[00:00:00] Hey everyone, welcome back to the Artist to Artist podcast.
Today I'm going to walk you through my entire bridal booking process. I had an artist ask me during one of my Instagram Q& As to walk through this, I figured it would be great to do this on a podcast episode, so I'm going to talk to you about how I manage inquiries from my bridal clients, how I send proposals, and how I get my clients booked efficiently.
If you're a bridal makeup artist or you're thinking about getting into the bridal space, this episode is going to give you a solid framework for setting up a streamlined booking system that works for you. Even if you're thinking about doing bridal part time, you should definitely listen to this episode.
To start, I want to talk a bit about CRMs and CRM stands for Customer Relationship Management Systems. A CRM is a software or a tool that can help you manage your client communication, your contracts, your invoices, and all of your scheduling in one place. The CRM that I use is called HoneyBook.
This is not a sponsored mention. This is not a sponsored episode. This is just something that I've been using for [00:01:00] a few years and it's made my life so much easier. Before HoneyBook, I used a CRM called Dubsado and it didn't really work out for me.
So I decided to make the switch. Now CRMs do come with a cost, but for me in the position that I'm in with the amount of bridal clients that I take on every year and the fact that I've been using them for so long, I honestly can't imagine running my business without one. And I'm not about to sit down and figure out how to do it without a CRM just because of where I'm at.
If you're listening to this and you are able to set up a similar system manually, maybe using Google, for instance, Google Forms, email templates, spreadsheets, whatever it is, go for it. But for me, a CRM just keeps everything organized and professional, and I don't really have to spend a lot of unnecessary time on administrative tasks.
And your goal listening should be to minimize the amount of time that you're spending on admin two, just because who's paying you for this? It has to come out of the amount that you're [00:02:00] making for the wedding. So if you can reduce this, it's just better. I just wanted to review some of the benefits of using a CRM. So this is what it does for me.
It keeps track of all my client communication. So every email and interaction is logged. So I don't ever lose track of a conversation. It handles contracts for me and signatures. So clients can sign my contracts digitally. So there's no back and forth paperwork, which is, can be really annoying. But thankfully, there's a lot of ways to get contracts signed online now.
When I first started, there wasn't. And then you had to sign. scan the contract, get it signed, go back and forth. But thankfully, the CRM handles all of that. It automates reminders for me, which is very important, so I can schedule follow up emails, trial reminders, payment due dates, things like that. It also shows me where my clients are in my booking process, so I can see who has inquired, who has booked, who hasn't, who I need to follow up with.
follow up with. And it also saves and organizes all of my email templates for me. I am very big [00:03:00] on working efficiently and using templates means I can send polished professional responses very quickly. And this is also why I created and sell communication templates for makeup artists because they save time and actually can increase your booking rates.
Anytime you can create a template for an email that you send often, you should do it, save it somewhere so you can just copy and paste it into whatever you're using to communicate with your clients. This goes for Bridal and also just any other types of jobs that you're booking as an artist.
Let me walk you through my bridal booking process from start to finish. I'm going to try to explain this to you as clearly as I can. When someone inquires about booking me for their wedding, the first thing I do right away is direct them to my intake form. This is something that I have created in HoneyBook, and I link it in the description.
onto my website. So I embed it onto my website. Now if you don't use a CRM, you can create something similar using Google Forms, for example. And regardless of who [00:04:00] inquires, I don't care if it's someone I know, someone I work with, they have to fill out the booking form or the intake form because this form basically is the top of the funnel into my booking process.
And this is really the only way I'm able to keep track of anything related to my bridal bookings. The intake form helps me get all the information I need to provide a quick and accurate quote for my clients, and it also helps me determine if we're a good fit, because not all bridal clients are going to be a good fit for your The type of clients that you want to work with.
So when I have this form and I present my potential clients with this form, I ask for of course their wedding date, number of people including themselves that need makeup, the desired makeup look that they want. I ask them to send photos or a Pinterest mood board if they have it. I ask them how they found me so I can thank that person for their referral.
This is great for networking. I also ask for their wedding planner and photographer details. This is also helpful for networking and it just gives me a point of contact. To get photos after the [00:05:00] wedding and I asked them for any additional details that they want to share And in this section of the forum Usually I have people tell me more about the vibe they're going for a little bit more about what they've heard about me What they like about my work.
I also have Clients who will tell me they've done other trials, what they liked about them, what they didn't like. I always leave just a blank section on the form where they can fill out anything additional that they want to share with me and this usually helps give me an idea of who these people are.
Once I receive their intake form, I put together a proposal. In HoneyBook, you can create these really nicely designed documents that kind of outline a breakdown of all the costs. So an invoice, and this includes travel costs if it's a wedding that's outside of the city, and the trial cost. I also give them a brief breakdown of my booking policies and procedures.
Just to let them know. what they need to finalize the booking. I also like to include testimonials from previous clients and then I also [00:06:00] include an option to schedule a 15 minute Zoom call if they have any other questions. This helps me kind of close the deal. It allows me to speak with them.
