EP 56: Stop Ghosting Your Own Leads

00:00:00 [Melissa]
It’s hard to keep up on where something comes in.
00:00:02 [Melissa]
And so if you send one email and then you get upset that no one ever emailed you back, like, you’re losing out at that point.
00:00:09 [Melissa]
Like, you can’t just be a one and done and hope they go.

00:00:12 [Alison]
I’m Allison, family photographer, military spouse, and business mentor for photographers.

00:00:18 [Melissa]
And I’m Melissa, also a military spouse, lifestyle new work, and SEO expert for photographers.
00:00:23 [Melissa]
Between the two of us, we have a combined twenty seven years in photography and have lived through nine business relocations.

00:00:29 [Alison]
We’ve coached each other through all these challenges privately on Marco Polo, and now we’re bringing our polos public.
00:00:34 [Alison]
On this podcast, we’ll give you actionable steps to help you keep it moving.

00:00:41 [Melissa]
Hey, guys.
00:00:41 [Melissa]
Welcome back.
00:00:42 [Melissa]
This week, we are gonna be talking all about stop ghosting your own leads.
00:00:46 [Melissa]
And this really comes from Allison’s frustrations.

00:00:49 [Alison]
Has it done?

00:00:50 [Melissa]
Looking Looking for a family if you’ve been listening for a while, you might see a theme here.

00:00:56 [Alison]
I get frustrated a lot.

00:00:58 [Melissa]
Yeah.
00:00:58 [Melissa]
And if you haven’t already, you listened to last week’s episode and, you know, think about including video in your workflow going forward.

00:01:05 [Alison]
Yeah.
00:01:06 [Alison]
Okay.
00:01:06 [Alison]
So y’all bear with me.
00:01:08 [Alison]
I sound like an angry person, but I’m not.
00:01:10 [Alison]
So I I I don’t know.

00:01:12 [Alison]
Maybe this is a unique perspective.
00:01:14 [Alison]
I have been in search for family photographers in multiple states.
00:01:17 [Alison]
I did it in South Carolina for an extended family vacation.
00:01:20 [Alison]
Same thing in North Carolina, same thing in Ohio.
00:01:23 [Alison]
I’ve done it here for my own family.

00:01:25 [Alison]
So I feel like I’m pretty well versed in the process of hiring a photographer, not just using a friend or somebody I knew or happened to be, friends with or trade.
00:01:33 [Alison]
Right?
00:01:34 [Alison]
So, like, fairly unique experience.
00:01:36 [Alison]
If I’m wrong, let me know or not.
00:01:37 [Alison]
I don’t know.

00:01:38 [Alison]
But most recently, I’ve been trying to find working with family photographers here in Hawaii for my own family of six.
00:01:44 [Alison]
I have four boys between the ages of nine 15.
00:01:48 [Alison]
So we’re a bit of a crew.
00:01:49 [Alison]
So I am a bit particular in the photographer’s ability to handle us.
00:01:54 [Alison]
Right?

00:01:54 [Alison]
Not just photo call, but engage and have a decent time, not miserable.
00:01:58 [Alison]
Right?
00:01:59 [Alison]
So this past fall, I engaged with, like, three photographers.
00:02:03 [Alison]
One of them took days and days to respond to me and then ultimately actually, like, ghosted me and never responded.
00:02:10 [Alison]
Like, still don’t know where that one stood.

00:02:12 [Alison]
Another one took weeks to book.
00:02:13 [Alison]
She did everything through social media and I’m not even though I’m on social media all the time, that’s not like my booking process.
00:02:20 [Alison]
Like I wasn’t used to that.
00:02:20 [Alison]
So it took weeks to book because she would send things over and I wouldn’t see it or it’d get buried or what would we’d respond to each other’s stories.
00:02:28 [Alison]
And so like the link that she had sent me or the information she had sent me would get, like, lost after we started, like, DMing each other through stories.

00:02:36 [Alison]
Got a good onboarding system.
00:02:37 [Alison]
I was like, hey.
00:02:38 [Alison]
How do you want me to inquire?
00:02:40 [Alison]
And, you know, following her process, but I’m pretty sure I owe her money and I’m not sure.
00:02:45 [Alison]
So I just I just don’t know where we stand.

