Annual conferences, awards evenings, leadership summits, charity events, and company celebrations often happen at the same time every year. If you’ve photographed them once, there’s a good chance you’ll be asked back, provided you’re still top of mind when your client starts planning.

The challenge is that clients rarely think about next year’s event immediately after this year’s has finished. By the time they’re planning again, they’ve got a dozen suppliers emailing them, and if you haven’t stayed visible, it’s easy to miss out.

“Over the years, I’ve developed a simple system that helps me identify annual repeat work and reminds me exactly when to get back in touch.”
Ian Martindale, corporate photographer for 17 years & customer success manager for Light Blue.

Step 1: Create a “Repeat Event” Tag

The first thing I do is create a tag in my CRM called Repeat Event.

This tag is reserved for projects that I know are likely to happen again, such as:

• Awards ceremonies
• Annual conferences
• Company away days
• Charity fundraising events
• Festivals
• Seasonal corporate events

Not every job gets this tag, only the ones that are likely to return each year.

Step 2: Review the Last 12 Months

Every so often, I’ll run a query that shows me all of my corporate shoots from the previous 12 months.

I scroll through the list and, whenever I spot a project that’s clearly an annual event, I add the Repeat Event tag.

It only takes a few minutes, but it builds a valuable database of recurring work.

Step 3: Create a Clever Query

Next, I create a saved query that shows every project carrying the Repeat Event tag.

This becomes my master list of annual clients.

From there, I create another query that’s even more useful.

Instead of simply showing every repeat event, it looks for tagged projects where the enquiry date was between 11 and 12 months ago.

Because the query is date-based, it updates automatically throughout the year.

At any point, I can instantly see which clients are likely to be planning their next event right now.

Step 4: Reach Out Before They Contact You

This is where the magic happens.

Rather than waiting for an enquiry to land in your inbox, you can send a friendly email a year later saying something like:

Hi Sam, I hope everything’s going well. I was just thinking about last year’s conference and wondered if planning has started for this year’s event yet. If you’re looking for photography again, I’d love to help.

There’s no hard sell.

You’re simply appearing at exactly the right time, just as they’re beginning to think about booking suppliers.

Often, that’s enough to put you straight back on their shortlist.

Step 5: Keep the System Updated

When the new enquiry comes in, or when the booking is confirmed, don’t forget to tag the new project as a Repeat Event too.

That way, next year it will automatically appear in the same workflow.

The more repeat projects you add over time, the more valuable the system becomes. Eventually, your CRM starts reminding you about annual opportunities without you having to remember them yourself.

A Small Habit That Pays Off

Corporate photography is full of repeat business opportunities, but they’re easy to miss if you’re relying on memory alone.

By spending just a few minutes tagging recurring projects and creating a couple of simple saved queries, you can build a system that reminds you exactly when to reconnect with past clients.

It’s a small administrative task that can lead to thousands of pounds of repeat bookings, and perhaps more importantly, it helps you stay in front of clients before they start looking elsewhere.

Sometimes the easiest marketing strategy isn’t finding new clients at all. It’s making sure your existing clients remember to book you again.

We recently launched our new ProSelect integration, making it easier to move from managing your business in Light Blue to running polished IPS sessions in ProSelect. That felt like the perfect opportunity to sit down with Ron Nichols, CEO of Pro Studio Software and one of the photography industry’s most experienced voices on in-person sales, to ask what separates a good IPS session from a great one. We’ll finish by looking at how you can use Light Blue to lay the groundwork for successful IPS sessions long before your client sits down to view their images.

“The biggest failure photographers make is they don’t give customers the opportunity to buy.”

One theme came up again and again throughout our conversation: your clients aren’t looking for someone to simply deliver photos. They’re looking for an expert to help them make the right decisions.

Here are some of Ron’s best tips for creating IPS sessions that feel valuable for your clients, and more profitable for your business.

1. Think like a consultant, not a salesperson

Many photographers worry that IPS feels “salesy”.

Ron doesn’t see IPS as a sales technique. He sees it as professional guidance.

Before reviewing images with clients, he’d always ask one simple question:

“I ask ‘Is it okay if I give you my opinion as we’re going through these?’… The customers have never said no.”

Clients hire you because you’re the expert. They want your advice, not just access to an online gallery. They don’t know which expressions work best together, what size artwork will suit their home, or which images will create the strongest album. You do.

An IPS session isn’t about persuading someone to spend more money. It’s about helping them make confident decisions they’ll be happy with for years.

That shift in mindset changes everything.

2. Guide the selection process

Rather than dropping hundreds of images into an online gallery and hoping clients work through them, Ron recommends leading them through a structured process.

His approach is surprisingly simple:

• Start with a slideshow so clients can simply enjoy their photographs.
• Then review each image individually.
• Ask for a simple “Yes”, “Maybe”, or “No”.

“We’re not going to worry about comparing anything.”

By removing comparisons early on, clients make decisions based on whether they genuinely love an image, rather than which one is slightly better than another.

This avoids overwhelming clients and keeps the focus on selecting images they genuinely love.

Ron only compares images that are genuinely similar once they’ve already been moved into the Yes tab:

“I only want to compare like images, and I’m going to do that in a very, very limited fashion.”

It also allows you to offer your professional opinion throughout the process.

3. Help clients visualise the finished product

One of the biggest challenges for clients is imagining how photographs will look once they’re printed. As Ron explains:

“Photographers are pretty good at visualising things… but customers have a real problem with that.”

That’s exactly why showing artwork at the correct size, on their own wall, is so powerful. A beautiful portrait on a laptop screen is very different from seeing it as a 40-inch framed print above a sofa.

This is where visualisation software like ProSelect really shines. Showing artwork at the correct size, on a photograph of the client’s own wall, removes uncertainty and helps clients picture the finished result.

Instead of asking them to imagine, you’re letting them see it.

4. Don’t be afraid to be the expert

One of our favourite moments from the interview came when Ron said something many photographers need to hear:

“You have to position yourself as the expert.”

Clients almost always welcome guidance.

If someone is hesitating between two images, you can explain which expression feels stronger.

If two photographs work beautifully together as a wall collection, tell them.

If an image isn’t quite as strong as the others, be honest.

Ironically, recommending against a purchase when appropriate often builds more trust than trying to sell every photograph.

5. Create an experience, not just a viewing

IPS should feel different from scrolling through an online gallery.

Ron recommends creating an environment that reflects the quality of your work.

That doesn’t necessarily mean a huge dedicated studio. It means creating a calm, welcoming space where clients can focus on their photographs without distractions. Ron believes your viewing room should reflect the value of what you’re selling.

As he says:

“You want it to look like money.”

Whether that’s a dedicated presentation room or simply a carefully prepared meeting space, the environment helps reinforce that clients are making an investment in artwork, not just buying files.

If possible, let clients handle your products too.

Feeling the texture of a fine art print, the finish of a canvas, or the weight of a framed piece helps them appreciate the value of what they’re buying in a way that a digital catalogue never can.

6. Set expectations before the session

One of the biggest causes of awkward sales appointments is mismatched expectations.

If clients have no idea what your artwork costs until they’re sitting in front of you, the conversation immediately becomes more difficult.

Ron always discussed pricing before the IPS appointment because:

“I don’t think you should ever walk into a viewing session without the client having some expectation of what they’re going to spend.”

That doesn’t mean hard selling.

It simply means helping clients understand what’s available, typical investment levels, and what most people purchase.

When clients arrive already knowing what to expect, they can focus on choosing the images they love rather than worrying about unexpected costs.

7. Build systems that create consistency

Successful IPS isn’t just about what happens during the appointment.

It’s about having a repeatable process that delivers a consistently great experience for every client.

“So much of it is building customer relationships… taking care of the customer and doing a good job.”

That’s one of the reasons the ProStudio software team developed ProSelect, to provide photographers with a structured workflow that takes clients from viewing, to selecting images, to designing products, and finally into production.

The same principle applies across your entire business.

When your enquiries, bookings, contracts, invoices, questionnaires, communications and finances all follow consistent processes, you spend less time on admin and more time creating a great client experience.

That’s exactly where Light Blue fits in.

Light Blue helps you manage everything leading up to your IPS session, and everything that happens afterwards. From enquiry to booking, contracts, invoicing, scheduling and production, it keeps your business organised so you can focus on your clients.

And with our new ProSelect integration, it’s now even easier to move seamlessly from managing your photography business in Light Blue to running polished, professional IPS sessions in ProSelect.

If IPS is already part of your workflow, or you’re thinking about introducing it, the integration helps connect two powerful parts of your business together.

Learn more about the Light Blue and ProSelect integration.

Portrait photography is deeply personal. Whether it’s traditional corporate head-shots, special family anniversary shoots or a candid lifestyle session, every client will want to be 100% comfortable with the results.

It’s your job to make them so thrilled with those images they’ll come back for more. And tell everyone they know what a fabulous photography experience they’ve had.

These client relationships are more than just transactions, they’re how your business will grow and thrive.

Read on to discover how to build personal, profitable relationships with your portrait clients.

It’s All About Trust

Central to any relationship is trust and your photography clients are no different.

Without it, those relationships will have wobbly foundations. Will you deliver what you’ve promised? Will the images bring a smile to your face?

With it, they’re reassured you’ll be professional, meet deadlines, communicate clearly and produce excellent images. And that it’ll be a stress-free experience.

Building this non-negotiable takes time but once in place, it’ll open the doors to repeat bookings, loyalty and precious social proof.

So how do you build trust?

Make a Strong First Impression

Start your trust-construction project from the very first interaction, for example ensuring they get a prompt reply to their initial query.

Step forward a specialist photography CRM like Light Blue which makes sure this response is quick, friendly and reassuring. You’re on it; you’d love to find out more; your calendar is available to book in a chat on a convenient date.

