Mastering Client Communication with Kara Hanes

Unlock the secrets to superior client interactions with the wonderful Kara Hanes, a  wedding and senior photographer based in Michigan.

The number one factor in creating a seamless and rave-worthy client experience is with great communication. In this week's episode, my guest and I are breaking down the top tips for becoming a key communicator in your business.

Learn more about Kara:
Website: https://karahanesphotography.com/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/camerasandcoffeepodcast/
Podcast: https://karahanesphotography.com/podcast/

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Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:05

Hey there and welcome to the Girl Means Business podcast, the show where we're all about helping you feel confident, both as a mom and a business owner. I'm your host, kendra Swalls, mom of two, former teacher and full-time photographer and business coach. Each week we'll discuss the challenges, success and secrets that make you say I can do this, because you absolutely can. So pop in those earbuds, grab your favorite snack and let's get ready, because this girl means business. Hey, friend, and welcome back to the Girl Means Business podcast.

Speaker 1: 0:41

This week we have a really fun interview episode with Cara Haynes. She is a photographer, she is a podcast host. She hosts the cameras and coffee podcast, which I have been on recently. I will link down to her podcast. So if you want to go listen to my episode on her podcast, you can go do that.

Speaker 1: 0:59

But we are going to be talking today all about communication, specifically client communication and client experience. But the communication piece goes across the board, whether you are talking about with clients, with collaborations, with other business owners, with your employees, if you have anybody on your team, even your own family and friends. Communication is key in all areas of our life. So Cara is going to be talking today about her experiences and her knowledge when it comes to creating a client experience, and it all comes back to having really strong, good communication. So I cannot wait for you to hear our conversation. Cara is an amazing photographer, an amazing educator, and she has so much knowledge to share. So let's get right to it. Cara, welcome to the podcast. I'm so excited to have you here. Thank you so much for joining me today. Thanks for having me.

Speaker 2: 1:52

I'm excited.

Speaker 1: 1:54

I'm excited to chat. Okay, I think we have a really fun, exciting topic. But before we get to our topic today, tell us a little bit about yourself, your business, your journey to get to where you are now.

Speaker 2: 2:05

Sure, so I am a wedding and senior photographer and I'm based in West Michigan, so near Grand Rapids, living a suburb out of there. But I have been doing this. My son is going to be 16. So almost 16 years started as a hobby kind of, went into a business but really honed in. It wasn't until like 2017. So it's been a little while seven years really gung-ho, doing it, full time, kind of going there. But yeah, there's just been a lot of experience along the way. I have actually have an early childhood degree, which is kind of funny. I used to do a lot of family photography, so a lot of kid type of things, and just realized I like control. So, yeah, senior photography and couples are a lot easier. Now. The chaos of a wedding day really is where I strive, like I thrive in those environments just because I'm so used to the busy classroom of preschoolers and like communication. I've done a lot of parent meetings and things like that. So I really kind of found my craft and found my niche there of what I love doing.

Speaker 1: 3:25

So, yeah, Well, we have a lot in common there. I came from the teaching world as well, and so when you find that point where the two things that you are good at and you enjoy like merge, you're like oh, now I see where I can use all this knowledge I had from the classroom and teaching and apply it just in a different way. You know, wrangling four-year-olds versus a wedding party of the crazy or family members it all fits together.

Speaker 2: 3:48

I can tell you, it's the same.

Speaker 1: 3:49

Yes, I can't tell you how many times I have used like the one, two, three eyes on me when I'm like trying to get like attention, or I'll be like clap once if you can hear me. Stop it I use those in weddings because I'm like guys use the same thing.

Speaker 2: 4:06

Oh my gosh, I love it yeah.

Speaker 1: 4:09

So it's interesting to me how many people come from educational backgrounds I've interviewed so many people on the podcast or even just like people I've talked to at conferences or things I've gone to where they're like oh yeah, I used to be a teacher and I'm like we all like come from the same thing. It's kind of funny.

Speaker 2: 4:24

So yeah, yeah, I think a lot of that stems from the fact that when you're a teacher, you're not just teaching, yeah, like you're wearing so many hats and you're multitasking at the same thing, which I think is why and I feel like teachers are driven Like, they're very much like and forward thinkers you have to be, and so I think that's why we strive in business so well is because we're thinking ahead, we're thinking of now, we're doing multiple things at once.

Speaker 1: 4:52

It just makes sense to have it really easily from one thing to another, like we're just constantly like bouncing around.

