Your Welcome Packet – Part II

Intro by Skip Cohen

When Nicole Begley shared her original post about a welcome packet, there were some excellent questions from her readers. So, she wrote a second post answering those questions people needed help with the most.

Now, think about your blog. Your target audience, unlike Nicole’s, is your customer base, and for most of you that means “Mom.” Think about all the questions that come up over and over again before a portrait session, wedding or event. All those questions are a gold mine of content for your blog.

Take all the questions you’ve ever been asked by clients or the concerns they’ve express before working with you and boil them down into short posts. All those questions are perfect topics for your readers. From what should the kids wear to a bride’s worry of what to do if the flowers don’t arrive on time – it’s an endless supply of ideas for content to demonstrate your confidence, expertise and skill set.

Remember, your clients don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care! Helpful content on your blog is one ingredient to help you show them you care!

By Nicole Begley

A recent post going into what exactly I include in my welcome packet for new clients produced quite a lot of feedback and questions.  In short, you want to know more!   Read on….

1. This is great information but it seems a little overwhelming for someone that doesn’t currently do a welcome packet.  How do I even start?

One step at a time!  As I said in that post, my welcome packet is the result of three years of tweaking and creating.  I have always done some sort of welcome packet from the very beginning because I used to use paper contracts.  (Legal disclaimer, if you don’t use session agreements that should be your number one priority to create.  There are some great tools out there to create one on PPA’s website if you are a member or through other photographers that offer contracts and forms through their business.  Regardless of where yours comes from it is worth the money to have a lawyer in your state look it over as state and local laws differ everywhere.)

When I first started I simply sent a regular sized business card, 2 copies of the session agreement (one for them to keep and one to mail back), a self-addressed stamped envelope for them to return the signed agreement in, and a basic price list.  That was it!  It served me well for a long time.  Start there and then add things as you grow and as you finetune your business workflow.

2.  This is super helpful!  Is there any way to view soft copies of the wording or documents?  It really helps me get the ideas flowing.

First of all, I am glad that you found the article helpful!  I certainly understand that reading through my documents may help you develop yours however every business is unique and we all have different things that we want to convey to our clients.  The best way to develop these for your business is to really sit down and write out your client workflow.  Really think about everything you need to educate your client about before their session.

• introduction to you and the experience
• what to wear
• what to expect
• what are the next steps
• start planting the seeds for your sale
• how the ordering process works
• how to prepare for your session now and on the day of
• the timing of your entire process

By really diving into those details you can create documents that are perfectly suited for your business.

3. Wait.  What is a wall cling?

The wall cling is a new product that is offered by many labs, I purchase mine from H&H lab since they sell them in 12×18 inch size.  My regular lab only sells them in 20×30 and larger so it’s too hard to trim them down.  The wall cling is designed for having large images directly on walls by printing the images on a soft material that has an adhesive on the back that will not damage walls when removed.  It’s a great way to provide a wall display to a partner business or as a unique product to offer clients.

I find the product useful to prepare my clients for the session premier.  I use ProSelect in my ordering appointments and that software allows me to import a photo of my client’s wall, size it appropriately and then showcase my clients’ photos on their wall in their actual size.  They can see that a 30×40 looks great above their fireplace and that HUGE 11×14 get lost in that space.  It takes the fear out of ordering large sizes since they can see it and they see for themselves what properly sized art looks like.

One of the “missions” of my business is providing the highest possible service to my clients.  I want everything to be easy for them.  While it wouldn’t be too difficult to find a regular sized piece of paper somewhere in the house to hang on the wall to take a photo for me, it would certainly take more time then if I just have everything there for them in one spot.  My clients do not have lots of spare time, so I need to make everything as easy as possible for them.

They simply grab their phone, walk around their house, stick the wall cling on different wall spaces and text me the photo.  I can then predesign custom artwork for their spaces that I show them when we meet for our sales session.  Easy peasy.

Side note:  The wall clings are easily trimmed with any scrapbook trimmer.

I hope that this post gives you a few more ideas about your Welcome Packet.  If you have any additional questions let me know.  In fact, if there are any topics at all that you want to learn about please let me know!  Simply use the contact button on the menu to send me an email and let me know what would help your business!