Positive interaction #1 ticked. Trust-building mission has commenced.

Keep the Communication Flowing

First set of foundations in place, keeping communication organised, responsive and personalised is central to cementing the relationship.

No matter how good your intentions and organisational skills, simply noting in a diary when to next get in touch increases the chances of human error.

With a photography CRM by your side, you can set up workflows for each client, automate when crucial emails and texts are sent and never miss an important communication milestone for a shoot.

You’ll have the peace of mind they’re getting the right info at the right time, and they’ll appreciate your professionalism and responsiveness.

Make it Personal

Personalisation needs to go beyond those super-handy, time-saving email templates and automations.

To create trust, you need empathy – the most underrated superpower for photographers.

Putting yourself in your clients’ shoes is essential to understand what matters most to them

Maybe they’re nervous about the shoot, camera-shy to the point of almost cancelling. It’s your job to reassure them both before and during the session that you’ll make them feel comfortable.

You can focus on the sense of fun you create, on not forcing them into poses they’re uneasy about and on letting them quickly delete any images that make them cringe.

Empathy helps create the connection needed to explain why they’re stressing over a specific detail or reacting in a certain way. And when they feel heard and understood, that’s when trust grows.

Clients then relax in front of your lens, allowing you to capture more genuine, powerful moments.

Your CRM can help here when you add specific notes to each client’s profile. Those little details that can reassure and ramp up relationships.

It can remind you that Anna M. doesn’t like being photographed outside when it’s raining. It jogs your memory about Paul W.’s preference to be shot from his left-hand side. And all without random notes in random places – or an over-worked memory.

Go To Infinity and Beyond

Every portrait photographer will strive to offer the basics: images that suit the brief, clear communication, staying within budget etc.

It’s how you go the extra mile that will set you apart and inspire the lucrative loyalty your business demands.

Anticipating needs, not just meeting them, is a wise call. Aim to think ahead and consider any potential challenges, offering solutions to circumstances they might not have thought of:

• Suggest a great Plan B undercover location if an outdoor shoot looks to be a weather wash-out.
• Share a helpful list of tips with nervous clients about how to be comfortable in front of the lens.
• Check for any last-minute additions to a team’s professional headshots session in case someone’s been missed off the list.
• Offer an indecisive client an ‘extra’ half-hour in their shoot – before quoting, if you like – to soothe any anxiety about getting every shot right.

Each extra little detail will give clients more reason to be happy with your service and increase the chances of them booking again.

Share Friendly Follow-Ups

When you want clients to be with you for the long-term, the work doesn’t stop when you’ve delivered their prints and products.

Get that personalised questionnaire sent out and address any tricky feedback with professionalism, openness and patience. Your relationship – and reputation – are on the line here.

Shoot over, you can keep engaging with them via a newsletter, special offers and anniversary check-ins. Encourage them to follow your social accounts where they will, of course, find inspiring examples of your latest work, handy advice and further proof that you’ll be the best photographer (again) for their next project.

Want to build long-term relationships with your portrait clients? Go forth and start your trust-building mission. And watch as your CRM calendar gets filled up.

We recently had a great question land in our support inbox from David, a portrait photographer who works in a variety of locations:

“I’m trying to run a query to see which location has generated the most income in 2024.”

It’s exactly the kind of smart, business-focused question we love to help with – because it shows how useful Light Blue’s reporting tools can be for making strategic decisions.

Here’s what we suggested:

1. Open the Query tool and set up a search for all the shoots you want to include – for example, shoots with a status of Confirmed or Completed, with a start date in the last calendar year. You can narrow it down further by shoot type if you’d like.
2. View the results in the List View.
3. Go to Window > Customise List View to tailor the view to your needs.
4. Add Location to the Group by section.
5. Make sure the Sales column is included, so you can see totals and averages.
6. That’s it! You’ll now see all your shoots grouped by location, with revenue data for each one.

This kind of insight is incredibly useful for portrait photographers working across multiple locations, as well as wedding and event photographers. It can help you spot which places are generating the most bookings – and, more importantly, the most income.

You might decide to prioritise your most profitable locations, or concentrate your marketing efforts on venues and areas that deliver the best results.

Got a question about how to get more from Light Blue’s reporting tools? Drop us a message – we love helping you uncover valuable insights like these!

Bruno, one of our lovely Light Blue customers, got in touch with a really good question:

“How can I compare my sales so far this year to the same point last year?”

It’s a great one and it’s exactly the kind of insight that helps you understand how your business is really doing.

Why it matters

At first glance, comparing this year’s sales to last year’s total might seem like a simple benchmark, but it can be misleading. After all, if it’s April and you’re looking at all of last year’s sales, that’s not a fair comparison. What you really want is a like-for-like view: this year so far vs the same period last year. That gives you a much clearer picture of how things are tracking.

Visual insights at a glance

Light Blue’s charting tools are a great way to get a clear, visual overview of how your business is performing. Whether you want to track sales, bookings, or enquiries, you can use charts to spot trends, compare year-on-year performance, and keep an eye on your totals.

Charts can be displayed as line or bar graphs, and you can easily switch between viewing data for the current year and comparing it to previous years. They’re a brilliant way to see the bigger picture, and you can even display them on your home screen to keep key metrics front and centre.

But while charts are great for spotting patterns, Bruno also wanted something even simpler: a quick comparison of this year’s sales versus the same point last year, displayed as a single figure right on his home screen. That’s where Light Blue’s powerful query features come in.

The simple solution with Light Blue

We showed Bruno how to create two simple queries in Light Blue to get the insight he needed, fast.

1. One query shows sales for the current calendar year.
2. The second shows sales from last year, up to today’s date (by filtering for records dated in last year and also before today by at least 365 days).

Queries in Light Blue

Light Blue’s powerful querying tools let you create completely custom reports and comparisons, based on any combination of filters like dates, record types, and financial totals. You get exactly the data you need, when you need it, to make better business decisions.

You can even take it further by adding those queries to your Home screen using a Query Totals widget. This gives you instant visibility of:

1. 📈 Sales this year vs sales last year (to this date)
2. 📊 Average sale value comparisons
3. 📥 Enquiries and confirmed bookings
4. Or any other record type—like shoot dates, invoice dates, or enquiry dates

Each total can be colour-coded to help key stats stand out at a glance, and you can choose between a bold view with colours or a compact view to show more totals on screen.

This was such a smart use of Light Blue’s reporting tools that we wanted to share it with you. Thanks to Bruno for the question! 🙌

Did you know that you can print a detailed summary of your shoot record straight from Light Blue? This simple but powerful feature gives you all the key details you need at a glance, making it a great tool for staying organised on the day of a shoot.

By clicking the Print/Send button on a shoot record, you’ll generate a summary that includes:

• The shoot’s date and time
• Location details
• Information on all contacts linked to the shoot
• Notes you’ve made for the shoot
• Details from the Schedule and Requests tabs, such as timelines and client requests

Gathering Key Details using a Pre-Session Questionnaire

Keeping all the important details for a shoot in one place makes your life so much easier. In Light Blue, you can manually add key information – like contact details, locations, special requests, and notes – directly to the shoot record. But an even easier way to gather this information is by sending your client a pre-session questionnaire.

You have full control over which fields are included in the form, and to save time, any details you already have can be pre-filled – making it quick for your client to review and confirm. Once they submit the form, their responses automatically update the relevant record(s) in Light Blue. That means when it’s time to print a handy summary of your shoot record, all the key details are right there, ready to go!

“We send a form to gather some key details before the shoot, then we plan effectively the whole photography element around what they send back to us.

We don’t have to worry about speaking to anybody on the day. Everybody is so aware of what we’re doing because we send the schedule for final sign off to our client before the date of the shoot.” – Steph, Summers Photography

Perfect for Photographers on the Go

Having a printed summary can be a lifesaver when you’re out in the field. Take it from Ian:

“I like to print out three copies when heading off to photograph a wedding: one in my jacket pocket, one in my trouser pocket, and one in the camera bag.” – Ian Martindale, Light Blue customer success manager & wedding photographer

This simple habit helps him stay on top of things during a busy shoot, allowing him to:

• Share a copy of the group photo list with assistants or helpers
• Double-check details with the couple or venue coordinator
• Quickly reference shoot details without needing to pull out his phone

Why Paper Still Wins Sometimes

“I use it for wedding clients, brands and commercial clients. We just find it so powerful that everything is there at a glance. And it’s just so helpful that we can print it off as well.” – Steph, Summers Photography

Even in today’s digital world, a printed copy has some key advantages:

1. Paper doesn’t run out of battery. It’s always available when you need it.
2. You can make notes on it. Scribbling quick reminders, updates, or changes is easy.
3. It’s easy to hand over to someone else. No more figuring out how to share your phone screen. Plus, you look more professional checking a piece of paper instead of staring at your phone!

If you’re using our Calendar Publishing feature, you’ll also see the same details within your calendar event. But for many photographers, the reliability and ease of a paper copy can’t be beaten!

Streamline your contract signing process by presenting contracts to your clients in person using the Light Blue mobile app. This approach is ideal for client meetings, giving you a more personal touch when finalising bookings. Instead of sending contracts via email, you can walk clients through the details, answer any questions on the spot, and have them sign directly on your tablet. Read on to learn how to make it happen.

Why Present Contracts In-Person?

Presenting a contract in person can feel more professional and personal. It shows your clients that you’re dedicated to their experience and allows you to immediately address any questions they have about the terms, packages, or payment details. It’s especially great if you use an iPad with an Apple Pencil, as clients can write their signature just as they would on paper, adding that extra touch of authenticity.

