Michelle Kawka Grows a Social Photography Business with Nimble

Michelle Kawka, Photographer

Michelle Kawka is a photographer  in metropolitan New York City and beyond.  She photographs corporate events, portraiture, landscape, travel, and fashion photography for private and business clients.  Michelle works both in the studio or on location, using photography and video to capture the spirit of a person, a place, or an event.

Finding Nimble

Michelle became aware of Nimble when her business coach Regina Bonolo from Aspire Higher suggested Michelle sign up for top CRM software and try them out. Most were either confusing, expensive, or lacked the features she needed. Nimble had a strong emphasis on making social business easier, and she also found the software intuitive and easy to implement. She found it simple to import contacts from Google. “I just kept coming back to Nimble and becoming happier and happier with it.”

A Example of Social Business Serendipity

Social interactions are very important to a photography business. Once she was using Nimble, something happened to illustrate the tremendous power of social.

Michelle recounts:

“A bride I had photographed, Kate Magee, is a Sex in the City fan, and waited in line at a promotional event to meet Sarah Jessica Parker and get her Manolo Blahnik wedding shoes (the same shoes Parker’s character, Carrie, wore at her wedding) signed by the actress. A security guard sent her away before she met Parker, because she had not made her shoe purchase that day. She was very disappointed, and tweeted to Sarah Jessica Parker about what had happened. Parker responded with an offer to make things right, to which Kate replied that she would come back the next day. She returned, Sarah signed the shoes, and they even had a private conversation.”

“I saw the exchange happening, so I added to the Twitter conversation and tweeted a wedding picture that showed off the shoes.”

blahniks

sjp1sjp2sjp3

 

Nimble Works with Her Workflow

“I am an enthusiastic user of LinkedIn, and Nimble helps me keep up with my LinkedIn connections. In the contact record, I can see quickly whether I’ve connected on LinkedIn or not. It’s easy to forget to do that if you’ve started communicating through email, so I love that reminder in the sidebar.”

Deals are also an important organizational tool for Michelle:

“I can keep track of how my business is progressing through the Deals Tab. It’s easy to track quotes and agreements, see what stage the client is in. I can also remind myself of what I need to do as I enter my handwritten notes from meetings. Nimble keeps me from letting important things fall through the cracks.”

The Difference a Few Weeks Can Make

“I am definitely aware of how much more organized I am — now far advanced from the days of Post-It notes, colored star systems, calendar entries, and my often faulty memory!”

“I’m a relatively new user, but I can’t imagine what it would be like to be without Nimble. I’ve come to depend on it — and it is obviously designed to grow with my business, affordably.”

“I love how Nimble shows me people I might want to interact with up, offering me the option to make them important. I can set those reminders and Nimble remembers for me. It’s a great feeling of confidence.”