EP 101: Your CRM Is Working Harder Than You Think (with VSCO Workspace)

00:00:00 [Nicole]
You’re giving them so much value, and you don’t have to worry about, oh, did I send that to this person or did I send it to this person?
00:00:06 [Nicole]
You’re giving everybody the same consistent experience, and it just makes you look so much more professional.

00:00:12 [Melissa]
Welcome to Get Booked, a photography podcast.

00:00:15 [Alison]
I’m Allison, active duty Marine Corps spouse, family photographer, and business mentor.

00:00:19 [Melissa]
And I’m Melissa, a light born photographer turned SEO expert for photographers.

00:00:23 [Alison]
Between us, we have twenty seven years in the industry, nine business

00:00:32 [Melissa]
visible, get clients, and build a business that actually books.

00:00:36 [Alison]
Let’s go.

00:00:41 [Melissa]
Hey, guys.
00:00:41 [Melissa]
So welcome back.
00:00:42 [Melissa]
This week, we have a guest, guest, and Allison has been quizzing her for the last twenty minutes.
00:00:47 [Melissa]
So we’re just now getting started.

00:00:48 [Alison]
Allison got

00:00:49 [Melissa]
all of her questions and all her requests out first.
00:00:52 [Melissa]
We have Nicole from VSCO with us.
00:00:55 [Melissa]
And if you guys have heard Allison talk about our CRM, and we call it Taabe, because it used to be Taabe.
00:01:01 [Melissa]
Like, I’ve been with Taabe for ten years.
00:01:04 [Melissa]
I actually just looked it up.

00:01:05 [Melissa]
Well, like, how long have I been around with that?
00:01:07 [Melissa]
And before that, I had did 17 hats, and before that, I was on ShootQ.
00:01:10 [Melissa]
So I’ve tried out a couple CRMs.
00:01:13 [Melissa]
And when I landed on TaVE, all the automations and all the reporting and all the things that I was able to do, I have stayed with them.
00:01:19 [Melissa]
And in fact, I actually because I do photography and education.

00:01:23 [Melissa]
So I think two months ago, I messaged Allison.
00:01:25 [Melissa]
I was like, I’m an idiot.
00:01:26 [Melissa]
Why haven’t I ever upgraded this so that I could have stuff go to diff so I could have different emails and have different headers?
00:01:31 [Melissa]
Because I cheated.
00:01:32 [Melissa]
I would have a header that was PPR and Melissa Arlene Photography, and it just went to everybody whether they that way I was like, well, it doesn’t matter which one they’re coming in on.

00:01:39 [Melissa]
But I felt photography clients were gonna start getting confused, and I really wanted those emails to go to the right spot.
00:01:44 [Melissa]
So I actually just upgraded, so I have the the two business pack and stuff.
00:01:48 [Melissa]
I love it.
00:01:49 [Melissa]
Love it.
00:01:49 [Melissa]
Yeah.

00:01:50 [Melissa]
That’s how much I love I love, working, you know, in that program and stuff.
00:01:54 [Melissa]
So, Nicole, well, tell us a little bit about Welcome.

00:01:57 [Nicole]
Yeah.
00:01:57 [Nicole]
I am so excited.
00:01:59 [Nicole]
Long time listener, first time caller.
00:02:01 [Nicole]
Oh.
00:02:02 [Nicole]
So, yes, I am a I’m with the VSCO team, but I am also a photographer first.

00:02:07 [Nicole]
So I started shooting mostly weddings, family portraits.
00:02:12 [Nicole]
I’m based in New Jersey.
00:02:13 [Nicole]
So I started shooting about fourteen years ago, I believe,

00:02:18 [Melissa]
2012.

00:02:19 [Nicole]
So yeah.

00:02:19 [Melissa]
Okay.
00:02:20 [Melissa]
2012.

00:02:20 [Nicole]
I actually found my CRM, originally, Tave, very early on because I, like most photographers, very business minded.
00:02:29 [Nicole]
I am, like, type a as well.
00:02:31 [Nicole]
That’s my planner.
00:02:33 [Nicole]
Yeah.
00:02:33 [Nicole]
Yeah.

00:02:33 [Nicole]
So I, like, was like, I need something for keeping track of all this stuff for all these different types of clients, and I don’t know what it’s called.
00:02:41 [Nicole]
I didn’t know it was called a CRM.
00:02:42 [Nicole]
And so I really needed more systems and workflow.
00:02:46 [Nicole]
So I found it, I think, through, like, a Facebook group.
00:02:49 [Nicole]
And then literally being so active in there helping other people use it, they the two cofounders reached out to me, and they were like, do you wanna come across?

00:02:59 [Nicole]
So Wow.
00:03:00 [Nicole]
So, yeah, pretty pretty crazy start.
00:03:02 [Nicole]
I actually was working at a law firm.
00:03:03 [Nicole]
I had just graduated law school couple years prior, so I left that whole career by Oh, you tell.
00:03:09 [Nicole]
Yeah.

00:03:10 [Nicole]
Photography.
00:03:11 [Nicole]
Yeah.
00:03:11 [Nicole]
So, yeah, I’ve been a a an active user for my business since day one.
00:03:15 [Nicole]
And so I approach how I help our users both, you know, with that experience in mind.
00:03:22 [Nicole]
And I also like being on the back end and, you know, giving my input to wherever I can to the team, the engineers.

00:03:29 [Nicole]
I feel

00:03:29 [Melissa]
like I probably talk to you on a support ticket at some point.

00:03:31 [Alison]
Oh, 100%.
00:03:32 [Alison]
That’s so we were talking in the DMs on Instagram, and I was like, wait.
00:03:36 [Alison]
Wait.
00:03:36 [Alison]
Wait.
00:03:37 [Alison]
Are you Nicole from support?

00:03:38 [Nicole]
Yep.
00:03:39 [Nicole]
I was like, oh

00:03:39 [Alison]
my god.
00:03:40 [Alison]
Talking for years and didn’t know it.

00:03:41 [Nicole]
I literally have people that have that I’ve worked with videographers on wedding days that are like, oh my god.
00:03:46 [Nicole]
I have you saved in my phone as, like, Nicole from Tave or whatever.
00:03:51 [Nicole]
Like, do they have, like, my email or whatever?
00:03:53 [Nicole]
And they don’t put two and two together, the last name and stuff, especially because my business goes under my maiden name.
00:03:58 [Nicole]
So it’s under Nicole Clint Photography.

