Latest / Wedding Pros who are ready to grow - with Becca Pountney / Sometimes good things DO come for FREE - with Heidi Thompson

Transcript

Sometimes good things DO come for FREE - with Heidi Thompson · Wedding Pros who are ready to grow - with Becca Pountney

• 0:00
  Heidi: I think that's a really key point is not settling of like, I
• 0:04
  know the right person's out here.
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  I just need to find it.
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  So that makes it even more important to make it so obvious that I am the
• 0:14
  right person for fill in the blank that when they see you they're like, yes,
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  this is exactly what I was looking for.
• 0:23
  Becca: I'm Becca Pountney, Wedding Business Marketing Expert,
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  Speaker and Blogger, and you're listening to the Wedding Pros
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  Who Are Ready to Grow podcast.
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  I'm here to share with you actionable tips, strategies, and real life
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  examples to help you take your wedding business to the next level.
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  If you are an ambitious wedding business owner that wants to take your passion
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  and use it to build a profitable, sustainable business, doing what you
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  love, then you're in the right place.
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  Let's get going with today's episode.
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  Today, I'm welcoming Heidi Thompson back to the podcast.
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  Heidi is a wedding business coach, marketing strategist,
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  and bestselling author.
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  Not only that, but she's also the founder of the Bookmore Weddings
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  Virtual Summit, which I'm going to be speaking again this summer.
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  Today, we're going to be chatting all about how to get the most out of her free
• 1:07
  summits, as well as geeking out about some marketing practices along the way too.
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  It's going to be a fun one.
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  Heidi, welcome to the podcast.
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  Heidi: Hey, thank you so much for having me back.
• 1:16
  I'm excited to dig into this with you.
• 1:19
  Becca: It's such a pleasure and I had a little look back to find out when you last
• 1:23
  came on the podcast and I couldn't believe that it was August 2022, so a whole
• 1:27
  two years ago and it was only episode 23 and this right now is episode 122.
• 1:33
  Heidi: Oh wow, someone's been busy.
• 1:35
  Becca: Yeah, absolutely, and do you want to know a little secret?
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  Do you want to know how I found that information so easily?
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  So I have this new thing on my website that I'm very excited about, which I keep
• 1:45
  telling everyone about called BeccaBot.
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  And BeccaBot lives on the corner of my website.
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  It's like a little speech bubble.
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  Anyone listening can go and use it.
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  And you can just click it open and it says, Hey, I'm Becca, ask me a question.
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  And I said, when was Heidi on my podcast?
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  And it came up, it told me the episode number, it gave me the link to listen,
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  and it told me what we spoke about.
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  And I was like, yes, Becca Bot, you've done all the work for me.
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  Heidi: That is so cool.
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  I need to know more about how you've put this together because that is
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  such a handy thing to have, especially when you have so much content.
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  Becca: Yeah, it's so awesome.
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  You do need to go and check out if you're listening to this, go check out Becca Bot.
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  It's on my website on any page.
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  Go to the bottom right hand corner, ask me some questions, but you can ask anything.
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  So you can say, Becca, have you ever done a podcast about Pinterest?
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  Or have you ever done a podcast about Wedding MBA?
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  And it will tell you the podcast episode number and give you the
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  direct link to listen to it.
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  So if you're a listener and you want to find a podcast about something specific in
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  Becca's world, that is the tool for you.
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  But it gave me the useful information today, Heidi, that It was exactly two
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  years ago since you're on my podcast, so it's such a pleasure to have you back.
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  Now, a little bit like Becca Bot, a lot has shifted in the last two
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  years and both of us work in the world of marketing and marketing has
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  shifted a lot in the last two years.
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  So I thought, let's start by talking about two years on.
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  What are we seeing or what are you seeing specifically in the world
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  of wedding pros is working right now from a marketing perspective?
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  Heidi: Ooh, I think the biggest thing that I've seen, and it's so funny because we
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  were just on a call talking about this, is we got away with a lot two years ago.
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  We didn't have to try as hard, we didn't have to be strategic because there
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  was such a pent up demand post COVID.
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  So it was a lot easier for people to attract and book clients.
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  What I'm seeing now is The people who are struggling are usually ones
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  that don't have a strategy behind their marketing and they don't have
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  a very clear way of standing out.
