Latest / Wedding Pros who are ready to grow - with Becca Pountney / Why selling doesn't need to be scary!

Transcript

Why selling doesn't need to be scary! · Wedding Pros who are ready to grow - with Becca Pountney

0:00
Becca: Last week on my Instagram, I posted a little quote all about selling
0:04
and why you don't need to be frightened of selling in your wedding business.
0:07
I was really surprised about how many of you got in touch with me to see how
0:10
much it resonated with you and how you really are quite scared of selling in your
0:14
business and how much you hate the word.
0:16
Sales.
0:17
Well, today's episode is gonna tackle that subject head on, and I'm gonna be
0:21
talking about why sales doesn't have to be scary and how you can do it.
0:27
I'm Becca Pountney, wedding business marketing expert, speaker and blogger,
0:30
and you are listening to the Wedding Pros who are Ready to Grow Podcast.
0:34
I'm here to share with you actionable tips, strategies, and real life
0:38
examples to help you take your wedding business to the next level.
0:41
If you are an ambitious wedding business owner that wants to take your passion
0:45
and use it to build a profitable, sustainable business doing what you
0:49
love, then you're in the right place.
0:51
Let's get going with today's episode.
0:54
If you're anything like me, as soon as you hear the word sales or selling, you
0:58
picture someone in a estate agent uniform, taking around a house and telling you why.
1:03
It's amazing.
1:04
Even though you can see the cracks in the ceiling or someone trying to sell
1:07
you something in the street, you know when one of those people are trying
1:10
to get you to sign up to a charity.
1:11
And that's what we think of when it comes to selling.
1:14
So when we start thinking about selling in our wedding businesses, we are so scared
1:18
of being like that, that we end up hating.
1:21
Now, this afternoon or this morning, whenever you're listening to this
1:24
podcast, I want you to have a think about selling from a different perspective.
1:29
I want you to shift your thinking and stop thinking in those negative
1:32
terms and start realizing selling doesn't have to be as bad as it sounds.
1:37
Last week I posted on Instagram to say that you just need to
1:40
remember that selling is simply solving somebody else's problem.
1:44
It doesn't have to be this big, scary thing.
1:47
Selling only becomes problematic in our brains when we feel like we're selling
1:51
something that somebody else doesn't need.
1:54
If you start realizing that your service or your product or whatever it is
1:57
that you're selling is actually just solving someone's problem, the whole
2:01
selling piece becomes a lot less scary.
2:04
Just imagine for a moment you're out for the day and you start getting a little bit
2:07
hungry and you decide, right, I need to go and buy something to eat from the shop.
2:11
So you go into the shop, you pick up a sandwich, pick up a drink, pick up
2:14
a packet of crisps and take it to the.
2:16
The person behind the till does not feel bad about selling you that.
2:20
Why?
2:21
Because you're hungry and you've chosen to buy some food.
2:24
It's solving a problem.
2:25
You have another example.
2:27
Imagine today I go out of the house and I accidentally lock myself out.
2:31
I've left my keys inside and there's no way I can get back in.
2:34
I'm now gonna be outside with two very tired after school children, and my
2:38
biggest need is to get back in the house.
2:41
When I ring up a locksmith and ask them to come around my house for an emergency
2:45
appointment to get me back in my home, they're not gonna turn around and say,
2:49
I don't wanna sell you that service.
2:50
That would be crazy.
2:51
In fact, that would make me more mad in that moment.
2:54
I have a problem that needs solving and that's getting into my house,
2:57
and I'm willing to pay the expert who can solve that problem for.
3:02
It's exactly the same in your wedding business.
3:04
Whatever service or product you offer, you are solving somebody's problem.
3:10
Somebody wants your incredible wedding cake on their wedding day.
3:13
Somebody wants to have your beautiful flowers in their bouquet.
3:16
Somebody wants incredible photos taken, and they don't
3:19
know how they're gonna do it.
