Inquiries are pouring in, but are you ready for them? In today’s episode, I have the honor of introducing you to systems strategist Colie James. We’re diving into how to handle a surge of visibility, fix common workflow mistakes, and scale your business without the chaos. 

On Quianna Marie Weekly, we’re chatting about business growing pains, finding genuine connections, and celebrating wins of all sizes through the lens of a photographer at heart. Sprinkled throughout stories and interviews with past clients, photographers and other business owners this podcast is designed to help you step into your purpose and to truly create a life you’re proud of, a life worth photographing and sharing.

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Today’s episode is brought to you by The Green House, my resource garden for photographers! Let me help you AMPLIFY your heart online and in real life to turn bridesmaids into future brides through templates, workshops, and freebies!

Review The Show Notes:

Preparing For The Inquiry Process (2:32)

Where To Start With Automated Responses (5:03)

Creating The Intake Process (7:37)

Quianna’s Booking Challenge Workaround (10:00)

The Mistake You Might Be Making Before The Session (16:08)

High-Touch, Low-Effort Workflows (20:03)

The Three R’s And Other Off-Boarding Strategy (23:05)

Closing Out Your Client Experience (34:09)

Working With Colie On Your Systems (37:53)

Mentioned In This Episode:

Book Your VIP Day: quiannamarie.com/vip

Lucky 13 Quarterly Content Creation: quiannamarie.com/13

Connect with Colie:

Website: coliejames.com

Instagram: instagram.com/coliejames

Podcast: coliejames.com/podcast

Connect with Quianna:

Website: quiannamarie.com

Instagram: instagram.com/quiannamarie

Review the Transcript:

Quianna: Hey, hey, hey. Welcome back to you, Quianna Marie Weekly. You already know that I’m obsessed with helping you feel confident, visible, super elevated through brand sessions, content days, and showing up boldly online and in person. But today we’re talking about what happens before, during, and after that glow up because let’s be honest, fresh photos, new content.

All of these good vibes and good energy swirling around you for a brand session, that’s when the confidence hits. The inquiries start coming in, your dms are popping, right? And then what? If you don’t have systems in place, that excitement can turn into overwhelm real fast. That’s why I am so fricking excited to bring on today’s guest, Coley James, the systems and workflow professor herself.

Coley is a powerhouse when it comes to helping photographers and service-based business owners streamline their backend, automate their workflows, and create client experiences that feel high touch without the burnout. She teaches us how to take those new inquiries and actually turn them into booked clients with Clarity organization and systems that work while you sleep.

If you’ve ever thought, I need better systems, I feel overwhelmed with my inbox. I’m booking more, but I feel like I’m drowning or even I don’t even know where to start. How do I even get these clients onboarded and offboarded streamlined, easy and ready to book again. This my love. This episode is for you.

We’re diving into handle the surge of visibility, the common workflow mistakes, and how to scale without chaos. Ready? Let’s get this party started. Welcome to Quianna Marie Weekly, a podcast for creatives who love to celebrate wins bigger, small by dancing in the kitchen photographers who are excited to serve their clients and friends who are ready to chase.

Really, really big dreams. You can find all of the resources mentioned in this episode at QuiannaMarie.com/podcast. Join me as I share weekly motivation, chat about growing pains, finding genuine connections, and celebrating your wins through the lens of a photographer at heart. Come join me for a dance party.

Ready? Let’s go.

All right. Alright, Coolie. So I wanna just get this party started and I just wanna kick off this. Question for you. Let’s start from the very beginning. I am so excited to continue booking more branding sessions. What is it that I can do to prepare for such an influx of eyeballs on my business of content and engagement?

Preparing For Inquiries

All this stuff is going on in buzzing and people are excited to work with me. But as a brand photographer, as a small business, what should we have already taken care of with our intake systems and our workflows to prepare for all this excitement?

Colie: I love this because I feel like right now the focus is on creating more content, getting more eyeballs on your business, but then the people decide to hire you.

You don’t know what to do next. And so I love that you are asking me this because you know, if you’re putting out really good content, if you’re doing your job marketing your business well, the leads will come. And if you can figure out a way to make your inquiry and your booking process seamless so that your conversion rate is higher, and more of the people who are inquiring about your services actually say, yes, this is how you get your business to, you know, whatever limit you set for yourself.

The first thing that I always encourage people to do is make the inquiry process as streamlined and automated as possible. And this is what I mean by this. Uh, I know that you’re a HoneyBook user. You have a contact form. You wanna make sure that when someone is going through your website, they’ve seen your photos, they’re super excited to work with you, and they fill out that form.

