Archive for February, 2010

The Client Access feature provides your client with a menu of products and services from which to customize their wedding or event. Once the client has selected their collection of products and services, P1Wired Photography Studio Management will assist you with contract generation and getting the contract electronically signed.

The contract also provides a payment schedule which is retained in P1Wired in the client’s electronic file. This feature allows you to manage your business 24/7 and have clients stop by when it’s convenient for them. They can review your galleries and pricing and select the collection of products and services that make the most sense for them. They can fulfill the order with a contract and payment and decide (on their own terms) how much or how little interaction they need to secure your services.

This is a great way to leverage your business and provide you the piece of mind that your business can continue to stay open even if you are off at a trade show or on vacation.

The Workflow feature is your virtual assistant. It outlines your routine and keeps track of each step as you process an order or service. When you complete each milestone in Workflow it auto-generates an email, letting the client know the order status.

This is a useful feature if you like to build routine around the various offerings in your studio or business. With this feature, you can define workflow and standardize it in P1Wired. You can then fine-tune the process to minimize the effort and time needed to accomplish the task. All of this is managed with a set of milestones which measure your progress as each task is completed in the workflow.

Creating a method to your workflow and refining it will eliminate wasted time and energy and allow you to focus on photography and marketing. Check out Workflow in P1Wired by clicking on the “W” icon in the upper left hand corner of the software application.

Tracking your photography events is a core feature of P1Wired Photography Studio Management. You can easily display all of your events on a single screen and quickly review the details that make up the event. You can search your event by month, year, event status, shoot location and/or vendor. Let P1Wired be your virtual assistant with the features offered in the studio management software.

For example: If a prospect asks you if you have shot any weddings at Avon Country Club — you can easily search past events by location and provide a quick response. Since the image locations are stored in the event file, you can quickly find and send samples to that prospect.

P1Wired tracks the event date and time and automatically adds them to your calendar. You can also track event details so you have them at your fingertips when prepping for the event: How many guests are at the ceremony? at the reception? is there a father/daughter dance? who needs to be photographed and when? It’s all stored and available to be printed or reviewed from your browser and/or smartphone. The best thing about this feature is that it is customizable, allowing you to define how you want to cover an event.

If there are multiple photographers or assistants, you can assign them to the appropriate event. You can track the vendors that are working the same event. Who is the florist, caterer, DJ? This important information allows you to leverage your business and build relationships with vendors that will make a real difference for your studio.

Wedding photographers find this feature to be a major plus. Weddings can have multiple locations and associated details — usually so many details that it’s hard to keep it all straight. Let the Event feature in P1Wired help you to organize these details and prep you for each phase of the wedding, including locations, names, “must have” images, vendors and equipment. Why take a chance with a homegrown method for workflow? The client is expecting perfection — use the right tools to convey your professionalism.

Finally, from the Events feature you can create, edit, sign, email and print a contract. The paperwork is electronic, the language is already crafted- requiring only event specific editing, the signatures are obtained through email and the document is available in the client account for easy access in the future. The contract headache is resolved with P1Wired.

Julie Klaasmeyer is hosting a workshop Feb 12-14 at her studio. She has invited Lori Nordstrom and Kay Eskridge to join her and provide their perspectives on photography during the 3 day event.

P1Wired has contributed to the SWAG bag and will be providing an extended FREE TRIAL period so that any photographer looking to incorporate studio management software into their workflow this year will have plenty of time to try out P1Wired.

We are planning to release a new version in the next couple of weeks which will include Workflow and Client Access as new features. The development team will spend the last part of February fine tuning the software application as we get ready for WPPI 2010. If you are at the Trade Show come visit us in booth #1315.

MailChimp has recently integrated with Flickr so that you can upload images from Flickr and use them in your email marketing campaigns. MailChimp did a nice job explaining the integration in their blog so check it out and see if the integration makes sense for your business. At a 30,000 ft. level the process is easy and quick:

1. Go to the gallery icon in the editor’s toolbar to add images
2. Authorize MailChimp to access you Flickr account
3. Click import
4. Add imported images to your email campaign

The Flickr integration with MailChimp and the MailChimp integration with P1Wired allows you to quickly and easily create an email marketing campaign targeting customers and/or prospects and enhance the email with your own images.