00:02:47 [Alison]
Right?
00:02:48 [Alison]
The moral of all these experiences in today’s episode is this.
00:02:53 [Alison]
Don’t leave your people guessing.
00:02:54 [Alison]
Like, don’t make them do that much work.
00:02:56 [Alison]
Have a system for inquiries and leads.

00:02:59 [Alison]
Have a system for following up with them and then have a system for turning them from a lead into an actual client.
00:03:06 [Alison]
Those are all different things.
00:03:07 [Alison]
They can be anything, but don’t leave us hanging.
00:03:11 [Alison]
Please, for the love, tell us the next steps.
00:03:14 [Alison]
What do we need to do?

00:03:15 [Alison]
And anticipate questions.
00:03:16 [Alison]
Right?
00:03:17 [Alison]
Anticipate them and answer them before they actually come up.
00:03:19 [Alison]
So, Melissa, you have a system for this too.
00:03:21 [Alison]
What’s your what you got?

00:03:22 [Melissa]
Yeah.
00:03:22 [Melissa]
And I would say too, you know, guys, we always complain about clients ghosting us and stuff.
00:03:26 [Melissa]
And obviously it definitely happens.
00:03:28 [Melissa]
You know, as Allison just was talking about with her inbox for Instagram getting filled up, their email boxes are getting filled up.
00:03:34 [Melissa]
And so if you don’t keep showing up, they’re just going to forget.

00:03:39 [Melissa]
I mean, my best friend texted me today and she’s getting my text messages.
00:03:42 [Melissa]
And she was like, I, you haven’t responded and I just want to make it, she was worried they weren’t going through.
00:03:47 [Melissa]
And I was like, Nope, I’m the jerk.
00:03:48 [Melissa]
I was like, sorry.
00:03:49 [Melissa]
I didn’t even see him because they were getting buried by other stuff.

00:03:51 [Melissa]
So like that happens, you know, like and that’s Mhmm.
00:03:54 [Melissa]
That’s right there.
00:03:54 [Melissa]
You’ve got an email box.
00:03:55 [Melissa]
You’ve got a text message box.
00:03:57 [Melissa]
You’ve got your social media boxes.

00:03:59 [Melissa]
Like, it’s hard to keep up on where something comes in.
00:04:01 [Melissa]
And so if you send one email and then you get upset that no one ever emailed you back, like, you’re losing out at that point.
00:04:08 [Melissa]
Like, you can’t just be a one and done and hope they

00:04:10 [Alison]
got it.

00:04:11 [Melissa]
Especially stuff doesn’t always go into their inboxes and everything.
00:04:15 [Melissa]
So for me, it starts with I have a contact form on my website that’s hooked up to my CRM.
00:04:20 [Melissa]
So I don’t worry about emails getting lost in my inbox because I always check my CRM to see, like, what’s the status on things.
00:04:28 [Melissa]
So you’re not gonna lose something in your inbox if it’s also in your CRM.
00:04:31 [Melissa]
Now it does come to my inbox too.

00:04:33 [Melissa]
But if for whatever reason it got buried in my inbox or it went to spam folder or something like that, I can always log in to my CRM, and I can see it in there.
00:04:41 [Melissa]
And Allison and I both use Tave.
00:04:42 [Melissa]
So it’s in, and it’s fine.
00:04:44 [Melissa]
So that comes in.
00:04:46 [Melissa]
And then I have templates.

00:04:47 [Melissa]
So that’s another thing y’all, set up templates.
00:04:50 [Melissa]
So start with your first inquiry response.
00:04:53 [Melissa]
Just one inquiry response that’s gonna, you know, go over, like, this is where they learn about pricing, this is where they learn about working with you, this is where they schedule a call, any of that jazz.
00:05:01 [Melissa]
However you wanna do that, set up that inquiry response.
00:05:03 [Melissa]
So mine has inquiry response with a video in it.

00:05:06 [Melissa]
And, basically, I have it set as a template.
00:05:09 [Melissa]
And so I’ll go in and I’ll change the video, and I’ll just update the first paragraph.
00:05:13 [Melissa]
And then the other steps in there, the same.
00:05:15 [Melissa]
You know, it’s like, if you’re gonna book a membership or if, you know, when the sessions are gonna take place, all of that stay the same.
00:05:21 [Melissa]
I just need to update that first paragraph and then update the video link, whether it’s a custom video or my generic video, which we talked about in last week’s episode.

