[00:00:00] Quick question. Has this podcast helped you or your business in any way? If yes, could you please share it with a friend or another creative in your life, be it through an Instagram story, Twitter a dm. Whatever way you prefer. My mission is to help as many creative entrepreneurs as I can out there, and I can't do it without your help.
Thanks for your time and let's get today's episode. It's hard running a creative business. In this episode, I'm sharing with you one principle that will set you apart from other photographers and videographers. What is it? Professionalism. I am shocked by how many photographers I see that don't know how to send a proper email.
They don't have systems when onboarding clients and they don't ask for feedback after the projects are done. Today I'm sharing with you four ways you can be more professional with clients and keep them coming back for more business because after all, clients that come back for more business are way better than clients that only work with you once.
Welcome to the Creative Biz Launch Podcast, where we talk about how to grow your creative business and [00:01:00] scale to six figures. Whether you're a photographer, filmmaker, or designer, you'll find something of value here. Okay. Professionalism. What should be common sense is often overlooked when running your creative business.
This first thing is something that no one talks about, gathering feedback. You know how after you chat with customer support on Amazon or other websites, you get an email asking for you to rate their performance? Well, you should be doing the exact same thing as a photographer. No matter how good you think you are, there's always gonna be something you can improve on.
Leave your ego at the door for this. I recently did a huge lifestyle shoot for a big brand. We had a bunch of models. Me as a photographer, and I even hired a videographer to help out. After the shoot was done, I thanked everyone for coming out for the day. But before they left, I asked them a question that actually surprised them.
I asked, what can I have done today for this to have been a better photo shoot for you? I wanted them to be brutally honest with me. One of the models had all positive things to say and that was nice to hear. Another model [00:02:00] told me that my direction needed some work and I needed to be more engaged and playful during the shoot.
Was I offended? No. I was happy to hear this feedback. You gave me something to work on. For the next shoot, I would be able to improve my own process, give that back to the clients, and attract more clients and charge more. As I improved, the videographer I hired told me after that he's never heard anyone ask for feedback like this before, and that surprised me.
I just assumed it was common sense. That's part of the reason I'm making this episode. If I'm always trying to improve myself and my competition isn't, then they're gonna get left behind. As simple as that, but because you're listening to this episode, you now know my secret, and you can implement this into your own business.
When working with clients that are actually paying you, you better be asking for feedback as well with my retainer clients. Every checkup call I do, I'll ask for feedback. I'll ask, what's been like working with me? What can I improve upon in the process? Usually they only have good things to say and sometimes they'll even admit they feel like they're the ones dropping the [00:03:00] ball.
But then there's other times when the client would have wanted the process to be a little bit different or they had other expectations. I think note of this, and I try and implement it into my business as best as I can. Don't be afraid to ask for feedback. It will set you apart from the competition. The second thing we're talking about, Is professionalism and emails.
Emails going to be the main way you communicate with clients from that first cold outreach to honing in on the project details. Email is gonna be your primary form of communication. The first thing that most people get wrong, and so, so many people get this wrong, is that they don't use a Google Workspace email address.
What's Google Workspace? It's when your email ends with your website rather than gmail.com. You need to have an email address that looks professional. Pieta productions gmail.com looks like an amateur. It looks like I just started my business. It looks like I don't wanna pay the six bucks a month to have a professional looking email address.
Chris piano productions.com on the other hand, is [00:04:00] professional. It's respectable. It looks like I have an established business. Go get a Google Workspace email address. It's the easiest way to appear more professional when you're actually sending emails. Never be rude. I don't care how annoying the client is or how many revisions they want.
It's your job to maintain composure and never be rude. Try and act like a decent human being. If you're angry or frustrated, go for a walk. Wait a few hours and then send that email when you calm down.
When you send cold emails to leads, you need to be respectful of them as well. Yes, you can follow up until you get a no, but once you get that, no, stop emailing them. Not only is it unprofessional, it's also illegal with can spam laws we have in the us, although not a lawyer, so that's not legal advice here.
Now when we have a client email is the way you communicate about projects and deliver content. Email isn't you becoming their friend. It's you learning about more project details, delivering content, et cetera. You're not here to really find out how their day was, how their life's going. [00:05:00] That's not what email's for.
You're here to communicate project details. And be professional. So when you send an email, make sure there's always some sort of ask at the end of it. Are you trying to learn whether they want colored backdrops or a marble kitchen scene for this shoot? Be sure to actually ask this in the email. Don't just be vague about this.
