***WEDDING PHOTOGRAPHERS, PLEASE READ ME !!!***

HOW MANY TIMES SHOULD YOU FOLLOW UP A WEDDING PHOTOGRAPHY ENQUIRY?

Do you know the answer? Is it twice, three times, six times or not at all?

Well quiet simply it’s until they book or tell you they have booked someone else.

I know from a lot of research I’ve carried out over the past few years that 90% of wedding photographers are not following up their enquiries, and what’s worse is they are responding to the initial enquiry in completely the wrong way.

The key to turning those enquiries into bookings is persistence, but it’s not done by hounding the bride into submission or reducing your price quote until she takes the bait. It’s done by building up a relationship with her from that initial enquiry and showing interest in her wedding by keeping the conversation open, using questions she will respond to.

For example, she first asks you for a price quote telling you the date and venue for the wedding. The first stage to your reply before you even talk about yourself and your photography is to congratulate her and compliment her on her fantastic choice of wedding venue.

If you’ve worked at the venue before then great tell her that and mention something about the venue that can lead to a conversation, for example “Wow I just love Newton Hall, it’s one of my favourite wedding venues, the staircase is beautiful for photography and the food is just amazing, have you eaten there yet?”

If you are responding to her via Facebook Messenger or Text this is a great way to get the dialogue going and build a relationship with her in short, friendly, open messages. Remember people buy from people they like.

Once you’ve asked a few questions about her wedding you then need to format your price quote, but again don’t make this just a standard copy and pasted reply, you need to personalise it as much as you can adding details unique to her wedding and her venue.

You MUST reply with a very well written emotionally driven price quote this is the real key to selling the benefits of your wedding photography and creating a real desire in her mind for your services, NOT trying to win her over with special offers or price reductions.

I can’t overstate enough how important an emotionally driven price quote is to turning an enquiry into a booking and so many photographers don’t even bother. They just send a bog standard crappy impersonal reply the same as anyone else does. This is your time to shine and really stand out. Remember she’s not going to book on price alone, especially if it’s a mid-priced to premium wedding venue, she’s not looking at budgets she’s looking at what you can do for her.

Tell her how you will take care of them on the big day, how fun and relaxed the photography will be, how she will have photographs of every one of her family and loved ones that she’s invited to this, never to be repeated, special occasion. This is what is important NOT how much it costs, because if it all goes “tits up” because she hired a cheap photographer then price is totally irrelevant. These memories are priceless.

If you want to learn more about emotionally driven responses then drop me a message as my Mini Marketing and Mentoring Class for Wedding Photographers is just what you need to turn your enquiries into cash in the bank.

Make sure that you end your price quote by thanking her again for her enquiry and telling her to drop you a message if she needs any help or advice with any other aspect of her wedding planning, as you have plenty of contacts in the wedding industry. As wedding photographers we all build up a network of trusted suppliers and vendors we enjoy working with and it’s good to offer your personal recommendations to others.

Give it a few days then follow up with a friendly message asking how the wedding planning is going and if there’s anything else you can do to help or if she has any questions. Quiet often a bride will tell you that she’s just in the process of gathering quotes, which is fine you just need to be the photographer who is at the forefront of her mind. Keep building the relationship and keep the conversation open. I have a great little “Guide to Booking a Wedding Photographer” that I send to my bridal enquiries if they haven’t booked after the second follow-up message (I’d be happy to share this with you if you drop me a message). Remember don’t be pushy, be helpful, friendly and informative. The chances are your competitors have stopped contacting after the initial response.

I once had a bride thank me for following up about 4 weeks after her initial enquiry, she’d just been in the process of moving house and it had slipped her mind that she needed to book her wedding photographer. Sometimes it’s just a good idea to remind a bride how important it is to secure their wedding date early on, especially if it’s a summer wedding. If you get another enquiry for the same date as hers then drop her a message offering her first refusal, this is often a good way to close the booking without putting the pressure on or sounding too salesy.

As always if you have any comments please feel free to share them with me and let me know how you get on with formatting your emotionally driven replies and follow up responses. If you need any help drop me a message.

Thanks for following guys and happy photographing, Jeff.