For Photographers

One of my goals this year was to implement teaching into my photography business. I talked about all of those goals in a post a few weeks ago and you can check that out here! When I first started I wished I would have had someone to help me figure all of this stuff out!! So I’m going to try to dedicate my time once a month to helping others find their way through this journey :).

Today I’m going to talk about client management software and yes you need it if you don’t have it! I’ve went through about 5 or so programs now trying to figure out what works for me and my business. At the end of the post I will have a link for you to try the one I’ve chose and a coupon code WHOO HOO! (Sorry this picture has nothing to do with this post. I just needed something pretty to catch your attention 🙂 ).

Why do you need client management software…

Ok I know it’s expensive… trust me your talking to a bargain bin shopper here, I totally get it! But I want you to put into perspective a few things here. Before I started photography I just thought that photographers have the easiest job, it’s so laid back, not a lot to keep up with etc. etc.. But what I didn’t realize was that a photography business is really only 20% of the fun creative stuff that we love so much and the other 80% is marketing, networking, and client management.

So what does all of this mean? It means that by having a client management software your taking some of that 80% and your lowering that percentage down tremendously! Your taking a HUGE burden of trying to remember everything and your putting it onto something else that will help you keep track of what is most important and that’s your client! Not to mention your customer service is going to be ON POINT! And what is one thing that can help your business stand out… awesome customer service!! I forgot to mention that all the software I’m going to be talking about today not only can keep up with clients they keep up with some of your tax burdens!!! HELLO GAME CHANGER!

Choosing your software…

There’s so many companies to choose from when it comes to client management software. They all offer similar things as far as features, choosing one depends on what priorities you want to cover within your business. For me I wanted to focus on my client experience because I really LOVE customer service! I want my clients to know how much I care about them and I want them to feel important because they are important! I also wanted to keep track of expenses because I currently have a hot mess over here and during tax time getting my stuff together is enough to break out in hives!

My software journey…

I’ve spent the last 4 months trying out different software’s for my business and I’m finally at the stage where I don’t want to pull my hair out! I’ve setup so many trial accounts I feel like I could teach a class at this point lol! Now let’s get into each one that I’ve tried and I will elaborate on the pros and cons of each software and why I decided it wasn’t for me…

Software…

Iris works : This software is really new like a lot of software I’m going to talk about today… I really did love the concept of this one! A photographer created it so it does have us in mind when it comes to the overall creation of it.

Likes: I really liked the user interface it was easy to navigate, this software already has workflows set in place and had email templates/ verbiage created. It gives you a list of to dos based off your workflow and the  next step in the client process. You can sync the software with your google calendar to help you keep track of booking dates etc. You can keep track of invoices, payments, and send questionnaires.

Dislikes: I felt like this software was really basic on it’s capabilities for what I was looking for in a software. I think it would work great for someone else and I feel like the company will improve the layout and the options available as it continues to grow. I definitely think it’s worth signing up for a trail run to see what you think about it. What I like is different from what you like to so it’s worth looking into!

Tave : There’s a lot that this software can do! I think this one could not only be used for a photographer but I defiantly think you could incorporate other businesses other than photography into this program for your business.

Likes: This company offers an app for your phone! Most of us do ALOT of our business related things on our phone so this is a HUGE win for this company! This software keeps track of your expenses per client, it categorizes your sales into what type of sales you have services and taxable services. It’s a pretty powerful program! This ones for sure one you need to test out!

Dislikes: I really HATED the user interface. Every time I logged in all the stuff made me want to take a valium! There’s no email templates or workflows set up initially (which most of those you’ll want to change anyway, but they do give you a good starting point to go by). I just felt really overwhelmed by all of it and I wanted to talk to a real person when I set up my account and that’s not an option 🙁 .

Shootflow: I signed up with this for their pre launch this past December. Zach and Jody Gray of Zach & Jody Photography located in Nashville, TN created the company. It was a pretty awesome program but it’s got ALOT of kinks to work out!

Likes: I really LOVE the pre designed workflows and email templates this one had to offer! The design and thought process that went into it was really clever on plugging things into contact lists and such was an amazing game changer for time savings!

Dislikes: Their customer service was ok. Keep in mind they did pre launch so I was technically in with the beta testing. There were ALOT of problems specific with my account that just couldn’t get worked out and with starting a new year with the hopes of getting organized, that being a big GOAL I didn’t feel comfortable with putting clients in it and trying to do my workflow. I didn’t like that the colors weren’t customizable they were way manly for my brand (this may not bother you). I didn’t like that I couldn’t personally talk to someone over the phone for guidance. The software doesn’t keep up with anything tax related and no analytics on where your leads came from. I think this program will be a GREAT program when all the kinks are worked out I personally feel like they should have waited to launch to get all the bugs worked out.

17Hats: I personally really do LOVE this one and I almost decided on it until I found the next company I’m going to talk about. 17hats has ALOT of really awesome features to get you organized and tax ready! It’s probably the cheapest out of all the ones I’m talking about today and it does a lot of things!

Likes: The user interface is pretty easy to follow! You can integrate your google calendar and a lead form on your website. It offers expenses tracking where you can link your bank account to the program to help you keep and categorize your expenses. Other businesses could use this other than photography it’s completely customizable! You can create pre made email templates and workflows, recurring invoices, integrate contracts, and a click option for proposals where the client can choose their package all while calculating payments and taxes.

Dislikes: The email templates are a hot mess there’s no way to organize them. Your emails will end up all over the place and searching for them is SUPER annoying!! You can’t see if a client has seen an email you’ve sent which I think is really important for a lot of reasons! After creating an invoice if they are on a payment plan you have to create another invoice for recurrent payments and you have to calculate their payment schedule (I’m not good at math). I thought this was an unnecessary extra step that you shouldn’t have to take!

Sprout Studio

Have you ever heard of it? If not bookmark this website now by clicking here! This software is AMAZING and I’m going to tell you why I LOVE it so much!!! Sprout Studio is VERY new so keep in mind there’s a few things that need to be worked out (very miner things).

This software keeps track of your clients, you can create workflows, email templates, keep track of payments and payment schedules (automatically sends invoices and calculates payments), client proofing and online galleries for downloads HELLO GAME CHANGER, album proofing, yes I said it DOUBLE GAME CHANGER, and a custom site for each client that is password protected where they can find everything from contracts, to galleries, to questionnaires!!! YES for the win!!! No need for pixiset, pass galleries, or album proofing software EVER AGAIN!!! Which means everything is in one place HELLO TIME SAVER!!!

The customer service is AMAZING!!!!! You can talk to a person on the phone and I’m sure Nick is over me calling him everyday, five times a day ( I’m exaggerating a little 🙂 ). He has guided me through everything I needed help with, their Facebook group is AMAZING, questions answered within minutes, seriously no lie!

They are implementing new features and working on making this software amazing! It currently doesn’t have a bookkeeping feature but I think it’s in the works. So for now I’m going to use Waveapps it’s completely FREE and it will help you get ahold of yourself for when tax time comes around so your not a hot mess!

Sprout Studio has been so awesome to give me an affiliate link I would love it if your interested in trying them out for a free trail to click this link here to sign up! Through the month of January you can save on your membership with these coupon codes to save 20% off monthly use code freshstartmonthly or to save 6% annually use this code freshstartannually . It’s a little more expensive than most of your software but I’m serious it’s worth it and think about EVERYTHING it has to offer!!!

I hope this helps… Cheers to a new year with awesome organization for your business!!!

With love,

Michelle