Own Your Business

Today I discuss luxury weddings with KT Merry. She’s one of the savviest, experienced, and plugged in wedding pros I know, and I value her perspective. Not only does she photograph in the ultra-lux space herself, but she leads a vibrant community of aspiring luxury photographers with her signature education program, The Abundance Plan. 

I think you’ll see from the breadth and depth of the conversation today she’s got a strong pulse on what’s happening with affluent buyers right now. We’re both fortunate to work directly with other wedding pros every day, which means we get a variety of perspectives, not just our own. 

And that’s what I want you, dear listener, to know more about. I toyed with the idea of calling this episode “The New Rules for Luxury Weddings,” but it felt more like click-bait than the real story. Because, as you’ll see, even though we all need to adapt to current conditions, most of what you need to do is still the same. 

Enjoy the conversation. People like KT have the power to transform your business.

We all know referrals are helpful to booking more clients at higher prices.

It’s too bad too many wedding professionals waste too much time, energy, and money chasing the wrong referral partners.

I want to be clear: Many educators, mentors, course creators, speakers, conference organizers, etc. offer excellent advice. In this episode, I’m not speaking to, about or against what they’re saying. In reality, I actually try to remain ignorant of what others teach, because I don’t want to infect my mind subconsciously with others’ content too much. I do me, they do them. 

When I research approaches, I focus on information from what works with my clients, and inspiration from outside the industry, especially from researchers and experts in behavioral economics. Then I use those insights to create my own strategic approaches. 

Finally, I take my 30 years of sales experience to guide practical tactics for everyday use. That’s the recipe for my secret sauce.

This approach has worked not just for referral strategy, but for everything I share, coach and train - both wedding pros like you and team members who do work for our clients.

Now, with that out of the way, I’m going to give you three tips to consider as you create your referral strategy, or maybe just tweak the one you’re currently using.

Communication experts have known for a long time that what you say is not nearly as important as how you say it. The most often-cited study I know concluded that 93% of communication is made through non-verbal and vocal communication, while only 7% comes from the words being said. 

The study was done a long time ago with a fairly small sample size and in a sales situation, so the numbers I just mentioned are not necessarily as accurate as people who recite the information suggest. But they are for us, because we’re talking about sales!

If less than 10% of what is being “said” is not actually being said, how do you improve your communication? How do you “say” what needs to be said to potential clients so they become your customers?

That is the question for today’s episode. I’ll add color and context to the conversation, and then reveal the #1 most important skill you have to develop if you want to connect with couples - or anyone for that matter.

For masterclass information:

https://ideactionconsulting.com/wedding-business-templates

Are you getting enough inquiries? I don’t know. But I do have a formula for figuring it out - and I’m going to share it with you on today’s episode. 

It’s essential information if you’re going to develop a solid marketing plan for your business. 

How can you know when you’ve crossed the finish line if you don’t know where it is? 

Many people are happy with their current inquiry count but actually need many more. Others out there are getting enough inquiries to charge more for their services, but aren’t - and so are leaving gobs of money on the table.

Enjoy the listen. 

https://ideactionconsulting.com/wedding-copywriting

https://ideactionconsulting.com/wedding-business-website-audits

https://ideactionconsulting.com/wedding-business-sales-coaching

You hear a lot about ideal clients from educators and experts, us included. We don’t have the market cornered on the information, but we certainly feel we add a nuanced and sophisticated approach to the concept.

On this podcast, you’ve heard about buyer types and psychological motivations, which isn’t discussed much by others. We feel it’s important to do deep research on who your favorite couples are, what they believe, how they behave, and what emotional and social desires they hold deep down but don’t know how to express.

When you know how to speak directly to what matters most to ideal couples, they become clients. You charge more for your services. You enjoy the experience of serving them, rather than dreading their wedding date.

Over the years, I’ve steered our company upstream to help get more ideal couples for our clients. I started as a business coach, but for wedding pros to reach their goals they needed to convert more sales. To get more inquiries, Katy, my wife and business partner, started writing conversion copy for the websites of my coaching clients. We eventually expanded to additional pages like custom proposals and built a team of 10 to handle all the projects.

Now we’re going even further upstream by integrating branding and website design into our in-house services.

But like sales and copywriting, we’re not scratching the surface with approach. Oh no, we’re diving deep into the user experience and merging it with our work on buyer psychology and communication preferences.

Today, I’m bringing Katy on to discuss the process of creating different designs for different buyer types based on how they prefer to process information on websites.

Enjoy the discussion. Especially if you’re not getting enough inquiries, or inquiries from the right kinds of couples.

