Not much more than a year ago I was not a Táve user. I was swimming in paper, operating off of 3 calenders, a separate task list and a folder in my inbox full of correspondence from clients in no real order. My orders came in through one source, I fulfilled them in another software program, then imported them into a 3rd program. Inevitably the order would import under the wrong price list and I would have to figure out how to go back and edit it, painfully. If I had been meticulous in my checking of boxes in my multitude of programs I might have been able to keep some semblance of organization.

I am not meticulous. I have more ideas running in my brain than outlets for them. I would have had a separate task list to remind me to reset every software program with the correct workflow status for every order.

I noticed something different this summer. Now that my workflow is flowing, and everything is tracked in Táve I spend less time doing icky business stuff. I use ProSelect to process my orders, then I import into Táve, and right there I can assign it to the correct client, the correct job, and fix the pricing errors that I made (cuz I make errors sometimes). I send my order, create a task so I can see in my task list that it’s in process, and wait for my order to arrive. Cool part is that those are just some of the features that Táve has condensed into one program for me, and there are many more programs from which you can import orders, and to which you can export data.

Then I sit at my desk wondering what I have forgotten to do. Nothing. I just spend less time on each task, and I don’t forget things. It’s hard to believe. Well not that hard to believe since my task list, calendar, and upcoming jobs are all right on my homepage.

Everyone’s abuzz. It isn’t spring in the air, it’s WPPI, in Vegas, Baby!

As you should know by now Táve is an official sponsor of this year’s Wedding and Portrait Photographers International convention, lovingly referred to by all as WPPI. The first year I went I was so intimidated that I brought a non-photog friend with me. Not everyone has that luxury so if you are striking out on your own (or even with a buddy) I would like to offer some helpful info and ease your first time fears.

1. Everyone was freaked out their first time: And if they say they weren’t they are dirty liars. The advantage to everyone’s having freaked out is that 90% of the people you run into there are willing to give you helpful advice so you don’t feel so alone. The other 10% are hacks.

2. Wear comfy shoes: Everyone there will be wearing comfy shoes. We all know they are ugly, and we are all over it. Merrell’s, Soft, Born, etc. One year I spent 20 minutes in a vendor’s boot chatting about comfortable foot wear. MGM has some very long hallways.

3. If there is any way you can, stay at the MGM: The long walk back to a hotel is not worth the money you save, so unless you get a killer deal or find a room across the street stay in the hotel at which you are convening.

4. Don’t make commitments the first day of the trade show: You will go broke doing this. Grab the flyer, make a note, take some time to sit in your hotel room mulling over your options. I always make my last trade show day “shopping day.” This is unless you know exactly what you are going there for, or unless it’s Táve. Commit to that right now.

5. Take advantage of Platform Classes: They are included in your registration so you should hit as many as you can. If they weren’t what you were needed or expecting you can always slip out the back and hit another one.

6. Save money on food: Bring snack bars and water bottles to carry with you. There is a drugstore right down the strip if you don’t want to fly with them. I also like to find someone to split meals with. Vegas portions are huge and cheap meals are hard to find there.

7. Leave space in your suitcase for the SWAG you’ll be taking home: Catalogs, buttons, pens, magnets, maybe some prizes or trophies. You just never know.

8. Rockstars are people, too: Don’t act silly or giddy around the famous photographers. You will see them everywhere. They are human beings like you and I. Treat them with respect, smile and wave. Don’t whisper and point. Outside of this industry no one knows who they are. They carry around the same crappy point and shoot cameras that we do and their snapshots look just as bad.

9. Bring business cards, lots of them: You will want to give them to vendors and other photographers you meet.

10. Be yourself: Don’t try to be cooler than you are in real life. Dress up if you want to, but only if you will be comfortable. Everyone loves a show, unless they can tell it’s just an act.

See you there! I will be giving out free hugs to anyone who wants one* If you have some AWESOME WPPI tips to share please do, but only AWESOME tips, please.

*Limit one per customer. Certain restrictions may apply.

I have to admit, unlike most of the photographic population I do not have an iPhone. Shocking since everything else I own has a little apple on it (including my van).

I have an Android phone and my life is in it. Including Táve!

It may be called Táve iPhone Access, but it works swimmingly in my Android browser, which is awesome when you are running late for a bridal shower and have to access your client list to postpone your location session because the rain is pouring down. The only regret is that I did not discover until recently the awesomeness of the mobile feature, which lets me access my account quickly from anywhere.

Just visit www.tave.com in your iPhone or Android browser and you should be automatically taken to Táve iPhone Access at tave.com/iPhone.

Carli Morgan is a wedding and portrait photographer (and Táve user) from Fresno, Ca. She loves finding and sharing new stuff with her fellow photographers and she is joining Táve’s blog to do just that.

There are a bazillion reasons why I love Táve, and eventually I’ll share them all with you, but one of my favorite things is that it’s helping me “go green.”  A lot of people will sneer at that, but for me being green isn’t a marketing angle.  It’s how I was raised, and it’s how I live my life.  I’ve got solar panels on my house, I recycle or reuse anything I can, and I try not to waste.  Before Táve I swam in paper.  Notes to myself, phone messages, client records were stacked all over my office.  Táve allows me to store most of that in that big beautiful cloud.  My contracts are signed and stored digitally, I can add any kind of note you can imagine to the clients’ files, I can forward email correspondence directly to my client files so I have records of what I told who and when.  The best part is that I can actually FIND the information when I go looking for it.

