
Freedom Focus Photography
Welcome to the Freedom Focus Photography Podcast, the essential audio hub for portrait photographers eager to launch and elevate their businesses to achieve their ideal version of success.
Hosted by Nicole Begley, a former zoological animal trainer turned accomplished family and then pet/equine photographer, this podcast is your go-to resource for transforming your photographic passion into a thriving business.
Since making the leap into photography in 2010 and quickly scaling her business to six figures, Nicole has dedicated herself to guiding photographers like you to transform their businesses from low-profit, high-stress operations into a profitable, sustainable businesses by teaching how to confidently price your services, sell products, and attract higher-paying clients.
Join Nicole and a vibrant community of like-minded photographers on the Freedom Focus Photography Podcast. Together, we'll explore the paths to a profitable photography business that supports the life you've always envisioned.
Freedom Focus Photography
Why Our Photography Inquiry Process is Broken
300- Your photography inquiry process that’s been being taught for years is broken. In this episode, Nicole and Heather unpack a bold new approach to make your services easier to book and your client experience smoother from the very first click.
What to Listen For:
- Why the traditional inquiry process is broken
- The psychology behind why clients bounce without booking
- How your website is sabotaging your bookings (and how to fix it)
- The importance of making your pricing accessible without scaring people off
- Nicole’s innovative new strategy to replace phone consultations
- How to build desire for your services like a luxury brand
- Why removing friction in your inquiry process increases bookings
- The power of “behind the scenes” opt-ins for your website
- How to market desire instead of pain (and why it matters)
Your inquiry process shouldn’t feel like a locked vault to your clients. This episode will help you rethink how you present your services to make booking simple, fast, and confidence-boosting for both you and your clients.
Listen now, subscribe to the podcast, and start transforming how your photography business books clients today.
More Resources:
Master the craft of pet photography at the Hair of the Dog Academy - www.hairofthedogacademy.com
Stop competing on price, sell without feeling pushy, and reach consistently $2,000+ sales in the Freedom Focus Formula - www.freedomfocusformula.com
Crack the code to booking more clients inside Elevate - www.freedomfocusformula.com/elevate
Discover the world of commercial pet photography in the Commercial Pet Photography Academy - www.hairofthedogacademy.com/commercial
Are you enjoying the Freedom Focus Photography Podcast? Please leave a rating or a review!
JOIN THE PARTY:
- Connect with us on Instagram
- Explore valuable pet photography resources here
- Discover effective pricing and sales strategies for all portrait photographers.
- Ready to grow your business? Elevate helps you do just that.
- Check out our recommended gear and favorite books.
Nicole Begley (00:00)
In today's episode of the Freedom Focus Photography podcast, we're going to be talking about why your inquiry process for your photography business might be broken and why most of the things that most people are still teaching about how to manage inquiries in our businesses is not working for the buying behaviors of today's consumer. So if you're selling photography, you definitely want to stick around for this one. Stay
Nicole Begley (00:27)
I'm Nicole Begley, a zoological animal trainer turned pet and family photographer. Back in 2010, I embarked on my own adventure in photography, transforming a bootstrapping startup into a thriving six-figure business by 2012. Since then, my mission has been to empower photographers like you, sharing the knowledge and strategies that have helped me help thousands of photographers build their own profitable businesses. I believe that achieving $2,000 $3,000 sales is your fastest route to six-figure businesses.
that any technically proficient photographer can consistently hit four figure sales. And no matter if you want photography to be your full-time passion or a part-time pursuit, profitability is possible. If you're a portrait photographer aspiring to craft a business that aligns perfectly with the life you envision, then you're in exactly the right place. With over 350,000 downloads, welcome to the Freedom Focus Photography Podcast.
Nicole Begley (01:28)
Hey everybody. Welcome back to the freedom focus photography podcast. I'm your host, Nicole Begley, and we are back in the podcast studio, which is not actually a studio because we're both still in our office doing this virtually, even though I would really like to be in studio in person with Heather because Heather is back and then we could go get sushi. ⁓ but alas, we are separated by 400 miles, but together on the internet.
Heather (01:52)
Thank
goodness for the internet, right? I was thinking the other day, what in the world did we do before Zoom, of course, but more recently, chat GPT, because it has been helping me tremendously with both business and personal. I can't even believe what I've been able to accomplish, but I wanted to talk to you about this. This is kind of a side note. Jessica Wasik and I were discussing this actually yesterday. Did you hear or read these studies that are coming out of MIT?