You should not be meeting them with silence. Like the moment that they inquire, they should be getting an email. That number one confirms that you got their inquiry. Gives them a timeline, which you will be contacting them to discuss their session needs, give them the next steps, et cetera. And then you want to make sure that that email is absolutely automated, like no waiting because.

We don’t want people to inquire about our services and then sit there and get silence and be like, oh, well, did her form work? Like do I need to fill it out again? And the last little tidbit that I would give you is you have a lot of amazing content on your website, on Instagram. Keep them engaged in that automated lead response to make sure that they can go and look at some very carefully curated content to get them prepped for the next part, which is hopefully to book your services.

So that’s what I wanna say about the inquiry, the inquiry process.

Quianna: Yes. I love that. So in your best advice, how is that being delivered? Right? So is that an an email auto response? Is that an Instagram ManyChat response, right, in your expertise? Should we, where should we start with those like automated responses?

Colie: Well, it depends honestly, on where they contacted you. If you are doing a lot of your marketing and a lot of your conversations on Instagram, there’s nothing wrong with setting up a ManyChat if people are actually contacting you using a contact form on your website. I want everyone to be bringing people into your CRM so that the email that they’re getting is being immediately sent from your CRM.

And that is something that almost every CRM that’s most popular with photographers can do. And specifically in HoneyBook, you have the option of customizing that automated response based on the kind of service that they’re inquiring about. So for example, let’s say that you only do brand sessions. And you have this kind of, you know, refresh mini kind of situation going on, you might wanna talk to those people differently than you talk to the people who were interested in your signature session or even a travel session, since I know that you wanna eventually be traveling for these sessions.

If someone says, I’m interested in a travel session, your email to them could be about the places that you’ve gone for these travel sessions, why you love offering brand sessions on location, and basically giving them insight into how that process might be different than like doing it where you live or where your client lives.

And so the ability to customize that email based on what they’re asking you for can be done with HoneyBook. Now I wanna throw one more little thing in here. I actually don’t care if someone is chatting with you on Instagram talking to you in your, um, dms on Facebook. If you are still a Facebook user or if they have met you at an in-person event.

If you are using a CRM, all roads should lead there. So even if you start the conversation on social media, when you start getting serious about the booking process. I want you to lead all of those people into your CRM so that you can give them the best and most consistent experience that you can.

Quianna: I love that.

Yes, and that definitely will eliminate a lot of the chaos and anybody kind of slipping through the cracks a little bit. ’cause you all of a sudden open up your DMS after a couple days and you scroll back or, or the worst is when you find a request folder and you’re like, shoot, I’m so sorry I haven’t even seen this yet.

Right. Okay, so let’s, let’s, let’s lead, um, our listeners through a little client journey here, which I’m obsessed with. So let’s say that they inquire, they’re interested in booking a brand session, they’re ready to work. They’ve seen my work, they’ve gotten referrals, they’re ready to roll. What are some of those mistakes that a lot of photographers or business owners make while we are creating that intake process?

Colie: I think the biggest mistake that people make, and particularly in HoneyBook, I used to see it all the time, is sending different links for your invoice and your contract and perhaps, you know, actually choosing the service. So HoneyBook is amazing with their smart files. You can basically put anything that you need to inside of this one file.

And in the case of HoneyBook, you can start by having a page that talks about you and the service and basically engaging them again in why you are the photographer or the business owner for them. And then the second page could have your actual services so that if you have options for that same client, they can actually read through the choices and make their selection.

And then you could actually include scheduling. The same file so that again, it is a streamlined one step process where they are clicking on one link and basically completing everything that they need in order to book your services. So again, look a welcome, hello. Then we’re doing select your service, then we’re doing schedule your session, and then everyone should be using a contract to, you know, make sure that there aren’t, there’s no confusion.

You are telling them what they are paying for and they are signing their acknowledgement that they understand. And then the last is electronic payments. Now, one of the mistakes that I still see some people making is they’re like, well, but Coley, like it’s 3% or whatever the current percentage is. If you know you’re listening to this way in the future and they’ve raised their prices like Colie, they’re gonna take 3%.

If I charge them electronically, why can’t I just use Venmo? The answer to that is no, just no. And it’s a full sentence. Everything that you do should be contained and organized and centralized inside of your CRM. And so again, you’ve got this one file that basically takes them from beginning to end every decision that they need to make, and then signing the contract and paying the invoice so that you don’t feel like you have to chase people down to get a signed contract.