00:05:29 [Melissa]
Hey, fellow photographers.
00:05:30 [Melissa]
Melissa Arlena here.
00:05:32 [Melissa]
Does SEO feel super overwhelming to you?
00:05:34 [Melissa]
I get it, but guess what?
00:05:36 [Melissa]
SEO doesn’t have to be complicated.

00:05:38 [Melissa]
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00:05:48 [Melissa]
I’ve got your back.
00:05:50 [Melissa]
With my SEO coaching and done for you services, you’ll get noticed online, attract more of your ideal clients, and keep doing what you love most, photography.
00:05:59 [Melissa]
Ready to boost your website’s visibility without the headache?
00:06:02 [Melissa]
Visit pictureperfectrankings.com, and let’s make SEO simple and effective for you.

00:06:07 [Melissa]
Let’s get your calendar booked.
00:06:09 [Melissa]
So if I am thinking about it, I will also then, especially if I’m really excited about the inquiry, I will then send a text message.
00:06:18 [Melissa]
It will say on the text message, hey.
00:06:19 [Melissa]
This is Melissa Arlena, the newborn star you reached out to.
00:06:21 [Melissa]
I just wanted to let you know I sent over the information you were requesting.

00:06:25 [Melissa]
Have a great day.
00:06:26 [Melissa]
Like, I try to make it, like, I don’t wanna get into a text conversation with them.
00:06:29 [Melissa]
I don’t want anything to happen over text.
00:06:30 [Melissa]
But I want them to know, like, oh, hey, there’s an email waiting.
00:06:33 [Melissa]
And I try to make it so that, like, they don’t feel like they have to respond back to me.

00:06:36 [Melissa]
You know?
00:06:36 [Melissa]
They’re just okay.

00:06:37 [Alison]
Mhmm.

00:06:38 [Melissa]
That’s it.
00:06:38 [Melissa]
And Tave is supposed to be rolling out text messaging soon, which I’m very excited because then I’m gonna just make that a standard text.
00:06:46 [Melissa]
Say what?
00:06:47 [Melissa]
Automated text.
00:06:48 [Melissa]
Oh, I thought you said it for beta.

00:06:49 [Melissa]
What?

00:06:50 [Alison]
No.
00:06:51 [Alison]
No.
00:06:51 [Alison]
Oh my god.
00:06:52 [Alison]
Two days before every session, here’s your weather update.
00:06:54 [Alison]
Here’s your pin.

00:06:55 [Alison]
Here’s where to park.
00:06:55 [Alison]
Boom.
00:06:56 [Alison]
But

00:06:56 [Melissa]
even just for inquiry responses, especially, like, if I could set it up for that first one, I always ask for their phone number where they’re just gonna go ahead and get that text message along with the thing.
00:07:05 [Melissa]
Now I’m hitting them in two places, so, hopefully, they see one of them.
00:07:09 [Melissa]
And then once I’m done with that, then I have everything set up that it’s automated.
00:07:13 [Melissa]
So, like, if after two days, I haven’t gotten a response, then Tave knows to put it in my, you know, needs first follow-up.
00:07:20 [Melissa]
And sometimes I’ll go in, sometimes I automate it, but I can then change it to first follow-up, and then it automatically sends my first follow-up email.

00:07:27 [Melissa]
And follow-up emails don’t have to be lengthy, guys.
00:07:29 [Melissa]
It just needs to be, hey.
00:07:30 [Melissa]
You inquired with me a couple days ago.
00:07:33 [Melissa]
Just wanted to check back in.
00:07:34 [Melissa]
I know, like, things get busy when you’re having a baby or things are going on with family, whatever you wanna say.

00:07:39 [Melissa]
But just, like, keeping it light and fresh.
00:07:40 [Melissa]
Like, hey.
00:07:41 [Melissa]
You reached out to me.
00:07:42 [Melissa]
I haven’t heard back from you.
00:07:43 [Melissa]
Just wanted to check back in, pop this to your top of your email box.