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  I'm seeing a lot of people who, you know, when I look at their
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  website, if I could copy and paste something onto their competitor's
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  website and nobody would buy it.
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  know the difference, your potential clients are having that struggle
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  telling you apart as well.
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  And then it comes down to a pricing issue because there's nothing to compare
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  you on when there's like 10 planners or 10 photographers that all kind
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  of seem the same and no one's really standing out as the go to for anyone.
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  Becca: A hundred percent agree with you.
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  And I think again, like you said, we got away with it in COVID because there were
• 4:30
  so many people looking to book and all of these new people coming into the market
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  and there was enough work for everyone.
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  But as that is getting back to more of a normal picture, yes, there's still
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  work for everyone, but actually you do need to start putting in the work.
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  You need to think of your own ideas.
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  You can't keep looking left and right at what your competitors are doing.
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  You've got to find those ways to set yourselves apart.
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  So what about from a couple perspective?
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  What do you think shifted over the last couple of years
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  from the couple's perspective?
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  Do we think they're looking for something different from our vendors?
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  Heidi: I think part of what they're looking for in their research process
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  is more in depth than previous.
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  So what we're seeing right now, especially with Gen Z is a propensity to dig more
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  into reviews, dig more into, you know, how can I find out more about this business as
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  opposed to just diving right in, whether it's, you know, they've heard stories
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  or whether this is just like a general inclination of buying behavior for this
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  generation, which it certainly seems to be across a lot of different sectors.
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  We need to keep that in mind that, you know, they're doing a lot more research.
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  I've definitely heard too that In the past, if you got a referral, that was
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  pretty much a done deal, and now what a lot of people are seeing is you get
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  a referral and you still need to sell to them, you still need to convince
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  them that you are the right person for them, or not, if you're not the
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  right person, then you're not the right person, but it's not enough to just get
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  the referral, They also need to be able to go to your website, you know, go to
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  wherever you have a presence online and be able to learn more about you and why
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  they should work with you specifically.
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  I feel like referrals are much more of a jumping off point whereas they
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  were a like full spectrum start to finish for previous generations.
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  So those are a few things.
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  Becca: That's so true.
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  I actually have a really live example of that.
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  So recently there was a couple that I knew locally who were getting married and they
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  just came to me and said, Becca, have you got any photographers you can recommend?
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  So I recommended two or three photographers, which they said
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  were inside their budget point and kind of the style they wanted.
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  And I sent them over.
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  And in my head, great, one of these three photographers is going to get the booking.
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  And they came back to me.
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  Well, actually, I didn't hear anything.
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  And I kind of followed it up with them.
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  They came back to me and they said, Oh, we went in a totally different direction
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  and just found someone on Google.
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  And I was like, what?
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  Why didn't you go with one of my recommendations?
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  And it really blew my mind that they would rather go with someone
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  that they had not had recommended.
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  They never worked with before based purely on their online presence, rather than
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  over a tried and trusted recommendation.
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  So that's.
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  Definitely happening.
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  Heidi: Yeah.
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  And it's not to say that those weren't good recommendations.
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  It's just like you threw the ball and the business owner didn't catch it.
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  Like they didn't do their part of, okay, when this person gets to my
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  website, to wherever online, where you have a presence, they need
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  to see like, Oh, Becca was right.
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  Like this is the perfect fit for me.
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  And if they don't see that.
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  you know, they're probably not going to take action, which
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  is a shock to a lot of us.
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  Becca: Yeah, it was a shock to me.
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  And I think as well, I reassured the business owner, because I
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  think actually sometimes it's, they couldn't have done any more.
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  Like, so, cause they're like, but I got back to them really fast and
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  I've got this and I've got that.
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  I'm like, well, maybe it was just like, they just went in a
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  different direction that day.
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  Like some days I'm hungry, I eat a McDonald's, some days I'm
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  hungry, I eat a Burger King.
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  There's no reason why it just goes in a different direction.
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  And I think sometimes as business owners, we're so worried about not
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  doing enough that actually sometimes it's just down to couple's choice.
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  And also couples are really knowledgeable and they're willing to do that research
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  and they know that there's lots of choices out there and therefore they
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  can find that perfect person for them.