Literally ask what they want. People will try and write novels in their email only to never actually ask the question that they need. Keep your emails as short as possible and ask what you need. Everyone's busy, no one has time to read novels. Keep it short and sweet and just ask what you want.
Let's look at another situation. Are you negotiating a rate? Well, instead of just saying, I can't go lower than 2000 for this project, say, I can't go lower than 2000 for this project. Does 2100 sound fair? That first email doesn't warrant a response. You're gonna be left unread and you're gonna cry because you got ghosted.
This next email is actually asking them specifically, Is this rate [00:06:00] something you're willing to pay? This is a very, very simple distinction, but huge creatives often just don't ask what they want, and then they complain that their clients aren't responding. This is such an important principle in practice, so again, I'll read this for you.
Never say I can't go lower than 2000 for this project. Instead say, I can't go lower than 2000 for this project. Does 2100 sound fair? If you don't actually ask the question, don't complain. If they don't respond, always have that clear action item no matter what you're asking for. Okay, next step. Let's talk client onboarding.
When a client signs on to work with you, what's the first thing that happens? What are the first three steps that happen? You can pause this episode and tell me. If you didn't have an answer to this, it's time to get a systemized approach to client onboarding. In my photography company, the same thing happens every single time, and it's optimized for a smooth customer experience.
Once a client signs a proposal in Panoc, they immediately get an. Automated welcome [00:07:00] email thanking them for trusting us with the project. This welcome email is huge because it sets the tone for the project. They're not waiting around all day to get some sort of email from us. They're automatically reinforced.
Their decision is reinforced here because we welcome to them to the project. They get email, maybe you wanna send 'em a voice memo. Whatever you wanna do, just make sure they get that right when they sign that. Proposal. A professional immediately welcomes their new client. Additionally, the client gets an onboarding form from me.
This is super simple. It asks questions like, what are the examples that you like for this project? What are other companies you wanna emulate? What photos from my portfolio do you like? What are some project goals? What have other photographers messed up in the past that we can improve upon? They see progress being made on the project they just agreed to, and that comes off as extremely professional.
Next, they receive an upfront deposit invoice from me as well as an option to book a prep call so that we can go be on the same page going into the project. On the prep call, we ensure [00:08:00] that all their questions are answered and they feel like they're in good hands in today's competitive freelance environment.
All these little things add up. And even if you're not the best photographer out there, by being professional, by having this great customer service, you'll stand out among the rest. So, so many photographers and videographers and designers neglect this part of the process. They just think that their work will speak for themselves.
And while their work may be world class, it's important to have a great customer experience. So your client keeps coming back. For more and more projects, it's hard enough landing a client, so you should do everything you can to keep them coming back for more. By the way, if you don't have any clients yet and you wanna get your first one, I have a free 60 minute workshop on my website that walks you through this.
It's in the description below. This free video training walks you step by step on how to get your first client. We talk about mindset. We talk about taking $1,000 clients to $10,000. Client link for that training is in the show notes. Okay, we talked about feedback. We talked about emailing. We talked about systemizing, the [00:09:00] onboarding process.
What's number four? Stick to your word. If you say you're gonna do something, you do it. You stick to your word. This means if you give them a three day turnaround time, you stick to those three day turnaround times. If you promise them a mood board, within 24 hours of signing a contract, you deliver on that promise.
Sticking to your word usually isn't that hard. It takes a little bit more effort on your part. But it means everything to the client.
It's common advice in the entrepreneurial space to take on more projects that you can handle or take on things you might not know how to do. Exactly, and this is fine advice. I've done this so many times, I've accepted stop motion projects before I actually knew how to do a stop motion really well. I've accepted lifestyle issues without ever actually having done one.
And what do I do? I ensured that I delivered on my. Promise. I planned out every single detail on that lifestyle shoot. I rehearsed in my head. I practiced before it actually happened. I learned stop motion from YouTube and I did take after take until I was happy with the final result. I stuck with my [00:10:00] word, even though I didn't know how to do these things when I gave my word.
And if for whatever reason you promised something to the client and you mess up and there's no way you can deliver on that promise, well you have to make it right. Offer them a free reshoot, offer them an extra 10 photos, whatever it is. Make it right and communicate what's going on here.
If you can implement these four things into your creative business, I guarantee you'll be able to make more money and help more clients. My name is Chris Pieta. This is the Creative Biz Launch Podcast, and I'll see you in the next one. If you have an extra five, 10 seconds here, please give the show a rating.
It would mean a lot to me, and I will talk to you very, very soon.
