Blog | Chaze Films, LLC | Boston Video Strategy, Production & Marketing

March 10, 2021 by CF

How To Reach Out To Potential Clients On LinkedIn

We all know LinkedIn is the social media platform for professionals so that would be a very good place, to not only find jobs, but find potential clients as well.

Of course, there are different strategies to utilize the platform to benefit from and we’ll get into one in this article – How to reach out to potential clients on LinkedIn.

We’re still in the process of testing different types of strategies out on LinkedIn and there’s just too much to cover so we’ll post more very soon (as well as include free message templates to use on LinkedIn on our email newsletter) but in the meantime, let’s get into reaching out to potential clients the right way so you actually get responses.

Before we continue, there is a difference between a free LinkedIn account (which limits you on a lot of things) versus Premium. We’re writing this article assuming you only have a free account in case you never want to pay for their Premium plan.

How To Reach Out To Potential Clients On LinkedIn

Do A Little Research First – If you’re contacting them with a generic message, anyone can see it’s not genuine and you’ll miss the connection. Do a little research first, especially if it’s someone you randomly added as a connection.

Find out what type of work they do, what their goals and skills are, if they are even active on LinkedIn (it’ll show their activity on their profile), etc.

Just imagine if you sent them a generic message and their current job is exactly what you do. That’d be embarrassing.

Warm Up To Them – If you’re sending a random person a connection, try to attach a personalized short message as it’ll probably help them accept your connection request.

Once you’re connected, do not send them a private message immediately. Instead, plant seeds to warm up to them. Engage with their posts by liking and commenting with thoughtful messages. Often times they’ll respond to you in their comments as well.

This will help you get noticed and if you engage thoughtfully, you’ll slowly turn a cold lead into a lukewarm one. Eventually this will open the door for it to be acceptable to bring the conversation over to a private message and they’ll be more keen to reply now that they have an idea on who you are and that you had thoughtful things to say to connect.

Find Common Ground – If you’ve warmed up to them already and they’ve been replying to your comments on their posts, now you have some common ground interests to work with.

If you still don’t have common grounds, find some. It makes it easier. Whether it’s mutual interests, connections, groups that you’re both in, things they’ve posted that you’re also interested in, it could be anything.

Just the other week I had a Zoom meet with a founder of a new company and they brought up that their business partner went to the same university I went to. Imagine if I didn’t have someone introducing me, I could’ve mentioned that we were both alum and connect that way.

Keep It Short – Remember the platforms you’re connecting on, especially when it’s through private messaging. You don’t want to write a novel to them, you want to save that conversation for a meeting or a phone call with them. The private message should be short with the intent of connecting outside of private messaging.

Some people like to transition to emails, some like setting up phone calls or Zoom meets and some try to schedule to meet in person. Either way, keep it short so you can save the long conversation for the next step.

Do NOT Sell Them Anything, Learn About Them – If you’ve gotten to the point where they’ve cracked open the door for you to send them a private message, don’t instantly become a salesperson!

One of the biggest mistakes I’ve seen (and I’ve definitely been guilty of this) is being a salesperson from the get go. This is often a turnoff to them and they may even just delete you as a connection.

Instead, put your description of what you do or your title as your tagline on your profile. When they hover over your profile, that information is shown.

Try to find more about them, their business, their position in the company, etc. Learn about them and more often than not, they’ll want to find out more about you in return.

Think about it like this… if you ask someone “how are you?” and they answer, odds are they’ll probably ask “how are you” as well.

Give Them A Reason To Reply – If you don’t give them a reason to reply, why would they? Asking questions, pulling them into the conversation, set them up so they want to reply to you.

If you write a sentence or two as a statement, that pretty much ends the conversation as it doesn’t give them room to reply.

Conclusion

There are a lot of different ways on how to message potential clients on LinkedIn but since everyone is different, there’s no universal way of doing it.

Some people automate (which I wouldn’t recommend as your messages end up getting hidden and marked as spam), some people try to sell on initial conversations and I’m sure others try other ways. I’m sure some have gotten responses but the conversion rate is probably very low.

We’ve been experimenting on trying different strategies and thinking out the box so we’ll continue to post updates so make sure you’re subscribed to our email newsletter so you don’t miss out!

Hope this helps!

February 18, 2021 by CF

Why You Should Include An “Artistic Release” Clause In Your Video/Photo Contract

When you’re in a creative profession such as being a videographer, filmmaker, photographer, designer, artist, etc, and you’re working with clients, chances are you’ll run into someone that hires you because they like your creative style.

That’s great! But in rare occasions, there are some who slowly want to take over the creative process of the project while changing your style, which is the same reason why they hired you in the first place.

And in some cases, if your clients don’t like your creative style (again, the same reason why they hired you), then they may withhold payment.

