Calendar for clients to veiw availabilty and/or poss schedule own appointments??

[Rebekah5280]

So my little hobby photography business had grown like wildfire and has become my full-time job. Being a single mom and a small business owner of a super busy high-contact photography business is getting really tough. I can't find the time to return phone calls and I am in sessions nearly everyday so I don't answer any calls during that time.
I've hired an assistant in the past to handle my phone calls and scheduling from last Oct to Dec (the super busy fall and Christmas picture months), but come to find out, she wasn't doing a very good job at returning people's calls either. :/ So now I'm reluctant to hire anyone and my business advisor suggested holding off on that while we review my growing business with a fine-toothed comb to make sure I have everything running as it should be to avoid any sort of fines in the future (business licenses, LLC, accounting, insurance etc..).

So, basically, I want to know if any of you have seen or used a calendar that I can link when people are wanting to schedule an appointment so that they can see my availability without having to talk to me, then talk to the other people that are going to be in the session to make sure it works for everyone, then to call me back to let me know that it DOES work for everyone, but then I have to tell them that it will no longer work for me because someone else has booked it since we last spoke... blah blah blah... lol

What would be even BETTER, is if there were a way that I could empower my clients to make their OWN appointments, given my parameters, and the ability to make their deposit for the appointment they are scheduling all at the same time.

Is there anything like that???? I want something reliable so I don't mind investing $$$$ (Miller's Camera has something similar for free, but I'm not sure if that would be best or if some else has something better?)

Thanks everyone!
~Rebekah

 

[CCericola]

Millers lab offers a free scheduling app that will do just that. But no matter what you have people will still call.

 

[kathyt]

Heck no, I would not have clients schedule their own appointments. This is a HUGE opportunity for you to be educating your clients about their session, discussing products, and getting an overall feel for what it is that they want. You need to get to know your clients as well. This is going to be the clients first impression of you. If you do not have time for this aspect of your business then you are not going to survive very long before you go into complete burn out mode. I would take a step back and re-evaluate my business plan if I were you and start with the basics. You can be a great photographer, but without the service aspect you will spin in circles.

 

[manaheim]

Heck no, I would not have clients schedule their own appointments. This is a HUGE opportunity for you to be educating your clients about their session, discussing products, and getting an overall feel for what it is that they want. You need to get to know your clients as well. This is going to be the clients first impression of you. If you do not have time for this aspect of your business then you are not going to survive very long before you go into complete burn out mode. I would take a step back and re-evaluate my business plan if I were you and start with the basics. You can be a great photographer, but without the service aspect you will spin in circles.

Yeah I tend to agree. Personally if I called someone and they're directed me to a self scheduling app, I would think the vendor either didn't have time for me or didn't care, and I would call someone else.

 

[Light Guru]

Heck no, I would not have clients schedule their own appointments. This is a HUGE opportunity for you to be educating your clients about their session, discussing products, and getting an overall feel for what it is that they want. You need to get to know your clients as well. This is going to be the clients first impression of you. If you do not have time for this aspect of your business then you are not going to survive very long before you go into complete burn out mode. I would take a step back and re-evaluate my business plan if I were you and start with the basics. You can be a great photographer, but without the service aspect you will spin in circles.

Yup its a bad idea. Do you want customers to view having you photography them as cheep commodity or as a personalized service.

I've hired an assistant in the past to handle my phone calls and scheduling from last Oct to Dec (the super busy fall and Christmas picture months), but come to find out, she wasn't doing a very good job at returning people's calls either. :/ So now I'm reluctant to hire anyone

Sounds like you did not do a good job in the hiring process.

I would say ether hire an assistant (and put a LOT of effort into hiring them and also compensate them WELL for their work) or raise your prices and book less appointment's. You could also do both.

 

[dbvirago]

To answer the calendar question, I have been using Calendarwiz.com in another business. Does a great job and it's somewhere between free and cheap

 

[Majeed Badizadegan]

Hire an assistant who will actually call people back.

 

[rlemert]

Having someone live to answer the phone when potential clients call does several things. First, when done right it generates a positive first impression. Part of "making the sale" is making the customer feel you care about them, and having a competent, professional voice answering their questions and providing extra information goes a long way toward doing that. Requiring them to do part of your work for you may seem like a reasonable request, but it's more likely to drive people away. (Consider the self-checkout lanes at the grocery store. I won't use them, and I've left things behind when they've tried to insist that I have to.)

The other thing having you (or your designated proxy) schedule the appointments is that it keeps control of your calendar in your hands. YOU will be able to determine how much time will be required based on your understanding of the customer's needs and desires. They will usually assume that 30 minutes is always enough (and certainly the cheapest option) because, after all, "all you're doing is taking a bunch of pictures."

I think your business adviser is right that your first priority is to step back and make sure you have all your ducks lined up. Your next step should then be to analyze why your previous assistant wasn't getting the job done for you like you wanted. Was she unable to meet your standards/needs, or just unwilling to? Was she willing and able, but not given clear guidelines and expectations?

