I need a better system to keep track of dates.
I need a way to pencil in dates that people have inquired about, asked contracts for, and booked/secured with a deposit.

What method/program works best for you guys?

It would also be nice if there was a reminder feature to for final payments, highlight video discussion, etc.

I use Tave (https://tave.com/join/lastingblueprint), which is a studio management system. Switched over from ShootQ it's great and I do not regret doing so. It gives you a 60 day free trial. Everything you mentioned, they have. CHECK IT OUT
(https://tave.com/join/lastingblueprint)

Thanks for the reply!
Can you please clarify why you made the switch? They both look appealing, so it would be nice to know the pros/cons of each!
Thank you

Thanks for the reply!
Can you please clarify why you made the switch? They both look appealing, so it would be nice to know the pros/cons of each!
Thank you

I switched from ShootQ due to the price. ShootQ was higher and I could only use one brand. Since I do video production and wedding videography it was a pain because If I wanted to separate it on ShootQ it was $60 compared to Tave being $30. Con wise for Tave at the time I signed up which was like a year or so ago, is no longer a con. It has become a lot more customizable compared to when I had ShootQ. I liked ShootQ, but it was just overpriced for me.

17 Hats!

Don't have time to explain why. Just google it and youtube it. Also, I can give you a referral code.

Anything out there that charges an old fashioned 'one off' fee - I have an inbuilt dislike of renting my software - apart from the fact it's extremely stable it's one reason I'm still on Premiere CS5.5!

Having looked over both of the platforms mentioned, it seems that you're "renting" the cloud space - the ability to access from your phone, tablet, laptop, edit bay, etc. The ability for employees/freelancers/clients to see at a glance where you're at and what's booked.

It seems you could easily set up a system based on a spreadsheet and existing gmail labels to do something very similar for free. But you'd loose the flexibility. Which is what the subscription model offers you.

Take a look at Evernote. It's rather free form, so you could come up with your own system. Plus it can be used for other organizational purposes as well. There is a free ebook on Amazon that describes how to use it.

+1 for Tave here. I can honestly say we wouldn't be where we are now without it. And once you tap into automations you will wonder why you ever did things manually. I wake up and it's emailed invoice reminders, taken payments, secured bookings, got in touch with 7 day old leads, sent pre wedding questionnaires, touched base with upcoming weddings, sent shoot details to shooters, sent song suggestions and edit details to editors and produced reports that help us make business decisions.

17hats is very similar Danny!

One thing that bugs me though is the inability to create automatic actions based on working backwards from the wedding date. I can't tell the software what to do one week/one month BEFORE.

Can Tave do this?

+1 for Tave here. I can honestly say we wouldn't be where we are now without it. And once you tap into automations you will wonder why you ever did things manually. I wake up and it's emailed invoice reminders, taken payments, secured bookings, got in touch with 7 day old leads, sent pre wedding questionnaires, touched base with upcoming weddings, sent shoot details to shooters, sent song suggestions and edit details to editors and produced reports that help us make business decisions.

Can it edit as well? :) Sounds like an impressive piece of software though.

I've been a Shootq user for years, love it - any system like this will take getting used to because while they are very customisable - you will have to adapt as well.

Wether it's Shoot or Tave (there are a couple of others as well) - I think they are a huge benefit, Sure you can try a spreadsheet or evernote lots of other tools but you'll be spending a lot of time adapting somethin thats not really suited to the task.

I have a background in IT and could have written an effective back office system in excel or access but why reinvent the wheel? My time is better spent shooting or selling not writing code.

I can highly recommend shootq but there are alternatives - take a good look and I'm sure you'll see the possibilities

I would probably be a buyer at 14.99 a month. It seems pretty expensive, although impressive indeed.

+1 for Tave here. I can honestly say we wouldn't be where we are now without it. And once you tap into automations you will wonder why you ever did things manually. I wake up and it's emailed invoice reminders, taken payments, secured bookings, got in touch with 7 day old leads, sent pre wedding questionnaires, touched base with upcoming weddings, sent shoot details to shooters, sent song suggestions and edit details to editors and produced reports that help us make business decisions.

Yay!!!!! :)

17hats is very similar Danny!

One thing that bugs me though is the inability to create automatic actions based on working backwards from the wedding date. I can't tell the software what to do one week/one month BEFORE.