Speaker 1: 4:56

Yeah, it absolutely makes sense, and I think another piece like what we're going to talk about today comes a lot from that too, which is the idea of communication, because it's very I don't want to say it's too different, but I think it is very different.

Speaker 1: 5:10

Coming from, like, a corporate world to a world of like. You've had to deal not only with the children in front of you in the classroom and learning how to communicate things to them in different ways, but then you have the parents and then you have your administration. Like, you have all these different things. You're at these groups. You're having to make sure everybody's on the same page, and I think that translates a lot into business, because you now have to make sure that you're able to communicate with your clients, or maybe even multiple. If you're working with weddings, you may be having to communicate with the bride and the mother of the bride and, on the day of, communicate with a planner or coordinator or venue owner, whatever it might be. You're still having to juggle all of those different things. So I think this is a topic that is really relevant, especially coming from what we used to do versus what we do now.

Speaker 1: 5:56

It all again it's all the same, just in a different format.

Speaker 2: 6:00

When it's crazy too, because when you think about communication, like when you've been a teacher, you have to communicate to the child, you have to communicate to the parent, you have to communicate to whoever's above you. Yeah, exactly, and when you have volunteers, you've got to figure out how to communicate to them. There's so many avenues and so many ways where you have to like bring things in layman's terms and things where you're like okay, this is super educational moment in a process. Yeah, it all goes into play.

Speaker 1: 6:29

It does, it does. Okay, so let's dive into that, because this is something I've talked about on the podcast sort of in passing in other episodes, always been kind of embedded in like a larger conversation. But I love that we're going to really solely focus on communication today, because I do think it is so important and it can make or break your client experience for sure when you have really good communication versus really poor communication.

Speaker 1: 6:55

And I will say I've seen both sides of the conversation where I've seen business owners who have said things like oh, I get so frustrated because my clients didn't see this in the email I sent or they didn't read this in their contract. On the flip side, I have seen it and I've been kind of on this side too of my own and being a client and being kind of frustrated with someone who was like not well, not communicating well, and I was like I have all these questions that are not being answered. So I really think you're going to give us a lot of insight today on how to avoid that, both as the business owner and helping our clients feel really well and taking care of. So, let's say, if you are a small business owner and we can use photography a lot for this and that's both the world that we know and a lot of my listeners are photographers as well what would you say is one of the like first things you would say is the most important when it comes to communicating with your clients?

Speaker 2: 7:51

Yeah, definitely over communicating, and that is something I am really big on and sometimes I'm like is that too many things? But definitely like when you are unsure or you have a client that's asking a lot of questions, just constantly saying the same thing over and over, and I think there's like studies out there don't quote me on it where you have to hear things like seven times before you actually make a change or actually consider it. And I think when you over communicate what points you're trying to bring across or things they really need to know, then you can say like hey, here's where we talked about this. Let me know if you have additional questions or things like that, because I think a lot of times we just assume, yeah, oh, yeah, Assume that they're in our world and it's like we see it all the time. But you got to think of it from an outward perspective and non for in our case, a non photographer perspective of would they know what? I know this if I wasn't a photographer, and I think that's key.

Speaker 1: 8:59

That is huge. And I want to like kind of expound on that for a second, because I do think that's something that a lot of times gets lost is that we, we get lost in like the forest of what we do. We forget, like that saying of like you don't see the forest for the trees, and I think that it's so helpful in this case to maybe even take what you use for your communication, whether it's, you know, an email series or your welcome guide or whatever it is that you send out, maybe send it to somebody that is not in your industry, not in your niche, and say does this make sense? Because having and I say this a lot we were. I just was talking to somebody who does like web design and websites and I always caught the mom test of when I'm like creating my website.

Speaker 1: 9:44

I always send it to somebody and I'm like okay, go look at this and tell me if it makes sense. And I think that we forget to do that with our communication piece. We look at it as like oh, when someone comes to my website, does it make sense? But what about what happens even beyond that? Does it make sense? Are we get? Are we covering all the bases? And because I do think that is something, because I've experienced as a client of like oh no, I don't understand your world, I don't understand this process. I don't know what comes first, second, third, fourth. You need to break it down for me, like I'm a kindergartner and I think we forget to do that because we don't want to.

Speaker 1: 10:17

We don't want to insult our clients, but we also forget. They're not in our brains, they don't live in our world, like you said.

