Calligraphy Biz Corner

5. Our Worst Pet Peeves as Calligraphers and How to Combat Them

• Alane Gianetti, Shaochen Wu • Season 1 • Episode 5

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Buckle up for a spicy episode! 🔥 After a few teaching-heavy episodes, we're spilling the ink on our top pet peeves as wedding calligraphers! From misspelling "stationery" to referring to calligraphy as a "font" to ghosting, join us for some real talk about what it's like being a calligrapher in a world where we constantly have to explain what we do (JK! Kind of...).

Of course, this wouldn't be a Calligraphy Biz Corner episode if we didn't also share our learnings and ways to mitigate some of these pet peeves! Tune in to hear our biggest frustrations, join in as we laugh about them, and then hear how we combat them. 

🔗 Links to resources mentioned in this episode:

🎙️ In this Episode:

  • 00:00 Introduction
  • 05:08 Pet Peeve #1 - Stationary vs. Stationery
  • 07:23 Pet Peeve #2 - Not Being Tagged in Photo Credits
  • 12:02 Pet Peeve #3 - Flowers that Cover up Calligraphy on our Signage
  • 14:04 Pet Peeve #4 - Referring to Calligraphy as a "Font"
  • 17:26 Pet Peeve #5 - "The invites will end up in the trash"
  • 21:14 Pet Peeve #6 - Clients that Don't Have a Budget
  • 25:45 Pet Peeve #7 - Ghosting
  • 40:10 Key Takeaways 

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Alane:

All right. Well welcome back to another episode of Calligraphy Biz Corner. We've got a very juicy episode for you today. We are spilling the ink on some of our biggest pet peeves as wedding calligraphers.

Shaochen:

Yeah. After our first three episodes being really like content heavy and teaching focused, we just wanted to talk a little bit about what it's like being a calligrapher for real sometimes and keep it a, a little bit light. But don't worry, we're only using this partly as event session, because we are definitely going to share our learnings as well and things that could help you when some of these pet peeves happen.

Alane:

Yeah, we definitely wanna be able to arm you with strategies to combat these pet peeves, but it's always fun to start with some venting because running a business can be. Really hard. It's definitely not all sunshine and rainbows, and if you can't laugh about it along the way, then really what's the point? So Xiao Chen, if you had to pick one, like your top pet peeve as a wedding calligrapher, what would it be?

Shaochen:

So I think my top one, and also because it's top of mind,'cause it happened to me recently, is someone says that they don't have a budget. Because the truth is that everybody has a budget and everybody has a limit. They just don't always know how to articulate it or may not want to articulate it. Like for example, if I went to you and I was like, hi, do you wanna spend$10,000 on your calligraphy?'cause that's my minimum. I feel like a lot of people would know their answer to that right away. You know? Like they if they have$10,000 to spend or not on calligraphy. and so I feel like everybody has some kind of range in their head. But they just don't always wanna say it out loud, or maybe they don't feel like they can make an informed decision on it. But everybody does have some idea.

Alane:

Yeah, definitely. And it's like whether or not that range that is in their mind is in your range of services. It's really helpful as a vendor to know what somebody is at least thinking, because then at least you can determine whether or not that client is a good. Fit. You can help guide a conversation, a proposal, a consult call, all of those things to be able to try to fit within their budget. Um, so yeah, I totally get that. And that is also a pet peeve of mine.

Shaochen:

Right. Um, well what about you? What's your, what would be your number one pet peeve?

Alane:

I think my top pet peeve is when flowers cover up the writing on signs.

Shaochen:

Yeah.

Alane:

gotten some really beautiful images back from photographers of like a welcome sign that I did, or a seating chart that I was really proud of, but then the florals are just like hanging over the calligraphy and you can't see it, and I know that it's not personal. But it's really hard not to take it personally and to feel personally victimized by that move.

