“Sean, I just booked my first senior client and don’t know what the next steps are! Help!”

First off, congrats!! I absolutely love being a high school senior photographer and I know that you’re going to love working with them as well. There are so many things to think about after booking your client. You want to make sure that you are prepping your clients for their session and also making sure that they know exactly what’s going on!

Where do you start? There are a few things that I make sure to do with every client and steps that I take after booking every senior client that I work with!

Schedule Their Hair & Makeup Session

 Every senior that works with me has complimentary hair and makeup included in their session. This makes sure that they’re camera ready the day of their shoot and it also helps make sure that they’re not stressed doing it themselves. For my seniors, I make sure to book their session with my hair and makeup team to ensure we’re starting at the right time, the kind of service is correct and makes sure that they don’t have to worry about making another appointment!

I do this the day that they book to make sure that my makeup artist team is available and that we’re officially a go for their session!

Educating My Client

You want to make sure that your client is prepped and knows what’s going on. This begins with educating your clients and letting them know what’s up! For every client, I begin by sending out a packet to them that includes everything such as what to wear, access to their online client portal where they can get tons of information about the timeline of their session digitally, and more. I also make sure to send them a questionnaire to make sure that I can personalize their session and make it all about them. This helps me get to know them a little bit prior to their session and also make sure that I am prepping for their session the way that I need to such as scouting specific locations, checking in with them about their wardrobe, etc.

Reminders and Follow-Ups

 Seniors and their families are busy. I always make sure that I am following up with my senior clients and sending a series of emails leading up to their session with reminders about their session and anything I may need from them! Prior to their session, they’ll get an email about making sure they have sent their outfit choices to me, what time their hair and makeup begins and what they need to do to prep for this, and where we will be meeting for the day of their session!

These are just a few tips of what I make sure to do after booking a senior. Overall, it’s not that complicated! I would say that the biggest thing I do prior to a session is sending out the questionnaire. This is the tool that allows me to get to know my senior and make sure that I am making each session unique to every senior.