The Client Experience Strategy That Builds Trust & Attracts Ideal Clients with Alison Bell

Colie: Hey y’all. Welcome back. So I’m bringing a guest that has been on the podcast before, but she was here with her podcast co-host, and so she was not alone. This time, she’s on her own. She’s just here to like have a conversation that started in our email. So welcome Alison Bell back to the podcast.

Alison: Hey, thanks for having me. Excited.

Colie: So today we’re gonna talk about client experience.

She is a photographer. She has her own business. She serves 100% vacationers in Hawaii. And so I think that this episode is going to be really interesting because I do think that it takes a different level of client experience and client communication to serve people that are only coming to your location for a short amount of time.

And you have to make sure that you have nailed. Everything before they arrive.

Alison: Absolutely a hundred percent. And it’s, it’s a different set of boundaries as well, because there’s no whoopsie. Let’s redo that. Or there’s very little room for that.

Colie: So, Allison, tell me about what is currently, well, first of all, let’s start this conversation since I know that you don’t use one of my preferred CRMs. Allison, what CRM do you use?

Alison: I use rest in peace. Tave, sco, whatever you wanna call it. Tave is just rolls off the tongue easier. So if I say they’re interchangeable, they’re the same, Visco, tave, whatever.

Colie: And just for context, guys, that’s what I had before I switched to Dubsado. So I loved Tve, and you guys might have heard me say this before. The only reason that I left was because it was ugly. It was ugly, and I couldn’t show my films when I was trying to get people to pay me extra money for video. And so I switched to Dubsado just so that I could show people my films.

But when I tell you that the level of automation in Tave. Is the best. It really is the best.

Alison: It’s so good. It’s so good at fires when you. Forgot that it’s supposed to fire or you change one thing and it no longer matches your, your conditions, you know, you really gotta learn it, but their, their support’s fantastic. Thank you Visco Tave support.

Colie: Okay, let’s jump into your client experience. So what do you think makes the biggest difference for you in client experience Because of the specific like type of client that you are serving.

Alison: Honestly, communication, communication being, being quick to respond. One of my big policies is as soon as I get a, uh, inquiry, I try to respond within 24 hours via text. Like not, yes, they get the, the autoresponder, like, thanks for your submission. Here’s some more information. But it’s. I’m fast. I, ’cause I know from being a mom and, and hiring my own photographers, you don’t just go find a photographer and inquire with one person.

No. You’re spewing out the same information like rapid fire amongst all the possibilities. Two or three, four or five at a time. And the first respond gets your memory. You’re not gonna remember who site went with what name, and what photo went with what, what response. So if I can be fast. I, I’m memorable, and so that’s what I

Colie: Well. And I feel like for you, you have a different layer because when people are booking vacations, they are trying to get everything settled right then. Like maybe they did a lot of research. They’ve researched airline tickets and hotel rooms and like all the things. And as a photographer you are probably not their priority.

They have booked everything else. And you are kind of like that icing on the cake. Like, Hey, we want a photographer now let’s find one that can fit us in, versus, you know, oh no, you’re the one photographer that we wanna work with. Oh, you don’t have time in July. That’s okay. We’ll come in August instead.

That’s not a thing for you.

Alison: No, that’s not at all. But it is funny, funny hearing you say that because it is the gamut of people. I had a family of five that had booked this vacation for months and months, and she called me the week before I have that. And surprisingly because it was a slow season, we were able to, to knock something out.

But then there’s also, there’s what was shocking to me, being in Hawaii, there’s so many extended family vacations, a lot of big anniversaries. 40 50th anniversaries. We had a 60th anniversary recently. But also like big birthdays, terminal illnesses. There’s a lot of that stuff where, where the photos sometimes, I mean, I come after the dates, airlines and hotels, but sometimes before they’ve booked a luau, before they’ve booked X, Y, and ZI, it’s,

Colie: Yeah, because the photos are the priority in that case. Like they

Alison: They are.

Colie: they have these memories. And so when it comes to booking the extras, let’s call it the activities

Alison: The extras. Yes, I am. I am itinerary not, not set in stone.

Colie: So they are inquiring with you and probably a lot of other people, and you already say that you have an autoresponder. I’m curious, like you said that it includes information. What are you including inside of that auto response?

Alison: Okay. So one thing people don’t like is that in Hawaii we’re gonna do all our sessions at sunrise. I used to think it was. I used to think it was torture, like unusual, cruel punishment to ask a mom to have her children dressed and ready, photo ready, and have herself cleaned up and at the photo location before the sun was up.

Cruel and unusual. But here in Hawaii, it’s the only way to do it and it’s the only way to do it for a lot of reasons. So one of the things I have in my autoresponder is, hey. In case she didn’t see on my website, I say this could be a deal breaker, but it really can be a deal breaker.

And so I want you to know sessions happen at Sunrise and here’s why. Here’s why. Here’s a short list. And I was like, if you wanna read more about it, here’s a link to a blog post I wrote about why I only offer Sunrise sessions. Some people are like, oh, this is a deal breaker. I’m like, cool.

I, I totally get it. Bless and release, you know your people better than I do. But at the same time, I own the fact that I know this place better than you do, and I know the traffic and I know the way the beaches work, and I know the weekend versus weekday works. And so this is my policy and I’m, I’m unapologetic about it.

It’s a hard line I’m gonna draw, but also if that doesn’t work for you, I get it.

Colie: I mean, I love this, and this is the first time that I’ve ever heard this be like the deal breaker information. That someone needs to know before they even consider booking you. So I’m curious, you’re giving it to ’em in the autoresponder. How many other times are you addressing this within your entire client experience to make sure that, hey, this wasn’t this thing that I mentioned to you before you booked and now you forgot, and now we’re at, you know, close to the session, you’re coming and you’re like, oh my God, we’re shooting at 6:00 AM Yes, I told you this.

