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Make a cool Lead Capture Form - Melissa Rich
207 Plays1 year ago
Happy Woo Wednesdays! A new episode just dropped with the amazing Melissa Rich.
Hot Topic: Make a cool Lead Capture Form
Melissa Rich is the founder of Virtually Done Systems, a business dedicated to all things systems and workflows for wedding pros. She's spent the last 15 years behind the camera as a full-time wedding photographer, secretly enjoying all of the behind-the-scenes work more than her time making pictures. Now, Melissa specializes in helping busy wedding professionals get their lives back by implementing proven, pre-strategized systems, workflows, and automations to take care of the day-to-day tasks that stress them out so they can fall back in love with their businesses and devote themselves to their craft.
Favorite sales technique : How do you get a HECK YES from your dream clients?
Making them fall back in love with each other when they're in front of you, or using the "dangerous" question aka: You could go with someone else, why do you want to work with me?
Free Workflow Building Workbook: A 20 page workbook that walks you through exactly the steps to take to build a killer client experience workflow on your own. https://view.flodesk.com/pages/63d7fc66b4f015f30446e2ab craft.
https://virtuallydonesystems.com/
https://www.instagram.com/virtuallydonesystems/
Connect with Carissa Woo
https://www.instagram.com/carissawoo
Free masterclass: How to get on your 1st venue vendor list
https://app.hiro.fm/channel/get-on-your-1st-venue-vendor-list
Recommended
Transcript
Introduction to Melissa from Missouri
00:00:00
Speaker
Happy Woo Wednesdays everyone! Today I have Melissa from Missouri in the house with Virtually Done Systems. She's been a wedding photographer for 15 years and she recently retired. That's amazing girl. Today we talk all about lead capture and I love her little tip about having a little video on your thank you page. It's so personal. After this conversation, I actually changed my lead capture form immediately.
00:00:27
Speaker
And I love how she gets her heck yes from her dream clients. I love how she paints their dream wedding. It's so amazing.
00:00:35
Speaker
So a little bit of news, I have a new book coming out three years in the making. It's called Woo Them to Heck Yes, a pro wedding photographer's tips for earning six figures plus and perfecting any couple's big day. It's amazing, I'm holding it in my hand with beautiful, beautiful photos, but also just pretty much everything. How to Get to Heck Yes, How to Get on the Vendor List, How to Land Your Dream Clients,
00:01:04
Speaker
But if you don't read, I also have a new course coming out about how to get on your first venue vendor list. The holy grail of lists! So be on the lookout for the book and the new course. Enjoy this episode!
The 'Get a Heck Yes' Podcast Overview
00:01:21
Speaker
Welcome to Get a Heck Yes with Carissa Wu. I'm your host, Carissa, and I've been a Los Angeles wedding photographer for over a decade. I've traveled the world, built my team, and seen it all. I now coach wedding photographers hit 10K a month and build a thriving business. In this podcast, we are going to deep dive into how top wedding creatives get that heck yes from their dream clients. We are not holding back on the struggles of the business and how to push through the noise. Some healthy hustle, mindset shifts, up-leveling your money story,
00:01:49
Speaker
Time hacks because I'm a mom of two, a little bit of woo woo, and most importantly, self-love and confidence are just a few of the many things we will talk about. I want to give you a genuine thank you for following along my journey. I hope to inspire you every Woo Wednesday so that you say heck yes to listening to this podcast. See you guys soon.
From Photography to Systems and Workflows
00:02:12
Speaker
Hey guys, you know me, I'm Carissa Woo. Welcome back to get a heck yes.
00:02:17
Speaker
I have a very special guest. Her name is Melissa Rich, and she is a founder of Virtually Done Systems, a business dedicated to all things systems.
00:02:27
Speaker
and workflows for wedding professionals. She spent the last 15 years behind the camera as a full-time wedding photographer in Kansas City, and she secretly enjoyed all the behind-the-scenes work more than her time making pictures. Now Melissa specializes in helping busy wedding professionals get their lives back by implementing proven, pre-strategized systems, workflows, and automation to take care of the day-to-day tasks
00:02:54
Speaker
that stress you guys out so you could fall back in love with your business. Woo woo. Melissa Rich is in the house because she's a rich girl. She used to retire this year. So tell us about your retirement after 15 years of being a wedding photographer.
00:03:09
Speaker
Oh my gosh, it was crazy. It kind of actually started when the pandemic hit. So I work with my husband and we have two businesses, a wedding brand and a corporate and event brand and the pandemic hit and we all know how that happened. So I started working a little bit as a virtual assistant and I found that I loved working with the clients the most that let me come into their business and help them with their systems, get their back ends in order because it made their lives so much easier.
