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Day 14: The Inquiry: Handling Emails & the First Phone Call

Lesson 26 from: 30 Days to Design Your Portrait Business

Lori Nordstrom

Day 14: The Inquiry: Handling Emails & the First Phone Call

Lesson 26 from: 30 Days to Design Your Portrait Business

Lori Nordstrom

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Lesson Info

26. Day 14: The Inquiry: Handling Emails & the First Phone Call

Lessons

Class Trailer

Day 1

1

Day 1: So You Want to Be a Pro Photographer?

17:08
2

Day 2: Setting Up "Shop"

48:03
3

Day 2 Bonus: "Setting Up Shop"

57:32
4

Day 3: Getting Organized for Success

18:30
5

Day 3 Bonus: "Planning"

37:23
6

Day 4: Studio Image

24:21
7

Day 4 Bonus: "Studio Image"

32:30
8

Day 5: Defining Your Niche

34:31
9

Day 5 Bonus: "Your Niche"

51:54
10

Day 6: Defining Your Target Client

20:51
11

Day 6 Bonus: "Your Target Client"

17:10
12

Day 7: Marketing Part 1

27:52
13

Day 7 Bonus: "Marketing - Part 1"

1:07:57
14

Day 8: Marketing Part 2 Ideas For implementation

34:20
15

Day 8 Bonus: "Marketing Part 2"

44:28
16

Day 9: Networking

43:30
17

Day 9 Bonus: "Networking"

35:18
18

Day 10: Pricing For Profit Part 1

22:33
19

Day 10 Bonus: "Pricing Part 1"

37:16
20

Day 11: Pricing For Profit Part 2

36:05
21

Day 11 Bonus:"Pricing part 2"

1:10:30
22

Day 12: Projections for 2014

20:08
23

Day 12 Bonus: "Projections"

34:27
24

Day 13: Scheduling and Planning

28:33
25

Day 13 Bonus: "Scheduling & Planning"

34:33
26

Day 14: The Inquiry: Handling Emails & the First Phone Call

33:36
27

Day 14 Bonus: "Initial Inquiry"

55:59
28

Day 15: Client Education & Customer Service

21:19
29

Day 16: Defining Your Product Line

32:15
30

Day 16 Bonus: "Product Line"

10:22
31

Day 17: Packaging Your Product

42:18
32

Day 17 Bonus: "Packaging"

21:05
33

Day 18: The Portrait Consultation: Designing & Planning Session

39:59
34

Day 18 Bonus: "Consultation"

41:25
35

Day 19: Photographing at the Client's Home: Shooting for the Wall

27:32
36

Day 19 Bonus: "Wall Concept Shoot"

13:32
37

Day 20: Shooting On Location: Client's Home with Older Kids

29:47
38

Day 20 Bonus: "Mandi Shoot"

21:14
39

Day 21: Shooting On Location: Client's Home

26:27
40

Day 21 Bonus: "Dryden Shoot"

09:05
41

Day 22: Adding Video to Your Portrait Sessions

14:43
42

Day 22 Bonus: "Adding Video"

09:32
43

Day 23: Shooting with Studio Light

32:59
44

Day 23 Bonus: "Studio Lighting"

28:46
45

Day 24: Portrait Workflow

22:35
46

Day 25: Sales

35:48
47

Day 26: Handling Objections: Finding Your "Yes" Answers

32:15
48

Day 27: Special Events & Mini Sessions

20:32
49

Day 28: Charitable Events: Give & Get Day

33:22
50

Day 28 Bonus: "Charitable Marketing"

19:15
51

29: When Should I Hire Help? When Should I Go Retail?