Well, make sure you’re including an “Artistic Release” clause in your contracts to help avoid that.

Now, before I continue, I’d like to say that if you’re being hired to produce paid client work, you should produce what they actually want, no matter how bad you think their idea is. All you can do is give your professional feedback and suggestions and hope they will take your expert input.

But these are things you’ll want to find out before signing a contract to see if they’re the right fit for you as a client. If you don’t think it’ll work or you’re getting a lot of red flags, you don’t have to take them on as a client.

With that said…

Why You Should Include An “Artistic Release” Clause In Your Contract

Keep Your Style The Way It Is – If you have a specific style, and most artists (photographers, designers, etc) do, you may not want to change your style as it takes away from your brand and what you’re known for.

When people reach out to you, they should be able to see your portfolio and get a sense of what they would receive if they hire you. They shouldn’t expect you to change your entire style. Having this in your contract to help reiterate that.

Art Is Subjective – Many things in life are subjective but it doesn’t mean one thing is right and one thing is wrong. But when working with clients, there may be a time where both feel that is the case.

Having this information on your contract will inform your client that you’ll do the best to incorporate their feedback but at the end of the day, it shouldn’t take away all of your creative style that they originally hired you for.

Not Valid Reason For Termination Or Refunds – If a client disagrees with your style, your aesthetic judgement, or artistic ability, they shouldn’t have hired you to begin with. And if they use that as an excuse to try to receive a refund or terminate the contract, having this in your contract states they cannot do that and they agree to that when they signed.

If they hired you, they should’ve done enough research to see your portfolio and know what to expect.

Conclusion

In any creative profession, you’re bound to run into this type of situation at least once. Having an “Artistic Release” in your contract will help save you in this type of situation.

Obviously, I’m not a lawyer so you should consult with one on the specific text to include within your contract, but I’ll be providing the specific verbiage I use on my contracts to my email subscribers to use at their own risk (feel free to subscribe below).

At the end of the day, make sure you’re also looking out for you and your company or you may find yourself in a situation where you would may not be in.

February 4, 2021 by CF

How To Find Videography (And Photography) Clients

How do I find video and photo clients? I see this asked a lot. Whether you’re just starting out in the videography or photography world or you’ve been at it for a while, finding clients can always be challenging at times. And more importantly, finding the clients you actually want to work with can be that much tougher. But let’s get into how to find videography and photography clients.

Things You Need To Do Before Finding Clients

Have A Portfolio Or Examples Of Your Work – Even if you were the best salesperson out there, in this industry, you need some sort of portfolio to back up the quality of your work. No matter how much they may like you, they’re probably not going to hire you based solely on that.

If you’re just starting out, go film or take photos of people you know and focus on the type of work you’d want clients to hire you for. If you’re looking to create videos for businesses, they won’t want to see wedding videos you’ve created.

Create Social Media Accounts And Website – You need some place to showcase your portfolio and often times social media will help you do that. But don’t forget to create a website too!

I see a lot of people that skip that part but potential clients will want to do their own research before hiring you and your website is one of the first places they’ll look. If you don’t have a website, at minimum, they’ll be skeptical.

A Professional Way To Contact You – This is obvious but they need to get in touch with you if they’re interested. But, say, you’re sending a cold email from a Gmail account, that doesn’t help build trust sending from a free email provider.

If you have your own website, you’ll have your own domain. Create a professional email such as YourName [at] YourDomain [dot] com. That in itself builds trust and looks professional.

If you’re contacting people in person, make sure you have a business card to give them. Your first impression shouldn’t be you telling them to add you on social media or you writing down your number for them.

With that said, let’s get into some ways on how to find videography and photography clients.

Social Media

This is super vague and I’ll be going into more details on future posts (make sure to subscribe to the newsletter so you don’t miss out) but social media is a great way to research, engage and contact potential clients.

If you’re subscribed to our newsletter, you already have some tactics to contact specific businesses but here are some general tips.

Don’t Sell But Rather, Engage – One of the things I see people do (and we were guilty of it before too) is basically selling our services like a salesperson right from the beginning.

No one wants to be spammed with your sales pitch on their first meet.

Provide Value – When you engage with people’s posts, offer tips and suggestions as well, build trust by networking and then they’ll likely want to check you out and talk about how you can help bring them value.

But offering tips, suggestions, and providing value will show them you’re an expert in your field by showcasing your knowledge.

We’ll get into specifics with Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram and more on future posts.

From Their Ad Marketing Campaigns

Have you ever seen ads pop up on your feed or while searching for something and think “oh man, I could definitely help them better their videos and photos for their marketing”? Well, that could be your selling point and be your next client.

They’re already advertising but we all know first impressions mean a lot so if they could use some help with their digital media, I’m pretty sure they’ll take you up on your offer.