How to Use the Light Blue Mobile App for In-Person Signing

Here’s a quick step-by-step guide to publishing a contract and using your tablet for in-person signing:

1. Access the Shoot Record – Open the Light Blue mobile app and navigate to the shoot record for the booking.
2. Publish the Contract – Tap on the Activity tab, select Add Item, and choose your preferred contract template.
3. Choose to Publish – When you publish the contract, you’ll be given the option to either email the contract or open it in a browser. Select Open in Browser.
4. Hand Over Your Tablet – With the contract open, hand your tablet to your client. They can fill out the booking form, choose their package, sign the contract, and pay the booking fee – all from your device.

This feature is perfect for client meetings or events like wedding fairs, where you want to give clients the option to sign up right away. Plus, it’s a great way to make a professional impression.

Elevate the Client Experience

By using this feature, you’re not just offering a contract; you’re creating an experience. Clients appreciate the hands-on approach, and the ease of signing directly on a tablet makes the process feel smooth and modern.

Ready to give it a try? Open the Light Blue mobile app and start offering in-person contract signing today!

Emma, a portrait photographer in our community, recently asked about how she could forecast what her clients might spend from their sessions. While it’s often possible to make an educated guess based on past experience, Light Blue has a powerful way to help streamline this process using custom fields.

Custom fields allow you to tailor Light Blue to suit the unique needs of your business. Emma now uses a custom field within her shoot records to record a forecasted spend for each client session. This feature isn’t just about storing additional information—it helps Emma with forward planning and financial forecasting for her portrait studio.

By creating a query for all confirmed shoots scheduled over the next three months, Emma can customise the list view to show her forecasted amounts and group them by month. This gives her an instant overview of the expected sales totals and averages for each month ahead.

With these forecasts at her fingertips, Emma can plan her marketing, manage her resources, and make better business decisions with confidence. She even saved the query and list view as a custom report, meaning she can run the same forecast whenever she likes with just a couple of clicks.

If you’re curious about how to customise your list views and generate useful reports, check out our help article for more information!

How to get your own portrait session sales forecasts

1. Set up a Custom Field for Forecast Sales:

• Open Light Blue and go to Preferences.
• Navigate to the Custom Fields section.
• Click on the Shoot Amount & Date Fields tab.
• Enter a name or label into one of the Custom Currency Amount fields for your sales forecast.
• Now, when you open a Shoot Record, you’ll see a new field where you can enter your forecasted sales for each session.

2. Create a Query for Upcoming Shoots:

• In the main window of Light Blue, click on the Query button in the toolbar.
• Create a query that looks for Confirmed Shoots with a start date that is today or after by up to 3 months from now (or adjust the time frame to suit your needs).
• You can refine this query further by filtering for specific Shoot Types if that’s helpful.
• Save the query if you want to easily access it again in the future.

3. View the Query Results in a List with Sales Forecasts:

• Once you have your list of upcoming shoots, switch to the List View by clicking the List View button at the top of the screen.
• Click on the Window menu at the top of the screen and choose Customise List View.
• In the Customise List View window, move Month into the Group By section.
• Move your Sales Forecast Custom Field into the Columns section.
• Remove any other fields you aren’t interested in for this purpose, then click Done.
• Now, you’ll see all your upcoming shoots for the next 3 months grouped by month, with forecasted sales, monthly totals, and averages.

4. Save the Custom Report:

• Click on the Reports menu at the top of the screen and choose Custom Reports.
• Select Save List as Custom Report.
• Give your custom report a name for easy identification.

5. Run the Custom Report Anytime:

This will automatically generate the same query (Confirmed Shoots in the next 3 months) with the same custom list view, showing your sales forecasts grouped by month.

To run the report again in the future, go to the Reports menu, choose Custom Reports, and select the saved report.

Managing conversations with clients across multiple channels—whether it’s email, text, WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger, or Instagram DM—can be a challenge for busy photographers. With messages spread across so many platforms, it’s easy to lose track. That’s where Light Blue’s customisable home screen can make a real difference, keeping everything together in your CRM for photographers.

“I used to get overwhelmed with all the different messages, so I have to be very wary of all the messaging going on. I do miss some of the Facebook messages if I’m just relying on messenger on my phone.

We do different ad campaigns for competitions on Facebook. Sometimes we get people that make comments and I need to be able to see that straight away so that I can respond to it.

With Light Blue’s messenger Home Screen, I can see straight away when someone messages and straight away I can respond to them. I like to be quick on these messaging services to try and get a positive response, so this is amazing.” – Andy Whale, Seven Springs Studios

By using the Web View widgets in your custom home screen, you can now monitor all your messaging channels from a single, organised dashboard in Light Blue. This means you can keep an eye on emails, texts, and social media messages all in one place.

Instead of switching between different apps and platforms, you can handle all your client communications right from Light Blue, helping you stay on top of conversations and respond quickly. If you’re using our 2-way SMS messaging service, your clients’ text replies will also flow directly back into Light Blue, streamlining communication even further.

With everything centralised in one easy-to-use dashboard, you’ll be able to save time, reduce admin stress, and ensure no messages fall through the cracks. Plus, we’re offering a free downloadable template to get you started. This custom home screen will allow you to focus more on what you love—taking stunning photos—and less on managing scattered conversations.

Ready to get organised? Download your free home screen template here and start customising your Light Blue dashboard today!

Lots of photographers all around the world are using Light Blue’s text messaging features to cut down on no-shows and keep in touch with clients, but did you know that you can have two-way conversations with them too?

With Light Blue’s two-way SMS number option, you can rent a phone number to both send and receive text messages directly within Light Blue.

Replies from your clients will appear in the Inbox in Light Blue and automatically get linked to the right client and shoot. You and your team can send replies from there too, allowing you to keep track of the whole conversation in one place and make use of our powerful template and mail-merge features. Plus, if you want to be notified immediately, we can forward clients’ replies straight to your personal phone number.

This makes managing client interactions faster and easier, helping you stay responsive and organised. Interested in setting up a dedicated number? Contact us to learn more about pricing and availability in your country.

Looking for inspiration, here’s seven ways to use SMS messages within your photography business.

Keeping track of unsigned contracts can be a challenge, especially when you’re juggling multiple clients. That’s where Light Blue’s automatic contract reminder emails come in.

This feature ensures that contracts don’t slip through the cracks by sending reminders to clients who haven’t signed, helping you close more bookings.

You can set the reminders to go out a couple of days after the contract is published or a few days before it expires—giving you full control over the urgency.

Not only does this feature help you avoid accidental double-bookings, but it also improves your client’s experience by gently nudging them to finalise their bookings. With their busy schedules, an automatic reminder could be just what they need to complete the process.

Want to streamline your contract management? Automate your contract reminders in your CRM for photographers and watch your bookings roll in.

Take a look at setting up contract templates, here. And take an in-depth look at Light Blue’s online contract signing feature, here.

When business is quiet, it’s easy to panic. How long will this last? What am I doing wrong? Should I just give up?

And with panic comes the temptation to take drastic action. Maybe I should slash my prices? Or perhaps I could take on that job that’s not really my thing but would bring in some much-needed cash?

While there are times when this kind of action can help in the short-term, it also runs the risk of hurting your photography business. Both financially and reputationally.

Yes, gut feeling is helpful but using it alongside solid information will help you make better choices. Choices based on considered decision-making to get those client enquiries and bookings back up to speed.

Assess how your business is performing

Step one is to get a clear idea of how your photography business is really doing. Do the figures back up your feelings?

Light Blue can help here thanks to reporting tools which give you a clear overview of year-on-year and month-on-month performance. Keep reading to discover how you can add the “Business performance & opportunities” home screen to your own Light Blue account.

From this info, you can ask:

• How are your bookings looking this year compared to this time last year?
• How well is next month booked up? And how did the same month look in previous years?
• How were your sales this month and how do they compare to last month, plus this time last year?

With the numbers in front of you, guesswork will be gone and replaced with meaningful measurements.

How to get bookings in the diary

So you’ve proved that the stats back up your suspicions and are left wondering why bookings are down. Perhaps your marketing plan has unintentionally taken a backseat or you’ve missed a few important trade shows.

Or maybe it’s something more out of your control, like pressures on people’s pockets during times of economic uncertainty.

Whatever the reason, here are five fundamental tactics to use consistently within your photography business to keep your diary looking healthy.

1. Focus on converting enquiries

Getting a new enquiry is always genuinely exciting. So pulling out all the stops to gently convert them into a fee-paying client is crucial:

• Keep track of all your enquiries and the stage each one is at. You don’t want these precious leads slipping through the cracks and being forgotten about.

• Make sure your email replies to your leads and prospects look amazing. They should include all the essential information your potential client will need and welcome and be delivered with warmth and professionalism.

• Follow up important emails with a text message, just in case you’ve got the wrong email address or there’s something wrong with the client’s inbox. It’s always wise to cover your back.

• If they’re not ready to book just yet, have a plan to nurture each lead so they keep you forefront of mind for when the time is right.

2. Work with loyal and ideal clients again

Repeat business is a rich source of work to tap into. Whether you’ve only done one job with them or dozens, get creative about how you can get them in front of your camera again.

Clients who’ve already booked a newborn shoot present you with a natural timeline to follow as their baby reaches different milestones. Six months on, you can offer to take photos of them sitting up. Twelve months on, it’s the perfect first birthday cake smash opportunity.

High-spending clients could well be happy to spend with you again. Using dedicated software like Light Blue allows you to create a ‘VIP list’ based on clients with a lifetime spend over a certain value. You can also follow up with portrait clients linked to more than a certain number of confirmed shoots, again using tags to create a dedicated list.

Take a look back at events you shot last year. The charity balls, the conferences, the corporate away days. Are they happening again? Get in touch with the client and offer your services. You did a great job last time and can do that again.

And recent wedding clients might now be ready to buy wall art or an album. A few months after the big day and their stretched post-wedding budget could easily be more flexible.