20:52
52

Day 29 Bonus: Skype call with Lori & Carly

43:10
53

Day 30: Goal Setting & Motivation

27:55

Day 2

Day 3

Day 4

Day 5

Day 6

Day 7

Day 8

Day 9

Day 10

Day 11

Day 12

Day 13

Day 14

Day 15

Day 16

Day 17

Day 18

Day 19

Day 20

Day 21

Day 22

Day 23

Day 24

Day 25

Day 26

Day 27

Day 28

Day 29

Day 30

Lesson Info

Day 14: The Inquiry: Handling Emails & the First Phone Call

Fourteen that inquiry like saying that word for some reason it's hard to say I want to talk about handling emails in the first phone call first impressions so important we talked about this but that email that comes in how you reply to that carly nickel is eyes the first impression I told you guys yesterday that you know, the first time I emailed carly as we were working through this mentoring process, I got this nasty email back I'm not taking any more clients for two thousand thirteen and go away on you know, that first impression if I was a client that would make me feel very good and so you know, we talk through ri you know, reworking that you know that e mail auto reply and think about your auto replies you know, people cannot read your personality over email they can only read how they're feeling in that moment and so if they get an email back from you and they're having a bad day or maybe they're just a crappy person who knows you know but they get that email and open it up they...

cannot read that personality it better be happy better be positive and it better be all about them because, you know, I work with another studio who was sending an auto reply am email that gave all these just right away you inquired about a session with her and it replied with all these policies and procedures of the studio nobody wants to see that that's not a good first impression that's something you lead into after the values established and so you know, think about emails in that way the goal with emails is to get to that verbal communication please please please don't ever schedule your session all over email or all over facebook jones looking at me like what um and and we dio you know we're all busy and that such a temptation to just go ahead and go through that process but when we do that we do have those people who sit down with us or even see your images online and go are you kidding? You're charging you know twenty dollars for an eight by ten and because it doesn't matter if you're charging five or ten or twenty or one hundred fifty dollars for an eight by ten it is too much for somebody that has not understood the value of what you do. And so we've got to take that time to educate our clients, start building that relationship and lead them through the process and we really can't do that over e mail you know even if you're somebody like me who exclamation point, exclamation point, exclamation point smiley face smiley face and excell lori you know I mean it's still you know you have to work really hard to be super positive over email and so the goal is that verbal communication that we wanna have with our clients I can't pick up my work but today because someone drew on it on this day all right here's the goal even through an email and it's much the same as the phone call but our goals are first to find common ground so we want to find out how the client heard about us one of the things that somebody inquires from my website right on the contact form it says, how did you hear about us? I want to know that first a lot of times an email will come in and it says a friend, well, you know, that was really not giving me much, and so I'm gonna reply to them and say, oh, I'd love to know what friend we have in common, you know, I want to find that common ground first if they haven't told me it all, I'm going to say, you know, how did you hear about me that's gonna be one of the first questions, but I always wanted ask questions back to them. I also always even with an auto reply or emails that I'm copy pasting, I want to make sure that I'm personalizing those measures messages in some way if somebody's reading your message and it fills can it does not feel good and so even though we have to do that a lot of times for time management, you know, and you're your copy and pacing or you're choosing your pre described emails, you want to go back in and make sure that you're using their name that you're referencing back something that they said in their email and you're asking questions to lead to that verbal communication so we, you know, just take a little bit extra time and go through that process ask them questions about themselves if they if they email and they say hi, I have a new baby, we'd really like to find out your prices make sure your e mailing back and you're saying no how exciting! Congratulations! I'm so happy to hear that you have your you're a new baby is this your first? You know, we're asked them some kind of question did you have a boy or a girl give them a reason to email you back and continue the conversation? I also want to ask them what is the best time to call and this is something that I do even if they give me their phone number, which like ninety percent of people give me their phone number in the email, but I want to give them the qwerty courtesy of emailing them back they give it to me because I asked for it on the contact page but I want to give them the courtesy of emailing them back because they did e mail me that was their choice of communication. I do have my phone number on the web site, so they could certainly pick up the phone. But since the email, I do want to reply with an email and not just pick up the phone for the first time, so that courtesy is replying to them, asking them questions and then saying what's, the best time for me to call morning or afternoon, and I always give those two choices because if you give two choices, they're going to choose one or the other most of the time and so morning afternoon, and then I've got time on my calendar when I'm returning phone calls, I can also return phone calls if I get one of my task done early, I can sit down and pick up my call log and, you know, make make those phone calls and so and, you know, and back to scheduling and even that question that was asked about scheduling time for