00:03:34
Speaker
And so I decided to make a business out of it and not just do virtual assistant work, but fall back in Lopez systems and really devote my life and what I do to helping my clients get their lives back and make their lives easier and all that good stuff. So it's been so much fun.
Melissa's Journey in Photography
00:03:49
Speaker
Yeah, the cool thing about pandemic was like me and you've been doing it for so long. And then we could sit back and be like, hey, we know a lot. Yes, yes, absolutely. Well, and I worked on like a process management team for a big corporate company while we were starting our photography business. So I had all of that background that I loved, but never got to use in the photography world. So nice, nice. Okay, take us back to little Melissa Rich.
00:04:16
Speaker
Let's see, growing up, what were you like, going to college, your hobbies, what got you started into wedding photography? Oh, my gosh, as a kid, I was a little bookworm, a little nerd, I would rather be inside reading a book than outside playing. I'm still like that to this day. But I went to school and I went to school for communication. So I have a degree in like public speaking and everything like that. But I never knew
00:04:39
Speaker
what i wanted to be when i grew up i didn't have this firm vision of i'm gonna be a teacher or a photographer or anything like that so i worked i grew up in a teeny tiny town and there was one photographer in town and she did everything and so in high school i was her assistant and helped with weddings
00:04:56
Speaker
And so fast forward a few years to college and my boyfriend was a photographer at the time. And he was like, hey, my friend asked me to shoot their wedding. Will you come along to like hold my camera gear? And I was like, sure. And we had been dating so little that we had never even gotten into like high school jobs and that kind of thing. You know what I mean?
00:05:14
Speaker
So come the wedding day, I'm like straightening bow ties and fixing bouquets and fluffing dresses and everything like that. And he's like, what the hell are you doing? Like, get out of my picture. And I'm like, just wait, it'll make it so much better. So that's how we started. And then after a few years, I got tired of trying to tell him how to execute the picture that I saw in my head. And so I finally just picked up a camera and started shooting. And the rest is history. We became both primary shooters for our company. And that was that.
00:05:43
Speaker
Is this your boyfriend, no husband? Yes. I was going to say I'm into like tall Asian men. You're into photographers, clearly. Right? Yeah, yeah. Yes. That would be him. Guilty as charged. What was your photography name? We were Revas Wedding. So Revas is his last name. And mine, well, I'd never changed my name, but it would mine too. Everybody knew him more than they knew me. So and then our corporate brand is Revas Media as well too. So we just kind of went with
00:06:13
Speaker
name thing. You know
Distinct Photography Style and Client Engagement
00:06:14
Speaker
what I mean? Yeah, yeah, yeah. What was your roof factor for your photography wedding business and what's your roof factor for the systems? Oh my gosh. Oh, so my roof factor for my photography business was different. So everybody in the photography industry, especially here in the mess in the Midwest does light and airy and beautiful and dreamy and everything like that. And we were
00:06:34
Speaker
bold and punchy and contrasty and in your face and the exact opposite of that and so a little bit of that has carried over into my systems business if you will i think my factor now is that i'm not afraid to take the norm and dump it on its head if you want to go against the green a little bit.
00:06:50
Speaker
everybody thinks and says that systems have to be one way or have to work a certain way and that's just honestly not the truth at all when it comes down to it has to work for you so scrap it it's good it's like photography it's good to have a foundation and to know the rules if you will like the rule of thirds and everything but once you know the rules break them and make it work for you so that's kind of.
00:07:11
Speaker
You got a little baddie. I don't know that I should go that far, but I appreciate you thinking that. What's like one of the out of the norm system? We're going to talk all things systems and leak captures.
00:07:25
Speaker
out of the box system that you help weddings with. Oh my gosh. So one thing that I know so many wedding pros are scared of is the automation, right? Automating these emails and making them sound, they're terrified that they're going to sound robotic and impersonal and that clients are going to be able to tell that it's an automated email. And there are so many ways to make that not happen. There are so many ways to customize it, to tweak it, to use tools within CRMs to make it so that an automated email sounds like a personally
00:07:53
Speaker
handwritten email when it's just, you just hit approve to send it and it's gone. You know what I mean? So I'm a big fan of those. Talk nerdy to me. I love it. When I was reading your questionnaire, I was like, Ooh, I love the mapping and all the things that you can systemize. How do you get your heck? Yes. From your dream client. Now that pandemic, you went into the education world. How do I get my heck? Yes. From my clients. I like to make them.
