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It’s Monday, so you know what that means: another episode of the Business Journey podcast is out! Today, we’re talking about workflows for photographers that every family photographer should be using. But, before we get too far into things… Don’t forget to sign up for my FREE class all about marketing mini sessions. As you prepare for fall and Christmas minis, it’s the perfect time to make sure your marketing is where it should be so you can have a fully booked calendar. Join us HERE!

Let’s define what a workflow is. When I say “workflow,” I basically mean a list of steps that you follow. I like to think of it as a checklist for whatever task we’re working on. And I believe every family photographer should be using the three workflows for photographers we’re going to talk about today! You can definitely write it out on paper or in an app, like Trello. My team and I LOVE using Trello because we can make templates of these workflows and apply them to every single client, blog, or whatever other thing we need to. It’s amazing to quickly see where everything is in the business!

Client Experience Workflow

The first workflow I think every family photographer should be using is a client experience workflow. This one should contain all of the steps that your clients go through for the first time the inquire with you to the delivery of their gallery – and even beyond if you have anything else you do (like ask for a review!). Write out your client experience as it stands now. Think about what touch points they receive, emails and other communication, all of it. Then decide how you might want to tweak that in the future. Do you want them to have a blog post about a frequently asked question? Do you want to add in gifting? That kind of thing! Then, you can start to automate these steps through a management software like Dubsado (my favorite!) or Honeybook.

Remember, the goal here is to be able to provide every single client with the same experience. If one family got a questionnaire, they all should. These checklists help you make sure that you are providing the same experience for each client!

Post-Processing Workflow

The next workflow every family photographer should be using is a post-processing workflow. To me, this is everything that happens after you shoot the session. This would be things like backing up your images, culling photos, sending to your editor (or editing), blogging, and social media posts. Again, make a list of everything you do once you get home from your session! This is the kind of list that I keep in Trello. I’m able to add a list to every session there to make sure our team never forgets a step.  Trello also lets you add due dates which is super nice. I hate admitting it but in my first year of business, I definitely forgot to do some of those steps – even delivering galleries – so I never wanted that to happen again! That’s why I LOVE workflows!

 Maintenance Workflow

The last workflow I believe every family photographer should have is a maintenance workflow. This one is often overlooked and contains tasks that many of us probably overlook. A maintenance workflow’s tasks will be done maybe once a quarter or throughout the year, but not every day or week. Tasks here might be things like backing up all of your photos, refreshing your website portfolio or adding new testimonials. I’d also encourage you to review your workflows each year too and see if you need to change anything up!

 Figure out what kind of system will work best for you: whether it’s an online list system like Trello, Asana, or Monday or a notebook. Create these workflows and follow them every single time you do one of these tasks, book a session, or need to go through some maintenance work. Believe it or not, once these workflows for photographers are setup, they take so much pressure off of you to remember every single task! And seriously, any time that you can get back in your life by not having to remember all of this is a game changer!

Links Mentioned in Episode:

+ Trello

+ 20% OFF DUBSADO

+50% OFF HONEYBOOK

What We Discussed:

Client Experience workflow (2:50)

Post-processing workflow (4:56)

Maintenance workflow (7:19)