As entrepreneurs, we spend a lot of time focused on how to get hired by our ideal clients, we want to figure out what kinds of images will allow them, we spend a lot of time coming up with offers that we believe will entice them. And then we all strive and per separate and worry about what price point will seal the deal. And all of
those things are important. But as photographers running businesses that are by their very nature, hyper personal, both due to the fact that we are typically running a one person show, and also due to the nature of the work itself, where we are spending time with families, getting to know people, when they have just had a baby spending all day with them at their wedding. These are
personal interactions, right. So one of the most critical factors in whether we get hired for any individual job isn't necessarily going to be our technical skill, or the particulars of our offer, or even our price point. Often, whether we get hired or not, comes down to our connection
with a potential client. So today, I want to walk you through how you can more intentionally cultivate that connection, and therefore increase your booking rates with clients who are excited to work with you, at any price point. 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. So let's start by putting ourselves into the shoes of our ideal
clients. When someone first starts thinking about hiring a photographer these days, they typically turn to social media to you know, find photos they like. Or maybe they look at the professional photos that their friends have posted. Or they just go straight to Google and do some searching. And no matter where they start, at some point, they end up going down the rabbit hole of clicking through to a handful of websites. And after a while they homed in on a few photographers who seem like
they might be a good fit. And they are taking into account not only the photos that they see, but also the copy and the testimonials that they see on their websites or on their social media feeds. And then they approach those photographers by filling out their contact forms and waiting to see what happens. And we have all been in this position before in some way, shape or form, right? Whether we are looking to book a photographer or something similar, we are excited about
it. We're waiting to hear back. And I want you to just for a minute, think about what it feels like to be in that position. So for sure your social media and your website. Those are absolutely critical pieces of this connection puzzle, right. It's typically where someone finds you. And we all know what they say about first impressions. But most of us are already being thoughtful about our messaging in those areas. So let's take it a step
further. We've all been in that position in some way, shape, or form before, right? Whether we're reaching out to a photographer, or we are trying to I don't know, get a reservation for a really fancy or special dinner that we want to go to something where we're excited. And we're kind of waiting to hear back. So let's take a minute and really think about what that feels like, right?
At this point, your potential clients interest level is at its absolute peak, they are actively thinking about photography, and they're actually actively thinking about working with you, right? They've just filled out your contact form form. And they're excited. But they're also nervous, and they're nervous for potentially a bunch of reasons, right? Are you going to get back to them? What are you going to say? If they do choose to work with you? Are they going to like their photos?
Are they going to have a good experience? You know, in the grand scheme of things people worry about whether something that they're excited about is going to flop? Is it going to be a waste of their time or money? Are they going to regret this experience in the future? And that is a vulnerable position to be in. And I mean maybe vulnerable with a capital V is the wrong word, right? We're not talking about vulnerability in
some deep existential way. But that nervous excited energy Is there and it adds a dimension of importance and gravity to the whole event. Even someone who has unlimited funds where you know, the cost of the session means nothing to them. The excited vulnerable energy is still there, because being photographed is a big deal to almost everyone. Along with that excitement at the prospect of, you know, potentially getting photos they love, that's what
they want. People typically also feel at least a little insecure or self conscious, maybe they feel indulgent, like they're splurging on something they don't really need. Maybe they feel uncertain, because they've never done this before. Or maybe they've done it before. And they've had a bad experience. All of those contribute to this sense of nervous excitement. And the best way that you can meet someone who is in that state, is to help them feel seen and
understood. What someone in this position is craving is connection, they want to find someone who gets exactly what it is that they're hoping for, and can confidently guide them to the solution. And when they find that person, those feelings of nervousness start to fade, so that all that's left is the
excitement. And so if they find that person, which is totally a big F, right, there's no guarantee that you're going to find the person who makes you feel like you're understood, and what you want is going to have actually happen. But if they do find that person, then they are able to book much more confidently, even if the price point is higher than they had originally anticipated. So the question here is, what's the number one way that we can
become that person? Right? How can we create connection and build trust, beyond just relying on the copy that we put on our websites? And the posts that we make in our social feed? The number one answer to this question? And really, I can get into more detail, and I will, but the beginning and the end of
my answer here is to listen. We have all been cornered at a party or on a bad date, or something where the person that we're talking to totally dominates the conversation, right, they go on and on, they won't let us get a word in edgewise. It's a pretty miserable experience. On the other hand, we have all probably had conversations with people who are genuinely curious about us, and ask us lots of
questions. And even though we may walk away from that encounter, not really knowing much about that person, if you know, if the conversation didn't go on long enough that we were able to reciprocate. I guarantee that even if you know very little about the person who is asking you questions, you feel more connected to them than the person who is kind of the self centered buffoon at the party,
right. The fact of the matter is that even if 90% of the people who reach out to us have the same wants and needs and concerns, they don't know that we know that because we're on the receiving end, but they are reaching out to a photographer potentially for the first time ever. And at that critical juncture, when they are deciding who they're going to work with.