Speaker 2: 10:23

Exactly. Yeah. I mean, I even think of, like when we were going to record this podcast, I'm like did, did she send me a link of where we're meeting? And then, when I got to my email, I'm like there it is, I don't have to go digging through my email. I'm like it's stuff like that where, let's say, you have, as a photographer, you have a photo session and you sent out a link a while back, like here's where we're meeting, here's the time. Like is that the only time you're going to communicate that, or are you going to do it again, maybe a week before, and then the day before, yeah, and kind of explaining like what's your cancellation plan? What's what's the plan if this happened? Like kind of there's like education in that as well, and I think that's so important because, yeah, a lot of times we have so much on our mind we don't think about it till the moment it comes.

Speaker 1: 11:10

So well, I want to back up for a second because I think, before we get into even like the nitty-gritty of once someone has reached out to you or is working with you, what about communicating to them before they ever reach out to you, like what are some things we can do? I know you mentioned the big thing is like over communicate, and I think a lot about you know our websites, the content we put on social media. How can we apply that idea of over communicate in our content that draws people into wanting to work with us before they ever become a client?

Speaker 2: 12:54

Yeah, I mean, if you post something on social media one time, you can't imagine like they're going to look at it, you know continually talking about it. Like you can post multiple things on that. You can do blog posts that are multiple blog posts that are the same thing. You know like it could be a different, like perspective, but it can definitely be in that. But I also think, like for us photographers, a lot of times we'll have guides to talk through. But like specifically like my website and websites that any business professionals should have, should talk about like their process of what's the process if you want to get in touch with me, and it shouldn't be in one spot, you should have it like a link to go to it from multiple places. Is the same if you were to post on social media or put it in an email list or something like that. Don't assume, like you did it one time, that they're always going to know where to go find it. Like constantly Talk about it. Yeah.

Speaker 1: 13:58

Yeah, no, I think that's amazing because I have always had the mindset of like I want my no-transcript audience to feel super supported from the moment they hear about my business to the moment, like, even beyond working with me, and so sometimes that means giving information upfront, like, there's a lot of people, I think, who gatekeep and who are like oh well, once they reach out to me, I'll give them all the information. They're not going to reach out to you, though, if they don't have some of the information up front. And so finding a good balance of like okay, I'm going to put this into a blog, I think and this is my own little soapbox, I'm going to get on. Blogs are not dead. Like blogs are still really relevant. Like make sure you're putting content out there that is is a resource for your audience that draws them in and makes them feel like oh, this person understands how to take care of me as a client, so I think that's for sure.

Speaker 2: 14:50

Okay. So, like you, you need and it doesn't have to specifically be this, but, like frequently asked questions and a lot of times, I mean, we as Americans, we want to know right up front what's the damage, you know, when we have a service, and so just having that all communicated upfront as well is super important.

Speaker 1: 15:09

Yeah, yeah, I mean I just again another like tangent we could call upon.

Speaker 1: 15:14

But I'm a big believer in, like you said, putting as much information out there as you can, and I think that for me, that means putting out at least a starting price point, because that could be of yeah, I mean, I just had a good turn and there's a lot of.

Speaker 1: 15:25

I just had a conversation with a lady on social media there, Like there's a lot of people who are not going to reach out to you to find out your pricing because they feel like and this comes from past experiences probably they feel like they're going to get either bullied or guilted into working with you, even if they're out of your price point, because now they've entered your sphere of like sucking you in, and so they just put their mind at ease and go. This is the starting price point. If this matches your budget, let's talk more. Some people put their full pricing out there. I think that's totally fine too, Finding that balance of like, what do you feel comfortable with? But also like putting enough out in the front facing that they feel comfortable enough coming to you and asking the questions.

Speaker 2: 16:11

And I feel like there's been this thing of if you don't put your pricing or information on once they contact you, you're just going to spam them all this stuff. And I mean, yes, as business owners we want to have as many funnels as possible, but what are we doing so that they don't have that fear? So, yeah, for sure, communicating as much as possible so they don't feel like they have to get into that funnel. Yeah never ending funnel of how do I get rid of this stage.

Speaker 1: 16:40

five cleaner Right, yes, and we don't want to. I mean, we want them to come in and be excited to talk with us and not have that fear of you know they're just going to like guilt me into this. So, okay, let's say we've gotten, we have enough information up front that makes them feel comfortable to fill in our contact form or send us an email, or what? How hard is they? Get in touch with you, set up a call? How can we then, once they have said, yes, I want to work with you, yes, I want to book with you, with you or whatever the process is, what's the next step? I know you said over communicate, but what does that really look like behind the scenes when someone is actually becoming our client?

