Maybe you googled ‘photo studio management software’ to get here, maybe you didn’t even realize such a term existed. In any case, you have come to the right place if you are feeling chaos in your photography business.
- Chaos from having information spread over multiple sources like paper files, email inbox, to do lists and maybe a spreadsheet somewhere.
- Chaos from never seeing the complete picture of the things you want to do and the things you need to do.
- The overwhelmed feeling of guilt and stress because there are always clients waiting for their images and so you feel like you need to work all the time.
If that is you, you have come to the right place. There is a solution for that and it’s called ShootZilla.
ShootZilla is an intuitive photography studio management system that will help you create peace of mind and a healthy work/life balance. But just as important, it will help you actually grow your business since you get more overview and you can do more in less time. Let’s dive in a few of the reasons why you would need a photo studio management system.
10 Reasons for photo studio management software
1. Work with ‘done for you’ Workflows
What is a workflow? A workflow is a series of tasks that you perform for every client that books you. For example, a client inquires for a photo shoot with you. You answer the email or call them and you send a contract, after that you maybe send another email to remind them of the shoot, or you send them some information to prepare them for the shoot. After the photo shoot, you maybe share a preview on Facebook or you send them the images in a gallery or you invite them for a sales session to order wall-art and/ or albums.
All these tasks can be documented (and perfected in terms of great emails and timing for your client) in a workflow that you can use over and over again.
Having a workflow with clear deadlines will save you so much time and will make it super easy to communicate expectations clearly to your clients.
Related: 4 reasons why you want to have deadlines in your photography business
Having an automated and ‘done for you’ workflow saves you a lot of time with setting up your photo studio management software. ShootZilla has a wedding, portrait, newborn and many other workflows with emails ready for you. The entire process from meeting the clients for the first time, booking them, and delivering the images is all laid out. You only need to fill in the client’s details.
If you don’t have a workflow yet, start by implementing a workflow chart on paper. This free ebook with template workflow chart in PSD and PDF format will get you started quickly:
2. Automated Emails to Clients
Like I said before, as soon as you have your workflow documented you can start perfecting your client experience. Maybe you are getting a lot of questions on what to wear on your photo shoot from your clients? Then you can draft a perfect helpful email with images and you start sending that to your clients prior to the shoot.
This way, to your clients, it will be as if you are inside their heads. Proactively fulfilling their needs and answering their questions. Guess what that will do for their appreciation and valuation of you as a professional photographer and expert.
ShootZilla comes with lots of email templates and of course, you can and should customize them so they reflect your personal tone of voice. The emails are linked to the workflow so once you have configured to send your ‘what to wear’ email with a deadline, the system will remind you when to send each clients email. All you have to do is press send. You can always add an optional personal message to the email if you wish.
3. Tracking of Your Photography Clients
Having a photo studio management software helps you keep track of a project or even multiple projects at once. You can clearly see in your dashboard the active jobs you have and the progress of all these clients at one glance. When you know that all your clients are well-taken care of by seeing clear green (not due in a while) or blue (due in one week) traffic lights will make you close your computer with a stress-free body every day!
4. Manage Your Photography Calendar
You can sync your photography studio management system calendar with your photography bookings with the calendar you use for your day to day anniversaries, personal hairdresser appointments and the shared calendar of your family. Now you will no longer have double-bookings or forget an appointment!
The calendar in ShootZilla even prevents you from overbooking yourself. You can set warning levels so you see a visual indicator when you have more than 2 weddings a week or more than 6 weddings a month. You can set those threshold levels yourself and of course, when you really want to book a client, you always can. The calendar settings are there to help you see in a very visual way how busy your month and year is going to be so you can aim your marketing activities for the right period.
Related: The definitive guide to starting your photography business
5. Be able to focus solely on your creative art
With everything you have to do and remember for your clients in a photo studio management software, you will soon discover that you have gained something else with that. You will have a lot more headspace and energy which is evermore useful when working as a creative entrepreneur. Since you know you are not forgetting anything, you can be totally present with your clients. You can focus on being a photographer and forget about managing the business because the software will do that for you!
[pullquote align=”normal” cite=”Mariska de Groot”]I am so much more professional towards my clients now. In the past, it happened that I send out my wedding survey a couple of days before the wedding! That causes stress for the couple as well! Now ShootZilla reminds me to send it in time… and the fun part is, I only have to press send![/pullquote]
6. Overdelivering to your clients is built-in
When you have your workflow documented and working for you in a system with clear deadlines you will be able to overdeliver on those deadlines consistently. And if you know that sending a cute thank you message on Facebook or email will delight your clients, you can add it to your workflow to consistently improve on your client experience. Soon, getting happy customers is as easy as following the workflow to a T. All that without having to remember any of it in your head.
Obviously, I don’t have to tell you: happy customers mean more referrals. When you implement the perfect workflow and execute it consistently, soon there will be no more need for paid ads to reach your ideal client. Your clients will refer a steady stream of new photography clients to you.
Related: The ultimate guide to growing your photography business
7. Save time
What I heard from so many of ShootZilla clients is that they wasted a lot of time thinking. Thinking where they left off when a client suddenly called during backup of images or during culling or during administrative tasks. As soon as they had to resume work, they had to think where to start. The thinking drained their energy and sometimes they grew so tired of it that some extra wasted time on Facebook or Instagram slipped in. Which made everything take even longer.
With ShootZilla, you will always know exactly where you left off. So you don’t have to waste one second wondering what to do. You only have to look at the overview and start cracking! How wonderful to feel super productive.
[pullquote align=”normal” cite=”Hermine – Mon & Mine”]I used to work from a spreadsheet, my own created system. But it always took me a while to figure out where I was in the progress of my clients. We just returned from a 4 weeks trip, I open ShootZilla and it tells me exactly what’s next to be done. [/pullquote]
8. One place for all your information
What about looking up details. Where was it, in the email or in the contract? Oh no, it was in a separate notebook that I took with me during the sales consultation…. Bummer, where did I leave that? No more of that. Everything is at your fingertips and backed up in the cloud too!
9. Peace of mind
Say whaaat? Yes, it’s a big thing. Do you think your boyfriend, kids, family or friends like you when you are preoccupied with your todo’s most of the time? Not to mention your tendency to work all night since clients are always waiting. A Studio management system like ShootZilla tells you when you can stop working and you never have to worry about forgetting anything!
10. Professionality
Did you ever go back to your clients saying, sorry about my late response? Sorry, I’m late with the images? You are giving them good reasons not to refer you to anyone EVER!
Don’t let that happen to you. Get organized today and always be proactive to your clients without effort. Yay!
I can give you a lot more reasons why having a professional studio management software is a must for your photography business. And maybe you are not yet fully convinced how photo studio management software can scale your business while giving you a great work/life balance, that’s totally okay, go ahead and convince yourself. I invite you to try the intuitive ShootZilla risk-free.