3. Nurture and build trust with clients

Your loyal clients work with you not just because they love the end result. They also appreciate your work ethos and value your relationship. So do all you can to nurture this.

Newborn photographer Mhari-Clare Green’s uses a nurture workflow on Light Blue to help her clients feel confident and comfortable working with her.

At key points, she’ll send emails covering areas such as FAQs about the nuances of newborn photography, client testimonials and even a hospital bag checklist. Helpful, personal touches that keep building trust and have proved to increase sales averages.

The same principle can be applied to other types of photography. For portrait sessions, share tips about ideal clothes to wear. For wedding shoots, give advice about planning group shots.

4. Offer payment plans to spread out the cost of a sale

If you suspect cashflow is an issue for your clients, there are ways to make your services more affordable. Being flexible here could convert them from a definite no to a possible yes.

Offering a payment plan, which breaks an invoice down into several smaller payments, makes it easier for clients to pay in more manageable instalments. And because projects therefore become more affordable, you may even make larger sales or get bookings more easily too.

Learn more about Light Blue’s payment schedules feature.

“The payment plan option is such a hit for my clients and so easy to set up!” – Lucie Pouilly, Lucie AI Portraits

5. Keep marketing

Consistent marketing is crucial, whether you’re rushed off your feet or staring at a blank diary.

When work is quieter, it can be tempting to scale back on your marketing efforts. Perhaps because you don’t feel like you’ve got anything new to show or share. But this is when it’s more important than ever, so make sure you keep showing up.

You can repurpose existing content in new ways, or simply post something again. It’ll reach a different set of eyes the second time around, keeping you visible to both clients and prospects. And when they need a photographer, they’ll think of you.

Adding the “Business performance & opportunities” home screen to your own Light Blue account

To add the home screen layout that we’ve demonstrated in this article to your own Light Blue account, you can follow these steps:

1. Download the home screen layout template from here.
2. Open Light Blue’s home screen.
3. Click in the options cog in the very top right hand corner of your home screen.
4. Mouse over “Home Screen Layout Editing”.
5. Choose “Import Home Screen Layout”.
6. Select the file that you downloaded in step 1.

You can more about Light Blue’s customisable home screen layouts here.

Short but mighty, an SMS message wields the power to nurture relationships, boost your reputation and showcase your professionalism. Not bad for a bit of tech first used 30 years ago by a software programmer to wish his colleague Happy Christmas.

Here we explore how embracing the text functionality within your photography business CRM can create tailored, high-touch communication between you and your clients. Building rapport and trust to keep your diary nicely busy.

Why use text messages?

Text messages go direct to your client: to the device in their hand, on their desk or next to them on the sofa. Deliverability success rates are good and, when well-written, they can feel more personal than an email.

Choose the topic and timing of your text well, and they provide an immediacy that’s more difficult to ignore than an unopened email languishing low down in an inbox. An approach that can genuinely help to strengthen relationships.

But do remember to handle your text strategy with care. It can’t be abused or mistreated, engendering simple annoyance or, more seriously, broken trust.

Keep in mind that clients will also get texts about their child taking ill at school, a cancelled medical appointment or imminent overdraft issue. So treat their phone number with the respect it, and they, deserve.

Ensure any text message delivers value by creating excitement, offering peace of mind or reassuring them of detail.

What can you send by SMS?

1. Appointment or session reminders

A quick message a day or two before a meeting or shoot will act as a handy reminder for the client about the planned date and time. These are especially useful for cutting down on no-shows and instances of clients turning up late or unprepared. And they’ll be welcomed by clients as a polite example of your professionalism.

2. Booking confirmations

These can be sent shortly after a session or meeting has been booked into the diary, confirming the date, time and location. Although this sort of message is typically a little less personal and a bit more transactional, it’s still a good opportunity to inject some personality into your communication. And again it will easily showcase your organisational creds.

3. Follow-ups from enquiries

When you’ve received an initial enquiry but not had confirmation yet, a carefully worded text can act as a gentle reminder or encouragement to move to the next stage. Your message acts as a simple way to check in with the prospect to see if they’ve got any questions and move them one step closer to booking.

4. Belt and braces after sending an important email

We do everything we can to ensure good deliverability of email sent from Light Blue. Despite this, issues can arise. Maybe a client has really aggressive spam filters. Perhaps they’ve accidentally given you the wrong email address. Or they could have some other email problem like an overly full mailbox or issues with logging in.

Sending a quick text to let clients know you’ve sent them something important covers these possible pitfalls. They’ll then easily be able to let you know if it hasn’t arrived, whatever the reason.

5. Excitement messages after a session

Session complete, you’ll want to keep the momentum going. A follow-up message will help to build excitement about the images that will soon be on their way.

Sent either later in the day, or perhaps a day or two after the session, you can share how much you enjoyed working with them. And you can hint that the images are looking great. A super easy way to build anticipation and trust.

6. Invitations to book another session

SMS messages offer a simple way to nurture clients and encourage repeat business. For newborn photographers, you could suggest a cake-smash shoot. Family portrait photographers can offer updated shots to clients, working with them year by year. Wedding photographers might encourage the happy couple to book an engagement or anniversary session.

A quick text can act as a subtle prompt to add ‘book photography session’ to their to-do list. You could even include a link to your online scheduling calendar so they can book a slot from their smartphone there and then.

7. Order updates

One final idea for using text messages is to keep clients in the loop about the progress of an order. For example, when their album is in the post or their wall art is ready for collection. Everyone loves a countdown to an exciting moment.

How to send text messages within Light Blue

Manually

Much as you would on your phone, you can type each message out manually within your photography CRM software to be sent from there. While this won’t be any quicker than inputting messages into your phone and sending them the traditional way, there’s the upside of having a copy of the message in your client database.

Using templates

Like email templates, you can use text message templates to compose messages with just a couple of clicks. Light Blue’s mail-merge tags make it easy to personalise the message and include relevant information about your clients and their shoots.

Using a workflow

Text message templates can also be sent automatically as part of a workflow, for example when a client books a session via online scheduling.

Using Light Blue’s powerful workflows allows you to add a list of tasks and automated messages based around the date of the shoot or any other important day. This integrated process gives great peace of mind: you’re reminded about doing a certain task and reassured that the connected emails and text messages will be sent automatically.

Using query and add to found set

One of the great strengths of using a CRM for photographers like Light Blue is that you can search for contacts that meet specific criteria, and then work with that streamlined information.

Armed with that list, you can use the ‘add to found set’ command to send a text only to those contacts you’ve found in your search.

For example, if you’re a wedding photographer, you can easily curate a list of clients approaching their first anniversary and text them an invite to book a celebratory session.

Text messages are a super flexible method of staying connected with your clients.

Used carefully and subtly – and at the most relevant times – they’re an effective way to add a personal, professional touch to your communication strategy. And all made easier by a dedicated photography business CRM like Light Blue.

Find out how Light Blue can supercharge your photography business

We spoke to newborn and family portrait photographer, Amy Knowles to find out:

“You need to sell an experience to people.”

“Photographers tend to obsess about the promotional image, the set that they’re using, the props they’re using. For your clients, I don’t think the actual image matters all that much.” – Amy Knowles, Slinky Photography

Amy’s been running her photography studio for thirteen years, specialising in newborns, babies, and families. 

Christmas mini-sessions have always been part of her business, which now make up about a third of her annual turnover. 

Amy runs her mini-sessions in a very particular way, which has provided her with consistent and reliable results. She now shares her approach with other photographers within her very popular mentoring group.

Read on to discover Amy’s tips for making your mini-sessions a success.

Giving your clients a great experience

“You need to surprise and delight your clients at every turn. And that goes from the very start of the process, through every communication you have with them, and the day itself.” 

Amy uses Light Blue’s automated emails and texts to deliver important messages at the right time.

“If I’m seeing 120 or 150 clients with these sessions, there’s no way I could manually send out all the information they need.”

“Everything looks slick and professional to the client”

She keeps important details about each client in their record so she can give a personal service to each one.

“They are delighted when I greet their children by name, or ask how big the new puppy, Fred, has got since last year. None of this would be possible when seeing 30 families per day without a quick glance at Light Blue before I welcome each family in.”

For Amy, the experience for everyone at the session is critical.

“When your clients arrive, obviously their children are going to be wowed, but it’s about the parents and their experience as well. If they remember standing there and having a lovely time, then they’re going to tell all of their friends about it.”

Little touches with big impact

The smallest and simplest things can massively improve your clients experience.

“One of the things I did one year was have a hot chocolate bar set up on the side. Everybody was coming out of the studio with takeaway cups, with gorgeous looking hot chocolates. They were taking selfies outside my studio and uploading them to their socials, and tagging me in them. “

Delight builds hype

“I see 30 families a day on these sessions, if that happens 20 or 25 times from somebody in your local area, you can bet that everybody’s gonna see it. And everybody’s gonna want in on that.”

That generates demand and interest for the next year.

“By the time that happens, I’m long since sold out. So by the time the socials are full of people in the local area saying what a great time they’re having, there’s absolutely no chance anybody else can come that year. That only makes them more determined to want to book the following year.”

How important are scheduling calendars to the success of a mini session campaign?

“It would be absolutely impossible to do it any other way.”

Amy builds excitement for the sessions and announces when they’ll be going on sale.

“I tell my clients that the sessions are going to launch on a specific date and time, and that they’re going to sell out super fast.”

“Using a scheduling calendar means that my clients are able to click through and book in the moment, there and then.”

It’s not just about income

Mini sessions don’t just generate revenue, they also generate leads for other shoots later.

“Not only does it do really well for me at Christmas, but it then fills my diary for the rest of the year with really great clients who’ve come and experienced studio for the first time during those Christmas minis.”