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  They don't need to settle on someone else.
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  Heidi: I think that's a really key point, is not settling, of like, I know the right
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  person's out here, I just need to find it.
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  So that makes it even more important to make it so obvious that I am the
• 8:49
  right person for fill in the blank, that when they see you, they're like, yes,
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  this is exactly what I was looking for.
• 8:55
  Becca: Yeah, 100%.
• 8:56
  Now, I know that we agree on quite a lot of things, and one of the things
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  we both definitely agree on, and you touched on it earlier, is that slashing
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  your prices or trying to be the cheapest is not the best way to get the work.
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  So You know, what do you think then is a good way instead of thinking I'm
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  not standing out from my competitors.
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  I'm just going to be cheap than everyone else.
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  What is a good way aside from pricing that we can actually
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  stand out in our crowded market?
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  Heidi: Yeah.
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  So, and I'll be speaking about this at the summit, but the way that I really
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  walk people through this is we need to figure out what your person wants.
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  We need to figure out what's going on in their head.
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  Not things we can guess at, what is the actual problem?
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  that they want solved by hiring you.
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  What result is it that they want and why is it important to them?
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  Because we all have different psychological drivers for why we do
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  things, but unless you understand those things, you can't then come out
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  in your marketing and say, hey, is this the thing you're looking for?
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  I have the perfect solution to it.
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  So that's really what I like people to think about when I.
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  When I say standing out, that's what I mean.
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  I don't necessarily mean like do the opposite of what everybody is doing.
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  You might, that might be something you want to do.
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  You might want to look different.
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  You might want to have a different design, a different aesthetic, or it's something
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  more internal that you're speaking to.
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  You know, the problems that we want solved are all Very different.
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  Like the reason why I buy a painkiller isn't because I want a painkiller.
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  It's because I have cramps, because I broke my foot, because I have a migraine.
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  Like those are three different reasons.
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  why I would make the same decision.
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  So we can't just guess at that.
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  And you know, if you're running a painkiller company, come out
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  with this ad about migraines.
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  If none of your people have migraines and your painkiller doesn't work well
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  on that, it's not going to connect.
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  So it's really about connecting to the problem that your person actually
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  wants you to solve and then molding your marketing to show them that you
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  have the solution to that problem.
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  Becca: Amazing.
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  And you're going to be talking more about that topic, I believe, at your summit.
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  So for anyone who's not heard of your summit before, the
• 11:26
  Bookmore Wedding Summit, tell us how long has it been going?
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  What's it all about?
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  Heidi: This is the seventh time I've run it.
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  I love it.
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  It is one of my favorite things I get to do.
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  It is a five day online conference for wedding professionals specifically
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  who want to book more of the clients that they really love to work with.
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  Even when things are feeling slow, even when it feels like, Oh, we can't just,
• 11:54
  we can't do it in the market right now.
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  We can, and we're going to get into specifically how to do that
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  during the summit with over 30 speakers who are speaking about
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  all different facets of this.
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  So you can lit.
• 12:08
  I love it.
• 12:09
  It isgoing to work for you, what you're going to take from it and
• 12:13
  implement it so that you can actually.
• 12:16
  go into the rest of 2024 and into the 2025 engagement season, having
• 12:23
  a marketing strategy for what you're going to do to attract and
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  book more of those ideal clients.
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  Becca: Amazing.
• 12:30
  And remind me of the dates of this year's summit for anyone
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  who's listening in real time.
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  It is August 19th.
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  through the 23rd.
• 12:37
  Amazing and I will be putting all of the links and my affiliate link for the
• 12:41
  summit inside the show notes so do go and grab those if you're looking for it.
• 12:44
  You might even be able to find it in BeckerBot, you never know,
• 12:47
  depends on how well the AI tool is working when you get to it.
• 12:51
  Now I love promoting your summit whenever I'm part of it and one of the reasons
• 12:54
  I love to promote it is because it's so easy to promote because it's free, right?
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  It's free for people to sign up, it's free for people to listen to my session and all
• 13:02
  of those other sessions that the speakers are doing, but one of the pushbacks.