00:04:00 [Nicole]
And so sometimes people, when they’re talking to me in support, it has my married name.
00:04:04 [Nicole]
So That’s not confusing.
00:04:06 [Nicole]
Yeah.
00:04:06 [Nicole]
So they don’t put the connection together.
00:04:08 [Nicole]
But yeah.

00:04:08 [Nicole]
So then we Tave itself was around since, I think, since ‘6.
00:04:13 [Nicole]
We we went through a lot, over the years.
00:04:15 [Nicole]
And Oh, yeah.

00:04:17 [Melissa]
I feel like I have been on this boat for a while.

00:04:19 [Nicole]
It’s Yeah.
00:04:20 [Nicole]
Yeah.
00:04:20 [Nicole]
Yeah.
00:04:20 [Nicole]
Yeah.
00:04:21 [Nicole]
We are since

00:04:21 [Melissa]
the ride.

00:04:22 [Alison]
Yeah.
00:04:22 [Alison]
Now knowing it was originally created by developers first, it makes sense why, Melissa, it just hit all the things

00:04:30 [Nicole]
you needed with Oh, yes.
00:04:32 [Nicole]
It is very

00:04:33 [Alison]
It jives.

00:04:34 [Nicole]
It’s very powerful.
00:04:35 [Nicole]
It was actually created so by two cofounders who one of them had a wife who was a photographer and she needed something to help with running.
00:04:43 [Nicole]
And so he was like, I’ll build that for you.

00:04:47 [Alison]
For years, Melissa told me to start a Facebook group.
00:04:49 [Alison]
For years, I said no.
00:04:51 [Alison]
And then I thought about about 2018 me.
00:04:53 [Alison]
Mid move, rebuilding my business, moving from Okinawa back to Virginia from scratch, just desperate for someone who had been through it.
00:05:00 [Alison]
Someone to ask dumb questions, get real answers and not feel so alone in the process.

00:05:05 [Alison]
Someone who wasn’t going to tell me to just start over like that was a totally normal thing to say.
00:05:09 [Alison]
I wasn’t the first person moving my business because photographers and the military are a dime a dozen.
00:05:14 [Alison]
That’s a Get Booked Anywhere is.
00:05:16 [Alison]
It’s a free Facebook community for women business owners like you who are relocating, rebuilding, or refining, and it’s the place I wish had existed when I needed it most.
00:05:27 [Alison]
Inside the group, you’re gonna find women who have been exactly where you are.

00:05:30 [Alison]
You can ask questions without feeling stupid, get real feedback without the fluff from me, from others.
00:05:36 [Alison]
Share your wins with people who actually understand what a big deal it is instead of a deadpan face from your husband.
00:05:40 [Alison]
Or connect with a community that gets the unique chaos of building something that has to move with you.
00:05:46 [Alison]
No gatekeep, no judgment, no lurking alone, wondering if anyone else is going through this because they are and we’re gonna find them.
00:05:52 [Alison]
The link to join is in the show notes to come.

00:05:54 [Alison]
It’s free, it’s active, and your people are already waiting.

00:05:59 [Nicole]
So it that’s how it started and Adrian actually is still on our team.
00:06:03 [Nicole]
Yeah.
00:06:03 [Nicole]
I figured that was Adrian.
00:06:04 [Nicole]
Yep.
00:06:04 [Nicole]
Adrian.

00:06:05 [Nicole]
A lot of people know him.
00:06:06 [Nicole]
Not many companies, I feel like, where people know the, you know, the the developers.
00:06:10 [Nicole]
So, yeah, so long story short, it’s been around for about twenty years, and I’ve been on the team, like I said, for, like, ten, eleven.
00:06:18 [Nicole]
It then last year, literally just about a year ago, we were actually acquired by VSCO.
00:06:23 [Nicole]
And VSCO, a lot of people know for more of the photo editing, mostly iPhone based.

00:06:30 [Nicole]
Wait.
00:06:30 [Nicole]
Do you wanna hear

00:06:31 [Melissa]
the conversation Allison and I had?
00:06:32 [Melissa]
It was wait.
00:06:33 [Melissa]
Are we talking about the Instagram filters?

00:06:35 [Nicole]
Yep.
00:06:35 [Nicole]
Yeah.
00:06:36 [Nicole]
Yeah.
00:06:36 [Nicole]
Oh, VSCO, they’re still around?
00:06:37 [Nicole]
What?

00:06:38 [Nicole]
Oh, girl.

00:06:39 [Melissa]
Oh, yeah.
00:06:39 [Melissa]
Video, girl.
00:06:40 [Melissa]
We don’t know which one it is.
00:06:41 [Melissa]
Yeah.

00:06:41 [Nicole]
We’re all we’re all growing up now.
00:06:43 [Nicole]
So VSCO is definitely doing a lot.
00:06:46 [Nicole]
It’s been amazing being part of the team.
00:06:49 [Nicole]
The really great people behind everything.
00:06:53 [Nicole]
We’ve been pumping out all kinds of really awesome software.

00:06:56 [Nicole]
We just released galleries, and we have more coming very soon.
00:07:01 [Nicole]
So it’s been a really great community.
00:07:04 [Nicole]
We’re very community focused, very photographer focused, and creative focused.
00:07:07 [Nicole]
So it was it’s been a very good fit, and it’s been, a really great year.
00:07:13 [Nicole]
And, yeah, we have a lot lot coming.

00:07:15 [Alison]
Awesome.
00:07:16 [Alison]
Well, hearing that you are pretty type a as far as creatives go, especially out of, it really makes my heart sing because I feel like we are few and far between the three of us.
00:07:25 [Alison]
Yes.
00:07:26 [Alison]
Very business minded.
00:07:27 [Alison]
And for our listeners, they’ve heard us talk about this before, the importance of having a CRM, not ghosting your clients.

00:07:33 [Alison]
This is a common theme.
00:07:35 [Alison]
So why is it important for photographers or creatives in general to have a CRM?
00:07:41 [Alison]
Like what’s

00:07:42 [Nicole]
what’s the point?
00:07:42 [Nicole]
Why?
00:07:43 [Nicole]
So I think I and I’ve heard the stat before, and I don’t know if the number’s exact, but I feel like I always hear, like, so many photography so many photography will fail in the first, like, two to five years.
00:07:55 [Nicole]
I’ve heard that.
00:07:56 [Nicole]
Years.

