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I recently watched that new F1 movie with Brad Pitt and knowing nothing about racing or F1, I found myself thinking a lot about the counterintuitive value of the pit stop. When you are trying to win a race, you're flying around the racetrack at, you know, 200 plus miles an hour. The last thing that you would think you should do is stop. But if you don't, chances are really good that the wheels will come off. Or in the case of F1, at least the tires. So two weeks ago we talked about what to do when your busy season isn't busy. But what about when the opposite is true? You're booked solid. Inquiries are rolling in. You're shooting nonstop, you're editing at all hours of the night. You're barely keeping up with galleries, deliveries and emails. And yes, it's exciting. But it can also be a lot. Because when you're buried in work, it's easy to skip the stuff that you aren't required to do. Like the creative upsells that could turn a $1,200 client into a $2,000 client, or the sales campaigns that could add a nice cushion to your bank account and fill some of the white space on your Q1 calendar. And even those post session check ins that can turn a happy client into a thrilled client who becomes a repeat customer and a source of referrals. Those things matter. They are what turn a busy season into a business that thrives in the months and years to come. But it's all too easy to let them get lost in the noise of what's urgent. Because you're driving 200 miles an hour, right? It's hard to be strategic when you're just trying to survive the week. So think of today's episode like a quick pit stop to get you ready to finish the season strong. And I promise I will keep this one pretty short. Today, I am sharing simple, sustainable ways to leverage the momentum you already have so that your busy season isn't an outlier but becomes the fuel for consistent, profitable growth. Let's get into it welcome to this Can't Be that Hard. My name is Annami Tonkin and I help photographers run profitable, sustainable businesses that they love. Each week on the podcast, I cover simple, actionable strategies and systems that that photographers at every level of experience can use to earn more money in a more sustainable way. Running a photography business doesn't have to be that hard. You can do it, and I can show you how. So before we talk about leveraging your busy season, let's start with the most important piece, which is making sure that the clients who've already booked you are getting the experience they deserve. Because here's the thing, when you're swamped, it's easy to slip into reactive mode, right? You shoot, you edit, you deliver, and then you move on to the next one. Not because you don't care, but because you physically don't have the bandwidth. But if you're not careful, that approach starts to chip away at the very thing that got you booked in the first place, which is a great client experience. So first, let's go back to the basics and make sure that even in the thick of it, you are able to stay proactive and that your clients are all feeling cared for, seen and excited to work with you again. These things that we're going to talk about don't need to be time consuming, but a few steps can make a big difference. First of all, I want you to make sure that you are automating as much of your client communication as possible. So your pre session prep emails, your thank you emails, after the session, the gallery delivery emails, the follow ups, none of these should be written from scratch. If you don't already have automated ones set up in a CRM or inside your gallery software, now might not be the time to try and build a whole new system, but you can create templates and schedule reminders so that you can just pop into your inbox, tweak a few details and hit send in seconds, rather than taking minutes with each of these emails. Next, I want you to take your communication beyond emails up to the next level. Right? Once the basics are automated, you can go the extra mile with those little touches that make your business feel truly personal. And this is where I think audio and video really shine. So first, record a 30 second to one minute video. After someone books, all you're doing is saying welcome. You're so excited to work with them. And this doesn't have to be fancy, just a quick, genuine message sharing your excitement and gratitude with all the automated, you know, thank you so much for booking emails. And you should be sending one of those out as well. This personal video message is going to land as what it is, which is something that is like an extra above and beyond step. You can put this in an email, you can send it to their phone number if you have their number to text them, or you could just Instagram DM them wherever you think that they might get that most easily. Right after their session, I suggest that you send a short voice memo saying how much fun you had. You know how you can't wait to dive into their photos, that sort of thing? Again, we're talking about 15 to 30 seconds. If you are into multitasking, you can do that in the car on the way home from the session and just pop that into a text. And then before you deliver their gallery, I recommend that you send a walkthrough video of how to use their platform. This really elevates your customer service because you are preventing technical issues from interrupting the magic of that first look, but it also builds anticipation. The gallery video is different from the others in that this one only needs to be recorded once. I did mine using a sample gallery of travel photos. And you just kind of keep the tone friendly and conversational, but not overly personal. You're not going to say somebody's name, you're just going to walk through the process so that you can use that with each and every delivery. Finally, to sort of elevate your client experience, I want you to leverage AI to help with the stuff that you procrastinate on. This just