117: Exceptional Client Experience with Natasha Sewell

Sabrina: On today’s episode of the Shoot It Straight podcast, I’m chatting with my friend Natasha Sewell and we are talking about client experience. We’re talking about why it is so important for your business, specifically for photographers. We’re also talking about some potential red flags to know if maybe your client experience is not as great as you think it is.

And also where to start with making it better. We’re also sharing some, let’s call them client experience, horror stories from our past. So this is a great episode. I can’t wait for you to listen, get out your pen and paper to take notes and let’s get started. Welcome to the shoot it straight podcast. I’m your host, Amy.

Sabrina Gebhardt. Here, I will share an honest take on what it’s like to be a female creative entrepreneur while balancing business, motherhood, and life. Myself, along with my guests, will get vulnerable through honest conversations and relatable stories because we’re willing to go there. If you’re trying to find balance in this exciting place you’re in, yet willing to talk about the hard stuff too.

The shoot it straight podcast is here to share practical and tangible takeaways to help you shoot it straight.

Welcome to the shoot it straight podcast, my friends. I am so, so, so excited about today’s guest because she is a dear friend of mine and I always love chatting with her and fun story for the listening audience out there. We actually met. I don’t know how long ago. I can never remember like 2018, 2019, 2019.

She flew to Texas to do in person mentoring with me and the rest is history so to speak. Um, and we have been in each other’s orbits ever since then. I think I’ve seen you like once a year since then. Some years. Twice a year, maybe, which is not a lot, but considering you live in a totally different part of the country, I feel like we’re doing pretty good for the listeners.

Let this be proof to put yourself out there because Friendships blossom in all different unique ways. So, okay. Today I am chatting with my dear friend, Natasha Sewell, and it’s going to be a great chat. I am so excited about where this is going to go, but before I like get too far ahead of ourselves, Natasha, will you introduce yourself to the audience?

Natasha: Absolutely. I am Natasha Sewell. I am a family and newborn photographer based in Washington DC. I am also a photographer, educator, and mentor. I am married. I have three grown kids and a dog. And my favorite things are decor, travel, and Broadway.

Sabrina: Yes. And I love those things too. So those are good things to love.

Today we are talking about the importance of client experience and what that role plays in the success of a business. This is something that I know Natasha is really, really passionate about. And so am I. So I know that there’s going to be some really incredible nuggets that come from this chat today.

You guys know as listeners of the podcast, I always love to start a conversation like at the very, very beginning, like just making sure we’re all on the same page about the language we’re using and what we’re talking about. So my friend, just to be crystal clear, how would you define client experience?

Natasha: So a basic definition of clients, client experience is how a business engages with a perspective Through touch points through their buying experience. So when you think about a store and going into a store to buy something, it’s the person saying hello to you and then helping you and all of those things.

With a photography business, I feel like it’s a little bit different because I think the client experience starts with the minute. They go to your website and doesn’t end really ever. Yeah, sure. The, the session process will end, but you should keep those clients going after that and have them in your world.

Sabrina: Yeah. I love that. Uh, I think you’re right. Client experience is a really It’s kind of all encompassing. There’s so many touch points and you’re right for the family photographers. Ideally, it is something that continues on as a family grows and changes. And as your business grows and changes, having those repeat customers is so beautiful.

And I know that we love them. And I know that I I’m like a little mom to these kids that I’ve watched grow up, you know, and I know you’re the same way, like repeat clients. are just literally the best. So I would love to know again, kind of starting at the basics. Do you feel like there’s some general baseline client experience things that photographers should have in place?

Like at a bare minimum, everybody should be doing these things.

Natasha: Very much so. So clear, consistent communication is key and client experience. And it should be through your website, through the way you speak to them. Even during the session, keeping them up to date on what comes next in the session process, but communication is key and it can look like email, phone calls, PDFs, pages on your website, any number of things, but it just needs to be consistent.

Sabrina: Yeah. I think that’s something that Comes with time and experience. You know, the new photographers, they don’t really know what they don’t know. I like to tell the people that I coach, if your clients are asking questions, you are not communicating enough with them. I love to get to a point where you’re not asked questions because they never need to ask because you’ve given them.