Speaker 2: 17:19

Yeah for sure. Definitely, checking in often or explaining when you will next check in is super important because, let's say, for photography reasons, I have a wedding client. They book me like eight months out. They're not going to hear from me again unless they're booking an engagement session or until like maybe a month before the wedding and they're going to be like I paid this person this much money and are they still around? So they're just going to wonder.

Speaker 2: 17:48

So I think it's really important to say, hey, I'm going to go radio silent until this date. This is when you'll hear from me next is huge. But I also think, like when you want to nurture that client or someone that's entering your business and converted over, I think it's really good to get them into some kind of CRM. So I think it's important unless you're really good at keeping things organized on your own whether it be spreadsheets or in your mind and checking in via email that I'm not that kind of person. I need a CRM to help me out and send automated email so that these clients feel nurtured. But I think it's important to constantly communicate and assure them that you have their best interest and that you haven't gone anywhere.

Speaker 1: 18:42

you're still thinking of them and yeah, yeah sadly there's been too many stories of, especially in the wedding industry. There's been too many stories of photographers and or even I've seen some with like venues where there is no communication. Like you said, there is that large window. If they book you eight months a year in advance and you do go radio silent because you're not, you know you don't necessarily need to check in with them every couple of weeks when you have that big gap in between.

Speaker 2: 19:12

Yeah.

Speaker 1: 19:13

But there's been too many stories of the clout, you know, brides that have been left stranded on a wedding day because the photographer never showed up with a videographer or the venue whatever went out of business.

Speaker 1: 19:23

And it's intimidating for clients to who are booking in advance to feel confident in that decision when they don't have the communication ahead of time of like, hey, just a heads up, you probably aren't going to hear from me for a couple of months because I'm, you know, you're.

Speaker 1: 19:41

This is like the window of time when we're really going to communicate, have heart and heavy, but that window beforehand you may not hear from me and that's okay, don't worry, I'm still here, you know. Or I love the idea, like you said, the automations, the CRMs, like having maybe some automated emails that do go out every month or so that just say, hey, just touching base, hope that your wedding planning is going well, you know, asking a question or something like that, just to make them feel reassured. I think that's the big piece, is that that constant communication adds that level of reassurance that, yes, I'm not just taking your money and running, I am here to really serve you. And unfortunately we have to give them that assurance because there have been others that have gone before us, that have ruined that for us.

Speaker 2: 20:23

Oh, for sure. Yeah, and it is so true and I think it's so important to really add those key elements. And a lot of times you can educate your clients along the way and I think that only makes you seem more of the expert and what and like gives them assurance that they chose the right person. When you can give them your professional opinions doesn't mean they have to take them, but like share some of your experiences so that they can kind of know before maybe they work with you or during the process of working with you, no matter what your business is, for sure.

Speaker 1: 21:00

And you mentioned the CRM piece. I know that's really important. I know you are big on the Psaado, I'm a honey book person, but there's like so many other ones out there, I think. Just find the one that works for you, for your, what your industry is. And you mentioned, kind of a passing, the automation piece.

Speaker 1: 21:16

That has been huge because, like I'm not someone either who, like I'm horrible at keeping up with things I needed to either be written down or scheduled for me. So the CRM piece, which is client management system for anyone who's not sure what a CRM is, but it's so helpful. They give us so many tools now to allow us to stay in contact with our clients and to set these little like benchmarks along the way. So do you have any tips for what setting that up or what, like even some of the things you should include maybe in your automations of? That would be, if someone's, like I don't really know where to even begin, like, what should I be communicating out? How often? What kind of reminder should I be setting up? Do you have any tips on any of that?

Speaker 2: 21:58

For sure. So I use workflows. So in a lot of it honestly is for myself I use primarily like my CRM is for me. Now I have the benefit of adding stuff for my clients in there as well. So I have like broken into like little stages where I have like kind of like their initial inquiry they're onboarding, their booked type of thing, and then once we work together and then what another big one is like they're offboarding, is kind of how you can nurture them after that. But Some key elements in there, like I said before, is basically once they're booked, telling them like when they're gonna hear from you again Some things in there of things that maybe you have things they need. You need them to do.

Speaker 2: 22:48

I think it's important to have a CRM because you're not having to go in and constantly check.

Speaker 2: 22:54

Sometimes you can set that up to have like a form and they can answer your questions in that form and if they haven't, it can constantly remind them over time like hey, this is still not filled out, can you fill this out?

Speaker 2: 23:09

It's I need it by such and such date, that kind of thing and honestly I can do more business stuff instead of having to remember to send them reminders.

