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How We Build Client Trust Through Zoom Calls · Luxe & Legacy Podcast

Welcome to the Lux and Legacy Podcast.
I'm Marie from Marie Elizabeth Photography.
And I am Amber from Light Live in Photography.
We created this show for photographers who are ready to run a luxury business with clarity, intention, and elevated artistry.
Each week we uncover the strategies behind high level brands from shooting and styling to client communication, to marketing, to designing heirloom products that increase your value.
If you want to attract aligned clients, produce, work with a recognizable aesthetic and build a business that supports the life you want, this podcast will guide you there.
Let's dive in.
Hey guys.
Welcome back.
I am so sorry.
I've been really sick the past couple weeks with Flu B, so my voice is a little bit raspy today.
But thank you Tim Marie for covering us with some amazing episodes while I was out.
Today we really wanna dive into building trust with your clients through Zoom.
Ordering appointments and what we do step by step from consult calls to ordering appointments and how we guide our clients through the process.
We're gonna really focus today more on that remote call process.
first today I wanna start out with talking about consult calls.
So that's what happens.
our client has already found us on Instagram or Google, they like what we have on our website and they filled out the lead form.
The next step in my process is sending them information and an heirloom investment guide.
In that guide, I have it laid out, so simple and easy to understand what my pricing looks like, and then I have an option for them to book.
A consultation call with me if they have more questions or they can go ahead and book their session date right from a session calendar link I have in that initial email in case they're super busy, powerhouse women and wanna get that done right away and wanna skip one of the steps.
That's fine with me.
However, when people are paying 2000 plus for a photography session.
They often want to have a phone call with that photographer.
And it's like when you buy anything really expensive, you don't wanna just order it online.
Usually you wanna see it in person.
Even something as simple as a handbag, people often wanna see the quality looks like in person.
getting on a call lets them feel comfortable with spending that money with you.
And my consult calls you guys are honestly the simplest and I think a lot of photographers get hung up.
On consultation calls being really complicated.
Like they wanna buy photographers scripts or have chat GBT, write them a script for it.
And that's just not the case for me.
For me it's really about.
This is a call to hop on really quick so they can see my friendly face.
I can ask them, tell me about your family.
Do you have kids already or is this your first? How many weeks are you? How's the pregnancy going? How are you feeling? okay, awesome.
What are you envisioning for your session? So just really simple, easy questions that feel.
Just a normal conversation, like we went out and had lunch or something like that, and I'm asking them about what's going on with them.
And for these calls, my goal is to get them to just relax, trust me, and.
Start envisioning what they want.
So if they're telling me like, oh, I'm envisioning one of your beautiful garden sessions, or I'm envisioning this beautiful fall location.
Now they've already pictured booking with me.
And that picture in their head is worth way more words than any words that I can say.
So if I were to sit here and say, okay, let me give you some information and see if you want to book with me, that does not instill any trust with them.
That's a little bit like feeling very insecure about whether or not they're gonna book and let me give them more information because if they know more information about me and my process and what I can offer them and how I'm different that, that feels like they're the one in the power seat of control, whereas.
Really I want them to just envision booking with me, and that's it.
The end.
I don't wanna have to convince, I don't wanna have to a ton of information so that they feel like they have to book with me.
It's really so simple, you guys.
I just ask them questions about themselves, what they're envisioning, and then I say, great, let's pick a date.
And then here's a couple locations that I think you would like, but no pressure to decide the location today.
Today we're just picking the date and then we can have another call to plan everything else.
And then after the call, I send them the invoice and the contract, and boom, they're booked.
So I book I would say 99% of my consult calls end up booking with me.
It's really about keeping it super simple, super streamlined, and all about them.
Yeah, I think that connection component is so important because when we're trying to get potential clients to like know and trust us, just being able to see our faces, get eye contact, share what they envision, that is going to help create that trust that they need to move forward and invest a decent amount of money with us.
So I love that.
And I think my favorite part about Consult Calls is showing them some images that align with what they shared that they're looking for so that, as you said, they envision themselves going through that experience.
Yeah, I'll pull up.
Instagram and share the screen of oh, okay.
Are you talking about this type of location? E The zoom is so nice because you can share your screen and whenever I have a call, a client say, oh, I'm gonna be driving to or from this location can I just do a phone call? I'll say, Nope, sorry.
I need to be able to share my screen.
To show you outfit ideas and locations.
And then if they hear that, then they're like, oh, okay, I can't do this time, Mm-hmm.
it another time.
And I'm like, no problem.
We can move it to another time, but you have to be on Zoom so that you can see my screen.
It's a really important part of the process.