Shaochen:

Oh my gosh. I am totally feeling your pain right now. I have had that happen to me on pieces that like. One of them I was so proud of and I was, it was like a really unique seating chart that I had done, I'd never done before. It had like wild flowers and things like that, and I was like, this is gonna be make for such beautiful photos. It's definitely going in my portfolio. then when the photos came back, the flowers were completely covering the heading. And it's a bummer because that's such a big part of our artistry, As calligraphers that we bring so. We spend so much time on those headings too. I feel ends up taking me a big chunk of time at the end when I add the heading up there. So it's just

Alane:

Exactly. Yeah. It's like soul crushing when you get it back and you're like, oh, cool, you can't even see the work that I did.

Shaochen:

Yeah. Alright, well, obviously everybody needs a good vent session sometimes when these things happen because it, it makes us feel a little bit better, but it wouldn't be a Calligraphy Biz Corner episode if we didn't also share some strategy for mitigating these pet peeves or even better for preventing these from happening to you altogether. So, why don't we actually talk through some of these.

Alane:

Yeah, so most of our pet peeves are actually opportunities to educate your clients, or at least that's kind of how I like to think about them because. It is easy to get annoyed, but I just try to look at everything as like, well, what can I learn from this? What could my client learn from this? So as we go through these different pet peeves of hours, we're gonna go over exactly how we would educate our clients or like mitigate the pet peeve from happening in the future. So. Let's start with a common one that I see all the time. One of my biggest pet peeves is spelling stationary with an A instead of an E. Um, I am a stickler for grammar, so this one really bugs the heck out of me. Stationary with an A means that something is not moving. Stationary with an E. Means paper. So I get like so annoyed when I get an inquiry into my inbox that's like, Hey, we'd love for you to do our wedding stationary with an A. I'm like, your wedding not moving.

Shaochen:

Right. I mean, I knew we were gonna get along because I'm also a bit of a grammar police and I could tell that you care about grammar, especially someone who worked in publishing in a past life, right? So.

Alane:

Yep. Exactly. So one way that I try to like fix this or kind of mitigate it, again, to me this just comes down, comes down to education. Because maybe not everybody even knows that there are two different ways to spell stationary. So rather than like direct client interactions for this one,'cause I would never. Like email somebody back and be like, you spelled this wrong. Like, I didn't care about grammar, but I'm not gonna be that much of a stickler about it. Um, I would prefer to turn to like my social platform. So for example, like maybe I will make light of this as an annoyance through a meme or something like, oh, when the client inquires about stationary with an A instead of an E. Um, in the hopes that, you know, people who are getting married. Maybe we'll see it, we'll realize that there are two different ways to spell stationary and that the one that has to do with weddings and calligraphy and paper is spelled with an E, not an A. I just try to like, bring that into kind of more lighthearted interactions online rather than, like I said, direct to client. And I just make sure that I am always spelling it properly as well in emails back to people.

Shaochen:

Yeah, that's a great idea because then it feels a lot more like general education than being called out for something. And I'll admit that when I first started, um, getting into this space, I also didn't know there were two spellings. So that's a really good point. Like you, don't know sometimes.

Alane:

exactly.

Shaochen:

All right. Another pet peeve of ours is something that actually happens pretty frequently, is not being tagged in the photo credits,

Alane:

Uh, this one is the worst. I, I, I feel like they're all the worst. I'm gonna say that for every single one, but this one really is because we just work so hard and to not receive credit for the work that you do is just really devastating. And again, it's really hard to not feel like personally attacked by that.

Shaochen:

Yeah. And you know, it does happen fairly often. It happens to all of us. So if it happens to you, you know, again, try not to feel like it's a personal thing. I think a lot of times there's just, there's not any like bad intentions. Um, it's just like an. Ignorant omission. A lot of times if the client books directly with me, for example, I might not actually be on the planner's radar because I'm not, showing up on site in person. So they might not have me as a vendor on their list. so what to do when it happens. Normally it's an easy fix. I'll just DM the person who posted the photo and just let them know like, Hey, this is so beautiful. I was also on the vendor team. It was great to be a part of this wedding together. Would you mind tagging me? You know, here's my handle and here's what I would like to be tagged as. Like I always include,, I would like to be tagged as calligraphy and signage or whatever. You know, yours might be like stationary, or whatever it is that you want to be tagged as. And just let them know and usually like. People are really great about it and then they fix it right away. It's really not hard to change an Instagram caption or tag an extra person on a post, so really not, not an issue. But here are some ways to think about preventing it from happening in the first place. I. So if you're working with a client directly, I would suggest asking them who their planner is. So like, if you're not already in touch with their planner directly, um, I would get their information. And one thing that I like to do is reach out to the planner about a week before the wedding proactively to like introduce myself and also if I'm not gonna be there on site, sometimes I'll give them some information about how to set up the signage. I'll send them like, here's how my. Stand should be set up. Here's like a picture of it with some instructions or something like that. And again, that just kind of gets me on their radar, gets um, my contact information to them. Often in that same email, I'll be like, I can't wait to see photos. I would love if you could tag me. Here's my handle. And that way they, they know how to credit me.

