I was migrated today to ShootQ and I must sat it rocks!

They did a really good job renovating ShootQ. Now it looks like a very mature product and way more useful as a Studio management.

I had only one complaint and they are already dealing with it.

I love it too! Just will have to get used to the new layout!

I just started checking out Tave based on your recommendations so I'm interested to hear how you think the two compare!

To be honest, I am torn between both.

In the first place, the people behind both product are awesome. Very responsive to our needs and with the desire to produce a outstanding solution. They really are there to help. How many times are the developers or presidents of a company available to talk to you over the phone about your need and about how to make their product meet your needs?

My perception is that ShootQ seems to be a solution built around their booking engine which is excellent. That is the central hub and everything else springs out of that. ShootQ 2 has improved the booking engine and its Studio management side, which I think was weak in version 1.

Táve Studio Management seems to be built around the calendering of events and studio workflow. While ShootQ 2 "home page" has improved a lot, and I mean a lot from ShootQ 1 as far as usefulness, Táve Home Page is incredibly useful. By going to Tave Home page you can get a glance to everything you need to know about your week, upcoming events, meetings, task dues, percentage of completion of tasks. That said, I still exploring ShootQ home page, but I wish it had a calendar so I can see not only the current week but what it is coming up later.

Tavé also has a nice iphone and ipod touch connection that let you everything you need to know about your studio situation.

Where is Táve weak? Well, remember that Táve is just out of beta and into version 1, and it is still developing as we speak, so many of the things I find weak may be added or fixed within the next days, weeks and months.

1. It does not do booking or receive payment at the moment. But to be fait it will be added any moment now. I had a peak and it seems very nice.
2. It does not check automatically for booking conflicts. ShootQ will let you know as soon as you enter the date of the event if there is a conflict. Again, something that is in the works.
3. Cannot send at this time emails or questionaires from within Tave, but again, it is in the works and should be added soon.

I really enjoy how Tave interface a lot, and I mean a lot!

Also, the way Táve does its products and package is more flexible than ShootQ 2. For example, if you create a product for an album. you can add options that will adjust the price, for example cover choices, number of pages and other features like embossing. That way, when you add the item to your package or quote you can easily customize the item as well as figure out automatically the price. Does it make sense?

I also love the "pipeline" approach of Tave for stages as well as how easy you can add meetings and secondary event in Tave. Two examples:

1. Let say I want to set a presentation meeting for a lead. I just go the client job and just schedule meeting (or call, and it will appear under the client and their job as well as on the home page (and on your iPhone or ipod). I still cannot find how to do that in ShootQ and make it show in the home page. My understaning at the moment is that I have to schedule that in iCal and publcih it so ShootQ can see it.
2. If I want to schedule a engagement shoot within the main job. I just add a photographic session. Again, it shows up in the home page. I am sure that ShootQ should be able to do it, but I haven't been able to find it yet.

ShootQ has improve its home page a lot and it now has a easy way to enter a lead while you talk in the phone. It flows much better than version 1 did from stage to stage.

ShootQ is also very well organized and clear (as it is Táve). But ShootQ 2 gives me less information on the home page than Tave.

Once I migrated my only concern was that ShootQ dropped Paypal Standard in favor of Paypal Pro. They had good reasons to do it but it affected me because: (1) Paypal Pro does not work in Puerto Rico. (2) Autorized.net and skipjack are very expensive for my needs. This meant that I could no use the book

That does not mean that I love Paypal Standard, but it is the only solution that works for me at this moments. (Google Checkout is not an option within ShootQ).

But as I said at the beginning, both companies listen to their customer and work hard to accommodate our needs and request and they are working to help solve my situation.

One of the nice new features is that ShootQ made it easier to add more products to the shoot. Which is probably the way I could add another photo shoot like an engagement, but cannot figure out how to make it show in the front.

One nice feature of the ShootQ pricing is that you can add nice descriptions to your package. It allows you to make the quote you create for your lead very descriptive and with marketing and sales in mind. (In Tave this is very is limited). This works well with the redesigned client interface.

The client access has been improved a lot in ShootQ 2 as well as the booking process. Now, the home page alerts you that you have to review a booking. It shows you the contract with a space for you to sign. Then, the contract as well as workflow information, and wedding details are available to the client for review.

ShootQ added the functionality of questionnaires. You can have up to 5. Very easy to make and very useful. For example as a way to get more information about the wedding, vendors or as a customer satisfaction survey.

ShootQ will also have a iphone app but do not know yet when it will be available.

In Tave you can fix your mistakes easier than in ShootQ. Even if you delete a Shoot, the invoice stays behind. This can produce strange results in your reports. I suspect it is a bug and will be dealt with.

Both have some type of report, but I still trying to figure out how I can make the useful.

I still exploring ShootQ 2 and I have to admit that I have spent more time in Táve because it offered me functionality as a Studio management that ShootQ did not or was difficult to use. But I just began using ShootQ 2 so I still discovering and learning new tricks.

One thing both software are trying to do is integration to other software, like quickbooks. They both can share data with calendars like iCal, but we all want it to go beyond that and allow us to import the information we gather about our clients as well as package into out accounting software. ShootQ has Public API. I stiil trying to figure out what that means...

One last thing, ShootQ is $39.00 a month, which is not terribly bad for all its funtionality, while Tave is only $24.95 a month, which makes it an incredible deal, specially for small, money tight, studios. I know that when ShootQ releases to the public next years there will be some good news as far as options, but I do not know the details.

Hope that helps you, but do you see why I am torn between both?

If you have any specific questions about either, let me know.