MIGRATING FROM SHOOT Q TO TAVE

I thought I’d share my hints, tips and experience from recently migrating from Shoot Q to Táve client management system to help anyone out who might be thinking about doing the same.  This is not a sponsored post 🙂

Firstly, why did we move?

Well, we were pretty happy with Shoot Q and had been using it for around 3 years.  However, there were a few little things that started to get on our nerves:

• The inability to control certain automated emails that were sent to clients;
• I had been waiting for an Android app for Shoot Q for far too long;
• We found Táve to be more competitively priced than Shoot Q.  In fact, by paying for a Táve subscription for 2 years in advance, it saved me 50% of my previous client management system fees (which were being paid monthly).  For a small business, that is a big plus.

So, how did we start?

• Firstly, we took full advantage of the free trial period for Táve.   This made the migrating from Shoot Q to Táve process feel less daunting (knowing we weren’t paying for the time it took to set up).   Here is a link to a 60 day free trial (instead of the 30 day free trial).
• We also decided to only migrate our active clients.  That is, clients who were still to have their photography session, and also clients who already had their photography session but were still waiting on albums, images etc.  Any completely closed jobs were backed up out of Shoot Q so we still had all the info on file if needed;
• We then set up all of our product information and other settings like email templates (super handy), signatures, contracts, and workflow etc.  There were a few hiccups when we set up our products and pricing, but Táve support is second to none.  They were super quick and eager to help.

Next, it was simply a matter of manually entering client information into Táve (sadly there is no other way!).  I took a bit of time with this as I also logged all email correspondence as well.  It was a little bit like running a marathon.  Painful while you’re doing it, but afterwards you feel a great sense of accomplishment and are glad you did it.  (note.  I have never run a marathon, I only imagine that this is how you’d feel).

What (else) do we love about Táve?

• The look and feel of Shoot Q is different to Táve, so it took me around a month to really get the hang of Táve, and now that I do, I love it. Very intuitive and makes managing Leads and Booked Jobs super slick and easy;
• We have also integrated our Contact Form with Táve so that Leads appear automatically.  Oh and the Email Activity Tracker is awesome!   You are notified when your email has been delivered, read, and links have been clicked.  It means you can be guaranteed the potential client has received your correspondence.
• We love the Tave User Group on Facebook, and the fact that the developers are keen to take on board improvements and make it happen.

One final hint.  When all clients were migrated over (and we had cut and pasted their signed digital contracts into their portals as well), we emailed each client and advised them of the portal change.  We told the clients that all information should be the same in the new portal, however we gave them 7 days before we officially shut down Shoot Q to do their own checking.  This was a valuable step, as one of our clients did notice a discrepancy in their payment schedule which we fixed pronto.

If you are thinking of migrating from Shoot Q to Táve, I would recommend you push through the short term pain, for long term gain.  We are glad we did.

To help the migration process, use the following link to get a 60 day free trial of Táve (instead of the standard 30 day free trial).  https://tave.com/join/deus-photography

Feel free to ping me any questions about migrating from Shoot Q to Táve, otherwise, best of luck!  PS. It’s pronounced “Tar-Vey“.