00:08:23
Speaker
This is going to sound kind of crazy, but I like to draw their dream life for them, right? Like, so my whole thing for my clients is you're going to get your life back. You're going to get time back. And so what does that look like to you? I want you to literally tell me how are you going to spend three hours of your life that you're going to get back from using systems and automations? You know what I mean? For some clients, it's walking their dog or it's spending time with their kids. For others, it's taking the yoga classes where it always wanted to take or taking a painting class.
00:08:49
Speaker
kind of varies. You know what I mean? And so I literally like to paint that picture for them. And then it's like, okay, so we've talked about this, but why are you choosing me to do this? Like you could pick a million other systems experts. Why, why do you have to work with me? And so then it's that aspect of, and I did this in my wedding photography business too. We did this with our clients at the end of every meeting. And it's that aspect of here's what it could be like to work together. Now I'm going to take it away from you. And I want you to tell me why you want to work with me again too.
00:09:18
Speaker
Oh, that's a dangerous question. I know. I knew you were gonna say that. I just I read the questionnaire. I was like, I'm gonna steal that for you because I'm gonna speak to the whippa in like 30 minutes. And I'll give you a shout out though. Oh, gosh, no, please, by all means. Here's the thing, community, we all learn from each other and grow from each other. You know what I mean? And just because you learn something in one area of your life doesn't mean that it's not applicable to another area or another person. So
00:09:44
Speaker
That question is so crazy and I love how you paint the picture for them like to get their life back and it actually gave me like chills just feeling that like emotion and that's what it's all about. What was the biggest struggle on your business for I guess wedding photography and how did you overcome it?
00:10:04
Speaker
Oh, it was being it was our root factor as well. So being different is hard and it's really hard. I mean, specifically in our market because everybody wants the same thing. And so it was being able to not be afraid to be different and not be afraid to stand out and stand for what you believe instead of going with the norm. You know what I mean? And I think that as a business owner, as a photographer, especially,
00:10:27
Speaker
standing up for what you believe in and producing the work that not only you love, but your clients love can be so hard sometimes because everybody wants this trend or that trend or this thing, but sticking to what you love can just be hard. So I think that would be it for sure. Totally. And once you find that you have to like stick to your gut and then keep talking about it and like that's what I was struggled with for coaching. I was like,
00:10:52
Speaker
I would do something, make a course or a program and then maybe like, Oh, I want to do this instead of like, no, it was actually right the first time. You just have to like, keep, keep talking about it or finding that we're finding that we're finding. Yes. Yes.
00:11:05
Speaker
Cool, cool. Okay, so I guess last question before our hot topic, but let's see. How do you spend a typical goal today in your life? That's a good one. Oh my gosh, there is no typical day in my life right now, to be honest with you. I actually just chatted about this this morning on Instagram. So I am a planner, right? I will sit down and I will plan out my quarter and I will plan out my year and how I want to do things and launches and all that stuff. And then life happens, right?
00:11:30
Speaker
And so I struggle with that. So every day I'm like, oh, Monday is going to be my CEO day. Tuesday, I'm going to work on marketing. That never, never happens. Right. So especially this year. And so I'm learning to go with the flow. Right. So a typical day is get up, take the dogs out. We have two corgis. They're spoiled rotten.
00:11:47
Speaker
Sit down, do email, do a little bit of CEO work, whether it's checking my media, my corporate brands email and sending those voices out or my email and that kind of thing. Touching base with clients, engaging on social media, of course. And then I like to get a little bit of marketing work in first thing in the day while my brain is nice and fresh.
00:12:08
Speaker
I downloaded this app a while back and it helps you figure out when you are most productive and when you will be able to focus the most. And so my time is morning. And so that's when I do all of my hard work is in the morning. So marketing presentations, that kind of thing. And then afternoon, I leave for client projects and anything else that needs to get done. Meetings, that kind of thing, too. And then wrap up with I'm trying to be better about prioritizing, taking care of myself. So wrap up with maybe like an exercise before dinner, walk the dogs, that kind of thing.
00:12:38
Speaker
Not super exciting. Pretty boring. Yeah, no, that's a great answer. What is that app called? It's called Rise. It's a sleep app, actually. You have to pay for it. And I was like, I don't know if I want to pay $50 for an app to tell me when I do my best work. You know what I mean? But it has been so immensely helpful. It tracks your sleep and it helps you gauge every day when you're productive, when you're not going to be able to focus as much. And so implementing that into my life has just been like,
00:13:08
Speaker
Oh, this is like, kind of sounds like I'm drinking the special Kool-Aid, but it actually works, so. I'm all about that special Kool-Aid. Right?
