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Want referrals from your photography clients? Do this 1 thing…

  • By Chris

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In this episode of The Printmaker Podcast, I’ll walk you through the fourth and final step of The AEDD Framework. You’ll learn this simple thing you should add to your business to get client referrals from everyone who comes through your door. 🙂

Episode Links

This is Part 4 of our AEDD Framework Episodes. Catch up on the series right here:

  • AEDD Framework, Pt 1: Attract
  • AEDD Framework, Pt 2: Excite
  • AEDD Framework, Pt 3: Delight
  • AEDD Framework, Pt 4: Deliver

Want a deep dive into the entire Framework (for free)? Check out our AEDD Framework Training!

Learn the AEDD Framework for free

Episode Transcript

What’s up, everybody? Just got back from a whirlwind trip, went up to Seattle and drove from there down to Tahoe and then through Reno, Nevada. And thank you to officer Jimenez for not giving me that ticket that I so very much deserved. And then all the way back here to Colorado Springs over the last week. It was a long drive, but I now have Todd, the office dog, here with me. We went to my sister’s up in Seattle and… and picked up my mom’s dog, brought him back here, he’s going to hang out with me. So, you may hear him jingle jangle in the background here, he’s currently sleeping in the dog bed somehow.

The AEDD Framework

But anyway, we are back in town and I am ready to finish off this AEDD Framework for you.

So, we have talked so far about how to attract the right clients into your business by setting expectations for product, price, and process everywhere someone sees your work.

From there, we talked about how to excite your clients throughout your process to kind of build excitement for those products. Remember, we’re going to do that through… through the planning meeting, through the session, and through that special magic moment between the session and the sales meeting.

And then in the last episode, we talked about how to create a sales experience that feels nothing like sales.

And now, finally, I want to tie it all together with the fourth step in the AEDD framework and that is to deliver.

AEDD Step Four: Deliver

And we are literally going to deliver the products. But really, this could be called AEDO because it really should be over-deliver, because that’s really what’s happening here in this last step, okay? So, we’re going to finish off this entire process, we’re going to finish it off with a bang, we’re going to do that by over-delivering in every way.

So, first of all, how are we going to do this?

Number 1, I want you to literally deliver products. So, if your clients live locally, you should always hand-deliver any products that they have purchased.

Want Referrals? Install!

Even better, if they’ve purchased wall art, then I believe you should be… you should be installing that wall art for them.

This is the absolute best way to kind of tie a bow on this entire process is to go in and actually install these products for them. Think about it this way, your clients kind of they come to you, and if you go through this process, they really don’t have to do anything. They show up, they answer some questions, they let you do what you do.

Well, this really, truly allows them to not have to do anything. You show up at their house, you install this stuff, they see it on their wall for the first time in the way that you kind of intended, in… in the way that you showed it to them the entire time through the process, and they didn’t have to lift a finger.

And this, this is the kind of thing that clients will absolutely rave about, okay?

Now, if you’re uncomfortable with installing stuff on somebody’s wall, then there are a couple of things you can do.

We have a resource, in fact, I think there’s a blog post over on our blog at theprintmakersystem.com/blog that will walk you through like how we install multi image galleries. Otherwise, we have a ton of our members, of our Printmakers, who actually just hire a local contractor to do the installation for them, and they say it is absolutely worth that little extra expense to get a contractor to come out, just like a handyman, to come out and do that installation for them. That way, it’s done and it’s done by a professional, and it just adds that much more to the service that you provide your clients, right?

Testimonial Time!

Now, speaking of clients raving, this is the best time ever to get a glowing testimonial from those clients. Right after you’ve installed this for them, in fact, the way that we… that we love to do it is, you know, kick everybody out of the room, get this thing up on the wall, and then get them back in so that they truly see this for the first time done, it’s all done.

They’re… you know, they’re crying, they’re super excited about it, this is the perfect time to break out even if it’s just like your phone and get a quick video testimonial that just says, “You know, hey, how are you… how did you feel about this? What was your favorite part of the experience?” you know, all of these kind of things. This is just such a great spot to get that because your clients are just glowing at this point, okay?