And then next we wanna show them some ideas right off the bat for artwork that we can provide.
So I will say.
saw on the lead form that you are interested in the albums.
Let me show you how gorgeous those are.
This is what most of my clients get, and then I'll show them really quick, and it's gonna be a really quick touch on with the artwork, but not a full deep dive into artwork.
How about you, Marie? Yeah.
I say something along the lines of like, there's a few things we can do to enjoy your images.
And I pick up an album and show them an album.
And again, it takes like 30 seconds maybe max to like talk about artwork, but I really believe that showing artwork at that first touchpoint, the consult call, plays a huge part in lighting that, you know, flame of having them excited about artwork.
So oftentimes clients or potential clients will respond with like, "Oh, that's so beautiful."
You know, they are commenting on the artwork that I show them.
And that leads us into the next call that we do with clients.
And that's the planning call.
And at the planning call, they already trust you or at least trust you enough because they booked you.
And so for this stage, I think of the planning appointment as a collaboration.
I'm on their team and I'm helping them achieve their goals.
Like, yes, I'm kind of steering this ship, but we're working together to create their vision.
They're not gonna be asking me to do anything crazy or outside my normal style because they like, they booked me for my work and my process, which is consistent everywhere.
But they will likely share with me if there's something in particular they want remembered.
It could be a detail like a little girl's curls or it could be that they want a photo with the family dogs and she's aging.
They're gonna share with me what is most important to them about these photos and I'm going to confirm their wishes or sometimes tamper expectations, you know, like if they have three dogs, we'll talk about how to prepare for that.
I have one client who we just had her planning appointment for her second baby.
And with her first baby at the newborn session, we got a photo of him.
He's swaddled and he's laying on this soft blue backdrop and there is a blue hydrangea just next to him.
And I still love that image.
It may still be on my website, but it shows the scale of like how little he was.
And during our planning call for the second baby, she was like, "I just really, really love that image so much.
I want the same image with baby number two."
And I'm gonna ensure that I get this exact shot, but I also might try to play around and get something a bit more creative and different in addition so that way I'm, you know, expanding their palette, showing them some other cool things we can do while still making it a collaboration.
I wanna meet their needs while still stretching myself artistically.
And we talk about wardrobe on the call too.
I know Amber, you talk about wardrobe pretty extensively on your calls, right? Yeah, on my ordering appointments, wardrobe is a huge topic of what we talk about, and something that I love to do is in addition to the style guide that they got sent in the initial email on the ordering appointment, I will say, okay, what type of dress are you interested in wearing? What color palettes look best on you? Like we said before, it's gonna be a light and airy color palette.
However, I wanna make sure it's a color palette that's flattering to you, something that you absolutely love.
And I'll start with little questions like, want something a little more formal or do you want something a little more casual? And then I'll point out some dresses in my client wardrobe that I think she would like and.
I'll say you don't have to wear something from my client wardrobe, but you're more than welcome to borrow something for free.
Once we figure out what dress you wanna wear, then I will.
Pull up some of my, to knowit boards that I've pre-made and I'm overdue for making some new ones, but they at least have a bunch of different color palette ideas.
So I'll say, okay, your dress is in this color palette.
We could go this direction with your husband's outfit.
I think something really classic for the girls' dresses, maybe like a classic, felton brothers dress or something like that.
Like I'll show them exact examples, but then I always let them choose the exact one unless they're like, send me exact links, Amber, I will get whatever you say, which, so clients are like that.
They really want me to just choose everything, Mm-hmm.
fine with me, but I also don't wanna step on someone's toes if.
If they have a personal preference on what they prefer for their family and their kids, then I want them to take the lead on that as long as it's gonna fit within the lighten area aesthetic.
So yeah, my clients do really want me to hold their hand throughout that process on the ordering not the ordering appointment.
Excuse me, the planning call.
Yeah.
I have them view my ward- my wardrobes all in an online gallery, so they'll heart their favorites before the planning appointment, and then I'll, like, kinda walk them through that and show them what I have in my kids' wardrobe that will coordinate.
And then I have a Pinterest board, which I should probably get a like to know board instead, so I can make some affiliate commission.
But I have a Pinterest board that shows, you know, different looks and links to things dads can get.
So another really important part of the planning appointment, like with the consultation call, is talking about artwork.
And at this point, they've already seen artwork, right, because we show them on the consultation calls, but this is really where I ask them, "How do you want to enjoy these images when your kids are grown?" And no one is gonna say they wanna log into a digital gallery or open up Dropbox like no one.
Most people want to experience their images in a physical way, and so I'm encouraging them to ask that question to themselves, and then once they tell me what they envision, that's when I'll show them some ideas.
