I’m hearing a lot of photographers say that their inquiries are slow right now. Which is totally normal and we all go in cycles of having high leads and low leads. But what do we do when it’s slow? How can we pick things up to get more inquiries? 

In this post, I’m going to share 4 things you can do to help you gain momentum to get inquiries again when they’re not coming in.

What to Do When the Inquiries are Not Coming In 

More and more, I have been hearing other photographers say that the inquiries are just not coming in, so I knew I had to make this post for you! And while there are a ton of things you can do to help get you more inquiries, I’m going to share 4 things that I don’t think I’ve shared here before – you know, because I try to keep it fresh around here! 

I know you’re ready for this – so here we go! 

Take initiative 

Listen, here’s my hard but much needed truth to you – entrepreneur to entrepreneur… you have to go out and make opportunities happen for yourself. If you are looking at others and comparing yourself thinking “Well how the heck did that person get that opportunity?” “How did she get that amazing wedding inquiry?” “Wow he photographs the coolest weddings.. how does he make that happen?!”

Do yourself a favor, and stop comparing right now!! Stop it! The time you’re spending comparing yourself and feeling sorry about yourself (because let’s be real, once you start comparing, the enemy’s lies start to creep in and imposter syndrome hits hard.)

So the time that you’re spending letting that happen is time that you could be spending working on yourself AND making opportunities happen for you. I remember when I started my business in the first few years. These thoughts were all too familiar in my brain. 

But then I did something crazy and out of my comfort zone… I reached out to ASK for something I wanted. Which was to get on a preferred vendor list at my favorite wedding venue. 

And guess what… They said yes. And also guess what? I started getting more wedding inquiries there.. And also guess what? They booked me because of the social proof and trust from the venue’s recommendation and the client experience I was able to provide.

And you bet your butt that that was a turning point for me in knowing that I can’t just sit on my butt and wait for opportunities to come to me… I HAVE TO MAKE THEM HAPPEN FOR MYSELF. 

Because guess what? As an entrepreneur, no one is holding you accountable. No one is thinking about what opportunities they could present you with. No one will make it happen except for yourself.

I’m not saying that things won’t ever come along… But I’m saying especially in the beginning and even no matter what level you’re at in your business.. You need to step up and make things happen for yourself.

Look at your biggest lead generators 

If I were to ask you right now what your biggest lead generator is, would you know with confidence? Do you know what your top 3 are? And not only just knowing what your biggest lead generators are, but knowing which your biggest converter is as well.

How many of those inquiries actually book with you from that lead source? Sometimes I will ask photographers what their biggest lead generators are and they say Instagram, but they usually aren’t my ideal clients.

And I say “Okay well are your ideal clients even on instagram?” If you’re trying to attract luxury brides and weddings, your potential clients probably aren’t even on instagram. If your ideal clients are younger couples who are looking to elope, they’re probably not on Instagram – they’re on Tiktok!

So obviously knowing your biggest lead generator also comes along with knowing where your ideal client is hanging out most too, and what is most converting for them. And then I also have photographers who say “Instagram is where i get most of my inquiries”. 

So we take a look at their Instagram and they don’t even have a sales funnel, and they’re wondering why they’re not getting inquiries or converting bookings! Once you know which platforms are doing the best for you, you can take those platforms that you’re getting the most leads and create a solid sales funnel.

Which is basically walking them through the entire buyer’s journey from the second they find out about you – to you booking the clients. I also like to call this the initial inquiry workflow, but the sales funnel technically starts before you are ever even in contact with them! 

Add more marketing layers 

Marketing isn’t ONE thing that makes the magical difference, it’s not a one and done type of process, it’s often layers to your marketing strategy. The infrastructure you build around your business that leads to a steady flow of people coming into your audience and inbox.

Here’s the importance of having layers of marketing for a couple reasons:

• Not everyone sees everything you do on one platform
• Not everyone is on a specific platform – figure out where your ideal client is 
• People need to see things several times 
• You never know when that once piece of content is going to bring in your dream client 

So what do these layers of marketing look like? 

• Branding 
• Conversion content strategy
• Make it part of your strategy to try and have a CTA included 
• Instagram
• Pinterest
• Email list
• Vendor referrals
• Client referrals
• Blogging/SEO
• Getting in front of others audiences
• Facebook groups 

How can you use them for lead generation?

You can use them for these types of content:

• belief shifting content 
• expanding their minds 
• authority content

So something you could do is take all of these layers of marketing platforms, and apply all the different kinds of content types to each of them OR you could pick 2-4 that work really well for you and dive completely into those by adding the content type layering.

Which I think is a good idea because let’s be honest, who has time to do ALLL of these things!! If you do and have the team capacity to do it, then GREAT – try adding these layers. 

But if not, don’t stress, just pick a couple of your highest lead generators and focus on those! 

The last thing I want you to do is leave this episode feeling overwhelmed. I want you to feel inspired about what’s possible and what can result from it.. not just feeling like you now have a long to-do list! 

Reframe your mindset 

If you get to this point it’s probably because it’s supposed to be a time for growth before expansion in your business. This might sound a little woo woo, but sometimes when you’re not in a place of allowing yourself to receive, that might be why. 

You’re not in a place that you are open to receiving, which has actually been true for me and I’ve seen that happen first hand in my own business this year even. And instead of beating myself up too much about it, I took a step back and re-framed my mindset around the situation and asked myself why I didn’t think they were coming in.

What was I doing that could communicate that I wasn’t taking on the work? How much was I putting myself out there and letting it be known?

How was my analytics looking on the backend, were there any broken links, were analytics down, how were my rankings and SEO looking. Ask yourself and analyze all of your data – you might be able to find answers in there.

But then something that really helped me was re-wording the lie that was in my head that nobody wanted to work with me to it’s a time for growth and expansion. Taking advantage of the extra time you have to focus on growth has ALWAYS been beneficial for me in my business, but for some reason I forgot about that this year when it happened – so maybe you need that little extra reminder too.

And what’s beautiful is most of the time, that’s when the big breakthroughs happen. Right after a lull – especially when you take the time to focus on expansion and the bigger picture.

Final thoughts

So if you’re going through a dry season or feel discouraged that you’re not getting the inquiries you once were or they’re slower, ask yourself if you’ve done or thought about these 4 things we went through today:

1. Taking initiative and making things happen for yourself
2. Looking at and analyzing your biggest lead generators
3. Adding more marketing layers
4. Reframing your mindset to knowing it’s a time for growth instead 

Having seasons of lower inquiries may feel crappy or discouraging, but it can also be a beautiful thing. That I promise you. Especially when it challenges you to step up and take lead in your business in ways you’ve never done before. So if you’re feeling this way, I encourage you to try these things and let me know how they go for you – I want to hear from you!!

But I hope these were helpful today and expanded your mind on other ways you can approach low lead seasons and inspire you to make things happen for yourself!

Be sure to check out more Gold Biz Podcast episodes here!