Join Groups And Communities

Joining groups and communities will help a lot as long as you’re not spamming. Even if someone you’ve talked to and networked with doesn’t need your services, it doesn’t mean they don’t know someone that does.

Plant seeds and watch them grow.

Networking Events

During the pandemic, most networking events are online now but that shouldn’t stop you from attending. Search forums, event calendars, social media groups, etc, and then attend ones that are specific to the ideal client that you’re looking for.

If you’re interested in real estate, attend some networking events specific to that.

Of course, when it’s safe to do so, attend networking events in person as well! But again, make sure you’re not selling, but engaging. Like the previous point, plant seeds and watch them grow.

Review Websites And Search Engines

Google My Business, Yelp, a specific niche review website, those are all great places to find potential clients. Not only will you see what they’re good at, you’ll also see what their customers are saying they’re lacking. You can use their pain points to help bring them value and make their business that much better.

Simply search for your ideal client in Google (ex. Architects near me) and you’ll see a listing on Google My Business with reviews/ratings as well as specific review websites. Check them out and reach out to them.

If they’re not on Google My Business or anything else but you still find them, that’s another selling point that you can bring up that it’s beneficial for them to list their businesses.

Here are some tips on sending cold emails to businesses.

In Person

When it’s safe to do so, finding clients in person will go a long way. I know a bunch of videographers/photographers who go into the place of business and simply talking with the owner or someone in charge.

Again, have a conversation, make sure you do some sort of research beforehand and have your business cards ready!

Conclusion

There are plenty of ways on how to find video and photo clients but ultimately, you have to be patient, do the work and don’t give up.

We’ll be going into more depth on future posts but wanted to warm you guys up with a more general version. Stay tuned and subscribe to our newsletter so you don’t miss out!

January 21, 2021 by CF

How To Create An Efficient And Effective Client Email Workflow

Are you receiving a bunch of inquiries from potential clients? Are you having a tough time tracking everything? Is it affecting your efficiency with your client relationship? Well, it’s time to get organized so you can help streamline some of your email workflow to stay efficient and effective.

Now if you’re thinking “I don’t have to worry, I only receive a few inquiries here and there”, and you may not think it’s a big deal but what if tons of inquiries come all at once? Will your efficiency still be the same if that happens?

Don’t wait until that happens. Start your client email workflow now to get yourself organized but also so you can handle the efficiency when you do get flooded with client inquiries.

Here’s a good general client workflow that should help you out now as well as in the long run:

Responding To Inquiry

This seems like a given but believe it or not, there are some people who do not always respond to inquiries, especially if they are not interested in the client’s project.

On top of that, first impressions, even through emails, go a long way. If you don’t respond or respond unprofessionally, that creates a lasting impression on you/your company and that may become your reputation with them and everyone they tell.

You should always respond whether or not you are interested, and even more importantly, respond in a professional manner.

Find Out More About Their Inquiry Through A Questionnaire

When you receive an inquiry, often times people will include some details on their project but probably not enough for you to know how much time/work is involved as well as be able give an accurate estimated quote.

This is when your questionnaire will help you gather some more general details.

This will save you both time from going back and forth, flooding your inbox with numerous emails.

In my client email workflow, I often merge the “responding to inquiry” email while attaching my questionnaire to it (unless it’s not a good fit, then I don’t attach the questionnaire).

If you’re looking for a questionnaire template, we share ours with all of our email subscribers. Also, our blog post titled “6 Reasons Why You Should Send New Clients Questionnaires Before Meeting” be help out too.

We also use HoneyBook as our CRM, which has tons of features including keeping track of all emails for each project in one place but also one that sends out our questionnaire automatically for us (Get 50% off your first year by signing up through our referral link) saving us even more time.

If you’re looking for a free option, Google Forms can work too (but you must use Chrome for it).

Following Up To First Email Response/Questionnaire If No Response

Sometimes emails get lost in the shuffle or people get busy and forget to respond so we usually send out a friendly email reminder to nudge them. We usually send this out a week after sending our questionnaire to give them some time.

When we do receive responses and filled out questionnaires after the reminder, they usually let us know they either were busy or they overlooked that initial email.

In other cases where we don’t receive responses, we move on, but we didn’t lose or spend much time due to the email workflow setup.

Schedule Discovery Call

So, after a client fills out our questionnaire and we have the general idea on the project (as well as if we would be a good fit for the project), we send an email to schedule a discovery call to go more in depth.

This gives us a way to officially talk and meet the client, which is a great way to start building a relationship. You get a chance to find out about one another as well as their business, rather than being a random person behind a computer screen.

I mean, wouldn’t you feel more comfortable talking with someone you’re about to hire rather than just exchange a bunch of emails? Us too.