So if they say they love the idea of having a newborn album that they can pass down to their children, I'll show them both the linen and velvet albums if I know they're having, like, a boy not to, like, stereotype colors by any means with gender, but sometimes I'll show them, like, the light blue linen.
It's actually my most popular option, probably because it's the color album I had for my very first sample.
But I'm gonna show them kind of like with the consultation call, when they were talking about their vision for the session and how we showed them images of locations that aligned, I'm gonna show them the artwork that aligns with how they want to enjoy their photos.
So for wall art, I'll, that is a little trickier to show, but I will talk a little bit about how we can customize pieces.
But some clients will, if they're on their laptop or their phone, they'll walk me through their house and show me, like, a wall or two that they would like Walar on.
So I already have some ideas for them and I might share, "Oh, I think actually, like, three, you know, 11 by 14s would look great in that space."
And then if I'm going to their home for, like, a in- home newborn session, that's when I'll snap photos of those particular walls they showed me, and I'll create mock-ups on their walls so they can truly envision their images living there.
So that's the gist of how I do planning appointments.
Again, it's a collaboration based off what they're sharing with me about their vision for the session, as well as how they plan to enjoy their photos.
Yeah, that's perfect.
And the planning call is.
Is really where they already trust you, right? So we're just going to plan everything in detail from their session.
nail down the location.
So we're gonna say, oh, we talked about X, Y, Z locations.
On your consult call, did you decide if you want the rose garden after all, after talking to your husband? Then once we have that nailed down and then we have, like I said, the outfits are really fleshed out, although I do let them, go off on their own and research some more ideas on their own for their kids' outfits, but they have a really good idea of what to look for.
And then now I do, like Marie said, I help them envision more of the artwork in their hands.
So all of this I go based off of what they mentioned in their lead form of what they were already interested in, so that I never feel like I'm pushing something.
Mm-hmm.
If someone.
Want something, they're going into that store to buy it.
So you're not pushing anything that they didn't already want.
So that's what I love about having those questions in detail on the questionnaires and on the lead form.
So we can just go, oh, I know you wanted more info about this, so let's talk more about this.
If they say, oh I really didn't want an album.
I really want.
Frames actually, then I don't go too much into it on the ordering appointment, but I do say at the ordering appointment sorry, I don't go into it too much on the planning call, other than saying, okay, before your session, why don't you take a picture of the wall that you want me to plan it.
The gallery wall for you on, because I have software so that I can create something, a mockup that's exactly in your space to your exact style, your exact taste.
We have a million different options to make sure everything is completely customized to you.
So getting them picturing that and what that process is gonna look like, but I don't wanna overwhelm them too much on the planning call.
With frames because want them thinking about what they want, but I don't want to overwhelm them.
I take things step by step when they're going to order, order something.
Okay, first we get the order in.
Then we worry about the color of the frames, like each step one at a time so that people don't get decision overwhelm.
But you do really wanna go into what the options are on that call.
As many times as you can them envisioning either albums or frames, that's gonna lead to more sales ultimately, absolutely.
And so, now, we're going to talk about the ordering appointment, which is where most photographers freak out and don't wanna be salesy and neither do we.
And the truth is that the ordering appointment is the least salesy aspect of my entire client experience.
We likely will have a strong idea of what clients want to do at this point, so after they see their images, I do a slideshows at the music, that's when I'll reference what we've talked about.
So for example, if during the planning appointment, they told me they were interested in an album and seemed drawn to it, I'll say something along the lines of, "I know you were thinking of a newborn album.
Do you want to go ahead and select the images for that? So I'm never throwing anything their way last minute or, like, forcing them.
It is simply continuing this ongoing conversation that we've been having since the consultation call.
Artwork sales don't happen in the ordering appointment.
So if you take anything away about artwork and ordering appointments, the ordering appointment is not where the sale happens.
They happen way before everything else that you've done.
So you are laying that foundation during the consultation call, you're nurturing it during the planning appointment, during the session, so by the time the ordering appointment comes around, clients likely know what they want to do, or they might want your guidance with determining the best option based off their images.
And clients trust us at this point.
So we'll continue the collaborative process here of them choosing their images for the album but Let me start that over.
Sorry.
So we'll continue the collaborative process here.
So I might have them choose images for the album, but then I will show my expertise if they're torn between a couple of similar images, and I'll share why I think one image will be better than the other for the album.
Perhaps we already got a similar expression from the child in one of the images, so let's go with the other option.
Or if they're torn on frame color, I'll share my suggestion based off the other colors in the room, where they're going to be installed, or what frame options are very flexible with location.