The photographer who takes the time to listen, validate and respond to that person's wants and needs, is going to be miles ahead in the trust department. So let's talk about the step by step of being a good listener at this particular point. The first step is going to be to create space for a conversation to actually happen. Now, you probably know by now, if you've been listening for any period of time that my number one recommendation here is for you to get on the phone. And I'm not
going to belabor that point. But for those of you with entrenched anti phone sentiments, and I know you're out there because I hear from you not infrequently, I do want to go ahead and say that this can be accomplished in other ways, right? You can use voice texting, you could use something like Voxer or Marco Polo, if that is still around, you can connect with someone by creating a video for them. You could even send someone a really
detailed questionnaire. The reason that I prefer the phone and I stand by that as my number one recommendation is because I believe it is the easiest method to actually connect with someone and I don't mean easy for you because as much as I want to make things easy, easy for you. I really want to make things happen for you. And the way we do that is to make it easy for
our clients. This is a stage of the game, they have not hired you yet, where you need to absolutely make this process as simple as simple as simple as possible. So you could give people options, you could say, connect with me by phone or, you know, fill out this questionnaire or something like that. But you do want to go beyond just the typical Contact Form questionnaire and get more detail, because what you're looking here for here is a little bit more context, what is
it that's concerning them? What is it that's, that's really, you know, what are their ultimate goals. And, you know, again, the easier it is for your client, the more likely it is that they're going to cooperate. But if your client happens to be all about voice text, it's great. Go with that. What we're going to do here, though, is we are going to start by listening. And the way that we're going to do that is we're going to ask open ended
questions. So when we get on the phone with someone, or if you send them a questionnaire, you're going to want to force them to go a little bit deeper than just like a yes or no answer or a multiple choice answer. So if you're on the phone, even in that listening phase, you do want to kind of steer the conversation, because if you don't, you might just have somebody say like, I'm looking for family photos, or I need a photographer for my
wedding, and then just stop. Or you might have the opposite situation where somebody just kind of like drones on for 20 minutes without taking a breath. And in both situations, you're actually giving up control of the conversation and it can kind of go off the rails, you might be wasting your time, you might be wasting their time. Or it might just feel like it fell flat. If somebody says like, I'm looking for a wedding photographer, you don't, there's not much to listen to there,
right. So we steer the conversation with these open ended questions that are a little bit more directed. And these are especially important when it comes to finding out the things that your client or your potential client might be nervous about. Because the more information that you can gather about their insecurities or their concerns, their worries, the better, you are going to then be able to address and potentially overcome those
issues. So my recommendation is that you go into this conversation with a series of open ended questions that are going to help steer the conversation. However, you also need to be flexible enough, as you are actively listening to their responses to jump in and ask for further clarification or ask them to go a little bit further on something. So you don't want to just go through like a checklist of questions.
And again, this is where a phone call or even a an exchange of voice texts, works a little bit better than just making someone a prefab video, where you know, it's not unlike sending somebody along written PDF, it might be more fun for them to consume or quicker for them to consume. It certainly adds a level of personality to the you know, to what they're getting. But it doesn't really leave any room for them to tailor it to their
specific concerns. So the next step in the process is to kind of repeat back to them what they have to say, or to validate what they have to say. So once you've listened, you want to kind of reflect back to them. And obviously, I'm not talking about just like parroting back exactly what they say. You want them to know that they've been heard and understood. And for bonus points, you can validate what
they're looking for. My clients often end up saying things like, you know, we had photos done before it was a while ago, and they were good, but they weren't great. I think, you know, mostly it just felt really stiff. Because this photographer had us pose do a lot of post photos. And when I found your photos, I really liked the way that they look much more natural. There's
not a lot of posing. So I'll say in response, I'll say something like, Yep, I absolutely get what you're saying there are a lot of really great photographers around here. But the the general look these days in this area is a lot more posed. And as much as I appreciate a good, you know, smile at the camera photo. And I think that that has its place. For me personally, when I'm looking at photos of my own family and my own kids. That's not what makes my heart skip a
beat. So when I'm photographing other families, I'm really trying to set up scenarios and look for those more relaxed in between moments that feel true to who you are, rather than just having everybody looking at the camera and smiling. So I'm not I'm not just mimicking what they're saying back to them. I am validating like, Hey, I get you I agree with If you and you know what you're looking for, it's something that I absolutely
can and do provide. And one of the best things that you can do as part of this validation process, especially when it comes to concerns or objectives, is to not only share your own thoughts and feelings about how, you know, this should work or can work or whatever, but also to share stories about other clients. And you can do that either specifically or in
general. So if you have taken my free masterclass on the simple sales system, you know that one of the steps in the simple Sale system is a 24 hours slideshow. And if you're not familiar with the Simple Sale System, or you haven't taken the masterclass on the system, I would absolutely encourage you to do that, if you like this kind of step by step that I'm going through here.