planning. You know, I want a plan time yearly where I'm planning at my year, doing those projections with setting goals, revising my business plan, you know, really set out a chunk of time, absolutely, but every single day there is a task list that starts today, and I think it was stephen cubby from seven habits who said, you know, if you take five minutes at the beginning of the day you're you know, forty seven percent more productive in your day I don't remember the exact number, but you are more productive if you just take that time in the beginning to say here's, what this day is gonna look like, and it doesn't take long to sit down and do that. And so even if you have your week basically planned out, take that extra couple minutes to sit down and that's something that in our studio that's, the first thing we all do every day is we sit down and there's a task list for the day things get marked off in order of priority and, you know, you could do this in your google docks, you can do it on paper, I like to see things, and I also like to cross things off, you know? They're sometimes even if it wasn't on the list, I might add it so I can cross it off. But, you know, it's, just setting that task list for the day and so and that's gonna help, you know what do with those phone calls? And if I've got a list of people that I need to call back that I can plug them into those times that we have a little extra time here and there if they've told me I'm an afternoon person or I'm a morning person, so find out that best time and getting on the phone so let's, talk about the phone call and always always we said this on when we were talking about your studio image and personality on the phone, but answer with a smile. It really, really does make a difference, and for me, when I am training anybody for the first time on the phone and going through the phone scripts with them and how we're going to talk to our clients on the phone, there's a mirror and we're smiling when we're talking and it's, creepy and it's weird when you do it, but it makes such a huge difference if you can actually see what happens to your voice when you have a smile on your face, it makes a difference in the collar really can they can tell that you're smiling and that you're a positive, happy person. So that's, my first role is answer with a smile way want to find that common ground same thing with the e mail he wanted, you know, here we're going to be that that questions that's supposed to be there, actually, but how did you hear about me is that you know, finding that common ground uh who were going to be who we're going to photographing isn't next question that I want to be asking and so no matter what the client asked when they call you know they might call for the first time this may not be, you know, from an e mail clients calling for the first time you know hi my name's such and such I was calling to find out how much your packages were I was going to find out how much your digital files were I was calling to find out you hear about me always going to return that that question with great thanks so much for calling how did you hear about me and just start the conversation? All they really want to know is if I'm the right photographer for them and if they're calling you know I need to find out who they know or how they came to me because that's going to really determine how the conversation's gonna go you know, if they found me by googling me or found me on facebook, then I got a lot of work to do with those people you know, if they found me as a referral or from another business and I've got a little bit more of a foot in the door, they know a little bit more about my product and kind of what it's all about and so I can lead them through a little bit easier, but no matter what they ask, I'm gonna let him know, uh, just return that with the question, you know, thanks for much recalling. How did you hear about me when they ask about price again? I'm going to let them know we're going to send you a complete product menu, everything that we dio um, you know, as soon as we get your your session scheduled on go through the process, I'm actually not giving them price until after they schedule, which, you know, that's that's hard for some people to swallow because it's like, well, how do you pre qualify them? But we'll talk about that. So who were going to be photographing is the next question I want them to get talking about their family, about their kids, about their situation, their high school senior, whoever it is because the more information I can find out about them, the more customized I can make their session more aiken taylor to their needs and their personality and, you know, I'm gonna find out a lot about them, right? On the first phone call, I'm going to keep asking questions, I'm going to find out, you know, dad works. All the time and he travels all the time and so I'm gonna tell mom, you know, this is really important this is such an amazing thing that you guys are doing for your family and I'm so thankful that your husband wants to be a part of it, you know, and really kind of lead them through really the value and it's more about just our pictures it's about the time that they're all spending together as a family and so I could tell mom that I can tell her no, your husband travels all the time, you know, the kids are gonna love these family portrait they're gonna love seeing them every day while dad's gone, they're going to know how much family means to you and, you know, planning those little seeds when that happens and when you can do that that's exactly what they see when they see those portrait's every single time, you know, when they're sitting in that order appointment and you're showing them their images and you've told them how valuable this family time is. That is exactly what they're saying in those images when they're you know, sitting there ready to place the order, and so we want to find out all those things and asked lots of questions on the on the first phone call bill that relationship and find out more and more about them they really don't care much about you sorry they you know people want to be loved appreciated and you know, taking care of and so do