Chase people down to get that deposit. Everything is taken care of, and then you know that they are ready to work with you and you can move on to the onboarding phase.

Quianna: I love that so much. Everything in one spot. I know for me, for example, just being totally transparent, that has been a little bit of a glitching moment for me just with that proposal or the smart files where, for example, for brand sessions, oftentimes we’re booking a studio, right?

And so that to me is just, that just opens up a whole can of worms about picking a date. Because not only like now we’re working with three specific calendars. My calendar as the photographer and content generator, the business brand that I am photographing, right? The personal brand, small businesses. And then on top of that, the studio session, right?

So that for me has been totally a nightmare up until recently I finally have a workflow that feels good and I actually wanted to run, I wanted to run this by you, because typically what happens now is when they inquire, same thing, they get that beautiful smart file, they get all the fun facts. So after they have made their selections, the schedule or option for me isn’t the photo shoot date.

It’s really just a quick connection call. And on that connection call, we are confirming the location. We’re confirming the date. So I wanted to run that by you. I see you smiling and like pointing and like woo-hoo looking good. So like, that’s correct, right? Like I feel like, tell me your thoughts on that.

Colie: So I love this and I’m gonna call some of my clients out and I hope that they’re not listening to this one part. Uh, recently there’s become this trend and I don’t know who’s teaching it. I mean, I actually have a few names, but I’m not gonna name them on a podcast. But there are some really like luxury photographer educators that are teaching people to have these like long extended.

Conversations with people before they have agreed to work with you. And I’m not talking about a discovery call, I’m all about that. You wanna have 15, 30 minutes to make sure that you’re aligned. Make sure that what you’re offering, I mean, we didn’t discuss that, but that could totally be part of your inquiry process.

But what I’m talking about is you actually having one of these extended planning calls before they have actually decided to work with you and you’re making like real decisions. Yes. This is a thing right now, Kiana and I am just flabbergasted every time someone tells me this. So I love what you’re talking about.

And I added that scheduler option. Because there are some people who don’t have the extra layer of making sure that the studio is, you know, available. And so if you could schedule your session during that process, yes, please do it. Take advantage of the fact that HoneyBook will allow you to do it, because we still can’t do it in Dodo.

Okay. I’m sorry. Users. Maybe by the time this airs it will be different. I love that you are actually having them choose the planning call because you know you’ve already had them select their service, they choose that planning call, but then they’re still going to sign your contract and pay your invoice so that you are not getting on a call with anybody that’s still wishy-washy about working with you

Quianna: Ahundred percent and that, that to me has been such a leak.

Like a energy, a content idea generating leak for me where I was just like, oh my gosh, I was getting on these calls and I was giving millions and millions of ideas and I like don’t see red. Like I don’t see any scarcity anywhere where like, I don’t think, like if somebody chooses not to work with me at that point, like cool, like I send my blessings and we just, we go our separate ways and that’s fine.

But I had noticed, oh my gosh, like I am literally giving them all the information they need. I’m throwing out. Content ideas, series ideas, like I’m literally giving them ideas for them to go on a podcast series and talk about their business. Like I just am an idea, like slower. So yes, that’s where I kind of tightened it up a little bit to know that they’re committed and really they’re not really selecting that session date unless it’s a quick power hour.

And that’s fine. I’m going to their, their home office, their place of work. I typically call that on location. So it’s not like a studio that we have to rent and, and, um, do that. So, yes. So I’m so happy that you approve of that because that is something that has been a huge friction for me. Where it, there would just be extra back and forth of, well, what about this date?

And does that date work for you? Right. Nightmare.

Colie: So I can actually give you an option specifically to HoneyBook users. So, you know, Kiana, you’re, you’re, you’re blessed to be using HoneyBook for this option, but did you know that you can actually choose a specific scheduler for each of your offers? And so this is what I mean by this.

You could actually have a scheduler on your services page so that if they choose, I want a session in my home, at my business, whatever it is, you could actually have them confirm the date because studio is not a, is not an issue, but hold on. What you could do for the other one is if you say, I would like to book a studio for my session, then you could show them the planning scheduler.

With a note on it that says, this is not the day of your session. This is so that we can book a planning session and you could even reduce the amount of time that’s shown, so they have to book it in like let’s say the next 10 days so that you can get the planning process rolling. But you could do both of those options.