Alane:

That's a really great suggestion'cause it's kind of like getting ahead of it before it happens.

Shaochen:

Yeah, and it also really helps for the planner to have my contact information for the day of, in case they do have questions, they can just call me or send me a quick text. I don't worried like, Ooh, I wonder how this wedding's going today. You know, like. The other thing I like to do that's proactive is I also like to ask for the photographer's contact information. So if I don't, get photos, then often I'll reach out to the photographer and be like, Hey, the client provided me your information. Again, I was part of this wedding, so it kind of solves two problems. It's like letting the photographer know you're part of the one vendor team, and also if you hadn't gotten photos from the wedding already, it gives you an opportunity to ask for the photos. Sometimes we work with really great planners who are pro proactive and they'll send photos out to everybody on the team. But mean, tho those are like the dream planners to work with. Like it doesn't always happen, right?

Alane:

Yeah, those are really great suggestions. And just a little reminder, like I am a believer in. What you put out, you get back into the world, right? So like I also think it's our responsibility to do our best when we are also posting and sharing photos to tag all of the vendors that are included. So whenever you get photo galleries, like if you do get them either from the photographer or the planner or the client, him or herself, if they don't give you a list of the other vendors that are included, you can always ask too, like, I've gone back to couples and been like, thanks so much for sending me your photo gallery. I would love to share these on social media. Can you please send me a list of all the vendors that I should credit in these photos? That way I can make sure that I have the florist tagged the venue, if there's a planner, um, even if like the bride is featured in the photo, then to be able to credit like her. You know, hair and makeup artist, and maybe even the wedding dress designer, things like that. I feel like if you can do your best to tag everyone, then hopefully that good karma will just come back to you as well.

Shaochen:

Yeah. Yeah. Great point.

Alane:

Okay, so our next pet peeve is one that I mentioned at the beginning, flowers that cover up the writing on things like welcome signs and seeding charts. How I try to like get ahead of this is by having a conversation with my client. I. So I usually will ask like, are they planning on having florals on the signs? If they are, I can say like, okay, can you just let the florist know what signs that you're gonna be having from me? That way they know how to plan, like where they're gonna be putting additional greenery, florals, things like that. And then you can even tell them like, okay, on your seating chart there's gonna be 10 inches of space at the top available. Or there'll be, you know. A foot of space on the bottom for like candles and greenery and things like that. That way the florist can kind of start to plan their design as well. Because going back to what we said with the stationary spelling, it's like you can't just assume that everybody knows everything, right? So like a florist may not know. What kind of signs their couple is planning to have. They may not know what your designs are going to look like. So I really think it's just like communicating with each other is the best way to try to mitigate this problem, from happening or from happening, like as drastically as we've seen it, where it's like the entire heading is covered up.

Shaochen:

Right, and I mean, I'm not a florist, so I don't know a ton about their process, but I do do know, or have seen like behind the scenes where a lot of the arrangements are pre. So they like put'em in, they load'em in the truck and a lot of them are already pre-made before they show up at the wedding. And so I could very easily see that they pre-made the thing that was the arrangement that was gonna go on the sign and it ends up being like too big. And it's just, there's a lot going on at the wedding that's really not a priority to like fix that one thing. So anyway, I love that idea of just being proactive again and communicating how much space they're gonna have and asking if they need more room.

Alane:

Yep, exactly.

