Kick in the Pants Business Reminders

By: Tracey Manailescu, Cofounder of WPIC Inc.

Sometimes we all need a kick in the pants. We get too comfortable in our businesses and personal lives and let things coast or slide. This article is meant to help you get out of your funk and get back on the road to greatness!

What Makes Your Business Special?  Hold onto that. Use it to stand out in your branding, advertising and social media. Pretend you are writing a cover letter for your company and yourself.  What would you write? Are you great at making clients feel special?  Are you a wonderful problem solver?  Are you extremely creative? Do you have exceptional people skills?  It doesn’t matter how many people do what you do for a career. There is enough business to go around for everyone. If it did there wouldn’t be real estate agents, doctors, teachers, lawyers, artists, photographers, website designers, cake bakers, wedding dress designers, stationers, etc.  Do you get the point?

When the Going Gets Tough, the Tough Get Growing!  Do NOT give up. Use this as a period to reflect on what you can do to better your business and attract more clients. Is your website in need of an update? Is your logo a bit old? Time to refresh your portfolio? Should you be attending a conference or taking a course to help you fine tune your skills? Get rid of anything that is dated or older than three years. Yes, it may require an investment but isn’t your business worth it?

Clean Up Your Social Media: Is your social media more of a collection of your personal life than your wedding planning business? Experts say you should follow the 80-20 rule.  80% business and 20% personal to let your followers know you a bit better and connect on a personal level. Start weeding through your old posts and get rid of the ones that are blurry, do not have many likes and that do not reflect your brand. It’s great that you have wedding photos but if they don’t show the type of clients and the style of weddings that you want to work with, than is it really doing you any good? Use as many professional photos as you can. Remember to credit the photographers and other wedding professionals involved.

Respond to Enquiries: Do so in a timely manner. Be polite and give as much information as possible. Even if it is not the response that the person on the other end is wanting to hear, just call or email back regardless. It is very frustrating and leaves a terrible taste in someone’s mouth when they have taken the time to ask about your services and they are flat out ignored. Remember your manners.

Under Promise and Over Deliver: Always try to do more than what is expected of you. It will not go unnoticed and is seldom unappreciated. This is what makes the good, great. Be great!