If you are new or old to owning your photography business, but you aren’t tracking your photography inquiries you are truly missing a crucial step within your business process. But, don’t worry! Tracking your potential client inquiries is simple to add to your everyday business routine. Plus, it has significant benefits to your business.
Six Important Reasons for Tracking Your Photography Inquiries
All of your inquiries are in one location.
There is nothing worse than receiving an online inquiry with a date that sounds familiar, yet you can pinpoint why. Is it because you have it blocked off for another client? What if it is and you accidentally double book it?
Here’s the thing… If you keep track of your inquiries in one location such as an online spreadsheet or CRM, you can easily reference if a date is booked or pending. It takes away the stress and panic that can come from fear of double booking your client roster.
You’ll be able to track how potential clients are finding you.
If you aren’t asking this question on your contact form, you need to go update that ASAP! This is such a golden piece of information that you’ll want to have when it comes to deciding where to spend your marketing dollars.
Now, with that being said, on your spreadsheet or within your CRM, simply add in this piece of information. Where are the majority of your leads coming from? Instagram? Word-of-Mouth? Facebook neighborhood pages? Google search? Absorb this information like a sponge because it’ll help you tremendously when planning out your marketing efforts.
For example, if word-of-mouth is your number one way potential clients are finding you, you could start offering a referral program. Personally, I love to send a Greetabl gift box to previous clients who send me new clients! Or, if Instagram is proving to be your top way of being discovered, you can look at running a paid ad.
You’ll be able to track qualified leads and preferred clients.
Along with knowing where your clients are coming from, you’ll be able to start to notice a pattern. Where are your most-qualified booking clients from? Where are your preferred clients coming from?
If you are receiving a plethora of inquiries from Facebook, yet those inquiries usually don’t turn into bookings, then that’s not where your ideal clients are hanging out. Keep a tally of where your leads are finding you. But also keep a tally of which streams are actually converting leads to bookings.
You’ll be able to track your booking percentage.
You could be receiving all the inquiries, but if you aren’t converting a certain percentage you’re doing something wrong. But, again, no worries! This is a great reason to be tracking your inquiries. It’s important to catch flaws that may be in your communication or sales pitch early on, rather than later.
And, there is also the fact that you could be booking too many clients. There is such a thing! If you cringe every time you get an inquiry notification because you want to serve all, but are feeling limited on time and dates then guess what? It’s time to raise your prices and hone in on your ideal client.
Note: In my Membership for Motherhood Photographers I’m actually covering this particular topic in much more detail. If you want to check it out, you can join now for just $1. Simply use the code HOLIDAY1 by January 2, 2022. Click here to learn more.
You’ll be able to see what sessions your clients book most.
If you haven’t niched down and offer an array of sessions (i.e. family, maternity, engagements, etc.) you’ll be able to see what clientele you attract (and book!) most.
Personally, I find this crucial for photographers who have been in business for less than two years and are still trying to maybe find their groove in the photography industry. If you can physically see what type of sessions are bringing your business revenue, you’ll be able to hone in on that particular session offering.
It’s a win-win for you and your clients. As a photographer, you’ll start crafting your skill in that particular niche and become known for your photography offerings. For your clients, this allows them to know when they invest in you, they are investing in the best.
You’ll be able to evaluate your marketing.
I know I’ve mentioned marketing quite a bit in this blog, but it really does place a huge part in your inquiries. If you are already investing money into particular marketing outlets, tracking your inquiries will allow you to see if certain outlets are beneficial.
For example, email marketing, for me, is a personal marketing tool that works great for my business. The monthly investment I make for my email marketing platform is well worth me keeping because of this.
However, I can see that a particular online ad that I’ve been running on Facebook is completely missing the mark. I can stop it so I’m not wasting additional funds or review it to see why it may not be performing as well as I thought it would.
Basically, tracking your photography inquiries is going to help you save money!
So, how do I keep track of my personal photography inquiries?
While I do have a CRM (17 Hats), I’ve found a good ol’ Google Spreadsheet works best for me when it comes to keeping track of inquiries. Why? Because not all of my inquiries go to 17hats. As mentioned above, depending on where you show up online, you may get inquiries in your Instagram DMs, Facebook DMs, or you could even be getting inquiries on TikTok!
Because of this reason, this is why I love my Google Spreadsheet Inquiry Tracker. Now, before I EVER even respond to a potential client, I first go to my Inquiry Tracker and put their info on the spreadsheet. This is a habit you must create for yourself. If not, you’ll start responding to inquiries, get distracted, and never get those leads on your spreadsheet.
Note: In my Membership for Motherhood Photographers, I’m giving members a behind-the-scenes look at my very own Inquiry Tracker Sreadsheet, the info I include on it, how I color-code it (YES!), and how I use it everyday in my business. You can click here to learn more about the membership.
The Inquiry Tracker spreadsheet template is also available inside the Photographer Prep Guide. If you’d like access to the guide and spreadsheet template you can use the code HOLIDAY to save 20% through January 2, 2022.
Enjoyed this blog? You may also like:
Why You Need a CRM for Your Business
Why I Use Flodesk for Email Marketing
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