Nicole Begley (02:19)
I was
just about to say that. However, I think if you use it strategically, it doesn't apply because I'm still using my own brain power and it's helping me brainstorm and I'm still, I'm still going through using my brain.
Heather (02:35)
agree with that. And that's the conclusion Jessica and I came to. So the study is saying that it's making us dumber because we're not
Nicole Begley (02:42)
Which
I totally agree. I mean, it has definitely made me when I need to write like a couple sentences, I'm like, which to be fair has always made me go. So now that I have like an outlet, I can at least just make it brain dump really kind of messy and then I can clean it up for me. ⁓ And yeah, but using it for the brainstorming piece and it's an
Heather (02:54)
Right. Right.
Nicole Begley (03:10)
Again, I think the key and what I've always taught everyone that I've been sharing, like how I've been using these custom GPTs is you use it for it to help guide you to come up with your own personal things to put into these emails, ⁓ whatever you're using it for, your website copy. If you just said, I'm a pet photographer, make me a website copy, it's gonna be generic as hell, it's gonna be terrible.
But if you asked it, like, what should I put on my, like, even if you weren't sure, like, I'm a pet photographer. My main target client is XYZ. Like, what should I have on my website? And then I've found the best results or when you ask it, give me some more options. What else should I consider? And then it's like, you actually want the good stuff? Okay. It's like when you go to Brazilian steakhouse and my stepbrother,
Heather (04:00)
Yes.
Nicole Begley (04:09)
They lived in Brazil. The first one I went to was in like 1999 in Brazil. And you know, those are the places where you have like the red button and the green button on the table. And they just came up bringing different kinds of meat until you like put the red thing up and you're like, please no more, please stop having me. But he's like, no, no, no, not yet. Not yet. Wait, they bring out the better cuts of meat towards the end because by then you're full or you're not going to eat the more expensive meats. So anyway.
Heather (04:24)
Yeah
Nicole Begley (04:38)
Chetchi PT is similar, that if you go with the first round, meh, it's still gonna be okay. But like when you ask it again, for instance, yesterday I started writing some new emails. We're doing a little, well, by the time this airs, it'll be in the past. We're doing a free training for Hair of the Dog Academy. And so I'm writing the emails to, you know, invite people to enroll in the academy afterwards.
I was like, all right, I need these five emails, help me outline them. And they were pretty generic. And I was like, no, let's level this up a launch really speaking to my target client. And I have this whole big, long document that like outlines my target client, my programs, transformations, all those things. And then it kicked off. ⁓ here's like 11 things we should consider. And I'd be like, why didn't you tell me that the first time? No, it's so good. So anyway, that's my.
Heather (05:29)
Seriously.
Nicole Begley (05:33)
my chat GPT ⁓ wormhole.
Heather (05:36)
Yeah, I love it because also it sometimes clues you in when it misses the mark and you're like, wait a minute, that's not even close. That's not what I was looking for. And understanding what you don't want is just as important as figuring out what you do want because it helps you give that clarity. So we have an episode coming up. I'd have to look in the queue for you, but it's with one of our elevators. Her name is Sandy.
Nicole Begley (05:41)
Mm-hmm.
Heather (06:01)
And her and I actually walked through an issue using the custom chat GPT that is available only inside of Elevate. I created it using our proprietary tool. I taught it the tool extensively and release that to elevators. I don't know, maybe six or nine months ago earlier this year, they've been using it like crazy, but Sandy and I thought it would be fun. Okay. I thought it would be fun. And Sandy was gracious enough to come along for the ride.
to actually work through a real problem like together in person, but also using the tool and then we could talk it out, my gosh, it was amazing and like almost scary, accurate. A few people have said to me that it's like they call it their Heather GPT in their pocket because it's so similar to what I would say because again, I trained it. I mean,
Nicole Begley (06:51)
Mm-hmm.
Heather (06:56)
I don't know if it was hundreds of pages, but it was a lot of pages. Yeah, that I trained it and.
Nicole Begley (07:00)
Yeah, it was a big document. remember talking to you about that. Well, that episode
is already out. Episode 296, Hello Business Spiral with Heather Lawton. So go, go with them guys. ⁓ It's like two back.
Heather (07:09)
my gosh, perfect. Thank you for looking that up.
That's a great example of using chat GPT beyond maybe what you might normally think, like to help with the website or the emails. I took it one step further because Nicole, that's just what I do. I thought this is really cool. Could it work in this way? And it absolutely has. I definitely recommend.
