Latest / Wedding Pros who are ready to grow - with Becca Pountney / 8 ways to grow your wedding business this winter

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8 ways to grow your wedding business this winter · Wedding Pros who are ready to grow - with Becca Pountney

• 0:00
  Becca: As we head into November, it can be a bit of a funny
• 0:02
  season for us wedding pros.
• 0:04
  The hectic summertime is over, inquiries are a little bit quiet, and
• 0:07
  proposal season is not quite here.
• 0:10
  So while people are starting to think about Christmas, I want to share with you
• 0:14
  eight things that you can be doing in your wedding business right now to make the
• 0:17
  most of the last two months of this year.
• 0:22
  I'm Becca Pountney, wedding business marketing expert, speaker, and blogger,
• 0:26
  and you're listening to the Wedding Pros Who Are Ready to Grow podcast.
• 0:30
  I'm here to share with you actionable tips, strategies, and real life
• 0:33
  examples to help you take your wedding business to the next level.
• 0:37
  If you are an ambitious wedding business owner that wants to take your passion
• 0:41
  and use it to build a profitable, sustainable business, doing what you
• 0:44
  love, then you're in the right place.
• 0:46
  Let's get going with today's episode.
• 0:49
  It's November the 2nd, nights are starting to draw in, the days
• 0:53
  are getting shorter, and wedding season is well and truly behind us.
• 0:56
  You may still have a couple of odd weddings here and there, but most of
• 1:00
  the excitement of the summer season is behind us, and it may be that the
• 1:03
  next booking in your diary isn't for quite a few months, and it's easy for
• 1:07
  us to look at the diary and think.
• 1:09
  Yikes.
• 1:10
  What is going on?
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  Things are quiet.
• 1:12
  People are thinking about Christmas.
• 1:14
  What on earth am I going to be doing in my business?
• 1:16
  So that is why I wanted to put in today's episode, eight things
• 1:19
  that you can be doing to make the most of this quieter season.
• 1:23
  The number one thing before I get into the eight though.
• 1:25
  is take the time to have a bit of a break.
• 1:28
  This is the time for you to have your time off.
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  This is the time for you to do some stuff for yourself, to enjoy family
• 1:33
  time and not to feel guilty about it.
• 1:36
  So before I get into the eight things you could be doing, make sure
• 1:38
  you've taken some break time as well.
• 1:41
  Okay.
• 1:41
  The first thing I want to remind you is not to panic.
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  One thing I see a lot of this time of the year is panicked wedding professionals
• 1:49
  because you've had such a busy, hectic summer where you don't know whether
• 1:52
  you're coming or going and you're getting everything done and you're
• 1:54
  working at a million miles an hour.
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  And all of a sudden we go into this quieter time of year and you
• 2:00
  feel like everything's failing.
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  As small business owners, we can get inside our own heads far too much.
• 2:05
  And we start to think, Oh, I need to change this.
• 2:07
  This isn't working for me.
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  I need to change this.
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  I need to do this.
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  Where are all the inquiries going?
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  Is it my prices?
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  Do I need to change everything?
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  And I just want you to think for a moment.
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  Do I need to be thinking like this or am I just in a panic mode?
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  Whenever you go to panic, you always need to ground yourself with logic.
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  So instead of panicking about things that need changing, start looking at
• 2:28
  the facts rather than the feelings.
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  So stop feeling like, Oh, everyone's disappeared off the face of the
• 2:33
  earth and everything's falling apart.
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  Instead think, okay, let me look back at last year.
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  What happened this time last year?
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  How many bookings did I have in the diary this time last year?
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  Are inquiries up or down on last year?
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  What's next year's diary looking like?
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  Actually, have I got quite a lot of work in.
• 2:46
  The diary for next year.
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  So therefore, it doesn't matter that the inquiries quiet this time
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  of year, is it that other people in the industry are seeing the same
• 2:54
  things because it's November and December and the general public are
• 2:57
  totally overwhelmed by Christmas.
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  So the first thing I want you to do is not panic.
• 3:01
  Stop panicking.
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  Okay.
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  Let's look at logic, look at reason, and enjoy the pause.
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  Okay, once we finish panicking and we've taken a break, the second thing we can be
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  doing is using this time to our advantage.
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  Now one of the benefits of the lockdown and coronavirus, there
• 3:18
  wasn't many benefits, but one of them was that we all had more time.
• 3:21
  And one of the things we did when we had more time was learn new skills, learn
• 3:25
  new things, brush up, educate ourselves.
• 3:27
  So in this quieter season of the year, why not remember that feeling of
• 3:31
  having a bit of time and use it as an opportunity to brush up on your learning.
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  The middle of busy season.
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  Isn't the time to start learning about SEO or Pinterest or how to do Facebook ads.
