Five minutes into this episode, I realized just how much value Colie was bringing to the conversation. I already knew she was brilliant in systems and client experience, but if you’re not familiar with her yet, get ready. We dive into the bare minimum customer experience, her five-minute booking process that boosts your revenue, and how to personalize your customer experience with automation. She also shares how she uses Airtable—without giving too much away, this episode is packed with insights. After recording, I made it a goal to implement everything she recommended, and it took me about two and a half hours (though it could’ve been quicker if I hadn’t overthought the details!). Let’s get into it!
Catch the full breakdown from my chat with Colie—trust me, we shared some absolute game-changers for mastering automation! Don’t miss out, tune in for all the insights!
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Table of Contents
Who is Colie James?
Colie James is a Disney-loving Client Experience Systems Strategist, family filmmaker, and the host of the Business-First Creatives podcast. Based in Denver Colorado, her heart pumps in helping photographers & creative service providers automate their sh*t, reclaim their time and get back to living! She believes “if it does not bring you joy, automate that sh*t”.
With 12+ years in the creative space, Colie believes every creative deserves to build a business that is sustainable and profitable, and no one should quit their 9 to 5 only to work 24/7 (in their business). The truth—automated systems can save us all from being overworked and overwhelmed. When Colie isn’t building killer workflows and automations, you can find her spending some much-needed time with her husband, James, daughter Chloe, and (you guessed it) at Disneyland.
How would you describe a bare bones customer experience from start to finish?
Bare bones—okay you’re speaking my language. Many people avoid setting up systems because they think they have to be complicated. But really, systems ensure you’re consistent with every client and don’t drop the ball, even with the bare minimum.
When someone inquires about your services, they should immediately receive an automated response confirming their inquiry and offering something to engage with while they wait for your direct reply. It could be a blog post, a video about your work, an email with social proof, or a link to a case study. That email should be specific to their inquiry and sent right away so they don’t go looking elsewhere for a solution.
All of this can be automated in the CRM of your choice. It doesn’t matter which one. The second must-have is a five-minute booking process. You can set this up with a proposal in Dubsado, a quote in 17hats, a smart file in HoneyBook—whatever your CRM calls it. All of them allow you to connect your offer or services to a contract and an invoice so clients can complete the booking process in under five minutes. Every CRM offers this feature, so there’s no excuse not to have it in place.
The third essential step: when someone pays you, send them a booking confirmation email. People just committed to paying you—sometimes thousands of dollars—so engage with them, confirm that hiring you was the right choice, and let them know what comes next. Again, automate this through any CRM.
Lastly, if you need to collect information from your clients, set up a questionnaire that can be sent automatically after booking or at a scheduled time before the service. If you need to customize questions, tweak the questionnaire and send it manually. If your CRM allows for automatic follow-ups, use that feature to remind clients to complete their homework after a few days.
When do you typically start the booking process—right after an inquiry, or do you wait for a confirmed yes?
It totally depends on you, and I’ve gone both ways. In my photography business, I use something called Simple Sales, created by Anami Tonkin, where she recommends a consultation call. Sometimes, I’m too busy for that, especially with photography. My website and emails are dialed in—clients either want the kind of in-home family sessions I offer, or they don’t.
If I have time, I schedule a consultation call; if not, I send the proposal immediately. My proposal in Dubsado covers everything—frequently asked questions, the process, and options like photos or photo plus video. I’ve found that my booking rate doesn’t change whether I have a call or just send the proposal.
It really depends on how much you need to qualify your buyer. For my setup services, if you’re getting my top-of-the-line package where I’m setting up your entire system, there’s no way I’ll let you pay without a conversation first. But for smaller services like a strategy call or automating your inquiry and booking, I don’t need to qualify you, so I can send the proposal immediately.
In your business, you need to decide how much qualifying is necessary before sending a proposal. Once they’re ready or still deciding, that’s when you trigger the proposal or quote.
How do we make our automations sound personal?