How many times are you

Alison: Oh Lord. So it is listed on my contact page that this is, this, I only offer Sunrise sessions. There’s a blog post about it, under FAQs. So that’s twice on my website. Um, and they have, hopefully they have to see it before they even inquire. My first contact, my first response back to an inquiry is via text.

So that’s the text, in the first 24 hours. And I say it there, I say, I say it in the text, I say it on my website twice. It goes in the autoresponder email and we talk about it when I get a client on the phone. ’cause I require all my clients to get on the phone. Because I do think so differently out here.

I let ’em know like, this is sunrise time. This is, this is your shoot time. If this is a deal breaker, totally get it, but.

Colie: Okay, I, I’m gonna suggest one more place

Alison: yeah. Let’s hear it.

Colie: in the confirmation of the call. So when they book the discovery call, that automatic email that they get that is confirming the day and the time I would put it in there too. Now, you didn’t say this, but I’m assuming it’s in your contract.

Alison: No.

Colie: Woo. You should put it in your contract with an initial.

Alison: Okay.

Colie: I’m trying to make sure that like every opportunity that you have, ’cause I mean that, that sounds like a deal breaker for many people who have like the small children, but also it’s so smart that you do that though, because I can’t imagine trying to work with children after they’ve had an entire day of vacation to be worn out.

I mean, never. Never, you know, nevermind the beach and the traffic like you’ve partied all day. No, you don’t wanna come be in front of my camera for an

Alison: No, you don’t. And I mean, of all the other things, first of all, there’s beer blow, there’s sunburns, there’s traffic, there’s like, you really wanna pull ’em away from this one fun thing you’re doing to go get in traffic, to go back to your hotel, to come back into traffic, to get to a photo spot that’s gonna be super crowded because everybody’s awake now.

I mean, all I have to do is say that and people are like, oh, okay, maybe. But jet lag. Everybody’s at least three hours jet lagged at least. So we do this first thing in, in the morning for your first or second day here. You get it done, it’s out of the way. And jet lag helps you. Like, usually by that time I have a conversation with them on the phone about it.

I’ve never had it, be a problem after the phone call. So I’m, I’m honest with them. I’m very, probably, probably too direct for some people, but I’m just, it’s, it’s such a deal breaker.

Colie: I like it.

Alison: Yeah.

Colie: Alright, so we covered your autoresponder, then you have the discovery call that is absolutely required. after the discovery call, I mean you’re sending ’em an offer to book, which I think, you know, Allison does have a five minute booking process that I

Alison: do.

Colie: about. So we’re just gonna skip that.

What happens after they pay you the money?

Alison: After they pay me the money first of all, they have, I have some autoresponders to remind them to pay me the money and to fill out the, the questionnaire. So there’s a questionnaire attached to that invoice. Um, some autoresponders if they don’t, and then

immediately after payment processes. They get my What to Wear guide. That is, what to wear links to style and select. It’s my four point mama check. And it’s a whole like, what to wear download. It’s the same freebie they’ve had an offer to. It’s like, oh, also, if you didn’t, if you haven’t downloaded this yet, feel free to check this out.

It’s another thing I talk about in my, uh, onboarding calls where I say I, I own that. I think what to wear is the worst part of family photos. So I’m here to be as helpful as possible. And they know it’s coming. After they book, they get access to style and select, and then they also get access to me and all my information.

And I have a four point mama check that comes three days later. So three days later there’s a, Hey, I’m, ’cause I’m not trying to overwhelm everybody with one giant email. You’re not gonna read it’s, here’s a blurb. Okay? Three days later, here’s another blurb. It’s my four point mama check. Like, we’re gonna start with you honey.

And here’s the, here are the things that since I started doing this email. I’ve had no wardrobe issues.

Colie: Nice.

Alison: It’s amazing. I, and I have to pinch myself because it’s been going on for about 18 months to two years. I’ve not had any issues. So it’s check the side, boob check, check the side bra, check, check the, the straps.

When you sit down in front of a mirror, do you flash the mirror? ’cause that’s why I’m gonna see. It’s very, very obvious things like that. And we haven’t had any issues. And then of course with wind in Hawaii, it’s very important. So that is another email. About two days later after that, they get another email about wind.

We aren’t rescheduling Hawaii for wind unless it’s gale force. Like you need. Like unless you, unless you, unless nothing, you need to check your hair. You need to secure your hair half back if we’re gonna be on, and it depends on what side of the island we’re on the windward side of the island. You gotta put your hair half back.

You cannot plan to have it perfectly, beautifully curled and down with long hair. No, you gotta put a lei pooh on. You’ve gotta like do half back. You’ve gotta do some bobby pins, something, you gotta do something. And then also, like we need to make sure our, uh, neck lines are secured. So when no ruffles or if you’re gonna have ruffles, we like tape that junk down bobby pin or what have you.

And then also Marilyn Monroe moments, I like to call ’em like. We wanna avoid those too. So no baby doll tees. No baby doll dresses. Everybody’s hemline needs to hit at the knee. Or longer even, or longer, even if you’re a teenage girl. Like, I get it, but not here.

Colie: I mean, I love all of this, but do you know what I love most about you saying this? Is that you don’t seem like one of those people that’s like, oh, but I worry about sending my clients too many emails. Allison, I have heard this like I’m currently, I have 13 people in systems in session and I feel like the last four or five have all told me, but Cooley, that just feels like a lot of emails from my clients and I’m like, they paid you.

This is them wanting the information from you to make it the best service possible. Stop being afraid to send your client’s email.