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  But now as things quietened down is a really good time to start putting
• 3:45
  in some more personal development.
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  So if you're a member of my wedding pro members lounge, for example, go in and
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  use this opportunity to watch back some of the training, to think about the
• 3:54
  areas of your business that you know, you need to upskill in and to put some
• 3:58
  time aside to do it, perhaps think about taking a course, something like my
• 4:02
  wedding pro business builder, whereas four modules, it will walk you through.
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  Branding and finance and all of the things while you've got the time and space to
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  think about it and make the changes.
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  So that's the first thing for this is brush up on your learning.
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  So we've taken a break, we've not panicked and we've brushed up on our learning.
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  The next thing I want you to think about doing is a little bit more
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  practical and that's check up on all your directory listings.
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  Now directory listings are those websites where you either have a
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  free or a paid for advert with them.
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  So perhaps you have.
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  A listing on guides for brides, or hitched, or the knot, or wedding
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  wire, or any of those things.
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  And they are often neglected.
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  And whether or not it's a free listing or a paid listing, now is the time of
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  year to go in there before proposal season hits, before they're seeing
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  their highest traffic of the year, and making sure you're happy with it.
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  Go and check the wording, go and check the pricing.
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  Are there things you could change on there?
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  Could you change the images?
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  Are the links working?
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  Are you actually selling yourself on there?
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  Are you standing out from the crowd?
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  Do you need to be more clear about your offerings?
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  Do you need to have a clearer link?
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  What could you do to improve those spaces?
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  So write a list of all of the ones that you're on and go through them.
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  Yes, it's a little bit boring, but it may make all the difference when it
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  comes to the next part of the year.
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  Sometimes we have the same wording and the same images that
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  we set up on that directory.
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  years ago and it no longer correctly represents you.
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  So, now is the time of year to go and have a look at it.
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  Now, if you do have a paid listing on one of these sites, now's also a good
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  time of year to review that listing.
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  Think about whether it's working for you or not.
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  Have you had inquiries?
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  Have you had bookings?
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  And if it's not been working for you as well as you'd like it to, ring up your
• 5:43
  account manager and Talk to them about it.
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  Don't wait until it's time to renew that listing, but now while you're quiet,
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  take the time to have a conversation and as you're doing those improvements,
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  ask them what you should be doing to make it work better for you.
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  Listen and go in and change it.
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  Okay, the fourth thing that you can be doing at this time of year is
• 6:03
  just generally updating your images.
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  Again, this is the kind of thing on our websites, on our social
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  media pages, on our directory listings, our images get stale.
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  We're using the same things over and over again.
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  So perhaps it's time to switch out some of the photos on your
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  website for some newer images.
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  Perhaps it's time to start getting some newer images.
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  Maybe you need to book a brand shoot.
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  In, perhaps you need a product shoot.
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  There's great product shoots where you can send your products in the post and
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  people take professional photos of them.
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  Perhaps it's time for you to organize a styled shoot between now and
• 6:34
  Christmas while the season's quieter.
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  The venues are quieter, the suppliers are quieter.
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  It's a really good time to do it, so now is a really great time to focus
• 6:42
  on getting that imagery you need.
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  If you don't have the images.
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  It's important that you work out how you can get them.
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  It's also a good time to chase if there were weddings in the summer that
• 6:51
  you haven't had the images for go to the couples, go to the photographers.
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  If you know who they are and ask for copies of them, because if you
• 6:58
  can get those images, that's really going to help build your portfolio.
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  Okay, the next thing you can be doing at this time of year
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  is starting to schedule ahead.
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  Now I'm always a little bit envious of the people who do this really
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  well because they really do set their year off to a good start.
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  When it's really quiet it's easy for us to just sit and watch Netflix,
• 7:17
  but actually we can really help next year's Becca or next year's
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  you right now in the quiet season.
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  So things like blog posts, if you have a blog on your website, why
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  not write down now a list of the next 12 blogs, if you do one, one a
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  month and start working through them.
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  I know people that at the end of each year, spend a couple of days and just
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  write the whole year's worth of blogs and schedule them on their website,
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  schedule them in their social media so that all year, whether they're busy or
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  quiet, their blog posts are going out.
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  There's a strategy behind the wording that they're using on them because they.
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  Thought it through all in one go.
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  And for the rest of the year, until this time next year, they don't
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  even have to think about blogging.
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  No one has time for blogging in the middle of August when you're busy doing weddings.
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  So why not be kind to your next year's self and start
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  thinking about some blog posts.
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  Same with social media.
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  Perhaps you could start thinking about.
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  scheduling some of your social media out.
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  Get ahead.
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  There is no reason you can't start social media posting
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  for the next couple of months.