Every piece of information and you hold their held their hand, explain the process well enough so that they don’t have to ask questions. That’s kind of a simple baseline, I guess, that I say when I’m teaching. And so I think I love that communication is key,

Natasha: keeping even like notes on what questions come up is a great way to then refer back to that and do an F.

A. Q. Page or some sort of resource for them because everybody’s asking the same questions.

Sabrina: Yeah, exactly. And even if you are newer in business and maybe your client load is not that big and you’ve got a little bit of time on your hands, you could actually build in and make those like real time changes to you get a question from Jane, your family client, go in and put that answer somewhere.

So that your next client doesn’t ask the same question, add it to a prep guide, add it to a page, add it to an email, something like that. And make those changes in real time so that you’re constantly tweaking and modifying and improving that communication process. I love that.

Natasha: Yes. And that’s why website is your website.

So important because it’s easy to update. Totally.

Sabrina: It is so much easier to update. Yeah. Gone are the days of like the beautiful created graphic that you like attached to an email. That’s just too much work to go back and like change that and re upload and I’ll just put everything on your website friends.

Yes. Yeah, definitely. Yeah. Okay. So if somebody has been in business for a while and let’s say. Say they’ve got the baseline stuff in place. They’ve got a lot of, um, communications happening. They’ve got an FAQ section, they’ve got a prep guide and all of that. Is there a way to tell if the client experience needs work?

Like are there signs or red flags that could be happening that are telling them, Oh, this isn’t actually as optimized as I think it is.

Natasha: Absolutely. And one of them you just mentioned is repeat clients. If you are not getting repeat clients. Something’s going on and it’s most likely has to do with how they are feeling.

Working with you and you want to make them feel loved and welcomed and all of those things. Also, if you are not getting glowing customer testimonials and reviews, or you’re not getting any, that’s another sign that something’s a mess. And you really need to just go through your systems and look at the touch point points you have with those clients to give them the experience.

So that they keep coming back.

Sabrina: Yeah. If you are not getting, let’s say you are not getting the repeat clients, you’re not getting the reviews and you’re like, Oh man, I have a sinking suspicion. There’s something going on here. Like, what do you do about that? Would you encourage somebody to reach out to a client and like, ask them like what went wrong or what could I have done better?

Or would you filter like a friend through your process? Or do you think it’s something that you can do on your own? Uh, like, how do they find the holes?

Natasha: So, two things. So, number one, I think you can totally send your clients a questionnaire, and it could be simple. It could be just having them, on a scale, give you feedback.

They don’t need to actually write anything, although they can, but, you know, if you make it simple for them, they most likely will give you feedback, and it’s not going out there in the public to view, and so they’re more likely to do it. I also think you can break down your process and look at things individually.

Look at your website and see what, you know, what’s going on there. Is there clear communication? Does the client, Get prepped for their session. Are they showing up prepped? Do they know what’s coming next? And same goes just for the, for the way you deliver the way you follow up with them, all of those things.

And if you can kind of keep a running checklist of what touch points you have with your clients, you should be able to see kind of where the holes are.

Sabrina: Okay. I love that advice. I love that advice. I also think going through that process You kind of need to step outside of your, like, look from the outside in almost like put on your consumer hat, write out these touch points and assume, okay, if I am working with a photographer and these are the touch points I had.

Is this enough? Where am I dropping the ball? Where can I do better? Where can I improve? And I do think that obviously like client experience and the touch points and the communication is so important, but then it’s also like, how did it feel? You know what I mean? How did the session feel? Did you connect with these people?

Were you guys laughing and having a good time? Did you feel like, Oh, I would love to like, go out and have a drink with them after the session Were the kids gushing and loving you? Uh, and then also like, what is your final product? Is it what you promised? Is it your best work? Did you, are you really proud of what you produced?

I mean, there’s so much there and you want. To be five star across the board. You want all of that, right?

Natasha: And I think the biggest thing is making dad happy. If you can have a dad at the end of a session, that’s like, that was great. Let’s do it again. You’ve won. That is gold because you know that that mom has dragged that dad to that session.