Alison: One of my comforting points is I always go back to what would I want? As a mom, as somebody who has hired a photographer, as someone who’s been through experiences. My kids are now 10 to 16 years old. I’ve been doing this for 16 years, right? I go back to what I would wanna know and be prepared for and over and over again.

Like I just do it what I, the way I would want to receive it. And I don’t think I would hope, uh, most other photographers. Would understand that much. You know what I mean? I used to do it in one long, big email like, Hey, this is the big, this is the big kahuna. I owned it up front, like, everything’s in one, one place.

Save it. And then I just felt like this isn’t getting read. It’s not, it’s not effective. And so, you know, live and learn trial and error.

Colie: interesting that you said that because you, you were saying it was an email, but I get clients that are like, oh, but no, I send ’em a prep guide, and I’m like, okay. And I look through their prep guide, I’m like, oh, this is great. When are you putting it in front of them again? And they’re like, what?

I’m like, no. You emailed it the first time. You’re like, Hey, here’s this prep guide. Now it’s been three months since you sent that to them. How many times have you resent it? What are the parts in the prep guide that are most important for them to know? And when are you sending an email that says, Hey, I just wanna put this back in front of you in case it’s been a while since you saw it.

You might be thinking about buying outfits for your wardrobe. And so just remember you have access to style and select. And also here’s my prep guide where I talk about all the do’s and don’ts. Make sure that you take it out and you read it again, and then later. When you’re getting ready to prep your kids to come, you wanna talk about snacks, you wanna talk about all those things.

You need to put a prep guide back in front of your clients minimum two to three times. And you need to do it strategically. So I am not opposed to you giving them one, like as you said, big kahuna

Alison: Yeah.

Colie: of information, but you also need to strategically feed it back to them. I don’t wanna say like they’re a child, but you need to give it to them in bits that they can digest easily and that they can take action on.

Because if you give them a checklist of 10 things after they book you. It’s very rare that they’re gonna go back and visit that checklist. But then if you give it to ’em, okay, these are the two things that you should have done by now. These are the next two things that you should have done by now. Like that is your responsibility as the business owner to make sure that everything gets done like you want it to get done.

Alison: Oh my gosh. And as you’re saying that, I’m thinking like I, I’m booking clients right now for June, so it’s March. Like they’re gonna get all this stuff in in the first, what, two weeks? I need to think of some ways, some conditional emails that aren’t gonna go out to everybody, that go out back to them. 45 days out, 30 days out.

‘Cause I’ve got some things that are, are based on the primary session date. And then I have some things that are based on when they actually submit payment. Um, because payment’s, right? I’ve got some people that are here within 10 days we’re booking a session. It’s rare, but it happens. Need them to have the information, but you also want the people that book you four or five months out.

To not forget. So that’s, that’s some room for improvement there for my myself as well in my system. But again, it’s like, okay, what automation, what condition, how are we gonna do this so that it doesn’t go to everybody else who already executed their session three months? You know what I mean? That’s the hard part.

Colie: That’s one of the things that I talk to my clients about in planning. Like I want to plan your entire client experience based on what most of your people are doing. So if the majority of your clients are booking you five months in advance, well, we need to plan emails to cover the five months before, between when they’re paying you and when they’re actually arriving on the island.

But for those people that are paying you. And arriving 10 days later, some of my clients are like, oh, so we should just send them all the emails. No, we are not sending them all of those emails. Maybe you need a condensed version where if you were communicating things in like, let’s say seven emails across five months, which guys, that’s not a lot of emails,

Alison: no,

Colie: but if they’re coming in 10 days.

Maybe you want to send two emails that have the most important bits, and then you’re sending one more, like after they arrive on the island day before their session. That kind of situation. But no, we’re not gonna just condense the timeline and send those people the same emails. That just doesn’t make sense.

Alison: it doesn’t. And that’s, I think that’s the hardest part in, in getting it is is doing it for the five monthers and doing it for the 10 dayers and the people in between.

Colie: I mean, but that’s planning.

Alison: It’s planning, it’s just thinking about it, right? Absolutely. Yeah. So they also get, so they get a wind email, a what to wear email.

They get a, oh, what to expect at the gallery, reveal email. So I do do things differently. I own that up. I own that right up front from the get go. This is different. This is different and this is how, and so one of the things they know about is that, two to three weeks after their session, we’re gonna get together on the computer for a, what I call a gallery reveal and order appointment.

And so that’s, they’ve already heard me give it the spiel, what it is, what to expect, and what’s gonna happen. They got the email, they got the bullet points in that follow up email. Sorry, y’all girl, I am all over the place. After the phone call, I emailed them. All the information that we talked about.

So then they book. So fast forward to this what to expect. They get another reiteration of this is what the gallery reveals for, this is what you can expect to see. This is what you’re gonna need to bring yourself. Like you need to be ready with what you think you wanna order. And here’s the a la carte guide for the second time.

So doing exactly what you said, like, Hey, don’t forget, this is what this is about. Friendly reminder. Uh, forward this to any decision makers in the group. So a lot of times, especially with this extended families, it’s the adult children when a gift to the grandparents or the matriarch something. And so there’s not always one decision maker and so they need to share that information.

And so I prompt them like, Hey, share this with them. One week out from a session, they get another, email from me saying, Hey, you should have. Check, check your clothes. Packed them, tried ’em on for size. Double double check your, um, I’m 4.1. Mama check. Four point mama. Yes. You should have X, Y, and Zed a few days out.

Here’s my cell phone number in case you need anything. But we’ll be in touch via text a few days before your session to confirm whether and

Colie: And of course you’re telling them, we don’t reschedule for wind. We will only reschedule for torrential rain. But again, like I’m sure that you’re asking them not only when you schedule the date for the session, but you’re asking them to tell you the entire timeline that they’re gonna be there. Now I’m wondering, do you take it one step?

