How would you advise a photographer to reach out to new clients to ask for a face-to-face meeting to introduce oneself?
A:
The best way to ask for an in-person meeting is to entice them with an easy and fun excuse, like bringing them a treat or taking them for a coffee/lunch. I would not ask via phone, but I would warm up your potential client with regular outreach via email, IG, LinkedIn, etc. As long as your portfolio pertains to their client needs, you may have a good chance of seeing them in person.
How would you advise a photographer to reach out to new clients to ask for a face-to-face meeting to introduce oneself?
A:
The best way to ask for an in-person meeting is to treat your client as you would want to be treated. A phone call would annoy me so I don’t do many of them. If you can meet the person at an event, that could help, but otherwise, the simple answer is email them with your website as that is what they really need to see first.
Once you do a test shoot, what is the best way to get this new work in front of the right audience?
A:
As a rep, this is one of my favorite topics because this is the purpose of testing. Reps and consultants’ goals are all about shaping the long-road path. I call this- “growing forward.” Every test should have a client in mind, and with that comes the OUTREACH follow-through to share the images with the appropriate “warm” and “cold” potential clients. Outreach happens on all platforms, including personalized communication, to upgrade clients to a warmer level than where they are now. You want to be good enough to be on their list when that specific type of project comes up. This is either a monotonous process or a fine-tuned, distinct, mapped-out marketing plan.
What is the trick to Marketing? Quick answer: Relationships.
How to do this: Try everything, see what sticks, but only base some of your future marketing on what you learned in the past. I know this is tricky; we must try it all, keep experimenting, and DO NOT LIMIT OURSELVES only to what has worked in the past.
We all know how important marketing is in our business—it’s everything. Yet, there is no set plan for it; there is no absolute, definite “this must happen.” Of course, your website needs to be correct and up-to-date, but marketing as a whole has to be more experimental. I see it as throwing spaghetti against a wall and seeing what sticks. However, we can’t rely on just one approach over time; we have to continuously try new things.
Marketing is heavily based on relationships. I often get calls from clients I didn’t even know would remember my name, but we had a nice connection a year ago or even three years ago. When you get yourself on a list, clients remember you and want to stay in touch. The more we put ourselves out there, the better. We need to try everything, see what sticks, and not solely rely on what’s worked before. Do more of what works, but also explore every possible avenue to connect with clients.
Bidding on a job requires fact-checking client answers. Often they are slow to come in or don’t get responded to. What do we do? Try a new way – make your questions form a cohesive list to be answered by attention-getting dashes, bullet points, or (my fave) numbers.
You know when you’re bidding on a job and the contact at the agency or client isn’t responding to your questions? It seems like they’re missing something. I assume they’re rushed and don’t have time to go through a full email, or maybe there’s too much chatter instead of getting to the point. We need to make our emails extremely clear and concise. Don’t be afraid to keep asking the same questions until they get answered.
I know we don’t want to make the person uncomfortable or make the communication awkward, but you have to keep asking. Try doing it in a different style; perhaps they’ll understand better if we lay it out differently, using bullet points, dashes, or numbers—numbers are very helpful in an email. If that doesn’t work, consider trying a phone call; maybe they’re not into emails, and that’s why it’s not working. The important thing is to keep trying, even if it feels awkward.
Learning why we DID NOT get the job can be the most value-packed free resource, and I’m surprised by how available it is to us if we ask. With a bit of timely follow-through, we could potentially receive the clear strategic feedback every business needs.
I’m finding that we can get more information about why we didn’t get certain jobs if we put some effort into asking. It’s strange, but for some reason, clients seem more open to sharing the specific reasons why we weren’t selected. We just have to ask them and make sure we pose the question. It’s not that hard; we just need to put ourselves out there.
Clients need to trust us if we want to create open and honest communication. One way to keep it honest is to change the bidding categories they requested on the 1st revision instead of adjusting other costs/conditions they may not notice.
I have a personal tip regarding estimating when bidding on a job. When I send a bid and the client responds with changes or questions, I sometimes feel uneasy about modifying other aspects of the bid that weren’t part of the original discussion. If I do make changes, I have to assume that the client may not read through the entire estimate again and might miss the updates, which can come off as sneaky or unprofessional.
Therefore, I believe it’s important to inform the client if any additional changes are made beyond those initially discussed. This transparency is something I find extremely valuable, and I wanted to share it with you.
Get the most information in the shortest amount of time with a good old-fashioned client Phone Call. Use the phone time wisely to get those “awkward to ask” questions about budget, first choice, competition, and lowest bid topics. It’s that one-to-one camaraderie with off-the-cuff, less self-aware personalized touch moments.
Negotiating over the phone is more effective than doing it in person or via Zoom. In our experience, more information is shared once people warm up and get to know each other on the phone. We’re unsure why this is the case, but perhaps people may be less aware of themselves on the phone, making them more likely to share information. We recommend trying an old-fashioned chat for negotiations.
How do I follow up with someone who appears to have opened my newsletter repeatedly, but I don’t have any relationship with them, and their agency doesn’t appear to do work that aligns with mine? This makes it hard even to know what to send as a follow-up. It’s hard to know how to open the conversation without the incredibly creepy “I see you’ve been opening my newsletter a lot this week.”
A:
SUCCESSFUL MARKETING = ENGAGEMENT
Our long-term marketing efforts are the goal, as we know how creatives move around rapidly from one client to another. While you have the correct landing info for the ones who open your promos – USE IT! Get on LinkedIn, Instagram, or their personal website, or email them and connect so you can take advantage of this rare (and expensive) opportunity.