00:07:46 [Melissa]
And then two or three days after that, I have another one that goes out.
00:07:49 [Melissa]
It’s a little bit different, but it’s the same concept of popping back into your inbox.
00:07:54 [Melissa]
Yep.
00:07:54 [Melissa]
And then the last one goes out.
00:07:56 [Melissa]
Usually, at that point, it’s been a week at least since they’ve inquired when it goes out.

00:08:00 [Melissa]
I know some people have referred to this as the magic email.
00:08:02 [Melissa]
Have you heard that?
00:08:03 [Melissa]
Yeah.
00:08:04 [Melissa]
The idea with the magic email is to be very direct of, it seems you’re no longer interested in this service.
00:08:11 [Melissa]
Yep.

00:08:11 [Melissa]
So They had to change.
00:08:13 [Melissa]
I’ll stop, you know, I’ll stop bugging you or whatever.
00:08:16 [Melissa]
And I’m a very nice person.
00:08:18 [Melissa]
Like, I avoid conflict as much as possible, to be honest y’all.
00:08:23 [Melissa]
So that was a little harsh for me to send, but I like

00:08:26 [Alison]
the tone.

00:08:28 [Melissa]
Yeah.
00:08:28 [Melissa]
I like the premise of it.
00:08:29 [Melissa]
And so when I was doing weddings, I would have it I think it was like, it’s number two.
00:08:34 [Melissa]
Right?
00:08:34 [Melissa]
Was like the the headline or whatever the subject line.

00:08:38 [Melissa]
And then it was, like, number one is you’re trapped under, I think, all the gifts you got at your bay at your wedding shower or something, you know, like and then and you need somebody to help you out or or whatever.
00:08:48 [Melissa]
It was something along those lines.
00:08:49 [Melissa]
And then when I switched to babies, I just changed it to, like, you’re trapped under a pile of diapers and you need help.
00:08:54 [Melissa]
I think the first the first one is, like, number one is, like, you’ve changed your mind.
00:08:57 [Melissa]
And then number two is you’re trapped under baby diapers and you still want to work with me, but you you need help.

00:09:03 [Melissa]
And I’ll I’ll send somebody.
00:09:05 [Melissa]
I think that’s how it goes.
00:09:05 [Melissa]
Yeah.
00:09:06 [Melissa]
Tell y’all, I’ve actually gotten emails with, like, pictures of, like, all the baby diapers they got for their baby shower and stuff.
00:09:11 [Melissa]
Like and they’re like, thank you.

00:09:13 [Melissa]
I mean, when I did weddings and doing portraits now, that third email, I have made so much money off that third email because and, and had people thank me for continuing to, like, show up in their inbox and remind them that you inquired with me.
00:09:28 [Melissa]
Like this isn’t like me just chasing somebody down the street.

00:09:32 [Alison]
They started this relationship.

00:09:34 [Melissa]
Exactly.
00:09:35 [Melissa]
You started this.
00:09:36 [Melissa]
I’m just trying to follow.
00:09:37 [Melissa]
You’ve reached out to me first.
00:09:39 [Melissa]
So I just try to keep that third email, like, a little lighthearted and funny.

00:09:42 [Melissa]
Some people will respond and just be like, I’m so sorry.
00:09:44 [Melissa]
We ended up going at, you know, booking someone else.
00:09:46 [Melissa]
Thank you so much.
00:09:47 [Melissa]
Like, usually well, I won’t say usually it gets something.
00:09:50 [Melissa]
But

00:09:51 [Alison]
Yeah.

00:09:51 [Melissa]
You know, it has definitely gotten replies.
00:09:53 [Melissa]
It has gotten bookings, and it’s automated, so it’s no skin off my nose because I just clicked a little drop down.
00:09:58 [Melissa]
I think by the time, even with Taabe, I have it set that if it goes past the two days after that second inquiry, it just automatically sends that email.
00:10:05 [Melissa]
Like, I don’t even have to do anything because I’m like, whatever.
00:10:08 [Melissa]
And then it does sit in, like, a status for, like, a week, and then Tave will automatically close it out.

