Ever wonder how to effectively sell to more brides at a Bridal Show?

If you’re like me, you probably have asked yourself this question before or how to increase the number of brides that purchase your services after meeting you at a bridal show.

Sonja van Florestein, of the Houston Wedding Showcase, has put together a seminar for not only her existing clients, but for anyone who exhibits at bridal shows. Best of all it’s free and you don’t even have to sign up for her Bridal Show to get all the great information she has to offer.

I am going to give my honest opinion and review to the best that I can. It is not influenced by anyone nor was I asked to do this.  I was intrigued by the email Sonja sent and I honestly had no intention of attending her show.  I just wanted the free information. After attending the seminar, I was compelled to write this review.

The seminar I attended was held on Wednesday, May 27th at Chateau Crystale. Doors opened at 5:30 pm for networking and the seminar started at 6:00 pm and went until 8:00 pm. She also offers one, today, May 28th, but it did not fit my schedule and besides I wanted to get in early to the information.

The name of the seminar is perfect:

The Secrets of Selling to Brides

If you got her email you could see that she asks a few key questions about Selling to more brides, getting the most out of your marketing dollar, and increasing your sales.

I think she delivered right on target!

The presentation was excellent, very well prepared, and very professional.  Two hours did not feel like two hours, they went by fast.

Without giving away all her secrets, here are a few things that I picked up that could definitely drastically increase my sales as a result of attending a bridal show.

1. I generated 3 key ideas on how I can  stand apart from my competition (no I’m not giving those away)
2. I was able to ’see’ the different components that make up a well organized and effective booth. I could see a booth and say it looks good, but I could never put my finger on why or what made it look good. There are some key components that I had not realized before.
3. The seminar covered in great detail the importance of advertising and really made me understand how and why advertising works. It made me want to advertise, and that is hard to do, since I have all the free traffic in the world from Google and Yahoo and all the search engines.
4. How to figure out how much you are spending per bride, and the importance of knowing that one figure.
5. The #1 secret, in my opinion, to effectively sell to more brides at the show. I almost feel like giving it away, but that would be unfair to Sonja, you have to attend the show yourself in order to completely understand it.

I could go on with 5 more key concepts that I learned, but you will not get the full effect until you attend the seminar.

In my opinion this seminar was worth over $300 dollar if you had to put a price tag for attending, however in benefits, it is up to you on how you implement what you learned but you will definitely increase the number of visitors to your booth if you implement the ideas well.

There were over 17 points well covered in great detail. Any exhibitor (me or any other wedding vendor) could easily understand and implement all or any of them  into their booth.

The only thing I wish I would have seen covered more in detail would have been “Compelling Content.” They threw that word around a couple of times, and in my opinion that is one of the key factors in selling to the brides.  This is just a suggestion that I think could add another dimension to an already great presentation. However, it may increase the length of the presentation a little.

Like I said before, this was a well organized presentation, very professional and inspiring, and many other people would have charged well over $300 to sell that same information. Sonja gave it away for free. In my opinion, she wants to gain your business and your trust by helping you have a better turn out at any bridal show, no matter what bridal show you attend. Who does that? Would you give away your secrets for free, even if your client bought from your competition?

Congratulations Sonja on a great seminar.  you can’t beat the price, the ideas presented were great, and if implemented well, you will definitely;

1. Sell to more brides
2. Get the most out of your marketing dollar
3. Increase sales

If everything works out well, I hope to see you at the  Houston Wedding Showcase on August 29th. For more information visit their website at HoustonWeddingShowcase.com!

Happy Bloggin!

–
|o| Simply Frank |o|
Bloggin Wedding DJ in Houston

I was asked by a reader recently that same question:

How long should any wedding vendor go before responding to an Email inquiry?

His/Her argument was that he/she does not like answering an email immediately after receiving it because it makes it seem like they have no work and are desperate to take the event.

I think that’s a load of BS that you feed yourself so that you can make yourself feel important.

I usually answer an email or a phone call immediately because I know if I call a business or a friend, I want to talk to them at that exact moment. Not 5 minutes, 5 hours, or 5 days later. It’s then and there that I want to talk to them.

It’s important, if not vital that you return phone calls, or in this case, emails as soon as you get them. It’s a part of the selling Psychology. They are interested and more open to trusting you when they call you as opposed to hours or days after they’ve called you. Who knows if a few hours after the initial phone call they will have time to talk to you, or if they’ve already found someone who did return the phone call or actually answered the phone, or if they even recall calling you.

How many times have you gone to a store, and this happens in just about any store, pizza place, or restaurant. You stand in line for minutes or hours, you get right to the counter and the phone rings. Who is that clerk going to assist first??? Of course, the person on the phone. WHY? Why is it so important to answer the phone when you know that the person right in front of you might give you a hard time for doing so?

Now I don’t know for a fact, but I can bet that their managers and supervisors advice them to do so and have probably stressed the importance of the phone calls.

Phone calls and emails should be answered immediately or as soon as you can. It’s people calling you to find out about your products or your services. They have taken an action, and action that most people who are not interested do not take. They have an immediate urge for you to answer their questions, or come to their rescue, about/with your services. If you don’t do it, then in that short time that they have, they will find someone else who will. I know I’ve heard the comment, many, many times.

We loved the fact that you answered our call/email almost immediately after we contacted you (if not immediately)

I think that fills brides/clients with a sense of security, where as not answering an email or the phone immediately fills them with a sense of doubt.

One recent bride said the same thing about the main reason she went with me was that I always answered her calls and always answered her concerns. Whereas the other DJ’s could go days without calling her back and when they did, they would not give her straight answers. She also said that the preferred vendor at the venue did not call her back until the week of the event! WTF (dubya-tee-eff)? He shall remain nameless, but that was very-unimpressive.

So the answer to the question, for me, it is to answer an email immediately if not as soon as possible. It feels good, and it’s impressive, to have an email response almost as soon as you hit the send button. I think it makes the bride feel like someone there, and some one cares about her, and if they are that quick in responding to an email the they can only imagine how helpful the person on the other side will be when it relates the the most important day in her life. And winning over the bride’s emotions is almost guaranteed to be a right step in winning the trust and the opportunity for you be of service to the bride that wonderful day.

Happy Bloggin!

–
Francisco H. Perez
Bloggin Professional DJ in Houston

Here is a summary of some of the stuff covered at the meeting. Some we did not get to because of a lack of time.

1. Online Traffic
2. Web Usability
3. Email Marketing

Online Traffic

• Need a Website
• Identify Targeted Keywords
• SEO For Targeted Keywords
• Search Engines Love Content
• Best Way to do this W/ a Blog
• Most Major Business Have a Blog
• Blogs are nothing but content
• Content can be used to targe to your search terms

Website Usability

• Do Not Confuse Visitors with Links
• Website Should Direct Traffic
• Sales Copy
• Customer Should Call or Email you
• Why? – They take an Action
• Tracking Visitors Google Analytics

Email Marketing?

• What email marketing is not
• Spam, Send same email continuously, insult customer
• Send Information Strategically
• Personal
• Build Relationship
• Keep In contact with customer until he sings your contract
• Surveys, Reviews, Thank yous

Summary / Conclusion

• Go over everything in summary
• More Traffic = More Calls / Emails = More $$$
• Once Traffic gets to your website direct them and get them to take an action
• Once they take that action, keep in contact with them at least until they book

–

Francisco