The nine-to-five grind isn’t for everyone. And although the holy grail of a steady paycheck can be a tempting advantage to a freelancer on the hustle, it’s usually not enough to keep them tied to a desk and a predictable routine. But as intoxicating as the freedom of freelance life is, it definitely has its moments. As an independent photographer, you’ve probably done the hard yards of actively building your client base and list of potential shoot opportunities. Juggling the many balls of networking, business cards, referrals, promotion, and marketing can turn out to be a full-time job in and of itself. Since taking the leap, you’ve probably had to up your game in the areas of organisation, math, marketing, and all those random business skills--but how do you manage your client base communications? Do all these questions make your upper lip break out into a nervous sweat? Do all of these tasks seem like a lot heaped on top of your already busy schedule? Well, it is. But the lifeblood of your business is your community, your customers, and the relationships that you nurture with them. Your communication with potential clients and new leads can be the difference between a thriving business and… crickets. So how do you make client management a priority so that your customers know you/trust you/love you without dropping the ball in other parts of your business (and life)? The answer is a good CRM.
Now. Before your eyes glaze over in response to that obscure acronym we just dropped, bear with us. The time you spend learning about photography CRM software now will multiply a gajillion-million-fold later, giving you more time to do what you love.
What is a CRM please?
CRM stands for ‘Customer Relationship Management’ system, and it’s a strategy or technology for managing all of the relationships with people you interact with through your business. It’s a bit long-winded and the terminology makes it sound a whole lot more serious than it is, but it’s basically just one big fat house party with all the people in your orbit.
For us, life before a CRM meant spreadsheets, stacks on stacks of sticky notes, and emails deep in the inbox with crucial information that we would spend cumulative hours trying to find (usually the night before a shoot). CRMs just puts everyone and their details in the same happy place, and for small business owners, this is life-changing.
What's so good about having one?
It allows you to focus on the things you love.
Let’s be real: you’re not an artist because you love spreadsheets. Admin tasks for creative brains are uniquely torturous, so leave the boring bits to the robots! Live your life, put your energy into your creativity, and allow the technology you surround yourself with to support you – not own you.
Unscripted has tools to help you build your business in a way that is sustainable for you. And for all the bad rap that technology gets, the ‘ol double-edged side sword of tech actually has a lot to offer us. Being able to put some things on autopilot so we have time to chill is what will make your business last in the long-run.
It allows you to nurture all your relationships (including with yourself).
If you’re one of those people who somehow manage to reply to all of their texts, emails, and Insta DMs on time whilst also getting enough exercise, healthy food, and soul-feeding creative strikes of inspiration, feel free to skip this next bit.
If you, like us mere mortals, write texts and forget to send them, lose emails to the junk folder, and misplace post-it notes with important information on them, this is a love-letter to you: do yourself a favour and integrate the tools that allow you to have better, more meaningful relationships with multiple people at once.
CRMs like Unscripted have built-in ways for you to quickly and efficiently communicate with your clients. Need an email with a perfectly-worded follow-up for that client that ghosted you a couple of weeks back? We’ve got just the thing. Want to flick off a quick what-to-wear guide the day before the shoot? No worries. Can’t remember if that couple replied to the questionnaire you sent? Don’t stress! Check out My Stats in the Unscripted App for an at-a-glance overview of what’s coming up, who has completed their questionnaire, which invoices are awaiting payment, and who still needs to sign on the dotted line.
It allows you to grow your business - and keep your mental health.
The bigger your business grows, the more you’ll find little urgent things popping up and obstructing you from being able to actually do what you do best. Replying to enquiries, staying active on social media, managing your own PR… they don’t call it a business (or busy-ness) for nothing. But getting into the right habits early will 100% save you so much time down the track. Collecting clients details, emails, and building rapport is really important!
Nurturing relationships with multiple clients at once will skyrocket your business so fast you’ll want to brace yourself for the breakneck speed of success that lies ahead. CRMs help you maintain lots of relationships concurrently, leading to more leads and conversions and shoots and all the good things.
Don’t try to be a one person show without it. You’ll be seriously limiting your own growth.
The really great news is that if you’ve already downloaded Unscripted, you’re halfway towards the kind of growth that comes with a good CRM system. We’re sure you’re all over it, but just in case you missed it, here are the Unscripted features that help you nurture your relationships, streamline your workflow, monitor your earnings, and propel your progress.
Unscripted features
With everything in the one place, you’ll never waste time searching through emails and recycling bins for leads or clients’ details again. Unscripted puts everything together in one app so you can:
- Send pre-saved messages in one click through the app!
- Personalise what we’ve crafted or save and organise emails for specific clients.
- Quickly send pre-written questionnaires to develop and deliver highly personalised experiences with your client.
- Digitally send invoices and track when they’ve been paid directly to your bank account.
- Stay on top of all the boring small print with contracts that clients can digitally sign and return to you on the spot.
- Get a handle on your in-goings and outgoings with My Stats.
- Make sure you never forget a spare battery with our customisable checklists that help you arrive on shoot calm and prepared.
- Stay on track on set with our timeline feature which sends you little notifications that tell you where to be and when.
Save client details straight to the app for unbeatable client rapport. Need to remember children’s names, favourite coffee order, go-to playlist? Just pop the information straight into each saved photoshoot notes and have a coffee and some tunes ready for them next time they book with you!
We figured something as handy as this would be busted out pretty frequently. And considering you’ll probably be using it every single day, we wanted to make sure it was super easy to use. With a streamlined interface, we hope most things would be self-explanatory. But for things that aren’t quite that clear, we’ve got genuinely helpful support with real actual people on the other end of the line. Ask a question and quickly get the help that you need through our live chat function. Keep an eye on our education section for guides that optimise the way you use the functions. And stay tuned for new tutorials and general content that keep you in the loop and connected to our community.
At the risk of sounding cliche, the trick (always) is to work smarter, not harder. Once your technology is doing all of the hard work for you, you’ll begin to notice your quality of life improve and the success of your business improve with it.
Let’s recap:
- Get into the practice of collecting data from clients and potential clients.
- Put all of it in the same place.
- Nurture your relationships.
lead your photography
sessions with confidence.
FAQ's
What does CRM stand for?
What is a photography CRM, and how does it differ from regular customer relationship management software?
Why do photographers need a CRM for their business?
How can a photography CRM help with getting more clients?
Are there specific features in a photography CRM that benefit photographers, such as client galleries and contract management?