Further and be like, if they’re originally gonna have photographs with you in the first, like one to two days that they’re on island, do you ask them to kind of soft hold something else in case of weather, or is that just really not a concern?

Alison: In the winter, sometimes I do. So between the, months of like. November, October to April, May-ish, or, or can be really rainy, especially on the windward side of the island. And so I can only, this is, this is part boundary and being a good business person and part, like just doing it right, I only book two sessions a week, and that is because most of my clients are here anywhere from five to seven days and two sessions, two days, one sunrise each, right?

That’s two days. I can feasibly reschedule two people within that same five day window. If we have bad rain, I’ve never had to reschedule both of them before. We’ve had this past all, with all the rains and floods that Hawaii’s had. We, we actually ended up just completely canceling one because they were staying on the North Shore.

We couldn’t get to the North Shore, all these other things. And so in that case, that’s a, that’s a completely different outlier, but by and large, I only schedule two sessions a week for that reason. But yes, sometimes I, sometimes I will. I don’t, I used to, a lot in Virginia Beach, but out here, no. I just, I just schedule fewer sessions because quite honestly, it, like, it drives me crazy if I have three sessions during a rainy week.

Like I’ve, I’ve tried that, I’ve gotten the anxiety and I can’t, I can’t handle it. It’s too much.

Colie: I mean, it’s funny that you mention that. ’cause whenever anybody says, you know, Colie, why don’t you photograph clients outside? Well, I mean, I’m not photographing anybody currently, but you know what I mean. Back then they were like, I don’t understand why you don’t go outside with your clients. And I’m like, I have such bad weather anxiety and I mean, I live in a gorgeous state.

I mean, you know, I would only do that during the summer months, you know, fall anyways. I’m like, but I constantly watch the weather to the. Fact that it like affects my mental health. And so no, like I don’t wanna be dependent on taking somebody out. But again, I’m here and all of my clients are local, and so if we have to reschedule, no big deal.

But that is not the

Alison: Yeah, a lot of ti. Another option we have a lot of times is we just go to a different part of the island. So it’s the windward side that’s really rainy, and it all depends on where they’re staying. So in that call, I get not only their travel dates, their actual feasible dates to do the session and then where they’re staying, because if you’re staying in Waikiki, that’s fairly central to.

To multiple options. So if you, if we had planned to go windward, we can just go, Hey, let’s go 10 minutes, the other way, plus it being the leeward side, the west side of the island, we can start later. And so, and actually I actually direct a lot of people this way anyway because we start later so they get an extra 30 minutes.

It rains so much less over there and it’s just easier all the way around than trying to bring them closer to me. And it’s actually a farther drive, further drive for me than, you know, 15 minutes down the road. But it’s weather. It wasn’t

Colie: dependent.

Alison: Mm-hmm. It’s way

Colie: I have a question for you. Have you implemented any client experience videos inside of your process yet?

Alison: when I get a new inquiry lead, the first thing I do after Tve does its autoresponder, is I send them a text that says, Hey, insert first name. It’s Alison Bell, photographer. I have your date open. If I do, and I’m so excited, I’m gonna send you a one minute video.

And I take a video right then and there, custom to them. I say the same things for everybody. I give them a little lowdown about where they’re staying and their options. I tell them. Hey, I’m Allison. I’m a mom of four boys. They’ve informed my approach to photography from both sides of the camera. So I do do things a little bit differently. When you work with me, you get more than digital files, you get heirloom quality artwork in your hands. So it is a full service experience from start to finish.

And all of my sessions happen at Sunrise. I know I used to think it was torture. But here in Hawaii, it’s really the only way to go. So the next step is to jump on the phone with me so we can talk about what this would look like for you and your people, and of course, pricing and process. I’m gonna send you a link so you can book your time to chat.

Can’t wait. That’s what I say.

Colie: Excellent. Do you have any other videos? Because like the one thing that I have been encouraging my clients to do, especially those who are selling products, is you already said that you’re resending your a la carte. Pricing list. You know, you wanna make sure that they have all that information up front.

But I have started having my clients, like sharing their favorite products and what it might look like and like those kinds. Do you have any videos related to your products?

Alison: I am trying. I want to, it is on my list. So one of the things I did recently was I, um, took some photos of my albums and my frames to do a blog post comparison. ’cause I have this old, this old lab that I used to use in my new lab, and the workmanship is very different. And so I made a blog post about that with the visuals.

But I would love to do video. My only problem is, is I don’t, I don’t feel like I have a nice enough. Set up to make it look pretty. Like,

Colie: I wish you guys would see my face as

Alison: I know that one eyebrow went up and one went down. I wish I could do that. I practice that sometimes. See I can’t do it.

Colie: And then she just looked ridiculous. Okay. Wait, actually for anybody who watches the pit, anyone, if you’re listening to this and you watch the pit, she totally looked like the girl who like glued her eyes shut with the nail glue. Okay, I’m sorry.

Alison: What is that? Oh, the, the, okay. Show. Got

Colie: with, with Noah Wiley. Oh my God, this show is awesome.

But this season, season two, there’s a girl who, who glued her eyes shut. And that’s what you look like when you were like this anyways. Um, no. I mean, I’m just happy for people who are bringing videos into the experience and I feel like it’s not as necessary for you because you’re already sending them, you know, you’re talking to them on the phone, you’re doing the reveal, but like the fact that they’re showing up.

On an island probably thousands of miles from where they live and they’re trusting that you are just gonna be able to do this amazing job while they’re on vacation. There are no redos. Like if they don’t like or the day goes bad, it’s not like they can turn around and hire somebody else in the two days before they leave.

So anything that you can do to like strengthen the relationship and build trust is great. And I just wondered if video was part of that, which you said that it was so, yay, Alison.

