Posts Tagged ‘sales’
Truth vs Fiction: In Wedding Planning
I was speaking with one of my favorite wedding planner friends the other day. She was telling me how they have about 10 weddings coming up within the next few months. I told her, “Wow, obviously I am in the wrong market.” (typical knee-jerk response when you hear another professional doing well in her respective area).
“Well, ” she replies, “you know they aren’t all GREAT weddings. In fact, one of them I really wanted to turn down, because I felt she wasn’t going to be the best fit.” My very experienced, planner friend then loudly sighed. “But my husband and I went over finances for the next quarter and when she called to hire us, I took it! Sometimes you gotta do, what you gotta do.”
I THANKED her for her honesty. That’s what really is going on in the REAL world.
This doesn’t mean I am suggesting that you grab up every client that comes to you, we all know it is important to acquire a client that will not only appreciate your services but reflect your company’s brand. (That was my one obligatory branding message that must accompany all blog posts like this.) But we know that bills come in every month and you can’t respond to your electric bill, “Sorry, my target client didn’t hire me this month.”
So what’s a small business, fighting the poor economy and rising expenses suppose to do? {GET REAL} Sales suggestions:
- First, BE sure you aren’t lowering your “brand” standards so much that you are putting yourself and your business in jeopardy.
- Do not work for free. Do not work for free. Do not work for free.
- Set clear boundaries and limitations so that you will not be taken advantage of and still make a profit.
- Know that you aren’t alone. Not every wedding is dripping with Phalaenopsis orchids and crystals from the ceiling. But that is okay.
What are your thoughts?
Happy Selling!
{Get Real} Sales Workshop
Since Eventology 2009, the start of the sales twitter account and the #Sales411 tips on Twitter, I have been inundated with requests for more sales training and personal sales coaching. At the risk of sound cliché, it is such a wonderful feeling to help others in our industry learn about themselves, learn how to be better sales people and effect their business positively.
So with gentle prodding (more like nagging) from my peer and BFF, Jennifer Ramirez Jasiczek, we have finally set the dates for the first ever ….
Woot! Woot!
And what better location to launch a new Sales Workshop, but in a whole DIFFERENT COUNTRY, like …
(If you live in Texas or have ever been pulled over by a Texas State Trooper, you will get that joke.)
Houston : the First {GET REAL} Sales Workshop for Wedding Professionals
Tuesday, March 16, 2010 from 9:00 AM – 3:00 PM (CT)
Houston, TX | Christine Tremoulet Studios
Austin: the First {GET REAL} Sales Workshop for Wedding Professionals
Thursday, March 18, 2010 from 9:00 AM – 3:oo PM (CT)
Austin, TX | Vintage Villas
……………………………………………………………………………………………………
Join us for a {GET REAL} Sales training is a one-day workshop will be chock full of real applicable sales techniques that will let you leave the door and immediately implement positive changes. It is comprehensive, fast-paced, blunt, collaborative, profound, humorous and will take you to the next level of Closing the Sale with your prospective clients. That’s why we’re calling it {GET REAL} .
The training will be instructional with break out sessions and a collaborative spirit (that means, you’ll be expected to participate). In addition, each attendee will receive a questionnaire before the workshop to ensure that topics are being covered that are applicable to your situation and your challenges!
You can’t afford to miss this workshop, so please visit the above links for full workshop descriptions. There are early bird pricing and seats are limited (really, they are).
Can’t WAIT to see you there!!!
AND … if you’d like to see other cities for future dates, drop me a comment! Like in “sales”, sometimes all you have to do, is ask.
Happy Selling!
10 Sales Tips for Event Professionals, featured….
Thank you to Michelle and Kelly who produce an awesome business blog and business workshop The Simple Plan, for featuring me today!
I quickly wrote out 10 Tips on how to Make the Sale (down and dirty, blunt as usual) for event professionals for their current How to Gain Attention Series.
Be sure to click on this link to read all the tips!
Happy Selling!