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  I always get and it winds me up when I'm ever promoting something
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  for free, whether it's something I'm doing or something someone else
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  is doing is, well, why is it free?
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  What's the catch?
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  What are you trying to do?
• 13:16
  What are you trying to sell me?
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  What, why is it actually free?
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  Is it actually going to be any good?
• 13:19
  Is it going to be rubbish?
• 13:20
  Is it going to be just people trying to sell me stuff?
• 13:22
  So Heidi, tell people, why did you make the decision to do it for free?
• 13:27
  And what do you say to the people that say that kind of stuff?
• 13:30
  Heidi: So.
• 13:31
  The way this model works is it is free to attend and you get access to
• 13:38
  each day's presentations for 24 hours.
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  Now if you want lifetime access to the presentations, if you want access to the
• 13:46
  VIP sessions, if you want access to almost three thousand dollars worth of bonuses
• 13:51
  that the speakers have contributed, if you want access to everything in a podcast
• 13:56
  feed that you can listen to forever and ever, you You have to upgrade to
• 14:01
  one of the upgrades we have available.
• 14:03
  And typically I would say about 15 percent ish of people decide to upgrade to that.
• 14:11
  And that is what makes this sustainable for us to give free
• 14:16
  access to everybody on a limited.
• 14:19
  capacity in a limited window, but still make it super accessible.
• 14:23
  And for that reason, we get attendees from all six inhabited
• 14:28
  continents, which is amazing.
• 14:30
  And I love that we have that reach and that accessibility, but there is
• 14:35
  that option to take it a step further.
• 14:37
  If you would like to do that, you don't have to do that.
• 14:41
  A lot of people do a lot of people don't.
• 14:44
  It's One of those things that you get to make that decision for yourself.
• 14:49
  And you're still going to get a ton out of it either way.
• 14:53
  So that's how the event makes money.
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  It's also one of those things that because all of us are coming together,
• 15:03
  you know, you have 30 different groups of people, audiences that allow us
• 15:08
  to bring people together, that for us as educators, We get leads from this.
• 15:16
  We get people who say, you know what, I really loved your
• 15:20
  presentation, Becca, I think I want to work with you in xyz capacity.
• 15:26
  So that's how it functions as like a feasible model for it to like exist
• 15:33
  and not just be this free thing that is full of pitches, is full of just
• 15:39
  like, you know, getting you into a timeshare presentation and trying
• 15:42
  to sell to you for eight hours.
• 15:43
  You know, we don't want to create that kind of an experience.
• 15:47
  So this is the way we structure it so that we can give really solid education and
• 15:52
  still make a big component of it free.
• 15:56
  Becca: Yeah, so helpful.
• 15:56
  And I think it's really helpful for us to just talk about that and
• 15:58
  be transparent about it as well.
• 16:00
  And I think that's the big thing is it's your choice.
• 16:02
  So if you're listening to this and you want to come along to the Summit,
• 16:05
  I highly recommend you sign up to it, even if you just watch one session.
• 16:09
  You don't have to pay for anything.
• 16:11
  I've signed up to Summits before and I've done the free option and I've
• 16:14
  set aside time in those 24 hours and I've watched loads of stuff.
• 16:17
  I've signed up to other summits before when I knew that I wasn't going to have
• 16:20
  the time to digest the information.
• 16:22
  And therefore I paid the upgrade so that I can get those back.
• 16:26
  But the important thing is if you are going to decide to pay the upgrade,
• 16:29
  like with everything I always say, make sure you then use it because
• 16:33
  it's only valuable to your business.
• 16:34
  If you buy the upgrade, if you then do put in some time in a couple of
• 16:38
  weeks to listen to the presentations or to go through the resources and
• 16:42
  make sure you're making the it.
• 16:43
  Otherwise, if you just.
• 16:44
  throw money at something and never look at it, it's not going
• 16:46
  to move your business forward.
• 16:48
  So absolutely take advantage of either the free or the upgraded
• 16:52
  version because there's going to be so much great stuff in there.
• 16:54
  And I know because I've listened to the presentations in Heidi summits before,
• 16:57
  you're going to get loads of great value.
• 16:59
  Definitely.
• 17:00
  So don't feel like people are just there to sell to you
• 17:02
  because they absolutely are not.