00:07:56 [Nicole]
Yeah.
00:07:57 [Nicole]
Because they don’t have the business side of things figured out, which makes sense because so many photographers and other creatives, you know, they’re they’re creative minded.
00:08:06 [Nicole]
And what is that?
00:08:07 [Nicole]
Right brain, I think?
00:08:08 [Nicole]
Yeah.

00:08:09 [Nicole]
Creating?
00:08:09 [Nicole]
Yeah.
00:08:09 [Nicole]
Yeah.
00:08:09 [Nicole]
Right

00:08:09 [Alison]
brain.
00:08:10 [Alison]
Left brain.
00:08:10 [Alison]
Yeah.

00:08:10 [Nicole]
Yeah.
00:08:11 [Nicole]
So I think they just go into it for the passion of the creativity, and then they kind of scramble everything together.
00:08:19 [Nicole]
And they’re like, oh, crap.
00:08:19 [Nicole]
I’m a business now.
00:08:21 [Nicole]
Like, I need to charge for this, and I need to Yeah.

00:08:23 [Nicole]
Figure out in contracts.
00:08:24 [Nicole]
And, like, nobody And the the craft

00:08:26 [Alison]
is such a tiny percentage when

00:08:28 [Nicole]
you get a It is.

00:08:29 [Alison]
Get a business.
00:08:29 [Alison]
It’s such

00:08:30 [Nicole]
a tiny percentage.
00:08:31 [Nicole]
Oh, yeah.
00:08:32 [Nicole]
And so I think getting everything into a CRM, which, like I said before, I didn’t even know what a CRM was.
00:08:39 [Nicole]
I didn’t know that term back when I started.
00:08:41 [Nicole]
So I think part of the problem is educating photographers on the type of tool that they could benefit from.

00:08:48 [Nicole]
But, yeah, they they spend so much time working on these back end tasks way more than shooting.
00:08:54 [Nicole]
And but they don’t put the the work into learning how to develop workflows and how to come up with good procedures.
00:09:01 [Nicole]
And and really having that makes you look so much more professional.
00:09:05 [Nicole]
Like, you guys I don’t know if

00:09:07 [Melissa]
you still have them, but you had, like, starter packs on, like, workflows and stuff, I remember.
00:09:11 [Melissa]
Yep.
00:09:11 [Melissa]
Template.
00:09:12 [Melissa]
Yep.
00:09:13 [Melissa]
Yeah.

00:09:13 [Melissa]
So if you didn’t know, like, what ex how exactly to get started, you could implement that.
00:09:18 [Melissa]
And I remember that being a huge help for helping me learn how to use the platform.

00:09:21 [Nicole]
Yep.

00:09:21 [Melissa]
I mean, at this point, I was telling Nicole, I have it so automated that I barely go in.
00:09:25 [Melissa]
I go in when I get a new inquiry, And then after that, my automations take over, and then I send the quote and it and then they get emails and stuff after because I’ve just for so many years.

00:09:34 [Nicole]
So I hard it’s funny because

00:09:35 [Melissa]
I feel like I hardly ever log in anymore.
00:09:36 [Melissa]
Yeah.
00:09:37 [Melissa]
But You know what I did?

00:09:38 [Alison]
I went in to set up a new automation that I had a great idea for.
00:09:41 [Alison]
Turns out I’d already set it up and forgot about it.

00:09:44 [Nicole]
Don’t even remember what it was for.

00:09:46 [Alison]
Yeah.
00:09:46 [Alison]
I was like, oh, dang.
00:09:47 [Alison]
Already have that.

00:09:48 [Melissa]
Yeah.

00:09:48 [Alison]
Automation is set and forget.

00:09:51 [Nicole]
Yeah.
00:09:51 [Nicole]
Mhmm.
00:09:52 [Nicole]
Yep.
00:09:52 [Nicole]
It’s it runs so much.
00:09:54 [Nicole]
I always say it’s my best paid employee, on my team because it’s it literally does so much what I could pay somebody a full time salary easily to do.

00:10:03 [Nicole]
Yeah.
00:10:03 [Nicole]
It takes me probably I don’t know.
00:10:06 [Nicole]
I’m maybe in my business on the side, maybe today with that.
00:10:10 [Nicole]
And that’s just kind of checking on things, doing a few, like,

00:10:14 [Alison]
for somebody who doesn’t have a CRM or or is thinking about switching specifically when it comes to these automations, what are I know I could get into the nitty gritty of what I have set up for emails and stuff, but there are these things called, correct me if I’m wrong, Nicole, observable items or actions.
00:10:30 [Alison]
And so things like whether or not an invoice is paid, whether or not a questionnaire is completed, whether or not they’ve done a whole list of other things.
00:10:38 [Alison]
I have automations like We’re having a response

00:10:40 [Melissa]
on a certain amount of news.
00:10:41 [Melissa]
That’s my favorite.

00:10:42 [Nicole]
So if

00:10:43 [Alison]
they don’t pay an invoice, I have an automation every forty eight hours.
00:10:47 [Alison]
I think it goes up to 12 or 14 and it’s actually had to go up to twelve, the twelfth day here recently where they get an invoice forty eight hours.
00:10:55 [Alison]
If they don’t respond, they get it, hey, action required.
00:10:58 [Alison]
And then two days later and then two days later.
00:11:00 [Alison]
And I think I have automations up to fourteen days out Just repeating the thing same thing over and over, and I touch nothing, but they are constantly getting reminder.

00:11:10 [Alison]
And then the same thing with a questionnaire.
00:11:11 [Alison]
Anytime books with me, they get an invoice and a questionnaire at the same time.
00:11:14 [Alison]
And if the if those things go undone up to two weeks, they’re constantly getting now after two weeks, then if they haven’t done it, I, I gotta get on it and figure it out.
00:11:23 [Alison]
But I get these little wrap ups every day of my automated activities.
00:11:27 [Alison]
And I look at that because I need to, that’s how I track who’s doing what, who’s staying on top of things and why things aren’t firing because that’s happened recently too.

