The Best Boudoir Photography CRM: Your Complete Guide to Streamlining Your Biz

The best boudoir photography CRM or software isn’t the most expensive one on the market. Or the ones with all the fancy bells and whistles. In fact, it might possibly be the cheapest and most simple. 

Over the years, I’ve tried every customer relationship management (CRM) software out there.  

I’m not going to name names of what I’ve used and didn’t like, but some are definitely better than others (in my opinion!). Even ones that are “trendy” and that all the pros seem to be using. Because here’s the thing — trends come and go. That’s why you need to use what’s best for YOUR business. 

And today, I’m going to be showing you what I use. Not because I think you should too, but just to give another voice of reason in the plethora of online resources for boudoir photographers out there. 

Let’s dig in!

RESOURCES MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE:

• Squarespace Scheduling (Formerly Acuity)
• Quickbooks
• Dropbox sign (Formerly HelloSign) & Storage
• Shootproof
• Adobe Creative Cloud (Lightroom, Photoshop, and Bridge)
• Fundy
• 5 Targets To Spot-Check In Your Boudoir Business This Year

My One-Stop Boudoir Photography CRM

My actual CRM is what used to be Acuity but is now Squarespace Scheduling. And no — you DON’T need a Squarespace website to use it. 

I love this program so much because my clients can book their sessions, sign the contract, and pay the invoice in one simple step. Whereas other CRMs may take 3-4 steps to make this happen. 

And the most important thing about business is you have to make things EASY for your clients. If you’re making something more than one step, you have more of a chance of losing the client — or they just won’t follow through.  

Which is simple math. More clients booked = more money made. Yes, please!

Squarespace Scheduling also has a really easy coupon feature. They are so easy to set up and you can use them when you’re running a sale or for referrals. Definitely an added bonus!

Other Boudoir Photography Software I Use

CRM software isn’t the only thing I use in my boudoir photography business. I actually have a lot of other moving parts that make this machine run.

 And I know…maybe it sounds like a lot, but personally, I’d rather use a handful of the best-of-the-best than choose an all-in-one platform that’s complicated and doesn’t fully have what I need. 

Again, for me, simplicity is everything!

ACCOUNTING AND INVOICING SOFTWARE

For accounting and invoicing software, I use Quickbooks. You may have heard about it before, and it seems to be really popular among small business owners in general. That’s for good reason!

It’s a favorite among accountants. It makes THEIR jobs easier too. In 2021, my CPA actually took over my bookkeeping, and he wanted me to switch to Quickbooks. It was one of the best decisions I ever made in my business.  

It simplified EVERYTHING, and not just because he was doing the bookkeeping, but also because I knew exactly where every single dollar was going. All the reports were simple to pull and easy to read. 

I also take payments through Quickbooks, making things easier because the payments auto-populate into my reports. Meaning I don’t have to sync another software to do this. 

MY CONTRACT SOFTWARE

The last piece of my CRM puzzle has to do with contracts! Squarespace Scheduling has a terms and conditions area, which is where I house my contracts. 

They also have a section of terms and conditions set up so that clients HAVE to agree before booking a session. This makes things a lot easier for me because I’m not having to track anyone down to sign anything. 

For the actual signature part, I use HelloSign, or what’s now Dropbox Sign, for things like model releases, payment plan authorization, proof approval forms, and signing invoices. I love this because it’s pretty, looks professional, and it’s VERY easy for clients to use. 

If it keeps my workflow simple and is easy for clients to use, it’s a go in my book. 

DIGITAL FILE DELIVERY

For digital file delivery, I use Shootproof. Remember, I ordering sessions after the photoshoot, so they don’t get big galleries. And for that reason, software like Shootproof helps me streamline the buying process.

The only thing I use Shootproof for is to deliver digital files and send album proofs for their approval. I love Shootproof for this. I’m a long-time customer and it is by far one of my favorite software!

Sometimes, I use Adobe Bridge for ordering sessions, too. That’s because [WHAT’S THE BENEFIT OF USING THIS OVER SHOOTPROOF?]

STORAGE AND BACKING UP FILES

As any creative knows, you have to not only have a place to store those large files but be able to back them up too.

For this, I use Dropbox for storage and backup for basically my entire business, but especially contracts and fully retouched client galleries. None of this is client-facing; it’s just all for backup.

CREATIVE SOFTWARE

Of course, I have Adobe Creative Cloud. I may not do my own retouching anymore, but I do use Lightroom for culling and color correcting. Occasionally I might have to use Photoshop, but it’s very rare.  

I also have Fundy for album design. I bought it YEARS ago, so it’s not the most updated version, but I’m a fan, and it works well for my business. 

Get More Boudoir Photography Business Tips!

One last tip — make sure you actually take the time to set everything up. This is something many photographers don’t do, and it’s why they have to spend hours before and after each session with reminders and follow-ups. 

If you set up EVERYTHING in your systems, it will do what you need to do without you telling it to do it (or having to manually activate the workflows to do it).

And don’t forget — you have to the freedom to pick the software you want to use. It’s YOUR business. 

If you want even more tips like this (so you can keep everything fast, efficient, and streamlined), take a look at my FREE PDF, 5 Targets To Spot-Check In Your Boudoir Business This Year.

In this guide, I’ll walk you through the five things you need to look at in your business to scale it as quickly as possible. Check it out here!