00:10:13 [Melissa]
Because at that point, alright, I’ve been chasing you down for two weeks.
00:10:15 [Melissa]
You’re not responding.
00:10:16 [Melissa]
I’ve sent plenty of emails.
00:10:18 [Melissa]
Okay.
00:10:18 [Melissa]
Now we’re done with this relationship.

00:10:20 [Melissa]
I’m moving on.

00:10:21 [Alison]
I think three is the magic number over the course of a week ish.
00:10:25 [Alison]
I think that’s perfect.
00:10:26 [Alison]
And I think you you hit on something that’s really important.
00:10:30 [Alison]
One mode of communication.
00:10:33 [Alison]
Yes.

00:10:33 [Alison]
Yes.
00:10:33 [Alison]
You let them know it’s there, but you’re closing down the text that this is not where business is happening.
00:10:38 [Alison]
I’m not here to overwhelm you and breathe down your neck, but it’s there and we’re gonna keep this to because that’s just as cumbersome.
00:10:45 [Alison]
Like, if I’m gonna find you on Instagram or you’re gonna message me on email or Facebook Messenger or, like, if I don’t know where this information is coming from or where it was or where do we find it again, like, that’s its oh, that’s a whole another can of worms.
00:10:57 [Alison]
I don’t even wanna consider.

00:10:59 [Alison]
Like Right.
00:11:00 [Alison]
So for me, very similar.
00:11:01 [Alison]
Like, when I get an inquiry, again, I’m using the web form from Tave.
00:11:05 [Alison]
I have that forwarded to my phone.
00:11:07 [Alison]
So I know immediately and, I mean, I say immediately.

00:11:10 [Alison]
Sometimes there’s a pretty long delay.
00:11:12 [Alison]
Or it’s like, I think it’s been as much as a whole day, but usually just like an hour

00:11:16 [Melissa]
or two.
00:11:17 [Melissa]
I get a little annoyed sometimes because I’ll get that text message that I have a new lead, and then I’m like, oh, yay.
00:11:21 [Melissa]
And then I look and I go, oh, this is the one I looked at yesterday.
00:11:24 [Melissa]
So something’s not working with that thing anymore.
00:11:26 [Melissa]
Yeah.

00:11:27 [Melissa]
Well, I actually have one.

00:11:28 [Alison]
I have two I need to respond to right now, actually.
00:11:30 [Alison]
And so I I see it.
00:11:32 [Alison]
I can tell the date.
00:11:33 [Alison]
Am I available?
00:11:34 [Alison]
Where are they located?

00:11:35 [Alison]
Am I even open for them right now?
00:11:37 [Alison]
And I respond pretty as as pretty immediately as I can.
00:11:40 [Alison]
I like to be within twenty four hours.
00:11:42 [Alison]
Y’all, I will say though, if they’re using limiting language or if the date is not available, I just text them, hey.
00:11:48 [Alison]
I’m so sorry.

00:11:48 [Alison]
I’m not available.
00:11:49 [Alison]
I won’t be able to help.
00:11:50 [Alison]
And that’s it.
00:11:51 [Alison]
I don’t send videos.
00:11:52 [Alison]
We’re done.

00:11:52 [Alison]
I close it out.
00:11:53 [Alison]
I can’t help you.

00:11:53 [Melissa]
Oh, yeah.
00:11:53 [Melissa]
That’s a good point.
00:11:54 [Melissa]
I still get a lot of inquiries for South Florida, and I just have a standard email that has referrals for it.
00:12:00 [Melissa]
And what’s funny is I get so many responses to that email.
00:12:03 [Melissa]
Dad, gummy.

00:12:05 [Melissa]
I’m like, really?
00:12:06 [Melissa]
Like, because I’m helping them with other things.
00:12:09 [Melissa]
They’re all willing to respond.
00:12:10 [Melissa]
If I was to send over just pricing and stuff, probably wouldn’t hear from half of them.
00:12:14 [Melissa]
Yeah.

00:12:14 [Alison]
And so if it is a qualified lead, I try my darnedest to get the video out to them.
00:12:19 [Alison]
And that’s when I send my one minute intro video.
00:12:22 [Alison]
See last week’s episode for that.
00:12:24 [Alison]
But if if I don’t hear any response from them, I’ve got a similar three email follow-up every two days.
00:12:30 [Alison]
I actually, so I respond to leads and inquiries Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.