00:11:35 [Alison]
So like, what are some other bookable or observable actions that people can automate based off of?

00:11:41 [Nicole]
You can automate, gosh, I think even know how many we have now, probably like over 20 or so things that can trigger an automation.
00:11:48 [Nicole]
And so it could be, like you said, you know, obviously, lead coming in.
00:11:52 [Nicole]
You could trigger things based on that lead status, which is a really Yeah.
00:11:57 [Nicole]
Underneath feature.
00:11:57 [Nicole]
Feature.

00:11:58 [Nicole]
I feel like I’m always telling people, like, why aren’t you using this?

00:12:01 [Melissa]
Oh, I use that one so much.
00:12:02 [Melissa]
I have so many lead statuses.

00:12:04 [Nicole]
Yeah.
00:12:04 [Nicole]
It just helps you, like, give people the proper experience.
00:12:07 [Nicole]
Like, you’re not you don’t wanna be, like, following up with somebody that you have a meeting with tomorrow.
00:12:11 [Nicole]
Like, that Yeah.
00:12:11 [Nicole]
That looks that looks automated.

00:12:13 [Alison]
Highlightness.
00:12:14 [Alison]
Yes.

00:12:14 [Nicole]
Yeah.
00:12:15 [Nicole]
And there’s ways to kind of get your leads through your proper, like, sales flow.
00:12:20 [Nicole]
And Mhmm.
00:12:21 [Nicole]
Yeah.
00:12:21 [Nicole]
You could do things based on lead status.

00:12:23 [Nicole]
You can do things based on contracts, being signed, questionnaires coming through, obviously, invoices being due.
00:12:29 [Nicole]
That’s like everybody’s pop, you know, favorite one.
00:12:32 [Nicole]
And then trying to think of other gosh.
00:12:34 [Nicole]
So many things based on different events happening.
00:12:37 [Nicole]
So if you’re a wedding photographer, you can have things go out or happen, before or after engagement sessions, consultation, the wedding.

00:12:47 [Nicole]
You can have you can really tailor it.

00:12:49 [Alison]
A lot.
00:12:49 [Alison]
Due date things.

00:12:50 [Melissa]
Yeah.
00:12:51 [Melissa]
Because I you know, as a

00:12:52 [Alison]
portrait photographer, all I have is the one primary session.
00:12:55 [Alison]
But I can imagine for, you know, a wedding workflow where you’re gonna have engagements or bridal or, you know, the actual date itself, all these things can be observable and triggered by different milestones within a year or longer process.

00:13:10 [Melissa]
For my weddings.
00:13:11 [Melissa]
And it was great because, like, I used the starter template that they had and then I added onto it.
00:13:15 [Melissa]
Yep.
00:13:15 [Melissa]
And I had it all mapped out from, yeah, engagement all the way through.

00:13:18 [Nicole]
Yep.
00:13:19 [Nicole]
And so I think emails, of course, like being the most popular action that people take with automations.
00:13:24 [Nicole]
I know we were talking before we started recording, but automations people get I think creatives are afraid of because they think like, oh, it’s gonna be robotic.
00:13:31 [Nicole]
It’s gonna look fake.
00:13:33 [Nicole]
They’re gonna know it’s not coming from me personally.

00:13:35 [Alison]
Or it’s gonna land in Slack.
00:13:36 [Alison]
Or something.

00:13:37 [Nicole]
Yeah.
00:13:37 [Nicole]
But the way that you can do automations with, FSCO Workspace is very it looks very personalized.
00:13:45 [Nicole]
We have tokens, so you can pull in, like, really specific data about the person.
00:13:50 [Nicole]
I

00:13:50 [Melissa]
mean, yeah.

00:13:50 [Nicole]
Yeah.
00:13:50 [Nicole]
You can make it very look very personalized.
00:13:53 [Nicole]
You can also automate emails to be drafted, instead of actually sent so that you have that final check to, like, personalize something even more if you need to.
00:14:02 [Nicole]
I do that for a lot of mine.
00:14:03 [Nicole]
And then just odd like, emails in general, like, people feel like they’re bothering their clients, but, really, they’re giving them the best experience by saying, oh, my gosh.

00:14:14 [Nicole]
I’ve had Mhmm.
00:14:15 [Nicole]
I’ve had so many couples who well, like, I would have their final meeting with them before their wedding, and I’ve had multiple times.
00:14:22 [Nicole]
I can’t even tell you how many where even, like, the groom is so impressed.
00:14:26 [Nicole]
And he’s like, you’re, like, the only vendor that’s reached out to us along this whole journey, unless Oh my gosh.
00:14:32 [Nicole]
For vendors that are only reaching out when they wanna get paid.

00:14:35 [Nicole]
And they’re like, you actually, like, stayed in touch with us.
00:14:38 [Nicole]
And and then I’ve even had other people before a consultation where I send text reminders now through Workspace.
00:14:44 [Nicole]
Yeah.
00:14:44 [Nicole]
I send other, you know, email reminders and confirmations up to, like, an hour before.
00:14:49 [Nicole]
You know, you could really personalize and and customize those things.

00:14:52 [Nicole]
And they’ve been so appreciative.
00:14:53 [Nicole]
They’ll thank you for cons for they’re like, we know it’s automated, but we need that reminder.
00:14:58 [Nicole]
We need those alerts because otherwise, we have a lot going on, you know, especially for everybody in general has a lot going on.
00:15:03 [Nicole]
Weddings, people who are planning weddings have Mhmm.
00:15:06 [Nicole]
Know, it’s like a second job for them, and it’s a lot to maintain.

00:15:10 [Alison]
Yeah.
00:15:10 [Alison]
And even even going back to that podcast with Koli, I was telling her as a mom in my own personal email account, that is a fairly new email account that I just started three years ago when we moved to Hawaii.
00:15:21 [Alison]
I have four kids on four different sports teams at two different schools, not to mention all the other brown water alerts from the state of Hawaii and all these other things that I do need to get any given day.
00:15:30 [Alison]
I have 50 to a 100 emails new.
00:15:33 [Alison]
I, and I’m not even in that email every single day.