makes sure that you are efficiently dotting all your I's and crossing all your T's. Right now, obviously ChatGPT is great when it comes to helping you respond to emails, so definitely use that or Claude or any of the others. But there are other uses too. One of my favorites is using the Voice feature in ChatGPT to Brain Dump my to do list and then asking it to help me organize and prioritize so that I don't spend any of my extra bandwidth trying to kind of plan out my day. Finally, if your editing is backlogged, please do yourself a favor and sign up for Imagen AI. Even if you don't have the bandwidth to set up a custom profile at that point you can let it handle basic edits, right? Exposure, contrast, color correction, and save your energy for the final polish. If you haven't tried Imagen yet, I think you'll be amazed at how well it works and how much time it will save you. So I will link a code in the show notes for 1500 free edits so that you can test it out. So these are simple doable shifts that allow you to maintain a strong client experience even when you're in overdrive. Because if the people who already trust you feel seen, supported and impressed, that's what's going to lead to rebookings, referrals and long term growth. Once we've got our client experience taken care of, then it's time to shift and think about the future because just because you're busy right now doesn't mean that you don't need to keep marketing. But all this busy season traffic can actually be a really great place to start. You could plan and start teasing some sort of themed offer for Q1 so that you've got, you know, something ready when the calendar slows down and the people who are already booking with you can be the first people that you invite. You can also offer your busy season clients some sort of limited time rebooking incentive while they're still excited about their images. So if you are looking to fill next year, you could give them a reason to book now, whether that's a bonus or a discount of some sort. And then you're already like off to the races for next year. And at the very least I want you to be sure that you are building this list of warm leads as you go so that you know exactly who to follow up with and reach out to in Q1 and Q2 of next year instead of starting from scratch. Another way to turn your busy season into next year's revenue is by encouraging referrals and testimonials. The best opportunity to get a great testimonial or referral is right after your clients receive their images, right when they're feeling super excited and really grateful. But unless you make it easy for them, that intention often doesn't go anywhere. So your job isn't to ask for referrals and testimonials, it is to make it as effortless as possible. And even though it may sound a little forward, one of my favorite ways to do that is to give them the words. So again, using AI if you'd like, you can draft a short text or email that they, you know, can send to a friend who's looking for a photographer. You can provide a social media caption and maybe a couple of sneak peek images that are sized and ready for Instagram. Or you can pre write a quick draft testimonial that is specific to their session. A lot of people freeze up when they're asked for reviews, but if you get them started, most people will happily make a tweak or two and then hit publish. Finally, if you are in a position where your calendar is truly full and you can't take any more clients, I want you to go back and Listen to episode 145 where I interviewed Jay McLaughlin who shared one of my all time favorite busy season strategies. So instead of turning people away when her schedule fills up in the fall, Jay offers free micro mini sessions to anyone who inquires if they book a full session in Q1. This has solved the immediate need of the client, right, who's reaching out because they want a holiday photo. It keeps her connected, it makes her the primary photographer, that person, and it pre fills her calendar for the slow season. Super genius. And while Jay is talking in that episode about family photography, I think this principle can be applied almost anywhere, right? Give clients what they want right now in exchange for a commitment that sustains you later. Before we wrap up, one last reminder. Even though you are busy now, it is super important to stay consistent with your marketing. So keep blogging, keep emailing your list, keep showing up on social media. People's attention spans are short and if you get busy and disappear, they will start to forget that your business exists. And I don't want you to let them. If you need help, if you need to make this easy while you are in your busy season, join us in the consistency club. This is literally what we do. We have everything planned and templated and ready so that even the busiest photographers can keep showing up like they had all their marketing planned months in advance. And the whole thing costs you less than you know what you'll save on the coffee this month when you implement all these time saving ideas. So let's recap. Being busy is a great problem to have, but if it's a problem that you want to keep, you have to take the time to hit the brakes and pull in for a pit stop now and again. First and foremost, make sure that you're taking care of your booked clients, but keep an eye on your future clients too. Planting seeds for the coming offers, encouraging referrals, and staying top of mind. I know you're working hard this season, but with a little planning you can keep this momentum going into next year and beyond. Have a great week. That's it for this week's episode of this Can't Be that Hard. I'll be back same time, same place next week. If you like the show, be sure to check out thiscan'tbethard.com to explore all the resources we have for photographers. And of course it would mean the world to me if you would leave a review of the show on itunes or Spotify. As always, thanks so much for joining me. I hope you have a fantastic week.