Not only that but it’s a great way to easily answer questions they may have, demonstrate that you’re an expert in your field and help them relieve any doubt they may have in potentially looking for another videographer/photographer/your competition because they’re comfortable with you.

Meeting Recap

There will probably be a lot of things discussed and a lot of questions asked so sending a recap email highlighting the details of the meeting is beneficial for both parties because you have everything in writing.

We do this to make sure we’re both on the same page, have their approval in case there was anything missed and use this to highlight the scope of work for the contract.

Send Proposal/Contract/Non-Refundable Retainer Invoice

Once the client approves the details from the meeting recap, which is pretty much the scope of work, it’s time to officially lock in the project with a contract and non-refundable retainer.

We attach the contract and invoice for the non-refundable retainer all in one email. And this is another reason why we like HoneyBook because they make this all easy for us.

Check-In Before Film Day Shoot

This is especially important if they booked you a month or longer in advance because people tend to lose track of time and the point is to give them a heads up so they’re all ready for the film day.

This can also be used as a reminder in case they have any last minute requests or if they were supposed to do certain tasks in preparation for production day (such as getting the proper employee who will be on film or cleaning up their workspace to be presentable on camera).

Delivery Of Drafts/Final Product

It’s always nice to send emails with updates to clients, especially if it’s a longer project so it shows you’re proactive and want to keep them in the loop. It also gives them an idea on when the project will be done (unless you guys agreed to a set deadline already).

Obviously sending drafts (with watermarks) to get approval from the client is a given but make sure you received their changes in writing so you can reference it.

Final Invoice

Before delivering the final product, make sure the remaining balance is paid. Again, since we use a CRM with HoneyBook, there’s an option for auto-pay and if it hasn’t been paid, HB automatically sends a reminder email to the client on your behalf so you don’t have to do anything.

Follow Up To Make Sure Everything Worked Out With The Final Product

It’s always nice to send a follow up to check to make sure all went well with the final product. This can vary depending on the type of project but generally speaking, it’s nice to build a relationship with them so they have a good experience with you.

If they had a great experience, you could always ask them to do you a favor and leave a good review because reviews go a long way in helping your business.

Conclusion

There will constantly be tweaking to client email workflows but being organized, providing good service to your client and saving yourself time will all help you in the long run.

This general workflow is something that has worked well for me and I continue to tweak it as I go but hopefully it helps you guys!

And if you’re interested in some email templates for each of these situations, I’ll be providing those free email templates on my email newsletter so if you’re not already signed up, don’t miss out! You can subscribe below!

December 30, 2020 by CF

Video Pre-Production Items (Checklist): The Extra Work Clients Don’t See Or Know You Do

Often times I see videographers and filmmakers overlook the pre-production side of things and more than likely they’re doing a bunch of this work without incorporating the costs within their pricing. In fact, clients probably don’t even know you do all this additional work because they assume it’s as simple as showing up with a camera to film followed by editing the footage.

Well, it’s time to inform them so they won’t be surprised when you’re incorporating these costs into the project. After all, this additional work is needed to help the client get the best results from the production.

Here is a general pre-production checklist that will vary depending on the type of video shoot you’re producing.

Pre-Production Items

Research – This applies to any niche or genre but any video production work will require some sort of research. Whether you’re doing research on your client’s company to get a better understanding on how you can help their business gain new leads through video marketing (finding out their demographic, how their service/product works, their challenges/pain points, etc) or researching the specific types of video examples of their vision they’re wanting you to produce, this is a pretty essential part of the pre-production process.

Creative Development – This comes after research because once you understand the clients’ needs/wants, now you’re able to come up with ideas and concepts on the video project to help them separate their business/video from others.

Scripting – The idea/concept comes from the creative development process but structuring the narrative/message/story of the video is all part of the scripting process.

Say you’re conducting an interview for a documentary or a brand message video, you’ll want to come up with questions to ask so you can get authentic answers you’re looking for to be able to tell the correct message for the client and control the narrative, which will help in the post-production process.

But if you’re writing the actual script for a commercial, this all falls under the scripting process.

Logistics of Video Shoot – This can include location scouting, securing film dates/times, creating a production schedule, looking for help or talent, prepping the necessary gear for the production and renting equipment needed, obtaining permits, and any other details for the video shoot.

Storyboarding/Shots List – I always recommend creating a storyboard or a shots checklist so you’re not going blindly into a video shoot. This will help you save a lot of time if you have a vision and are prepared.

Personally, I only storyboard for short films and bigger commercial work but I always create a shots list for any video project so I don’t forget the minimum shots needed.

Here are some things to include on a shots list: scene/sequence, shot number, location, description, camera angle/movement, actors/props and dialogue.