• 17:05
  So, if someone's thinking of signing up then, Heidi, if someone signs up to
• 17:09
  the Summit, either on the free or the paid version, how would you recommend
• 17:13
  that they throw themselves into it?
• 17:14
  How does someone get the most out of being part of one of your events?
• 17:18
  Heidi: The way I always approach education, especially when I have like
• 17:23
  a huge array of things to choose from in my own business, I look at what would
• 17:30
  have the biggest impact for me right now.
• 17:33
  Because sometimes we see things and we're interested in it and it's
• 17:36
  like, okay, realistically, I can't take action on that for like a year.
• 17:40
  And that's probably not the best use of your time right now.
• 17:45
  Get the upgrade, come back to it in a year when you're able to take action on it.
• 17:51
  But I'm a big fan of prioritizing things that will make the biggest impact for you.
• 17:57
  So I would look at what are you struggling with in particular.
• 18:02
  In your business, and then I would look at the presentations
• 18:05
  as Okay, how can these fill gaps?
• 18:08
  How can these fill holes?
• 18:09
  How can these help me solve some of these problems?
• 18:14
  Because you're going to get a much better return on investment either
• 18:17
  of your money or of your time or both if you're prioritizing things
• 18:23
  that are going to get you results.
• 18:26
  So like we have a wide array of things that we're covering during
• 18:30
  the summit, but there will inevitably be things that you're like, Yeah,
• 18:35
  realistically, can I, can I implement that by the end of the year?
• 18:39
  Okay.
• 18:40
  No, it's probably not the best use of your time.
• 18:44
  I would say at least during the week of the summit.
• 18:46
  And even if you have the upgrade, I still recommend approaching it in that way
• 18:51
  because during the week of the summit, you're able to ask the speakers questions.
• 18:56
  You're able to have conversations with them and join our speaker
• 19:00
  panels and get clarification.
• 19:02
  So, Personally, the way I would suggest approaching it is what's
• 19:07
  going to have the biggest impact so that you can get results.
• 19:10
  Becca: Yeah, 100%.
• 19:11
  And making the most of those additional opportunities for
• 19:13
  networking and asking the questions.
• 19:15
  I always think the people that put in the most to these events are
• 19:18
  the people that get out the most.
• 19:19
  Because if you're asking your questions, I know because I've been
• 19:22
  on speaker panels before, when people ask really in depth questions, we'll
• 19:25
  give them really in depth answers.
• 19:27
  And they can get like a real nugget of information specifically for their
• 19:30
  business, that they would normally maybe have to work one to one with
• 19:33
  someone to get that kind of answer.
• 19:35
  And so if you are the person showing up live and being brave enough to put
• 19:38
  those questions forward, then you're absolutely going to get the most out
• 19:41
  of all those incredible educators who are there live and giving up
• 19:44
  their time for the week as well.
• 19:47
  I would love, Heidi, if you know any, have you got any success stories?
• 19:51
  So obviously you've been doing this summit now for kind of seven years.
• 19:54
  Have you got any stories of people that maybe have come along to a
• 19:57
  summit or listened to And then change something in their business.
• 20:00
  Heidi: Oh my God.
• 20:01
  So many.
• 20:02
  We've had some where people have implemented things during
• 20:06
  the week and booked a client.
• 20:08
  Like, I wouldn't expect that.
• 20:11
  I, it shocked me to see.
• 20:14
  But typically, you know, we see people walk away from it and go and implement
• 20:20
  the things that they typically neglect.
• 20:23
  Which are, especially for the summit, things related to.
• 20:27
  Your marketing, things related to your sales, things that can
• 20:31
  really move the needle in your business and make a huge impact.
• 20:35
  So it doesn't take a ton of implementation to get results.
• 20:39
  Like I said, we've had people who are like, Oh, okay, that's an
• 20:43
  interesting way of following up.
• 20:45
  I'm going to go follow up with this lead that I have.
• 20:47
  And then, hey guys, they booked.
• 20:51
  It's the best thing ever to get to see and it really is just a matter of taking
• 20:56
  the information you need, not just like what sounds necessarily interesting.
• 21:02
  I'm not saying don't follow your interest, but we all have limited time
• 21:05
  here and then it's actually implement it.