that by asking those questions and carrying really about them one of the things that I say a lot are you know let me tell you what's gonna happen next because it's kind of something that just kind of stops and restarts the conversation and you know, it's like a little jump start so let me tell you what what's going to happen next and so that I can lead into talking about the session or I can lead into talking about you know I'm gonna I'm gonna be asking you to take some snapshots of your walls at home have you thought about where we're gonna hang your portrait? They're going to say no and I promise you if you ask you know, start putting that into your phone script we've got you know, phone scripts here that you guys are gonna get and if you start asking every single time have you thought about we're gonna hang your portrait? The answer is going to be no unless they have worked with you in the past and they know what it's all about they're going to say no and so I'm going to say, you know, um well what I'm gonna ask you to do is just walk through your home and anyplace you'd even consider taking a we're hanging a portrait I want you to take a snapshot of that wall for me and send it over to me and attacks I'm gonna give you my text number I'm gonna make it easy for you and send that over to me and as soon as I have that I'll be calling you so that I can plan and design your session with you and using those words you know, it's it's raising the bar it's raising the value of what we're doing because now they're not just scheduling a session now I'm committed teo calling them and planning and designing their session with them and so that's going to help me a lot I always want my yes answer scripted and we will spend a segment talking about those yes answers but some of the things that are gonna happen on that first phone call, you know, are things like, you know, no, I haven't thought about where I'm gonna hang my portrait, and in fact, I was just thinking about, you know, maybe an eight by ten and a couple five by sevens or they may say, you know, no way have all windows in her house and it's really, you know, we we can't hang any any portrait in there or even my interior designer told me I couldn't hang porches on my first first war, whatever um if if they tell me, you know, we've got all windows downstairs and we really we don't have any wall space I'm going to tell her you know what? I want you to walk through, take those snapshots for me. I love a challenge. Let me see what I could do for you and so it's just answering those objections and all objections mean are I need more information and so give them more information, give them that. Yes, answer and if I tell her I love a challenge, just walk through for me, let me see what I can do for you and I'm still saying I'm going to be of service to you. I'm doing this for you, let's do something beautiful that you can enjoy every single day of your family and your home, and so we're walking them through that process. So asking that question have you thought about where you're going to hang your portrait? That is number one for me on the first phone call, I want to get that process started, I want to tell them and it's it's scripted it's the same every single time I want you to walk to your house and any place you'd even consider hanging a portrait, I want you to just take a snapshot of that wall for me I'm gonna design something beautiful for you and I'll be showing you those designs, and we'll start planning in designing your session based on where we're going to hang this portrait and so, you know it comes, it becomes a different process now, it's not just I'm going to get my picture scheduled it's my daughter's, three years old, you know, now it's, we've become an interior designer, we've become a planner, you know, we're talking about a whole different level of service and what we're doing, and so I want to, you know, really walk them through have you thought about you're going to eat your porridge? It's they will say no, but they can't say yes if you don't suggest and that's another big rule for me, you know, whether it's on our first phone caller on the consultation call or even in the order appointment when we're suggesting add ons for their images, they can't say yes, if you don't suggest and people honestly do not know what's available to them, it doesn't matter who they are, and especially if somebody came from on ly digital files if they worked with somebody who's only given them digital files for a long time, and now it's time that they really want to do something different and unique, you know, they have no idea what's available to them and I have a lot of clients who put, you know, potential clients, I will call, and they really think that they're calling and they're going to get four by six is five by sevens and eight by tens because that is all they know until I tell them what is available and make those suggestions, and so and it's just having a plan for that, making it consistent every single times they were saying the same things relating them through the process, and I'm getting what I want by selling, you know, the wall grouping, but in the end they're getting what they want, teo and what they love, and I have people tell me over and over and over, you know, I never even imagine this was possible, and they can't imagine it until we tell them, you know, so take the opportunity don't beat yourself up thinking I've been doing digital files all this time, or even, you know, not really taking care of my clients in this way, you know, if you and it doesn't have to be wall portrait's, your thing could be albums or could be image boxes, or it could be something completely different that I haven't even thought of, but, you know, whatever it is, make those suggestions and let them know this is available to you, this is what can happen if we do x y and z and lead them through the process? So make those suggestions the next thing I'm going to do after I walked them through the hole and sometimes that comes at a different point in the conversation, I'm a scheduled our session first and then ask them, have you thought about where you're gonna hang your portrait? But there's, certain things we've