Often times the projects I work on require b-roll so I’ll make sure to list the minimum shots that I would need to create the vision of the video. While I’m on set, I always end up filming more and try different shots out as well so I have options to work with during post-production.

Budget, Contract Terms And Invoicing – We always suggest asking your client what their budget is but that doesn’t always mean your production and prices will fit within that number. Find out what they’re looking for and adjust accordingly.

For instance, if you could produce their video for $2,000 but their budget was $3,000, you have more to work with now to produce a better video for your client. You can rent some additional equipment, hire talent, maybe have a personal assistant on set to help setup and work your B-cam, etc.

Once you figure out the budgeting, now you need to create a contract highlighting the scope of work and terms as well as invoicing (we always recommend taking a non-refundable retainer to reserve the film dates).

Conclusion

There are items that we probably left off but these are the majority of pre-production items we often do before any video shoot that we go on. Some aren’t always necessary for every video project but these will definitely help prepare and make your production go a lot more smoothly.

Are there specific pre-production items that you find yourself always doing? Let us know!

December 16, 2020 by CF

How To Respond To Low Budget Clients

Whether you’re a freelancer (in pretty much any profession) or someone that runs your own company, I’m sure you’ve come across some clients that simply do not have a big enough budget to actually hire you at your prices.

Some clients may simply be unaware of how pricing in your line of work is or some hope you’re willing to do more for way less. Whatever the case is, it’s a good practice to respond to everyone in general in the same professional manner you’d want for yourself.

First, let’s get into…

How You Should NOT Respond

By Lowering Your Prices – Some people, especially those looking for immediate work or in need of money, will lower their prices just to get paid something.

Some money is better than no money, right? Wrong. At least in this case when you’re trying to run a business. You devalue your own time, work and worth when you do this.

Not only that but they’ll assume you were overcharging them to begin with. And from the stories I hear, once you lower your price and devalue yourself, those clients will continue to see what else they can get from you. A classic case of giving an inch and they try to take a foot.

By Getting Defensive or Offended – There’s no need to defend yourself or get offended, especially when it comes to responding. Whether it’s a sarcastic response or wanting to tell them off because you felt insulted by their budget, don’t.

Like I mentioned earlier, some people simply are unaware of how pricing is in your line of work so you have a chance to inform them in a polite and professional way.

On top of that, just because they have a low budget now, doesn’t mean they’ll have a low budget in the future. So don’t automatically think you lost this client because they could very well come back to you down the road.

Not Replying At All – One of the worst things you can do with your business is not responding to a potential client at all (even if you feel it’s a waste of time). Not only is this unprofessional but it can potentially damage your reputation and you can lose more than just that one client.

If a client takes time to contact you, at the very least, you can take a minute or two to respond.

Speaking of responding…

How You Should Respond

Professionally – I thought this was a given, to respond in a professional manner, but I’ve seen people in the videography/photography profession respond like they’re talking to a friend they’ve known for years rather than a potential client.

Although it’s great to be yourself and personable, first impressions go a long way. I mean, you probably wouldn’t go into a meeting or interview for a job like you’re with a group of your closest friends, right?

Enlighten Them – As I mentioned, a lot of people simply are unaware of how pricing is or even how much work is actually involved so here’s your chance to enlighten them.

I’ve had conversations with clients who have reached out to me with low budgets and enlightened them on the value and quality of my work/services and how it can help them; some raise their budgets to meet my pricing and some move on.

I think it’s important to communicate these things. I mean, there are a bunch of people who think videographers simply press the record button and that’s it.

Well, that is until they try to do it themselves and notice the difference between your work and theirs.

Be Helpful (Give Recommendations) – Some people will not be able to afford you but it shouldn’t stop you from potentially helping them out. Now I’m not saying to do work for free but giving some guidance or suggestions can go a long way.

Depending on your profession, I often either recommend people that I know that have lower prices than myself, recommend helpful resources or possible DIY solutions so they can try to produce something themselves.

If you’re in need of an email template on how to respond to low budget clients, we give away free email templates to all of our newsletter subscribers. Feel free to subscribe at the end of this post to obtain your free templates!

Conclusion

Every situation is different but ultimately, you should respond to low budget clients with the same professional demeanor as you would a high budget client.

Who knows, maybe one day that low budget client may actually turn into a high budget client down the line and you made such a great impression (with your work) and professionalism that they want to come back to you.

December 3, 2020 by CF

6 Reasons Why You Should Send New Clients Questionnaires Before Meeting

If you’re a videographer, photographer or anyone that has service-based clients, we would recommend sending new clients a questionnaire before you schedule a phone call or meeting with them. This will actually help you out tremendously in the small and big picture.