Nicole Begley (07:27)
And that's how I look.
Heather (07:35)
that people listen to that episode because it's brief and it was really, really powerful.
Nicole Begley (07:40)
Yeah, no, it was really, really good. ⁓ I actually just used chat GPT yesterday to, we're going to Malta for Thanksgiving. ⁓ cause who doesn't go to Malta for Thanksgiving, Heather? I'm not here for jerky. I'm not interested. ⁓ but anyway, we're flying. already have our tickets to fly from Charlotte to Frankfurt. And then I was just going to buy, you know, tickets once I'm over there. I'm like, ⁓ Lufthansa has a direct flight and.
Heather (07:50)
Yeah, honestly. Right.
Nicole Begley (08:08)
⁓ I can use my points and miles for that. So I actually went to chat, GBT and I'm like, all right, I need to go from Frankfurt to Malta nonstop. I want to use my points and miles. What strategy should I look at? It gave me and it was, it was like, these are the different trails for partners. And then ⁓ I have my points. Yeah. Or points. Arrow different areas that I can look for the actual redemptions. But anyway, the
Two of that they offered had the same like 10,000 points and like 50 euros. And so I was like, oh, all right. And then I asked it again, well, should I use this program or that program? And it was like, and cons, like the Avianca, which is based in Panama, they were a little bit less points and a little bit less cash, but we're talking like 2000 points and like $10. But their customer service is notoriously.
very challenging. And the other was Air Canada, which has wonderful customer service. So I'm like, yes, but ChatGP2 knew all of that.
Heather (09:12)
Unbelievable. What a fantastic
tool. Okay. What are we talking about today? Let's refocus.
Nicole Begley (09:21)
We're just, we're just going to give everybody an update on, all the things.
Heather (09:24)
Oh, that's right.
We did say that. Okay. I wanted to share that our family just got home from visiting Acadia National Park in Maine. It was beautiful. I highly recommend it. But just so you know, there are 4 million people in five parking spots. So just just be aware of that. But what I wanted to share with you is that we hired a private tour guide to show us around and the places to go. I just find that very useful when you're in a new area. I like to do it on day one.
And as we were leaving, or sorry, as we were getting out of his minivan, we had six hours with him. I saw him fussing with some stuff and I'm like, what's this guy doing? He was pulling two business cards out of his wallet that he handed to me. And the one is Google reviews with a QR code that says thank you. And it has his name on it, has the name of the tour service. And he said to me, would really appreciate if you would leave a Google review. All you have to do is scan that. Let me know how your day was.
And side note, this guy is probably in his late seventies. He's lived on the island his entire life.
Nicole Begley (10:27)
⁓ we had a tour guide like that
⁓ in Yellowstone that he was, used to work for ⁓ Forest Service and now he just like did tours. It was amazing. It was so good.
Heather (10:36)
Yes.
So I thought, man, this guy is like super with it, tech savvy and understands the importance of it. We talk about this a lot in Elevate about having a Google My Business listing, which is very, very helpful for SEO. And obviously the more reviews you get, more you stand out. Well, you would come up earlier in a search if you have a Google My Business A and then B, if you have more reviews and stars and all of those things, it does matter.
Nicole Begley (10:48)
Mm-hmm.
Heather (11:06)
So I showed this to everyone in Elevate and I said, you need to make it as easy as possible for people to leave you a review. So in this case, I have this card with this QR, I need to do it. I actually told, I will absolutely do this because I know how important it is. But I wanted to just add onto this, make it easy. So if that's a card with QR, if that's a link in an email, whatever it is, but I suggest that you take this even one step further. Last year we hired,
a carpenter to build cabinets in our garage. And we were talking about this. He was new in business. And he said, I think I need Google reviews. And I said, you're right. You do. He said, would you leave me one? I said, absolutely. But I just want to clue you in that people want to help you. They want to leave you a review. They just don't know how, or they don't know what to say, or like people don't want to take the time to think, to type something up. I said, so here's what I'm going to suggest. Why don't you type up a few different reviews? Like, what do you want me to say?
I will say whatever you want me to say. So give me some talking points. Send it to me an email. I will copy and paste that and embellish it all day long. I'll add a photo, which I did do for him. And he just, laughed. said, that's a brilliant idea. And I said, I bet you will get more reviews if you tell people what you would like them to say. So I just wanted to add that consider that's bonus. Okay. Cause it's not even our topic today.