gotta call log? Um, a phone log here that, of course, is also in your workbook, but I can't show you because megan do something on my but this this phone log is in your workbook, and this is the checklist that we have by our phone for each and every phone call. And so whether I'm answering the phone or somebody else in the studio is answering the phone, we know that these things need to get discussed, they need to get checked off. We need to make notes on these things, and so so, but we do know that certain things need to be checked off on this list and asking them where they're gonna have their portrait getting, telling them we want the snapshot details from them are on that list, but it doesn't matter where in the conversation happens, but it needs to happen. So scheduling the session is going to be something that you know when the time comes I'm going to give them two options there already booked on my calendar this is when I can take sessions and when I do sessions is tuesday wednesday thursday at eleven and one those are my only options available period and it's been that way for over ten years now and so I can look at my counter right away and I can say this tuesday at eleven is available or this thursday it one is available which would be better yes, I'm going to get mom's who say, oh but my kids are in school and you know, I really don't want to take him out or she's going to say while my husband works and you know, he's he works really hard and he really can't leave his job, you know? And we're gonna get all kinds of objects objections like this and so my next question is going to be, you know, amy when's the last time you had a family portrait done and amy's going to say at least a year if not three years or five years or never and I hear a lot of times if it's somebody that haven't photographed before they say, you know, we haven't had a family portrait done since, you know, now we've got two more kids since the last one was done and so and I do hear that a lot um the family that we're you're going to see a session of that's hanging over here on the wall five beautiful children and they have never had a professional family portrait done and so they had some fun things hanging in their home with all of them but they were friends you know, friends that had just taken pictures for them and she loves photography had called me like eight years ago when they had one child to do a session and inside they couldn't afford me and now it's eight years later and I got to photograph this beautiful family so you know it's ah, I got sidetracked but I'm going to ask them you know how long's it been since you've had a family portrait and they're going to tell me at least a year and I'm gonna answer them with no this is something that's really, really important for your family would you consider taking your kids like to school one day or getting them out early one day or would your husband consider taking an extra long lunch one day and just posing back the option to the client? An objection just means I need more information and so I want to pose that question back to them I wantto let her know the value of what she's doing and I very, very rarely have somebody say no I would not consider that you know, yes, that makes sense when you put it that way. So yes, let me see what day my husband can, you know, which one of those days will work out for him? Let me see, you know, she'll know about her kids, but, you know, so we're answering that question with a yes is very positive, but no, I'm not going to screw around with my schedule because it's better for you if I shoot on a saturday that's my family time and, you know, like I said yesterday, I'm starting the book now on saturday mornings because it is okay for my family. My kid is sleeping in till noon, and he doesn't care if I'm not very fifteen years old, you know? But you decide you plan when those sessions are gonna happen and don't let the client control it after I scheduled a session, I'm gonna let the client know it's kind of one of those let me tell you what's gonna happen next or, you know, saying that again about a week after your session, we're going to bring you back into the studio to view an order, your images and that's the time when I'm going to get objections like you know well you mean I have to make all my decisions right then can't you put him on line and my answer to that is you know absolutely every image order is going to be placed in a password protected gallery for you to share with your friends and family that's my ass answer sure they're gonna go on the online but it's after you place your order you know if somebody says I really can't make decisions I'm such a bad decision maker you know can't you just put him on line there's no way I can do that I'm going to say you know what? I'm gonna hold your hand through the entire process we're gonna work together on this and you're going to be really comfortable and happy with your decisions before you leave and I am I'm gonna walk them through this process I'm gonna tell them what they're going to get you know and so you know so we just want to lead them through this entire process about a week after the order appointment we're going to bring you back she might then ask me um you know well we're coming three hours and I really don't want to have to come back a week later and other three hours what are my options? I want to have that yes answer and so when this started happening about three, four years ago we created the full day experience and all that means is, you know, I'm not I just tell them if they say I really don't want to bet come back three, you know, three hours more a week later, it's not an option for me to put images online that's not going to be my answer because that's a negative answer. Instead, I'm going to say, you know what? Maybe the floor full day experience is going to be perfect for you. What we'll do is we'll photograph your family in the morning that's my eleven o'clock session and then we'll send you out to lunch on us, and when you come back after lunch, we'll have your image is ready for you to view in order. How does that sound if I need to have a baby sitter there for them? I mean, that just means one of my employees, but, um, you know, years ago it might have been one of my older kids, but if I need to have that baby sitter so that they can sit down with me and in place that order, I will do that, you know, and you can do this even if you have a home studio, put half of the kids in a play room and put a movie on and give him some snacks so mama dad can sit with you you know, whatever the situation is if you're in their homes even easier they can send the kids off to their rooms or to the playroom are out in the backyard whatever so you know, make situations work for you when you have those client objections write them down and figure out how you're going to make it work for your business in a positive way for you and for your client so I want to make sure oh here's another good one how many outfits can I bring you guys get that you know when you have the mom he wants to bring the easter dress and aunt sally bought because she wants that one like four by six in that easter dress and by planning designing the sessions in the way that we do now I've totally eliminated that because what I can tell mom is you know, when we get those snapshots of your walls will determine if one of those rooms is perfect for her dress if it is well, how have you bring that in? We'll photograph turner easter dress and will you know, put it on whatever while it's appropriate for if not I'm sure that aunt sally's gonna be happy with your you know, your snapshots and if I say that she agrees, you know and usually it's oh yeah you're right, I don't want that hanging in my law you know or its yeah she and so he's going to be fine if I just take a snapshot for her you're right you know but we didn't pose the idea to them and so all they know is all I know all they know is aunt sally once picture so can I bring the dress you know and so finding those yes answers do I have to come back can you put him online? Uh we answer that how about grandma? You get those back question you know well, what about grandma she's gonna want to order something? Can you put him on line and you know instead of me saying oh my gosh I dont come online for grandma I'm gonna miss out on the sale and it could be a giant sale we know the grandma's don't buy anything but five by sevens and a bit tense we know this and I have clients with a lot of money and some have two houses some of the grand parents have, you know, two or more homes they still are mined for the wall I usually have like two grandmothers a year that actually purchased wall portrait's and groupings of their grandkids and you know what? I love them you know those air great grab us I have in the studio but everybody else is gonna buy a great big eight by ten of their you know, their grand picket and so my answer to that too, that is you know what? Why don't you find out what size grandma wants? They already know. So I tell him, why don't you find out what size grandma wants? And we'll go, hey, it had to make a selection for her, and then we're gonna put all of your ordered images in a password protected password protected gallery on our website, and you can have her go and see what we selected for her. If she's not happy with it, she conceives witch it out with one of the other ones that you've chosen, those are going to be all their favorites anyway. That makes perfect sense to mom. She just never thought of it before. And so and really, honestly, when it usually when I say let's, find out what size grandma wants, they tell me right away. So she she just fine by sevens of all the grandkids. And you know what? Two seconds ago she just asked me to put him online, you know, and doing that would of sabotage what I got going on. Now, if I put him on line, she knows she doesn't have to come and place your order because they're gonna be online anyway. So I'm going to get there and I'm gonna make excuses and say, well, you're gonna put online online for my mom, so I'll just go ahead and wait until I see them all again and I'll make my choices then, right? All right, huh? We might have to wait for some of these questions. Teo, the finder yes answers segment, so I'm going to flip through. I know there's tons of these questions, one of the things that I do, I always want to lead the client. This is how things go here is what's going to happen next? And you know any business that you work with that you're going to the dentist office or you're going tio, the spot where you're going, you know, whatever it is, they're telling you how this goes, you know, and if they do that and so you expect exactly what you're told were told what to do when we go to somebody else's business and so, you know, think about that and what we should be doing, how we should be leading the client if we're telling them this is how this goes here's what's happened next, what will happen next? That is exactly what's going to happen because we just told them it would and being confident and you're in your procedures and that way they don't question it, they're not going to sit down next to you and go, could you just do this instead of that? We've already told them exactly how this goes. This is how this works, here's what's happened what's going to happen next and so make those suggestions if you don't suggest they can't say yes, I do also tell my clients, and this is something that, you know and whether you're using pro select or preview like I do, you know, whatever you're using to actually show your clients these wall groupings, like I do, one of things I tell them is, and we have a state of the art design software, I just roll it out there because it sounds good, but I tell them we've got a state of the art science after I'm gonna create some beautiful things for you, and you're gonna be able to see it all before you buy and if I'm working with a mom and she needs to have dad, therefore the appointment that is something that I can say to her cause men love that they love being able to see exactly what they're getting, and so I will tell them, you know, let your husband know that we're going to be, you know, designing for for your home he's gonna be able to see everything before you ever even get here and help you make those decisions. I want those decisions made before they sit on my couch and so they could do that together, and and that has helped even if even if we don't get dad back for the order appointment and we'll talk about that more in the yes answer section. But even if we don't get dad back for the order appointment, we get dad in on the decision making before we sit down. If he needs to be some moms don't want them involved at all and that's that's great, too. But, you know, we wantto work, you know, through that process. If mom needs to have dad there, then I tell her because this is a great selling tool for her to go to him and say, she's gonna design, everything force is going to be done, and you're gonna be able to see it before we ever give her any money, you know, and and men love that, right, russ? All right, write those things down. And I do have a phone scripts for you guys. We got the call log when you get those objections on the phone and you get those questions on the phone. Write it down and figure out how you're going to answer it the next time or how you're going to present it to the client even before they ask the next time and you know that something for me that's been very important if if somebody is in my sales room and they're asking questions or they have objections I didn't do something right they should be there and be very comfortable with the process and just be excited to order their images and it happens every time I know when the ball's been dropped and then I got to figure out where it got dropped who dropped it and how we fix it you know? So write those things down um you know, this is gonna have a lot of those yes answers from the first phone call in it for you guys you'll be able to see exactly how I answer those and then, you know, you can of course go through and I would encourage you to make it yours you know, printed out and scribble on it and write on it and really give it your own voice and hopefully that'll help so that is the download for the day are the actual phone scripts that you could go in and you can you know, type and make your own as well as the phone log I can't tell you how excited I am about this day and this download in particular, I'm not doing my photography business portrait business full time at this point because of my job here, but that was a oneness. One of my biggest fears raise your hand if you also would rather just email with your clients instead of getting on the phone with them. In case you're not going to know what to say, say I don't know what I want to say, and I'm afraid of that, teo. Now where is your hand? If you feel like you know you can, you've got tools to practice, I'm getting not way allright, I love the fact that you have provided those things so that we're really getting over those fears of getting on the phone, but we don't do enough of these days. It's true, but let's, take some questions. Do we have any in the studio audience? Yes, grabbed the mike. So, laurie, do you never get the question? You've shown them this beautiful wall gallery at their design consultation before the session before the senior prices? Don't you send it to them? And they just say, well, how much is it gonna cost? Absolutely and we're going to cover that in the consultation segment, which is coming up next, I think, actually it's coming up in two segments. Great so mel goodland from folsom, california says what do you say those clients that purchased groupons are living social deals and want you to give them a deal like they purchased? How do you give them a straightforward answer without having to explain too much? I know these deals aren't always good um I really don't get that but we actually did a living social uh group on in my studio when I first was starting with my second shooter I just wanted to get her busy and it really was all about her just practicing and being able to shoot we were really didn't even care if we were uh you know, if if we're profitable with it, it didn't matter we just wanted her shooting without giving people that we knew you know, all these free sessions and so we did one of those events and it it it was not great for us. Um she did about seventeen sessions I think we didn't do a super cheap one we did a little bit higher end one but but it adjusted and interfere with what we do on a day to day basis because of the process and you know, I think part of the meltdown part of when somebody actually says, well, can you give me this deal or can you do that it's because we really haven't told them this is how this works you know, we haven't led them through the process, and I absolutely do have people call that you everyday that have no idea they're coming to spend thousands of dollars, they really do think all they know they five by sevens eight by tens, maybe I'll even get a couple wallets, you know? And they have no idea until I tell them and then walking them through the process. We're talking about designing for their home. We're talking about planning in designing their session, you know, all these things and, you know, building the value, talking about how valuable, even the session itself is for family time or for their kids, even a birthday club session, I'm telling them, let's, create a tradition every year that your daughter can get really excited about this is gonna be all about her. We're gonna make it really special for her and she's gonna look forward to it every year, and then they do because I told them they would, you know, and so it's, not it we're establishing value and, you know, there is no price that you could tell somebody that makes sense unless the values justified and we're building value through the process, and so I really don't have people that say, well, can't you do this cheaper? You know, it's, just this is how we do business. You don't walk into another business and ask them to, you know, I need a crown on my tooth. Could you please give me half price? I really want to pay that much that's just too much. We don't do that, you know, and so, you know, think about that like that, if you, you know if you're running, but this is how we do business. If you're confident in the approach and lead your clients through, you're establishing value throughout, they're not going to ask for discounts on that.