Not only have I decreased my paper usage, my ink usage, my trash output and my storage space needs, I am also reducing my own and my client’s carbon footprint, by using the client access system.  A new client used to mean a consultation in my home, then after their decision was made, another trip back to my house to sign paperwork and pay the deposit.  Now I send them quotes online before we meet, so they can see the system, meet with them, and explain how they can use the online system.  They go home, log in, pick their package, sign their contract, make their payment and they don’t have to make another trip.  May not sound like a lot of savings, but if each photographer saves one trip per client per year that’s a lot of gas and emissions we are eliminating.  I now email my clients their statement with a link to the client access and all of their payments can be made online.

We’d love to hear from those of you have used Táve to “go green” and what changes it has made for you on that front.

Unfortunately, sometimes our clients cancel our services after they have already paid a retainer towards a wedding, event, or session. Retainers tend to be non-refundable, so thankfully we’re not completely out the money for the date that we’ve blocked out!

So, what happens in Táve when a client cancels the job? Let’s take a look at the following booking below.

In this case, the client has ordered coverage for a birthday party and has paid $200 for a retainer. Now they’ve called and said they’d like to cancel while they still have a $224 balance.

Táve tells you that you can’t delete or cancel a job with a non-zero balance.  Simply deleting the order and recording a refund like the popup suggests isn’t appropriate here because you’ve received a retainer and you want it to still show up as revenue. If they had not paid a retainer, you could in fact follow the advice in the popup and stopped there.

So, what do you do? How do you cancel the job while still still showing the retainer revenue?

First, click “New Quote” in the orange Quotes and Sales Orders Section.

On the Quote page, you’ll select to add a Manual Entry item, and add something like what I’ve created below:

When you’re done, click “Save” at the top of the page to return to the Quote.

In the price section, as you can see below, I’ve created a negative amount opposite of the balance that was still due when they canceled. In this case the client owed an additional $224 towards her event coverage so I entered -224.

Now, save your work and click the “Client Accepted; Book it!” button on the top of the page.

Now your orange financials box will look like the one below. It will show the money that you were paid, and the remaining balance will be zeroed out, which means we can now cancel the job.

Then you can go ahead and mark the job as cancelled.

There are a few ways to create a new client or a new lead, but by far the fastest way to enter a lead into Táve is to use the yellow “New Lead” box on the Home Page.

When you use the New Lead box, it will automatically create both the client and job entries (Note: If you’re simply adding previous clients, and do NOT wish to add jobs, just use the “New Client” button inside the Clients section).

In order to add a new lead, all you need to enter is the person’s name and the Job Type (e.g. Wedding, Portrait, etc). From there, you can continue to edit the details of the job or jump right into a quote. Other information such as the lead’s contact information, event location, additional subjects, and more, can be collected later inside the Job profile as you chat with your prospective client.

Aside from being a quick way to get started with a client, it’s also quite useful.  Once you enter a date, a mini-agenda for the date will appear in the right half of the New Lead box, quickly telling you if you already have something on your schedule for the date, so you never run the risk of double-booking yourself.

It’s a good idea to select the Source as soon as possible, as it can be easy for your client to forget, but is huge for you, especially with our reports that break down your revenue and leads by source.

When I talk to Táve users on the phone, one of the most important features that they want to learn about is setting up their workflow. They are surprised when they find out how easy it can be!   Our product editor is a cornerstone of the application and definitely worth digging into, especially with the recently released Cost of Goods Sold feature (which was recently updated to show your profit margin percentage as well).

Product-based automation

The first step in setting up your workflow is to create a product. Let’s assume that you’re creating an album. For your album, you have 4 steps – to design the album, send the client a proof, order from your vendor, and deliver the album once it arrives. This is easily set up in the brown box labeled “work to create when ordered.”

You can set which job phase you want the tasks to start in – Booked, Processing, Presentation, Fulfillment, or Completed. In this case, I chose for some tasks to start in the Presentation phase and one in the Fulfillment phase. When editing each task, you can also set more precise due dates if you prefer. It just depends on what you are comfortable with in your workflow!

Quickly creating similar products

When creating similar products that have the same tasks, I’ve found a really great tip. On the Products page, we include a “duplicate” button for each product. It’s the one that you see below that looks like two boxes, a blue one on top of a white one.

If you click this button, it will duplicate the product and all information inside of it, including your workflow tasks. This will save you some time for items that are similar, as you’ll simply need to click on the copied item and edit it to be a separate product.

Not only is this helpful for your workflow tasks, but if the items are very similar but just differ in price, then adding all of the options or add-ons is one less thing you’ll have to do to set up the next item on your product sheet!

Job-specific tasks with Deliverables

The next time a client books a quote with this product, a Deliverable will be created for the product inside the Job’s task module.  As you progress through the job phases, the tasks will automatically appear.

As clients request special work for the album, just click on the New Task link to create a new task for the deliverable to keep it all organized.

I hope this little tutorial helps as you set up your products and workflow a bit faster!

If you’re a fan of all the great ways Táve Studio Manager can help your photography business succeed, why not join us around the web and share your enthusiasm?

These four testimonials are straight off of our facebook page.   If you have a facebook, just cilck on “Become a fan” on the right side of the page once you’re signed in.

Have you jumped into the world of microblogging?  If so, don’t be shy, go ahead and follow our brand-new twitter account and say hello with a tweet starting with @tavestudio in the message!

It’s time to join!

We’ll be announcing a special trade-show rate for Imaging USA next week!

Go ahead and register for our free 30-day trial now, so you’re ready to take advantage of the one-week-only sale, and then follow our twitter or facebook so you don’t miss out!

I’m sure it will come up in our next newsletter, but I wanted to share this tip sooner rather than later...

Among the many new features we’ve added recently, we added a few HUDs (Heads Up Displays) to the system.   We’ll be adding more HUDs as we go (if you have specific places you’d like to see more pop-up info like this, let us know!).

Two useful HUDs:

On the availability overview, move your mouse over a day with events and you’ll get a quick summary of each one: