How to Create a 5-Minute Booking Process Inside Your Client Experience [Client Experience Series Pt 4]

Colie: 00:00:27

Hello.

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Hello.

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And welcome back to another solo episode

on business first creatives podcast.

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This is the fourth and final episode

in the Client Experience series.

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And today we're talking about why using

a proposal or a quote or a smart file,

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depending on your CRM, is the key to a

smooth five minute booking process and how

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to make sure that it actually converts.

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Because let's be real.

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If booking you feels like a

scavenger hunt, potential clients

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are going to ghost instead of sign.

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But a well structured proposal?

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That's what takes the lead from just

browsing to officially booked in minutes.

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And yes, I'm not kidding.

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This process should take five minutes.

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Okay, so first let's talk about why

you need a five minute booking process.

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Every single CRM, no matter if you

are using my two favorites, Dubsado

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or HoneyBook, or Studio Ninja or

Tave or Sprout Studio, or some of

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the other CRMs that I don't talk

about very often for good reason.

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All of them have some version of a

proposal or a quote that display your

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offers and services so that your clients

can either choose the services or you

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have clearly laid them out for them.

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It connects a contract and an invoice.

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So that you have one click signing

and payment, no more chasing

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people down to sign the contract

and then pay your invoice.

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They can trigger the onboarding

process, because no one wants to watch

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their phone like a hawk in order to

see if someone books, so that then

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you can manually trigger a booking

confirmation email and whatever comes

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next in your onboarding process.

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And then my absolute favorite thing of

like quotes and proposals in general

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is that you can set an expiration date.

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I personally expire my

proposals after only 72 hours.

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I never want to take the risk that I get

overbooked or double booked, but I do

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want to make sure that you guys have an

expiration date because it does create

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urgency, which gives people a deadline in

order to say yes and book your services.

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Now, if your CRM lets you automate

the entire booking process in

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one step, there's no reason to be

stuck in an endless email chain

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where you send the offer, they

reply and say, okay, that's good.

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Then you send the contract.

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They send you back a signed

scanned PDF, which no one should

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be doing that in 2025 and beyond.

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If you're waiting to get that ding

after you've sent the invoice.

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Now, all of the CRMs do that.

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But what I want to talk about

for the remainder of this podcast

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episode is how Dobsado and HoneyBook

are different and they take your

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booking proposal to the next level.

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So let's what separates a basic

proposal, which is what I just talked

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about, from a highly converting

proposal is that it is very on brand.

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Both of them allow you to add

your own brand colors, your own

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brand fonts, if they're available.

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Add pictures, videos, and

specifically these things.

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So first we've got a

strong header section.

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Your proposal needs to hook them

immediately, just like your website does.

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If you've ever heard of the term

above the fold, the same thing is

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true with your booking proposal.

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The image that you have at the

top, should immediately draw your

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lead into like, Oh my gosh, yes.

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I want that for myself.

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You want to add a short

message reinforcing why they

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need this experience now.

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For those of us that are family

photographers, there is absolutely

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no urgency in what we do.

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Um, newborn photographers, wedding

photographers, I mean, even brand

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photographers, if people are trying

to get new images for their website

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where they've hired a designer and

they have to get it to them by a

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deadline, all of them have urgency.

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Family photography is that

thing that you can put off.

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Oh, well, I'll do it

I'll do it next month.

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Oh, we'll do it next year.

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Oh, and then all of a sudden, it's

been two to three years, and they don't

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have any professional family photos.

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And again, this needs to create

some urgency because clients tend

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to procrastinate on when they

book their family photography when

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they don't do it for other genres.

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Okay, the second section

that your proposal should

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have is an about you section.

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Yes, they may have already

talked to you on the phone.

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Yes, you may have an about you

section on your website, but you

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still want to remind them of who

you are when you send the proposal.

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You still want to remind them of your

approach and why your sessions are unique.

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And then you want to highlight how

your service is designed to be easy,

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stress-free, and tailored to their needs.

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Now, stress-free is my thing.

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Like I have all over my website, all

over my proposal, how stress-free I make

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family photos because for family photos,

that is like the number one thing.

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Moms stress out about how their

partners are going to react,

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how their kids are going to act.

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And so I just want to assure

them that I can handle anything

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that they throw my way.