Shaochen:

So our next pet peeve is referring to calligraphy as a font.

Alane:

I truly die inside a little. Every time this happens. I'm like, it's not a font, it's not generated by a computer. It's my handwriting.

Shaochen:

Yeah. I think this is actually pretty similar to the like terminology thing with the stationary. I feel like people use, even if they know it's calligraphy and it's handwritten, they call it a font when really what they mean is like a style. At least that, that's how I kind of think about it. Like calligraphy style is kind of the equivalent of a computer font, I guess. But I recently had a corporate calligraphy inquiry that asked for some work samples of place cards. And so I sent them, some of them, a photo samples, and they came back asking for something that was straight and quote, not italic and more round. Um, and then she sent me like an image of a really stylized computer font. It just showed me that sometimes there's this disconnect between like, my understanding of what calligraphy is and then other people's understanding of it. Like they just think it's, the same as like a font or typography. I just love that italic was her like way of calling calligraphy.

Alane:

Yeah, I. Yeah, me either. That one made me laugh. But yeah, it's like going back to what we were just saying earlier, that like, it really just comes down to people being educated and you can't assume that everybody knows everything that you know, right? Like we know all of these things because we're calligraphers, we can't necessarily expect our clients or potential clients to know these things. So it just comes down to doing the best that we can to educate them in a polite. And constructive way without making them feel like bad or dumb or, you know, calling them out on their mistakes.

Shaochen:

Yeah, and specifically what that looks like for me is like using the correct terms or the appropriate terms in my responses. So again, I would say like style instead of font. and then I do usually like somewhere in the email mention that I. The work is done by hand, mostly because I want to cover my bases in case somebody thinks that it's gonna come back looking like a computer, like I need them to know that it's gonna be imperfect, it's gonna be human. and I think that's actually especially important if you are hand lettering something that isn't calligraphy. Like if it's a Sarah for saner, for block lettering, because you don't want people to think that it'll come back as perfect as if you were to type it.

Alane:

Yep. That's a really great point. I've done the same where like I've had somebody send me like their logo or something like that, that's a saner font and be like, oh, can you replicate this with your engraving? And I will go back to them and be like, I. This is created by a computer. Like what I will be doing is by hand, I'll send them some photos of my like block lettering style and be like, I can tweak this to better represent this font. But please note it is by hand. It is not computer generated. It will not be perfect. Just so like you said, everybody's on the same page. Everybody understands and you can kind of set and manage expectations.

Shaochen:

Yeah.

Alane:

Okay. Our next pet peeve is when someone says, well, the invites will just end up in the trash.

Shaochen:

I honestly, I disagree with this sentiment because invitations are actually the longest lasting piece from the wedding because I will have them on my fridge for months before the wedding. usually I will also have them on my fridge for months after the wedding.'cause I'm just not the person who's like always switching out the stuff on my fridge. and maybe I'm the exception, but I also keep all the invitations that I get and I keep all the place cards I get from weddings. I would do this, I did this before, like long before I was a calligrapher. So there's people like me out there who, who treasure these things.

Alane:

Yeah, I was gonna say, was that before or after you started calligraphy? So it's great to hear that it was before your calligraphy journey, but it's so true. Like I didn't even really think about that, that I. It is going to be probably the thing that lasts the longest, at least for your guests as far as your wedding goes. Like they're gonna be interacting with it the most. They're gonna be looking at it for the most amount of time, and even if they do throw it away like right after the wedding day, still it, they probably had it for at least two to three months, if not more.

Shaochen:

and I like, I have a couple on my fridge now and I keep referring back to it to check the registry or the details and

Alane:

Right.

Shaochen:

right?