3:20
Somebody wants a venue to hold this massive party in and so on and so forth.
3:25
You are solving their problem, and if you can change your mindset and realize that
3:29
when you are selling your service, you are doing just that, solving a problem
3:33
that they have and fulfilling a need.
3:34
It's going to help you feel a whole lot better about the word selling.
3:39
In fact, start thinking about it this way.
3:41
If you don't sell them your products or service, you're
3:45
actually doing them a disservice.
3:47
Why?
3:48
Because you're saying, I know you've got this problem, but I'm not here to help.
3:51
That would be crazy, wouldn't it?
3:53
But when we don't sell to people, when we don't tell them how to book with us, when
3:56
we don't tell them what our prices are, that is essentially what we are doing.
4:00
So the first thing I wanna tell you in today's episode is to shift your
4:03
mindset and stop being scared of the idea of selling and start realizing
4:07
actually, I'm here to help someone and I am gonna solve their problem.
4:12
Okay.
4:13
Now I wanna share with you some steps to make selling feel a little bit
4:16
less scary, to make it easier for your customers, and to make it easier for
4:20
you to take people from A to Z or to take people from inquiry right through
4:25
to actually paying for your services.
4:28
The first thing is that you need to make sure you've got a really simple
4:32
step by step process for them to follow.
4:35
When we're confused as consumers, we are much less likely to spend our money.
4:40
Have you ever been in a shop and you go and pick up an item in
4:42
the shop and you want to buy it, You're pleased with the item.
4:46
It solves a problem you have, and it's within your price range.
4:49
Then you decide you need to go and pay for the product, and you can't find the tills.
4:53
So you start wandering around the shop looking for the tills, or looking for
4:56
a sign to tell you where to pay for.
4:59
You then find a till and there's no one at the till, and you start looking around
5:03
for someone who might be able to help you.
5:04
And sometimes we give up.
5:06
At that point we might be busy, we might be fed up or frustrated, and so
5:09
we just abandon that item of clothing somewhere else in the shop and walk out.
5:13
They've lost our business.
5:14
And they've lost that money now.
5:16
They haven't lost our business or our money because we don't want
5:19
to buy the product or service.
5:21
They haven't lost it because we don't have a need that needs fulfilling.
5:24
They've lost it because their processes have been come confusing
5:27
or frustrating, and we just give up.
5:31
When it comes to you selling your products or services to a potential
5:34
bride or groom, it's really important that you have a clear step by step
5:39
process for them to walk through.
5:41
If you want to convert more inquiries into sales, they need
5:45
to know what needs to happen.
5:46
Each step of the way.
5:48
They need to know when they need to pay, what they need to pay, how they
5:51
need to pay, how they go about booking a consultation, how they book a, uh,
5:55
book a call with you, whatever it.
5:57
So you need to make this really clear for them.
5:59
You don't wanna make this long and confusing.
6:01
You wanna get people from A to B in very simple steps.
6:04
So one exercise I recommend you doing is that you actually just get a notebook
6:08
out now and write some numbers down, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and write out the simplest
6:13
possible way the steps that someone needs to take from finding your business
6:17
right the way through to giving.
6:19
Their money.
6:21
Those steps need to be so clear that a child could understand and follow them.
6:25
If they're not clear, then you need to go back and refine them.
6:28
If you are making those steps too complicated or if you don't know
6:31
what they are yourself, I guarantee you, just like in that shop, there's
6:35
money being left on the table.
6:37
The second tip I have for you to make your selling easier is to be
6:41
really transparent with your pricing.
6:44
Over the weekend, I was at the National Wedding Show and I was talking to
6:47
some brides to be, and one of the things they said they struggled with
6:50
the most is when they're looking on supplies, websites, or visiting them
6:54
on their stands at the exhibition, and they have no idea how much it's going
6:58
to cost to use their services now.
7:00
Done the work.
7:01
They've done their wedding budget.