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Okay, the third section that you

can put on one of these highly

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converting proposals is your process.

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You simply want to lay

it out like a timeline.

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What is going to happen from this

booking process until delivery?

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You can tell them how you're

going to prepare them.

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What's going to happen on

the day of the session?

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What the timeline looks like

to get their final photos.

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All of these things can be

laid out in a process section.

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And again, even if you have it on

your website, it's good to remind

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them of this on your proposal.

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Now, if you have, you know, 1500 words

on your website about your process, you

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don't need that in your proposal, but

you should give them the highlights and

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a little bit of information, so that

they can remember what your process is

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before they sign on the dotted line.

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And last, but not least, is

frequently asked questions.

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Now, frequently asked questions can

remind people of really important things

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like how you reschedule for weather

if you are an outside photographer,

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or if someone happens to be sick.

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It can give them additional information

on how you choose a location.

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What is included?

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Do you opt for styling tips?

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All of these kinds of things can be

addressed in your frequently asked

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questions, but you also want to make

sure that you are addressing whatever

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the biggest objections are that your

clients have during the process.

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And if you don't know what they are, I

highly recommend that you interview a

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few of your clients to ask them about the

process of hiring you, looking for you,

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and how they felt throughout the process.

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If they felt like something was

missing, you can probably write an

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FAQ to address it for future clients.

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Now, when it comes to the offer, which

I already mentioned, all of the CRMs

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give you the opportunity to include your

packages, your services, your offers

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inside of the proposal or the quote.

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But I want to make absolutely sure

that you are keeping this simple.

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Do not give them a cheesecake

factory menu of all of your options.

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If you offer seven different

kinds of sessions, you should

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not have seven different kinds

of sessions on your proposal.

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This is when you are trying to get

them to make a decision: yes or

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no, are they going to book you not?

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Oh my gosh, do we want This kind of

session or this kind of session or

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this kind of session, you should have

already narrowed it down based on

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the information that they gave you

in their contact form or if you are

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someone who does consultation calls,

you could have gotten that information

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there, but keep it simple guys.

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Now, I know that I first talked about

what a basic proposal could look like,

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and then I highlighted why I love

Dubsado and HoneyBook, but the truth

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is, even if you're not using Dubsado and

HoneyBook, you should still have those

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things that I just mentioned, inside of

your inquiry and booking process, you

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just can't put them in the proposal.

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Because Other CRMs don't

allow you to do that.

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So make sure that you are using

your website and your emails in

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order to pre sell the experience.

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Make sure that your clients

know your process, before

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you send them the proposal.

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If you can't include your

process in the proposal.

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Have testimonies inside

of some of your emails.

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If you can't put them on your

proposal and again, FAQ section,

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maybe you have an email.

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That gives them the more specific FAQs

related to booking instead of your general

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FAQs that you might have on your website.

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All right, friends, and that is

how you turn a proposal into a

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highly converting booking machine.

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So once again, I want you to keep it easy.

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I want you to keep it clear.

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I want you to show your

personality if you can.

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I want you to answer their questions up

front and their objections throughout the

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proposal in the copy as well as the FAQs.

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And I want you to set a deadline.

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Now, if you're thinking, uh, Koli, this

sounds amazing, but I need an easy button.

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Guess what guys?

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I have one click proposal templates

inside of the system shop for

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both the Psado and HoneyBook.

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What that means for you is

you purchase the proposal.

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You get an email, you click on it

and that proposal or smart file is

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directly loaded into your Dubsado

and HoneyBook account within seconds.

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Now how long does it actually take

to customize one of my proposals?

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Well if you already have your copy

somewhere in the document or on your

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website where you're basically going

to copy and paste and you've already

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selected the images that you are going

to use and you already have your packages

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created inside of your CRM, y'all we're

talking about less than 30 minutes.

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It's to customize one of these

templates and have it ready

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to go for your next lead.

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Okay.

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So I hope that this episode has

helped you get motivated to create

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your own five minute booking process.

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And if you are interested in the

booking templates that I mentioned

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for Dubsado or HoneyBook, go to

coliejames.com/booking-templates

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All right.

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That's it for this episode and really

for the client experience series.

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I hope it's been helpful.

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See you next time.