217: Make it Easy for Them

add perceived value. So even if you're using for instance, like an AI tool to do your editing, and can easily turn your sessions around and just, you know, a day or two, the editing doesn't take any time, you don't necessarily want to deliver too fast, because among other reasons, it may cause your clients to feel like they're paying a lot for something

that's easy for you, right. But if your current offer isn't converting, as well as you'd like, chances are you've got room to do a better job conveying the value of your offer. Time is definitely, you know, a factor in that equation. But it's not the only one. So today, I want to dive into my other favorite component of the value equation, which is friction. Welcome to this can't be that hard. My name is Annemie Tonken. And I help photographers run profitable, sustainable

businesses that they love. Each week on the podcast, I cover simple, actionable strategies and systems that photographers at every level of experience can use to earn more money in a more sustainable way. Running a photography business doesn't have to be that hard, you can do it. And I can show you how.

If you're familiar with Alex's value equation, or if you heard me talk about it two weeks ago, you may remember that the top line is the stuff that you want to increase, you want to increase the sort of amazingness of the outcome that you promised someone and you want to increase their trust in the fact that you are going to deliver that. So painting the picture, like showing your photos, and then sharing things like testimonials helped to increase that top

line. And then the bottom line is the stuff that you want to decrease. And that is time and effort. And in this case, we're talking about your clients time and effort, how much do they have to kind of give up in order to achieve this amazing outcome that you're promising. So I am going to substitute the word friction for the word effort.

Because when I picture someone finding my business, you know, they come across a photo on Instagram that piques their interest, or they meet me somewhere out in you know, my town, and then they end up looking me up. From that point forward. I try to envision them on a slip and slide, like landing are leading straight toward working with me. So they are on this slippery thing that is just like downhill all the

way. Right? I want it to be really, really easy and almost like they're going to have to really intentionally opt out. So you know, I work really hard to make sure that my website and my social media are polished and up to date all the time. So that the not only the photos, like those should be up to date for

sure. But also the platform that you are delivering that experience to them on right if you're using some like clunky, outdated looking website, that is a really big red flag for somebody that like, Oh, this is a visual business and they're not even worried about what their website looks like that's a problem. I want to make sure that the website is really easy to understand it's really easy to navigate, they can find what

they need at any given time. If they have a question about pricing, here's the button that says, you know, click here to hear about my pricing, all that sort of stuff. I want to make sure my copy anywhere on the website, anywhere on my social media is easy to read conveys the right message, I want to make sure that I'm showing my best photos. I also want to make sure that I'm not showing so many photos or writing so much that they end up going down some sort of crazy rabbit hole right?

So you need to balance giving them a good experience with like, don't let them get lost in there right everywhere on your website. You want there to be a way for someone to contact you. And then once they do, you want to ensure that you respond quickly you have a built in system for following up so that the burden isn't on them. You know I talked a little a little bit about this two weeks ago I use phone calls for that first conversation because I find them

easier for me and my clients. I know plenty of people who use video. I think that PDFs and sending like a pricing guide hoping that they figure it out on their own is a great example of this kind of friction that I'm talking about, where you're just putting the ball in their court. And then it's, you know, hoping for the best, which is not always the way to go. But no matter how you do this, you know, you want it to make it,

you want to make it easy. You want to make your pricing easy to understand, you want your offers to be clear. You want there to be an independent, fast booking process, once they've decided that they want to work with you. You want your emails to be timed well, all that sort of stuff. Because every point of friction, every place where it's hard for them to figure out what's going on or hard for them to manage or confusing. All of that as an opportunity for that person to get stuck on the slip

and slide, right. It's a big tear in the slip and slide. And so they get up and walk away. And some of the photographer's websites that I look at, honestly make me wonder how they ever get inquiries, much less bookings. And it's not because their work isn't good, right? It's because it's like they're making their clients walk over a pit of hot coals. To book with them, they say that you never get a second chance to make a

first impression. And I honestly think that the message that a photographer communicates when they create friction like that is working with me is going to be a chore. And that is not the impression that any of us want to give right? Of course, it's not just the first impression. Obviously, we want people to book with us. But once they've hired us, we need to extend that slip and slide. And the new destination on the slip and slide is to that place where they have beautiful photos that

they're thrilled about. Ideally, they're like hanging on their walls, whatever. And they feel like they spent, you know, the money that they spent was well, well well worth it. Right. So that's the next destination on that slip and slide. And for that portion, I want you to think through every step of your process. And ask yourself, How can I make this process easier for my clients? How can I make my communication easier to

understand? How can I ensure that what we're trying to do in this phase gets done in a timely manner, even when it's on the client to complete? How can I erase technical barriers? How can I ensure that a client knows what they need to do, and when they need to do it, you guys hear me talk all the time about systems. And, again, systems are

just a series of steps. But the function of a good system should be to do exactly this, it should be to lead your clients in a frictionless way, from point A to point B, you want to make it as easy and ideally enjoyable as

possible. And of course, once you have that system all put together, you want to be sure that you're highlighting the benefits of the system to your prospective clients, as a way of actually increasing the perceived value of working with you right, you're going to take the system that is the slip and slide once someone hires you, and you're going to talk about it, because you're going to talk about how easy it is for that person who may be nervous, who may be like, I don't know what

this is going to be like whatever you want to show them before they've booked that after they've booked, it's going to be super easy. And the best way that you can reinforce that is to make the first part really

easy. So you might be noticing a pattern here, but reducing friction for you and your clients should be if it's not one of the top priorities for you, in any situation where you're like I could use more bookings, you want to really dive deep on your prior to the booking system and the system that comes afterward to see where you can reduce friction, and where you can tell them about how there's no friction.

So what I want you to do this week is I want you to check out two lessons in this can't be that hard University. If you haven't signed up yet, that is our new free platform where you go through and there's links to all different kinds of free resources that you can, you know, take on your own time and use to build your business. It's basically the hub where I'm keeping everything that I've created over the course of the three plus years of the podcast.

And I've organized it so that you can find what you need when you need it. So I want you to go into the streamline Department of the University. And I want you to look at two particular courses in there. So there's one called mapping your process and there's another called optimizing your process. If you haven't signed up for the university yet, it's like I said totally free. You can go to this can't be that hard.com/free to

sign up. You take a little An assessment that answers some questions about your business, you'll get a customized syllabus. But in case these two classes aren't on your syllabus right away, I want you to go to mapping your process and optimizing your process so that you can do exactly what we're talking about here today. But, you know, even beyond that there are tons of great resources in there to help you put the lessons that I teach here on the podcast into action, which is

the point right? So those two lessons are gonna make it much easier for you to visualize this slip and slide in your own business. Find out where you're adding friction, and then go about the important work of reducing that friction. Have a great week, you guys. Well, that's it for this week's episode of This can't be that hard. I'll be back Same time,

same place next week. In the meantime, you can find more information about this episode, along with all the relevant links, notes and downloads at this can't be that hard.com/learn If you liked the podcast, be sure to hit the subscribe button. Even better, share the love by leaving a review on iTunes. And as always, thanks so much for joining me. I hope you have a fantastic week.