00:13:17
Speaker
That's awesome. That's a great answer. Very inspiring. Okay. We're going to talk about lead capture for us. Why is that so exciting? Because it's easy. Yes, it's easy. And it's like one of the most underutilized tools that we have. You know what I mean? Yay. Yeah. Right before this podcast, I just sent a screenshot of your
00:13:38
Speaker
IG pose and I sent it to my VA and I was like, hey, can you keep me accountable for changing my lead capture? Because mine's a little bit boring. I think I have two questions that are like very similar and they're like, oh, like I just answered that. Cool. So cool. This topic because our audience could change us up today or tomorrow or whenever you're most productive. But tell us about your lead capture form and we're going to go into three tips. But why is this topic so near and dear to your heart?
00:14:08
Speaker
Oh my gosh, this is what kicks off your client experience, right? I mean, kicks off. They're actually connecting with you. Sure. They've seen you on Instagram. They've read your website. You may be messaging back and forth, but this is the first like business step forward with your clients, right? So you want to put your best foot forward and it's an easy way to start expressing your brand and everything like that. But it's so important because you want to give them that amazing experience from the get-go and you don't just want it to be like,
00:14:34
Speaker
name, venue, wedding date, message. Everybody does that, you know what I mean? And so if you do what everybody else does, they're going to expect the same things from you that they get from everybody else and you are not like everybody else. Yeah, I love that. I remember just being on a sales call and I think she was a copywriter, but she asked me these like really cool questions. She's like,
00:14:54
Speaker
Are you like a wine or beer drinker? And then like, when do you like to party? I was like, oh, I like this type of wine. I was like, oh my God. That's such a fun question. Right. Yes. Cool. Okay. Take us away with tip number one.
Lead Capture and Client Attraction Strategies
00:15:11
Speaker
Yeah. So tip number one is that you have to incorporate your brand and fuse your brand into your lead capture form, right? So like I said,
00:15:18
Speaker
don't just ask the same basic questions. For instance, if your business has a tagline, I know that in our wedding photography business, our tagline was for couples who want something different, right? So our last question on our lead capture forum is what's going to make your wedding day different from everybody else's in Kansas City? Or you know what I mean? If you don't have a tagline, what's one thing that your business
00:15:39
Speaker
stands for. If you're all about creating a romantic dreamy experience for your clients, what does your dream wedding photo look like? What does dreamy mean to you? What's the most romantic thing you've ever done? Come up with something that ties into your business. This will do two things for you. One, your clients are going to be like, oh, that's a little different. I'm kind of liking that. You know what I mean? So you're going to stand out a little bit. But two, it's going to tell you something about the people that are filling out your form too.
00:16:04
Speaker
So this is a question that I don't like to make required because you require a name, require a date, require a venue, sure. Don't make this required because if they take the time to actually fill it out and answer your question, they are your dream clients. But if they're not willing to play on your sandbox and answer your question, do you really want to work with them? Are they really your ideal client? You know what I mean?
00:16:25
Speaker
So you kind of have to listen in and you can learn a lot from one little silly question if you will. Yeah I'm all about like I play tennis but I always say like bringing the ball back to your court type of thing. Yes. And this is one way because the people that inquire for me and then they just literally write
00:16:44
Speaker
I need your prices. I don't even email them back. I'm just like, I know what type of client that is. And that's not where I want to spend my nine hours that day for sure. No, not at all. And if they're not willing to engage with you and interact with you, like you said, do you really want to spend nine, 10, 12 hours with them?
00:17:03
Speaker
No, no, no, no. Since me and you talk really, really fast, like our energies are so on fire right now. Let's dive deep a little bit into it. Like what are some things that people have responded to that question? Oh my gosh. We have gotten so many things. We love Kansas City or we're from Boston and so, but we're from Kansas City. So we're talking barbecue Boulevard, which is a local brewery, all the things we have. We had a couple last year who was like, well, I have purple hair.
00:17:32
Speaker
And he loves Game of Thrones, so we're going to do a Game of Thrones, get a Game of Thrones single built for our designed for our wedding invitations and flag and everything like that. And everything's going to be constellation themed, right? So this bride had like light up lights incorporated in her hair and her dress had stars and moons all over it. And it was just stinking gorgeous. But we knew right off the bat.
00:17:54
Speaker
you are ours. You know what I mean? You are our kind of people. So I love that. Yeah. It's kind of like when you get hyped up for them, they could feel that. Yes. Yeah. Someone like said, Oh, like if they want to do this and this and this, I'm just like, Yes. Exactly. Cool. Cool. Cool. I love that tip. Okay. So brand related questions, because that's the start of the experience. Take us away with tip number two.