Alison: Yeah. Yeah. And that’s, I mean, that video is the very first thing they get from me if I have their date open. Now, y’all, I don’t do it if, if I don’t have their date, can’t do it, or if I get a bunch of red flags in their inquiry, I’ll text ’em. I’ll, the, I, I don’t ghost anybody, but I don’t go outta my way on a Saturday or, you know, a weeknight with my kids to, yeah.

Colie: So I’m curious, let’s say ballpark, do you have any idea how many emails you are sending your clients from inquiry to delivery?

Alison: Yeah. Okay. So if they book a call, let’s, let’s assume they need, they get all my follow ups before they finally book that call. So they get the autoresponder, they get my text. So, but email only autoresponder first. Follow up, second follow up, third follow up before I give up. Then we get on the phone. So I send an email recap.

Then if they, if they book, let’s assume they book the invoice email, which comes with a questionnaire, and then the, thank you for booking, which comes with the style and select stuff. And then something, three days, 10 days. There’s another one. I don’t know what the days in there. At least 10 and then a one week out.

Hey, it’s Allison. Yeah. One week out. So 11. Hold on. 11. And then I text ’em before the shoot, so I don’t do an email there. ’cause they’re usually on island. Nobody’s looking at your email anyway. And then, after the shoot they get an, another email, so that’s 12 and then they get another email seven days after that.

That’s to schedule their gallery reveal. That’s 13. They’re 24 hour notice to reminder of that reveal is 13. And then they get an email party to place their order and choose their design options.

Colie: Yeah, guys, so she just named about 14, 15 emails and the thing that she left out was, she said the reminders for one, but then she didn’t say it for the other. So

Alison: Oh yeah.

Colie: she’s talking about right around 20 emails. And I want you to, I want you to realize that in some cases I feel like Allison is cutting emails out because she’s talking to them personally, but.

Yes. That’s a lot of emails and honestly, I don’t know that you went through the what to wear like, but anyways, I just wanna say 20, 25 emails is probably what she’s sending. Stop being afraid to email your clients.

Alison: my God, please. Yes. And you guys, you gotta think about it. Like, how do you feel in your inbox? Do you miss things like do, are you inundated with school texts or messages from teachers, from sports? Does anybody you time’s up by four? For me, I got two, like four kids over two schools sending out newsletters, sending out fundraisers with everybody’s in a, on a team of something they’re send, not to mention the promotions.

And even with the Gmail promotions tab, y’all, I have 150 emails unread. I’ve got brown water, I’ve got emergency. I’ve got all these things in my primary inbox right now. And this email, this email address that I’m talking about with 159 emails unread, I just started using when we moved to Hawaii. I have, I started this thing where my previous email, I burned it.

It was, I burned it. It’s, it’s gone. It’s dead To me. It is a dumpster fire. I keep it around because some things, some like my Garin Connect is connected to it. My Roomba’s connected to it, so that’s whatever. Other than that, I don’t look at it. I don’t touch it. This is a new email in the world of emails.

It’s three years old, not even three years old, and it isn’t end. Yes. I miss things regularly, so your clients are too, and I, I would. Hill I would die on is that you feel the same way. Your clients feel the same way. So to give them a reminder email every 48 hours until that invoice is complete, that questionnaire is complete, is a service, not a burden. Mic

Colie: me snap my fingers. Yes. Let me snap my fingers at you. I love it. So is there any part of your client experience that you do now, like so many years into your business, that you wish that you could tell people, Hey, you should have done this, like at the beginning of your business, it will

Alison: Oh my god. Yeah, yeah, yeah,

Colie: Besides communication. What else is it that they should do? Um,

Alison: It’s all communication.

Colie: oh, is it all communication? Okay. Then you gimme the communication.

Alison: it’s my text two days before clients. So I first started texting clients two days out almost 10 years ago. That’s, that was pretty forward for 10 years ago, but it came out of my own experience as a mom of four little boys who at the time were like maybe eight and under, seven and under.

So they were, you know, almost four to almost eight. That’s a bunch of little boys. And you’re, I’ve been playing in this photo session for months or for we at least several handful of months. And you get up and you think, is today the day? Is it really today, the day? Is it it? And I started second guessing myself.

I hadn’t emailed the photographer, I hadn’t heard anything in a week or two, but it’s like, no, no, this, this is double check that email. Yep. Today in the calendar. Okay? And so I got this, I started getting this anxiety of like, is nap time gonna go well? Am I gonna get them dressed and get there? And, and it’s my mistake, like I just started feeling this like low key anxiety that infiltrated my entire day.

Of course. ’cause these were gonna be sunset sessions. Um, that I just, I hated. I hated, and I think I texted my photographer and was like, Hey, today’s the date, right? Just to get, like, we were friends, we were photographer friends, so like, just. Just double checking. Right? Like I just, I just need to know that, you know, that we know that today’s the day.

And she was like, yeah, yeah, it, it’s it. I was like, okay. I was like, how many of my own clients have felt that way that we hadn’t taught touch base in a week? We confirmed everything, but they’re waking up feeling like they got a little twitch in their eye ’cause they’re just not sure. So that’s my text the day bef two days out.

I text him, I say, Hey, this is Allison. We’re good to go for this date. Here’s the pin to your location. I’m going to see you at this date. Do you have any questions? Oh, and the weather update. Here’s the weather. And a lot of times, two days out here in Hawaii, it’s like, Hey, it’s, it might rain, it might not too early to tell.

We’re gonna touch base the night before. And so I touch base with them the night before, about the weather if we need to. But then also the morning of, this isn’t an email, but the morning of. An hour before their session. So right when I go to leave, leave my house, I like to leave super early. I text them ’cause they’ve gotta be up and if they’re not, so what I say, Hey, happy photo day.