Nicole Begley (12:17)
Hmm.
Although I think we should actually switch topics.
Heather (12:37)
Okay, so you want to switch things up. ⁓ Turns out Nicole, I am more flexible than you might think. I'm so type A. But okay.
Nicole Begley (12:43)
We're still going to record the one
we had planned, but as you were talking about the Google reviews and making things easier for our clients, it just got me thinking something I've been talking with my office hours and the calls that I've been leading for my freedom focus people and our elevate people is asking them to relook at all of their processes and ask like, how can I make it easier for potential clients?
Heather (13:11)
Yes.
Nicole Begley (13:12)
I'm going to go out on a limb here and say something that might be controversial. You ready? The current photography inquiry process is broken. broken. Who wants to? Heather, think about anything you might want to buy or might want to have done to your house or any kind of service. And what if you go to that service and the only way to find out how much it costs is to schedule a call to go to their house?
Heather (13:16)
Whoa.
Nicole Begley (13:42)
for a consultation. Like no one has time for that anymore and nobody wants to do that.
Heather (13:49)
Okay, listen, I'm gonna tell you something straight to your face. I have always said that I have always said, if you don't give me a clue, at least some idea of what I'm going to be spending, I am out. And here's why I don't even know if we're playing in the same field on the same planet. And I don't want to, well, waste your time. But to be totally honest, I don't want to feel embarrassed. If I reach out to you.
Nicole Begley (13:53)
you
Mm-hmm.
Yeah, 100%.
Or there's no time.
Heather (14:18)
Yeah, and find out that I can't afford it. Like that's embarrassing to me. So I don't want to do it, which means if I don't have some idea, I'm gone.
Nicole Begley (14:28)
I agree with you. And yeah, I've always taught that too. Like we need to have something on their website to give them a ballpark. Although I'm, I'm, I'm switching this up a little bit, my recommendations, and I'm rebuilding my website currently to do this and to test it out. So you guys, this is completely untested, but I know psychology and I know it works. So it's going to work. ⁓ but basically like the, the option, the options in the past have always been.
Heather (14:39)
Okay.
Yes.
Nicole Begley (14:57)
You have all your website on your, all your pricing on your website. People see it's more expensive than other people. They bounce. They're out. You're not building the value or you have little, no webs, no pricing or just the like starting at most people spend at least 1500, like whatever, something like a little nugget. So you get to know the ballpark. I think there is a middle of the road that no one is doing that will make it so much easier for your clients to get the information.
get ready to book without you having to spend the time talking with them, like to like getting those inquiries like out of the gate. Like you still might have some inquiries, but they have now been prepped. So what is this middle of the road new thoughts? Well, okay. We've been running our online teaching business for almost 10 years and I'm looking at it I'm like,
Why don't we do lead management like we do for online courses? Why do we not have some sort of, which we have talked about, like a lead magnet on our website, which like, the best breweries for your dog, the best hikes with your dog, like whatever your target market might like. Yeah, sure, you can still do that. Make it a blog post, make it a download. But what if you made the lead something that is getting people ready to book?
Heather (15:59)
⁓ great question.
Nicole Begley (16:21)
and is getting people that are really interested in booking to opt in. And I am proposing two. Well, let's talk about one and then there's going to be like a bonus. The main one is I was asking myself, how can I prepare a person that comes to my website and it's like, ⁓ dog photography, that's interesting. Where are they? And this could be family photography. This could be any type of photography.
Heather (16:26)
Hmm.
Nicole Begley (16:48)
Where are they? What objections do they have when they first come and find out that this is a service or they're first considering it? Well, for family photography, maybe, ⁓ I don't know. I don't know what to wear or I want to lose some weight first or, you know, whatever. I want to wait till fall. I don't know. Like they might have things like that. Pet photography, my dog's not going to behave. My dog has to be on leash. So what if like, how do we address those? How do we let people know what
Like the value of what we're doing, what they can expect, ⁓ and then get them prepared to make a decision. Yes or no, that this is something they want to move forward with. And then an easy step for them to raise their hand and say, yeah, let's, let's do this. So what I am going to be building is an opt-in that just is like all over my website, like instead of the contact me and it's just going to be like this call to action is going to be literally everywhere that is.
see behind the scenes in a pet photography session, see what's involved, no obligation, no call, no whatever. It is literally, they put in their name and email, it goes to a secret page on my website, there's a little 60 second welcome video for me at the top, hey, I'm Nicole, here's what you're gonna find on this page, enjoy. And then they can start scrolling down and there'll be talking about the objections first thing. ⁓ dogs can be on leash, dogs can be crazy, here's my background.