So my client is choosing what aligns with them, but I'm using my expertise to guide them so they're not overwhelmed.
Again, that collaboration continues.
Do you wanna add anything or should I close out? Oh yeah, no.
I wanna add a little bit about ordering appointments what mine looked like.
I don't think I even had anything written though, did I? No.
Yeah, for my ordering appointments, it's really similar to Marie's.
One of the shifts that I made that was inspired by Marie for sure was switching to gallery digital option.
So I used to do, tiers of 10 20.
40 or whatever.
I tried different variations and none of it, I felt like the ordering appointments, it was taking too much time to pick.
Sorry, let me start over there.
One thing that didn't feel great at my ordering appointments was wasting time choosing images to me.
And I feel like if they just have a baseline of is the base cost issue with me is the full GI digital gallery, because that's, I'm gonna edit them all anyway.
And I, I just want it to be a higher level package that anyone who wants to work with me, that's the base thing they have to buy.
There's no working with me if you just want 10 images and be done with it.
That's just not the type of session I want to do, and it wouldn't feel good to me to have that as an option.
So now I switched to, okay, here's the base package, full digital gallery.
Now what else do you wanna do with it? So then the conversation shifts to being focused solely on artwork.
Okay, yeah, you're getting your digitals like no big deal.
Digitals are done.
We don't have to worry about that, but here's how I can help you.
Get these in your hands.
Yes.
Could they take them in DIY, whatever they want.
Yes, but that's not the type of client that I'm attracting anyway.
That's like saying just because you can eat at McDonald's doesn't mean like you'll never eat at a fancy steakhouse, people still want the luxury product and they can't get that from Shutterfly or a mass store online.
So the people who are booking with me are still the ones who they like expensive things.
They wanted the high priced photographer, so why wouldn't they want the high priced beautiful album that they can't do themselves? also.
Think about the service we're providing.
We're taking the design off their hands.
We are physically putting in the order for them.
We are having it arrive completely done for them to their house.
So even though they're getting the full digital gallery, that doesn't mean they're stopping there.
Most of our clients, for both Marie and I, even though we offer that, they're still getting artwork.
So I think that a lot of people are saying.
In the IPS world of oh, if I give them access to their full digital gallery, they'll just do it themselves.
I don't think that's the case.
So what I do is.
I have a slideshow where they see their beautiful images, so we're getting the emotions going with the music they're getting attached to their images.
And then I'll say, I know you wanted an album, so why don't we go through and see how many images you want in that album.
So we'll just go through and you can say, heart or Pass or Next, and then we will go through and just see about how many images you want for your album.
There's no do you still want an album? I'm not being passive about it.
I'm being very blunt.
This is what you said you wanted.
know how amazing it is.
So let's go through and see how many images you want.
And then once they heart images, usually they'll heart like 60 images.
And that's a, that's really.
much for help.
So I'll say, okay, let me help you narrow down from there.
And is there a number you wanna keep it under? Once they see that they've hearted so many, they'll often pick a larger number than if they had initially just said a number off the top head.
if you ask them Mm-hmm.m.
Harding.
How many do you want? They might say oh, I don't know.
22 sounds like enough.
But once they start harting a ton of images, usually they'll get a larger album.
So that works really well for me.
They wanted frames, what I'll do is I'll take that, that, a picture that they sent me before the call, and I'll try to design something ahead of time based on what they said they already wanted.
'cause I don't like designing frames on the call, on the spot.
I know I'm not at that with Swift galleries.
I don't like doing that.
I'd rather design it ahead of time and give them some ideas and then get their feedback on the call.
Let them put, say, okay, I think I wanna do.
Three or four standard sizes, I'll send them the invoice and then we will tweak the design from there.
That's how my ordering appointments work.
But like I said, it really depends.
Blah, blah, blah.
I can't think.
Say sorry.
But luxury experience is not about making it complicated.
It's all of you guys are good at working with your clients in person at this session.
So why would it be any different on the Zoom calls? I think that the Zoom calls are a lot less pressure and stress than people think, and they actually just make things so much easier.
you're trying to send someone a gallery and then expect them to order artwork from that, without these calls, I think you're gonna be very disappointed.
you can just make it really simple, make it a conversation, reaffirming what they already want, and that's what.
What brings in higher sales, making things feel easy and fully guided from start to finish.
So there's no pressure, no awkwardness, no, salesy systems here.
It's really just a conversation.
Yeah, I think that sums it up perfectly.
The process is overall simple.
It's a collaborative conversation and you are helping them, you know, you're helping achieve their vision from what they want for their session to how they enjoy their photos at the end of the day.
Because when a client feels taken care of from the very beginning, they don't need to be convinced of anything.