00:12:35 [Alison]
That’s my email sequence.
00:12:36 [Alison]
So if I have received an an lead over the weekend, they haven’t scheduled booked a call according to my text video.
00:12:44 [Alison]
I send them an email on Monday.
00:12:45 [Alison]
I start that automation process.
00:12:46 [Alison]
That automation process is also every two days.

00:12:48 [Alison]
And so it sends out Monday, Wednesday, Friday.
00:12:50 [Alison]
I only go into my CRM for leads on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.
00:12:54 [Alison]
And if there has been no progress, we just keep rolling through on automation with CRM through Taabe.
00:13:00 [Alison]
But if they schedule a call, I tag them as scheduled a call.
00:13:03 [Alison]
That’s when I do my client calls.

00:13:04 [Alison]
That’s when I update all my things as far as, like, where they’re at in the system, if that makes sense.
00:13:10 [Alison]
But if I never hear back from them, they go through those three automated emails.
00:13:14 [Alison]
I saw that magic email is mine’s not particularly funny.
00:13:18 [Alison]
It’s I think you changed your mind.
00:13:19 [Alison]
Not a big deal.

00:13:21 [Alison]
Let me know, and I’ll unpencil you in.
00:13:23 [Alison]
And that’s when people will yeah.
00:13:24 [Alison]
You’re either out of my price range or we’re deciding not to do photography or, yep, we went a different way or we hired another photographer.
00:13:32 [Alison]
And I still reply to them.
00:13:34 [Alison]
I say thank you so much for letting me know all the blessings on your trip.

00:13:38 [Alison]
Like, you know, I don’t ghost them and let them assume I was mad at them for that.
00:13:41 [Alison]
Like, I’m just like, oh, awesome.
00:13:42 [Alison]
I’m so excited for you.
00:13:44 [Alison]
Enjoy.
00:13:44 [Alison]
Like, see you later.

00:13:45 [Alison]
Now that’s a section if the lead never booked a call.
00:13:48 [Alison]
Right?
00:13:49 [Alison]
But if they do book same thing.
00:13:50 [Alison]
I send them an email follow-up.
00:13:52 [Alison]
I’ve got one follow-up after our call if they haven’t reached out again.

00:13:56 [Alison]
And then a third, hey.
00:13:58 [Alison]
Are you ready to do this?
00:14:00 [Alison]
Let’s do this or we can part ways on all the blessings.
00:14:03 [Alison]
No no harm, no foul either way.
00:14:04 [Alison]
And so same idea, every step though, and the bottom of all of my emails, all of my follow-up is in bold next steps.

00:14:13 [Alison]
So there is no question that they have to do something.
00:14:16 [Alison]
They either have to book that call and and get on click that link and schedule when to get on the phone with me, or they have to reply with, yes.
00:14:25 [Alison]
Let’s do this.
00:14:26 [Alison]
This is what we want, and I will start booking them right away.
00:14:28 [Alison]
So those are the two processes, like, right, to, like, choose yours, I guess.

00:14:33 [Alison]
But a few a few things to follow-up on on all this.
00:14:36 [Alison]
One one mode of communication.
00:14:37 [Alison]
Right?
00:14:38 [Alison]
Multiple, multiple reach out.
00:14:40 [Alison]
We are giving them so much time.

00:14:41 [Alison]
I wait every two days because I feel like when somebody is emailing me every I don’t check my email every day, first of all.
00:14:48 [Alison]
Like my personal email, does anybody do that?
00:14:50 [Alison]
I check my business email every day.
00:14:51 [Alison]
I don’t check my personal.
00:14:53 [Alison]
Oh, I

00:14:53 [Melissa]
have to check my personal every day because, like, kids’ school stuff comes up and everything.

00:14:56 [Alison]
Oh, yeah.
00:14:57 [Alison]
I just ignore it, but I’m not I’m not in there every day.
00:15:00 [Alison]
But, like, if somebody is, like, reaching out to me, even if I did start the relationship being rushed and, like, they’re breathing down my neck.
00:15:05 [Alison]
So I don’t want anybody to feel like that on my behalf.
00:15:08 [Alison]
And then templates.