The best advice I have is to write like you talk, and you as a copywriter, already know this. The same applies to client experience emails—say out loud what you’d say in person, then type it. My lazy trick: use your phone to record a voice note, have it dictated, then copy, paste, and refine it. Add a gif, make it sound polished, and include smart fields. If you’re a Dubsado user, there’s no reason not to include gifs in emails. Whether it’s a thank-you for inquiring or booking, a happy gif adds a personal touch that makes people feel good. Write like you talk, and your automations will feel personalized naturally.
How do you use Airtable to manage everything as a service provider, and how does it help with your automation process?
My answer might be a bit convoluted, but here’s the deal. Do I use Airtable as a service provider alongside Dubsado and HoneyBook? No, and here’s why. When I’m setting up your Dubsado, I want you to experience everything firsthand. Every questionnaire, every email—all of it comes directly from Dubsado so you can see exactly what’s possible before I set it up in your own account. The same goes for HoneyBook. I bill, book, and ask all questions in HoneyBook because I want you to experience what I’ll be setting up for you.
Now, once I’m done setting up your account, I don’t do anything else in Dubsado or HoneyBook. Instead, I move everything to Airtable, where all your support questions are tracked. If you ask me something like, “Hey, can you change this email to go out two days after booking instead of four?” I’ll create a Loom video to show you how to do it and send that video through Airtable as a Gmail. Yes, you can send emails directly through Airtable, which is amazing.
As for my podcast, I no longer use Dubsado or HoneyBook to manage anything. Everything is handled in Airtable—from the guest form to managing podcast materials to communicating with my team for editing and social media content.
It’s becoming more common for service providers to use Dubsado or HoneyBook only for the booking process. So, you’d still manage the inquiry and consultation calls in Dubsado, send the proposal, and once booked, you’d handle the rest in Airtable.
The flexibility Airtable offers is a big reason why. Plus, you can easily download data as a CSV, which isn’t possible with Dubsado or HoneyBook—there’s no easy way to export questionnaire responses in a usable format, but Airtable organizes all answers in a table, similar to a spreadsheet. That’s why more and more service providers are turning to Airtable for managing client experiences.
What do you feel are the mistakes we’re all making with our customer experience?
First, I want to congratulate anyone who’s ever created and launched their own automated workflows—that’s amazing! I come across many people who put in the effort but hesitate to hit publish because they’re not confident it works. You don’t need an expert like me to set up workflows; you just need to test them. If it doesn’t work as expected, ask for help from customer support or a user group.
Many people don’t test enough. They publish their workflows, something small breaks, and they give up on automation. I often see clients who are 80% of the way there but need to fix a few things.
One area I often find lacking in customer experience is the time between delivering a service and the final product. For example, in photography, or when you’re writing website copy, there’s a gap where clients might start to worry about the outcome. During this time, you should be nurturing them and preparing them for the deliverable. For website copy, Kara, you could send emails on how to review the copy, maybe a checklist of what to look for—do this before delivering the work.
Once they get the shiny new thing, they won’t focus on anything else. For photographers, it’s best to give clients instructions on how to order products, download images, or design albums before they see the photos. After they receive the photos, that’s all they’ll care about. Sending one or two nurture emails during this period is something I see missing in almost every customer experience I review.
That’s a Wrap On Creating a Booking Process and Simplifying Your CRM!
There you have it. I think my interview on Colie’s podcast will also be airing this week, which is super exciting! Before you go, if you’re ready to level up your systems and automations (and actually get them done), she has an amazing template shop that’s worth checking out to simplify your life. I spent WAY too much time overthinking the details, and this is what I wish I had done. I’ll talk to you next week!
Want more of Colie’s wisdom? This is just a teaser—dive into the full episode for the complete lowdown on automation mastery!
LINKS MENTIONED:
- Learn more about working with Colie
- Follow Colie on Instagram
- Listen to Colie’s Business-First Creatives podcast
- Check out Colie’s template shop
- Listen to my interview on Colie’s podcast
- Learn more about working with our marketing agency here
- Follow me on Instagram
