Hearing Crickets
Posted in: For Photographers
Hearing Crickets | Megan Noll Photography
Dear Megan,
I need some advice. What do you do when you deliver a gallery, and end up hearing crickets? It makes me so nervous when I never hear anything back! Do you send a follow-up email? Do you just let it go? It makes me so paranoid! Help!
Signed,
Hearing Crickets
Dear Hearing Crickets,
Girl, I feel you. There are few things more nerve wracking than pouring your heart and soul into a project, and hearing crickets from your clients. I actually just wrote an open letter to my couples addressing the exact topic. You can read it here.
It’s easy to let your mind wander into worrisome territories. I know how fast your train of thought can quickly derail into lies that beckon you to question the quality of your work, and the experience you gave them. But before you go down that road, take a step back and put yourself in your clients shoes.
If it’s a wedding client, they probably are drowning in writing thank you cards. They might have moved into a new house. Maybe they are just are spending that time soaking in married life. More over, think of all of the vendors that played apart in their day. A baker, A florist, A DJ, An officiant, a videographer…the list goes on and on. They may not think to message each one.
So all of that is to day this: assume the best. If I am hearing crickets after I send a final gallery, I assume that no news is good news. I try not to let it bother me, because I am confident in the experience I give my clients and the product I return. I am also confident because I work hard to build trust in my relationship with each of my clients.
Another thing that gives me confidence not to send follow-up emails, is that I’m friends with most of my clients on social media. If they are posting and tagging and sharing, I have a pretty good idea that they do love their pictures, and that they probably are just too busy to message me.
Honestly, I don’t want some forced thank you as a response to a follow-up email. I want the authentic OMG-WE-LOVE-THEM-AND-WE-BOTH-CRIED-LOOKING-THROUGH-THEM-THANK-YOU-SO-MUCH emails, because they couldn’t wait to send it. Some people aren’t as gushy as I am, and that is okay! I hope if I don’t hear from them, it’s because they are rushing out to get frames to hang these new treasures on their walls.
So, the next time you are hearing crickets from a client, take a deep breath, remind yourself of how crazy weddings are, and rest in knowing that you gave them your best.
Keep your head up and keep being awesome!
xoxo,
Megan
Leave a Reply
Cincinnati Wedding Photographer | Lexington Wedding Photographer | Louisville Wedding Photographer | Find the best Cincinnati Wedding Photographer | © 2019 Megan Noll
@megannollphotography
about
the Experience
for photographers
for brides
blog
contact
portfolio
Megan Noll Photography strives to create safe & inclusive environments that celebrate diversity. We enthusiastically welcome all races, abilities, ethnicities, backgrounds, orientations & identities.
Hi Megan! You are my new inspiration… the person I aspire to be one day! I follow you on Insta and I randomly found you on threads. Your videos are hilarious! Your love for what you do really shines through! I love Marco Island too. My whole fathers side of the family including my 2 brothers, my girlfriend and our daughter got together in Marco in September of ’22 and it was amazing. I got some great sunset photos! We left 3 days before hurricane Ian hit. I just started reading your photographer blog posts, they are great! How did you advance your career, in what seems like a pretty fast pace?
I have been taking photos all of my life, but last year I decided to start my own photography business. I just turned 40 2 weeks ago. So it’s a mid life change… not crisis! Hahaha I didn’t particularly know what lane of photography I wanted to focus on, so I did EVERYTHING! Birthday parties, naming ceremonies, baby showers, weddings, engagements, vow renewals and more. Well, while some seemed like a job to do, others were inspiring and gave me an emotional uplifting when I would edit the photos (the euphoria does wear off after the 500th photo of the same wedding). But weddings are it for me!!! I love being there, the environment, the happy people, the occasional person who notices your effort, and all that kinda stuff. That has lead me to focusing only on weddings and engagements too, seems like a good way to land more business down the road. I really want to shoot some weddings in Savannah, GA and Charleston, SC. Those are 2 of my favorite places!
I used Thumbtack for most of the jobs I got last year. I worked, but it didn’t pay much per job. I understand you have to start at the bottom, but we are talking jobs for $2200-$300 on average. My biggest job paid $1,000, a 12 hour wedding in which I edited maybe 900 photos of the more than 3,000 I took. I feel like I actually did a good job and I killed it on the sunset photos (at least in my head). The client was happy and left a good review. ANYWAY! I paid to have my website redone and I have a contract with Wedding Pro and I am getting a decent amount of leads but I have only converted 2 to actual clients out of maybe 18 leads… both for more than I made on anything last year, but still under $2,000. So, do you have any advice on getting more clients? and specifically higher dollar clients? not on your level but a level higher than what I am at… You may have blogged about this already and I just haven’t gotten there yet, so if so, I apologize.
When I start earning some real money I will absolutely be doing your photographer “courses”. I would love to go do a wedding with you and just observe and learn! I don’t know if you ever need a 2nd or 3rd shooter, but I would do it for free if you ever do! Just throwin’ it out there. I live in Miamisburg, a southern suburb of Dayton, but the funny thing is I have never shot a wedding in Dayton. Shot 1 in Cincy, 1 near Indy, 2 out past Columbus, 2 in Columbus and 1 in Germantown, KY but the funny thing was the Groom was from Springboro (I live 2 minutes North) and the Bride was from Middletown… all the way to Germantown to shoot a wedding for people that live within 10 minutes of me!
Ok, sorry I have written so much. I am slightly autistic so I write in way to much detail! I’m also not great at expressing emotion, so when I try I often over do it. If I over did I apologize.
But, any advice you have or anything to share I am very open to that!!
Thank you so much,
Your biggest fan, Michael Evans