580: Brendan Taylor – The TogPod CRM Revolution… The Future of Photography Business

Premium Members, click here to access this interview in the premium area

Brendan Taylor of Baby Art Studios and The TogPod CRM for photographers has appeared on the podcast twice, and both interviews were eye-opening gems and not to be missed, with so many good ideas shared on how to grow your photography business

In episode 502, Brendan hit hard with some home truths about running a successful photography business today. Trust me when I say he knows his numbers, marketing, business, and how to be profitable with a photography studio.

Then, in episode 557, he shared exactly how he and his team make incredible lead conversions from their marketing campaigns and how they lead these new clients to fantastic wall art sales. This episode also shares another eye-opening idea.

Since our last recording, Brendan has been nominated for best marketing campaign worldwide and overall entrepreneur of the year. Amazing stuff!

In his last interview, he hinted at a new CRM for photographers: The Tog Pod.

As the CRM is about to come to market, there has been a lot of chat in the Premium Members Group after good friend Elle Payne shared details of her beta testing of the product — which sounds like the solution of all solutions to running a photography business.

I asked Members to post any questions they'd like answered about the new CRM, and I'm thrilled to say I have Brendan Taylor, a past guest, owner of Baby Art Studios, and the man behind Tog Pod, with us for this episode.

In this interview, Brendan shares everything you need to know about TogPod, the new CRM that will revolutionise photography business.

Here's some more of what we covered in the interview:

• Brendan discusses a new CRM for photographers, TOGpod.
• Brendan discusses the challenges of using CRM systems for his photography business, including high costs and limitations.
• Brendan Taylor claims his new system replaces various tools photographers use, including CRM, email marketing, and reporting systems, with unlimited features.
• The Tog Pod automates list cleanup and segmentation, ensuring only active subscribers receive emails.
• Brendan discusses using The Tog Pod for business management, imagery integration, and user support.
• How The Tog Pod system automates the photo editing and ordering process.
• Automating order uploading to a lab, saving time and reducing errors.
• The importance of future-proofing the system to tie into other labs globally.
• Updates on the integration of Xero with the photography CRM system.
• The difference between white labelling and reselling Go High Level based CRMs for photographers.
• Brendan and his team have customized The Tog Pod with their own workflows and automations, which they use to run their successful photography business.
• The customizations are unique to The Tog Pod and can be tailored to suit each user's business needs, including adding new features.
• How Baby Art has merged its marketing and CRM systems to streamline operations for newborn and family photography studios.
• Brendan emphasizes that the system is not just for newborn photographers but can be applied to any photographer capturing memories of various life events.
• Automated workflows integrate with Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, LinkedIn, and Google ads for qualified leads.
• How The Tog Pod takes over and schedules a session for a client.
• Brendan outlines a new pricing strategy for TogPod, unlocking all features for all users at different stages of adoption.
• Tiered pricing will be introduced, with early adopters paying a lower price and later adopters gradually increasing their payments.
• Discussing pricing and data ownership for Go High Level's CRM system.
• Brendan reveals that the CRM owner retains ownership of all data and email addresses, sparking concern and debate.
• Brendan emphasizes data ownership and privacy at Tog pod.
• The Tog Pod commits to securing user data, exporting/downloading, and terminating.
• Brendan mentions that transferring data from other systems to The Tog Pod will involve manual work, depending on how easily the information is extracted from the other systems.
• Brendan confirms that a VA or employee can become a user or admin on The Tog Pod account to look after the account, and restrictions can be set to limit their access to certain features.
• Brendan discusses using Go High Level CRM for newborn and boudoir photographers.
• Using Tog Pod for CRM and communication, including features and onboarding process.
• Brendan explains that The Tog Pod does not allow users to use their existing mobile numbers, but they can port their numbers over from other providers like Twilio.
• Brendan demonstrates The Tog Pod's unified inbox feature, which consolidates all communication channels into one place, making it easier to manage and track customer interactions.
• The benefits of using Go High Level's CRM system include two-way text messaging and a customizable app.
• How to use The Togg Pod for event payments, with a small setup fee for onboarding.
• SMS and email costs for businesses, with specific numbers provided.
• Using The Tog Pod for sales and marketing, with follow-up and brand management tips.
• Brendan shares his experience with following up and generating sales, citing $120,000 spent on a coaching program to learn the technique.
• Brendan explains that the platform syncs with Ad Manager and other social media platforms, and there's a new Ad Manager feature for $100/month.
• Brendan highlights the convenience and ease of use of Go High Level, a CRM system specifically designed for photographers.
• Using WhatsApp and text messaging for business, with mentions of costs and AI capabilities.
• TogPod's AI capabilities include automated review replies and email creation using chat GPT.
• Building a successful photography business focusing on customer experience and long-term growth.
• Brendan emphasises the importance of support in the new podcasting platform, saying it's more important than any other feature.
• Brendan explains the pricing strategy for the platform, which has been changed to be more affordable and sustainable in the long term.
• Brendan discusses building trust and community over time to improve businesses and generate more income.
• Brendan's company will offer lead gen and bookings for other studios and provide a money-back guarantee.

