather the details I need to prepare in any way possible and just sets all of us up for success. You can read more about the rest of my process and see my questionnaire through the link below.
I hope that peek into my process has helped you understand how simple the process can be. Making sure you clearly communicate at every step of the process will assure you and your couple are always on the same page. If you ever have any questions, shoot me a DM on Instagram.
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