Only because you’re a HoneyBook user and like this is one of those, this is one of the things that makes HoneyBook different than the others. And so if this would help you to where you could go ahead and confirm a session date for someone who doesn’t need a studio or put that, you know, one spot in there, you could do that.

And then again, the entire process would still be seamless because they’re still selecting their service. And then they’re being shown a scheduler specifically for what they selected. And then you’re still getting a signed contract and you’re still getting a paid deposit on the invoice.

Quianna: Wow. Yes. That’s genius.

And I love that there’s different options for all the different ways that you can schedule. So I’m so on board with this. I’m like smiling over here, so happy. Okay, so let’s say like going back to this client journey, let’s say someone has selected that content like call or like connection call, strategy call.

We are locking in the location. We’re locking in the date and time. Where do you see a lot of photographers and a lot of business owners kind of fall off the tracks at this point. So it’s like we’ve planned the session, we’re excited for it. I love going above and beyond. I mean, I’m not a stylist, I am not a fashionista, but when it comes to businesses and brands, I love giving my 2 cents about great, just like suggestions on what to wear and we know what photographs well, all that kind of stuff.

That’s fun. I think a lot of us are probably nailing that. But in your opinion, what are some things that we may be missing when it comes to actually preparing for that session?

Colie: So the thing is, I think you nailed it, and I’m just gonna highlight why that might not be the best approach you just said. I love helping my clients plan and prepare and talk about wardrobe and all of these things, but the number one mistake that I see inside of an onboarding process.

Given that the call has already happened is you go silent, like you ghost your clients without that being your intention. So if you are going to put a lot of thought and effort into creating like a prep guide to help them with things like wardrobe and planning locations, which you would’ve already done on the call, but like giving them additional help in this manner, the number one mistake that I see is that you send it once.

Then you don’t talk to your clients until the week before the session like, or that you give them a client questionnaire to get additional details. They fill it out, and again, you go silent until the week before the session. And so one of the things that I am so passionate about right now is everybody should be mapping a customer journey that builds trust from the moment that they inquire about your services.

All the way until you deliver the photos in your case. But there should not be significant communication gaps anywhere on that timeline. And so if people are booking you, let’s say three to four months in advance, you shouldn’t be letting them sit two, two and a half months without hearing you. So there are a lot of things that you can do in order to sprinkle in some client education to really help your clients prepare.

And yes, by all means, create that amazing prep guide. But then you should be reminding them of the different parts inside of your client prep guide that they should be paying particular attention to as the session approaches. So like checking in with them to make sure that their wardrobe is on lock.

And hey, you know, if you need any help, feel free to text me over some photos. Here’s a form for you to upload them. Same thing with the location. Same thing with hair and makeup. If you are not providing and scheduling the hair and makeup, maybe one of your client education emails is about your favorite hair and makeup artists that are in the area that they could potentially book.

I mean, whatever your clients need to feel amazing in front of the camera. There is an opportunity for you to write an email. Helping them prepare for that part of the service.

Quianna: Yes. This is so powerful, and I love this because this translates so well, especially with a lot of photographers that, just like me, were once wedding photographers, right?

That was such a similar situation where I would book the wedding and then six months a year later, right? I made sure to be really proactive about dropping those little reminders and helpful hints and stuff. And question, are you emailing that through HoneyBook or do you have a workflow system through that?

Okay.

Colie: Always. One of the things that I was talking, most recently about is, you know, just because you put an email inside of a flow doesn’t mean that you have to send it, like you can add an approval so that, for example, if you’ve got this really helpful email for people who are coming to a studio for their session.

You might wanna pay particular attention to make sure that they have packed everything that they need. And so if you have an email that talks about, you know, a checklist for your props and making sure that you have steamed your clothes before you show up at the studio and these things, if you have that email in a flow and your client isn’t coming to the studio.

You could just take that email out, like you don’t have to send it, but it’s there so that it’s consistent for those that do need that little bit of education to prepare for their session at a studio

Quianna: so powerful. This is so good, and once again, this is why I’m obsessed with your brain because it truly is about that client experience, right?

It is making people feel loved. Feel prepared, like actually feel like that we are creating these signature and these premium experiences because of those high touchpoints. And the best part is just like you said, it’s a workflow. The nitty gritty work has already been front loaded and done. That right there is like a breath of fresh air.

Like we’re not sending these individual emails to everybody, like it’s just a workflow.

Colie: I mean, one of the things that I help my clients with the most is a lot of people who come to me for systems help. You guys don’t have trash businesses. Your, your behind the scenes isn’t necessarily burning to the ground.