Here are the reasons why you should always send new clients questionnaires before meeting:

It Helps You Understand Their Wants/Needs For The Project

This one is obvious so we wanted to get it out of the way. It helps you understand the project and obtain the information you would need if you decide to take on the project.

It will also let you know if it’s not the type of project you’d like to work on.

It Helps You Prepare (And Impress) For Your Meeting With The Client

If you’re like us, you like to prepare if you’re able to. In this case, you’re preparing for the meeting with your client so you’re not going into it blindly.

Just imagine this: you have enough information about the client and their project and you can go into the meeting well prepared and on the same page as them; you not only impress them with your professionalism and commitment to their project, but you can use that information to help advise them based on your professional opinion.

And if you do it correctly, you can potentially upsell them on services or lock them into a retainer contract for more than a one-off project.

Some people are great with improvising but even if you improvise during a meeting blindly, there will always be something that you may miss. Meetings with new clients are make-it-or-break-it and if you impress, your conversion rates become that much higher.

Helps Your Client Understand Their Own Wants For The Project

You won’t believe how many times I’ve had clients not fully know what they want with their own project. They have a general idea but they need help. Before you give your time advising them, the questions from your questionnaire will often give them more clarity on what they want.

It Adds A Layer To Weave Out Clients Who Aren’t Serious In Actually Hiring You

Time is money, right? Imagine if you can cut out the time spent talking to potential clients who aren’t even really serious about hiring you or they simply don’t even have a budget to be able to hire you.

If you receive a bunch of inquiries, especially on social media, imagine trying to respond to every single one of them to find out less than half actually had a budget to hire you to begin with. Now you just wasted all day responding to potential clients who weren’t really serious. That is time you could’ve been using on other important business items.

And if you receive spam or scammer emails, this will easily red flag them!

Avoid The Awkward “What Is Your Budget?” Talk

You don’t want your first question to a potential client to be “what’s your budget?” because that seems like you’re only interested in getting paid rather than helping your potential client. We believe asking clients what their budget is upfront is necessary but to avoid that awkward talk, we suggest adding that question to your questionnaire.

This will also gives you a heads up on if the client can afford your services.

Helpful tip: put in parenthesis examples of your pricing starting with your minimum. For instance, “What’s Your Budget (ex. $1,000, $2,000, $3,000+)?” This lets them know the minimum on if they can afford you or not.

You Have A Reference In Writing

Whatever their answers are, you have it in writing to reference later, if needed.

Say one of your questions is “do you have an example video or photo style you’d like us to reference?”, now you can refer back to the example they gave, especially if you didn’t take notes or have a bad memory, like us. 🙂

On top of that, there’s no miscommunication on what they’re telling you. It’s in writing for a reason.

Bonus Tip: Save Yourself More Time By Automating The Questionnaire Sending Process

If you use a CRM/CMS (we use HoneyBook, get 50% off your first year) then odds are you have the option to automate some of your processes such as sending out automated emails as well as things such as questionnaires.

This will save you so much time!

Conclusion

Sending out questionnaires have helped us in numerous ways and we believe it will help you out as well. As you can see, this will save you a vast amount of time in the big picture but it will also help narrow down the time spent on quality leads.

And if you need a videographer/video pre-production questionnaire example template for future clients, this is one of the many templates that are available for our email newsletter subscribers. Feel free to sign up here to receive our FREE templates!

November 18, 2020 by CF

Ghosted After Client Pays Non-Refundable Retainer And Contract Is Signed

Whether you’re a videographer, photographer or anyone that works with clients, odds are you’ve been ghosted by a potential client before. It happens to us all at some point but to make things more interesting, have you ever had a client pay your non-refundable retainer and sign your contract to then never hear from them again? I have. Three times, actually. Let me just get into it, especially since we had to add specific verbiage to our contract because of these situations.

What Does Being ‘Ghosted’ By A Client Mean?

We’ve all heard of “being ghosted” in dating terms when a person never hears back from someone, especially when they thought things went well, but nowadays, it happens even in the business world.

Often times it goes like this:

A potential client reaches out
You have a phone or in-person meeting to discuss details on the project or service they’re planning on hiring you for
It goes well and then you send over a contract
You never hear from them again

Sound familiar? Yep. It happens to all of us. Don’t take it personal, stay professional and simply move on (though, I always send a follow-up message to them regardless).

Now things get interesting if they’ve paid a non-refundable retainer and then you never hear back…

Being Ghosted By Clients After They Pay Non-Refundable Retainer And Signed Your Contract

Believe it or not, this has happened to us on three different occasions. Each time that this has happened has been slightly different but this is how the process generally goes:

A potential client reaches out
We have a phone or in-person meeting to discuss details on the project or service they’re planning on hiring us for
It goes well and then we send over a contract as well as invoice for a non-refundable retainer
They pay our non-refundable retainer and sign the contract
We try to schedule a date that works for both of us for the film shoot
They get busy, are going out of town, (or some other excuse goes here) and will schedule when they’re available
We follow up once, twice, thrice, within a month or two timeframe, which they read the messages/emails and we never hear from them again

We’re just as perplexed as you probably are while reading this.