00:15:36 [Alison]
If you want something from me, if I reached out to you, I need you to remind me.
00:15:40 [Alison]
Even, even our folds from the library.
00:15:42 [Alison]
One reminder is not enough guys.
00:15:43 [Alison]
I know you give me seven days to pick it up, but I need two reminders that it’s there because I probably didn’t see the You’re

00:15:48 [Melissa]
lucky my library doesn’t even have anything automated.
00:15:51 [Melissa]
We have an overdue book.
00:15:52 [Melissa]
How overdue is it?
00:15:53 [Melissa]
Is there a place where somebody can text me this

00:15:55 [Nicole]
or something?
00:15:56 [Nicole]
Go, Marissa.
00:15:56 [Nicole]
We’re speaking of texting.
00:15:58 [Nicole]
Yeah.
00:15:58 [Nicole]
So we actually That’s what I

00:15:59 [Melissa]
was gonna say.
00:15:59 [Melissa]
That’s the next thing that I have not jumped on, but Allison and I were, like, dying for this.

00:16:03 [Nicole]
Set you guys up.
00:16:04 [Nicole]
So, yeah, we have texting as of five.
00:16:07 [Nicole]
We came out with an integration with Quo for text messaging, and it has been the best addition to my business.
00:16:14 [Nicole]
I now have, like, a separate business line.
00:16:17 [Nicole]
If you already have a business line with another carrier, you can port it over to Quo.

00:16:22 [Nicole]
But even if you just use it for text alerts and, like, let your clients know, like, hey.
00:16:26 [Nicole]
You can still contact me on this other number, but this is just for reminders and whatever.
00:16:30 [Nicole]
Yeah.
00:16:31 [Nicole]
You can now build those into automations, and it’s just such a easy way to get in front of people.
00:16:37 [Nicole]
These days, everybody’s band is two seconds.

00:16:40 [Nicole]
And the especially the younger generation, they need well, are used to getting text messages for urgent things.
00:16:46 [Nicole]
And Yeah.
00:16:46 [Nicole]
So I use it for Weddings.
00:16:49 [Nicole]
Mhmm.
00:16:49 [Nicole]
Weddings.

00:16:49 [Nicole]
As soon as somebody books or inquires with me, if I’m available, I have a certain email template that goes out.
00:16:55 [Nicole]
And based on which email goes out, Workspace will also text them right after that email to say, like, hey.
00:17:03 [Nicole]
I’m excited.
00:17:04 [Nicole]
I’m available on your date.
00:17:05 [Nicole]
I just sent you some important information by email.

00:17:08 [Nicole]
Go check it out.
00:17:08 [Nicole]
You know?
00:17:08 [Nicole]
So it gets it in front of them.
00:17:10 [Nicole]
People are brides are booking consults with me within fifteen minutes of me, like, responding to them.
00:17:16 [Nicole]
And then that means that they’re gonna meet with me, and then they’re gonna book me ahead of even scheduling with somebody else.

00:17:22 [Nicole]
You know?

00:17:22 [Melissa]
Well, and I think the big thing too is so many times your emails end up in spam folders or trash folders.
00:17:27 [Melissa]
And so just sending them an email, a quick text, I mean, to say, like and I try to do it too of, like, hey.
00:17:32 [Melissa]
I just wanna let you know I’ve sent you an email with that info.
00:17:35 [Melissa]
I you know, because I’m like, I’m still in that Gen x where I’m like, wait.
00:17:38 [Melissa]
Wait.

00:17:38 [Melissa]
Are we gonna have a conversation here on text?
00:17:39 [Melissa]
Because that’s not what I was going for.
00:17:41 [Melissa]
You know?
00:17:41 [Melissa]
So real quick, Just letting you know it’s over there.
00:17:44 [Melissa]
Have a great day.

00:17:44 [Melissa]
You don’t have to respond.

00:17:45 [Nicole]
Yeah.
00:17:46 [Nicole]
Don’t respond.
00:17:47 [Nicole]
This way,

00:17:47 [Melissa]
I don’t have to do it myself manually.

00:17:49 [Alison]
When it comes to the texting automation, because I know the weather report, when you set a primary session date and time, I can see the weather right there in Workspace, which I am using so much recently.
00:18:00 [Alison]
Oh, I

00:18:00 [Nicole]
love that.

00:18:01 [Alison]
Yeah.
00:18:01 [Alison]
The sunrise times I have constant.
00:18:03 [Alison]
Is that a token that I can use in text?
00:18:05 [Alison]
Because something I already do is text my client a couple of days out and say, Hey, the weather forecast is here’s your parking pin, cell phone number.
00:18:13 [Alison]
If anything comes

00:18:14 [Nicole]
up.
00:18:14 [Nicole]
Yeah.
00:18:15 [Nicole]
Yeah.
00:18:15 [Nicole]
There’s weather tokens.
00:18:17 [Nicole]
Yeah.

00:18:17 [Nicole]
There’s weather there.
00:18:18 [Nicole]
There are weathers too.
00:18:20 [Nicole]
Yeah.
00:18:20 [Nicole]
You can use, yeah, you can use tokens and text.
00:18:23 [Nicole]
Yeah.

00:18:23 [Nicole]
Oh, yep.
00:18:24 [Nicole]
Yeah.
00:18:24 [Nicole]
Yeah.
00:18:24 [Nicole]
So they look extra personalized.
00:18:26 [Nicole]
Yeah.

00:18:27 [Nicole]
You there’s no any kind of token for any kind of, like, event data or Yeah.
00:18:32 [Nicole]
Personal data, like, so you can really, you know, obviously, pull in their first name, make it look extra personalized.
00:18:38 [Nicole]
Yeah.
00:18:38 [Nicole]
It’s it’s amazing.
00:18:39 [Nicole]
And right now yeah.

00:18:40 [Nicole]
I mean, like, for you, especially, yeah, for sunrise, that’s important to pull in in the weather for sunset.
00:18:45 [Nicole]
Like, as soon as I get on a consult, especially, like, for me for weddings, a lot of people wanna do portraits at sunset time.
00:18:51 [Nicole]
So Yeah.
00:18:52 [Nicole]
You know, telling them that right away.
00:18:53 [Nicole]
I’m like, oh, on your wedding day in two years, it’s gonna be this sunset time.