Heather (17:51)
Mm. Mm-hmm.
Nicole Begley (18:15)
⁓ Do you want to see what a pep photography session looks like? A little video that's like five minutes of like me actually working the images that come from a result of what we're doing. And then, okay, now how's the process work? What do you like? What makes me different? You know, I focus in the custom artwork. This is the best types of, ⁓ you know, the highest level ⁓ products.
Here's information on the guild canvases. Here's a video of how they're made. Like you're building the value. Basically I was like, can I take everything I would do and an in-person consultation or a phone consultation and put it on a website, on a page that builds that value and they get to the bottom and it's like two options. Want a book? Here, here's a place they can pay, book.
Heather (18:56)
Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.
Nicole Begley (19:07)
So they could just go pay and then it goes to a calendar like, great, schedule a call with me and we'll plan the details of your session. That's all because based on where we're going to shoot, like I don't want to have a calendar that they can just book in on a Saturday in October. And then I'm like, well, shit, like I had plans. ⁓ so they just pay me, they book a call and we plan out the details, normal process, or Hey, do you have more questions? Here's a little video ask link.
Heather (19:13)
Yes.
Right. Yeah, no.
Nicole Begley (19:33)
or a call link or a way for them to contact me for more questions.
Heather (19:38)
Okay, I have some questions about this. So obviously you see an advantage or let me rephrase. What is the advantage to having that information you just described on the secret page with the video and all of those things of having that sort of behind the lead magnet versus just available on your site?
Nicole Begley (19:41)
Yeah.
Mm-hmm.
Okay. All right. This is good. Some of that stuff, I think we'll still kind of be on the site. ⁓ like certainly the objections, because if they have those objections, they're not even going to thing. And there'll be some massaging of the messaging of what they actually opt in actually is, and potentially some testing of like what, what you can run some ads to. Okay. I'm getting high level here. I'm going to test this all out so you guys can, I'll just tell you what works, but you can see kind of what people are interested in and clicking on.
⁓ but I don't want all my pricing on the public side. So I want to like still on my website is going to be similar to all of that. And then the question is what are people interested in that will cause them to opt in? Like what would they get out of giving me their name and email, which is then of course building my list.
Heather (20:32)
Mm.
Yes.
Nicole Begley (20:52)
which if they don't book now, we have a three year buying cycle, oftentimes sometimes longer, like they're on my list. They'll know if I'm doing a mini session or a special offer and they'll book later. But I wanted to have like something that a felt special for them, like, I'm getting a sneak peek. Like I get to see how the sausage is made. Like, like I get to see what this is. I can see that it's not scary. I can see that the dogs in this video are normal dogs.
I can see the images that are being created. get a little like little video of me like, and part of the messaging for the opt-in is literally going to be no obligation, no phone calls. Like, like I'm not going to bother you. Like this is just like, you want details here. It's like a little, little backend, like, behind the scenes. ⁓ because I ask myself, what is holding people back?
Heather (21:37)
Yes.
Nicole Begley (21:50)
from reaching out and making an inquiry. And 100%, a lot of it is like, I don't really know what to expect. I don't want to be embarrassed if I can't afford it. I don't want to say no. I don't want to opt into somebody that's going to be hounding me. Take that risk away. And then they get the information right then and there. People are busy.
Heather (21:55)
Yes.
Nicole Begley (22:18)
They don't want to send an inquiry and then get two days later, here's the pricing. Now they forgot they even inquired. So like, how can we make things immediate for me? I was like, how can I make it that it's not time on my calendar that I'm not like having to schedule calls and make it fit into my day and like, ⁓ especially these types of inquiry calls are usually more last minute. ⁓ where like my coaching calls and my, like those calls I've scheduled far out. So I know they're coming up.
Heather (22:24)
Yes.
Nicole Begley (22:48)
I don't like last minute schedule changes. ⁓ anyway, so that's the questions that I was asking that led me to come up with something like this, which I think can be a game changer in giving people the tools to get the information they need to book quickly without me.
Heather (22:51)
Me either.