Have you ever shown up at a party feeling like you missed the dress code cue on the invitation? It’s awful. You stand around talking to people, but the only thing on your mind is how uncomfortable you feel about the way you look.

It’s called the “spotlight effect,” when we feel like everyone’s looking at us more than we actually are. Most of the time when we feel like everyone’s watching very few actually are. They’re paying too much attention to themselves to really care. When everyone’s thinking about themselves no one is focused on you.

But if the party you underdressed for is a wedding, people ARE looking at you, because it’s a part of the experience. Everyone’s looking at the couple, no doubt. But also the wedding party. And the parents as they walk down the aisle or do the first dance. Everyone’s being primed to look at how people are dressed, even if they’re not the star of the show.

Which means as a vendor you have to show up looking like you fit in with ‘fit.

I know, I know, I can hear many of you already. “But I have to be on my feet all day.” Yes, I agree - but you can’t show up to a black tie event wearing padded sneakers. 

So what’s the criteria for wedding pros working at weddings? 

As with most advice, it depends on the situation. I brought in Julian Leaver, luxury event planner and The Dapper Diplomat, to talk with me about grooming and attire on the wedding day. Because you don’t want to book at higher price points and then lower your brand value by going too casual at the event.

CRMs are a big part of any successful business. They help organize information, get contracts signed, collect payments, build a database of potential referrers, and streamline workflows.

But I see too many wedding pros take CRMS to the extreme, especially when it comes to automation.

What’s easy and convenient for you, the business owner, often feels impersonal and generic to the couple. Even worse, you might create a “workspace” through your CRM that requires people to operate the way you want without considering it from their perspective. 

Clearly, no one wants that kind of client experience - so how do you balance automation with personalization?

That’s why I brought Sara Kinkaid on the podcast today. She’s VP of Operations at Aisle Planner, one of the most popular CRMs for wedding planners, and now any field in the wedding industry.

I want to be super upfront about this episode. I do not get ANY money or commission or favors from Aisle Planner for bringing Sara on. In fact, I ran her through the ringer for 30 minutes before formally inviting her to the show. Why? I wanted to make sure their approaches aligned with what we recommend on the podcast, other content we share, and coaching advice I offer clients.

Knowing that, I hope you enjoy the discussion and find a way to leverage the power of a CRM without sacrificing the all-important client experience.

Trust isn’t given, it’s earned. And if you’re not focused on making deposits with potential clients, you better start now.

Sure, marketing and sales requires you to do lots of different things well. Showcase a solid portfolio. Connect with the couples who inquire. Lead the discovery call to uncover emotional and social desires. Deliver a compelling custom proposal. 

But at the root of all these things is trust. People on your website and in your inbox want to know you’re going to deliver the goods.

That’s why they care about your portfolio. They want to know you’ve delivered the things they want for their own wedding to others before.

That’s why they want to connect with you. They want to know you’re likable, and a good listener, and an authority in what you do.

That’s why they want to feel empathy from you. They want to know you’re get them and have helped others with what they’re looking for.

It all comes down to trust. Will you do what you say you’ll do when you say you’ll do it.

The problem is too many wedding pros aren’t paying enough attention to building trust. And as you’ll hear in a story about how I lost trust with a willing buyer, it’s not easy to recover once you’ve bankrupted the trust account.

Let’s get the story started, and then I’ll share my top 10 ways to build trust in the sales process.

Friction in the buyer’s journey grinds away on deal momentum slowly and silently. I’ve looked at hundreds of sales processes over the years, and I can tell you it’s usually not one big, dramatic reason why people ghost you. 

When a deal dies, it’s more like death by a thousand paper cuts. One nick and it’s not that bad. Two, you can keep things going. But after a while the little things start to mount up and create real problems.

The challenge is most people are creating friction in the buyer’s journey, but have no idea when and where and how.

Today, I bring in Katy Taylor Jacobson to help break down where wedding pros are creating friction unknowingly on their websites and in the sales process. We’ll give you a list of approaches to avoid, so you can stop slowing down deal momentum and get more bookings on your calendar.

People buy from people, not businesses. Especially in the wedding industry where couples can work closely together with vendors for over a year.

So why are you making it hard for couples to connect with you on your website? And to be clear, I’m not talking about putting up a photo of you with a blurb that reads like a dating profile or resume.

Today, I bring on Katy Taylor Jacobson to share what mistakes she sees on About pages - and what to do instead, so you can attract more ideal clients to your inbox.

Because, well, don’t we all want that right now?