What Should We Do In This Situation?

We know what you’re probably thinking: “They paid you a non-refundable retainer, FREE money for doing nothing! Keep it and move on!”

Although, that is essentially what happens, we actually want to do the work they hired us for. But if we never hear back, then we can’t.

So, what do we do?

Well, each time we implemented something new from these learning experiences.

Side note and fun fact: we actually had a client pay us the non-refundable retainer, remaining balance, we filmed and edited but needed, not only their approval to finalize the video, but their logo and other materials to include, and then never heard back after numerous failed email attempts, calls with voicemail messages and texts.

Luckily, it was an organization which we could look up other contacts and we resolved it that way.

But back to implementing new processes from these learning experiences.

New Steps We’ve Implemented Because Of These Situations

Although these situations don’t happen often, you want to be able to protect yourself from things such as:

If they claim you never contacted them or they never received your messages
If they come back a year or two later (after your rates or entire company’s procedure has changed) wanting to pick up where they left off
If they claim you weren’t trying to actually do the work, for some reason
You potentially losing out on other work if they’re constantly rescheduling (if you turn down another client on the same day, for instance)

These are the steps we’ve implemented over the years and I’m sure we’ll adjust accordingly in the future as well and suggest you always do the same to fit your business:

Reach out multiple times in different ways (emails, phone, social media): We understand people get busy so courtesy follow-up usually works. But after a couple of months of no response, we’ll eventually send an email stating if we don’t hear back by a certain date, we’ll assume they no longer need our services and any payments up to that point will be forfeited.

Adding specific items to our contract for the future so they know in advance: We actually did this after the latest ghosted payment because anything more than once, may happen again so we want to be transparent and covered within our contract.

Below is the wording we included in our contract (we are NOT lawyers so please always have a professional look over your contracts), which we’re constantly changing our contract to reflect circumstances that will help protect the clients as well as ourselves:

Expiration and Cancellation
Current contract agreement is valid 2 weeks post origination date to secure services. If Client fails to return signed contract agreement and/or non-refundable retainer within specified time frame, contract voids and a new agreement will need to be created and issued.
If Client fails to arrange film dates or anything that will prevent the Company from performing the scope of work after contract is signed and non-refundable retainer is paid, the Company will make reasonable attempts to contact Client. If Client fails to respond, arrange film dates or supply Company with material needed to finish scope of work, contract will expire one year from original date of signed contract.
If the event is cancelled or Client cancels, the Client must notify Company immediately in writing. Company will work with Client in an attempt to reschedule an agreed upon date within one year of the original filming date. If the event is rescheduled more than twice then this contract becomes void and no refunds will be granted. In the event that the Company is not available for the new date, Company will refund Client any payments except for the non-refundable retainer.

Conclusion

Unfortunately, we will probably never know what happened since we were unable to get in touch with these previous clients. We can only do what we can as well as prepare for these situations if they ever happen in the future. Hopefully our experience helps you prepare by adding things to your contract to protect you and your company for the future.

Let’s just hope this doesn’t happen to you, let alone, happen three times!

If this has happened, we would love to hear what happened and what you did!

Please let us know and let’s hope we don’t get ghosted anymore!

… I’m being optimistic, of course.

September 1, 2020 by CF

10 Tips For Sending Cold Emails To Businesses That Get Responses

Are there businesses or clients that you would love to offer your service or business to but you don’t know what to say when sending them an email? Your initial “cold” email to a business or potential client you’ve never talked to will determine if they actually take the time to read it and respond versus them deleting it almost instantly.

If you don’t know what to say, let us help you out with that! Here are out 10 tips for sending cold emails to businesses you want to work with! But first…

What Are Cold Emails?

There are different definitions of what a “cold email” is, but in essence, it’s an email sent to a potential client that you have had no prior relationship or contact with before.

Whether you’re in a business for yourself or just starting out, you’ve probably received some sort of cold email at some point. Often times, they are totally spammy, impersonal and gets deleted before you make it to the second sentence.

Please do not send those types of emails.

I often get these types of emails – whether they’re trying to offer me an outsourcing video editor service or wanting me to sign up for something – there have been times where I actually take the time to respond to them and let them what they could do to improve rather than send the same email to everyone. I mean, you want to turn a cold email to a warm lead, which is the point. But even if I respond to them, they already lost me.