There it is. It's like, how can I lower the barrier and make this as easy, straightforward, streamlined, simple, as efficient as possible for both the client and myself? And I think that's a question we should always be asking so that it can lead to our next experiment. What else can I try at every point in my workflow? I did a very rudimentary version of this years ago when I was photographing 30 weddings a year.
is I would keep this spreadsheet of the client, their wedding date, then every, okay, this is different, but stay with me, and everything that occurred from the time I met them to the time I delivered their images. And I was really busy during the ⁓ quote busy season, okay, Nicole Summer. And what I would do at the end of the season is look at that and I would actively seek out the bottlenecks. Where?
Nicole Begley (23:53)
Mm-hmm.
I'm sorry.
Mm-hmm.
Heather (24:07)
where am I holding myself back or the client? Where am I causing any friction that maybe I could remove? And so I would find, would really honestly, I was just looking for one. I would find one, I would eliminate it, and invariably the bottleneck would move. It would move to another area. And then the next year I would fix, I'm not suggesting you have to wait a year between.
experiments or different areas of your business that that's just the way the structure of the weddings worked for me. But I think the question the question like what is preventing them from inquiring and or booking and how can I make that so simple and easy? It's like when I was booking this private tour if I went to a website that didn't have a way for me to schedule it and pay I'm not doing it.
Nicole Begley (24:45)
Mm-hmm.
Yeah, 100%.
Heather (25:02)
If I have to talk
to someone or email, but this particular group had, you know, the schedule and the time and the payment. I literally did not have to deal with a person until I climbed into this guy's van. And I was happy. my gosh. Cherry mayhawn. Yeah. Yeah. No, it was all very legit, but I think that's a great experiment. So when are you doing this? How is it going? What's the next step?
Nicole Begley (25:16)
You know, it's not a white windowless van, guys. Don't worry.
I have the copy mostly written. ⁓ and then I'm going to send it off to my team to start building the website pages out. And, ⁓ and yeah, so my goal is by, ⁓ by mid August, cause I'm not going to be home for too much of July, even though haven't been home much in the past quarter. ⁓
Heather (25:49)
You have not been
home much this entire year. I kid you not.
Nicole Begley (25:52)
I
was home a lot in January, February, and the first half of March. The worst years or the worst months to be home. ⁓ Anyway, so yeah, so by end of summer, I want this up and testing for fall and, and just to kind of see how can I, how can this be easier? Like it's not complicated and our goal of marketing. So there is another little caveat here. And so.
Heather (25:58)
my word. Okay.
Okay. Yeah, right.
Nicole Begley (26:21)
A lot of businesses market on the pain. So you have a clogged up toilet. Yeah, you got to call a plumber and you have motivation to call that plumber. You need a new roof. You need your house painted. Most service things are based on pain. We are selling a luxury, which yes, there could be an element of like, don't regret waiting until it's too late.
But I think if we just market on, your dog's gonna die soon or your kids are gonna grow up and they're gonna be out of the house and don't miss this chance, like, there needs to be a touch of that. But I think the more, the bigger focus needs to be on that we're building desire of just like, I want these. So can you guys think of something that you want in your life that is, I don't wanna say frivolous, but it's not a need, it's not a clogged toilet.
Heather (27:08)
Mm.
Nicole Begley (27:20)
It is something that you want to purchase. Maybe it's a new couch. You don't need a new couch. If you desire a new couch, ⁓ is it a, you know, a vacation or need a vacation? Okay. I say you need a vacation, but it's a desire to, go here. Like a high end restaurant. Like, look at those and like, how do we build that desire? Because that's what we're doing in our marketing and what we would need to be doing.
Heather (27:51)
building the desire and also showcasing the value of the luxury service that you are. Because there is a different feeling involved with the process you're describing versus maybe something a little more basic, know, or straight, you know, well, not straightforward, not straightforward, not straightforward, but basic means how you interact with the website sets the tone.
Nicole Begley (27:58)
Mm-hmm.
Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.
Heather (28:19)
for the service of the business. And again, to go back to my recent vacation, we also scheduled a private e-bike tour, which side note, this is the first time I was on an e-bike. It is the best thing ever. You know, when he said, here's the button for pedal assist, I was like, I need pedal assist in my life, okay?
Nicole Begley (28:30)
So fun.
Uh-huh.
uh-huh. So yeah,
so fun side note, food tour and e-bike tour are like my two, no matter where I go, I look out to book because they're both the best.