He most likely does not want to be there. So it is, it is. You like that’s the heart of your client experience is you and so if if you are nervous and struggling during the session that will impact your client experience and I. You know, that, that comes with experience that when you become more confident and what you’re doing.

Sabrina: Yeah. And then the part of it of, you know, having fun at your session and connecting with your clients and stuff. If you’re not, if you’re listening to me say that, and you’re like, that’s literally never happened. What are you talking about? You’re not working with the right people. Um, you’re not working with the right people.

And that’s a whole other conversation for another day about making sure that you know who your ideal client is and that you are marketing to pull that person in because you’re not gonna love everybody. But I feel like when you’re pulling in your ideal clients, you are having more positive experiences than negative.

You’re having more of those, like, I want to be friends with my clients type of situations, you know?

Natasha: Yes. And you’re, you know, I have repeat clients. Um, I was in North Carolina for a while. I’m now in DC. I have some North Carolina clients that actually come to DC for sessions and they ask me about my kids and they want to know where I’ve traveled recently because they know me and I know them and there’s that connection.

So that is a big part of it is just having that connection with your ideal client. Yeah.

Sabrina: Yeah. I love that. I’m curious, so we talked about kind of like red flags of how you know your client experience isn’t great. Are there any like client experience misconceptions out there that you can think of from when you’ve been mentoring other people on this

Natasha: process?

I think one of the biggest misconceptions is people thinking, well, I take amazing photographs. That’s my whole, that’s it. I’m delivering amazing photographs. And that’s my whole client experiences. That’s what they get at the end. And there are a lot of photographers out there. That produce amazing work.

But the way as we discussed, you make them feel is what is the most important. So yes, you obviously want a beautiful product to deliver, but there’s so much more that goes into it.

Sabrina: Yeah. And I’m going to venture to like ruffle some feathers here, but if you want to continue to be the bargain photographer and just deliver great photos, go for it.

But if you. Are wondering how people can command these high luxury prices for family photos or any kind of photos for that matter. If you want to get into the five figures for family photos, and you think that’s just a dream, this is how you do that. This is how you do that. It’s not the photos that get you there.

It is the experience and how you make people feel. And that’s why it’s so important. And if that’s not important to you, if you want to just have the hundred dollar mini sessions and you just want to do them a few times a year, and it’s, this is not a business that you want to grow, whatever, that’s fine.

Don’t listen to that. But if you’re one of those photographers that is like, gosh, I would love to charge 500 for a family session and only have to do a few a year or a few a month. Amazing. You better have the most top notch client experience from start to finish.

Natasha: Absolutely. I mean, think about when you go out to buy a purse, if you’re buying a purse at target, you know, you’re choosing it.

You’re paying for it probably in self checkout, like there’s no real client experience. If you are buying, let’s say a Chanel bag, it is totally different. Someone greet you at the door, they show you all the bags, they talk to you and connect with you. And that’s how one of the reasons they can charge what they charge is, is that personal connection.

Sabrina: Yeah, exactly. Exactly. You’ve been in business a really long time. You are now an educator. You have fine tuned, you have the most beautiful website, the most beautiful work. Obviously you have an impeccable client experience. So it can be really easy for somebody on the outside to look at you and think, okay, you’ve always just been this badass, incredible photographer, business owner.

But we both know that we all start somewhere and it’s never at that high level, right? There’s always a journey, a learning curve. So I would love if you would be willing to share kind of what your own business journey with client experience has looked like.

Natasha: So back when I first started, my communication was subpar.

That is for sure. I did not prep my clients. I sent them a confirmation, but I think it was just something I typed out. You know what I mean? Like on the fly. Yeah. Hey, we’re going to meet here. And I had clients that would show up to the wrong location. Clients that would show up at the wrong time. A few sessions I forgot.

And do you know what it’s like getting that phone call saying, um, I think we’re supposed to have a photography session right now and you’re at home drinking coffee and your PJs, not a good feeling and not prepping your clients. Oh my goodness. I had a family of seven that showed up in black and red Buffalo check flannel shirts.

Gene for a session. That is not my aesthetic. If you’ve taken a look at my website and there’s nothing wrong if it is yours, it’s just not mine and literally my jaw dropped and I’m like, Oh, I’m not prepping people, you know, they’re just those eye opening moments that we all go through in our business, especially early on.