Top tips:

• Start your marketing campaign early so you can start building hype.
• Announce a launch date.
• Use a scheduling calendar for clients to book the sessions.
• Keep in touch with your clients with a series of delightful messages before their session. Keep them informed and excited. Use your CRM for photographers to automate that process.
• Add little touches to your session that give everyone a great experience .
• Remember that the experience itself is the most important thing for your clients.
• Create moments that are shareable on social media to build hype for next year.

Increasing your average sale for every session that you shoot means reaching your business goals more quickly or by relying on a smaller number of clients. Newborn photographer Mhari-Clare of Flutterby Photography shared how she’s seen a 2.4x increase in average sales from her sessions with a few simple steps.

“Once they’ve booked, say six months before their due date, we still keep in touch with them, and that really does help.”

Mhari-Clare uses a sequence of nurturing messages in the run up to the due date with different tips and information.

The success comes from building trust with clients, managing their expectations and reminding them why they’ve booked a session in the first place. The trick is to be selling gently and subtly.

Pre-shoot nurture message ideas for newborn photographers

• Frequently asked questions
• Hospital bag checklist for the mum and partner
• Reviews from past clients
• Check-in message near due date

FAQ email

An email covering frequently asked questions helps to allay some concerns that your client may have about their session. It also helps to build trust with your client, assuring them that you’re knowledgeable about the finer details of newborn photography.

“We get a lot of replies to these emails with people asking questions and seeking advice.”

If you’re stuck for ideas for what to include in your FAQ, spend some time talking to your current and past clients. Ask them if there was anything they were particularly nervous about before their session?

Hospital bag checklist

An email that includes a checklist of what to pack in a hospital bag for the expectant mum and their partner is a really valuable & thoughtful resource. It meets a need for your client and shows that you’re a reassuring expert. It shows that you’re thinking of your client beyond their portrait session and it’s something that they’ll be grateful for.

Social proof

An email that includes some real life reviews & case studies helps to build further trust with your client and assures them that they’ve made a good decision in booking you. Don’t forget to include some reviews and case studies that mention the products that your clients are buying.

“In the nurturing sequence you’re reminding them gently that they’ll want to do something with the pictures once they’ve got them.” – Mhari-Clare, Flutterby Photography

Arrival check-in

As a newborn photographer you’ve got a finite window of time after baby’s been born to undertake the portrait session, so having a check-in message going out near the expected due date is helpful to keep you in mind with the client.

Automating your nurture sequence

If you’re using a CRM for photographers like Light Blue, then you can record your client’s expected due date and then apply an automated workflow around that date. Workflows can include emails, text messages and tasks, so you can include timely reminders to yourself as well as having important messages sent automatically at the right time.

Thinking beyond email

Every point of contact is important for setting expectations with your client. Your email nurture sequence is great for ensuring that some key messages are included, but it’s also important to consider your choice of language in face to face and phone conversations, too.

“When we’re talking to them, we’re talking about the colours in their house and which walls they might put something on. So we’re always telling them that they’re going to buy wall art from the very beginning. So everyone that comes buys something for their wall.” – Mhari-Clare, Flutterby Photography

There are also subtle, non-verbal cues that can help drive a sale, too. My favourite tip from Mhari-Clare was to leave packaged wall art orders that are awaiting collection visible in the entrance – it proves to the client walking in for their session that other people who’ve already had their session are placing orders for wall art and that you’re producing something that’s worth ordering.

If you want to learn more about Mhari-Clare’s approach to running a newborn photography business, check out her training and mentoring for newborn photographers.

Applying the same principal to other types of photography

The key elements to Mhari-Clare’s success came from regular and relevant contact with her clients in the run up to their session.

The lead times for a newborn session are typically a lot longer than those of other types of portrait photography, so there’s more room for a nurture campaign, however that isn’t to say that it’s not possible to have a similar approach.

Pre-shoot nurture message ideas for portrait photographers

• Clothing or style guide – tips for preparing for your session
• Tips for where to think about hanging wall art in your home
• Case studies, testimonials & social proof

Nurturing your wedding clients

Another genre of photography that often has a long lead time and the opportunity to build trust with your clients is wedding photography. A nurture sequence of a few simple emails in the run up to the wedding can keep your client thinking about what they intend to do with their wedding images and also help to remind them of the style of photography that you deliver.

Nurture message ideas for wedding photographers

• Inspiration on what to do with your wedding images: think about wall art, wall displays of multiple prints, albums and more
• Tips for making the group photo session run as smoothly as possible: if you’re primarily a documentary/candid style wedding photographer, you can guide your clients on how to manage the numbers and get the groups completed quickly so you can go back to your signature approach. Similarly, if your style is all about meticulously and beautifully arranged group portraits, then your guide can help to make sure you have the time and resources that you need to make those images a success.

No matter the genre of photography you are working in, there will be ways that you can inspire trust and confidence in your clients by ensuring that your communication is relevant and timely. What messages would you add to your pre-session nurture sequence?

We all work hard to find different ways of attracting new clients and bringing in new business, but how much untapped potential is there in the list of clients you’ve worked with before?

We spoke to Brentwood newborn photographer, Kristina Mack about how she was able to use her existing customer list to fill the diary.

“I found that a lot of people are thinking about booking another session, but they never get around to doing anything: like anything in life, it’s easy to put off. So when they get my email, they’re really pleased to hear from me and want to book in a session” – Kristina Mack, Tiny Posers

How to book repeat clients for your photography business?

By making a habit of reaching out to past clients! Kristina predominantly focuses on photographing newborns. Because of natural fluctuations in demand for those services, there are peaks and troughs in the number of newborn shoots she’ll book each month.

Kristina used Light Blue to help her to look ahead at quieter months to identify when she had more capacity or space in the diary to fill. She’d then find clients that she had worked with in the past so that she could approach them to book another session.

Keeping track of your past clients

“Before I was using Light Blue I used to keep my client files in folders by month. I’d have the babies date of birth and the clients email noted down then I’ll have to go through those folders manually to find those clients had worked with before.”

Keeping a record of your clients important details in any form is a good practice, but having to manually search through records to find the information that you need certainly would be time consuming and prone to errors or things slipping through the cracks.

“There were so many times where I complete a shoot and then forget to update that information so the opportunity to do a 6 month or 12 month follow up was lost.”

Easily finding clients to work with again

Kristina set up a couple of saved queries in Light Blue that showed all of her newborn clients who she worked with about 6 months ago, and about 12 months ago. The clients in those queries would automatically update, so they always showed the right details.

She was then able to view those lists whenever she wanted and contact those past clients to arrange sitter or first birthday sessions.

“Once I set that up, it worked really well and was really helpful.”

Prioritising your outreach 

Because all the information is linked together in one place in Light Blue, she was able to see from those lists what each customer had spent in their previous session. 

That helped her to identify which clients to prioritise when reaching out again.

Booking repeat clients as a newborn photographer – how effective is this strategy? WHY does it work?

We asked Kristina how successful this approach was for her:

“Just emailing a few clients who had their baby is six months ago, or 12 months ago and saying ‘hi how are you, why don’t we get some updated pictures, it’s an ideal time’ is really effective”

Kristina found that the timing of the outreach was ideal, and that booking another session had been on her client’s minds, but they needed the prompt to take action.

“I also found that a lot of people are thinking about booking another session, but they never get around to doing anything: like anything in life, it’s easy to put off. So when they get my email, they’re really pleased to hear from me and want to book in a session”

Making booking repeat clients easy

Finding and prioritising the clients to contact didn’t take much time at all, and Kristina saved even more time when contacting her clients by using clever email templates that automatically personalised themselves with relevant details. She could make each message feel even more personal before sending it, if she wanted to.

 “Almost all the clients that I emailed came for a session, it was about 8 out of 10 clients that I contacted.”

Incentivising the booking

We were curious as to whether the superb conversion rate was incentivised in anyway:

“Initially I thought about offering them a discount just to get them back, or a free session or something like that, but I ended up booking full price sessions.”

Every business is different, so your own experience may vary, but it’s reassuring to know that the relationship that Kristina had built with her clients means that they were more than happy to work with her again.

Completely automating the process of booking repeat clients

You can use the CRM for your photography business to completely automate that process so that your client automatically receives a check-in about email 6 months or 12 months after the newborn session.

The advantage is that new work will basically take care of itself. But if you don’t have capacity to accommodate in a busy month then you’ll be turning those clients away.

In Kristina’s case, she wanted to be very selective about the clients she contacted, so a full automation of the process wouldn’t have suited her needs.

You can have the best of both worlds by applying an automation, then using some queries to see the clients who’ll be contacted soon and then disabling the scheduled email(s) and/or text messages before they go out.

Working with your portrait photography clients again and again

So what are the other benefits to working with past clients? Kristina shared more:

“It’s really good to see the information about my clients’ past spending and other notes that I may have made so easily. It helps me to make decisions quickly.”

The insights you get about a client’s previous orders can be especially helpful:

“You kind of know what they like and what they expect. I know what shooting style they like, for example some people like more close-ups, so I know their preferences and their style. It’s always easier to work with a client that you know.”

Light Blue made it easy for Kristina 

“To have those records so easily available in Light Blue, is just amazing…
I’d highly recommend it to any newborn photographer because it’s just brilliant.”
– Kristina Mack, Tiny Posers

Adding your own query to Light Blue

If you want to set up your own query to find clients that you worked with between 5 & 6 months ago, it could look a little bit like this:

To create that query:

• Click on the Query tool at the top of Light Blue’s main window
• Set up the parameters of the query like the screenshot above (or modify them to suit your needs, e.g. changing the date range or shoot type)
• Run the query and check the results make sense
• Click on the Query tool again
• Click on “Load Last Query” to reload the query you made
• Tweak the settings if you didn’t find what you needed and run it again to check
• Once you’re happy, click on the Save Query button to save the query
• See the saved query on the left hand side of the Shoots section
• Add the saved query to your Home Screen

When it comes to building your photography business’ brand, it needs to consistent across every touch point with clients and prospects.

