Original subtitles

Right then, let's start off by exploring the

foundation and core of a business system.

And I think it's always worth remembering that

we don't get paid to do admin or

marketing.

I'm not on an hourly wage here.

I don't want to spend my time duplicating

tasks or inputting data.

That just takes me away from doing the

tasks that genuinely help me grow my business,

or from spending time with my family.

So this is where a CMS, Client Management

Software, comes into play.

You may also hear this referred to as

a CRM, which stands for Client Relationship Management.

Either way, it's a system that stores and

manages all of your client data, interactions, and

shoot information.

Since 2018-2019, I've been using Studio Ninja,

and I even have a 50% discount

code to pass on should you wish to

give it a try.

But we will also be looking at a

few other options on the market that are

available to you.

Now, you don't have to sign up to

one of these systems.

They generally aren't free.

They come at a cost.

But for me, that cost is negligible in

comparison to the time they save, the professionalism

they bring to your brand, not to mention

the security of data and information.

I've met photographers over the years who just

use an Excel spreadsheet.

I started using an Excel spreadsheet.

That is, until I double-booked someone.

But that's a story for another time.

Some photographers just keep a written diary notebook.

I know, the mavericks.

But each to their own, right?

What I would say in those instances is

this.

What happens if you lose that book, or

your computer packs in and decides to go

to computer heaven?

Have you planned for those situations and losing

those records?

Before we walk through the system I use,

let's just take a quick look at some

of the other options on the market.

First up, Lightblue.

This is the system I used prior to

Studio Ninja, and it's great.

I particularly loved the interface and dashboard.

It's all online and backed up, but works

like an app on your desktop.

Since moving away from Lightblue, I know they've

added much more in the way of automation

and an iPhone app.

Other CMS systems include 17hats.

There's Dubsado.

I think that's how you say it.

And Tave.

Now, I can't pass on any advice with

these systems, as I've no first-hand experience

of using them.

But they all carry good reputations within the

market.

Time to take a look at Studio Ninja

then, and how I set up to use

it.

Shall we jump onto the iMac?

Okay, I'll just get myself comfy.

Here we go.

So, first up you'll see the interface that

you are greeted with when you open Studio

Ninja.

This gives you a summary of leads, shoots,

payments in, lead sources.

You can see over here I've got my

upcoming shoots and appointments.

I've got my leads that I either need

to respond to or I'm following up.

A bit further down, you can see the

payments that are due soon, and also some

tasks that are due in the next few

weeks.

But before we start any of that and

go into the sort of back end of

the system, the first thing I'm going to

do is I'm going to fill out my

contact form on my website, and give you

a dummy client so that you can see

the process and how intuitive it is, how

responsive it is, and how quick it is

to process this information.

So, you can see I've already sort of

pre-filled this form.

And this entire block here, if I just

highlight it here, look, this entire block is

code that you copy from Studio Ninja.

So, we'll get to that in a little

bit.

But this form has been created within Studio

Ninja, and it's pasted within my website.

And once that's done, it's done.

So, if I just finish this form off,

let's just say that Francesca and Graham are

getting married on the 19th of Feb.

And they're going to just put, Hey, Sam,

we love your work.

Please tell us more.

Ah, that's nice.

Okay, submit.

These are always fun, aren't they?

Right, okay.

So, that's done.

So, if we go into Studio Ninja now,

and we just refresh that page, let's see

how rapid it is.

There you go, just like that.

So, you can see, and I will have

had an email to notify me that this

inquiry has come in.

But straight away, you should be able to

notice a few things here.

And this is where CRM and Studio Ninja

already just outperforms putting information to an Excel

spreadsheet.

Because all of that information that the client

has filled in is already pre-filled in

the system.

I do not have to data input any

of this information.

It's there.

So, if we just look at the lead,

you can see that it's got their names

in there.

We've got a location.

We've got how they heard about me and

their comment.

You can also see that within the client,

we've got their names.

We've got the phone number.

We've got their email address, already done.

If you are having to sit at your

desk and input information onto an Excel sheet,

you're already spending time that's just unnecessary.

It might not feel like you're spending a

huge amount of time doing that.

But when you're dealing with maybe a few

inquiries a day, that time soon adds up.

Okay, so that's the first thing is that

the data is already in the system and

I don't have to do anything else.