You don’t have clients that feel like they’re getting a crappy experience. They feel like it’s pretty good, and to be honest, it probably is, but nobody else recognizes that you are staying up late every night, checking on your CRM multiple times to make sure that everybody got what they needed. Or to make sure that you are not, you know, letting people fall between the cracks.

And that’s why this whole idea of planning the customer journey and writing all of this client communication to be in a library and creating templates is so important. Because if you do that now. When you are free to think about it, you don’t have the added layer of stress of trying to write an email in the heat of the moment when your client is actually waiting on it.

So everything that I talk about is pre-planning as much as you can, and I just wanna make sure, ’cause you said high touch multiple times. I am all about an experience feeling high touch. That is actually low effort for you. And it’s not that it was easy to create it, it’s not. I mean, when I work with my clients, we are putting a lot of time and effort on the front end to make sure that everything is designed and implemented to be a wonderful experience for your clients and not have you feeling stressed at every point in there.

However, that being said, I mean, the more work that you do upfront, the better it’s gonna be on the backend. And it doesn’t mean that there aren’t points where you could actually customize it. So for example. I already talked about having an approval on an email inside of HoneyBook. You can also do an email draft.

So let’s say that we write a template on preparing for their studio location, but you have little bits of information for each of the studios that you work at and that you rent and you secure. That’s a little different. You could make that email an email draft. Have all of your standard information in that email and you could just add in one layer of personalization before you send it.

That’s like, this is the studio. These are the things that I know about it. Hey, parking here is really difficult. Here’s where you need to, you know, park your car. I mean, anything that you can do like that is great, but you know, high touch can still be mostly automated or mostly templatized, but you have to do all of the thought and planning now.

So that further down the line, everything is consistent from your client’s point of view.

Quianna: Amazing. Yes. And that just, it like literally releases so much tension in my nervous system of like, okay, like we can still be that high touch without burning ourselves to the ground. So thank you for this. Oh my gosh.

Okay, so I’m loving this. So let’s say. We totally rock the photo shoot, right? So everything up until then, we’ve gotten all the details, all the preparation. We’re feeling it, like my clients leave on cloud nine. They just, they just can’t wait to like, go to dinner with, with their partners because they’re just like, I can’t go home.

I have to go out like this. Right? They’re just feeling so amazing. So what’s next Coley? Like, how do we maximize and kind of like tie up these branding sessions or these experiences like with a bow? And then also like leave room for magic to have them possibly inquire for more. Right? Because that’s, that’s the piece.

I don’t want this like, signature one and done, Hey, see you next year. Like, what’s your advice on, um, closing up that session, but then also like leaving room for more?

Colie: Yes. I mean, it’s as if you listen to my podcast, Kiana, I mean, I, you know, I’m, I’m laughing at her guys, but like in truth, this has been like the hill that I will die on for probably the last five to six months.

I have been talking about what I call the three Rs, and like earlier you asked me, where do people drop the ball in onboarding? I would actually say that probably the number one place that people drop, uh, the ball is in offboarding because photographers are famous for delivering their photos in a gallery and basically saying, see you later.

But I wanna talk about these three Rs. So the first is asking your clients for rave reviews, because yes, if you ask, your clients will rave about you. The second thing that they will do is tell all their friends. So you should be asking them for referrals, indicating to them how much you appreciate them because your clients can become your hype.

This is not a photography thing, but my signature offer is called Systems in Session, and my clients come out of it raving so much. I mean, all their fr their photographer friends wanna come hire me because now they have systems that they believe in and are consistent and they feel great about. But like my clients know that I appreciate the referrals because I tell them, because I ask for them.

And then the third thing is what you mentioned, getting rebooked with the same client. You know, having repeat clients. The best thing that you can do for your business is build a large client base that continues to come back year after year, or in the case of brand sessions, perhaps multiple times a year, because clients don’t really realize how much they need new content and new photos unless you tell them.

Now for some businesses, they really only need like a signature brand session every year, every two years, things are not changing. They are not creating that much social media content. Like they can really use the photos that you’re providing for a year or two, but it’s up to you to tell them that they should come back in two years, right?

Or if you know in their business they are doing five marketing campaigns a year. Yeah. Photos are not gonna not gonna go as long for those people, those business owners, as they would for the people who aren’t constantly marketing on social media. And remember, in this space, you are the expert. If you don’t know when a client is ready to come back and rebook you, they won’t either.

