34: Zapier and Dubsado: A Match Made In Heaven (The Systems And Workflow Magic Podcast)

Why you need to use Zapier (3:26)

Using Zapier and Dubsado to track leads in a Google spreadsheet (7:57)

Using an external calendar system with Zapier and Dubsado (8:44) 

Zapier, Dubsado, and your project management tools (12:25)

Zapier, Dubsado, and email marketing (14:15)

A few final points on combining Zapier and Dubsado (18:17)

Dubsado is an all-in-one business management tool that allows you to send contracts and invoices, handle project management, create questionnaires and other forms, manage bookkeeping, track your time, send and receive emails and SO much more… all from ONE place.

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Links Mentioned

Episode 32

Dubsado Toolkit for Creatives

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Review the Transcript:

Welcome to the systems and workflow magic podcast where I help entrepreneurs go from scattered to streamlined in their creative businesses. I’m your host, Dolly DeLong, a wife, a mom and a photographer turned systems educator. Join me every week as we have conversations centered around creating tactical workflows, and automation in your business. Now, let’s make some strategic workflow magic.

Welcome to Episode 34 of the systems and workflow magic Podcast. Today is the very last episode of my Dubsado education series. So I decided that I’m going to be diving into a topic that seems pretty scary because it’s a little bit more advanced for creative business owners and photographers when they think about Dubsado In this topic, and the topic is how to use Dubsado and Zapier together. Now before you completely shut me off, I do want to encourage you to listen in because it may help you generate some ideas for your own business. And in may get your creative wheel spinning for your the future of your business and what goals you may have in how to use Dubsado within your business. So please listen in. All right, as you know, as you’ve been learning in the past eight episodes, Dubsado is an incredible CRM tool that saves time and energy for photographers and business owners alike. Again, CRM stands for client relationship management tool. But occasionally, I believe it’s necessary to connect up Dubsado to external software to let’s say, enhance the rest of your workflow. So that’s where a program like Zapier comes in.

So Zapier is a program designed to be an external connection point for software’s so that you don’t have to manually move steps or items between Dubsado and those favorite software’s, which also help you run your business. So I want you to think of Zapier kind of like a bridge between those two different programs. And think of it as how it helps them talk to each other. All right. So again, today we’re going to talk about why Zapier and Dubsado are a match made in automation heaven. And I want to give you a few ideas about how to make your life even easier with these two softwares. So let me just pause and say that there are 1000s of integrations made possible because of Zapier. So this is not the end all be all exhaustive list. These are just a few examples and suggestions to make your creative business run a bit more smoothly. All right. So I don’t want you to think that I have memorized all of the integrations. Because I’m human, and I’m still learning on a weekly basis. I’m just going to be sharing a few examples of how to use these two software’s together. So let’s talk about why you should use Zapier.

First, when you sit down to map out your client experience, you might notice there are certain steps that don’t fit naturally in Dubsado, sidenote, I have tons of resources on the importance of knowing your client’s journey when mapping out your workflow. And you can refer to episode two, where I introduced this concept. And also as a little teaser to this episode, I’m going to be interviewing Angela Tan of the systems RX. And she’s going to be sharing how to have a hands-off hospitality automated workflow. I know that’s a mouthful. So knowing your clients journey is the heart of that episode as well. So if you are interested in learning more about the client journey and how to automate certain parts of the client journey, please subscribe if you want to hear that episode and past episodes as well. Going back to the importance of mapping out your clients workflow, and just like hitting that roadblock of well. Okay, some of these steps don’t fit naturally in Dubsado. And so like let me share some examples of what these steps could be. So maybe there is a to do task for you in your workflow of using family photography as an example you have a task of editing photos slight that is literally your task.

And you probably don’t want to write out all of the steps it takes to edit, maybe you are working with an editor, and so you have your own SOP for that. So really, you can’t really automate it within Dubsado. Okay, so that’s what what I mean by, there are certain steps that don’t naturally fit in Dubsado that are going to be automated to your clients. So that is an example or another example could be how you track and record leads, I believe Dubsado has a really good system for tracking and recording your leads. But you may have a very specific way of manually tracking your conversions and seeing where your leads are coming in from. So I’m going to be sharing an example of how I use that with Google Spreadsheets. Another example is maybe it’s how you connect people to your email list. So that may not be as natural and Dubsado.