00:15:08 [Alison]
We are not rewriting these emails from scratch every single time.
00:15:12 [Alison]
Hey.
00:15:13 [Alison]
Oh, no.
00:15:13 [Alison]
We’re clicking a button.
00:15:15 [Alison]
We click a I click a button in Tave that says first follow-up buyers.

00:15:18 [Alison]
Once I hit that first follow-up, unless I change it, it will rattle up through my entire flow without me touching it.
00:15:25 [Alison]
And that’s when Monday, Wednesday, Friday, I go anytime I get a Calendly link that somebody has booked a call, I go into their lead, book to call.
00:15:31 [Alison]
Pauses.
00:15:32 [Alison]
Mhmm.
00:15:32 [Alison]
Pause.

00:15:33 [Alison]
And then I know I’m waiting to get on the phone.
00:15:35 [Alison]
I’m not gonna reach out to them until the day we chat.
00:15:37 [Alison]
And so there it is.
00:15:39 [Alison]
It is kind of complicated.
00:15:40 [Alison]
Getting it all set up in today or a CRM is it is tedious, but we know somebody for that.

00:15:45 [Alison]
So Yeah.

00:15:46 [Melissa]
But if you’re just getting started, even just writing out, like, what am I gonna do?
00:15:50 [Melissa]
I’m gonna have this email when they inquire.
00:15:51 [Melissa]
I’m gonna have these three follow ups.
00:15:54 [Melissa]
And even if you are sending them yourselves, let’s say you don’t have a CRM.
00:15:57 [Melissa]
You can save these as drafts in, like, Gmail, and then just pull it from the draft and, like, just have it on your calendar.

00:16:03 [Melissa]
Like Allison said, you know, okay.
00:16:04 [Melissa]
I responded to the inquiries this week.
00:16:06 [Melissa]
Now it’s Monday.
00:16:08 [Melissa]
I haven’t heard anything.
00:16:09 [Melissa]
I’m gonna send a follow-up.

00:16:09 [Melissa]
Now it’s Wednesday.
00:16:10 [Melissa]
I haven’t heard anything.
00:16:11 [Melissa]
I’m gonna send a follow-up.
00:16:11 [Melissa]
You know?

00:16:12 [Alison]
You can

00:16:12 [Melissa]
do it that way.
00:16:13 [Melissa]
And I mean, you could do stuff too with, like, just, an Excel spreadsheet on keeping track of your inquiries and when you responded to them.
00:16:18 [Melissa]
But you’ve gotta have some kind of process.

00:16:20 [Alison]
Definitely.
00:16:21 [Alison]
Yeah.
00:16:21 [Alison]
Start something.
00:16:22 [Alison]
So there’s your action steps today.
00:16:23 [Alison]
If you’re just getting started and you don’t have a CRM if you do have a CRM, write your email and just save a template as you’re as you’re writing them, by the way, and label them.

00:16:31 [Alison]
If you don’t have a CRM, hopefully, you at least have Google Workspace and you can save a template and label them.
00:16:37 [Alison]
But even so, after start a process and commit to writing three email sequence to follow-up.
00:16:43 [Alison]
So, yeah, y’all got things you can do it and you can, you can respond to those leads and not leave them guessing and wondering what to do next for the love, please.
00:16:52 [Alison]
All right.
00:16:53 [Alison]
Until next time guys.

00:16:54 [Alison]
Bye bye.

00:16:58 [Melissa]
Thank you so much for listening.
00:16:59 [Melissa]
If you’re enjoying the show, would you do two things for us?
00:17:02 [Melissa]
First, leave a review.
00:17:03 [Melissa]
Just stars would be awesome.
00:17:05 [Melissa]
And two, forward this episode to a biz bestie, mil spouse, or anyone facing this.

00:17:10 [Melissa]
We’d love it if you shared this episode with even just one person.
00:17:13 [Melissa]
If you have questions, you can reach out to Allison on Instagram at Allison Belle Photog, or you can find me, Melissa, in my Facebook group, Picture Perfect Rankings.
00:17:22 [Melissa]
Check the show notes for links, and we’re so excited to have you guys here.