And so it’s your responsibility to communicate that in your offboarding period after you have delivered the photos. So that’s my three Rs. Again, rave reviews, asking for the referral, and inviting them to rebook. The one thing that I feel like some of you brand photographers leave off is that you are providing a service to your clients that helps them make money, and so asking them for their feedback.

Making sure that the service that you’ve provided actually gives them. An ROI is very different than someone that hires you for family photos. And so after you have done the the session, but before you have given them the gallery, you should be preparing them for how to use the assets because they are assets that you are providing to them most effectively.

So. The moment that you get your gallery, why don’t you prep them on how they can choose an image for their LinkedIn or what images would work best to redo their homepage or, I mean, all of these are things that you can start planting the seed before they get the gallery. And then the last thing that I will say is for brand photographers, I need you absolutely checking in with your clients after delivery.

Because yes, if you ask for a review right after you’ve done the session or right after you’ve delivered, they’re going to say nice things about you. They’re going to say how much they enjoyed the process, how it felt to be in front of your camera. But if you wanna get those gold nuggets of, oh, I used this in a marketing campaign and sold $20,000 worth of whatever, you are not gonna get that unless you come back to them 30 days or 60 days after delivery to see how they actually used the assets that you gave them.

Quianna: I love this so much and this is something I’m actively working on, coolly, because

Colie: everybody’s actively working on it. Yeah, I mean, Kiana, it’s not just you.

Quianna: Oh, a hundred percent. Yes. But this, but that I feel is like the missing piece when it comes to marketing, right? So it’s not just getting that hopeful rebook from that valued client that you adore and you had so much on working with, and you wanted to get them on like a quarterly plan or.

At least an annual update, right? Like definitely getting that recurring client, but then hello, like, just using that exact example of since working together, I, I launched my program, right? And I, I raised $20,000. Like that is a huge. Soundbite like that is a huge hook to be used for our own content, so, oh my gosh.

So does that come from an email or do we send them a voice note or what? What do you do for that?

Colie: Either one. I mean, you know me, I love doing it in an email from your CRM so that it can be tracked, it can be consistent. The one thing that I wanna kind of sprinkle in here as like a cherry on top is if you offer services that are secondary to the signature offer that you do.

So for example, if you are a brand photographer, that also helps people plan their social media. They don’t know you do that unless you tell them and you offer it to them. So with brand photographers and maybe like. Brand photographers that are multi-passionate and you guys do a lot of things, um, it’s one thing to tell them when they will potentially be ready for another brand photography session.

It’s another thing for you to offer them the other services that you have that go along with that. So, I mean, brand photographers are experts at the photos. Maybe your clients want to book you one hour to where you actually go through their website and choose the photos to update the website. I mean, I can think of all of these ways that you can make additional money on top of what you charge them for the signature session.

But again, if you haven’t thought about it, if you don’t have a way to charge them for it, if you’re not making it clear to them that it’s a service that they can book, you aren’t gonna make this extra money. It’s just gonna be hidden revenue.

Quianna: Wow. And that is so genius because this is definitely a moment for all of us to pause and remember how incredibly talented we really are and how many different ways that we can open up our arms to receive.

Right. To literally receive. Because that kind of stuff is so easy, right? Like I and, and it’s so funny ’cause that’s one thing that I always tell my clients. I love to remind them. Booking a brand session is so much more than just changing your profile picture. Like how are you actually using them? They have a substantial ROI like, trust me.

Right? By you sharing that exact thing where I think a lot of photographers listening or business owners, creatives listening, they’re like, I would’ve never thought of booking a. Website audit to go through and actually plug and play those images. Let them know why specific images are hero images. And also too, going back to the photo shoot, I try kind of going back to my wedding photography brain, right?

Kind of planting seeds for future purchases is right. Letting people know like, oh my gosh, this would be. An amazing, like spread in the album, or I can just see this portrait over your fireplace, or this is a, this is a picture for mom and grandma, right? Like I’m already already planting those seeds for products, right?

For albums and prints. And same thing for brand photography, right? Where you’re like, oh my gosh, like this needs to be the cover of your Facebook group or your community. Like this is, this is amazing. Or future launches. Let’s do some celebratory photos, right? That’s where we can plant those seeds. And just by sharing that, I’m just mind blown by there’s so many ways that we can serve our clients, right?

Like, yes, it is about making an income. It is about creating that, generating more wealth and more income. But at the end of the day, you’re helping your clients. They’re, you’re helping them and they, they need it. They really need it,

Colie: and then they don’t have to go find somebody to do the same thing. I’m famous for, like, for example, my blog writer.