Can Tave do this?

Sure can. I have one which simply sends the pre wedding questionnaire 6 weeks before the wedding. I then have follow up automations which run 3 and then 1 week before to chase them if they still havent done it. If we get to the 1 week mark it then also emails us to tell us to phone them and creates a to-do.

I have one with a bit more intelligence which checks in with the couple 1 week before but only if we dont have any meetings schedualed in the next few days and havent spoken already in the past 3 days. This one ends up getting a lot of people saying "Oh hi, just to let you know this has changed...". Very useful.

Tave is in no way expensive for what it can do for you and for your business. The new sales workflow has generated even more conversions than before and before it was pretty good.

Sure, you can get away with your free google calendar and email, this and that but honestly, it runs our business for us! Anything you do manually it could potentially do for you and in our case it does more. We've improved our client interaction and it takes no effort from us.

If you give it a try then you really need to make full use of it. Import all your leads and jobs and go for it. You want it to run your studio, not just do a part of it.

For those that may have missed the email they have an update coming in the next few days or so which means when someone books they can now select add-ons at the time of booking.

If your website is running wordpress you can easily enable the tave plugin so all enquiries generate leads in the system so you can send price lists or respond at the click of a button.

To give you an idea on what we have Tave do for us here is our complete list of automatons (anything with a 99 at the start is in testing). Things like the send dispatch email sends them a lovely email to tell them the parcel is on its way and also includes a clickable link with the tracking details. Same goes for the highlights ready task. Tick the task and completed and it checks the job profile, if it finds a link and password to a vimeo video it sends an email with the clickable link all pulled from the job sheet. We use a lot of custom fields.

We also have seperate automations for same sex weddings as it doesnt send questionnaires saying Bride and Groom but Client A and B. I could have ones for same sex male and female but it would mean tripling everything.

We love tave so much we have one subscription for each brand. Just keeps it simpler.

Name
1. Close stale job (NOT READY TO AUTO CLOSE YET) (deprecated)
1. Lead Status Change - Chase Email Sent
1. Lead Status Change - Price List Sent
1. Lead Status Change - Proposal Sent
1. Mark non Wedding lead stale (deprecated)
1. Sales consult reminder email
1. Send 1st proposal expiry reminder
1. Send 2nd proposal expiry reminder
1. Thanks for booking email
2. Check-in 1 week before wedding email
2. Post Wedding Actions
2. Pre wedding actions
2. Pre wedding actions - Same Sex
2. Pre wedding consult reminder email
2. Send 1st invoice reminder
2. Send 2nd invoice reminder
2. Send 3rd invoice reminder
2. Send Pre-Wedding Questionnaire 1st Reminder
2. Send Pre-Wedding Questionnaire 1st Reminder (Same Sex)
2. Send Pre-Wedding Questionnaire 2nd Reminder
2. Send Pre-Wedding Questionnaire 2nd Reminder (Same Sex)
2. Send Pre-Wedding Questionnaire 3rd Reminder (To Team)
2. Send pre wedding chat confirmation email
2. Update anniversary field
3-1. Edited Started Update Email
3-1. Send Details to Editor
3-2. Create 'QC Extended Scenes' Task
3-2. Create 'QC Highlights' Task and Send Update Email
3-2. Create 'QC Main Feature' Task and Send Update Email
3-2. Create 'QC Trailer' Task
3-3. Create 'Awaiting Client Approval' Task
3-3. Create 'Highlights Ready-Send Email' Task
3-3. Create 'Prepare Extended Scenes Disk' Task
3-3. Create 'Prepare Main Feature Disks' Task
3-3. Create 'Trailer Ready-Send Email' Task
3-3. Send Highlights Ready Email
3-3. Send Trailer Ready Email
3-4. Create 'Burn Disks' Task
3. Song Suggestions Questionnaire 1st Reminder
3. Song Suggestions Questionnaire 2nd Reminder
3. Song Suggestions Questionnaire 3rd Reminder
4. Send Dispatch Email
4. Send feedback Questionnaire
99. Close Job - Already Booked (NOT WORKING)
99. Pass to hints test
Advance job stage to 'Fulfillment' after primary session
Mark Pre-Wedding Questionnaire as Completed
Primary Session Blank
Send Anniversary Email