Alane:

I think that we did just establish that invites actually last way longer and don't just end up in the trash. But there's also so many other things from weddings that end up in the trash, which is also why this is a huge pet peeve of mine. Like if you're not recycling or donating your flowers, those are gonna get end up in the trash. All of the ate food after the wedding, like unless that is being donated to maybe a shelter or something like that, all of that food is going in the trash. So your invitations aren't the only thing that are being thrown away. There's a lot of post wedding waste, which probably could honestly be like a whole other topic, an episode, which we don't need to get into all that today, but that's, it just really irks me when people say that.'cause it's like, this is not the only thing that's being thrown away. But in all seriousness, some ways that you can kind of combat this mindset with clients is to show people the value that invitations and day of stationery have through, you know, other client testimonials. For example, like I've had people write me a review and they're like, my guests are still talking about how cool my invitations were, how beautiful they were, how different they were, things like that. The other thing is just to remember and understand that people have different priorities and that's totally okay. Like I'm never gonna force somebody to spend money on invitations if that's not the top priority for their wedding budget. But I. Just wanna make sure that people are respecting the art of invitations and not just being like, oh, they're just gonna get thrown away anyways.

Shaochen:

Yeah. And I, I love that point where it's like, if they are the people who are saying that they're going in the trash, that that probably isn't their priority, which means they might not be your ideal client anyway.

Alane:

I don't even know if a client has directly said to me, invites will end up in the trash, because I also feel like that's just disrespectful to say to somebody when that is their art. But I have had clients say like, I'm not going to do stationary. With you, like I'm gonna go, you know, a cheaper route or more budget friendly route for, you know, wedding stationary. But like, I really want to wow our guests with the personal details on the day of like, I want this signature cocktail with our pet portrait and I want the big seating chart, or whatever the case may be. And again, like that's totally fine.

Shaochen:

Yeah, that's true. Yeah. Everybody has a budget and they decide how to allocate it.

Alane:

Exactly.

Shaochen:

Actually leads us to our next point, the one about the pet peeve about saying, I don't have a budget. we talked a little bit about this one in the very beginning about how everybody does have a budget in their head somewhere and has some kind of upper limit. And I think a lot of times what's actually lacking is enough context to, to come up with an educated budget estimate, especially when it comes to things like calligraphy because it's just not something that you are. Typically booking. So a lot of times this is their first interaction and they don't know how to value it. Right. so a couple things that I do for this. On my inquiry form, I try to give some context for how much they can get for my minimum. So I'll have a line that says like, for a hundred person wedding, my minimum will cover a welcome sign, a seating chart, and place cards, assuming starting prices and starting materials. I also share an average of what clients typically spend with me, which is greater than my minimum. Um, and also if they're looking for like a really large scale display that they need to have a, a minimum of X amount so then I ask them to select. Their budget from a dropdown list and make it a required field. And so it becomes a very like, intentional action to select something. Although I definitely feel like sometimes people just don't know and they just pick the lowest thing, you know, at they're, they're actively communicating, that information to me.

Alane:

I do the same thing and I feel like that having that dropdown list and making it a required question is helpful because it does then force them to actually start to think about it more seriously. So like if they were coming to your contact forum, like, oh, I have no idea what my budget is gonna be, blah, blah, blah. By the time they get to that. That budget range dropdown, they can be like, okay, like maybe this range feels good. That one feels out of my range. Like they start to have an emotional and like, you know, uh, mental response to that too, which starts to get their gears turning, right?

Shaochen:

through each range. And there's like, I feel like a little bit of psychology behind it too. When they select something, there's a little bit of commitment there, hopefully.

Alane:

Yep.

Shaochen:

Um, and sometimes I will get inquiries that are outside of my contact form. Like I'll get direct email referrals from planners or from their clients. And if they don't have a budget listed, I'll remind them what my minimum is and. And make sure they at least have that much in their budget. and then if I know some of the details on what they're looking for, then I'll also do some back of the envelope math to kind of give them a ballpark range that we can agree on working within. And that just helps me to. You know, not waste anyone's time. Not waste their time, not waste my time. Because really I wanna make sure that we're aligned on the budget before we move forward to putting together a proposal, which is like typically for me, like it's itemized, it's very detailed. It takes me a lot of time to put together. Um, and so I just wanna make sure that we're on the same page before going down the path.