So whatever those certain steps are in your workflow, there may be a chance that they don’t feel natural, and that’s okay because that’s exactly where Zapier comes into play. So Zapier can create a connection between those two software’s and they’re called zaps. Okay, so zaps are specific instructions, you provide to automatically kick start a task in a secondary program. So for example, you can tell Zapier that when a new lead is made in Dubsado, so when somebody fills out your contact form on your website, a new line is added to your lead tracking form in a Google spreadsheet. So that’s where you can calculate your booking rate. So instead of having to manually adding those leads in Google, Zapier now does it for you. And I just want to say that Dubsado and Zapier Have you very long standing relationship, which makes it even easier to use these two programs together. I had mentioned earlier that there are 1000s of different ways you can zap not only Dubsado and Zapier together, but just 1000s of different integrations. And so again, these are just a small example a tiny example of what Zapier can do and the power of Zapier and Dubsado. Together, so how for examples of how not necessarily how I use some of these examples, I use and some of these examples I’ve heard other family photographers use.

So I want to share four tangible ways of how to use Zapier and Dubsado. Together, and to be honest, there’s not too much I need personally within my business to link between Dubsado and Zapier, however, I do a few tasks. First example is that Google Spreadsheet example I used earlier. So for my photography business, I love tracking every lead that comes into Dubsado in a Google spreadsheet, from there helps me determine my booking rate. And I can review my conversions monthly. And this helps me make sure I’m doing what I need to be doing each month. And as you know, I’m a firm believer in the power of knowing your numbers. So I have a specific spreadsheet that I’ve created. So every time a new lead fills out my lead contact form, then I have an SOP for myself that I track those leads on a weekly basis. All right, another example.

A second example of how to use Zapier Dubsado. Together, this might especially ring true for those photographers who booked mini sessions. So let’s say you already have your mini sessions set up in an external calendar system like Calendly or acuity. And you know that Dubsado has many session options, but you already know how to use Calendly or Acuity and you’re like, I don’t want to learn a new program. I just want to use what I already know. So the good news is you can link Zapier in Dubsado, so that your clients automatically get the booking link from that external software or that when they book using one of those platforms again, like Calendly or acuity, a new project is automatically created in Dubsado. So again, I don’t I’m not gonna lie. I like keeping everything in Dubsado. I personally enjoy setting up my own mini sessions with the Dubsado scheduler, but I do know for a fact many other photographers before they even started using Dubsado.

They were already using Calendly or Acuity, so they have their own system set up. So the great news is you can merge your external calendars with Dubsado and create zaps. So that’s something just to look into if you are already setting up mini sessions. With an external program like Calendly, or Acuity, you can create zaps between Dubsado and those programs, and still let your mini sessions run successfully. Raise your hand if you are a photographer who feels like you’re on the struggle bus Dubsado because you don’t know where to begin with automating and streamlining your business. Yep, you feel like you bought the CRM platform only to feel more confused and frustrated. You just want to throw your hands up and try something else. That seems easier. Well, before you give up too early, I want to let you in on a little secret. I had been working behind the scenes to create a resource for family photographers that would break down the foundational concepts of Dubsado in bite sized, attainable pieces to make you feel more confident and creating workflows. If this sounds too good to be true. It’s not.

I have taken my knowledge as a certified Dubsado specialist and have created a framework I use for my own VIP clients. And I put it in the form of a resource called the Dubsado Toolkit for Family Photographers. It’s a go at your own pace course, which I have purposefully divided up into seven parts to be consumed in one week, so that you can go from scattered to streamlined in your workflows in under one week. This resource comes with templates, swipe files, and loads of essentials to better automate your family photography business. To learn more about this resource, head on over to the show notes to join the waitlist because the doors open soon to the Dubsado Toolkit for Family Photographers, and I have so many bonuses, I cannot wait to share with other photographers, from one family photographer to another. I want you to be more organized and streamlined in your business so that you can make big and bold moves as you scale your business. So what are you waiting for?

Third example and I think this is one of the best ways in my opinion of using Zapier and Dubsado together is with your project management tool. So your project management tool is very different from your CRM, like Dubsado project management tools, or like Trello or Asana or ClickUp. In the benefit of having a project management tool is that you can really map out your SOPs and workflows. And again, if you look at your client experience workflow as mentioned earlier, you’ll notice that not all steps can be automated, okay, you can’t automatically edit your gallery or automatically send over sneak peeks those things you have to track somewhere, again, just as an example. So by using Zapier, to set up a new checklist in your project management tool when a project is booked, or photographed, you can keep the flow of your tasks moving quickly and easily. And it’s one less thing to manage, remember and create manually. I want to remind you, if you listen to episode 32 of the Systems and Workflow Magic Podcast, I interviewed Abby Martinez, and she shared some great and very tangible examples of how to use ClickUp and Dbsado.

