If you’re a growing photographer that’s looking for a way to keep your business organized, look no further! I started using 17 Hats a few years ago, and have found it to be so incredibly helpful for keeping me sane. While I’m still learning the ins and outs of the CRM (Client Relationship Management) software, I thought I’d share some of my favorite features with you!

• Contact Information: You can house all client information in one place (name, email, phone number, address, etc.) This helps keep me organized throughout their client experience because I know that if I need to get ahold of them, I already have all of their information saved here.
• Projects: For each client, you can create a “project.” For example, each bride of mine is loaded into 17 Hats as a contact, and their wedding is created as the project. This keeps all wedding related documents all in one place!
• Quotes & Invoices: 17Hats makes it so easy to send prospective clients quotes & current clients invoices. The best part about managing the invoices electronically is that you can connect 17Hats to a stripe account & accept ACH payments (this was a big selling point for me because there are significantly less fees for ACH payments compared to credit card payments).
• Workflows: Once you have your wedding workflow organized (i.e. all of the steps throughout your client experience), it’s easy to create a virtual workflow in 17Hats. This is a really easy way to ensure that all of your clients receive the same experience and that no balls are dropped!
• Questionnaires: You can send pre- & post-wedding questionnaires to clients. I have these integrated into my workflows to send at specific points throughout the process, but it is really helpful for my clients to have access to the questionnaires before their wedding day. The primary questionnaire that I send to my couples asks all about the information that I’ll need to serve them well on the wedding day, including vendors, family dynamics, special timeline requests, family formal lists, etc.
• Contracts: All of my clients sign contracts in order to work with me, and 17Hats allows me to send them electronically and collect e-signatures. All they need to do is type their name and hit accept! It’s super easy!
• Automation & templates: This one is a HUGE perk, and I recently started implementing this into my business. You can create email templates for your clients and upload them to a workflow. I started creating more educational content for my brides throughout the planning process and now have all of my 2019 brides set up in the workflow. I get a notification when it’s time to go in and send the next email, and all I have to do is hit approve and send! It’s that easy and super fast.
• Client Portal: My clients love this one! 17Hats provides a client portal for my clients to go back and view any documents that are related to their project. Most of the time this includes contracts, quotes, invoices, and questionnaires. Everything they’ve signed and paid is all in one place for them to go back and reference.

Alrighty, friends! Those are my favorite features! If you are a new photographer who is just getting started here is a link for 10% off!  ENJOY!!