You might prefer to be "down in the trenches taking the pictures," but your business MUST be managed if it's going to succeed, and since it's your business it's up to you to provide that management. You can hire people to help you with certain aspects, and you can delegate to them the authority to act on certain matters, but in the end you CANNOT delegate the responsibility. If you try, you might as well start working for someone else.

 

[Big Mike]

I agree with most of the others. I've listened in on some conversations about photographers using some sort of on-line client calendar and it's usually deemed a bad idea. If you are truly busy enough to need it, then you should probably hire someone to take care of it for you. As you have seen, hiring the right person isn't as easy as it sounds...but that's nothing new, and certainly not limited to the photography industry.

You might even consider it a 'sales' position, because this person will be your first line of contact with your clients. The right person in that job could increase your revenue by more than enough to justify their costs.

Another tip (applies to all small business owners, not just photography) is to look at not only your business but your life, and see what can be outsourced.
For example, if you can hire someone to do your yard work, or other household chores...that would free up some time. The obvious one for a photographer is the post processing. If you can find someone to do some/most/all of your post processing...that can really free up a lot of time.

You can use that time to be behind the camera, which is where you make your money...or you can use that time to spend with your family, which can be very precious time...especially when running a small business.

 

[amolitor]

You might need to schedule more time to take care of your business than you are. That means blocking out time that you cannot use for shooting, and then sticking to it.

 

[runnah]

You might need to schedule more time to take care of your business than you are. That means blocking out time that you cannot use for shooting, and then sticking to it.

Somebody somewhere had a humorous but insightful graph that showed taking pictures to be roughly 10% of time spent.

 

[Big Mike]

One way to look at it, is how much your time is worth, to the company...as the main (only) photographer.
Let's say that your shooting time is worth $100/hr. Well then, it's going to be better off if you can pay someone $25/hr to do the post processing...as long as you can use that time to actually be behind the camera, making more money. Same thing applies to dealing with calls & customers.

The problem is that you have to be busy enough, have enough business so that you can be shooting as much as possible.

 

[kathyt]

One way to look at it, is how much your time is worth, to the company...as the main (only) photographer.
Let's say that your shooting time is worth $100/hr. Well then, it's going to be better off if you can pay someone $25/hr to do the post processing...as long as you can use that time to actually be behind the camera, making more money. Same thing applies to dealing with calls & customers.

The problem is that you have to be busy enough, have enough business so that you can be shooting as much as possible.

Yeah, you need to be super high volume and high dollar to justify someone taking over the sales/appointments. I think I watched a Scott Kelby seminar regarding this a while back.

 

[Rebekah5280]

Right now, idealy, I'd like to only have 7 sessions per week. This I could manage on my own.
HOWEVER, I am averaging about 13 per week, with an occasional wedding thrown in there (about 2-3 per month) and I'm still booking out 3 months.

I'm from a decent sized small town and my photography business is priced in the middle of the crappy and the well-established photographers in my area.
I have a tough time saying no to anyone, but I'm trying to change that. I do block time in my schedule to edit/handle business stuff, but I usually will fill that time with a sob story of "but I can only book something on that day because my moms mom and her moms mom and ONLY going to be in town for THAT day and this may be the last time we have great grandmother in town for a picture etc..." so I know that some of this is my fault... :/

I would always follow up a scheduled appointment with a personal phone call. I'm just trying to avoid the back and forth of when are you available, when am I available type of thing. I just want it to be straight forward. So maybe instead of have a self-scheduling system, just having an availability calendar that I can direct people to if they are trying to schedule an appointment but can't seem to figure out a date that will work. lol

 

[kathyt]

Right now, idealy, I'd like to only have 7 sessions per week. This I could manage on my own.
HOWEVER, I am averaging about 13 per week, with an occasional wedding thrown in there (about 2-3 per month) and I'm still booking out 3 months.

I'm from a decent sized small town and my photography business is priced in the middle of the crappy and the well-established photographers in my area.
I have a tough time saying no to anyone, but I'm trying to change that. I do block time in my schedule to edit/handle business stuff, but I usually will fill that time with a sob story of "but I can only book something on that day because my moms mom and her moms mom and ONLY going to be in town for THAT day and this may be the last time we have great grandmother in town for a picture etc..." so I know that some of this is my fault... :/

I would always follow up a scheduled appointment with a personal phone call. I'm just trying to avoid the back and forth of when are you available, when am I available type of thing. I just want it to be straight forward. So maybe instead of have a self-scheduling system, just having an availability calendar that I can direct people to if they are trying to schedule an appointment but can't seem to figure out a date that will work. lol

If I were taking on this amount of clients, which I never would even full time, I would expect to be making six figures. This is an extreme amount of clients to be able to handle and be given proper care to. I really hate to be a Debbie downer, I usually am not, but you are heading for a disaster.