How to re-book past clients
Most of us love our clients. I mean, they’re all animal-people right? And our clients love us. So are you giving them the opportunity (or an excuse) to book with you again?
I did a bit of research for this article and time and time again I read this statistic: 82% of companies agree that retention is cheaper than acquisition. Sure that is highly likely made up of companies that are selling consumables, but the point remains. It is much easier and cheaper to re-book past clients.
Here’s a few reasons why:
Repeat clients,
Already trust you
Understand your process
Respect you and value what you do
Plus
If they’re booking again then most likely you “clicked” and you enjoy working with them too
You know what to expect from their dog and what will work best for you
All of this leads to less time, and less energy with often, better than usual results (both in what the client pays, and your photos).
So how do you get past clients to book again?
Firstly, let’s step back and look at your wider marketing plan. Who is your ideal clients, and are you attracting life-long clients?
Here are some different audiences who would have a need for a second (or third or forth) shoot:
1. Young, single clients
Most of my clients who re-book, first came to me when they were young. They were likely single, with one young dog (maybe even a puppy). When they book the second shoot, the dog is fully grown and maybe they also have a partner or a second dog. So new photos would capture these changes.
By actively marketing to young people, you’re opening the opportunity of being their photographer for life.
Who else would make a great repeat client?
2. Adopters of seniors
One of my best, repeating clients is forever rescuing and adopting seniors. I’ve found that those who specifically adopt older dogs are almost always adopting from a place of wanting to help, and often have huge hearts. Knowing they don’t have many years with their new dog, these clients really appreciate photos and ao with every new adoptee, they will book a new shoot.
3. Families
Many photographers avoid marketing to families with kids under the assumption that their funds are spent elsewhere. And while that may be true for many families, the kind of family who would include their dog in their shoot can be an amazing client! I’ve had $5k sales from families with multiple school-ages kids whose best-friends are their dogs! Parents know how hard it is to wrangle their dogs and kids together for a photograph and so they value your expertise in doing so and will remain loyal clients. The good thing here for us is that kids change a lot more than dogs each year, creating a “need” to update the portraits more frequently.
4. Family-focused clients without children
I’m not sure if there is a way to focus your marketing on capturing this client, but if you realise during their initial shoot that they are really close with the rest of the family, planting the seed that you can do extended family shoots is a good idea. I’ve had many of these shoots over the years. Often it is a client who is “hooked” with the photoshoot experience, but kind of “ran out” of excuses for a new shoot. So they gather their parents, brothers and sisters and all the dogs (and sometimes kids) for a large family portrait.
These shoots are amazing because although your goal is to capture the one big family shot, you also have the opportunity to create portraits for each “individual family group” too (more images to sell). And chances are if one sibling is your client, the rest of the family are dog-obsessed too.
Examples of reasons your clients will book a new shoot
There’s a high chance that many of your clients would book again if you dangled the idea under their noses.
You might remember that last year I booked some shoots on a trip back home. I booked out all 6 spots in a matter of hours from a single email blast and 5 of the 6 bookings were repeat clients.
For this upcoming trip home, I’ve again opened 6 spots. I put a post in my very old, never really nurtured and completely abandoned Facebook group which has just 65 of my past clients.
Within minutes I had 7 messages requesting a time. Just 49 people have seen that post. That means more than 10% wanted a new shoot!
Now I did something a bit crazy and I made the booking fee $2250, so three dropped off. But four booked immediately. And the other three? One is still trying to fit it into her budget. The other two booked “half-sessions” (mini shoots) which I’ve scheduled back to back!
Let’s look at the bookings so far:
Client one
Young single women with a golden retriever.
She’s had two shoots with me before.
Shoot one: She received a gift voucher through third party marketing and went on to spend $1900 on a digital-only order and paid over 12 months.
Shoot two: She won my Pet of the Year competition and gifted that $1000 voucher to her mum. The mum’s dog and my clients dog are best friends so I suggested we do some photos of them together. My client joined her mums shoot which became kind of two shoots in one. They both places an order.
Why is she rebooking?
Her dog was just 2 last time although she hasn’t physically changed a lot, she’s a lot calmer now and so it’s time to capture that personality. When she saw I was going to be back for a limited time, she jumped at the opportunity.
Client two
Adopter of seniors, now with a partner
She’s a great client. I think she’s had 5 sessions with me now totaling somewhere around $10k. And I know she’s also had at least three other photoshoots with other local pet photographers at different price points. Basically- she’s obsessed with photoshoots! Her first few shoots were of seniors she adopted, typically one at a time. She must have been unable to take the heartbreak anymore though because she now has four young dogs!
Why rebooking?
Her last shoot, one of her dogs was a puppy so she’s decided that it's time for updated family portraits now that she’s fully grown. She likely would have booked with another photographer at a later date since there wasn’t any urgency to this shoot, but when she saw I was coming home, she decided to take the opportunity to have me (her favorite hehe) do this photoshoot.
Client three
30-something year old married vet nurse
This client is from my home town. She is part of a group of friends (all volunteers with the local rescue grou) who have all had at least one photoshoot with me. She’s married but I never met the husband! Her first photoshoot was for her young dog, and I popped her in a couple too. She purchased an album and a wall piece.