7:02
They know roughly how much they're looking to spend on a florist or a
7:05
photographer or a venue, but they don't wanna embarrass themselves by talking
7:10
to someone loving their work and then realizing they can't actually afford it.
7:15
They're looking for transparency.
7:17
They're looking for pricing.
7:19
Let's go back to the shop example again.
7:20
You walk into a shop, you find a piece of clothing you absolutely love, and you look
7:25
at the label and there's no price on it.
7:27
Or perhaps you then look on the shelf to see if the price is on the
7:30
shelf and there's no price on it.
7:32
And then you start to look around and you, again, you feel awkward because
7:36
you don't know if you can afford this.
7:37
Now you could take it to the till and ask the price, but then you have
7:40
that embarrassing moment, don't you, where they say, Oh, it's 500 pounds.
7:44
And you have to say, Oh, too expensive and put it back to the shop.
7:47
Socially, we just don't like having those kind of exchanges.
7:50
And it's the same for your potential couples.
7:52
They don't wanna embarrass themselves.
7:54
Coming forward and saying, I like your services and I wanna book you, and then
7:58
finding out that you are way out of their price budget and they can't afford you.
8:02
So how can we counteract that?
8:04
While you can counteract that by having really transparent pricing,
8:07
have pricing structures available on an obvious part of your website.
8:11
Have pricing structures available at a wedding show that people
8:14
can stop and have a look at.
8:16
Now, if you offer a bespoke product or service, this is gonna feel hard
8:20
for you because you will say, Well, I can't give them exact pricing because.
8:25
Flowers, change price, cakes change value, and I get that.
8:28
But you can give them average pricing or rough pricing.
8:32
You can give people a from price or you can even give
8:35
people a minimum spend price.
8:37
If you have a minimum spend on your flowers that you don't go out to a
8:40
wedding for less than 500 pounds, then state that so that if someone
8:44
only has 150 pounds to spend, they know not to get in contact with.
8:49
I know that you might feel like it's better to keep the prices
8:52
off your website, but actually in this day and age, people wanna see
8:55
prices or at least rough prices.
8:58
Just think about your own buying habits.
8:59
If you're looking to book a holiday, if you're looking to book any kind of
9:02
product or service, a training day, a training course, you wanna know roughly
9:07
how much that's gonna cost because you don't wanna embarrass yourself
9:11
and find out you can't afford it.
9:13
So take a look at your website.
9:15
Is the pricing clear?
9:16
Are there packages on there.
9:18
If you haven't ever listened to Kelly Mortimer talking about her
9:20
pricing packages and her rule of three, then I highly recommend
9:24
you go and check that out.
9:25
She's done an incredible training inside of my Wedding Pro members
9:28
lounge, so if you're a member of that, you can go listen to it.
9:31
And if you're not yet a member, reach out to me.
9:33
Let's get you a free month in the members club, and you can go and
9:36
listen to that pricing talk because it's phenomenal and incredibly
9:39
helpful for everyone to get this transparent pricing up on their website.
9:45
Okay.
9:46
My third tip for you to make selling feel a lot less scary is to really
9:51
connect and look and listen to the person you are talking to in order to sell.
9:57
Now, by this I mean if you're talking to someone either by a
10:00
chat or email or in person, you need to try and match their tone.
10:06
And their body language.
10:07
If someone comes over to you at a wedding Fair and they're really chatty and really
10:11
making jokes and wanna have fun, and you talk back to them really seriously,
10:16
they're not gonna be that interested in working with you going forward.
10:19
Whereas if you can match their tone and go with them, you're
10:22
gonna have a much better rapport.
10:23
And as you build that report, it's gonna be a lot easier for you to ask them.
10:27
Do you wanna.
10:29
Give your email address over.
10:30
Do you want to book a consultation?
10:31
Do you wanna find out if your date's available?
10:33
Makes it much more simple and standard.