Heather (28:49)
I believe that. Yeah, it was
so good. But anyway, I didn't realize how many e-bike companies there actually were till we got there and I didn't know which van to walk up to. But I, when I found them, it, the reason I booked them is because the website looked good. It was easy to navigate. There were a lot of reviews. I was again, able to book.
sign waivers, pay all of those things very, very quickly. And that to me set the tone for the type of service I was going to be working with. And that and it was true that from everything when we met them in the tour guide, everything was just amazing. Another side note, the tour guide, 17 years old, junior in high school, which is the same as my son. So they kind of hit it off. They were talking and Evan said to me, man,
this is a good gig. I think I could do this, ride bikes all day and talk to people. I said, yeah, you might want to explore it. But again, I think there are so many ways to convey the value of the service beyond what you're actually selling. People will often ask me like, how do you communicate the level of service we offer versus again, maybe something that's just more of a basic approach. Like if you're
Nicole Begley (29:51)
huh.
Heather (30:14)
you're doing IPS, you're artwork, you're aiming for five, $10,000 sales and beyond. How do you convey value? And that's a good question, by the way, it's something I would always be asking myself, how could I improve that? And I think it is in every little, every single literal interaction you have with these clients, starting from when they put their email address into your contact form or your, in this case, your lead magnet, which
goes to the next page.
Nicole Begley (30:44)
Yep. Yeah, 100%. Yep.
Heather (30:48)
And also, if I may add to that, you touched upon something I think is really, really important. You said, even if they don't book, I have their email address potentially to nurture relationships for future booking. So something I teach inside of Elevate is called the three year buy cycle. You mentioned it. Have we ever talked about that on the podcast?
Nicole Begley (31:09)
but I'm gonna add it to the list so we should talk about it.
Heather (31:13)
Yeah, so I'm not going expand on it too much here except to say that you are always marketing to the next client. So we think erroneously that when we're at an event or we're marketing or talking to people that we're trying to get a client right there. OK, we are. So it's not totally an error. You are. But my thought is I'm I'm marketing to them for the future or to the next client. So yesterday I talked to a photographer friend of mine that I met in 2016.
Nicole Begley (31:35)
Hmm?
Heather (31:42)
Okay, I don't know how good you are with math, but I believe that's nine years. Watch, it's wrong. Somebody correct me. Okay, that would be hilarious. Anyway, she's joining Elevate. That is a nine year bicycle, which means nine years ago when I was talking to her and meeting her and she was starting out, it just wasn't the right time for her. I nurtured that relationship for nine years.
Nicole Begley (31:46)
What's that?
Love it. Yeah.
Heather (32:12)
I tend to see it for photographers in the like two to three to maybe four range years. know, that people that meet you now, but someone in Elevate, one of our friends said someone just booked her from five years ago. So if you had this thought that I'm meeting people and I'm getting their email addresses and it's always going to work, it's always going to ripple, impact my business in the future, affect my business, going to get clients in the future. I just wonder how you would think differently when you don't
Nicole Begley (32:17)
Yep.
Heather (32:41)
get that immediate booking or you only get one. You go to this big event, you meet all these people, you get all these email addresses, you're sending out emails, you feel like, okay, I'm doing it. And then you get zero clients or maybe one and you feel disappointed. My thought is, okay, that's fair. Feel disappointed. Give yourself 2.3 seconds. And then remember that that's making your marketing easier in the future. So what I said, people seem to latch onto this. So I'm going to say it here.
Nicole Begley (32:43)
Mm-hmm.
Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.
Heather (33:11)
I said, you can never go wrong meeting people, period. So it's the same thing. I'm just sort of drawing this parallel to what you're saying about them putting the email address in to get more information is like the minute they do that and they hit submit, you have won. You are winning either in the immediate future or in the future future, but you're setting yourself up for more success.
Nicole Begley (33:16)
Yeah, period. Full stop.
Yeah
Heather (33:39)
in terms of the process, but also in the future. And to that I say, good job, my friend. Brilliant.
Nicole Begley (33:47)
Yeah, no, a hundred percent. one last thought for wrap this up and that is with lead magnets. And I was giving that some thought too. And I'm like, the other thing that I want to test out too is having a fun little, it can be free. You could probably sell it for a little bit. Um, even if you made it like a $27 little product, like what if photographers, family photographers could be.
take better pictures of your kids with your phone. Pet photographers could have a take better pictures of your dog with your phone. Little mini course. They sold on their website because guess what? Guess what? I can tell you unequivocally in the 15 years I've been serving clients, the people that hire me that have an interest in photography spend the most money period because they value photography. So.