And I'm just going to walk through the

steps that happen with this inquiry should they,

you know, wish to proceed with the inquiry.

So, the first thing that happens is I'll

check the date.

If there was a little red flag here,

it would tell me that that's a clash

with another existing shoot.

There isn't.

So, I know that that date is free.

And I'm just going to click on new

inquiry email.

And you'll see here that straight away, that's

pre-formatted.

I don't have to put in any information.

This is a pre-worded email that I've

already created within Studio Ninja.

It's going to fill in this information here

with the client's first names.

You can see that it's just getting them

to confirm and just to check the job

date that they filled in.

And I'm just going to send them a

couple of links.

Send them a link to my wedding prices,

to my approach.

I send them an example of a slideshow,

just so they can see a bit more

of a gallery from a full wedding.

And that's it.

I keep it quite short and concise.

I don't want to send them too much

information.

And then all we'll do, scroll down and

we'll send email.

Okay.

Now, this email is a dummy email address.

frannyangie at hotmail.co.uk does not exist.

I've made that up for the purposes of

this inquiry.

But you can see this email sent today.

Now, if they were to open that email,

that would turn blue and it would say

email opened on today's date.

So there is a tracker within those emails,

which is great just for knowing that couples

have received and seen the email.

Okay.

Let's say, for example, now they came back

to me, we had some communication and they

were like, yes, do you know what?

We'd love to get you booked in.

How do we go about that?

Okay.

And we're going to go through the settings

in a little bit.

But again, I'm just going to walk you

through the next step.

So you have a few options here.

I personally tend to just go with straight

in with an invoice.

You can, if you want to, choose a

quote option.

If you want them to be able to

pick certain products to build a package, you

can do that.

It's entirely up to you.

But I tend to know exactly what they're

booking.

So I just go straight into the invoice

and we'll go down here.

And let's say, for example, they're in the

UK.

So you can see there, it's already pulled

through all of my package information and my

rates.

And let's say, for example, they would like

a second photographer as well, because that's been

discussed over the Zoom call.

So there you go.

You can see that it's built that for

me.

The next part, again, is to go into

the payment schedule for this invoice.

And again, this is all customizable.

You will have to decide what you want

to do when you come to setting up

your system.

But for me, I do 25% booking

fee and then 75% 30 days before

the shoot date.

So if I choose that payment schedule here,

you'll see beneath that that the payment plan

changes.

So you can see here that on the

2nd of February today, 25% of that

order is due.

And then on that date there, 100%

of the remaining balance is then due.

Do you want to add a contract?

Yes, I want to add a contract.

So again, my UK wedding contract will be

added.

Do I want to add a questionnaire?

Now, I add a wedding questionnaire form, but

I don't need to fill this in until

4 or 5 weeks before the wedding when

this information is going to be needed.

But for now, it's worth adding and I'll

show you why in a second.

So we'll save this invoice and we're going

to send the invoice.

And again, because I've clicked on send invoice,

the system knows that I'm sending an invoice.

So this email is already pre-formatted to

know that I'm having to send this email.

I don't have to go in and type

anything.

It's all there.

It has a link to their invoice, which

I'm going to show you in a second.

And it has a link to their contract,

which again, I will show you in a

second.

So in the space of a minute or

so, we've taken the inquiry and we've sent

them an inquiry response.

And we're now sending them an invoice and

booking them in in almost no time or

we've not had to put in any information

whatsoever.

So we can send that invoice.

And you'll see as well that I'm linked

to Xero.

So however you do your bookkeeping or accounting,

you can tie it into Xero, into QuickBooks.

Note to self, I need to go and

delete that from Xero in a little bit

because I'm going to be paying a bit

of tax on that.

So I'll do that in a little bit.

But what you'll see is once we've sent

that invoice, if we go into preview here,

those links that I just showed you, this

is where that takes the client.

So you can see up here, we have

invoice, questionnaire, contract.

Each one says there's an actionable task for

the client.

So this is what they see when they

click on those links.

And straight away, this is one of the

big sell points for me with Studio Ninja,

which is how professional this looks, how well

formatted it is, how clear it is.

It's all laid out.

Everything's there for the client.

Super easy to see.

One question I would always be asked, even

though I used to put it in the

email, was how can I pay?

What are your bank details?

Well, that question no longer exists because the

option's already there for the client.

They can see that.