Together, I’ll be sure to link that in the show notes because I really want to help give you more clarity on. Okay, so if you already have your SOPs and your workflows mapped out in a project management tool, how can you start merging that with a CRM tool like Dubsado Finally, a fourth example in one of the other ways that you can use Zapier and Dubsado together is to add people to your email marketing list. So when someone has completed a project, you can use Zapier to add them to your flow desk or MailChimp or ConvertKit email list. For example, I would say when you lay out your processes, look for places to connect these multiple platform, so there’s less you have to do manually. I’m just going to share how I add people to my email list from Dubsado. So I include a link to my lead magnet naturally.

In one of my workflow emails that goes out to a new lead. So for example, when a new lead fills out my contact form, they self select what service they’re interested in. And if you’ve been listening into this podcast, you know that I offer three main services, I offer family photography, branding, photography, and then I offer Dubsado, setup services. So three different types of services. So let’s say they fill out that they’re interested in branding photography. So they get a very specific workflow. And it funnels them into my branding photography workflow in that first automated email, talks about branding photography, it helps answer all the most frequently asked questions. And I include a link to a branding lead magnet. Now I don’t call it a lead magnet on the email, but I do call it my branding style guide. And they click over and people receive my lead magnet because they filled out their email and their name. And it took because it takes them to my email service provider. And then they’re put naturally into an automated an evergreen nurture sequence. So the reason why I do this is because just in case, they fill out my contact form, and then they forget to reach back out to me or life happens. They are then naturally in my evergreen sequence for my email list. And so I like giving them an option for a lead magnet in that first automated email. And again, I wanted just to press the importance to please like, sit down and look at your processes, look at your client journeys.

Where in their journey, would you like to invite them to your email list? Or do you want to add them to zap them over to a nurture sequence, so that they can learn more about a specific client service that you offer? So I just really want you to think of the possibilities, the possibilities are endless. And so I want you to think about your specific client and what they prefer, all right, or where they would probably click over and download either your lead magnet or where they would like to be entered in to your email newsletter. So I know it’s a lot of things to think about. And this might be a little bit more advanced. But this is something I enjoy email marketing so much I know it can be very draining to a lot of creative business owners. But this is something that I have developed a strong foundation with email marketing, I’m not an email marketing expert. So please don’t think I’m saying that. But what I’m saying is I have loved the consistency of emailing my list every week. I have loved getting to know my audience. And so this is just one of the ways that I invite people over from Dubsado to my email list. I know that was a very long example, but I just wanted to share with you just like how I look at it.

So in summary, when it comes down to it, Zapier exists to help you the business owner save time, it’s a way to remove some of the manual tasks we have to do to connect various parts of our workflows. Dubsado and Zapier have lots of connection points. So again, I highly recommend sitting down with this app you’re open and your client workflows next to you to determine what else you can do, what steps you can do to automate to save yourself time and energy, and then maybe one or two steps, but those steps will save you so much time in the long run. Again, I don’t personally use Zapier for everything and in Dubsado But the more I learn about Zapier and its capabilities, the more I am applying it to my own business, on a monthly and quarterly basis. So I I’m taking baby steps myself, and I am loving what I’m learning and so I’m really encouraging you to take baby steps like you don’t have to jump off the deep end, learn all the things. Take your time and learning how to utilize these programs, Zapier and Dubsado. together and be super patient with yourself. Now if you are listening to this episode live, I want to remind you the doors to my DIY course, The Dubsado Toolkit for Family Photographers.

Now it is a DIY course created for family photographers by a family photographer with the purpose and intention of helping you discover how to better streamline and automate your photography business with Dubsado in seven days, so I literally give you the playbook of how I teach Dubsado to my VIP clients at a fraction of the cost and I share my templates, I share my workflows with you, I literally pull back the curtain and I share with you step by step of how I might like my framework via how I set up a VIP clients Dubsado. And I give it to you in the perspective of being a photographer. All right, so the link to access this course is in the show notes. And I hope you’ll check it out. I’m so excited about finally opening these doors it has been on I have been talking about this for well over a year. And I’ve had a lot of people reach out to me and ask me about this mini-course because they know I’ve been talking about it. So it’s finally out there. It’s finally live. And so I hope that you will check it up. So I will catch you next week for more systems magic. I really want to thank you for joining me on this eight week journey talking about Dubsado. I love talking about Dubsado and teaching others about the magic of Dubsado and how much it can streamline your own business. So thank you for joining me. And next week I have a brand new topic to share with you. So I’m so excited to share this next topic. I won’t give it away too much. So I will see you all next week and I hope you have a wonderful day. Bye.

Thank you so much for listening to the systems and workflow magic podcast. You can find full show notes from today’s episode at dolly DeLong photography.com forward slash podcast. If you’re loving the podcast, I’d be so honored if you’d subscribe and leave a review on your favorite podcast player. Be sure to screenshot this episode, share it to your stories and tag me at dolly DeLong education over on Instagram. Until next time, go make some strategic workflow magic.