Heather (34:37)
Yes. Yes. Yes. Same.
Yes. ⁓ I like this idea, this thought of having something that's a small price point that somebody would buy and then and then they're in your world like this, this ⁓ idea, what did you just say? Like how to take better photos or something along those lines. We often do those as freely lead magnets, but what if you made something like really amazing and it was low ticket.
Nicole Begley (34:43)
And those people.
Yeah. huh.
Heather (35:05)
So again, back to this recent vacation, when I was looking at all of the possible hikes in Acadia National Park, it was extraordinarily overwhelming. The park also has a loop road that's one way and you really have to know how to navigate or you are screwed because you can't just turn around and go back. So it was a few weeks before and I was like, my gosh, I'm looking at these hikes, the difficulty, the terrain, all of these things. I came across a sweet lady named Ash.
Nicole Begley (35:10)
Mm-hmm. It's a lot.
Heather (35:35)
She Ashley, Ash, she goes by Ash, and she has a podcast and a website called Dirt In My Shoes. She's a former park ranger, and guess what?
Nicole Begley (35:43)
⁓ I know!
I've found her website before! Uh-huh!
Heather (35:46)
So you know, she
sells itineraries for all, not all of the parks, but the big ones, all of the big ones. And of course she had one for Acadia. I cannot tell you how quickly I pulled out that credit card and paid her, I don't know, 39 or $49 for this Acadia itinerary. She had like one day version up to four day version and on restaurants and parking and it was brilliant.
Nicole Begley (35:53)
Yeah.
Uh-huh.
Heather (36:16)
I loved it and now guess what? Not only did I pay her money, but I'm on her list. So if she ever comes up with a course or she might even sell something, I haven't paid attention. I don't know, but she could market to me for the future. In fact, we're in Acadia and I think it was my daughter Ella said we should go to Yosemite next year and I immediately thought of her. I'm like, well, I'm buying it.
Nicole Begley (36:21)
Uh-huh.
Yeah, I was going to
say, well, next national park you go to, you're probably going to go to her site and see if she has a Yeah.
Heather (36:42)
100 % I cannot
get to her site fast enough. So she is now my go to resource for that specific thing. What would it look like to be the go to resource for clients or people in your area on photography, no matter what genre you shot? Like establish the authority in that area. I think having that as a goal. I just I think it's a good idea. That's what I'm saying.
Nicole Begley (36:58)
No? Uh-huh.
Yeah. my gosh. Well, we just gave you guys a lot of things to think about. So go forth and think.
Heather (37:14)
Go forth
and think!
Nicole Begley (37:17)
Use Chat TV to help you brainstorm, but still use your brain so it doesn't rot. ⁓ But yes, anyway, one just quick announcement here, and that is in the middle of August, third week of August, we, you and I are starting hosting a four, get four clients in four weeks challenge. Four calls, four weeks, one month, four clients. ⁓ It's going to be awesome. Details are coming early August.
Heather (37:19)
Yeah.
Yes ma'am four clients four weeks challenge.
Nicole Begley (37:47)
So be on the lookout. If you're on my list, Heather's list, you'll hear about it. But anyway, just wanted to let you guys know it's going to be fantastic.
Heather (37:56)
Yeah, and here's what, here's the premise for that. Not only is it exciting to get four clients in four weeks, but we teach you that process. You have that for life. Think about this. You learn that, you get the clients, and then it's repeatable. You know, obviously you might pivot, you might add things, subtract things, whatever, that's not the point. The point is, you learn that skill, you do it, and you can do it for life. What would it look like? How would it feel?
to be in control of how and when clients book you instead of at the mercy of inquiries coming in.
Nicole Begley (38:31)
my gosh. Yeah, that's that's the game changer right there is moving away from that. Like I'm not in control of leads.
Heather (38:41)
which is a horrible feeling, horrible thought. Two, I am in full control and I can create them whenever I want. One of our elevators said a few days ago that as a result of some of these types of trainings, she said, and I quote, I am floating on a cloud of confidence.
Nicole Begley (38:59)
That sounds like a wonderful cloud.
Heather (39:01)
I said, doesn't that sound lovely? Like confidence tends to be one of our biggest challenges. And what if you could float on a cloud of confidence? I just, I think that's fantastic.
Nicole Begley (39:09)
I love it. Well,
after four weeks, we're going to help you do that. So anyway, stay tuned for that and, ⁓ stay tuned for next week. We'll be back with more. Bye everybody. Have a great one.