With that said, here are our tips from our experiences on how to send cold emails or messages to business:

1. Research the business you’re contacting

If you’re reaching out to a business, at the very least, you should know what they do and what you can offer to help them. That should be a given but you should go in even more detail when you’re researching.

Let me give you some examples…

Say you’re contacting a business as a videographer and you notice they don’t have any videos to help market themselves on any of their social media or even their website. That’s where you would come in and offer exactly what they don’t know they need yet.

But look a little deeper. For instance, if you notice that none of their social media accounts have been updated in the past year, that probably means they’re not really focusing on social media so you can even offer that service or focus on how you can help outside of it (sponsored ads, video for their website or landing page, etc).

2. Focus on them, NOT yourself

One of the mistakes I made early on was not focusing enough on the potential client. You have to explain and educate how you can help them while taking away the focus on what you’re gaining out of it.

It shouldn’t be why they need you but rather how you can help their needs.

How can whatever you offer them help their business? Why should they take this specific action? Focus on that first so you can get a response back and ideally, setting up a phone call or in-person meeting to discuss in more details.

3. Personalize your message to someone specific

Now let’s get into the emails. One of the first signs you’re just copying and pasting the same message to everyone is how you address them. Did you not take a couple of minutes to at least check out their social media or their About Us page on their website to get their name so you know who you’re actually contacting?

What’s even worse is when people just automate who they’re addressing things to by using your social tag such as “Dear @chazefilms” or something as generic as “to whom it may concern”.

If you want to seem less spammy, take a few minutes to do step 1 and do research on your potential next client’s name, at the very least. Think about it like this, if you actually address them directly, you already caught their attention because they’re probably thinking “wait, how did they know my name?” or “wait, do I know this person?!”

4. Who are YOU – Introduce yourself

You’ve done your research on them, now introduce yourself so they can do their research on you, if they wanted. Make sure you have a website, social media and other places where they can find more information about you because after all, you are a stranger to them so they’ll probably want to do some research on you as well.

Supply them with enough information for that so they’ll feel comfortable moving forward with you after looking you up.

If you have some sort of mutual connection or anything, make sure you mention that so they don’t feel like you’re a complete stranger but a friend of a friend.

5. Compliments are good

Do they have a great product or service? Maybe they have amazing photos on their social media? Whatever it is, make sure you compliment them on it. It can be something simple and subtle so it doesn’t feel as though it’s over the top and you’re just trying to kiss their ass.

Don’t get me wrong, you want to but without them feeling like you are. I mean, who doesn’t like compliments? And if you’ve done your research, this should come pretty easy.

6. Be clear on how you can help their business

Don’t beat around the bush, you have to be clear on how you can actually help their business. Are you helping them create new fresh content for social media? Will your services help them gain more customers? How will you directly help their business?

Whichever way you can help them, be clear about it so they know exactly what they’ll be getting from you and how it will their business. And if you have lots to offer, just focus on one that you think is their biggest need for now. The goal is to turn them into a repeat client so one task at a time.

7. Show proof of your expertise

Did you help another business grow? Did you help them create such an amazing video that they received lots of exposure or new customers from it? Show them this proof.

If you made an amazing video that helped a previous client, link to that specific video so people can see how well it was received and how it performed. If you helped their social media grow, show them some before and after statistics. If you have clients that wrote you testimonials on your services, link to them.

All of this will help backup your claim on how you can actually help because it emphasizes the proof of your expertise.

8. Catchy, short subject line

This should be higher on the list but since there wasn’t a specific order of priority, well, here it is. There are different ways of adding a catchy subject line but it really depends on the type of client you’re trying to attract.

For instance, contacting a small business versus realtor versus corporate will probably all be slightly different. But in any case, we would recommend keeping it short (under 50 characters), address what the email is about in a catchy way and try to include how you can help them.

For instance, “Lets help you attract more clients through video”. Short, to the point and it addresses what the email will be about while catching their attention on how you can help their business.

9. Call-to-action

The goal with sending cold emails is to get them to do a call-to-action, a.k.a. respond. But you don’t want to go back and forth with emails all day because potential clients want to be able to talk to someone.

Offer to discuss more details on the phone. A majority of the time when I’ve scheduled a phone call with a potential client, I’m able to lock them in just by being genuine on wanting to help their business.

10. Show appreciation

Remember, we’re taking up their valuable time so showing some appreciation to them goes a long way. It doesn’t have to be anything over-the-top but something more than “thanks!”.

For instance, “I appreciate your time and look forward to hearing from you!” Short, simple and shows appreciation for them even reading your cold email.

Conclusion

There is no perfect way of sending a cold email and often times, you have to adjust and test as you go to see what works for you but following these tips listed above has helped me get responses as well as turn them into paid clients and I believe it’ll help you too!

I’ll have email templates available for our newsletter subscribers so make sure you subscribe if that interest you!