From a slick website to a memorable logo and across every possible form of communication, cohesively conveying what your brand stands for is crucial.

But have you given much thought to your photography business’ email signature?

If not, read on for our top tips on how to get it right and why using a professional photography email signature can play its part in both attracting and retaining clients.

#1 Don’t overdo it!

While your name and number are the bare minimum you should add to your photographer’s email signature, you also want to avoid the opposite extreme.

It’s tempting to cram a million different things into your signature. But if it’s longer than the actual email you’re sending, then something has to give.

Keep in mind the purpose of your photography signature: to concisely tell the recipient who the email is from, how they can contact you and how they can learn more about your work.

So resist the urge to list every award you’ve ever been shortlisted for. Keep it short and sweet yet hard-working and informative.

#2 Include a headshot or logo in your email signature

A headshot adds an unbeatable personal touch. A friendly smile at the end of a message can’t do anything but build a sense of rapport and warmth. Keep it small and use it to show how the way you present yourself reflects your approachable brand.

Adding your logo is also a simple, effective way to build brand awareness and add polish to your picture of professionalism.

#3 Choose a font and colours that are true to your brand

Using the same font and colours as your website, logo and any printed materials will all help to keep your brand looking and feeling consistent.

Just make sure it’s still easy to read within your professional photography email signature. A quick tip: avoid any font or colours which could become invisible to those viewing the email in dark mode on their phone.

#4 Add contact information

Yes, this is the obvious one but believe it or not, some people do forget to include this. Recipients can easily check your email address so you can leave this out if you prefer but add at least one phone number. This is also where you can place a link to your website address.

If you have regular times when you’re not available, such as a day off in the week as you work at weddings every Saturday, adding this shows transparency and consideration for customers’ time.

The contact info found on an email signature for photographers also overlaps with the ways clients can learn more about your work, such as via social media.

#5 Include links to your social profiles

Going hand-in-hand with your traditional contact info are links to your social channels. Adding these will give prospective clients a quick and easy route to check out the quality and style of your work.

Only include those which showcase you at your best. If you’ve been focusing on producing a dazzling Instagram account and abandoned Facebook a little recently, simply add a link to the former.

#6 Keep your email signature text-based

Your professional photography email signature needs to be all about the text. If you create it in a program like Photoshop, the whole signature is within one image. The problem here is that none of the content, including your contact details, can be selected, copied or clicked on.

And all this achieves is an unwelcoming barrier between the recipient and the action you want them to take.

#7 Consider a call to action in your professional photography email signature

You can pack a lot of punch into just a few words. Step forward the photography signature call to action. The simplest way to nudge a prospect closer to making a booking.

You can take your pick here from whatever you think will resonate best: ‘Book a session’, ‘Follow me on Instagram’, ‘Sign up to my mailing list’, ‘Read my reviews’ etc.

Any one of them could easily prompt the recipient to spend more time exploring what your business has to offer.

#8 Set up photography business email signature templates

Can’t decide which call to action to use? Alternating these to best suit the recipient is one of the benefits of using email signature templates.

If you send emails via a CRM for photographers, like Light Blue, you can set up an unlimited number of photography signature templates. This allows you to easily tailor messaging to the appropriate stage of the customer journey.

So if you want to showcase your professionalism and maximise the chances of a fruitful email interaction, simply take the time to perfect your photography business email signature.

Let’s help you to get on top of the workload.

We’ll look at how you can buy yourself some breathing space by automatically managing your client’s expectations, and also get a clearer view of the work in the pipeline so you can prioritise your energy and spot the bottlenecks before they’re a problem.

Quick win: automatic messaging to keep your clients updated.

Your clients will super excited to see their images. They probably haven’t considered the amount of other work you have to get through before delivering their photographs, and have almost certainly forgotten what the turn around time was that you gave them.

Inevitably they’ll get in touch to ask for an update or to prematurely see their images. Every time you get one of those messages, there’s a rush to respond so your client doesn’t feel neglected, that takes energy away from actually getting work done.

So how do you keep your clients informed and happy without taking your time and energy away from getting through the workload?

Step forward Light Blue’s workflow messaging & email template snippets.

Give your clients a great experience by proactively managing their expectations. Set up periodic status updates as automated workflow messages that you don’t need to think about sending them.

For example, have a short message scheduled to go the day after the wedding with a reminder of delivery times…

From: My Photography Business
Subject: Great working with you yesterday!

Hi Sam & Ali, it was lovely working with you yesterday!

I’ve got your photos all backed up and everything’s looking good. I’ll be getting on with making the selection of images and then editing and retouching them to get them looking their best. As you can understand, it’s a really busy time of year right now, so it’ll realistically be around 5-6 weeks before their ready. I’ll keep you updated as we go.

… then another 10 days later (i.e. just before they’d probably reach out if they hadn’t heard from you) with a basic update:

From: My Photography Business
Subject: An update on your images.

Hi Sam & Ali, I hope you’re keeping well and enjoying life after your wedding.

I wanted to check in and give you a quick update about your images. I’ve culled the selection down now so they’re ready to start colour correction and retouching – everything’s looking lovely so far. This part takes a little time as it’s important to get everything just right. I’m sure you can appreciate it’s a busy time of year for weddings, but rest assured that we’re still on track for delivering 5-6 weeks after your wedding. I’m really looking forward to sharing these with you. Speak soon.

If they get a message from you before they feel compelled to ask questions then you don’t need to drop what you’re doing to react and manage/reset expectations.

The nice thing about both of those messages is that they remind the client that there’s still work to be done and the images won’t appear overnight, and also gets them to consider the fact that there’s a queue of other clients that you also need to serve.

You can also add reminders about your current turn around times to one-off emails by using template snippets.

To make this easier for you, we’ve prepared an example set of templates, snippets and an automated workflow that you can quickly tailor and apply to your existing shoots. Click through to download the workflow bundle, add it to your Light Blue account and start benefiting right away.

Get the bigger picture with a special Home Screen layout

Your shoot workflow will show you all the tasks that you need to complete for each individual job, and the task manager will list all your tasks that are due every day. Those two things help you to manage the day to day and the specifics of each shoot.

But how to do you get an overview of the whole job pipeline?

Light Blue’s Home Screen is based on a flexible layout of widgets that show the information that’s most important to you. Different layouts can be used for different purposes, for example a financial overview or focusing on enquiry management, so why not build a layout to show you the status of your ongoing workload?

Using saved queries to categorise your shoots you can group shoots that are at different stages of completion together and view them all at once. Queries could be based on workflow steps, whether or not a shoot’s been tagged or if a custom field has a specific setting.

Using a custom field like a secondary status that can show whatever you like is the easiest way to get going with this concept. You can update that field with whichever stage the job is up to and see all the records in that stage within the right section of your Home Screen layout.

Follow the step by step guide to setting up and using a Home Screen layout to track your shoot pipeline.

You know the kind: ‘Thanks for getting in touch. I’d be delighted to arrange a chat at a mutually convenient time.’ Or how about: ‘The big day is getting closer! So I thought it would be helpful to confirm a few details.’

But you could feel limited by your current system. Perhaps your set-up is sounding a little too much like a robot stuck in a Groundhog Day of stilted, formulaic replies?

Or maybe you don’t use any templates and spend increasing amounts of time churning out individual emails to clients, saying more or less the same thing?

Here we’re going to explore some of the email template tools available to photographers. And how the very best can deliver a highly personalised, automated and slick experience for both you and your clients.

How Does an Email Template Tool Help?

For photographers who spend a lot of time emailing clients and saying the same thing, email templates add a useful layer of automation.

While they should never fully replace the human element of a conversation, the time-saving power of email template tools is indisputable. And they also deliver some supercharged extras.

They’re particularly beneficial for wedding, portrait and newborn photographers whose service follows the same path for each shoot. From your initial response to a post-project thank you, using templates can ensure no stage is missed, maximising efficiency and professionalism.

You can see our suggested set of email templates to use throughout the lifetime of a shoot here.

When you have a set of carefully considered templates in place, you’ll have the peace of mind that you’ve covered off all the essentials. No more hastily replying to a client query and forgetting to mention that one crucial piece of information. No more ambiguity from a confusingly phrased piece of advice. And of course, no more accidental typos.

A good way to look at email template tools is as the foundation of your client communication strategy, not the finished product. The trick is to use automation without it looking like automation: a message that comes across as insincere, irrelevant or overly scripted will stand out like a sore thumb.

Automatically tailoring these templates to the client’s unique circumstances is the key to avoiding the dreaded robotic response. If a client inadvertently receives one of these, it won’t do your relationship any favours.

Email template tools simplify, streamline, set up expectations and cement that all-important rapport.

But which one should your photography business use?

Using templates in Gmail

If you use Gmail as your email platform, then the Gmail templates feature allows you to set up a bank of different templates.

For example, you could set up templates to respond to an initial website enquiry about the booking process, another one to send a gentle reminder to sign the contract etc.

While this saves times, the personalisation options are limited. For example, if you want to alter the template to include the client’s name and reflect the details of their session, this needs to be done manually. Which, of course, adds time back on and leaves you open to mistakes.

Using Your Email Signature

Another option is to use different email signatures to share different messages with clients. You can pre-write template signatures to share commonly requested information and then select which one to use when replying to an email.

This approach is free but clearly limited. It doesn’t allow any sort of automatic personalisation or for multiple templates to be used at once. Plus it’s potentially a messy strategy, prone to errors and subsequently client frustration.

Using the TextExpander App

Another email template option is an app called TextExpander which takes short snippets and expands them into full paragraphs.