Class Materials

bonus material with purchase

Day 30 Textures.zip
Day 28 Press Release.zip
Day 29 Banner.zip
Day 8 Mommy and Me.zip
Day 23 Contact Sheet.pdf
LoriNWorkbook.pdf
CL_LORI30 Desktop Screen Saver 1.jpg
CL_LORI30 Desktop Screen Saver 2.jpg
CL_LORI30 Desktop Screen Saver 3.jpg
CL_LORI30 Desktop Screen Saver 4.jpg
Day 3 Weekly Calendar.pdf
Day 3 Monthly Calendar 2014.pdf
Day 4 NOTECARD INSIDE.jpg
Day 4 NOTECARD INSIDE.psd
Day 4 NOTECARD OUTSIDE.jpg
Day 4 NOTECARD OUTSIDE.psd
Day 4 Thank You Back.jpg
Day 4 Thank You Back.psd
Day 4 Thank You Front.jpg
Day 4 Thank You Front.psd
Design Card.zip
Design Gift Card.zip
TapeMeasureLabel.psd
Day 6 BUZZ WORTHY BABY.zip
Day 7 Blog Card.zip
Day 7 PlayDate Cards.zip
Day 8 Gift Certificate.zip
Day 8 Mini Accordian Book Square.zip
Day 8 Promcard Digital and or Print.zip
Day 8 Timeline Cover.zip
Day 9 Gift Card.zip
Day 9 Vendor Card.zip
Day 10 Accordian Album.zip
Day 11 Event Pricing.zip
Day 12 8X8 Econo Layout Album.zip
Day 13 Grateful Worksheet.pdf
Day 14 Call Log Worksheet.pdf
Day 14 Phone Scripts.pdf
Day 15 Welcome Card.zip
Day 16 Square Collages.zip
Day 17 Certificate of Authenticity.zip
Day 18 Consultation Phone Scripts.pdf
Day 18 Consultation Planner.pdf
Day 19 Wall Cling Ruler.zip
Day 20 Image Box.zip
Day 21 Storyboards.zip
Day 22 Designer Collections.zip
Day 23 Holiday Cards.zip
Day 24 Workflow Envelope.zip
Day 25 Record of Sales Workbook.pdf
Day 26 View and Choose Appointment Card.zip
Day 27 DVD and DVD Case.zip

bonus material

Course Outline.pdf
CL_LORI30 Model Release.jpg
CL_LORI30 Model Release.psd
Day 2 Workbook Sample.pdf
PrintRelease_LNS.jpg
PrintRelease_LNS.psd

Ratings and Reviews

fcaisp
 

This course is amazing! Lori covers so many essential things to have a successful photography business. She goes through everything in a very methodical way. I also appreciate ALL the free stuff she gave to help make my business successful. I also love how she shared how she gives back in her community and worldwide. Thanks Lori!

a Creativelive Student
 

I have loved so many creativeLIVE courses but I have to say this has been THE BEST for me. Lori thank you so much for sharing your wealth of knowledge! I am feeling more confident and excited about moving forward and making my photography a real business finally. I have been crippled by insecurity and fear and with this course I feel like I have finally been given the ok and the KNOWLEDGE to do what I need to do. Thank you!

a Creativelive Student
 

I cannot say enough GREAT things about this course!!! I've been in business for over 10 years now, but still need to check in on the business side of things periodically. This class reminds us just how much fun marketing, sales, and planning can be. It has rejuvenated my passion for the BUSINESS side of this business. In fact, I'm so inspired by what Lori has to say, I think I will recommend this class to my COMPETITORS down the street. We will all be better for it and the industry will be better too! This is perfect for those just starting out AND seasoned pros :)

Student Work

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