That makes us realize, Wow. I need to, I need to change up these systems and communicate better.

Sabrina: I wanna interrupt this episode to share something I am super excited about. For the first time ever, I am offering a pre-Black Friday sale. And y’all, I can say that there is literally something for everyone in this sale.

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Now back to the show. Totally. I have similar stories. I definitely have the like, hi, we’re, we’re ready. When are you coming? I’ve had that phone call. It is literally the worst. I’ll never forget where I was, what I was wearing. And I also went through a time where like typing out things on the fly, getting asked tons of questions, but not realizing that I shouldn’t be being asked these questions.

Like I just assumed it was normal to constantly be, have this barrage of questions coming at me from my sessions and from my

Natasha: clients. I used to spend hours. in my emails just answering questions or text to they would text me last minute like the night before and I’d answer which is insane thinking about it now but yeah

Sabrina: totally I mean I have the same experience just how much time like you said was wasted communicating and not just like being like preparing them ahead of time and not realizing that I could do that.

I also have a little bit of an experience where I was nervous to give that much direction. And like, I, I don’t know, it felt weird to, Step into like the professional role and like take charge. And so I would let other people take charge. Uh, which is another story for another day, but

Natasha: absolutely. I think we’ve all done that, especially at the session when there’s a domineering someone that tries to take over and you’re like, okay, sure I can do that.

Yeah.

Sabrina: Yeah. And the truth of the matter is I, you know, I’ve got, I’ve gone through all of that too, but I have a specific client story that’s coming to mind. A session that I did a couple of years ago and in home family, I knew this person from personal life, but I had never photographed them before. And so she and I already had a connection, but I hadn’t actually worked with her professional yet.

And she reached out and emailed me and wanted to hire me for a session. And, um, I was so excited because her family’s beautiful. Her home is beautiful. I was like, Oh, this is going to be amazing. And I, even though she was a friend, I. Still put her through the regular process of prep guide, communications, just all of the things and got to her house, did the session.

It was amazing, finished the session. And she sent me an email that same day that said something to the effect of, I just want to let you know, we have hired umpteen photographers over the years and I have never felt more calm and more prepared as when you showed up today because I knew exactly what to expect.

and what you needed and I didn’t have to worry about anything. And I was like, that is literally the best thing anybody’s ever told me. And that’s before she saw a single image from me.

Natasha: You know what I mean? What a win to have someone respond immediately after a session. Yes. Like that.

Sabrina: Yes. And who obviously has worked with lots of other people and she was like, your prep experience is nothing.

It’s completely different than everybody else’s, which was just such a beautiful thing. And you know, I get to photograph her new baby here coming up very shortly this fall. That’s the best. Yeah. Yeah. And those are

Natasha: the type of, that’s what you want people to feel. You want them to be relaxed. The difference between having a prepared client who’s relaxed and a super nervous client who doesn’t know what to expect and is constantly asking questions even during the session, I mean, night and day difference.

Sabrina: Yeah. And I mean, that affects your final product that affects what kind of images you’re going to get. How they’re going to view the images because how they felt in that moment comes through when they’re viewing your gallery, you know, and were they relaxed, were they able to enjoy the moment versus did, were they on pins and needles the whole time?

I mean, it’s just, it’s so important. So if somebody’s listening today and they’re like, okay. My client experience needs work. I’ve got some red flags or maybe I’m not doing any of the things that they’re talking about. What is like one piece of advice or encouragement or a starting point that you would have them kind of start off this process with?

Natasha: First of all, break it down. Don’t go in and say, I’m going to totally revamp my entire client process and all my communications and everything at once. That is overwhelming. You will never do it and you will never do it well. So if you can break it down and say, okay, this week I’m going to tackle my website.

When a client goes to my homepage, what is their experience like? And look down, is it easy to contact me? Is it easy for them to tell me what they’re looking for? I start my contact form with how can I help you? Because I am serving them and I want them to know that that’s what’s most important to me is how can I help them?