For example, instead of typing out ‘I look forward to hearing from you’, you set up a snippet code such as ‘lkfwd’ and type those letters in instead.

A handy tool for writing out quick responses to simple questions, it can also include some more personalised variables that you’re prompted to fill out manually.

Keep in mind that you’ll need to remember the exact snippet codes you’ve saved.

Using Business Management Software for Photographers

When it comes to deciding which email template tool to choose, the best of all worlds is to use software specifically designed for professional photographers.

Light Blue, for example, includes email template functionality tailored to how you arrange a shoot and liaise with clients.

Because everything about individual shoots, including emails, is kept in one place, you can easily access templates from exactly where you’re managing the client relationship. These templates can be sent from your own email account and will automatically include precise information about the client and the session.

Powerful and versatile, they deliver just the kind of personalised attention to detail that bypasses the robotic and makes a template look less like a template.

You can also schedule them to be sent automatically at the right time, boosting efficiency and reducing admin time while keeping clients fully informed. And you can use snippets to add more detail or answer specific questions.

So if you’re drowning in a sea of repetitive replies, a specialist email template tool could be just the life raft your photography business needs.

Discover more about how Light Blue can help your business

Visit some of your fellow photographers’ websites and you’ll see some take the transparent route: they dedicate a page to detailing precise prices for specific services.

Others keep their charging cards closer to their chest: they simply share a ‘starting from’ price and invite prospects to get in touch for a bespoke quote.

But which approach, if either, is right? And which one will best suit your photography business? In this article, we explore the pros and cons which fuel this controversial decision, and share some ideas about how you can experiment to find the perfect solution for your business.

Remember: there’s no one-size fits all approach

First off, it’s important to appreciate why opinions differ so wildly on the issue. And a major factor is the type of service you offer.

Commercial photographers will generally be dealing with educated buyers who aren’t necessarily shopping based on price. They’ll tend to quote on a project basis, depending on specific client needs.

Consumer photographers meanwhile are liaising with customers who aren’t familiar with purchasing creative services like yours. Those searching for a wedding, event or portrait photographer are more likely to expect a set price, or at least an easy-to-assess guide.

But even among these two broad groups, strategies will vary. Including “starting from” prices or a guide on typical spending gives you some room to manoeuvre in offering deals and getting more out of a sales session. Whereas a full price list cuts down on the amount of communication needed and allows you to focus your energies elsewhere. There’s a few factors at play, including how you like to work, the clients that you’re ideally working with, and the type of service that you’re offering. How do you know which approach is right for you?

What you can do is remove the guesswork by using the right tools.

Using software to guide your pricing strategy

Step forward the power of A/B testing. This simple experiment will allow you to assess which approach leads to the most conversions.

Google Optimize is ideal here as you can present website visitors with two different pricing pages, e.g. a full price list and a ‘starting from’ list.

For example, you have a problem: I’m not getting as many bookings as I’d like. And you have a hypothesis: will adding a complete price list to my site improve those numbers?

Using Optimise, you can test both options by linking each page to a different contact form. This will identify which branch of the experiment the client was shown. You can then link to the same thank you page .

There’s a handy video here to guide you through the steps of setting up Google Optimise.

Quick tip: For full control over the look of the pages that you’re testing, opt for a “Redirect” test instead of and “A/B test”, publish a second version of your pricing page with a different URL and use that address as the test candidate.

From there, you can also tailor your email template response depending on which page the web visitor saw. Learn more about how Light Blue can help manage those enquiry workflows.

Measuring the pricing experiment

Data gathered, you can then assess the results using three main performance indicators:

• Which page got the most enquiries? Although important, this figure on its own needs further analysis. Which option delivers best value to your business? Keep in mind that numerous low-value or low-quality enquiries will never be as good as fewer high value, well converting ones.

• Which page got more conversions? From enquiry to confirmed booking, is there an obvious winner?

• Which page led to higher financial value? Is there a clear leader here for your bottom line?

How Light Blue can help you pick that all-important winner

To see the bigger picture, tapping into the power of specialist photography software can really help.

When a new enquiry comes in from one of your forms, you’ll be able to identify whether they saw your full or part pricing by the name of the form.

Add a tag to the enquiry to label the new shoot record, this gives you a quick visual reference and allows you to track it in more detail later.

When it’s time to reflect on the results, you can use Light Blue’s powerful querying tools to search for all the enquiries that came in, and then break them down by whether they saw your full or partial pricing, whether they booked and what their total spend was.

Discover how Light Blue’s time-saving CRM for photographers can transform your business

Being able to measure the impact that the pandemic has had on your business certainly isn’t something that you will want to do, however it is helpful if you are applying for some sort of financial assistance for your business.

This guide walks through how to get the details that could help you.

Using charts to get an overview

The benefit of managing your business with Light Blue is that your data’s all in one place, so the information that you need is already here. So you won’t need to spend ages analysing complicated spreadsheets to get an idea of where you stand.

The charts view is your friend, and here are a few different charts that you could load with a couple of clicks and then present as necessary evidence if required.

Note that I’ve got “cumulative totals” turned on and I’m comparing this year to previous years (feel free to go as far back as you feel is appropriate).

To change the data that your chart is displaying, just tweak the options at the top of the screen.

Income,

Enquiries by enquiry date,

Bookings

Planning ahead

As well as taking a look at how things have changed for your business this year, it could be useful for you to take a look at the road ahead so you can take appropriate action.

Identifying bookings at risk of postponement due to the latest restrictions

The lockdown restrictions and rules keep on changing, and in the UK we’ve recently been told that the current restrictions are likely to be in place for six months.

If you’re taking payments for sessions that haven’t happened yet but are at risk of cancelling, there’s a possibility that you may find ourself in a position whereby you need to return some of what’s been paid. We’re not in a position to offer legal advice so if you’re ever in doubt about what you should be doing with regards to cancellations, we recommend consulting an independent legal professional.

Creating custom reports in Light Blue can help to provide the necessary figures in order to manage the potential financial exposure to cancelations of future bookings. That’s a three step process:

1) Find the right records

Use the query tool to search for all of your shoots that are booked over the next 6 months (for example, you can choose another period if you wish).

2) View the list

Then view the results in the List View and customise that view (Window > Customise List View) to show the information that you’re most interested in.

3) Save a custom report

Finally, save the query and list view settings as a custom report so you can view the most up to date information again in the future with a few clicks.

Forecasting your potential income

Getting a clear picture of when you’re going to receive income is very important and helpful at the best of times, but during this unprecedented period of uncertainty your businesses ability to forecast its income is essential.

No forecasting model is going to be iron clad, but the ability for you to look ahead will allow you to remove some of the guesswork from this situation and help you to make some informed decisions.

We’ve got an in-depth guide on how to use Light Blue’s quoting tools to forecast your income, which you can read here.

Keeping an eye on your fixed outgoings

The money coming in to your business is just one part of the equation and even with a reduction in work you will still encounter a certain amount of fixed costs necessary for keeping the business going.

We’re doing what we can to help reduce those costs for our customers and we know that many other suppliers to the trade are as well.

If you’ve been recording your businesses expenditure within Light Blue then it’s fairly quick to get a picture of the fixed costs that you’ve incurred this year. It may also be helpful to look at the figures for last year in order to establish a trend.

Using the query tool, search for purchases that haven’t been linked to shoots and also haven’t been categorised in a way that indicates that they’re a cost of sales. The advanced options allow you to be more precise in your search.

Then you can customise the list view to show the columns that are most relevant to you, and group the purchases by year so that you can compare this years fixed costs to those of previous years.

Need more help?

We’re always ready and willing to support our customers if they need help with things like this. Send an email to support@lightbluesoftware.com or schedule a free 1:1 call via the help page.

In the first of a series of chats with accomplished photographers, we speak to Scottish Wedding & Portrait Photographer, Suzanne Black about how to successfully but subtly persuade clients to buy an album of images celebrating their big day.

What do professional photographers and the world’s biggest music stars have in common?

They all like selling albums.

Terrible jokes aside, a steady income stream from a beautifully curated and printed album will be welcomed by all wedding photographers.

The images will tell the story of an incredible wedding day, a memento for clients to treasure for generations to come. From the nerve-jangling bridal preparations to the joy of the first dance, wedding albums are a truly unique collection of special images.

Some clients will definitely want to order one or a couple. Some may say no thanks and stick to their decision. Others will be unsure and may need to be convinced of their value and charm.

Here we outline Suzanne’s approach to subtly upselling wedding albums to happy couples.

Mastering the Soft Sell

Taking the subtle approach to selling is advisable for all photographers. But for newly-weds it’s especially important. Nobody wants to feel like their special day is a money-making opportunity.

Suzanne, who has been photographing happy couples in Scotland for 15 years, says: “I’m always selling to my customers but they never feel sold to. Whether or not they buy is always their decision, one that comes naturally to them, so it has to be a very, very soft sell.”

Suzanne uses specialist software to manage the process and complement her personal approach to making every customer feel valued.

“I keep a detailed record of all customer preferences,” she explains. “I can do a quick search to see if they’re receptive to an album sale and plan my upselling strategy from there.

“This is always based around all the little details I know about them and adds up to a positive customer experience. They’ll be thinking: ‘Oh Suzanne is really interested in our wedding. She knows exactly what we want and never makes us feel like we’re just another customer.’”

Mastering the Upsell Strategy

Based on the information she has stored about individual clients, Suzanne can then plan a custom workflow for each. 

Her strategy is all about taking the temperature at the right time. Knowing what their preferences are early on, finding the right way to approach the sell and then timing her messages accurately.

When albums aren’t sold as part of a pre-wedding package, gauging attitudes to investing in one is essential. And one way to do this is to simply ask at the booking stage.

Suzanne says: “When I send out a contract, there’s always a detailed booking form attached. And one of the things I ask at this stage is whether they’re interested in an album, with a tick box for yes, no or maybe.