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  And then you're taking the pressure off of yourself.
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  So be kind to your future self and start scheduling ahead.
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  The other thing I always recommend doing at this time of year is to start
• 8:25
  planning out your time for next year.
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  I'm actually going to be running a 2024 planning session on the 22nd of November.
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  So look out on my social pages and emails for more information about that.
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  But one of the exercises I always recommend you do is look at next
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  year's diary, plot in any bookings you've already got, and then plan
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  when you're going to take holiday.
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  If you take your holiday midway through the year, you will
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  not find the space to do it.
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  So put in the holiday time now so that you know when you're going
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  to have a break in the next.
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  Yeah.
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  Okay.
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  Next thing you could be doing with your time is one of my favorite ones.
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  And I've been doing this a lot over the last couple of months when things have
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  been a little bit quieter and that's get together in real life with people.
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  Go grab some coffees.
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  This is a really great time to organize a little supplier meetup.
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  Just message a few of your supplier friends.
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  Go for coffee, go for drinks, go for dinner, talk about business,
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  go to some networking events.
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  This time of year is full of great opportunities to meet up.
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  I'm speaking at the guides for brides conference in a couple of weeks time.
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  That'll be a great opportunity for wedding pros to get
• 9:31
  together in person and network.
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  This is the time to be doing that.
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  So have a think about how you can organize some coffees.
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  It doesn't have to be a formal networking event.
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  It can just be you pop in a Facebook group and see if anyone lives in your
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  area and fancies getting together.
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  for a cup of coffee.
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  I'm going to Vegas, as of tomorrow when this goes live.
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  And while I'm there, I'm going to Wedding MBA, which is the biggest
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  wedding industry conference in the world.
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  I want to make the most of my time and having meetings with people.
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  So I just put in the free Facebook group, does anyone want to come
• 10:02
  for a drink on Sunday evening?
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  And a couple of people have said yes.
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  So not a big event, not one of my big networking things, but just me and
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  a couple of people in a bar having a chat about wedding businesses.
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  And I know that that will be incredibly valuable.
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  So don't feel like you've got to organize.
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  But use this opportunity while you've got a bit of extra time to
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  meet up with some people for coffee.
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  Be brave, reach out and chat with people.
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  So much good stuff comes when you meet people in person.
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  On the same kind of subject, the seventh thing on my list is to use this
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  time to connect with wedding venues.
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  I know lots of you want all the time to build relationships with wedding venues
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  and in the middle of a busy summer season, isn't the time to do that.
• 10:45
  Now, again, you need to do your research on the venue because some venues are very
• 10:48
  busy this time of year with Christmas parties, but some venues will be in a
• 10:52
  slightly quieter period and it can be a good opportunity to work out how you can
• 10:56
  start building connections with them.
• 10:58
  Again, with some of the things I've already talked about, why
• 11:01
  not consider asking them if you can go down there and take some
• 11:03
  photos so you can write about them.
• 11:05
  in a blog post.
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  Why not ask if you can record an Instagram reel about why their venue is amazing
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  and just go down to the venue and do it.
• 11:12
  Why not find out if they've got wedding shows coming up
• 11:15
  and showcases in the new year.
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  That's a busy time for wedding showcases and see if there's anything
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  you can do to assist them with that.
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  Is there something you can provide?
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  If they're hosting Christmas parties, is there an opportunity there for
• 11:26
  you to provide something for them?
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  Now is a really good time for you to start really thinking about, okay,
• 11:31
  what venues do I want to meet with?
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  What venues do I want to connect with and how can I get myself in front of them?
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  What can I do for them as opposed to what can I get from them?
• 11:43
  So have a think about the kind of venues you could be connecting with.
• 11:46
  Again, another thing I do sometimes is I will just go to a venue with my
• 11:50
  laptop and work in their hotel bar.
• 11:52
  And then if I get a chance, I'll say, Oh, is anyone from the wedding team free?
• 11:55
  I love to have a look around cause I'm posting about the venue on my
• 11:58
  Instagram and it's just an off the chance hope that they might be.
• 12:01
  Sometimes they're not, sometimes they are, but either way, I've been in the venue.
• 12:05
  I've taken photos of myself in the venue.
• 12:06
  I've tagged myself on the venues page on Instagram and I've started
• 12:10
  to build a bit of a relationship.
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  With them and the people that work there.
• 12:13
  So really simple things you can do to stop building relationships with venues.
• 12:19
  Okay, I feel like I've given you a huge long list of all the different things
• 12:23
  that you can be doing, but there's one more thing that now is a good
• 12:26
  time of year to be doing, and that's to start thinking about automations.
• 12:30
  I've been talking about this a lot recently with my Wedding Pro members,
• 12:34
  because automations take a lot of time at the start, but then save
• 12:38
  you so much time in the future.