Speaker 2: 23:18

It's kind of odd to think about, for sure. And then a big thing for in the photography world is Communicating not only like a contract, like having a contract which, when talking about communication, no matter what you're doing, contracts are huge because it sets the expectation, it is a binding agreement between the two of you, and it also Talks about like what to expect and what they need to know. But that doesn't always mean they read it, and so a lot of times Communicating that along the way, like hey, in your contract it says this, just want to remind you, um, and I get that especially after I've done my service. So if I photographed a wedding, if I've done a photo shoot, just communicating the day of sending a thank you and then Basically stating like hey, according to the contract, you will get your Gallery in this amount of days. I'll send you a sneak peek in however many hours, however many days, just so you know. And then you won't hear from me again until this.

Speaker 1: 24:26

Yeah, um is super important, I think that's, yeah, that's so smart because I, I'm, I mean, I'll admit this I don't read through every portion of the contracts I sign for things sometimes. I mean, like a lot of times it's written in a way that just feels a little bit like Overwhelming or you know legal jargon. You're like, okay, fine.

Speaker 1: 24:46

I agree sign it and we Sometimes forget that our, our clients are probably doing a lot of that too, and so I love the idea of kind of reiterating some of those pieces you know like, okay, this is, this is how long before you'll you know your galleries, you know However many weeks or days or whatever per the contract. I think that's really key. There's putting in there that per the contract that you signed, because I don't want to remind them, like you did agree to this. I Also think it's really smart what you mentioned about the off-boarding piece. I think we think a lot about client communication as Prior to them booking with us, and then, once they've booked with us, leading up to you know the project, but then, yeah, there's so much more that happens afterwards. We don't want to just, I mean, like they're gonna feel like, well, okay, I guess we're done here, like she's forgotten about me now.

Speaker 1: 25:33

I think there's a lot of communication that can have to happen afterwards, Like you mentioned the the timeline of when they're gonna get their images or when they'll receive whatever you know Deliverables from you. But then I also like to add in the piece of that's when I asked them to Give, leave me a review or for sure to refer me to their friends, and I think those are communication pieces too, that we don't want to leave off, because those can be really valuable as well.

Speaker 2: 25:57

Of course, and I do have a type of funnel of off-boarding where it it will, especially when it comes to photography.

Speaker 2: 26:05

I know this is very specific to photography. It can be done in your CRM, but I have a email funnel that they get into once they've looked at their gallery, so that not only is the client being communicated to, but anyone who's been in their gallery Then gets email automation and it says like hey, this is Like where you can print or whatever. Also, it'll say like how to tag me in it so that I can have my name out there for my business, associated appropriate tagging, appropriate use for the images, but then also like Continually to nurture them along the way, even though I'm not doing anything. It's just something I set up about, things for the future, of what to do, and reviews is a huge part of that, and that's how I can get Additional reviews from more than my clients. Let's say, from a wedding day, I guess to just thought I was going above and beyond smart. They can go on there and leave a review and they know how. So yeah, for sure that is genius.

Speaker 1: 27:06

Yeah, I hadn't thought about like the, not just a couple or the client, but like anyone else that was involved in that project and and something else you said here. Which kind of light bulb moment was you know the idea of? I see a lot of people that come in or like the post in Different industry groups are like oh, I'm so frustrated that this person didn't tag me in this photo or this person didn't leave me review and my thought is always but did you ask them to or did you show them how?

Speaker 1: 27:32

because a lot of times it's just not something that we think about like I think of how many times I've gone to dinner. You know I did this recently. I went to dinner for a friend's birthday and we went to be tried this new, super cute little restaurant that just popped up and they had like it was just very girly and they had these really fun drinks and they like all this decor and like little photo op areas and we took tons of pictures and we posted them on instagram. I put them on our facebook, but I don't know that I ever went in and actually tagged the location.

Speaker 1: 28:00

Oh, yeah, it just didn't occur to me. I wasn't thinking how can I help promote this business? I was thinking how excited I was to show off this fun girls night that we had. And our clients are the same way. They're gonna, you know, post their pictures, they're gonna post a review, they're gonna talk about their experience or whatever.

Speaker 1: 28:15

But they may not always think to tag us because it's just not top of mind for them, and that's okay. We should fault them for that. But there is a, I guess, say what is what I'm looking for here? There is a responsibility that we have to educate them on how they can tag us or ways they can help share our information. That should be part of your client communication, because then you won't have the frustration of they didn't do it, because you didn't tell them how it could be. If your students still be frustrated, that's totally fine. At least you know you've done your work, you've done your due diligence to give them all the information and resources they need in order to promote you and tag you and all those things.