10:36
The same thing if you're talking to someone online.
10:38
If someone asks you a really short question, reply to them
10:41
with a really short email.
10:42
Don't bombard them with massive amounts of brochures and huge amounts of words.
10:46
It's just going to totally overwhelm them.
10:48
You need to try and match their tone and match their body language.
10:52
This really does help.
10:53
If you can build a bit of a relationship or a rapport with someone, then it's
10:58
gonna feel a lot more natural for you to continue on that conversation rather
11:01
than feeling stilted and like you need to sell to them and ask them for money.
11:06
Think of it as if you're building a friendship or building a relationship
11:09
or finding out whether you could solve their problems or whether
11:12
you are the perfect fit for them.
11:14
Stop having this big pressure and seeing pound signs above their
11:17
head and actually get to know them and find out, can I help you?
11:20
Am I available to help you?
11:22
Am I a good fit?
11:23
Yes, to all the above.
11:24
Great, Well, here we go.
11:26
Here's my contact details here.
11:27
Here's my payment details.
11:28
Why wouldn't they want to pay for your product or service?
11:34
The next thing that comes to mind when it comes to selling is that
11:38
you are the business owner and as scared as you might be of the idea of
11:42
selling, you need to take the lead.
11:46
I'm gonna say that again.
11:47
Even though you are scared of the idea of selling, you need to take the lead.
11:54
A little bit like that.
11:55
Confusion and people walking around the shop and not knowing
11:58
where to pay for something.
11:59
You need to take the lead when it comes to guiding your clients from making
12:04
an inquiry through to booking you.
12:06
Now, so often I see people fall at the hurdle.
12:10
So the first thing I see is people at wedding shows and they're
12:13
having a really great conversation.
12:15
They're talking, they've got that rapport, they're talking about their portfolio.
12:18
But you see the wedding business.
12:20
Stutter and stumble because they don't want to ask the next
12:23
question, which is a sales question.
12:25
They don't wanna say, Would you like me to be in touch?
12:28
Do you wanna book a call?
12:29
Do you wanna find out more about my pricing?
12:30
Do you want me to see if your dates available?
12:33
They panic because they feel like suddenly that's turning into a sale.
12:37
But you need to guide people because what will happen is they'll be hovering around
12:40
the stool, chatting to you and making conversation, but then they'll be starting
12:44
to feel awkward because they don't know what they're expected to do next.
12:47
If you don't offer them a choice, then they're just gonna either walk away
12:51
feeling uncomfortable or they're gonna stand there feeling uncomfortable,
12:54
and that's not really fair on anybody.
12:56
So again, change your mindset.
12:58
Stop feeling like you're about to sell something to them and realize you're
13:01
actually helping them feel less awkward in a situation and guiding them as to what
13:06
to do next, even if you have a very simple step by step process at a wedding show
13:11
to guide people through a conversation.
13:13
Would you like to see if your date's still available?
13:16
Would you like to have a look at my pricing?
13:18
Would you like to fill in your details so I can send.
13:20
X, Y, Z.
13:21
Would you like to book a consultation?
13:23
Whatever you want to do, be guided by them and their tone.
13:27
But yes, you need to lead them onto the next thing.
13:30
Don't leave them stranded.
13:32
This is exactly what happens at the end of sales calls as well.
13:35
When you say to someone, I've told you everything, here's the
13:38
pricing, go away and think about it.
13:40
You're leaving all the power in their hands and they're not, You're not
13:43
guiding them as to what to do next.
13:45
You need to guide them down the process.
13:47
You need to ask the question are you ready to book the date?
13:50
Are you ready to go ahead?
13:51
Do you have everything you need to go ahead and get that
13:53
yes or no Answer from them.
13:56
If it's a yes, then great.
13:57
You can send over the paperwork and explain to them how that works.
14:00
If it's a no ask a follow up question, ask them, Okay, what's holding you back?
14:05
Is there someone else you need to speak to?