• 21:08
  And we do see people, there have been many, many summits where we've
• 21:12
  seen people go implement something and book a client that week.
• 21:16
  Becca: I love that.
• 21:17
  And sometimes we're scared of changing things, even
• 21:20
  though we know they're broken.
• 21:21
  And I always say, well, try it once, like try that different technique for following
• 21:24
  up on the next client and see if it makes a difference and then try it again.
• 21:28
  And then you can do it.
• 21:29
  Compare it to your old way and see if it works.
• 21:31
  But if nothing changes, nothing changes.
• 21:33
  So there's going to be a ton of new information that's going
• 21:36
  to come out of the summit.
• 21:37
  So try and put some of it into action.
• 21:39
  So talking about there being a ton of information, sometimes when we go to these
• 21:43
  educational events, whether it's online in person, even podcasts and things like
• 21:47
  that, we can feel really overwhelmed.
• 21:49
  So do you have any tips on how to feel less overwhelmed if someone's
• 21:54
  being part of your summit?
• 21:55
  Heidi: Yeah, so I can tell you exactly what I do and what I teach people to do
• 22:00
  when they get into this overwhelmed state.
• 22:03
  So the first thing I do is just brain dump everything.
• 22:05
  So what's everything that's floating around your head, all those anxieties,
• 22:09
  all those things you feel like you have to do, and then you want to look at, okay,
• 22:14
  do you actually have to implement that?
• 22:16
  Could that wait?
• 22:17
  Could you put that kind of in a parking lot over here for next quarter or does
• 22:22
  it actually need to get done right now?
• 22:26
  So I find immediately upon doing that I just feel like a weight lifted off of
• 22:32
  my shoulders because all too often we tell ourselves we have to do 20 million
• 22:39
  different things and realistically if we just did one or two of them
• 22:45
  it would make a huge difference.
• 22:47
  And if we try to do all of them, we're not going to do any of them.
• 22:51
  So I'm a big fan of getting everything out of your head and then like
• 22:55
  sorting and putting into order, okay, this is what I'm going to do.
• 22:59
  This is my plan.
• 23:01
  This is how I'm going to proceed.
• 23:02
  I'm going to do this thing.
• 23:04
  And then next month I'm going to do this thing.
• 23:06
  And next quarter, I'm going to do this thing so that, you know,
• 23:10
  Those ideas, those things you want to implement actually have a home,
• 23:13
  they get onto your calendar and they actually get done because I don't know
• 23:17
  about you, but if something is not on my calendar, it will not happen.
• 23:22
  I can promise you that.
• 23:23
  Becca: Yeah, that is so true for me as well.
• 23:25
  And I love the idea that you can, you don't have to do everything now.
• 23:28
  You can definitely save things for later.
• 23:30
  I've been in coaching programs before, and I've, had all of these ideas and even
• 23:35
  one, two years later, I'm still going through and implementing those ideas
• 23:38
  because we can't possibly do it at once.
• 23:40
  I think the other thing that I see The mistake people make at summit sometimes is
• 23:45
  that they go after the shiny things rather than the things that are actually going
• 23:49
  to make the difference in their business.
• 23:50
  So they hear some exciting new idea and they think, Oh, this is
• 23:53
  going to solve all my problems.
• 23:55
  And it sends them off down a rabbit hole in a direction that they were
• 23:57
  never intending to go, instead of maybe taking the thing that they needed to.
• 24:02
  So how do people find the actual useful information in that
• 24:06
  crowded lots of information.
• 24:07
  Heidi: I would say, you know, look at the schedule for each day.
• 24:11
  I, I'm a big fan of planning ahead, which I know you are too.
• 24:16
  And I think that's just in our nature as planners, you know, look at the
• 24:21
  schedule, go through with a critical eye, which of these am I going to attend?
• 24:28
  Live, you know, on the day, which of these are maybe not so applicable
• 24:34
  for me right now and commit to yourself to doing just those.
• 24:40
  And I would say from every single presentation, our speakers are
• 24:44
  really good about this, but I would say, look for the action steps.
• 24:48
  And note the action steps and schedule the action steps because that's the
• 24:55
  part that usually gets left behind.