That is not me being obnoxious and overly excited. That is me like easing your fears that yes I know and you know that today’s the day you need to get up. Yes, it’s time.

Colie: I mean, speaking of, is there anything else that you’ve ever had when you hired a photographer for your own family that you were like, yeah, I don’t like that. I need to make sure that I never do that in my process, and you change something in your business to make sure that you never did the thing.

Alison: Which story do you want? I got a handful. I got a bunch. I, this is probably my own little shtick and, , distaste for ghosting clients doesn’t come from my own business experience. It comes from me as a mom, as a consumer trying to hire another professional. For my own family. So as I mentioned before, like we are active duty military.

When we went away and lived in Okinawa for three years, I literally said, see you in three years. We don’t plan to come back. We have a family of six. We can’t afford to fly from Japan to the east coast like we could have afforded. We chose not to. Right. Ultimately we ended up spacing back and, and getting to see everybody.

But when we moved back from Japan after three and a half years back to the eastern time zone. It was a big deal for both my family in Charleston and my family in Ohio. And I mean, we had, had, babies had been born, babies grew up, and so it was a big point where we were getting lake houses with our one side of the family.

We were getting a beach house with the extended side on our other side of the family, and we wanted to do photos. And so I’ve always had to, almost always have had to hire somebody. The same way people hire me outta state, haven’t been there, don’t know who you are. And a lot of times last minute, because I’ve got some noncommittal family members, I think

Colie: Not you, Allison.

Alison: Not me. Not me. Um, and so a lot of times it is a month or less out because like I just, I just can’t commit. I can, my, some of my family can’t. And so I’ve always been that person and I have had the gamut of. Find somebody on Instagram, Hey, how I DM them? Say, Hey, how, how do you want me to inquire? Oh, right here’s fine.

Okay, well we get to the point of, of sending contracts and invoices and I’m like, okay, well hey, go ahead and shoot me the invoice at this email. Next message is this big old word, wall link in Instagram. And I’m like. What, so I have to like, open it up on my phone, send it to my laptop to fill out this very long, you know, contract.

It’s very good, very high quality photographers. Guys. I know what I’m looking for, right? And I just, I can’t, I can’t figure out am I gonna get an email confirmation? Am I gonna get a text confirmation? Like I gave her all my information, is this continuing in Instagram? And so after a few days of not knowing what was what, I reached out to her on Instagram and said, Hey, X, Y, and Z was done.

What’s the next step? Time, what time slot do you want? And like, and I felt as the client, I was having to ask for next steps, push for clarity, and left completely confused. And this was after, like, I thought we had already set it up and it was like, okay, well what now? Same thing happened a little bit more recently, another photographer.

Great. So good at her job, had a CRM actually had a CRM. It wasn’t a random page on our website. Was doing everything via email, but I didn’t know if and when we had set a date, I didn’t know. I was try, I was like, okay, when do I pay, like, when do I pay? How do I give you money? Like, and I just felt like it was, it was like days to weeks between emails like.

I have no reason. I, I don’t understand why, like, I just wasn’t hearing from her. It wasn’t autoresponders, it wasn’t actually responses. I just, it was, I wanna say it was a better part of a month before from inquiry, maybe even to payment. But I think I paid her some time in there. And then after that, we decided to date.

That was weird to me. ’cause I was like, Hey, she had a hard deadline, uh, of, of some stuff, of her availability. And I was like, okay, cool. That, that fits perfectly. I’m, I’m ready to go. What’s your deadline? You know, like, and, and we knew the location. It, it, it was the better part of a month, maybe even six weeks.

Colie: I mean, Alison, I’m so glad you told this story. I feel like these are the things that I try to communicate to my clients, like fellow photographers, creatives that are setting up their client experience, and they just don’t believe me. They’re like, you know, I, I don’t need to send my clients all these emails.

And when I first introduced my three P framework, which I’m just gonna say it very fast, it is a purpose In every email, you’re showing your personality, and you’re always. Giving a preview of what comes next. That preview is the most important because your client should never finish a task that you have assigned them and wonder what the fuck happens next.

Like they are like Allison, like, do I email them? Is she going to email me? And then you’re like, I don’t wanna be pushy. Let me wait a few days. And then a few days later you’re like, oh, well, should I email them? Like, your clients have anxiety if things are not smooth. And the best way to have a high premium experience with your clients is to never leave them hanging.

They should know what happens every single step when they do something. You should thank them and you should tell them what happens next. But I mean, I. I like my money. Like when people are like, you know, Colie is a five minute booking process really necessary. Yes, I want my money. I, if you don’t, I don’t know what to tell you, but I want to know that that part has been taken care of with as little back and forth as possible.

I want to have them pick their service. Get them to sign the contract, pay me my money, and then, you know, in the case if we haven’t picked a date or we haven’t confirmed a date, I want that to happen almost immediately. Next. Like all of those things should happen in succession very quickly so that everything is settled and then it’s just getting them prepared for the actual session.

Like the process of getting it confirmed should never take days, weeks, or hell even a month.

Alison: Every single one of my emails, especially after the gallery reveal when it comes to like all the ordering, deciding, choosing your images, every single one of my emails says Next steps. The very first autoresponder says The next step is to jump on a call. Look for a text from me. after getting on that call, next steps hit reply with let’s do this and I’ll send you the information for booking next steps.

Like every it’s, and it’s bold. It’s bold. It’s in every single one of my emails. You know, and honestly, if, if your clients, if your clients Colie, don’t wanna be sending emails, are they willing to get on the phone? Because I shorten a heck a lot of my stuff in 20 minutes on a phone call.

