p.1 #1 · Do any of you contact old (dead) email inquiries?
Hey FM,
We all get occasional email inquiries from potential clients that seem genuinely interested, and never hear back from them. Usually, if I don't hear back from them, I assume they were just price shopping. Do any of you continue to try make contact with these types of inquiries after your initial response? If so, at what rate... once, twice, weekly (obviously there is a balance between SPAM and desperation)? What do you say to them to try get them to reconsider?
In the back of my head, I know that not everybody is price shopping, and that some have realistic excuses for not responding (i.e., work, family, life, etc). I'd hate to think that I missed an opportunity to meet with potential clients because they forgot about me and were sent a barrage of emails by other photographers.
p.1 #2 · Do any of you contact old (dead) email inquiries?
I usually drop a second e-mail to them after 2 weeks, and a third after a month if I hadn't heard anything from them. Last year, I sent a bride like 5-6 emails just to follow up and say hello and I finally heard from her. Ended up booking her and the wedding was awesome. Sometimes people are just busy and put things on the back burner. I think sending a follow up that's friendly and wishing them well puts a good thought in their mind about you. At the end of the day, it doesn't hurt anything and can net you some business.
p.1 #3 · Do any of you contact old (dead) email inquiries?
I used to do the follow-up thing but I got sick of spending the time doing it as it didn't yield any results. Now it might not be a terrible idea for me to set up an automated set of follow-ups through ShootQ... hm.
p.1 #4 · Do any of you contact old (dead) email inquiries?
HubbardJA wrote:
I usually drop a second e-mail to them after 2 weeks, and a third after a month if I hadn't heard anything from them. Last year, I sent a bride like 5-6 emails just to follow up and say hello and I finally heard from her. Ended up booking her and the wedding was awesome. Sometimes people are just busy and put things on the back burner. I think sending a follow up that's friendly and wishing them well puts a good thought in their mind about you. At the end of the day, it doesn't hurt anything and can net you some business.
Send an e-mail 1-2 days after meeting, another 2 weeks later, and another 1 month later. In most cases people get in touch with me when they're ready to book, but I have booked a few from that second e-mail.
p.1 #5 · Do any of you contact old (dead) email inquiries?
I just got a booking this week from a Bride who inquired quite some time ago, and after dropping them an e-mail this week they came back within hours thanking for for reminding them because they'd been busy and totally forgotten about things..... and this is for a 2013 wedding.
p.1 #6 · Do any of you contact old (dead) email inquiries?
I was actually on the other side of this. I had an inquire about a wedding date. I completely forgot about it until 5 weeks later. I freaked and email them to know I had their date open and I was totally sorry for not responding to them sooner. I ended up booking them and they even paid in full. So there is a lot of reasons why people might not get back.
I have had clients contact me, rave about my work, want to setup a meeting but never heard from them again. I just let it go and wished I at least sent a second email just as a reminder. Personally, I wouldn't send a third. Don't want to feel spammy.
p.1 #7 · Do any of you contact old (dead) email inquiries?
Sometimes an email falls through the cracks, ends up in a junk folder or gets bumped to the back burner and so, sometimes I've sent out a followup or two.
p.1 #8 · Do any of you contact old (dead) email inquiries?
HubbardJA wrote:
I usually drop a second e-mail to them after 2 weeks, and a third after a month if I hadn't heard anything from them. Last year, I sent a bride like 5-6 emails just to follow up and say hello and I finally heard from her. Ended up booking her and the wedding was awesome. Sometimes people are just busy and put things on the back burner. I think sending a follow up that's friendly and wishing them well puts a good thought in their mind about you. At the end of the day, it doesn't hurt anything and can net you some business.
On a sidenote... I wonder how often simply following up with a thoughtful reply converts "price shoppers" into actual clients. Do any of you have a perspective on this?
p.1 #9 · Do any of you contact old (dead) email inquiries?
I tend to respond very quickly to inquiries, and if I don't hear back in about 7-10 days, I'll just send one follow-up email thanking them for their inquiry and wish them best. Make it subtle that you will no longer reach out, but thank them at the same time.
p.1 #15 · Do any of you contact old (dead) email inquiries?
Not to go off-topic from OP's original question, but still somehow related to it...
Do you folks follow-up with emails or phone calls? I always thought phone calls would be a better approach, more direct, etc. than just simply sending emails.
However, most of the time, I only get their voicemails, leave messages, but never get called back. A few times, the brides picked up, but most likely were in the middle of something (I always try calling around lunch break/hours) and had to disconnect.
p.1 #16 · Do any of you contact old (dead) email inquiries?
I just feel that if we didn't make a connection we aren't going to. The brides that book me (and I'm sure most of you can relate) RACE to the booking process. A bride has to want to be in your pictures, you can't force that, it's an emotional decision.
p.1 #17 · Do any of you contact old (dead) email inquiries?
+1
i do followups only for weird dates i am unlikely to book otherwise
i used to send follow up emails but got few times quite some weird answer so i dont anymore.
p.1 #18 · Do any of you contact old (dead) email inquiries?
sboerup wrote:
I tend to respond very quickly to inquiries, and if I don't hear back in about 7-10 days, I'll just send one follow-up email thanking them for their inquiry and wish them best. Make it subtle that you will no longer reach out, but thank them at the same time.