I went to her and I said, uh, Kara, you know my voice. I need emails written more than the ones that you’re just writing for my blog posts. Do you write emails for any more of your clients? Can I pay you to write these emails so that I don’t have to go find another copywriter that specifically writes emails?

Now, does she advertise that she does that? No, but I specifically ask because I don’t wanna have to go find and like train somebody else to do it. So I mean, and in this case, I just wanna like put one other reason that if you have the opportunity to work with your clients like this, you should. If you are gonna help them choose images for their website, it’s gonna be on video conferencing.

You’re gonna be on a Zoom. You could hit record, I guarantee you. As you’re going through their photos and you are making suggestions on what image to put, where they are going to talk about the experience and how much they love this particular photo, and how excited they are to get this in front of their audience.

Like they’re gonna drop nuggets, like from my perspective, not photography. When I get on my weekly calls with my systems clients, almost every single one of them starts with, oh my gosh, Coley, I have to tell you what happened since last week. And then they give me this absolute gold and I’m like, oh my gosh, how fast can I go put that in like a testimonial or update my website?

And so any opportunity that you have to further the relationship is you’re gonna get more rave reviews from that person. You are more likely to get referrals, and you are more likely to keep them as a long-term client going forward. Either for repeat business, for your original signature offer, or again, for any of you guys that have these secondary offers, I mean the potential for you to increase your average lifetime value is limitless.

Quianna: Amazing. Oh my gosh, this is so good. Goalie. So let’s say that we are like putting an end cap on this, right? Like we are like closing out, off-boarding the client, right? This is, and I would even say after that, like 30 day to 60 day kind of touchpoint of like, Hey, how’s it going? Um, little gentle reminders, like hope those photos and all that content is working well for you.

How do you suggest we really like close it out and then do they get added into a new segment for future things, right? Like how do we kind of wish them well? Send them love and hearts and then kind of close the book on that client experience.

Colie: I’m really happy that you mentioned that because I do really want you to close the book on the original and then we’re gonna kind of move them into the next phase.

Now what you choose to do. It’s totally up for you. I have some clients that continue to do like that reminder to book another session. If, say, for example, if your clients will be ready for another session next year. The nine months out is when you need to send a reminder to the client that’s like, Hey, it’s been about nine months since your session.

I hope that the photos have been treating you well. This is the time when my clients start to think about a new brand session. Where are you at? Is this a conversation that we need to know now, or do you want me to check back in with you in additional three to six months? Now that email needs to be sent.

If you send it from HoneyBook, Dato, your CRM, you have the opportunity to send it out timed based on when you delivered the photos to them the first time. You could also put these kinds of tasks in like your Clickup if you have project management software, so that, or you could even put a reminder, I mean, this is old school guys, but you could go to your Google calendar and literally count nine months out and on that day.

Add a little Google task that’s like reach out to Coley and see if she’s ready for another brand session. The one thing that I encourage a lot of my clients to do, and you can totally do this in HoneyBook, chances are when you are trying to bring your client back in for another service, you don’t need to do the entire process again.

Bare minimum, you can skip the inquiry process and go straight to booking. So if you wanted to use something like a lead form in HoneyBook. A public proposal in DUB that allows them to book the service without having an open project. First. You could actually provide them with a link then. So that if they’re ready before you follow up on your own timeline, they can take the initiative to book the next service themselves.

And so, you know, you’re giving them, you’re, you’re putting the power on them to do it. But again, that doesn’t mean that it absolves you from checking back in because just because you give them a link doesn’t mean that they’re gonna use it without some reminding, without some prompting, without some checking in.

So, however you choose to do it is up to you. I just wanna make sure that you have a process that works for you, even if you’re not the one that’s doing it. ’cause again, some of us have team members like that is totally a task that you could push off on a virtual assistant if you have one. As long as the process and the timeline is documented somewhere.

Quianna: Oh my gosh, this is so powerful. And once again, you are literally coaching, you’re teaching your clients because they’re not, they’re not aware of what’s going on. Right. And just by being upfront and like preloading those checks for them. Oh my gosh. Like once again, what a service. To share, be like, Hey, it’s time.

This is typically when clients are updating their stuff. Right? And, and I love that. And you can even, like you mentioned before, you can even segment people based on their businesses or their brands or their growing family, right? Like whatever it is that you’re photographing or doing. It may be every six months that you were bugging them and reminding them that it’s time for updates or once a year.