00:18:24
Speaker
I didn't know how to get into spaces that I wasn't invited into. My aha moment was I finally found a venue that I jammed with and I think that we're gonna have a great relationship so I'm super excited to be on their list.
00:18:41
Speaker
I have presented myself, my art, and my business in a way that is speaking to someone, that is speaking to somebody enough where they recognize my brand. They know who I am and I don't know who they are, which is amazing, and they want to work with me. Yep, she's just one of my dozens of students crushing it.
00:19:03
Speaker
Go on my website, www.hecyesmedia.co and book a 15 minute strategy session with me only if you want to be booked out on multiple preferred vendor lists and have a proven marketing plan. Don't be afraid to call your clients out, especially your ideal clients in your lead capture forum. Now, what I meant, what I mean by this is like, don't be afraid to say we're a match made in heaven if you believe in or if you are
00:19:33
Speaker
these things, right? I saw a photographer doing this, gosh, probably 10 or 15 years to go on their website. And I was like, Oh, that's scandalous. They're saying exactly who their ideal client is and who they won't work with. And I just blew my mind. But a few years later, we incorporate, I did this and it's like,
00:19:49
Speaker
Okay. All right. I'm digging it. You know what I mean? So for instance, we might be perfect for each other if your love language is tacos, 90s alternative music, and pistachio ice cream or something like that. You know what I mean? You love to spend your Saturday at the dog park with your dog, or you can't get enough of road trips through the Colorado Rockies.
00:20:10
Speaker
whatever you love and your brand stands for odds are your ideal client's going to like a little bit of that too. You know what I mean? So don't be afraid to call them out. And opposite to that, don't be afraid to say we are not going to be the best match for each other. If you like, let's, let's take like documentary based photography, right? So if you're a documentary photographer and you just capture moments, we're not going to be a good fit. If you like super strict posed photos, if you, if the formal family photos are most important to you,
00:20:37
Speaker
or if you only want to work off of a shot list or that kind of thing. All of those are great for another kind of photographer, but maybe not for you. And so it's okay to say that as well too. You're not wasting their time or your time by being just open and honest.
00:20:51
Speaker
Yeah, I have a random story. I was, I have this assistant, she's like very into like manifestation and like the secret. And I work with a lot of sometimes like interns come with me and they're younger. And she was asking them like, like, what type of girl are you looking for? Because he was in the market. And he said, like, he didn't know. And she told him, well, if you don't know your future
00:21:18
Speaker
Like girl, it's gonna be, I don't know. It's gonna be a question mark. Like if you don't write like your checklist, like what you want, you really could get God knows who.
00:21:32
Speaker
You're so right. And so oftentimes I know that as like a self-employed human who is relying on bringing your own income and you're like, I don't want to turn anybody away. It's money. I need to make money. I need to book, but like you don't want to be, this goes back to like meshing well with your clients, right? You don't want to be working with somebody who you don't mesh well with for all day long. So it's kind of.
00:21:53
Speaker
I'll ask you a question right before our third tip, but if you were to, cause you've been doing this for a long time, 15 years, now you're tired, so it doesn't matter. But if you were to tell yourself like any branding advice, like when your first two years, what would you tell yourself? Be true to you.
00:22:10
Speaker
be true to you. So when we started our wedding photography business, we were kids and we didn't know what we were doing. And so we evolved into this, we have to create the perfect portrait, formal portrait for every single client. And we focused on perfection so much. And seven years into our business, we were just
00:22:26
Speaker
to be honest, miserable. We hated our lives because we were only focused on documenting the most perfect, I say documenting, we were only focused on creating the most perfect moment all day long. As you know, perfect doesn't exist no matter how hard you try, right? And so we were just miserable and we were like, we just want to capture what's happening in front of us. And so we went through, we took a workshop, we went through a whole rebranding phase and we went from super formal, stiff, rigid,
00:22:53
Speaker
very luxurious to play it by the cuff, raw, emotional in your face. Like nothing's perfect. It's all just real. And that is exactly who we were from the beginning. And we just didn't know it. So you have to stick to who you are. I got chills again. That must have been so like freeing for you and your hubby.
00:23:13
Speaker
It was hard. It came at a hard point in our life. Seven years into any relationship is hard. You know what I mean? That seven to 10 year mark is hard. We had just sold our house and moved and we were like, we're unhappy and we're making all these changes. What's wrong? Well, it has to do with our work.
