By: Tracey Manailescu, WPIC Co-founder, and Owner of Tracey M Events
I don’t know about you, but I think I have a pretty good BS radar. It’s come in handy many times, and I tend to stay far away from anything or anyone that makes my senses tingle. Give me realness, warmth and humour any day. These are my kind of people. This is the same for business. I have turned down many business opportunities over the years because it just didn’t feel right. Do I regret it? Not at all.
Put yourself in your client’s position. If you were them, what would you look for when hiring a wedding planner? Remember that you will be working with each other anywhere from six months up to two years.
As planners, we are all pretty good at organizing, putting timelines together, being creative, finding solutions to problems, and able to think quickly on our feet when the need arises. However, it’s the personal connections that take us from good to great.
Below are some things that clients definitely want more of, and are readily available to you.
Share your why: What are your company values? Why do you do what you do, and how do you do it differently than others even though they may have the same title. Share your passion and love of wedding planning with them.
Your secret sauce: Think about what past couples or clients have said that they liked about working with you. Take a look at your business interactions, and think about what you liked about working with some of your past couples or wedding pros. I’ll bet a lot of it had to do with the way you made them feel and vice versa. Do more of that. Is it a personal welcome card and a small gift upon onboarding? Is it sharing and suggesting personal touches that the couple can do for their parents and wedding party leading up to the wedding? Is it checking in with the grandparents and ensuring that they are happy and well cared for throughout the wedding day? The list can go on and on.
Give it away: Share some of your favourite experiences and problem-solving tips. Potential clients can get a glimpse of what it would be like to work with you before they even meet you. You don’t need to be afraid of giving away your secrets, because the more open you are, the more they can see what you do and want to hire you.
Build trust: Share testimonials from past clients and their families, share photos of you with your couples, wedding squad, and families. Remember those wonderful wedding pros that you love working with. Give them a shout out. I promise you, it will be appreciated.
Take them behind the scenes: Share what goes into the beautiful weddings that you create. Show that site visit. Share the online working moments with your hair in a bun and getting stuff done, onsite conversations with wedding pros, loading up your vehicle, restocking your emergency kit, working shots of you creating timelines, action shots of putting together the place settings, putting out the menus and arranging the seating cards, fluffing the wedding gown, etc.
Let me know which points you liked best in the comments, and if you have any others to add to it.
Thanks for reading!
Tracey
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