Speaker 2: 29:00

And I think there's right ways to communicate that, even then, when they don't realize it. And I think a lot of times I've seen where there's like these very passive, aggressive posts where they're like please tag your vendor in blah, blah, blah. And I'm like, first of all, that should be a private conversation because you don't want to come across like yeah, we're mad, but like you don't want to come across as the vendor that the angry vendor.

Speaker 2: 29:25

And second, it's probably just straight up ignorance. So just privately message them if they post it on Instagram or on Facebook and say, hey, do you mind tagging us in this? That really helps me get more clients in the future. It shares my work, blah, blah, blah. I think it's appropriate to come out of it, as always, assuming they're innocent until proven guilty. In those moments where you're like it's probably just them not knowing. And again, in my galleries, I always put like a top banner bar that says like when posting images, please tag, and it tells them appropriately, cause, even so, like I'll get people tagging my personal accounts and I'm like please don't do that.

Speaker 2: 30:10

Please tag my business account, because then they have to go through and search all these funnels. And then the people that I interact with, let's say on Facebook this is mostly where this is an issue are like oh my gosh, enough carrot with your photography, we get it. You're a photographer Like I'm like. I don't know if they really feel that way.

Speaker 1: 30:29

I feel like I am coming across that way.

Speaker 2: 30:32

So it's important to say this is the appropriate funnel where I want you to lead people. But yeah, for sure.

Speaker 1: 30:38

And again, it just comes down to sharing that information and you can share that in various points of your communication with them, but, again, making sure that they understand it. And I've seen people, too, where they'll go in and comment under, let's say, suzy posts her photos from her wedding day and doesn't tag you. I think it's good, like you said, to go have a one-on-one conversation and just say, hey, I'm so excited, I love that you're sharing your images, I love that you love them that much. I would really appreciate if you would tag, or I would love for you to tag me so that this is how I get more exposure, blah, blah. But I also think it's okay, as a vendor, to go in and comment as your business.

Speaker 1: 31:15

They like we love being part of your day, it was so much fun and that's another way that, like, if you are someone who doesn't enjoy confrontation or doesn't want to have that conversation, that is a very way to kind of go in there and say, okay, this is who I am and this is I was part of her day, without having the passive aggressiveness of what you said before, of like going in and being like. I hate when people don't tag me or please do this or please do that. Some people don't want to have that conversation with their clients. That's totally fine. There are other ways to do it in a way that is very kind and gentle and not necessarily the passive, aggressive or rude post that you put out on the phone.

Speaker 2: 31:51

I'll be honest that is my first step is I always comment and it's funny, like days later I'll find that they end up tagging me and they'll like edit the post and I'm like it's just because they're not thinking of it. And honestly, it doesn't bother me that much Like I have all these other funnels and whatnot. If it's something I'm super proud of and it's like something that really can gain me exposure, yeah I'm gonna reach out right away, but when it's just you know, yeah.

Speaker 1: 32:19

Well, and I think that there's other. We forget sometimes too, that, let's say, we'll go with the wedding theory again is like you have a bride that you loved working with. Her photos were beautiful, the wedding day was stunning, it was at a venue you would love to do more of, like, and, yeah, she puts that out there and she forgets to tag you and she forgets to tag the florist and the venue and all the things. But we don't realize, too, that a lot of her friends might be coming and saying, ooh, who was your photographer? I loved your photos.

Speaker 1: 32:46

And she may be having these conversations. That's not necessarily on social media and that's okay too. Like you know, I think we put so much pressure on ourselves that like, oh, it has to be put out for the whole world to see when, really like, the most valuable piece of this isn't that she tagged us or didn't tag us, it's that she's having conversations with other people who are saying or she's sharing her experience. And I have said this a million times the experience that your clients are gonna talk about isn't just what they get in the matter of, like the day that they work with you, or in the final product.

Speaker 1: 33:20

It is all that communication that we've talked about leading up to this point. They're gonna be like, oh my gosh, she was amazing because she, you know, answered every question I had. She, you know, made sure I was aware of X, y and Z, or she made me feel comfortable leading up to I knew exactly what to expect going into our project together. Those are the things that are gonna make that for that client talk about you. And it may not be online, it may not be in a review, it may just be in conversations with her family and friends, but that's totally fine. I would almost prefer that, because then at least I know it's. You know she's talking about an experience I feel proud of as well.

Speaker 2: 33:57

Yeah, and it's more authentic than trying to say this is my photographer. You know, this is who I worked with and that works for multiple businesses. You know for sure.

