Own Your Business

You’ve heard me talk about four different types of buyers for your services.

(If not, go listen to episodes 4, 32 and 54 after this one.)

Selling to different kinds of buyers takes skill.

But also takes knowledge to get started and practice to get good.

I’m doing a deep dive on each buyer type:

Relaters

Analyzers

Bosses

Dreamers

I’ll share a few insights on

- How do you identify them from other buyer types?

- What do they want most from you?

- How can you tweak the buyer’s journey to make it easier for them to book your services - no matter what services you offer?

Today, we talk about Analyzers.

These buyers filter the world through information. In this episode I’ll show you how to help Analyzers buy your product or service, not you.

You’ve heard me talk about four different types of buyers for your services.

(If not, go listen to episodes 4, 32 and 54 after this one.)

Selling to different kinds of buyers takes skill.

But also takes knowledge to get started and practice to get good.

Over the next couple months I’m going to do a deep dive on each buyer type:

Relaters

Analyzers

Bosses

Dreamers

I’ll share a few insights on

- How do you identify them from other buyer types?

- What do they want most from you?

- How can you tweak the buyer’s journey to make it easier for them to book your services - no matter what services you offer?

Today, we start with Relaters.

These buyers filter the world through their relationships with others. In this episode I’ll show you how to help Relaters buy you, not your product or service.

This week’s guest on Own Your Business is a risk-taker who rose to the top by jumping off cliffs and building parachutes on the way down.

Chris Jespersen is the owner of Storybox Cinema and one of Harper’s Bazaar’s top videographers. He also founded The Madison, a large event space in Cleveland, Ohio, which is fast becoming one of the go-to venues in the city.

And he just turned 30.

How did he do it all so quickly?

He’s the first to say that it started by saying “yes” to the opportunities that came his way. He didn’t hesitate. He didn’t doubt himself. And he didn’t wait for the perfect time.

He seized the moment in front of him - whatever that happened to be.

I hope you enjoy our conversation. It’s a lesson in how you, too, can thrive when you choose to not just survive.

After every Engage! Luxury Wedding Summit, I like to list out insights I received during the experience or from speakers on stage. Then I tell you how to apply them in your own business. I’m fresh off the plane from Ireland with my best pieces of advice for wedding professionals interested in a more successful business and rewarding life.

Destination weddings are the perfect mix of business and pleasure. Not only are they often fun to do, but they can be very lucrative as well. The markets in Mexico, Caribbean, Hawaii, and Europe are sizable - and getting bigger. But how do you tap into them?

In this week’s episode of Own Your Business, I talk with Destination I Do founder and editor, Jennifer Stein, to share insights and perspectives that will:

- Get you more inquiries from destination clients

- Build content to attract couples in locations you want to work

- Show you who to reach out to for referrals

- Give insights into a post-pandemic destination wedding market

No one wants to sound sales-y when they’re selling their services to couples. So how do you close deals without being aggressive, or cheesy…or clumsy? It’s easy if you have a simple approach that leverages buyer psychology.

In this week’s episode of Own Your Business I’ll share with you:

- The number one competitor for each and every inquiry

- Ways NOT to close deals

- Three simple strategies to get to yes - and feel totally comfortable making the ask

Discovery calls are complex - and crucial to your businesses success. It’s when you find out if the client is a good fit, when you build value to charge higher prices, and when you learn what triggers their deepest desires for your services.

On this episode of Own Your Business, I give you six must-dos on every discovery call. Tune in to hear more about:

- A simple trick to mirror clients and get them to like you

- Good and bad question types, including which questions backfire

- My top way to dig beneath the surface for deeper-seeded needs

- How to end the discovery call with a lasting impression

This week’s episode is the first in what will be many many interviews that dive deeper than usual. I hope you enjoy them as much as I have recording them.

My first guest is KT Merry, one of the most recognized and celebrated photographers in the industry. Over the past three or four years, I’ve heard more of my clients - mostly other photographers, but also pros from other fields - tell me they look up to KT as their role model more than any other wedding pro.

Why KT? Here’s what others told me they admired about her:

Her professionalism.

Her mindset.

Her personal brand.

Her creativity with the camera.

Her sophistication.

Her leadership.

Her values and conservationism.

Yes, KT’s in the top echelon of her field. And you’ll hear that it didn’t happen through luck. It took hard work. Grit. And a deliberate focus to turn then-current weaknesses into future strengths.

What you’ll find in this interview is how she took her raw talent and creativity, and then redefined what winning looked like.

You’ll find it’s the practice and preparation before the wedding that makes her so successful.

And you’ll find she’s built on her individual success to create a community filled with photographers who want to learn how to thrive in the luxury market. Who want to become, well, the next KT Merry.

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A quick note if you’re listening to this before Oct. 13, 2022. KT is offering free workshops for wedding photographers who want to learn more from her about thriving as a business owner in the luxury space.

Click this link to register for free and access live learning or video replays.

Most wedding pros think couples buy their services because of a strong personal connection. Or their portfolio. Or the awards they’ve won or publications they’re featured in. Or how beautiful their branding is. All these are important, but they only get you so far.

At some point, you have to move them from the “I’m interested” stage to the “I know what I want and you are the one to help get it for me” stage. And that happens on the discovery call.

But so much more does too. That’s why I’m breaking down discovery calls on this episode of Own Your Business, where I’ll talk about:

- How my most successful 1:1 clients reach their goals

- 3 things you must do to convert more couples

- Why a good discovery call will help close more deals

- And, finally, 5 big mistakes most pros make on their discovery calls