00:23:29
Speaker
And so we spent probably a year just reworking our brand and defining a new ideal client and everything, just figuring out who we were and what we wanted to be. And by the time we announced it and released it, all of our friends and family and our clients were like, this is the most you thing that you've ever done. How have you not done this before? And it was just transformative. Oh, I love that. I feel like, yeah, the other way when you want to get like every nook and cranny, like,
00:23:57
Speaker
pose like perfection, you're kind of setting yourself for failure. Oh my gosh. Yes, exactly. Exactly. I love it. Okay, so take us away with tip number three. Yes. So this is one of my favorites. And this is something that I didn't think about until a couple of years ago. But when it dawned on me, I was like, how have we been do not been doing this?
00:24:15
Speaker
So you know how when you submit a forum and this little message pops up and you're like, oh, a form has been completed. And you're like, okay, great. What happens now, right? Don't just show that this form has been completed. Box to your text, to your clients when they fill out your form. Instead, do something else.
00:24:30
Speaker
Most forums and most CRMs will give you the opportunity to either show a message or redirect your client somewhere. Redirect them. Oh my goodness. Take them someplace else where you can engage with them, right? So don't just say thanks because then they're like, okay, onto the next form that I'm going to fill out.
00:24:46
Speaker
Instead, take them someplace they can engage. Instagram is great. If you're there all the time, TikTok is great. Go wherever they are. I'm a big fan of also taking them to a super personal thank you page on your website. We did this in our business where they filled out the forum, then they get shown a big face of two corgis with their tongues out and us laughing like fools behind them. Oh, we're so dang excited you filled out our forum. You know what I mean?
00:25:09
Speaker
just super personal, but don't leave them hanging. One, they're gonna wonder if you even got their message just by that little box popping up, you know what I mean? And two, what comes next, you know what I mean? So take them someplace fun where you can engage, tell them what they can expect, when they can expect to hear back from you, what their next steps might be, all of that good stuff. So you can give them something to go off of while they're still super hot and excited about working together. Oh, I love that. I just thought of this, but you said like that,
00:25:39
Speaker
they're excited but it's kind of like sales is kind of like serotonin almost like they have to be excited and that's when you know price isn't really an issue like what is 3k versus 5k when like it's your wedding day or so it's a little bit of like that extra boost of like yes oh my god i want to work with her like she's so fun like yes i never thought about that like i i have you know bought some
00:26:05
Speaker
a lot of things, but sometimes when they have that thank you page and they have a message, you're just like, oh my God, what did they have to say? Like, oh, thank you for hearing me or seeing me. And I never had that on my inquiry form. So that's next level. Yeah. I love it. And kind of tagging onto that, this is something that is super controversial as well too, but I'm a big believer in take them to a thank you page and then send an automatic lead responder to them immediately in their inbox.
00:26:33
Speaker
That way they can be like, they did get my message. Maybe they're checking their calendar. You know what I mean? Again, it gives them something to do. They're like, I heard back from them first. And we all know that in the wedding world, the early bird gets the worm. So the sooner you get back to somebody, the better your chances are at booking them. So send that email, like, get in their inbox.
00:26:51
Speaker
Yeah, it blows my mind. I'm so fabric blasted like thinking that people spend like two days to get back to people like I try to get back to them like in a second. So right. Exactly. That's crazy. Okay. What are your favorite like companies you use to automate your workloads?
00:27:09
Speaker
How long do you have? No, I'm just kidding. I'm just kidding. In my business to automate, I love working with Devsado for my CRM. And I love using that paired with ClickUp for like a project management task, right? So Devsado handles all of my automated client front facing communication. ClickUp handles all of my behind the scenes tasks and work that I need to get done. And then they're connected by Zapier. So I know that one's talking to the other and prompting to create this task or that task for so on and so forth. So I love
00:27:38
Speaker
that threesome. I also really love using plan for my social media because you can automate and schedule out all of your content, which I'm a big fan of. I love Airtable for collecting data, where my leads are coming from, how much time I'm spending on their projects, all of that good stuff. As a photographer, I could not live without funding
00:28:00
Speaker
and pick time and all of the marketing and sales emails that come with pick time because that was like, hello, automatic gallery sale. Thank you in my inbox. You know what I mean? That was a can't live without. Um, and I think we used later for all of our like social media stuff for our wedding photography business, but you have, ultimately there's no right or wrong tool. You just have to use what works for you the best, especially as a creative. I'm laughing because I think me and you should make a wrap.
00:28:29
Speaker
I posted on TikTok and Instagram and I think we'll go viral. It'll be like, funny, so funny. That's a fun idea. Oh my gosh. Oh my God. Okay. I think I've read on the questionnaire or your Instagram posts that you had another tip for this.
00:28:51
Speaker
or that? What does that mean? Oh, yes. Again, this goes along the lines of calling your clients out, but just to really get to know them a little bit, ask them, what do you prefer? Are you a coffee couple or are you cocktails?