Alane:

Absolutely. Yeah, and this is one of the reasons why, like I do have minimums in place as well, because then I know. Or I can guarantee that at least the people who are filling out my contact form have seen what my minimum is. They feel comfortable with that, and then they're reaching out. And I know that like the people that are coming to me have at least that much to be able to invest in calligraphy services. Right. And not having a budget, I feel like does just come down to lack of education, which again, this is kind of just a common theme here with all of these, but like it's also important to remember, and it helps me to be less annoyed when certain things happen that the client has never been married before, most likely, right? Like they're doing this for the very first time, their wedding planning for the first time. I feel like calligraphy is kind of even a more like niche service within the wedding industry. So like they may not even really be familiar with calligraphy services, what you offer, what that even means. It really just comes down to making sure that like you and the client are on the same page, but it's your job to educate them, like you can't expect them to come into that, relationship knowing everything because. They're coming from a place of like, I've never done this before. And if you are, even if you've only had a couple weddings under your belt, you've already learned more than they probably know.

Shaochen:

Yeah, that's a great point.

Alane:

Okay. Our very last pet peeve is probably going to be the most relatable. It is ghosting.

Shaochen:

Yeah. Everybody tells me how much they hate this one. Um, I was doing a. My workshop recently and I had kind of asked attendees any questions that they had, and I got several about how do I get people to stop ghosting.

Alane:

So yeah, ghosting is probably like the most infamous pet peeve of all the pet peeves. Literally everybody who has a business has been ghosted at some point or another. And even if you don't have a business, I'm sure you've also. Been ghosted in at some point in your life, either by like a job or by that hinge date that never got back to you Either way. We all know that it's really frustrating, but I've like started to try to reframe my thinking around it. So the first thing that I always remind myself is that I am not going to be top of mind, um, for my clients and for my leads. As you're planning a wedding, as you're reaching out to vendors, you're probably reaching out to multiple vendors and your inbox is going to get flooded with emails, maybe even like freebie opt-ins that you've joined. Your inbox can get really inundated very quickly, so it is your responsibility as the wedding vendor to stay top of mind with your clients. And you can do this by having follow ups in place. That way you are constantly checking in with them, reminding them that you're there, asking if they still need your services, things like that. I used to hate following up with people. I used to get like. Huge anxiety around it. Like, oh my God, this feels so uncomfortable to follow up and be like, hello, do you still wanna work together? But now I have three follow ups in place and I kind of try, I try to do them strategically. Like my first one is basically like. I know inboxes can get really crazy, so I'm just like popping up to the top of your inbox. Again, let me know if you got my last email, if you have any questions and like whatever. My call to action is, is I give that to them in that email again, in the second one, I try to deliver some sort of added value, so maybe I'm like sharing. Photos from a wedding that I feel like match their vibe or something like that. And then the third is basically a lat stitch effort. Like, hello, are you still there? Would you still like to work together or not? And like I said, just reminding myself that I am not going to be their top priority makes me feel way more comfortable about that whole follow up process because I also, I remember it was a couple years ago. I was like kind of doing an audit of like my leads, who was, who had booked, who didn't, who I followed up with, who I didn't. And like the amount of people that I just didn't follow up with was, it was so many, I, I don't even remember the exact number, but there were so many that I never followed up with and I was like, that was so much business that I left on that table. On the table. Like even if a third of those people had responded and ended up booking me. That would've been new business coming in. So, um, when I kind of saw that and then started to do follow ups and saw the response rate to a follow up increase, I was like, oh, I need to start doing this as a part of my workflow.

Shaochen:

Yeah.

Alane:

They don't work with everybody, but there are a few people that reply back and they're like, oh my gosh, thank you so much. Life got in the way, and I'm so sorry that I haven't gotten back to you yet. Um, the other thing that I try to remind myself is that ghosting isn't necessarily a bad thing. So while it is frustrating to put even a small amount of time into a lead and not hear anything back, it may just be a sign that they're not the right fit for you, and it's opening up. Space, the room for somebody better to come along. If you've done your follow-ups and you're still hearing crickets, then I'm just like, okay, it's probably just best to move on.

Shaochen:

Mm-Hmm.