Speaker 1: 34:09

Yeah, okay. So the last thing I wanna touch on that we haven't talked about yet are frequently asked questions. So this is something I think is really you've kind of glossed over it earlier, when you were talking about things to put out or put on social media or in your blogs, but I find that this can be a really powerful tool for communication prior to them working with you, as well as communication leading up to. So what are some tips you have for us as far as sharing these frequently asked questions Like how many or how deep should you really go in this? How you know where should you be putting these throughout the client communication process?

Speaker 2: 34:46

Yeah, I think first of all start thinking of what are you getting asked all the time, like that's really where you're going to get your frequently asked questions. I noticed especially with weddings. It was very interesting because it was like everyone must have, like this wedding planner guide because they were starting to ask the questions in the exact same order.

Speaker 1: 35:08

Thank you, Amber. I'm sure it's like they said, Amber.

Speaker 2: 35:11

Who knows. So I was like, oh, let me just answer these questions up front, or I will, you know, meeting with them, talk about these like things, even though they haven't officially asked me them, because they might not know they should be asking these questions and I want them to walk away with. Oh, she answered that for me.

Speaker 1: 37:22

Well, that's one thing. On a pause right there, because I think that that is something that leads into again that client experience is being able to answer the questions they don't even know to ask, because I can't tell you how many times when I was shooting weddings, I would go into a meeting with a bride or even a couple, and they'd be like I'd be like do you have any more questions? Like I don't really know, and I'm like, okay, well, here are some of the questions that are. Here are some of the topics that you know other brides or other couples have asked that might be important to your day, and that shows them that not only am I like a good photographer, like skill wise, but I also can anticipate the needs they're going to have.

Speaker 2: 38:00

And.

Speaker 1: 38:00

I'm now the expert. I'm not just someone with a camera taking pictures. I'm now the expert that can guide them, and I think that that piece of the frequently asked questions of being able to anticipate what they're going to need, or not even know that they need answers to, is really important.

Speaker 2: 38:16

Yeah, and I think it's important to have that on your website as well, because that's definitely something they need to get to. But something that I don't think people think of often is an automated email responder. So let's say, you get so many emails or you have, like, an initial inquiry from a client. Those are the places that your frequently asked questions should be right in the beginning. Whether you have to answer them again or not is no big deal, but if you're getting an email, chances are they're asking a question that is already answered in those frequently asked questions.

Speaker 2: 38:56

So putting them in there, not only on your website but there as well, is super important to have, and I know I've had friends where they're like oh my gosh, this person keeps asking me this, and then another parent was asking me this and I said take that as a moment of reflection. Have you answered that question anywhere? Because if you're getting asked that a lot, it means that you aren't nurturing them enough to let them know. This is what you do for that, and stand your ground and don't bend over backwards. If it's something that you want communicated, and what you do and how you do your service, have that there. Yeah, it's definitely something that should be in more than one place.

Speaker 1: 39:43

Again, I think that's really good, because a lot of times you mentioned that these people keep asking me the same question. That's not on them, that's on us. It's definitely a learning moment for us to go. Oh yeah, I need to do better at communicating that in some place or some form. And so, before you get annoyed by it, go OK, what can I do to prevent this from? And you're still going to get people that ask you the question because they don't read it on the side or they don't look at it, and that's fine. But if the majority of your clients are going what time am I supposed to be there, how long until I get my pictures back, or how long until this happens Then that's a question that needs to be addressed in some point of your communication.

Speaker 2: 40:26

Yeah, and I find now for me it's usually the people that are not in direct contact of what that is. I just had a mom the other day. Her and I have communication. She's actually the one that suggested that a bride book me her daughter and literally the day after she's like can I see this photo? And I'm just like this is how I'm so badly because of my exhaustion and everything.

Speaker 2: 40:52

I wanted to be very passive, aggressive and I'm just like Kara, take a step back, don't think with your immediate response. Take a moment to think about how you can kindly respond, because she doesn't know what you've been communicating. And so basically, I just said, hey, I'd love to include that photo. Typically, I send a sneak peek at this time. I'd be happy to include you in the sneak peek email. You can expect it by this date, and so basically, that's how it's gone. So I know a lot of people are like I'm so sick of text messages and this is going on a tangent of communication and I don't know if we were planning on going for it, but a lot of times.

Speaker 2: 41:34

There are people who work with client-based individuals and they're really frustrated because they're sick of people either messaging them on Instagram or messaging them on their phone, and I always I'm like one that like bring me my popcorn, let me sit on a forum and go through and answer all these questions. It's just one of my favorite things and I'll say well, did you communicate? Your preferred method of communication, that's so good yeah.