Studio Ninja already comes with a sort of

inbuilt contract for you to adjust.

And again, we can go through that in

a little bit when we look at the

settings.

But you can see here, it has the

invoice details at the top.

All of the contract details, sign contract and

the client can enter their details into that

contract and sign it digitally.

And then finally, the questionnaire, which again will

be sent to them again much nearer the

time.

But you can see here that this is

all of the questions that I'm asking, that

I need, all of the information that I

need for their wedding day is in this

form.

And that link, that stays unique to the

couple.

That never goes anywhere.

So if they need to revert back to

that at any point, they want to see

what the details are that nearer their wedding

date, they want to see what was included

in the package, they can get back to

that easily enough.

Okay.

So if we just go back in the

system.

Okay.

So they've been sent that.

And let's say, for example, they've decided to

pay, they've booked it in.

So I have a couple of newly follow

-up emails that aren't required anymore.

But if, for example, I hadn't heard back

from them, I could just click on this

and just send them a quick follow-up

email just to make sure they got the

email.

It's amazing how often that can just trigger

a response because people just kind of forget

about following up with their suppliers.

But once the job has been accepted, they've

paid the invoice or tick job accepted.

And then in an hour's time, they're going

to get sent an auto email, which will

be a thanks for booking email.

Now, the reason this says 33 days overdue

here is because I've obviously inputted a date

that isn't far enough in advance.

So that wouldn't usually arise.

But you can see here that the final

invoice due email is an automatic email.

So 45 days before their shoot date, I

think it's 45, might be 50.

The system is going to send them an

email.

So just to show you what gets sent

when that final invoice email goes out.

And this is all automated.

I don't have to send this email.

The system will do it for me because

I've set it up to say, in 40

days before the wedding date, send this email.

And this email basically just says, how are

you both?

As we're now a month away, your final

invoice is attached.

They can click on the invoice.

They can pay that final invoice.

And they can also complete the wedding day

questionnaire.

And that's all automatic.

You don't have to make it automatic, but

I would often find or I would forget

to send invoices at a certain point.

Whereas now everything's automatic.

I don't have to worry about it.

It just gets sent.

And I know it's been paid for when

the couple then gets back in touch with

me.

And we're sorting out a Zoom call to

chat through the wedding questionnaire.

Okay, so just to run through a few

setting options then.

So let's be honest, it takes a little

bit of time to set up.

If you've got client's information that you need

to put into the system, it is going

to take you a little while.

But once it's set up and running, it

is super efficient.

It is super quick.

And it frees up time for you to

focus on other areas of your business.

I'm just going to run through each one

just to kind of give you an idea

and insight into how I have it set

up.

So fundamentals, currency and taxes, self-explanatory.

Date, time and calendar, self-explanatory.

Email, so mine is linked to Gmail.

And all of the email interaction goes through

my own domain.

It's not a studio ninja domain name.

Invoice and payment settings.

So this is, as you can see, this

is where you set up your payment terms.

And you can configure this as much or

as you can keep it as simple as

you want.

So I have a few different options.

And if you look at, for example, the

Europe weddings, this is how this is a

slightly more complex one.

But you can see that the first payment

deposit is 25% of the order.

On quote, invoice created date.

Then I ask for £700, six months before

the main wedding dates.

That's how I can book my travel and

accommodation.

And then the next payment is 100%

of the remaining balance, 30 days before the

main shoot date.

And then we have just a couple of

just general ones, like 14 days before, 30

days before.

And then if I ever do any commercial

work, I have 30 days after.

Payment methods.

If you wish, you can activate Stripe or

PayPal if you take credit cards.

I personally don't because I don't like the

fees that come associated with those services.

So I just take backs for wedding payments.

Contact form.

Okay, so this is where you are able

to build.

I'm pretty sure you're allowed to build multiple

forms.

I just have one website form.

And this is where you build the form.

And then once you've built the form, you

go into style it.

And then you configure and you save and

embed.

And you save that and then you take

that code and you paste it into your

website.

Okay, next up we have lead sources.

So again, it's really important and valuable to

be able to track where your traffic and

inquiries are coming from.

So you can do that here.

Job types.

Again, if you do multiple different types of

work, again, you can categorize them so that

you have a color-coded system towards weddings,

education, family portraits, mentoring, whatever you wish.

Labels.

