How I Manage My Photography Clients

Alright, so let’s talk about the not-as-fun side of running a photography business. The client management/business end… this is a peek into exactly how I automate my client management so that I can spend MORE time doing what I love and LESS time stressing over getting paid and sending contracts.

This video is an overview of some of the best automation and workflow features inside the CRM I’ve used for years called Honeybook. I’m still finding ways to leverage this powerful software to grow my photography business. There are so many helpful automation tools and in this video I show you a few great ones to start with!

How I Manage My Photography Clients

A Look Inside My HoneyBook

I have a few favorite features within my own Honeybook account that I want to highlight. 

First, in Honeybook is their automations. You can go into the “Preferences” section of HoneyBook’s Settings and you can set up automations and notifications that keep you in the loop with everything going on with your clients. You can make sure that you get notified if a client hasn’t viewed your documents (after X amount of days), giving you the chance to follow up with them. You can also set reminders for a week before the project to make sure that you and your team are prepared and ready to go. 

Under the “Actions” section, these are settings that directly affect communication to your clients. For example, I have selected to have an expiration date on all proposals that are sent out. This allows me to make sure I still have space in my schedule for new projects. There are different options here that allow you to customize what you would like for your business. 

Lastly, the “Payment Reminder” section is huge! This takes care of all upcoming, outstanding and payment due reminders. You also have the ability to customize all of the emails in this section to align with your voice and branding. 

HoneyBook’s BEST Automation Tool

One word: Workflows. These will help save you so much time! This is where you can transform your repeat tasks into automated steps to keep your client process running smoothly. An inquiry workflow can include many different things. Sending an email response once the inquiry is submitted, follow up emails after X amount of days, and creating tasks to name a few.

Additionally, you can adjust the settings for every email to send automatically (no approval needed) or to require your approval. Requiring your approval will give you a chance to review and make any changes necessary before sending to the client. You can be as involved or as automated as you would like in this process. Now, it’s important to note that not every single step can be automated, but many can! Based on your business, offers, and needs, there are many different aspects that can be customized to serve you best.

Brochures, questionnaires, tasks, proposals, and contracts can all be added into this automation process. It’s important to fully outline your client journey beforehand so you make sure every step of the workflow is covered. As a platform, HoneyBook is really fluid and makes it easy to update and to even move steps in the workflow around. 

Task Management

Finally, the task manager! I love that Honeybook has a built in task manager to help me stay on track with all of my clients. When you add “create a task” to any workflow automation, they will be added to the “Task Management” section of HoneyBook. All the tasks will be listed out with their due date and what project they are associated with. This will allow you to have everything that needs your attention in one place. This will help you stay on top of things and ensure no steps in the process are missed or forgotten about. 

I hope this helps you to see what’s possible and what kind of things you can automate in your business and elevate your client experience overall! I’d love to hear what your favorite takeaway was from this video. Leave a comment below and let me know!

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