00:18:57 [Nicole]
And they’re always like, how do you know that?
00:18:59 [Nicole]
But but, yeah, it’s yeah.
00:19:00 [Nicole]
Text messaging, for sure.
00:19:02 [Nicole]
I feel like everybody should be doing it.
00:19:04 [Nicole]
And people, like I said, we think that we’re bothering people, but it’s really part of your duty as a photographer to give them that service.

00:19:11 [Nicole]
And and and this is actually another tip that I always tell people.
00:19:15 [Nicole]
If your clients the best experience, like, if you wanna provide them with, say, recommended vendors, if they’re a wedding client or for things like you do, I know you have lots of guides on your blog for family photography.
00:19:26 [Nicole]
And those types of things, you can just trickle them in, like, every few days into an automated CMS, and you’re giving them so much value and you don’t have to worry about, oh, did I send that to this person or did I send it to this person?
00:19:39 [Nicole]
You’re giving everybody the same consistent experience, and it just makes you look so much more professional.

00:19:47 [Melissa]
Eight to tell you about something that could change your business.
00:19:49 [Melissa]
One of my students, London, was stuck relying on referrals and social media before she joined Found and Booked my SEO group coaching program.
00:19:56 [Melissa]
Less than a year later, she’s ranking on page one of Google, raised her prices, and left her 6 figure job to go full time with photography.
00:20:03 [Melissa]
If you want results like that, I’m hosting a free master class called the five SEO mistakes killing your photography business.
00:20:10 [Melissa]
I’ll show exactly what’s keeping you invisible on Google and how to fix it.

00:20:14 [Melissa]
The link to register is in the show notes or head to pictureperfectrankings.com/mistakes.

00:20:21 [Nicole]
Yep.
00:20:21 [Nicole]
It’s amazing.
00:20:22 [Nicole]
And you didn’t have to do anything.
00:20:24 [Nicole]
Like, you literally create Exactly.
00:20:25 [Nicole]
Five minutes creating that automation

00:20:26 [Alison]
in one day.
00:20:27 [Alison]
And talking about trickling, that’s actually already due.
00:20:29 [Alison]
So, like, you know, as soon as they complete an invoice, they get my what to wear guide, style and select.
00:20:34 [Alison]
And then two days later, they get my four point mama check.
00:20:36 [Alison]
And then a few days after that, they get my how to prep for the wind.

00:20:39 [Alison]
Like, it’s gonna be windy and I’m not change we’re not rescheduling for unless it’s Gale force.
00:20:43 [Alison]
Right.
00:20:43 [Alison]
Here’s how to keep your hair down.
00:20:45 [Alison]
So it’s not flying in your face.
00:20:47 [Alison]
And then ten days after, after the payment, it’s all based on when they paid.

00:20:50 [Alison]
Right.
00:20:51 [Alison]
And so then I give them a little bit about what to expect of the gallery reveal, because I know I do things differently and you’ve probably never done one of these before.
00:20:58 [Alison]
And a little bit after that, I send another little email about my photo albums.
00:21:01 [Alison]
My heirloom albums are like the best thing and you should buy one.
00:21:05 [Alison]
But it’s all every three days after an event and I, yeah, I don’t touch it.

00:21:11 [Nicole]
Yeah.
00:21:11 [Nicole]
And you’re prepping them for what’s coming next.
00:21:13 [Nicole]
I know you had said and I was laughing when I heard you on a different episode saying, like, you have at the bottom of all your emails.
00:21:19 [Nicole]
Alright.
00:21:19 [Nicole]
These are the next steps.

00:21:20 [Nicole]
This is what’s coming up next.

00:21:22 [Alison]
Like, I

00:21:22 [Nicole]
do the exact same thing, and it sets them up.
00:21:25 [Nicole]
Like, the more that you can provide them so they don’t have a question about, like, oh, what do we do now?
00:21:31 [Nicole]
It’s just you’re giving them such a better experience.
00:21:33 [Nicole]
Like, most of my reviews for my business are more about the experience along the way.
00:21:40 [Nicole]
And on, of course, like, the day of the wedding or something, way more than the photos themselves.

00:21:45 [Nicole]
It’s building trust.
00:21:46 [Nicole]
Yeah.

00:21:46 [Alison]
No.
00:21:47 [Alison]
Really.
00:21:47 [Alison]
It’s building trust.
00:21:48 [Alison]
And I think I mean, having pretty pictures is like a baseline.
00:21:51 [Alison]
Right?

00:21:51 [Alison]
But the people who stay in business, going back to your stat, are the ones people find trustworthy.

00:21:56 [Melissa]
Mhmm.

00:21:56 [Alison]
You know?
00:21:57 [Alison]
And that comes down to client experience and expertise and communicating what you know, not just knowing it.
00:22:03 [Alison]
So Yep.
00:22:03 [Alison]
Yep.

00:22:04 [Melissa]
And I feel like we haven’t even gotten into my favorite part, which is the reports.

00:22:08 [Nicole]
Oh, yeah.

00:22:08 [Melissa]
I am the geek.

00:22:10 [Alison]
Yeah.
00:22:10 [Alison]
Let’s go there.
00:22:11 [Alison]
Let’s go there.

00:22:12 [Nicole]
So I

00:22:12 [Alison]
now have quarterly sales tax.

00:22:14 [Melissa]
Well, so for my favorite report to pull is actually I will pull a report to find out how many inquiries I had and what source they came from and then what my closing rate was.

00:22:23 [Nicole]
Yeah.

00:22:24 [Melissa]
So, like, I could pull okay.
00:22:26 [Melissa]
When I’m looking at my newborn jobs, you know, the who did they come from?
00:22:30 [Melissa]
Okay.
00:22:30 [Melissa]
They came from you know, this many came from Google.
00:22:32 [Melissa]
What was my percentage of closing based off of Google versus book or Instagram or things like that?

00:22:37 [Melissa]
And that can be really powerful, guys, if you have that set up to really know where to focus your attention.
00:22:41 [Melissa]
You could be getting a ton of inquiries from Instagram, but nobody converts.
00:22:44 [Melissa]
But you’re getting some inquiries from Google, but all of them are converting.
00:22:47 [Melissa]
And then you’re like, woah.
00:22:48 [Melissa]
Okay.