Colie: That’s what I’m saying. I feel like you, like you are one of the few people that, I mean, you know, you were counting and you only got to like 13 or 15 and I’m like, yeah, you left a couples that’s 20 and then I can probably think of a couple more to get you to 25. But I do feel like the phone conversations, and it’s really funny when we are, when we are actually recording this, today’s episode that went live was about how you still need automated communication for a high touch experience, even if you’re.

Talking to your clients, even if you’re meeting with them in person multiple times. I mean, I get it, but like also there is nothing wrong with having automated communication, especially if it’s making the experience consistent and it’s making sure that your clients are never in that weird place that Allison described.

Like, I mean, are we booked? Are we not booked? I mean, ’cause I told you this before we hit record. I had someone cancel on me when I wanted to do something for Chloe’s birthday at Disneyland. I was booked. She said she was gonna send me a prep guide and an invoice, and then I got nothing. And it was days later, and then she canceled on me.

Now, I mean, was I ever officially booked because I hadn’t paid her. I mean, but that wasn’t my fault. I was waiting for her to just give me a link to send money. But like, you know, these things happen. And so we should just make sure that that’s not what happens in our businesses.

Alison: Exactly. And, and as the business owner, it’s your job.

Colie: It’s your job.

Alison: your job. You have to do it, it falls on you.

Colie: Yes.

Alison: And you know what, as I, as I was listening to you talk, I realized, also on my, intake form, my inquiry, my web lead form, there’s a button they can click if they want more information, about what to wear, things like that.

Photos ticks and trips, juicy nuggets, if you will. And usually people click that nine times outta 10. I don’t think I’ve ever had anybody not click it. When that gets clicked, it also adds them to my flow desk communication where they get one email a week about how to prep for their photos. And that’s a lot of the same information.

But again, everybody clicks it and everybody gets like

Colie: Has anybody ever complained to you? Allison, you sent too many emails.

Alison: No. I, I had somebody who was probably not a good fit from the, the outset. I don’t think they ever became clients. But somebody did respond to reply to one of those emails that said, can you please remove me from your list? I was like, sure.

I’m

Colie: because there’s a subscribe button.

Alison: Exactly. And I, I very politely was like, I think sometimes I, I may well have gotten a couple times, I can’t remember if I said, absolutely you can unsubscribe by clicking any of the links at the bottom. Or sometimes I might have just done it for them. I don’t think I did that.

’cause I was like, then I have to go in and find them. And, and I was like, no. But I was just very positive. Absolutely happy to take you off the list if you would just go ahead and do that. That’ll, that’ll knock you off right then and there. Yeah. So, um, I did, I think I had a really high ticket client, last year who was an older client and she was a bit confused between the emails that were automated. The emails that were her order form. So like her order, like for me, ’cause some of them were going to to promotions and some, because they weren’t coming from my server and some of them were going into her primaries, what I think was happening. But she was like, Alison, I don’t know. I don’t like what is this?

And I was like, gotcha. And I just, I removed her from like, we had already executed the session. Like it was fine. That’s the only clo, that’s the closest thing to an overwhelm that I’ve ever heard

Colie: That you’ve ever heard of. I mean, but like that was what, like two, three clients out of hundreds?

Alison: that, yeah. Hundreds, literally, like I can go into ve and tell you how many leads I’ve gotten. Like it’s over a thousand leads in the, my time with VE in four years.

So yeah, you’ve gotta, yeah. It’s so important, you guys, it’s so important. It’s another little shtick that I, I am here to support Colie because you’ve got to, you’ve gotta be a business owner. You just do. You can’t just be like, my art will sell it. No, it won’t. And it, and I really appreciate what you said, Colie too, about.

Especially for high ticket, like nobody’s gonna pay you thousands of dollars for artwork from a session if they don’t trust you. In this communication, the way you communicate, the way you show up, how often you show up, it instills trust. Trust your messaging, your expertise, your authority, like all of that plays into your know, like, and trust factor, and that’s how you’re going to book more and earn more.

Colie: And I mean, that’s just from the client perspective. I’m a firm believer that even if you feel like there are too many emails, ’cause what happens is I always have clients that are like, oh, I don’t wanna send them any emails. And then they start sending me emails, like to prep their clients for the session or whatever it is, and then their clients start commenting, oh my God, I’m so happy that you sent this email.

Like I was thinking of asking you this, and then you just answered it right away. Thank you so much. And then they start feeling like, Ooh, I am. I am a good business owner. Why? Yes, you are. And then it increases their confidence. And then you know what happens when it increases their confidence, they raise their prices and then they make more money.

And it’s just this cyclical it part

Alison: tell people Sunrise are bust and be comfortable with it because you know somebody else is gonna come behind like

Colie: exactly. I mean, I always got like, you know, when people are asking me, well, Colie, you know, what about price shoppers? I’m like, no, I have my pricing everywhere. I, I didn’t really get price shoppers except for like the very beginning of my career.

I’m like, but also I know for a fact that if I get on a call with someone and they’re like, oh, no. That’s too much money or you know, that wasn’t exactly what we were looking for or whatever it is. Oh, that’s okay because someone else will come and book. Like

Alison: Blessed and

Colie: you need to have that confidence and having great systems and providing a premium client experience is how you get comfortable with.

Okay. Thank you very much for your time and that’s it.

Alison: I used to be so nervous getting on the phone with every, every single person. Like I had notes, I had a flow. I, I mean, I planned it all out, but like I, for six months, I looked at that thing. I was like, okay, what’s next? What’s next? What’s next? I’ve been doing it for four years now, and I just, like, I just set up my phone.

I stand at my desk and I’m like, let’s, what? Let’s wing it. Let’s go.

Colie: And the funny thing is, I mean, ’cause again, I asked you about your client experience videos, but I have been on a real kick lately. People who cannot, I was gonna say afford, but maybe that’s a piss poor word to use in this context, but people who don’t have the capacity to get on the phone with every single inquiry, it’s like, how can you, how can you get.

