| How to Talk to Girls (at a bridal show) |
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How to Talk to Girls (at a bridal show) You’ve got your stuff ready – your booth, banners, handouts, staff… But are YOU ready to talk? You can have the greatest brochure in the world, but if you’re not engaging the bride with meaningful, leading questions, you’ve gone to the show for nothing. Your goal shouldn’t be to hand out the most bling, but to have good conversations with the brides, which will eventually lead to sales. How? Ask open ended questions. Don’t ask questions like “Do you have a photographer yet?” Or “When is your wedding date?” Instead ask questions that will show the bride that you’re not just at the show to close her as a sale. You’re at the show to begin a relationship. Brides will buy from people they like and trust – not people who try to sell them. You have a huge opportunity to differentiate yourself from your competition by asking better questions and by being nice. Nice trumps skill. You might be the most breathtaking florist she’s ever seen, but if you closing a sale instead of a relationship, you lose. This is one of the reasons I developed the “Pick Your Wedding Team” $1,000 giveaway. Brides will be stopping by your booth anyway, but this gamecard gives you a concrete chance to build that relationship. You have a specific reason to talk to her now. She needs you to get a stamp on her card, and you need to know if she’s a qualified lead. I also tried to set it up so that she will be focusing on the vendors she needs, not just getting stamps. She only needs 20 stamps on her card to be entered to win. That way, she can focus on the vendors that she still needs. When the bride hands you her gamecard to get a stamp from you, don’t waste that opportunity! She wants that gamecard back! It could be worth $500 to her. While you have her precious gamecard in your hand, ask her questions like: “What are you most excited about for your wedding?” “What has been your favorite part about wedding planning?” “What has been the most challenging in your wedding planning so far?” “What are you looking for in a VENDOR TYPE?” Or ask the fiancée she dragged in with her: “Are you excited to pick your fine china?” Or “What time do the Steelers play today?” (I know, you’re probably thinking “I don’t have time to ask questions like that – bridal shows are crazy! Hundreds of people in just a few hours…” You might be right BUT what’s the end goal? Handing out the most stuff, or dates on your calendar in the end? When you pick up the phone next week to follow up, you’re way more likely to book a wedding from bride who remembers a meaningful conversation with you rather than Bride X who took your business card.) Ideally, your interactions should look like this: Bride approaches your booth. She hands you the gamecard. You ask her a really good question. She answers, you talk, you laugh, you know she’s interested… You stamp the card and hand it back to her. She walks away. You take a note on something to remind you of your conversation with her. You follow up next week and book a wedding.Don’t ask a question where the bride can answer YES or NO. Ask questions that get her to thoughtfully respond to you. Then take notes. On whatever piece of paper she filled out at your booth, take notes. Jot down a few key words that will help you remember your conversation. So that when you email her, she remembers you. She’ll know that she wasn’t just a number to you. If you don’t have time to do that, at least mark hot leads with a star or something to denote that they should be contacted first. Don’t let brides just put entry forms in your fishbowl. Make them hand the form to you so that you can pull your pen out of your pocket when she walks away and make your follow-up meaningful. You did tons of planning to be ready for the bridal show, take a few minutes to think of some questions and be ready for the sales aspect of the show and you’ll get a much better return on your investment. If you don’t book enough weddings to pay for your booth and materials, it was a waste of money, right? Close the relationship and not the sale and you’ll earn their business. If you’re stumped for questions, give me a call or email me. I’d be glad to brainstorm with you. This is the fun stuff! Kerri Smith kerri@nittanyweddings.com (814) 571-2984 |