00:22:48 [Melissa]
Well, maybe I need to change or maybe you’re vice versa.
00:22:50 [Melissa]
Maybe you do great with closing from social media or something like that.
00:22:54 [Melissa]
But I love being able to

00:22:55 [Nicole]
do that stuff.
00:22:56 [Nicole]
I I love the reports.
00:22:57 [Nicole]
Yeah.
00:22:58 [Nicole]
I would say most people, when they rave about VSCO workspace, it’s always automation reports.
00:23:03 [Nicole]
We have tons of really great valuable built in reports, and then you can custom reports and things.

00:23:08 [Nicole]
But for the the built in booking trend reports, like you were saying, lead source, knowing, like, where your leads are actually coming from.

00:23:16 [Melissa]
Yes.

00:23:16 [Nicole]
And Yeah.
00:23:16 [Nicole]
And then also what products and services people are actually purchasing.
00:23:20 [Nicole]
Like, you might think that, like, you need to offer all of these different things, and then you might find out, like, nobody ever chooses this.
00:23:27 [Nicole]
So, like, let’s simplify things.
00:23:29 [Nicole]
And Mhmm.

00:23:29 [Nicole]
With the sources, I had a local website I used to pay to advertise on.
00:23:35 [Nicole]
And finally, what like, this was years ago.
00:23:37 [Nicole]
They came to me and they were new for next year.
00:23:40 [Nicole]
And I was, let me pull up my account and see how many leads I’ve gotten through your, you know, your service.
00:23:44 [Nicole]
And I think I had, like, one, and then they didn’t book with me.

00:23:47 [Nicole]
And I was like, sorry.
00:23:48 [Nicole]
Like, it’s just not smart for me to continue Mhmm.
00:23:50 [Nicole]
Advertising with this or whatever.
00:23:52 [Nicole]
Another big thing too, like, with the economy and just things going on, I feel like a lot of people right now are quick to be like, my numbers are down.
00:24:00 [Nicole]
My inquiries are down.

00:24:02 [Nicole]
Whatever.
00:24:02 [Nicole]
I’ve literally challenged people on this in Facebook groups where they’re workspace users, and I can see their numbers.
00:24:09 [Nicole]
And your numbers might actually really be the same.
00:24:12 [Nicole]
You like, you try to throw off on how you feel it is.
00:24:14 [Nicole]
Like, you

00:24:15 [Melissa]
Especially coming off the fall when everything’s super busy.
00:24:17 [Melissa]
Yeah.

00:24:17 [Speaker 4 — UNIDENTIFIED]
And then

00:24:18 [Melissa]
you roll into January, February, March.
00:24:19 [Melissa]
No.
00:24:19 [Melissa]
Actually, this is normally slow.

00:24:20 [Nicole]
And this industry is every every month is different.
00:24:23 [Nicole]
You know, it it’s very unpredictable.
00:24:25 [Nicole]
So I get why people get stressed out because it’s can’t plan as much for for most photographers.
00:24:31 [Nicole]
But if you sit down and look at your real numbers and compare them with the same time last year, it usually will calm you down and actually be like, oh, it’s actually really not that bad.
00:24:41 [Nicole]
Seeing that is so important, but so many people just go off of, like, how they feel things are.

00:24:46 [Nicole]
They’re creative.
00:24:47 [Nicole]
What they have.

00:24:48 [Melissa]
Yeah.
00:24:48 [Melissa]
Yeah.
00:24:49 [Melissa]
Well, you can open up a conversation too where you look at it and you go, well, last year, I was booking a lot more from Google, and, oh, it turns out I stopped blogging, you know?
00:24:55 [Melissa]
Or I was booking more from social media, and I haven’t posted anything in three weeks.
00:24:59 [Melissa]
Mhmm.

00:24:59 [Melissa]
Maybe that’s it.
00:25:00 [Melissa]
Looking to see where those lead sources are.
00:25:02 [Melissa]
And the thing with lead sources, guys, is you can set those yourself.
00:25:05 [Melissa]
You set them on your contact form and everything.
00:25:07 [Melissa]
So, like, I recently added ChatGPT and AI to mine, and I have an inquiry from yesterday for an SG put their ChatGPT AI.

00:25:14 [Melissa]
I was like, sweet.

00:25:16 [Nicole]
Yeah.

00:25:16 [Melissa]
So then you can know,

00:25:16 [Nicole]
like, what That’s a good idea.

00:25:17 [Melissa]
How people are coming in.

00:25:19 [Nicole]
Yeah.
00:25:19 [Nicole]
Yeah.
00:25:19 [Nicole]
That’s actually really smart.
00:25:20 [Nicole]
Yeah.
00:25:20 [Nicole]
These days yeah.

00:25:21 [Nicole]
Everything within Workspace is super, super customizable.
00:25:25 [Nicole]
I know we were chatting earlier.
00:25:26 [Nicole]
And, obviously, Melissa, you have two brands within your account, so you can use it for services outside of photography.
00:25:33 [Nicole]
And we have we have very interesting businesses on our platform.
00:25:39 [Nicole]
Most of them are photographers, but Uh-huh.

00:25:41 [Nicole]
It’s so customizable down to every setting.
00:25:44 [Nicole]
You can really tailor it for exactly what you need and have it do as little for your business as you want or as much, you know, you can go super, super powerful, and it’s just so important.
00:25:54 [Nicole]
Like, it just goes with you.
00:25:55 [Nicole]
Like, when people see my account whenever I use that as a demo, they’re always like, oh my god.
00:25:59 [Nicole]
This is so much.

00:26:00 [Nicole]
And I’m like, yeah.
00:26:00 [Nicole]
But I’ve been using this for thirteen, fourteen years.
00:26:03 [Nicole]
Mhmm.
00:26:04 [Nicole]
Yeah.
00:26:04 [Nicole]
And it’s grown with me.

00:26:06 [Nicole]
As I implement workflows, every time a bride asks me a question that I get at least once or twice, I’m like, I clearly need an email about this.
00:26:15 [Nicole]
Like, I’m just gonna work it into my my workflow and beat them to it.
00:26:19 [Nicole]
And for example, hair and makeup for any wedding.
00:26:23 [Nicole]
That’s one of the first questions you get for a photographer.
00:26:26 [Nicole]
When does it start?

00:26:27 [Nicole]
They’re they’re hounding me for their start time.
00:26:28 [Nicole]
Their timeline.
00:26:29 [Nicole]
Done.
00:26:30 [Nicole]
Yeah.
00:26:30 [Nicole]
And so now I beat them to it, and I literally have an email that goes out around, like, six months before, so it’s plenty of time ahead.