We have a saying here. We either automate, delegate or eliminate. When we're having business meetings and trying to figure out how we can improve what we're doing, we always go back to automate delegate and eliminate. – Brendan Taylor

What’s on Offer for Premium Members

If you’re on the fence about becoming a premium member, join with the $1 trial today and get access to the FULL interviews each week, a fantastic back catalogue of interviews, and have ALL future interviews delivered automatically to your phone or tablet.

Plus, special member-only interviews.

Replying to reviews is very, very important. If somebody's going to leave you a review and take time out of their day to leave your review, you should take time out of yours to reply, to say, “Thank you very much.” – Brendan Taylor

You'll also receive access to the members-only Secret Facebook Group, where you can connect with other Premium Members and interview guests to help, support and motivate you to take ideas you hear in each episode and put them into action. The group also has FB live video tutorials, role-play, and special live interviews. You will not find more friendly, motivated, caring and sharing photographers online.

Seriously, that's not all.

In addition to everything above, you'll get access to instructions on forming or joining a MasterMind Group with other premium members. These groups are super motivating, make you accountable, and build friendships with other pro photographers with motives similar to yours – to build a more successful photography business.

9- 11% open rate on emails is the average. It's 98% for text messages. So if you’re not using text messages, you should be. – Brendan Taylor

What is your big takeaway?

Following this interview, I’d love to know if you're taking anything from what Brendan shared. Is there something you heard that excited or motivated you to the point where you thought, yeah, I'm going to do that! If so, leave your thoughts in the comments below; let me know your takeaways and what you plan to implement in your business based on what you heard in today's episode.

One of our beta testers in one month, in July, within their whole pool of text messages, email costings, spent $431.16…But this person also had a $45,000 sales month. So you need to understand the size of this business for them to spend that amount. They're a big business. – Brendan Taylor

If you have any questions I missed, a specific question you’d like to ask Brendan, or a way to thank you for coming on the show, feel free to add them in the comments area below.

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iTunes Reviews and Shout-outs

I check for any new iTunes or Google reviews each week, and it's always a buzz to receive these… for several reasons.

Firstly, it's confirmation that I'm on the right track with the interviews and that they are helping you improve your photography business. That's awesome!

Secondly, iTunes and Google are the most significant podcast search engines, and your reviews and ratings help other photographers find PhotoBizX. More listeners mean more interviews and, ultimately, a better show.

If we've built something ourselves, then of course, we're not going to allow you to take our stuff out of the system and plug into another one. But any thing you've built yourself, you're more than welcome to take with you if you decide to leave. The plan is you won't leave because you'll love it so much. – Brendan Taylor

If you have left a review in the past, thank you! If you haven't and you'd like to, head to https://photobizx.com/itunes or https://photobizx.com/google. You can leave some honest feedback and a rating, which will help both me and the show. I'll be sure to thank you on the show and add a link to your website or blog if you let me know the URL of your website and your name.

Alternatively, if you've left a review for PhotoBizX and are looking for more backlinks to help your SEO, leave a review for the new Photography Xperiment Podcast. Email me your keywords or phrases and where you'd like me to link them.

Problem is, if you don't follow up, well, if you don't know how to pose a sale, if you're sending out emails and text messages and not turning that into business, then it's a lot of money to be spending. But the whole point of The Tog Pod and what we've built inside it, and the follow up systems and the ongoing support that we're going to give you in our community as well, is you're going to be able to spend $431 a month sending 3000 SMSs and 260 calls and messages, because we're going to help you generate the leads and bookings to warrant spending that amount. – Brendan Taylor

Another great way to get a backlink to your site is to send a video testimonial. It doesn't need to be fancy, and your phone will be perfect. Click record and tell me how PhotoBizX has impacted you and your photography business.​