14:07
You need to guide them through the process.
14:09
You need to tell them what needs to happen next.
14:11
Otherwise, they're gonna panic and walk away.
14:13
If people feel socially awkward, they.
14:16
Disappear, and I don't want people to disappear out of your life before
14:21
they've paid you a deposit and booked you for their wedding day.
14:24
So as hard as it is, especially when you feel nervous, perhaps you're a
14:27
little bit introverted or you just don't like the idea of selling, realize
14:31
you actually have to take the lead and you're gonna make someone feel a lot
14:34
more comfortable if you confidently guide them through what they need to do next.
14:41
And that brings me onto my final point, which is just don't leave people hanging.
14:45
If people ask a question, try and give them a really simple answer in reply.
14:49
Don't ignore them.
14:51
Don't let them feel like they're silly for asking such a basic question.
14:55
Don't leave them hanging.
14:56
Don't leave it in the.
14:57
Air as to what's going to happen next.
14:59
At the end of a conversation at a wedding fair, make it really clear what
15:02
the next steps are gonna be, right?
15:04
Fill out your email address.
15:06
I'm gonna be in touch tonight.
15:07
I'm gonna send you more information and a link so you can book
15:10
a call with me on that call.
15:12
We can have any final discussion before you decide if you
15:15
wanna go ahead and book me.
15:17
You're not leaving people hanging.
15:19
They're not walking away from that stall, not knowing what's gonna
15:21
happen next because you've told them what's gonna happen next.
15:24
And your process and your journey may not be the same as that,
15:27
but the point remains the same.
15:29
You need to tell people what happens next.
15:32
If someone books a call with you and you're on the phone, you need
15:34
to tell them at the end of the call, what is going to happen next,
15:37
What they can expect from you next.
15:39
Are you gonna follow up with an email?
15:40
Are you gonna phone them again in three days?
15:42
Are you gonna send over a contract again?
15:45
I don't know what your processes are, you'll.
15:47
Them down earlier in this episode.
15:48
When you write down your step by step, but you need to make it abundantly clear what
15:53
is going to happen next, so no one leaves a call or leaves a conversation with you
15:57
or even leaves an email trail not really knowing what's going to happen next.
16:02
Because what will happen if they don't know what's gonna happen next?
16:05
They'll circle around your store, put your product or service down,
16:08
and walk right back out The.
16:13
Hopefully that little whistle stops tour through selling has made you
16:17
feel a little bit more relaxed and a little bit more comfortable
16:20
in what you're about to achieve.
16:22
The biggest thing to do with selling is mindset.
16:25
Realize you're giving someone so much more when you offer
16:28
them your product or service.
16:30
For example, if you're a makeup artist, you're not just selling someone.
16:34
Makeup and doing their makeup, you're selling them a confidence,
16:37
a feeling of being the most amazing they can be on their wedding day.
16:41
They're booking you because they don't feel confident to do that themselves.
16:44
They don't have the qualifications that you do, and they just wanna feel
16:48
amazing on their wedding day, and you can make that happen for them if
16:53
you say, I'm not gonna sell to you.
16:55
Well, then you're taking that away from them.
16:57
So make sure you realize you're so much more than just the product or service
17:01
that you are offering, and you need to solve people's problems for them.
17:05
That's all you're trying to do.
17:06
You're finding out what someone's problem is and seeing if you are
17:09
the right person for the job.
17:11
I would love to know if you put any of these techniques into practice or if
17:14
you're feeling a lot more confident now about how you can go out and sell your
17:17
products and services on social media, on email, in person, and on a consultation.
17:23
Reach out to me on Instagram @Beccapountney and let me know how you're
17:26
getting on with all of the techniques in this podcast and in previous episodes.
17:30
I absolutely love to hear your wins and why not share this episode or one of the
17:35
previous episodes with an industry friend.
17:37
It may just help them out this week too.
17:39
I'll see you next time.