Alane:

I think the most frustrating one is when somebody goes you late in the game, like after you've already sensed a proposal and there's been some back and forth, like whether it's back and forth emails, or you've gotten on a consult call and then created the proposal and sent it. And then they just don't respond. This is super frustrating, but my recommendation here is just to see if you can get any feedback from them as to why they haven't responded, and if there's anything that you can learn from it. I mean, it may just be like they didn't, you know, it wasn't in their budget or it wasn't a right fit, and they, instead of just saying that back to you, they just didn't. But I try to use it as a learning opportunity if I can. Um,

Shaochen:

one really gets me when it's late in the game and I've the proposal because at that point it does feel personal. Like I've already gotten to know a little bit about them and their wedding and their style and everything. I've really like put myself in the shoes of doing this job in order to create this proposal. So it just feels really like disrespectful when the ghosting, luckily for me, I don't get too many like. Ghosters at this stage, like obviously some people will decline the proposal, but hopefully at that point you've like built enough of a relationship back and forth over email or calls, whatever it may be, that feel some level of, you know, some level of responsibility to reply.

Alane:

Right, exactly. And that actually brings up another great point. It's like if you do find that you're getting ghosted at this stage in the game more often than not, then maybe that is a sign that you need to look at something else in your process. Right, like whether it's your workflow or maybe it's the way that you're pitching your services, or maybe it's like you're not giving them enough of a deadline to get back to you, so they're just kind of letting it fall by the wayside. Like there could be something else going on there if it is happening with the majority of the proposals that you're sending.

Shaochen:

Yeah, true. And sometimes it might be happening'cause you're sending your proposal too early in the process. For me that's really, there's really a funnel where I am going back and forth to make sure I understand what they want and the details before I actually get to the proposal stage. I was working with one of my clients who was a friend. I was helping her find a vendor that we would need to collaborate with, her second email back to me was basically the proposal and we hadn't actually like talked through any of the details just yet. So the proposal wasn't exactly what I was looking for either, you know, so that the process point is a really good one.

Alane:

Yeah, definitely. I have three things that can help you avoid being ghosted. These are not like. You'll never get ghosted again. But there's things that I've done in my business that I have found helps with that. So the first tip that I have is to ask questions in your inquiry response email, because this gives the lead something to reply back to. Like if you ask a question, I feel like it's more likely that they'll respond. Um, and I also give them a very clear call to action of like whatever it is that I want them to do next in order to. Learn more about my services, possibly work with me, you know, get a proposal, whatever the case may be. Um, so ask questions and give a clear call to action. I also suggest in your inquiry response email clearly stating what you do and what you don't do, because this will automatically eliminate any confusion that the lead may have as to whether or not you're a good fit. Like for example, if somebody wants, going back to our previous episode, talking about large scale signage. If somebody wants this like huge install and that's what their inquiry was, and I can write back to'em and be like, I don't offer this, then they're gonna know right away that we're not a good fit.

Shaochen:

Yeah.

Alane:

And then the third is to just be yourself. I know like we wanna be professional and whatnot as we're emailing people back and forth and communicating, but you can be professional while still like infusing your personality and your brand voice into your email. Like for me, I use a ton of emojis. I use emojis in my text. I use them in my Instagram captions, and so I use them in emails with clients. But like, that's me. And when you're working with a service-based provider, I feel like. You are booking them, not necessarily just their business. So like I want people to really start to feel my personality right from the get go. And this also will help you stand out a little bit more from like every other response that that lead is probably getting from wedding vendors of like, congratulations on your wedding. Thank you so much for reaching out. Here is my service guide, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.

Shaochen:

Yeah, that's true. And people do want to sense that you are excited about their wedding too. So I always try to take something that. Um, they filled out in their form. Maybe I'll like look up their venue if I hadn't been there before and comment about it. Something specific. Or one of my inquiries is getting married on my wedding date. And so of course like I called that out. You know, just anything you can do to like, build a little bit of connection right away in that first response and show that like you are excited about their specific wedding. And it's so funny you call out the emojis.'cause now I'm like, all right listeners, you all know who writes our Instagram captions

Alane:

guilty.