So, you know, look, starting with your website, then you can move into your session prep. Or if you do a phone call with clients, a pre session phone call, you can talk about that. You know, you can look at that and see how maybe you can either add that in or refine that and just break down the steps through your whole process.

But this may take a couple months. This is not something you can expect to do overnight. It is a perfect thing to do during slow season, but just don’t go in thinking tonight I’m going to revamp my entire client experience because it is not that simple.

Sabrina: Yeah. And I will also say taking that one step farther, this is going to be a continual evolution.

Like there is never a, okay, I’ve made it, I’m done stopping right there. There’s always going to be. Like tweaks. I will say once you do the bulk of it, the tweaks are then fewer and farther between, but you and I both have experiences where we haven’t had to touch our prep guide in two years and all of a sudden something happened and we’re like, Oh, I’m adding that to my prep guide or I’m adding that to my contract addendum or whatever.

And so you can get it pretty fine tuned, but you should always be aware of ways to make it better and modify it and continually update it in the future.

Natasha: And keep that list of client questions because even if you have a great Guide and all of the things. There will still be that weird question that comes up from one person and you’re like, Oh, okay.

Just keep jot it down because it’s something you can put somewhere to help someone else. So then they don’t need to ask that question.

Sabrina: Yeah. So, and I love your advice to break it down into steps and do it just piece by piece. Especially during slow season, that’s the best time. And then I’m going to piggyback off that.

Something that I tell my root to rise mastermind students when we talk through this is the best way to figure out where you need work in your client experience is to think through what we’ve said, questions you’re getting asked, but also problems that are arising. And that can be problems for your client, but it can also be problems for you.

Okay. Right? Like if you’re constantly having to chase down invoices or get people to sign their contract, or there’s just like a, is there a kink in the system, so to speak, that you can work out to smooth things out for you, but also for them. And so if you can make a list of that, so we’re in busy season right now, and this would be a great time, not for you to do the work, but to start making a list.

So that you can tackle this come January, February. What are you getting asked over and over again? What issues are coming up over and over again? What’s bothering you? What’s bothering your clients? Just keep a list and then take that with you when you start to break down section by section, like you said.

Natasha: Yes, because if you have a great client experience, you should be at peace. And everything you’re doing to, but that is great advice is to think about your pain points. You shouldn’t really have any, I mean, yes, every once in a while we’re going to have some, but if you have a well oiled machine, it is not going to be constant.

You’re not going to be leaving every single session feeling a certain way.

Sabrina: Yeah. And that’s part of that whole like photographers when they’re like, Oh my gosh, it looks, you know, her business sounds so easy. Yeah. Yeah. Why, why is every, why does everybody love her? Why are all her, like, this is part of it.

Like you said, when you can get to that well oiled machine part, which is what it should feel like, it should feel peaceful to you, peaceful to them. You’re drawing in the right people. They feel fully prepared. You’re not frazzled, putting out fires left and right. It does get to be that like magical experience for everybody where you’re like, okay, I feel like my business has made it.

This is easy. It’s a. Efficient. I love everybody I’m working with and it’s just less stressful

Natasha: for everyone. And just like babies can sense a parent’s. you know, stress level and anxiety. People can tell when someone else is stressed out. So if you’re going into a session stressed out, everyone at the session is going to feed off that.

So, yeah.

Sabrina: And especially like taking the baby thing, like if you’re a newborn photographer, you can’t roll in with that energy because forget it, that session’s over before they even started. Yeah. Yeah. You have to be the calm one to come in there and make the magic happen for sure. You have a free guide that is called elevate your client experience.

And I guys, I’m going to have it linked in the show notes, but I want you to tell everybody what that’s about and how great it is, why they need to grab it.

Natasha: So my theory is that your website is basically your home, your business’s home, and having resources on your website to see Send your clients to over and over and over again, does two things.

It shares valuable info, but it also helps with SEO because people are clicking pages on your website. And in this freebie, I break down the resources and pages that you should have on your website to. Elevate your client experience and also help you with that special thing called Google ranking. So you know, it’s, it’s kind of twofold.