Working a Wedding Bridal Show :: part 2
- Promote your blog. Remember that “Bridal Wars” giveaway I mentioned above? Well we decided to take photos of brides/friends and put it on the blog to VOTE for the best photo. Our blog traffic went through the roof that week and several months afterwards. So simple, and it totally worked. We now hear from brides that show up at our booth that they faithfully read our blog. Which is a great form of marketing for our business.
- Bring your Calendar. Depending on your type of wedding business it will depend on whether you will actually BOOK new clients at the show. DJ’s, bakers, some photographers and other vendors that offer package pricing can book clients at shows. As wedding planners, we do not bring one single contract to the show. We want appointments. Usually we ask the bride (if the conversation is going well) if we can contact them later to set an appointment or schedule the consult on the spot. EVERY vendor is vying for their attention so our approach is a “soft one”, not pushy at all. We ask to contact them. I will carry a notebook and may write down their name so I can flag them later for follow-up or at least remember the conversation. It’s really your choice, but I find that being respectful of them and their time is a much better approach.
- Discounting. Not a huge fan of this concept. For one, we have many clients that will walk through the show and come to see us. (Which is awesome, by the way. Nothing like an excited bride running up and hugging you in FRONT of other potential brides.) I would hate to see a full-priced client walk in and see a published discount. But again, for some vendors this works. If you are going to offer a show discount, be very specific with a limited time frame. I think the best way to discount is wait to send out personalized information to brides after the show when you have collected the attendee database.
- Show Follow-Up: We have found that direct snail mail marketing is “zzzzzzzzzzzzzz” and costly. So we use email marketing. Be sure that you have permission to email the show attendees. A good idea is to create your email campaign while you are preparing for the show. How many times are you too tired after a big bridal show or you are moving on to the next big project, that the email campaign gets lost in the shuffle. If you are interested in getting more business, be sure to have a sales “hook” in the email campaign otherwise you should simply look at it as a branding campaign.
Happy Selling!
Working a Wedding Bridal Show :: part 1
I received some questions from a reader who is about to embark on her FIRST Bridal Show. Sweet!
This blog post won’t get into the controversy of whether you should actually participate in bridal shows or not. EVERY market is different. For us, a few of the elite bridal shows work well. Yes, they are exhausting but the way we go about it, people (vendors and clients) remember our booth FOR YEARS. We closed the deal with a bride this year who visited our booth 2 years ago! We can work a bridal show….
So here are a few best practices that we have found work well if you decide to participate in a bridal show:
- Create a dramatic affect. I think that most event professionals concentrate so much on their booth collateral that they skimp on the actual “booth decor”. You have seconds to capture someone’s attention. You want them to stop and say “Oooooohhh” and walk into your booth. Use color, texture, unusual seating arrangements. Make the most of your space and make sure it is open to draw people in. NEVER stand behind a table. Put your visuals behind you and talk/meet/greet your new client. Create your own banner with your logo. Rent linens to cover the white skirted table. BE DIFFERENT and plan ahead!
- Staff your booth. Do not work your booth by yourself, even if you are a single person operation. When first starting out, I actually paid friends who were in the “sales” field to help me at my booth. I didn’t care whether they knew about event planning or not. They knew how to talk to people and draw them in. You must have 2-3 people. Remember there are bathroom breaks, food breaks, etc. You never want your booth to be empty.
- Show up early. Take the time to network with other vendors before the show starts. This is an opportunity to get face-to-face time with many vendors, which is priceless. Help them with their setup if you are already completed. Don’t miss this easy networking opportunity.
- Offer a giveaway. But hopefully the giveaway can lead to more business. For instance, we gave away a “head table decor” once…. with the thought that the design consult would lead us to designing the whole event. Or just giveaway something fun! We offered tickets to see “Bride Wars” when the movie was just coming out. It went over so well!!! Talk to local businesses and see if they will give away a free night at a hotel in *trade for a promotion at your booth. *Be sure to talk to the bridal show producers, sometimes they won’t allow this.
Come back tomorrow for FOUR more tips on working Bridal Shows.
Happy Selling!
2009-10 Copyright Get Real Sales Coach Saundra Hadley
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