• 12:40
  So quiet times of year like this are a really good time to start
• 12:43
  thinking about automations.
• 12:45
  Automations are things like email sequences, signups, lead
• 12:49
  magnets, where people fill out the form and then things happen.
• 12:53
  So for example, for the wedding pro agency that I own, we've
• 12:57
  recently been working on some email automations for a wedding venue.
• 13:01
  So we've edited and recreated the form of the wedding form
• 13:04
  that they had on their websites.
• 13:06
  We've rebuilt it in MailerLite.
• 13:08
  So now that's embedded in their website.
• 13:10
  So when someone fills out their wedding form on their website, which
• 13:13
  looks exactly the same as it used to, now that couple get an email.
• 13:18
  Instantly with information with prices and with a link to book into their calendar.
• 13:23
  And then the next three emails are also automatically generated
• 13:27
  over the next week to try and encourage them to book a venue tour.
• 13:31
  This is going to save that venue so much time.
• 13:34
  All of that following up that they weren't getting time to do
• 13:37
  is now happening automatically.
• 13:39
  And the venue can not even barely know anything's happening.
• 13:42
  And the next thing is someone's booking a venue tour in,
• 13:45
  which is obviously the goal.
• 13:47
  So spending that time now in this quiet season, they've been really smart to
• 13:50
  do that because when things get busy and the inquiries start coming in,
• 13:53
  in the new year, they're going to be really set up and ready to go because
• 13:56
  all of their systems are automated.
• 13:58
  The form is coming in.
• 14:00
  They're getting the emails back.
• 14:01
  They're able to book a tour on Calendly.
• 14:03
  And then all the team.
• 14:04
  have to do is do the tour and make the conversion into the booking.
• 14:10
  So now's the time to start thinking about things in your business you
• 14:13
  could automate or alternatively things in your business you can outsource.
• 14:17
  It's also a good time to get on top of things like your file management.
• 14:20
  How organized are your files?
• 14:22
  Do you need to spend some time organizing your files?
• 14:24
  How organized are your finances?
• 14:26
  Are there things you could do to improve the system around your finances?
• 14:31
  Spending the time now on these systems, on this automation, I promise
• 14:36
  you, will save you so much time.
• 14:38
  And the future you will really thank you for all of this work that you've put in.
• 14:44
  So to conclude, because we're going to, okay, this is a short
• 14:47
  episode today, because I've given you so many things to do.
• 14:50
  You need to now go and use the time to do it.
• 14:52
  So to conclude.
• 14:53
  At this time of year, it is a funny time of year.
• 14:55
  It's a funny time of year for everyone.
• 14:57
  It's not quite proposal season.
• 14:59
  The busy summer season's finished and we're in this kind of weird lull.
• 15:02
  So instead of feeling down about it, use that energy, use that
• 15:06
  time to do something great.
• 15:08
  Take a break, take some time out, but then do some of the following things.
• 15:11
  Number one, Don't panic.
• 15:13
  Number two, brush up on your learning and self development.
• 15:16
  Three, go through and check your directory listings.
• 15:18
  Four, take the time to update your imagery.
• 15:21
  Five, start to schedule ahead blog posts or social media posts,
• 15:25
  and definitely get those holiday dates in your diary for next year.
• 15:28
  Six, take the opportunity to grab some coffees, meet up with
• 15:32
  people, go and have some chats.
• 15:34
  Seven, use the time to connect with venues.
• 15:36
  Think about a strategy to do that.
• 15:38
  And number eight, think about those things in your business, those systems and
• 15:41
  processes that you can start to automate.
• 15:45
  That's given you loads of things.
• 15:46
  I hope that's encouraging for you.
• 15:48
  I want to remind you that everyone's in the same boat.
• 15:50
  Don't feel down about your business.
• 15:52
  Don't panic about what's going on.
• 15:54
  Now is a weird time of year, so use that energy.
• 15:56
  Channel it into something positive.
• 15:58
  Get some of these jobs done so that when we go into the new year, when we go into
• 16:02
  proposal season and we head into next summer, you'll be thanking today's self
• 16:06
  that you did all of that stuff right now.
• 16:08
  To help you out in the future.
• 16:10
  If you need help with anything, do reach out to me, come along and
• 16:13
  join the wedding pro members lounge.
• 16:15
  All the details in the show notes where you can get loads
• 16:17
  of support, accountability, and of course, business training.
• 16:20
  And if you need help with any of your automation, setting up your
• 16:23
  email lists, et cetera, then reach out to me and I can give you a
• 16:26
  quote for the wedding pro agency.
• 16:28
  Have an amazing week, go out there, get all those jobs done
• 16:32
  and I'll see you next time.