Sabrina: Yeah. I love that. So everybody go grab that. You definitely want it. Okay. I knew this was going to be a really fun chat. I love that we got to share a little bit of like horror stories because hopefully that gives everybody a little peace of mind knowing that like we all started somewhere and we’ve made the same mistakes you have.

And everybody’s done it. It’s happened to everybody. You learn and you grow from it and things just continue to get better. Um, so hopefully everybody’s motivated to work on their client experience today, but before we end, I love to finish every conversation with some rapid fire kind of fun questions. So the listeners can get to know you a little bit.

So my friend, I’m really interested to see where your answer to this first one is. Is it going to be my answer? Um, what is your current favorite guilty pleasure? I

Natasha: mean, Taylor Swift.

Sabrina: Yeah. I

Natasha: don’t know. I spend a lot of time. We send each other a lot of TikToks. There’s

Sabrina: a lot of TikToks, a lot of texting.

Yeah.

Natasha: It’s just makes me happy to see her happy. And you know, so yeah, Taylor Swift, definitely.

Sabrina: And you know, it is a guilty pleasure, but Every time somebody answers this question, they answer it with some sort of pop culture something like TV shows or people they follow or whatever. And I’m like, this is, this is ours.

And that’s, that’s fine. I’m not a Kardashians person. I’m not a Real Housewives person. I’ve got Taylor Swift and all of her lore. Yeah. Yeah. I’m with you. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. What’s the next vacation that you have planned?

Natasha: So. As you know, we recently bought a house in Palm Springs. So pretty much only trips to Palm Springs are my foreseeable future because it’s across the country.

So we have not planned any other big travel things beyond that right now.

Sabrina: Do you have the next few of those planned out? Like how far in advance are you planning out

Natasha: through April? I have plane tickets through March. So my gosh, that’s exciting. Pretty far.

Sabrina: Has Georgie made a trip out there yet? Your dog?

Not

Natasha: yet. He is going out at Christmas. So we will see how that goes and he’ll be out there for about three and a half weeks, so he will. I’m sure love it like we do and, um, we’ll see how he does on the plane. Okay.

Sabrina: Okay. I can’t wait for an update on that. I would love to know if you have anything up your sleeve for either later this year or 2025.

Natasha: So I have two exciting things coming up for photographers. And they all have to do with client experience and one might even be something in person. So stay tuned.

Sabrina: Yay. I know what it is. It’s going to be awesome. You’re going to want to know about it. Trust me. Um, okay. And last, last little question. What is a business tool or hack that you are loving right now?

Natasha: Setting my computer down at 5 p. m. I’m an empty Nester. I used to do this when my kids would come home from school. I was done with my work day and then maybe I’d edit like late at night once they were asleep, but the thing about being an empty Nester is you feel like you just have endless time, which you do.

You know, you don’t have kids and whatever, but I was finding myself just keeping my computer open all the time and it was really wearing on me. So now at 5 p. m. Every day. I just Shut it off. Okay,

Sabrina: I love

Natasha: that.

Sabrina: I may have to adopt that because I can’t tell you the last time I turned my computer off. I mean, I do have an office, so I have that going for me.

I have my own space in my house. It is, I don’t walk past it unless I’m going to it. It’s not like, Right next door to something that I pass all the time. So when I’m not in it, but I don’t ever turn my computer off. And I feel like that would be an extra layer of protection there. So

Natasha: sort of a pain to turn back

Sabrina: on.

Yeah, totally.

Natasha: Yeah, no, it is. It’s totally inconvenient. I feel like if I just shut it down and that means I close out all the windows and all the things I just find. For peace of mind, like it just unclutters my mind knowing that I’m not constantly on there.

Sabrina: Yeah. I love that so much. Okay. I knew this was going to be a great chat.

Thank you so much for your time today, my friend, everybody. Make sure you click on the link in the show notes and get the elevate your client experience free guide from Natasha. And that is it for today, my friends, we’ll see you next time. Thanks so much for listening to the shoot it straight podcast.

You can find all the full show notes. And details from today’s episode@sabrinagehart.com slash podcast. Come find me and connect over on the gram at Sabrina Gehart Photography. If you’re loving the podcast, I’d be honored if you hit that subscribe button and leave me a review. Until next time, my friends shoot it straight.