Very comfortable speaking with people and sometimes there are questions that people just want answered face to face
I started doing these zoom calls a few years ago And I find it really helps me book the wedding anybody that I talk to On a Zoom call, they usually end up booking with me, so it's just been very helpful for me to get in front of people. I know one of my strengths is talking to people, making people feel comfortable, so I'm gonna give myself every advantage in the booking process to really seal the deal and get that wedding booked, and I find the Zoom call helps me.
It's not something you have to do, it's just something that I have found works very well. Everything in this proposal is clearly laid out. How it's formatted, how they see it in their email. This includes taxes, deposits, service details, timing for services. Make sure they have All the information they need to book me, and I also make it [00:07:00] very clear that bookings are on a first come, first served basis.
So a contract, a signed contract, sorry, and a 50 percent deposit are required to secure their date. Until I have that, their wedding date is not secured. Now as far as the trial goes, some of my clients prefer to book a trial before committing to all of the other services, and I give them the option to do that before paying for everything all in one shot.
If they just want to book a trial with me first, I will send them a calendar invite when we decide on the trial date, trial prep instructions, how to arrive, what to bring. I also remind them that their wedding date is not secured until a deposit and contract are received. And then after the trial, if they decide to book, I will send them the contract and deposit invoice through my CRM.
And if they choose not to book, that's fine too.
I will tell you this, this may surprise some of you who are listening. Most of my clients just book everything all in one shot before they actually do the trial because I have so much of my work and content [00:08:00] on social media. I don't have a lot of clients that will book the trial separately and then decide if they want to work with me.
Most of my clients come to me, Knowing that they want to book me for the wedding. I go through the whole process with them And then they pay for the trial, the wedding day services all in one shot. Their deposit is 50 percent of that and then they pay for the other 50 percent on the wedding day.
This is just what I have found where I'm at in my career. When I was younger and not as experienced, I found a lot of people would prefer to do the trial first. and then decide if they want to book me or not. So you'll have to feel out what works for you.
Once my client is officially booked, I basically try not to overload them with emails between the trial and the wedding day. I like to stay in touch just to make sure we're still on the same page. I'll do a midway check in so I touch base halfway through between when the trial was and when the wedding day is set just to confirm details, follow up, just check in, see how they're doing.
The week of the wedding, I will send um, [00:09:00] a final sort of prep email that includes if I'm doing their hair and makeup, I'll send skin and hair prep instructions. I will send a final schedule for the wedding day if I've been working on that with my client or with their wedding planner. And I will send a reminder for each bridal party member to bring photos of makeup they like, don't like.
I will ask them to bring pictures of themselves with makeup that they like, just so we don't waste a lot of time on the wedding day. So that's something I always include and something I always send a week before the wedding. And then I also like to just confirm the pictures.
Prep location address is correct and all of that stuff. So it's like a confirmation email Now once the wedding is done, I will send the final invoice through honey book. It does this automatically I also set up an automated follow up to request a testimonial from my client And then I will ask for photos either from them or their photographer.
That's something I do in my CRM.
This episode [00:10:00] should be a good reminder that setting up a solid booking process is crucial, especially if you're newer to the bridal industry. The top bridal artists that are working in your city or wherever you are all have structured systems in place. This is how they keep track of everything.
And if you want to compete in this industry, you need to operate at the same level as other professionals in your market.
I could not finish this episode without mentioning that having a contract in place for your business is also a non negotiable. Before you take on any clients, you need a contract in place to protect yourself.
Without one, you're really leaving yourself open to cancellations, last minute changes, potential disputes with clients, and having a contract actually deters clients who aren't serious about you or your business, and it really ensures that you're only working with people who respect you.
If you are someone that either struggles with booking bridal clients, or you feel like you don't know how to book bridal clients. When brides are looking for a makeup artist for their [00:11:00] wedding, this is one of the biggest days of their lives. There's a lot of money going into this event. They're really looking for someone who is, Professional and trustworthy.
And you can establish this through how you communicate to your clients, the type of website and booking process that you use. So if you have one in place, it shows that you're a professional. It shows that you care about making sure everything is organized and, meeting their needs as a client. The clarity of your policies shows that you have a proven track record of working with brides.
Just having these policies and procedures and contracts in place shows that you're a working professional. And of course, the consistency and quality of your work on social will also help show potential bridal clients that you are professional and you can be trusted. That's what they're looking for.
The other thing that's important to mention, every wedding is a great chance to make an impression. Weddings are a great source of referrals, so every interaction needs to be [00:12:00] polished, professional. If you're not organized and you don't communicate professionally, you really are not going to be seen as a bridal makeup artist.
I hope I didn't overload you with information in this episode and I gave you a clear look into how I run my bridal bookings. If you're looking for email templates to help you save time, you can check out my Makeup Artist Communication Templates. I'll put a link to them in the show notes. I design them specifically to help you book more clients without spending hours and hours writing emails from scratch.
And templates for you, for those of you who are interested in working in bridal. I share all of my bridal templates with you in that product. I'm also going to include links in the show notes to the legal page, which is where I purchased my bridal contract templates. I will also share my affiliate link to HoneyBook in case you're interested in trying a CRM for your business.
And I think that's everything for this episode. Thank you so much for listening this week. And if you have any questions, just head to my YouTube channel and you can put your questions [00:13:00] under the episode. Okay. I will talk to you next week. Bye.
