A normal meeting for most wedding photographers will end with the person promising to call back within a few days to place the booking. In practice, they becomes distracted and forgets to call back ever and it's necessary to chase them down for a decision. However how can this be done without being to be i) too desperate or ii) a stalker?
Here's a simple guide taken from many experience in telesales. The biggest problem is that many folk don't answer when you ring. If you leave a message, it is very tough to then call back if you don't get an answer. At some particular point you've got to cut your losses and mark the potential client as 'lost ' and push on. If you spend a lot of time chasing an individual then you will not be spreading your time uniformly and your success rate will fall.
Firstly what's the best time to call?
Weekends are usually poor times and calls during private time is often not appreciated. However this isn't always true with wedding photography as this is often considered considered critical. You might want to experiment by making some calls at the weekend.
Don't try on Mondays or Fridays. Mondays they are too busy dealing with all the things they need to do in the week and Fridays they are planning their weekends.
The best days are Tues., Wednesday & Thursday. 11:30am and 7pm seem to be happy times.
How Long to Spend on Tele-sales?
Only spend a maximum of of an hour on each day on these calls. It's miles better to be clean-cut than try and do too much and then stop totally.
What If there is No Answer?
Let the telephone ring 5 times. If there isn't any answer, hang up and make a note in your database. Try again after two days.
After 5 attempts with no reply, leave a message. Say that you have tried several times, but have not been able to get in touch. Remind them of their guarantee to supply you with a call or update and day that you will presume that they have found an alternative provider. Follow this up with an e-mail asserting a similar thing and mark the account as 'lost'.
By following this strict regime your productiveness will improve and you will be far less concered about making cold calls.
Here's a simple guide taken from many experience in telesales. The biggest problem is that many folk don't answer when you ring. If you leave a message, it is very tough to then call back if you don't get an answer. At some particular point you've got to cut your losses and mark the potential client as 'lost ' and push on. If you spend a lot of time chasing an individual then you will not be spreading your time uniformly and your success rate will fall.
Firstly what's the best time to call?
Weekends are usually poor times and calls during private time is often not appreciated. However this isn't always true with wedding photography as this is often considered considered critical. You might want to experiment by making some calls at the weekend.
Don't try on Mondays or Fridays. Mondays they are too busy dealing with all the things they need to do in the week and Fridays they are planning their weekends.
The best days are Tues., Wednesday & Thursday. 11:30am and 7pm seem to be happy times.
How Long to Spend on Tele-sales?
Only spend a maximum of of an hour on each day on these calls. It's miles better to be clean-cut than try and do too much and then stop totally.
What If there is No Answer?
Let the telephone ring 5 times. If there isn't any answer, hang up and make a note in your database. Try again after two days.
After 5 attempts with no reply, leave a message. Say that you have tried several times, but have not been able to get in touch. Remind them of their guarantee to supply you with a call or update and day that you will presume that they have found an alternative provider. Follow this up with an e-mail asserting a similar thing and mark the account as 'lost'.
By following this strict regime your productiveness will improve and you will be far less concered about making cold calls.
About the Author:
Clwyd is a wedding photographer based in London. He works typically in the area of Indian wedding photography covering many Asian weddings across the UK and at various international destinations.
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