Building Relationships and Work-Life Balance
00:29:06
Speaker
Do you like taco night or are you enchiladas? Are you guac or queso? I say these things because
00:29:11
Speaker
My dream date is like Mexican food and ice cream, right? So that's where my brain goes. But again, these are similar qualities that we loved in our relationship. So your clients will probably like one of these things too, right? If you meet with your clients, you don't want to assume that everybody likes coffee and wants to meet in the morning. So ask them if they're coffee or cocktail people. And if they reply back with cocktails, be like, great, we'd love to meet you at your favorite happy hour joint. Where is that? You know what I mean?
00:29:35
Speaker
puts them in a space in their environment that they're comfortable with, but you're also making an effort to get to know them and not just making it about you. I've found that when you're getting to know clients so often as professionals who are trying to essentially sell something, we get so caught up with, I have to tell them this and I have to tell them this about me and I have to tell them this about me. And you make it about you when in all reality, you need to be making it about them. You need to ask them, put them in the hot seat.
00:30:03
Speaker
and ask them kinds of questions, right? So not just tell me about your day, but tell me about your people. Tell me about your venue. Why did you pick your venue? Why is this important to you? Tell me what photos you see in your wedding album. Not just, I'm going to give you a wedding album. What's going to be your favorite photo that we're going to take that's in your album? What's going to get the biggest emotional pull from you? You know what I mean?
00:30:26
Speaker
getting them to envision those things. And that this or that question leads to that eventually. You know what I mean? Yeah. This session, I mean, this conversation is super fun. I'm going to recap real fast for your lead capture form, guys. So number one, brand related questions that kind of relate to your brand, I guess for me, I am colorful. So I would say like,
00:30:49
Speaker
what's your favorite colorful coffee shop or your, what's your favorite colorful brands? Something like that. Number two, call them out. So that would be like, call them out for who you want to work with and who you don't want to work with. Maybe some people don't want to work with PDA couples or kind of know about it. And that would be, that's a great one. That's a great one. Number three is
00:31:15
Speaker
After they submit the form, redirect them to like a cute little video or a cute little gift, something special, or your Instagram, a thank you page. And then number four,
00:31:26
Speaker
this or that if they like this or they like that. So you could super relate to them on a deeper level and just connect with them. Any other tips before you go into a fun question? Ah, oh my gosh. I mean, I could talk for days about this, but no, absolutely not. I think my last tip would be to use your lead capture form to kick off a workflow. And I kind of touched on this a minute ago, but like,
00:31:51
Speaker
By using just a form that's embedded in your website, you have to manually go in and do the work to kick off more of that client experience. Use the form that's embedded in your CRM and to embed that into your website. So many CRMs are making it possible for forums to be pretty and brand friendly. Use that so you genuinely won't have to lift a finger to get your clients into your CRM to kick things off. You'll save yourself so much time. So much fun, Melissa. I love it. You are super rich with energy and love. I could tell that in your business.
00:32:21
Speaker
fun question. What's it like working with your hubby for all these years? I mean, that's a long-winded question. Oh my gosh, I don't know how we haven't killed each other yet. It was, we had to learn a balance, right? So when we first started working together, it was his business, right? Because I was just coming on as a side help. And so it was his business. And then we had to evolve into
00:32:44
Speaker
It's our business. And that means that Kyle does these things and stays in these lanes and is responsible for this. And Melissa does these things and stays in these lanes and is responsible for this. And Kyle doesn't try to meddle with Melissa and Melissa doesn't try to meddle with Kyle. We can work together, you know what I mean? But like being like, Kyle, you have 5,000 photos to edit. Can I hop in and help you edit these? No.
00:33:06
Speaker
You know what I mean? Or Melissa, you have like five invoices to send out. Can I do some of those for you? No, because you wind up stepping on toes and then it causes more issues. And that can bleed over into other places. And you have to keep it's hard to keep work separate from relationships. You know what I mean? But you also have to keep it fun. So yeah, I guess that's that is partnership. It's like, what are you in charge of? Like, don't ask questions. What are you in charge of? Right in my space.
00:33:35
Speaker
Yeah. What is your three, if you had a magic one, what is your three month goals to just crush it in the next 90 days? Oh my gosh. I want to change lives and make people's lives better, right? So I'm working on, um, I'd love to sign a few more, a few more clients right now. I'm working on tweaking my custom build, which I'm super excited about. I'm also getting ready to launch a set of done for you.
00:33:59
Speaker
wedding photography template workflows workflow templates right that photographers can just take and implement customize because you always have to customize those templates you buy and implement into their, their CRM and I would love to get that out like tomorrow, instead of three months from now.
