Mastering Client Consultations: Convert Inquiries into Photography Clients

Ok, I’ll just say it – who would have thought mastering Instagram and getting leads was the easy part of being a photographer? It’s true, the biggest hurdle to owning your own photography business is not attracting clients, it’s learning to sell your services. That’s why so many photographers struggle to convert inquiries to clients on their initial consultations. Even if they’ve been in business for years.

If that’s you, and you’ve been too nervous to admit that to your friends, then keep reading. I’m going to let you in on how to master the three stages of booking photography clients during the inquiry process.

But before we do that, let’s identify whether your inquiry response process needs help.

How do you know if your initial response to inquiries is losing clients?

To start, let’s look at your inquiry response process. What happens when you get a new lead? We’ll cover how to respond to people in the next section; right now, I just want to look at how people are responding to you once they’ve shown interest. It’s one thing to say “people aren’t buying” but we need to look at which part of your process is losing people to understand how to improve your sales process.

I like to do a pre-booking process audit for clients who aren’t quite sure where they lose people. This process looks at a lot of factors, but the main ones are below. You must ask yourself these questions to see which part of your process is the issue.

To Audit Your Pre-Booking Process, Ask Yourself:

• Do I have an automated initial response email?
• How quickly do I personally respond to new inquiries?
• Are people booking consultation calls?
• Does it seem like people have sticker shock?
• Are people booking after our consultation call?
• How many inquiries turn into clients?

Once you know where you need improvement, we can work on it!

✔️ If you identified issues in questions 1-3, start reading the “Before the Consultation” section.

✔️ If questions 4 – 5 gave you concern, skip to the section on “Mastering Client Consultations”.

If you didn’t see any specific questions that gave you heart palpitations, but you still want to improve your pre-booking process, enjoy the ride!

Before the Consultation: Inquiry Responses

Clients want to work with photographers who get back to them quickly. It shows that you’re reliable and excited to work with them. You wouldn’t believe how many photographers take days or weeks to get back to people! Even if you’re booked up, you want to respond quickly or risk putting a sour spin on your business. You never want to tarnish your reputation over something as simple as a response. So, your two goals immediately after getting a new inquiry are to respond to people quickly and, if you’re accepting new clients, get them on a consultation call.

I have found the best way to do this is to have the contact form on your website linked to your CRM. (I like Honeybook CRM for photographers.) Once an inquiry hits your CRM, you can set up an automated email to be sent to new leads as soon as they inquire. This lets them know you received their inquiry and lets you invite them to schedule a face-to-face consultation call with you. Make sure your link is in the email! It’s a lot easier to sell your services and build a connection if you’re face-to-face.

Tips for a great photography inquiry response email

Something to remember when crafting your initial inquiry response email is that people are probably shopping around. Pricing and dates are important to clients. However, clients are more willing to stretch their budgets or dates if they feel a connection to you. That initial email is a great way to start building the connection.

Make sure your email is short but not boring. Add some of your personality to it and personalize it to your lead. (Yes, you can do this even on an automated email!)

Take it a step further

If inquiries aren’t booking their calls with you, take it a step further. Send them a text message personally inviting them to a call. I’ve found this increases the likelihood they’ll actually book a call and show up. If you’re not sure what to say, try the grab-and-go text scripts inside my email templates & workflows.

Mastering Client Consultations as a Photographer

Here’s the tricky part. You have to get comfortable with selling. That. Starts with understanding what makes people work with you. Without knowing that, it’s always going to be hard to sell. Everyone is going to have their own system for selling and unique selling points. I recommend replaying your consultations to study what you say on calls, how they reacted, and play with different scripts that work for you.

Beyond your uniqueness, the key to mastering client consultation calls is to go into the call as if you’re simply finalizing the details. They’ve already seen your work and liked it enough to inquire. Let them tell you about their vision and build on that vision to include you and how they’ll use your photos. Ask questions and be an attentive lister. Focus on getting them to fall in love with the experience you provide, rather than focusing on pitching yourself to them. Once you understand how they want to use your photos, you can share your pricing and guide them to the package that best suits them.

This approach makes your call feel more tailored and exclusive rather than salesy. Before you get off the call, pick a date that works for both of your schedules to help seal the deal.

After The Consultation: Your Booking Process

Your booking process starts when your consultation call ends. The booking process is where your client signs their contract and pays their deposit. My biggest piece of advice to you is to not delay. Have your photo packages, contract, and invoice pre-loaded into a canned ‘booking email’ inside your CRM. Once your call ends, personalize the email and click send.

Don’t go crazy trying to add a unique spin to each email. A few personalized details are enough.

Those details are:

• Briefly mention a few details about their unique vision and how excited you are to shoot it
• Reiterate the package you chose together on the call and why it works best for them
• Reiterate the date you chose on the call
• Mention you added the payment plan
• Include a link to seamlessly sign and pay
• Remind them what happens once they complete the booking process

Personalization should only take 3-5 minutes with the right email template. Then, start your email workflow to send reminders if there are any delays in booking. Doing all this ahead of time – having a pre-built booking email and reminders – saves you time. Adding a personal touch to your booking email reiterates the level of client experience they can expect from you.

Booking Clients Goes Beyond Your Consultation

Booking photography clients is more than what you say on your consultation calls. It begins with how you respond to the initial inquiry and is amplified when you can create a connection with people. Use the questions in this blog to audit your own booking and consultation process. If you need help with your inquiry process or booking process, grab one of my niche-specific email template packages.