How can you build the connection without setting aside synchronous time to do it? And that’s when I’ve been telling people, well, can you record them a video like you did the one minute? Or can you record a video that you’re sending everybody that hits all of the points? And if they have additional questions, they can reach out then to ask an email or to schedule a call.

But then at least you’re not scheduling a call with everybody. You’re distilling it down to just those who need it or. I have had a lot of people asking me about the video ask on my website, and I’m quick to tell people I never did video ask in my photography business, but if I needed to, I would have, because it is amazing.

They still get you. You’re still answering their questions, but you’re not setting aside your precious time if you don’t have it to talk to them, but they’re still getting the same. You hearing your voice, all of the things, if you’re responding to them in

Alison: Man, I forgot about video ask. I tried to set that up like probably two years ago, and I got, I was using the free version and I couldn’t link to something and I think I just dropped it and never got back

Colie: Uh, Allison, I use the free version.

Alison: Oh, really? I was trying to

Colie: and I should chat.

Alison: yeah, I was trying to do something and I don’t remember what it

Colie: You were probably trying to forward them to your scheduler, which you would have to have a paid plan for that. But I mean, you could always go back and forth for the communication and then when they’re ready, you could send them the link in a text store in an email like you were already doing.

But like, you know, it’s one thing for us to tell people get on the phone, but for a lot of people that we know, that is just not possible. They might have kids that are home, they might have full-time

Alison: Yep. I’ve got a friend

Colie: on the side.

Alison: newborn, has a newborn in homeschools and is a photographer with a studio, and she just cannot, she does not have bandwidth for for that, but

Colie: is great. There are other ways for you to

Alison: brilliant. It’s a brilliant, I’m gonna have to suggest video ask to her. But what got me thinking is, I, I have another video I forgot about embedded in my, email that after we get on the phone call, that recap email that I send them from our conversation has a, a video and it’s in order to shorten my time on the call with them.

Because what it and what I tell them, it’s, I’m gonna send you a video link that’s gonna go through all the specs and differences of the artwork options. So I tell them, Hey, I’ve got a folio box, I’ve got an album. Or you can do wall art. You’ll get the specs and differences in the video, but the most popular is the album and here’s why.

But that video. And here’s what I use for that. It is just a Canva video, so it’s like a cam. So Canva has a loom component to it now, guys. So it is a video of me presenting my a la carte price guide with my little face in the bottom showing them like, here, here, this is a folio box. This is, it’s this big, it comes with these da da da.

This is the difference about this. And it’s less than five minutes. They can speed me up and they can look as they’re going, oh, okay. Folio box, they can do 5, 10, 20. It costs this much as they’re

Colie: Now, Allison, are you resending it later or is that the only email that they get it in?

Alison: no, I Recent, it’s in that gallery reveal reminder email. Yeah. And so they also get images of the actual price guide, a la carte price guide as well.

So they’re getting it, they’re getting hit with it a few times.

Colie: Yeah, I mean that’s to make sure that you don’t get anybody who comes to an ordering session like, oh, I didn’t know it was gonna be that much.

Alison: Oh, and this happened,

Colie: I sent it to you five times.

Alison: Yeah. And it, it has still happened last summer. It still happened. I was like, ’cause there were some, there were some red flags, so I was like, what? Really? Okay, cool. Okay, cool. Like, you know, like going along with it, it’s, they clicked the link in my contract that, that everything was hunky dory and they got to it and they’re like, no.

I’m like, well, sorry. Like,

Colie: Okay. I mean, this is, this is what I showed you multiple

Alison: Mm-hmm. Yeah. No. Yeah. So much more confidence. Just be like, sorry, not sorry.

Colie: Yeah. Allison. Where can everybody find you? Because you do offer

Alison: Yeah, I do.

Colie: tips for any of the listening audience that finds themselves in a situation where they are leaving the place that they have built their business and going somewhere and starting from scratch.

Alison: y’all, I’ve done it seven times. I have moved my business across the world and back to Japan and back overseas, east coast, Midwest. I’ve done it all. Different markets, different things with the military, but I. I wish, I wish somebody was around to just bounce ideas off, and figure it out. But I have figured it out myself.

I have cobbled together systems at work. I’ve used it now three times, and I am now on my own. A six-figure family photographer based in Hawaii. So I love to help, um, other spouses and, and women moving and relocating their business. It’s not the end of the world. You can do it faster. Um, so Allison bell.co.

It’s Allison with one L Bell Normal. Co. Um, and so, and we also have the podcast, uh, get booked. Me and Melissa co-host that together, all about these marketing strategies. We’ve got a whole episode on how not to ghost your clients, where we probably deep dive some more opportunities in ways you can do that.

But if you are moving your business, trying to get new clients because you switch genres or you switch locations or shoot, you just have questions about how to execute. Um, virtual, um, IPS. I’m here for it.

Colie: She’s your girl. All right guys. She is linked in the show notes. Alison, thank you so much because like, this was just an idea that you and I were like, oh my God, we should hop on a, on an episode and talk

Alison: Yes.

Colie: it came out even better than I expected.

Alison: Absolutely. All because your landing page hit home and just spoke and sung to me and made me say Yes. Yes, yes.

Colie: Alright everybody, so what I wanna tell you from this conversation is I love talking to other photographers and I mean, in particular, Alison is not one of my clients. So this is not somebody that I told her what to do and then she did it. But she has in her 10 years in business, come to the same conclusion that client experience is queen, and everything that you can do to make it consistent is what your clients love and how you build trust and how you get.

The rave reviews, the referrals, and in some cases repeat clients. Alright, that’s it for this episode. See you next time.