“I can note this preference within the software and base the subsequent workflow on this.”

For example, a couple may have ticked the maybe box but then immediately after the wedding tell Suzanne they don’t currently have the budget available to buy an album.

So she’ll set up a workflow leading up to the date of their anniversary when circumstances may have changed.

“Two months before the anniversary, I get in touch,” explains Suzanne. “The message will say something like ‘I can’t believe it’s nearly a year since you guys got married. As an anniversary gift, I’d love to offer you a special discount code from me towards an album of images from the day.’ I vary the offer year to year. It may be £50 off an album for example and is always time limited. 

“When you send this a few months before their anniversary, it’s likely they haven’t started thinking about presents yet, so it sparks that idea. They’ll then have time to consider it, as well as giving me enough lead-in time to get it designed and printed.”

Timing-wise, Suzanne believes this gap between the big day and ordering an album is ideal: “When you consider the timeline after the wedding, it’s maybe 4-5 weeks before you first see the full set of photos and sit down for a viewing. It then takes time to choose which images you’d like to share with friends and family, and which ones you’d like to frame.

“In the months leading up to the anniversary, couples are familiar and comfortable with the images. They’ve lived with them for a while and have their favourites which makes the design process so much easier for all of us.”

Handling the Yes, No and Maybes

Within Suzanne’s records, she’ll have a note of clients’ responses to the album question.

For the definite yeses, Suzanne will offer a discount to those who pre-book an album before the wedding. A 20% off offer gives them the incentive to commit, with her prices already taking that discount into account to protect profits.

While some are initially adamant they only want files, they may change their no to a maybe when they realise that producing their own album is rather a time-consuming task. 

Suzanne said: “It’s great to have that knowledge of their ‘no’ in advance so I can make the soft sell even softer. Some of those that say no start to realise that making their own album isn’t as quick and easy as they thought. So I send them the anniversary offer anyway in case they’re coming around to the idea.”

Most people tick the maybe box. Suzanne adds these to her soft sell group in the run-up to the wedding. If they don’t bite then, when they receive the USB of images, Suzanne adds a card saying how she’d love to help them put together their wedding album. And she includes a voucher to use within the following two months.

She also has another trick up her sleeve. She said: “Depending on how positively they’ve talked about it in the run-up, I may pre-emptively design an album using Fundy.

“I’ll share it with them, saying how I needed some new sample albums and used some of your photos as I loved your wedding so much.” 

“It’s easy to put one together on Fundy quite quickly and gives them a glimpse into what their album could look like. I’ll ask them for feedback and take it from there.”

If they still don’t place an order, they join the anniversary group to be approached in the near future.

Part of an album sell is explaining how the image selection process can work.

“I’ll ask clients how they’d prefer to approach the task of choosing from many hundreds of photos,” says Suzanne. “I don’t ask them to pick every single image. Instead, I go through and get rid of any definite nos. This can cull a couple of hundred straightaway.

“Then at an in-person or virtual viewing we can pick out their absolute favourites. This stage might produce 50-60 must-have images and then there’s a pool of 200-300 to choose from for filler shots and linking images.

“I then ask if they’d prefer a set number of pages or would like me to just design and see how they flow together. Most people will say ‘Let’s see how the story goes’, then we can add or take away pages as we go.”

For Suzanne, using intuitive specialist software to manage the album upselling process helps to deliver precisely targeted customer service.

Service that her clients welcome as personal and non-pushy, and that leads to increased profits for Suzanne.

Discover how Light Blue can transform how you manage the upselling process.

Do you find that you’re ending up with more than one enquiry for the same date, and that you aren’t able to fulfil both of those enquiries? As shoots are being rescheduled and postponed as a result of the ongoing pandemic, it’s very likely that you’ll have more than one client interested in booking you for the same date.

Where possible, it’s likely that you’ll be working with your clients to arrange a date where you’re available, however that isn’t always going to happen.

Is there an alternative to losing the booking entirely?

You might consider engaging an associate photographer on a freelance/contract basis to help you to cover the overflow. Alternatively, if you work as part of a lead & second shooter team, you could assign your usual second shooter as the lead photographer on the additional shoot and then contract a replacement second shooter for your original shoot.

For either situation, the approach is similar so we’ll cover both of those below.

Allocating resources to shoots

Light Blue has the concept of “Resources” (staff, equipment, and rooms) that can be allocated to shoots and appointments. Light Blue will warn you if you’ve got more than one shoot happening at the same time, unless you’ve got different staff assigned to each shoot – after all, you can’t be in two places at once!

By adding associate photographers as resources and then linking them to shoot records, you’re able to easily see which jobs have been allocated to which photographers. You can also assign roles within a shoot to each resource, so you know who’s doing what.

The powerful and flexible reporting tools in Light Blue also come in handy here. By setting up some saved queries to show all of your shoots which have been allocated to associates and those which are awaiting allocation, you’re able to easily get an overview without any hassle or guesswork.

Giving your team members the details that they need

Once you’ve got your associate lined up for the job, they’ll need to know the important details so that they can go to work.

It’s possible to give different staff members access to your Light Blue account with a variety of access restrictions, depending on their role. However, giving a freelancer access to your account wouldn’t be a sensible approach.

From the Shoot record it’s possible to produce a PDF summary of a shoot, which contains the important details like the schedule & location(s), requests, notes and contact information. Creating that summary is done by clicking the Print/Send button from the Shoot record. That’s a useful thing to print for your own shoots, too, so that you’ve always got the necessary details to hand.

You can also create some email templates which include the relevant shoot details, so that you can send that info to your associate in an email in a couple of clicks.

Mail-merge tags can be used within email templates to customise the message and make it relevant to the shoot it’s linked to. It’s important to note that where you’re using mail-merge tags in email templates that are added to a wedding, Light Blue will merge the contact information of the linked contacts with roles of Bride, Groom or Partner. That means that if your email starts “Hi %contactfirstname%”, it’ll merge “Hi Sam & Jo” (the wedding couple) not “Hi Tony” (the associate photographer that you’re sending the email to). It’s best to keep that part of your associate emails generic; you have the opportunity to manually personalise further if required.

Handling the important financial and contractual details with your associates

As well as handling your staffing by allocating resources to shoots, you’ll also want to manage your finances. By adding the associate as a contact record – as well as a resource, they’re two different things – you’re able to add the associate as the supplier in a purchase record to note the fee that they’re charging to you. Don’t forget to mark that purchase as paid once you’ve settled up with them.

Light Blue’s online contract signing system can help you to send an associate/second shooter contract so that you are all clear on the terms of your engagement. To do that:

• start by creating an Associate/Second Shooter contract template,
• then link the associate photographer’s contact record to the shoot record in question (remember that contacts and resources are different things).
• Now go to the Activity tab of the shoot and add the contract.
• Make sure that your clients (who’ll already be linked contacts) are not checked as signatories to this particular contract. You only want your associate to be the signatory.
• You won’t need to include a form or any quote or booking fee information.

Working as a second/associate photographer for someone else

You may also find yourself with available dates which you’re keen to fill, and are able to help a fellow photographer out by working as their associate or second photographer.

Here’s some quick tips on how to manage that in your own copy of Light Blue:

• Consider adding a separate shoot type for associate photographer work. This allows you to easily see how much of this sort of work you’re doing.
• Create a separate price list for associate photographer work. You’ll be charging different rates as an associate/second photographer, compared to the rates that you’re charging to your own clients. A separate price list means that you can assemble your invoices quickly and easily.
• Set up an “Associate/Second Shooter” workflow. You won’t be going through all of the same steps as an associate photographer compared to when you’re managing the whole project yourself (for example you may only perform an initial cull of images and won’t handle any other post production). By adding this workflow to the shoot date, you’ll be able to deliver to the lead photographer in a timely fashion.

While shoots and projects are being postponed, rescheduled or cancelled, you will find that there’s a need to alter existing financial arrangements with some of your clients.

This article covers some of the more common situations you may face for refunding money, cancelling invoices or deferring the date when you’ll be asking for payment. There’s lots of variables here, so if you’re in any doubt, please reach out to us for help.

Returning money to clients

In situations where your client has given you money that you are returning to them, you are undergoing the process of issuing a refund. The following video walks through the steps to take in that case:

Cancelling an unpaid invoice

There will be situations where you’d raised an invoice which is yet to be paid, but will no longer be perusing the amount at all. To cancel that invoice to show that you’re not collecting that money, you’ll need to issue a credit note. The following video covers the relevant steps:

Asking for an unpaid invoice to be paid later

You may encounter situations where you’d raised an invoice and you’ve agreed with your client that it’ll be due some time later, instead of being due to be paid in the near future.

You can visit the sale record in question and adjust the payment due date so that the sale won’t appear as being overdue until after the new due date.

You might find it easier to issue a credit note for the original invoice and then set a reminder to raise a new one later, however there’s some value in seeing invoices that are outstanding but due in the future so that you can (as much as possible) forecast your expected income. We’ve got another post on forecasting your income, which you can read here.

Schedule an invoice to be sent automatically at a later date

If you’ve prepared an invoice for your client and agreed to send it at a particular time in the future, then Light Blue’s email scheduling feature can help you here.

First of all, prepare the invoice with an appropriate payment due date. Choose to email the invoice as a PDF and write the body of the email but don’t hit send!

Instead, use the schedule button to choose when the email will get sent. Light Blue will send that email automatically on the date and time of your choosing, so you can forget about it and carry on with other things.

Alternatively add a task to the activity tab of the sale to remind you to send the invoice later.

If you’re publishing the invoice for online payment, then you could publish the invoice without sending the publication email (by unchecking the “Send the following email when the invoice is published” checkbox), then copy the invoice URL and paste into an email that you’ll schedule later.