This is like a huge, much more in depth version of that, that goes not only through the booking phase, but all the way through from when a client first shows up in your inbox all the way through to when you have already worked with them. It's a system that takes them through it automates things, it makes it easy for you easy for them. And you can learn all about it. I teach the whole thing for free in a masterclass that you can access at thiscantbethathard.com/simple.
And I will link that in the show notes. But if you are familiar with that, you know, like I said that one of the steps is this 24 hour slideshow. And one of the concerns that sometimes comes up when I share that with a prospective client is like, Oh, 24 hours? That's not a lot of time, right? I mean, not only do I hear that from my clients, I also hear it from other photographers. But I am absolutely ready for that concern. If it comes up enough that I know that that's something that people are
concerned about. So I want to be able to respond to that in a way. That's not just me saying, well, that's the way I do it. Right? That's not that does not make someone feel heard about their concern. And in this scenario, one of my favorite responses, and I like to be able to say this, whenever it's appropriate. And I use this phrase, I kind of pepper this in with a lot of things. So I wanted to share it here with
you. And that phrase is something along the lines of like, Yeah, I absolutely get that most of my clients find bla bla bla.dot.so. Again, to bring it back to this specific example, if somebody says 24 hours seems like a really short period of time, we're really busy. Instead of saying something like, Well, the reason I do that is I will instead focus on why my process benefits them and how it's going to actually help them rather than cause them a problem. So I might say something like, I totally
hear you. Yep, a lot of my clients worry about that exact same thing. However, when as I have done this over the years, and I've talked to clients after the fact, my clients typically say that they ultimately really appreciate that time limit because it helps them get their decision made, you will know everything that you need to know ahead of time about what it is that your options are, and all
those kinds of things. So really all that 24 hour window needs to be focused on is whether the photos are meeting your expectations. If they don't, there's no pressure. But if they do, then you can decide which collection you want to go with. So that just ends up feeling more like I am giving them not just my rationale, but sort of the experience of my other clients. And if I have a story, in a situation that warrants like a specific client story, I'll use that as well.
Obviously, you know, you don't necessarily need to name drop or anything, but you can say, one time I had a client who blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. And whether you're using the more general my clients find, or if you're telling a story about a specific client. In either case, you're helping the person on the other end of the line, start to identify with your clients, which is a really good first step toward them actually becoming one of your clients,
right. In order to do that, well, the best advice that I can give you is to anticipate as many objections as you can, it can certainly be hard in the context of a conversation to you know, on the fly, think of a story from a past client or something like that. But what I do is every time that I get on the phone with a potential client, and they raise an objection that I haven't heard before, or where I didn't have a really quick, easy response. I will write that objection down.
And then I'll spend, you know, a few minutes five or 10 minutes when I don't have the pressure of the conversation thinking about well what's the ideal person wants to this and I'll make notes about it. And typically, once I've had an objection once and I've come up with that ideal way to respond, anytime it comes up in the future, it's much easier to call
immediately to mind. I can also if I do that, right after I get off the call, I can include whatever my response is in the email that I sent to them as a follow up to that call. So I can say, it was so great to chat with you, you know, I was thinking after we got off the phone, about that issue that you had about blah, blah, blah, and here's my response. So not only can you use it for that client, but you just have it in your back pocket for whatever conversations you have in the
future. So to recap, in order to connect with clients, you are number one, and number two, and number three, you want to listen so listen, listen, listen, that's really if you take nothing away from this podcast episode, I want you to just remember that the best way that you can connect with someone is actually not what you say to them. But what they say to you.
When you do that, you want to ask open ended follow up questions, so that you're kind of steering the conversation and making it about your process. You want to repeat what they're saying back to them in a way that validates their concerns, validates what they're looking for. And then when they do have concerns, you want to respond to those ideally using some amount of social proof, whether it's a client experience or a general client experience, and not make
it all about you. And then the last recommendation that I have for you is to instead of just winging it every time really try to anticipate and plan for those objections and concerns, so that you know exactly how you're going to respond to them. And that's it. If you want to increase your booking rates, your number one focus should be absolutely fostering connection
with your potential clients. And although that process starts online, if you want to set yourself apart from your competitors, I recommend that you take this a step further. And rather than forcing connection via monologue, invite your potential clients into a dialogue. Hope you guys have a great week. 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 like the podcast, be sure to hit the subscribe button. Even better, share the love by leaving a review in iTunes. And as always, thanks so much for joining me. I hope you have a fantastic week.