Why rebooking?
She has another dog, an old weimaraner who is unwell now. We never included him in the first shoot because she was worried it would be too hard with the puppy, so now she wants a photoshoot especially of him! I have also convinced her to include the other dog in a couple of photos. But still no husband!
Client four
Young single women with a golden retriever (yes another!).
Her last shoot was in Adelaide. She received a runner-up voucher in our Pet of the Year Competition a few years back and she purchased the USB plus some prints ($2k spend).
Why rebooking?
Her and her dog now live in Melbourne and so she wants some updated portraits to celebrate their new home!
Client five
40-something year old step-mum with new puppy
This client had two small dogs who featured in my Tails of Gippsland book. She ordered a series of small prints and an album from that shoot. Her world has since changed (she’s divorced and remarried, both of those two dogs have passed away and now she has a puppy!). She desperately wanted a photoshoot with the puppy and even considered adding her husband and two step-kids to the shoot, but the cost was out of reach for her. I went back and offered her a half-shoot for a bit more than half the price for only her and the dog, she jumped on it!
Client six
The sister of a very good past client
This past client tagged her sister in my posts for last years trip, but I never heard from the sister. Again this year she tagged her too and so I realised that the sister must be interested but there was a barrier in place last time. I reached out to my client directly and asked about the sister. I learned that last year the timing was wrong and this year the shoot is out of budget as she’s getting married. I told her that I was thinking about offering these “half shoots” and to tell her sister to contact me if she wants the details. The sister did! She was still on the fence due to cost, so I gently suggested I could include some “engagement type” photos as well (which I know she doesn’t have), and that sealed it!
It gets better though..
An extra enquiry
I also had another message today and it was from a client from 10 years ago who now lives in Greece! She will be in Italy in September and wants to book a shoot here! Back then it was just her and one dog and she purchased an album and two wall pieces. Now she has a second dog she wants photographed too, and why not in Italy!
What do they have in common?
All of these clients have decided to book now because it’s time sensitive due to me going home.
How can you create a sense of urgency for clients to book you now?
It could be because of circumstances in their life (the dog is a puppy or a senior etc) or, a limited time off you’ve created- eg. being in a location for a short period, offering a special type of limited edition shoot (seasonal shoots, holiday themed sessions etc), promoting a specific shoot that would encourage these clients to book again (eg. multi-generational shoots) or, you could have a project for them to participate in- eg. a calendar, a book, a series etc. You could also invite your best clients back to “model” for you for an upcoming promotion or simply send gift certificates our as a loyalty program!
Whatever you choose, the key will be to get that reason in front of them! And don’t be afraid to reach out directly to invite someone to be a part of something!
If you don’t need instant bookings, instead of creating a sense of urgency, you can simply create a desire. Start showing the different ways you can capture them via social media, your newsletter, blog posts and so on.
Why you?
I mentioned that one of my clients has had shoots with other photographers. I remember the first time I learned that I felt betrayed! But later I realized that it was simply timing and money. She would go to someone else if the shoot wasn’t overly important and she didn’t want to spend a lot (eg. Christmas cards), or, if I was unavailable (one year I was away hiking for two months and she wanted an end-of-life session).
What I learned from that is that whenever I am available, I had to make it clear to all my clients that I was there and gently plant the ideas that if you don’t take the chance now, you might not get it.
I also learned that either I should offer a kind of mini-session option a couple of times a year, or, be happy that these clients go to someone else for those cheap and cheerful events.
But what about the rest of the time? Why do my clients keep coming back to me even though they know I’m the most expensive?
Rapport.
My business model is full-service. And so I make sure I really provide that. I see my clients at least three times for every photoshoot:
The photoshoot
The Ordering Appointment
Handover of products
Plus I chat with them on the phone at least twice and then there are a bunch of emails.
At every one of these touch points I make sure my personality is shining through. I show an interest in their lives (which is truly genuine) and we often become friends.
Beyond that though, I go above and beyond with service. I see their needs and pain points before they do (remember the engagement photos I included) and I solve them.
In the sales room I’m simply there to guide them, and everything is very low pressure. Clients not only appreciate that, but they can also afford another shoot since they don’t over-spend.
Clearly this is all based on my business, but it’s not to say you can’t have repeat clients with other business models. Maybe instead of the clients coming back because of your friendship, they come back because of your efficiency, or your price point.
So what is your point of difference and how can you attract more clients who will come back time and time again because that appeals to them?
Author
Kirstie McConnell |
Founder
The Pet Photographers Club
When Kirstie launched her pet photography business in Australia in 2012, the genre was barely a thing. She spent the next years at the forefront of this niche, marketing not just her own business, but the concept of pet photography. Each year she photographed around 100 dogs, cats and horses per year to create wall art and albums for pet-parents.
Now based in Italy, she continues to offer pet photography to her clients back in Australia on return trips, but otherwise spends her energy helping other pet photographers build a business which will allow them to follow their dreams.
Internationally recognized as a leader in the industry, she hosts the podcast, workshops, courses and business events for The Pet Photographers Club which she co-founded.
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