Speaker 2: 42:06

And are you creating that boundary for yourself? Because if you're not, if you're communicating back the way they're communicating and that's not how you want to be communicated, then you're just enabling it. So I just say hey, say yep, I'll email you that, and just cut all communication from that one particular thing and go straight to email, if that's your thing. Now I will say, as a photographer, there's one exception to this rule is if you have, like a high schooler, because for some reason I don't know if this is how things are going to be for our future or if this is how just this age group is they don't ever check their email, they don't care about email. Those are when I make an exception.

Speaker 2: 42:52

But anything that is gallery related or anything to deal with communication, I will say, yep, I emailed that to you. You can log in, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. But I'll get like, hey, can you send me my password? And that's when I'm like, yep, I'll email it to you, like, just say where you're gonna go, do that at. That's what's really important to change how you want the communication to go.

Speaker 1: 43:18

So yeah, that's so smart, because I know I've gotten into the trap of like even I find giving clients my personal phone number too early in the process is a problem, because then they feel like, oh, they can message me at any point, and so then this is. The other thing is I'm really bad about if a client messaged me at seven o'clock at night, I will message them back and I don't need to do that and I've tried to stop.

Speaker 2: 43:46

I'm like that's 10 o'clock for me.

Speaker 1: 43:49

But like.

Speaker 1: 43:50

I try to set those boundaries of like, okay, look you like I will respond to this tomorrow morning, but then I'm like, well, I'm gonna forget about it, cause that's how my brain works and so it's better just to do it now. But I do think, having those boundaries in place or, like you said, saying, hey, can you send this to me in an email so that I can make sure it's one of the first things I respond to tomorrow, that is really, and I need to get better about doing that as well. But I like that idea of let them know ahead of time what your preferred communication is, and I know.

Speaker 1: 44:18

This happens like I was just filling out forms for my daughter's dentist appointment and they had a box where it was like what's the best way for us to reach you? And they were like is it email, text or phone call? And I'm always like email. I don't want you calling or texting me, email me. I was like I don't need that in my life. But even little things like that, maybe if you don't have a preference, but your clients have a preference, or maybe like you email them and you don't hear back for a week and you're frustrated cause you need a response but they don't ever check their email. Like you said, if they had told you ahead of time I do better with text messages, then take that into account. So it goes both ways, like us setting boundaries for how we are communicated with, but also our clients have their own personal ways of wanting to be communicated with the two as well.

Speaker 2: 45:04

So yeah, it's a lot and that's key in when I ask my clients and when they say like I don't do email a lot and usually it's like they like I've had a lot of couples where they're like I only use my work email, but that's where I'm like okay, I know they're on their honeymoon, I'm gonna give them a sneak peek Not that I would ask them any work related anything while they're on their honeymoon. What I'm gonna say I'm gonna text them real quick and be like hey, I just sent you a sneak peek, enjoy your honeymoon. You know, like I don't expect them to respond by any way, but I know they're not checking their work email either, so I'm just like it will go in there just to find that. And I think that's key to like let people know. And if you need an immediate response, sometimes you have to resort to texting, but that's an exception for sure, I agree, I agree.

Speaker 1: 45:50

Well, this has been super insightful and helpful and I appreciate your time. I appreciate all of your expertise, so tell everybody, if they want to learn more about you or what you do or anything you offer, how they can find you or get ahold of you.

Speaker 2: 46:03

Yeah, so I have two funnels. I have my photography and I also have my podcast, which Kendra has been a guest on as well, so you can catch her episode on there. So you can find me in my photography at carahanesphotographycom or at carahanesphotography on Instagram. Otherwise, you can find the podcast at carahanesphotographycom forward slash podcast, or you can find TikTok and Instagram at camerasoncoffeepodcast.

Speaker 1: 46:31

So yeah, I know I loved being a part of your show. Thank you so much for having me on as well.

Speaker 2: 46:35

Yes, it was fun.

Speaker 1: 46:36

Well, thanks so much for being here. I will have all of those links down the show notes for anyone that wants to go and click on those and grab those and get in touch with you. Make sure you reach out to her and tell her, kara, that you heard her here on the Girl Means Business podcast. So, thank you so much and we will chat with you soon Thanks for having me.

Speaker 1: 46:53

Thanks again for tuning in to this week's episode. Don't forget to leave a review and follow us on socials at Girl Means Business. See you next week.