The Easiest Way To Get Referrals…

And kind of along those same lines, this is like the number 1 time to ask for referrals as well, alright? And like the easiest way to get referrals from your clients is to do just that, it’s just to ask.

We’re so nervous and we think that it takes all of these different steps and all of this different stuff to like, “You know, I have to build out this referral program and I have to offer incentives and, you know, all this stuff.” And like really, you’re just… a lot of times we hide behind that stuff because we’re just afraid to ask. Just ask for the referral.

And that’s really all you have to do here, right? We’ve already created an experience that is worth referring their friends and family to, just connect the dots for them now by asking, just saying, “Hey, I would love to work with people just like you,” we kind of like to use this… like absolutely butter them up, right?

We like to use this idea of like, “Hey, you know what? If we could clone you 100 times and just work with you and your clones over and over every day this entire year, then we would do that. But we haven’t figured out how to do that yet, so who do you know who is exactly like you?”

If you phrase it that way, it makes them feel special, but it also really gets them thinking about the people that would be a good fit for you and for your business and who would really love the type of stuff that… that you do, right, these products and everything. So, you know, “Who do you know? Who is exactly like you? We want to work with them? Who can we talk to?” right?

Following Up

And then, finally, what I want you to do is I want you to wait anywhere from 30 to 60, really like kind of 45-ish days, I wouldn’t go longer really than 45 days, so we’ll say 30 to 45 days after delivering their products, I want you to follow up with them and I want you to do 2 things.

Number 1, actually follow up, find out, you know, “Hey, how is everything working, any problems with anything? Anything I need to come over and fix or adjust? Okay, great.” And if there is, alright, great, head over there and fix and adjust them, right?

And then also, that is another chance for you to ask for that referral again. And this time, you can be a little bit more forward with it, you can say like, “Hey, again, I would still, I would love to work with some people who are just like you. Do you have any friends that I could reach out to? Do you want to make an introduction? If you want… if you’re not sure what to say, I can just shoot you a quick email that has, you know, this introduction in there, or if you want to just shoot an email and make it an introduction, then we would love that,” you know?

And maybe this is a time, if you did want to… to offer some sort of incentive, you… you could say like, “Hey, anybody you send over, because they’re coming through you, they’re going to get a free 11 by 14 with their session,” or something like that. That way, they feel special, and again, it’s something that they can say like, “Hey, you have to tell them that I sent you.”

And… and all we’re really doing is kind of playing to that ego, but also, we’re working to get people in the door who, again, are just like the people we already loved working with and they’re already going to be okay with and are going to want all of this stuff that we do on these products and everything.

Learn The Entire AEDD Framework (For Free)

So… anyway. So, that, my friends, is the entire AEDD framework.

It is attract, excite, delight, and deliver. And, again, if you head to aeddframework.com, there’s an entire training on this, you’re going to get it for free, and I’m also going to mail, like literally mail to your front door this little workbook that you can fill out as you go through that training. That way, you can really internalize this process and really put it to business… (put it to business?) put it to work in your business, alright?

So, again, that’s aeddframework.com, and I’m going to send that workbook to you and you’ll get the free video training as well. It’s going to walk you through this entire process.

So, I hope that you enjoyed this. I hope that you can see just how powerful this framework is, and how it allowed us to grow from a hundred and… $150 sales averages when we were shooting and burning and selling online to $120,000 in our first year of selling printed products. It is not because I am an amazing salesperson, that is not it at all, it’s because we had a framework in place. In fact that, you know, this framework has really been tweaked over almost 20 years now, like a long time, this framework has been tweaked. And… and you guys get kind of the most amazing kind of refined version of it.

So, that’s it, that’s all I got for you. I hope you guys love this and we’ll be back tomorrow with another episode. I’m not exactly sure what I’m going to talk to you guys about now that I’m done with this AEDD framework, but… but I have a handful of ideas and I’m very excited about all of them. So, I think you’re going to love it no matter what it is that I decide to… to go with tomorrow, alright? Thanks so much for listening and I will talk to you tomorrow.

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