Shaochen:

Elaine covered a lot of really great points. I just wanted to add on a couple other things, that I've had success with. So similar to Elaine about asking questions. Um, I find that like the most direct questions often are the ones that get responses, and I also like to give people an easy out because like you were saying, there are interacting with. Dozens of vendors, you know, trying to book them and plan their wedding. so a lot of times my follow ups will be really short and sweet, just like, hi, do you still need help with wedding calligraphy? Let me know. Either way, kind of being like, I know you might be talking to somebody else and might have already moved on and that's fine, but please tell me either way. I usually close out after two follow-ups. I do like a week in between and I'll just say, I'm closing my inquiry since I haven't heard from you. And usually that's actually when I hear back.

Alane:

I love that because you're like about to take it away from them and then that's when they're like, no.

Shaochen:

Yes. I actually have had one of my largest clients be like, oh my gosh, no, no, no. Like, I just was busy. Please don't close my inquiry. And they ended up booking like a great package. And then I recently had somebody who I just wasn't hearing back from after various attempts and I wrote in the email like, Hey, I hope everything's okay. Kind of being like, I'm a little concerned about you. And she actually finally replied and was like, oh yes, it's just out of our budget. You know? So I trying to show a little bit of care, maybe a little bit of guilt tripping, Hey, are you still alive? I, I'm worried. Um. Yeah. And then if I don't get replies through email, I'll also try like cold calling them. So I do have a phone number, an optional phone number field on my contact form. If they fill that out, I'll try, um, calling them or texting them. And I have had people be like, oh, good thing you called because your email went to spam. I actually called somebody yesterday and she's like, oh, I don't know if I got your emails. I was like, oh, bummer. And she's like I actually. Already found somebody else, but I apologize because I definitely am not the kind of person who likes to leave people hanging, and I'm usually really good at responding.

Alane:

Oh, wow.

Shaochen:

yeah.

Alane:

that's a really great tip too, because I also feel like there's been all this stuff going on with like emails, like email authentication or something like that. I don't. I'm not gonna get into the details'cause I don't fully understand them, but I know it's like emails are going into spam sometimes because of this or if like it isn't set up properly.

Shaochen:

But I think sometimes it even happens if you just get an email in your inbox from someone you've never gotten an email from. how Google decides if it's spam or not. But I think they just look at it as somebody who's like cold prospecting or something like that. And you might end up in. Spam. So anyway, it's try all the channels that are available to you totally giving up because a lot of times the people who are ghosting might not actually be meaning to ghost. if I do hear back and they let me know they've gone a different direction, I'll ask if they have any feedback from me. Although a lot of times I can read between the lines, like I had somebody who their, they responded to my first email and was like, I would love to work with you. Let me know what the next steps are. And then I responded kind of being like, oh, well. know, I would love to work with you. I just wanna let you know that since you added on a couple things into the list of what you need, and now she wants like a more elaborate seating chart, display your budget, it'll be like closer to the top end of the budget range you selected and potentially more. And then that's when I stopped hearing back. So it's like I can read between the lines there. Pretty sure that was related to budget since that was really the only thing that changed and then personally, I also have a field in my dips auto that tracks the reasons that I lost a lead. So I'll, you know, I'll note if it's like budget or something else that came through this interaction, because like you said, we're always looking to learn even in the cases where we don't book a client.

Alane:

I think we covered our top. How many was that? Seven pet peeves. I hope that they made you laugh. First of all, we definitely had fun putting together these episode notes because it was, like we said before, kind of venting. If you can't laugh about these things, then what's the point? But we also just wanted to show that like all of this comes down to just opportunities to be able to educate your clients, sometimes even educate your fellow vendors. And it's important to remember that chances are your client probably hasn't worked with a calligrapher before. So my like overall tip suggestion from this episode would be to just look at everything that. Everything where you're writing copy or interacting with clients, so like from your Instagram captions to your emails, your website copy, direct client interactions, look at all of that just as an opportunity for you to teach them, teach them more about what you do, your services, your value, all of that kind of stuff.

Shaochen:

Yeah, and we also wanna know what are your pet peeves as a calligrapher? Are there any that we missed? Send us a DM at Calligraphy Biz Corner on Instagram and let us know.

People on this episode

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Alane Gianetti

Host
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Shaochen Wu

Host