00:26:38 [Nicole]
And I say, like, hey.
00:26:38 [Nicole]
You’re probably wondering about this right now.
00:26:40 [Nicole]
This is my guidelines for this.
00:26:42 [Nicole]
And it it beats them to that question, so they never even have to bother me about it.
00:26:47 [Nicole]
And they appreciate that, you know, those types of resources.

00:26:50 [Nicole]
So I think it’s That’s Yeah.

00:26:51 [Alison]
That’s, like, anticipate your client’s needs.

00:26:54 [Nicole]
And if you’ve

00:26:54 [Alison]
been doing this for any amount of time or if you’ve been in your client’s shoes, you can figure at least half of it out.
00:27:00 [Alison]
Yeah.

00:27:00 [Nicole]
Right there.

00:27:00 [Alison]
Exactly.
00:27:02 [Alison]
Well, awesome.
00:27:02 [Alison]
Well, Nicole, if somebody wanted to explore switching to Visco workspace slash Taube, what would they need to do?
00:27:10 [Alison]
I know Melissa and I have some referral links.
00:27:12 [Alison]
I don’t know what that gets anybody, but I have them.

00:27:14 [Nicole]
Yeah.
00:27:15 [Nicole]
You can drop drop those in the notes for sure.
00:27:17 [Nicole]
Yeah.

00:27:17 [Melissa]
For sure.

00:27:18 [Nicole]
We’ll we’ll

00:27:19 [Melissa]
drop both of our notes, and you guys just decide who you like better.

00:27:21 [Nicole]
Yeah.
00:27:22 [Nicole]
We’ll see.
00:27:22 [Nicole]
We’ll we’ll make it a challenge for sure.
00:27:24 [Nicole]
Yeah.
00:27:26 [Nicole]
So, yeah, everybody, our support team, which is we’re on the the workspace side of things.

00:27:32 [Nicole]
We value our users so much.
00:27:35 [Nicole]
Like, we really believe in really great support, and so we don’t charge anything for any kind of support.
00:27:41 [Nicole]
We have live chat.
00:27:42 [Nicole]
We will hop on a Zoom with you.
00:27:45 [Nicole]
For anybody new coming over to Workspace, we do free demos and free onboarding.

00:27:49 [Nicole]
I really recommend that.
00:27:51 [Nicole]
That’s awesome.
00:27:52 [Nicole]
Yeah.
00:27:52 [Nicole]
So, like, we know it’s hard.
00:27:53 [Nicole]
We know it’s a big task to switch.

00:27:55 [Nicole]
Yeah.
00:27:55 [Nicole]
We’re actually making lots of improvements with our team, on making that whole process easier.
00:28:02 [Nicole]
And so yeah.
00:28:04 [Nicole]
And very low if if you wanna even migrate actual data over, like, as far as, like, past jobs or Yeah.
00:28:09 [Nicole]
Or, you know, any kind of, you know, back data, you can do that as well.

00:28:14 [Nicole]
We do have a service, very low cost to do that if you really wanna get a lot of good stuff in there.
00:28:19 [Nicole]
But, but, yeah, we we definitely, you know, would be happy to show you guys around.
00:28:25 [Nicole]
We are definitely launching more in the way of webinars and opening up office hours for for people to hop on and, yeah, we really want to see everybody succeed.
00:28:34 [Nicole]
So, yeah, definitely reach out to us.
00:28:38 [Nicole]
You could find us anywhere on the on the VSCO website, visco.co.

00:28:42 [Alison]
Yeah.
00:28:43 [Alison]
It’s v s c o.
00:28:44 [Alison]
It’s not actually a web.
00:28:45 [Alison]
It’s an acronym.
00:28:46 [Alison]
So

00:28:47 [Melissa]
Yeah.
00:28:47 [Melissa]
Yeah.
00:28:48 [Melissa]
The workspace.

00:28:49 [Nicole]
Yes.
00:28:49 [Nicole]
It’s the workspace is the actual CRM.
00:28:51 [Nicole]
Yeah.
00:28:52 [Nicole]
So VSCO itself, we have so many other things going on.
00:28:54 [Nicole]
We have a mood boarding tool.

00:28:56 [Nicole]
We have VSCO galleries, which is integrated with workspace.
00:29:01 [Nicole]
We have a, external filters.
00:29:05 [Nicole]
Yes.
00:29:05 [Nicole]
We have we have filters.
00:29:06 [Nicole]
We have photo editing.

00:29:09 [Nicole]
There yeah.
00:29:09 [Nicole]
There’s so many amazing things that we’re coming out with.
00:29:12 [Nicole]
By the time this is released, there’ll be probably even more.
00:29:15 [Nicole]
But it they’re we’re doing a lot, and we really love our photographers and want to

00:29:20 [Alison]
see everybody, you know, go pro and succeed.
00:29:24 [Alison]
So Well, awesome.
00:29:25 [Alison]
Well, thank you so much, Nicole.
00:29:26 [Alison]
There’s so much to it.
00:29:27 [Alison]
I can totally see us doing a couple episodes in the future Yeah.

00:29:30 [Alison]
About specific things too.
00:29:32 [Alison]
So you guys, you heard it here first.
00:29:33 [Alison]
Check this show notes or links to go/tovay

00:29:37 [Nicole]
next time.
00:29:38 [Nicole]
See you later.

00:29:39 [Melissa]
Bye bye.
00:29:40 [Melissa]
Bye.
00:29:43 [Melissa]
Thank you so much for listening.
00:29:44 [Melissa]
If you’re enjoying the show, would you do two things for us?
00:29:47 [Melissa]
First, leave a review.

00:29:48 [Melissa]
Just stars would be awesome.
00:29:50 [Melissa]
And two, forward this episode to a biz bestie, mil spouse, or anyone facing moving their business.
00:29:55 [Melissa]
We’d love it if you shared this episode with even just one person.
00:29:58 [Melissa]
If you have questions, you can reach out to Allison on Instagram at at Allison Bell Photog, or you can find me, Melissa, in my Facebook group, Picture Perks.
00:30:07 [Melissa]
Check the show notes for links, and we’re so excited to have you guys here.