Again, if you wish to call something by

a slightly different name, you're able to customize

that.

Integrations.

So you can see here that I have

zero integrated and shoot proof.

I'm now in the process of moving to

pick time, but pick time's there and a

couple of other options as well.

And then these are the parts that take

a little bit longer to set up.

But again, once you sit down and you

maybe sort of give yourself a day to

work through all of this, it's not too

bad.

And just think about the communication that you

send to your clients.

What do you regularly email?

If you find yourself regularly typing out an

email or you have a canned response in

Google, whatever it might be, just work back

through those responses and copy them and build

a bit of an email template timeline so

that you can draw on those emails throughout

the process.

You can see here that I have different

inquiries.

I have one for France, one for Italy.

The only difference is that it just sends

a slideshow from a different country that's related

to that inquiry.

I've got a wedding invoice booking email, final

invoice due, travel invoice due, thank you after

the wedding and images complete email, parcel sent

and so on.

Products and packages.

So again, this is where you will build

your offering.

And one thing I would say is to

try and keep this as clean and as

simple as possible.

Some people have a tendency to put so

much in there or make it so busy,

it becomes a little bit overwhelming.

I try and keep it to the bare

bones of what it is I offer and

try and make it as simple and as

streamlined as possible.

So you can see that I have my

bulk sort of wedding coverages up here and

then my products tend to be the extras,

like my European travel fee, pre-wedding shoots,

second photographers and studio hire, stuff like that.

Quotes and invoice templates.

This is very new to Studio Ninja.

I actually haven't even set it up, but

you can if you find yourself sending templates,

like quote templates or invoice templates that are

the same time and time again, rather than

having to re-select those individually, you can

just pre-build some formatted templates.

So you can draw on those.

It's just again, just another way of speeding

up that process.

Contract templates.

Again, keep it as simple as you can,

but I just have a UK and international

wedding contract.

Studio Ninja comes built in with sample wedding,

family portrait and commercial contracts already there.

If that's something that overwhelms you, that's a

huge job, a huge sort of weight off

your shoulders to know that there's something there

that's already out of the box.

Again, questionnaire templates.

You can build these yourself.

Very similar to the contact form.

Just think about what kind of information you

need, whether it's going to be mandatory or

not.

You can just drag and drop these in

and then save the template.

And that is your questionnaire sorted.

And then finally, workflows.

Now, I've seen other photographers' workflows in systems

such as Studio Ninja and Lightblue.

And again, photographers have a tendency to put

in every element or every step of their

process as a workflow task.

For me, I know when I need to

edit those images.

I know when I need to email back

to a couple.

I don't need to know.

I don't need a reminder for every single

task.

I just need it for the key ones.

So for me, I keep it as lean

and as simple as possible.

So we have a lead stage where I

just send them an inquiry email and a

follow-up.

Then obviously the production-wise, we have the

booking email.

We have the final invoice.

And then post-production is previews, wedding photos

are ready, and the parcel is in the

post.

And with each one of those, you can

assign certain tasks to it.

So you can see here that thanks for

booking sends an email.

It automatically sends it one hour after the

job has been accepted.

And again, this is all customizable.

You know, you can create the workflow that

suits your needs.

And like I say, that will take a

little bit of time to set up, but

it is absolutely worth it.

Okay, so there we have it.

Studio Ninja in a nutshell.

I hope from that walkthrough, you can see

pretty quickly just how invaluable and time-saving

that system can be.

Those responses or emails you have to type

can all add up.

And I don't want to be tied to

that computer for any longer than I have

to be.

Studio Ninja allows me to give more time

to my business, marketing my brand, exploring new

business ideas, to spending more time with my

family.

Without it, I'd just be bogged down in

data entries and admin.

And that doesn't help me grow my business.

In fact, it does the opposite.

It drowns it.

Now for complete transparency, I am a Studio

Ninja ambassador.

I get a small referral fee should you

wish to sign up with the discount code

below, and you get 50% off your

first year.

But just to be clear, I would never

put my name or recommendation to any software

or affiliate ad without using the system itself.

I'd still be recommending Studio Ninja without the

referral fee, but let's not tell them that,

yeah?

If you like, they also offer a free

30-day trial if you want to have

a play around first and get a feel

before signing up.

Okay, that's the CMS covered or CRM, whichever

one you want to call it.

Let me know how you get on.