I just, this is like, the possibilities are endless.

Colie: I mean, you know, I often feel like I should warn people when you invite me to be your podcast guest. I mean, it’s gonna be a little bit of coaching, especially if we’re talking about your zone of genius. Oh gosh. I can, I can always think of ways that systems could improve your life and your business when asked.

Coming Up Next For Colie

Quianna: So, so good. Oh my gosh. So tell me, Colie, what do you have coming up? What is exciting in your neck of the woods? Um, for some upcoming just ways to work with you and celebrate and learn more about these systems.

Colie: If you’re interested in doing the whole kit and caboodle, I have an offer called Systems in Session.

I think I’ve already mentioned it once, but this is where we go all the way from mapping out your customer service and planning it all the way through to delivery and doing the three Rs that I talked about. You can find out additional information about that at coley james.com/systems. However, if you would kind of like to dip your toe, I have an offer called email, like you mean it.

And it’s not just about writing emails, it is about mapping out the entire customer journey to make sure that you are building trust the entire way and you don’t have any of those huge communication gaps that I talked about. And then you write your entire client communication library that you need for every single touch point.

And so when this goes live, the next five day done with you. Is April 6th through April 10th, and so if you would like additional information on that, go to coley james.com/email to learn more.

Quianna: Amazing. Oh my gosh, that sounds so incredible. And exactly what a lot of listeners need, especially this season. I feel like after the new year, there’s so much going on, but there’s something about Spring that just feels like house cleaning for your business, so this is like the best time to get on it.

Get our systems on lock, get all of those workflows ready to roll and oh my gosh, Colie, you’re just so good at all of this.

Colie: Aw, thank you, Quianna. I’m, thank you so much for having me on. I mean, nothing makes me happier than to talk about any opportunity of the three Rs, because I don’t know why people aren’t talking about the more.

Making money from the clients that you already have should be everyone’s goal. And it’s, it never comes to mind. Like people are always trying to get new leads. New leads, new leads. And I’m tired of Instagram. I gotta be

Quianna: honest. Yes, yes, yes. Let’s nurture the ones we already love and the ones that already adore us.

Like, let’s start there. Yay. Oh my goodness. So how can we be your BFF Coley? Where do you hang out? Online? How do we connect with you and how do we just become Disney besties?

Colie: Oh, I can’t believe we got through an entire podcast and didn’t talk about Disneyland. Everybody. Like I think that the way that you can like learn from me more is my podcast.

And Kiana already mentioned that she is a. An Avid listener. Um, my podcast is Business First Creatives, and the tagline is literally, I wanna help you build a business that brings you joy and a paycheck. And so I am all about profitability and sustainability in your business, and so I would love it if you could confine me on the podcast player of Your choice, but also my website, coley james.com has everything that I do and more.

Quianna: Amazing. Oh my goodness. Well, thank you so much, Colie, for joining us today. I am literally taking notes. I cannot wait for this to go live and for me to listen again on my Hot Girl Walk. And start implementing all of these incredible, incredible, not just tips and tricks. Like this is like mic drop moments.

Like these are educational things that will move the needle forward.

Colie: Agreed. Thank you for having me!

Quianna: Thank you so much. Have a beautiful day. Oh my gosh, wasn’t that so good? If you’ve been focusing on looking more legit online and in person, as you should be, this is your reminder that your backend business needs to match the energy that you are walking into rooms with, right?

Confidence brings visibility. Visibility brings inquiries. Inquiries require systems, and if you don’t build structure around your growth, you’ll resent the very success you prayed for. So here’s your loving reminder. If your brand needs to feel elevated and visible, book the brand session. If your inbox needs to feel organized and streamlined, implement the systems and give your girl Colie a call.

She’s now your best friend, so make sure to connect with Colie. You don’t have to choose between being magnetic and being organized. You get to have both. Make sure you connect with Colie, binge your content stalker, and start cleaning up those workflows. This is spring. Spring is in the air. It’s time for some house cleaning and some business cleaning.

If this episode lit a fire under your butt to finally step into your next level, whether that’s visually or operationally, we’re both right here for you. I can’t wait to chat with you next week. Thank you so much for tuning in! Love you. Bye. That’s a wrap on another episode of Quianna Marie Weekly.

Thank you so much for your listenership and support. You can find the resources and show notes for this episode and more at QuiannaMarie.com/podcast, I’d be honored if you’d show your support by leaving a review and rating on your favorite podcast app. Until next time, keep on on dancing.

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