00:34:14
Speaker
But another big goal that I have, I have struggled with work-life balance in the past. And so being able to find balance between the two and able to actually take three days off would be awesome. Or take two weeks off and go run away to the mountains would be awesome. So just finding that balance, I think. Speaking of off working or not working, what are your hobbies?
00:34:37
Speaker
Oh, oh my gosh. Oh my gosh. I love to read. There's a big old bookcase behind me that wraps around and it's full of all kinds of books that I have yet to read. I've also played piano since I was five years old. And so I love to sit down and play piano for a while. I'm currently working on a Little Mermaid recital piece that I'm super excited about.
00:34:59
Speaker
And then I love to take our dogs to the dog park or for walks or for hikes or that kind of thing. We live in Kansas City, and Kansas City is great. But if I get a chance to run away to the mountains in Colorado and breathe some of that fresh mountain air, any time, any chance I get it, I'm there 100%. I mean, honestly, you've created a lot of space in your life now that you're not going to shoot. And you're you're pretty much automating everything even to the your lead capture. And like, if I take some on this journey, so I think
00:35:26
Speaker
probably just have to journal like what you want to do with your free time and do it. Absolutely, absolutely. Cool, cool, cool. And I guess last question, if wedding photographers, wedding professionals right now are listening, and they're struggling to just have work life balance and just have time for themselves, like besides working with you, what can they do today to kind of
00:35:53
Speaker
Oh my gosh, I'm a big list person, right? So make a list and then go through and prioritize it and figure out what needs to get done. I recently, this is going to sound kind of nerdy, but it is what it is. I recently switched the planner that I'm using. So I'm a paper planner girl, 100%. And I was recently looking at like a full week at a time and trying to plan my life out that way. And I would get super overwhelmed when things wouldn't work out or when new things popped up that I had to take care of. And then I would feel overwhelmed and nothing would get done.
00:36:23
Speaker
Since then, I've switched to a planner that helps me pick three things a day to get done. Pick three big tasks that you want to get done, knock those out, and then anything else that gets done is extra. It's taken so much pressure off my shoulders. Pick three things to do every day, whether it's client interactions, marketing, workflow, that kind of thing.
00:36:41
Speaker
get those done and then move on to the next three and take it step by step. I saw something a couple of weeks ago that said something about so many people focus on getting up the whole staircase when you just need to focus on the step in front of you. I'm guilty as charged about doing that, but focus on one thing and not the entire mountain behind it and you'll get there.
00:37:00
Speaker
Oh, I love that. And you feel good about yourself and not shitty. Yeah, exactly. Exactly. I lied. One more question because I'm just kind of curious. But you do say the word marketing a lot. But what does marketing mean to you? Oh, my gosh, marketing is building relationships and putting your message out there. And it's not I wouldn't say that it's advertised, but it's building relationships. You know what I mean? It's having conversation. It's doing what we're doing now. It's building a community and having
00:37:26
Speaker
not creative, but having like genuine engagement on social media. It's trying to put yourself out there to change somebody's life or to make it better to impact them. You know what I mean? What we all do is creative and unique and we all will change somebody's life, but it's having the ability for some of us, like I'm a total introvert, so this is terrifying for me, but it's having the ability to step up and put your voice out there and be like, hi, this is who I am. This is what I do.
00:37:54
Speaker
Here's how you can reach me. But it's it's not necessarily ads and like all of that stuff, but it's just creating. I'm I'm all a big believer that marketing is relationships and relationship building and networking and everything like that.
00:38:06
Speaker
Yeah. And you do show up a lot on Instagram.
Connect with Melissa Online
00:38:09
Speaker
That's why I was drawn to you and I asked you to come on my podcast, but where can everyone find you on Instagram and how does everyone work with you? Yes. So you can find me on Instagram at virtually done systems.com not.com. That's my website, but my website's the same. So virtually done systems, um, people can work with me. I help people build custom workflows. I help them integrate project management tools into a workflow or a CRM they already have existing.
00:38:33
Speaker
If people are moving into a CRM and they don't have one before, I can help them get that set up. I really just like to step in and see how I can help solve your problems and make your life easier. So if you're struggling, hit me up. I can help you even map out that initial workflow or whatever you need. Yay, Melissa. This was so fun.
00:38:56
Speaker
Thanks for joining me this week on Get a Heck Yes with Carissa Wu. Make sure to follow, subscribe, leave a review, or tell a friend about the show. Take a screenshot and post to IG. Tag me! Also, don't forget to download my free guide on how to become a lead generating machine. See you next time, wedding pros!