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If you’re struggling with booking your dream couples, there could be one thing that holding you back. It’s something we see so much and it’s so normal to see in the industry.
This topic that I am sharing is something I shared over my Instagram this past week, and the response was so good I thought it would be a great idea to do an unfiltered episode about this to share it with even more photographers because it’s also not talked about from an education perspective.
While this is going to give you some tough love, I promise you it comes from a place of love because I truly care for you. My hope is that this helps shift your perspective because if you find yourself doing this one thing, you are probably actually waving goodbye to a bunch of potential bookings with your dream couples.
If you’re new around here, I just want to say that these spicy episodes are not typical. Usually, I am bringing you very tangible tips and actionable steps that you can take into your business, and this is one that you can take starting today.
So, let’s get into this unfiltered episode that I hope helps you so much!
One thing I always encourage my students to do is to share their values and personal bits of their life and business so there is more connection being created. However, there is a difference between sharing your values and complaining about who goes against them.
One thing you will never see me do, even though I am very unfiltered in the online space is complain about a couple who has inquired and then ghosted me or didn’t show up to their discovery call.
So let me ask you this – are you complaining about being ghosted? Are you complaining about being stood up for a discovery call? Are you complaining in general about your editing list or your clients in any kind of way? If you are, I want to encourage you to stop today.
If this isn’t you, I’m sure you’ve seen it where photographers have been stood up or have gotten ghosted and then they make a “friendly” yet not so friendly PSA about how valuable their time is and how they made time out of their day to get on a call or to send an inquiry. I get it. It takes time to be in your inbox and to be serving someone already before they book with you, however, your couple who has inquired with you is probably overwhelmed. They probably have inquired with a bunch of different vendors, and while I also love to not be stood up, let’s shift this perspective and keep it professional.
This is your business page. This is not just a social media platform where you can complain about your day-to-day, your potential clients, or even your current clients. I want to encourage you to not post anything that you wouldn’t say to a new client’s face or that you wouldn’t even want new potential clients to see in the first place. You don’t want to be turning people away before they’ve even had a chance to decide whether or not they want to inquire.
And people are watching, my friend. They pay attention to this. In fact, with that post I shared on Instagram, I had so many couples that haven’t even booked with me that responded saying this is exactly why they didn’t book a photographer. It truly is a big turnoff for potential clients.
So, what can you do? Your number one priority should be that your marketing is displaying what it’s going to be like to work with you. A positive experience is incredibly important, and if you are constantly sharing negative things, that’s going to paint the picture for that potential client of what you’re going to be like to work with, and we don’t want that.
Instead of sharing these complaints and negative things about this part of the job, I want you to simply find people in your corner, whether that’s your partner, another photographer friend, or a family member that you can share these kinds of hard things with and not take it public anymore.
This doesn’t mean you can’t share if you’re overwhelmed or having a hard day, but I want you to think about it from the perspective of a potential client or even current clients who are watching you. As you complain about your editing list, they’ve hired you to do a job and your editing list is part of delivering on that final product they have paid hard-earned money for and are waiting on. Can you see how that paints that negative picture around you, around your experience, around your deliverables, and around what it’s going to be like to work with you? I’m telling you, my friend, you simply don’t want to take that public anymore.
That doesn’t mean it takes away the hurt of getting ghosted, or being stood up, or that you’re overwhelmed. That is just human. You’re not always going to have good days, and that’s okay, but I encourage you to not take those kinds of unfiltered things publicly on your Instagram or Tik Tok, because it really is what’s repelling potential couples, and even your clients from being able to rave about their experience with you.
The next thing that I want you to do is to not assume the worst in these potential couples or in your clients. If you can just ask them, “Hey, I noticed we weren’t able to connect for our call today. I really wanted to make sure you had the right call time. Let me know if you would like to reschedule. I was really looking forward to getting to know you and I would still be so stoked to chat. Let me know where you’re at in the process,” or something to that effect so that you’re giving them space to respond.
If they don’t do that, then listen, it’s probably for the better. You are going to find a client that will likely book on that day, or be a better fit for you so give that space to them. Drop the rescheduling link in that email you send after you’re ghosted.
The other thing you can do is if you’re just simply ghosted, you’ve been following up so much, is to create a feedback form you can send in that last follow-up email. And if you have no idea how to follow up with your couples, or even the correct way to respond to an inquiry, I do have a free inquiry email template workflow with 4 different email templates included, and it’s completely free. You could just add that to that 14-day follow-up email because at that point, you are assuming they have gone in a different direction if you haven’t heard from them at all, so this feedback form can be helpful if they’re willing to fill it out and give you more insight as to why they chose not to book or why they chose not to respond.
That is it, my friend. That is the one thing you’re probably doing or you’ve seen other people do to deter books. I really hope that this landed well. I know I’m usually not coming here being super spicy, but this is just something I see so much and I know it’s hurting you. So, I hope you know I really do care, and if this did land well with you, I would love to hear from you on Instagram. I’d love for you to follow me @clairehuntphotography and we can be friends for life. I would love to know you and I can’t wait to hear how this does impact the future of your business.
Remember that the right clients will come along who do trust you and who do value your time and energy, and they do value the follow-up, even if they don’t book with you. When you do have those foundations of your business mastered where you are calling in those kinds of clients, then you can take these situations less personally.
Hook inquires with these 4 free email templates
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