• 24:58
  And then it's just kind of floating around in your head as this,
• 25:02
  you know, half formed idea that you feel like you need to do.
• 25:05
  And that just builds as anxiety and weight of all the things we feel like
• 25:10
  we have to do when really, if you just, if you can narrow it down, And go
• 25:17
  through that and find the action steps.
• 25:19
  Schedule the action steps.
• 25:21
  That is going to help you extract as much as possible from this
• 25:26
  because I always tell people I feel like business owners are typically
• 25:31
  they were very good students.
• 25:33
  They were typically people who like did the extra credit.
• 25:36
  You know, we're like the I'm an A isn't good enough.
• 25:39
  I want to a plus kind of people and we get into this.
• 25:44
  way of being where we're just like checking off boxes and we're like, well,
• 25:49
  I watched all of these presentations.
• 25:52
  Okay.
• 25:53
  Are you going to do anything with it?
• 25:55
  Because if you're not, it doesn't really matter.
• 25:58
  And you kind of wasted your time.
• 26:00
  Becca: Yeah.
• 26:00
  A hundred percent.
• 26:01
  I always say we're not Netflix.
• 26:03
  We're not here to entertain you.
• 26:04
  We're here to help you grow your business.
• 26:06
  So don't watch us like Netflix.
• 26:07
  Like, Oh, it's really fun watching videos of Becca and Heidi talking about business.
• 26:11
  But if you don't actually do anything with that, then you might as well just be
• 26:15
  watching endless videos of me and Heidi talking about anything, because it's not
• 26:18
  actually going to help your business.
• 26:20
  One of the things that I think is going to be a pushback from some of the people here
• 26:25
  in the UK listening to this podcast is the time of year that the summit happens.
• 26:29
  So I'm going to address it straight on because every time, whenever I promote
• 26:33
  one of your summits here in the UK, August is typically like our crazy season.
• 26:37
  It's the only time of the year when we get any sunshine.
• 26:39
  All the kids are off school.
• 26:41
  The people are going on holidays.
• 26:43
  Wedding pros are incredibly busy.
• 26:46
  And so immediately we go too busy to do any education.
• 26:50
  So I want to flip that on that, on its head and say to you, Heidi, why should
• 26:54
  people still be prioritizing some level of education or how can they fit this kind
• 26:57
  of stuff in even when it's crazy season?
• 27:01
  Heidi: I get it.
• 27:02
  I totally understand.
• 27:03
  And I'm very sorry that it falls during your busy season.
• 27:07
  But the tricky thing is, is it's always someone's busy season.
• 27:12
  And I've tried to like manipulate schedules to, you know, Okay, what would
• 27:17
  be the best possible time worldwide?
• 27:20
  And that time just doesn't exist.
• 27:22
  So, August is a very dead time for some people.
• 27:26
  It's a very busy time for other people.
• 27:28
  It's a kind of middle time for a lot of other people, you know,
• 27:33
  especially in some parts of the U.
• 27:35
  S.
• 27:35
  It's like a, I'm not going outside kind of time of year because it's just too hot.
• 27:40
  So there's definitely no weddings happening.
• 27:42
  But With that in mind, even though it may not be at the opportune time for
• 27:49
  you, I would still recommend looking to see what you can get out of it.
• 27:55
  Because like Becca said, if you can get one presentation and do one
• 28:00
  thing with it that makes an impact on your business, that's huge.
• 28:05
  You paid nothing for that.
• 28:07
  You've been able to get results from it.
• 28:11
  So a couple of things that we do to try to make it as accessible as possible is
• 28:17
  we don't release Presentations on like a schedule like you would a conference.
• 28:23
  We release everything for the day at once.
• 28:27
  And it gets released at 9 a.
• 28:28
  m.
• 28:29
  U.
• 28:29
  S.
• 28:29
  Pacific time, which is Los Angeles time, which is 5 p.
• 28:33
  m.
• 28:33
  U.
• 28:33
  K.
• 28:33
  time.
• 28:35
  You have a full 24 hours, so everybody in that period of time has a morning,
• 28:41
  afternoon, evening, and night.
• 28:44
  So, you know, we have participants in Australia and New Zealand and Hong Kong
• 28:51
  that joined because they're able to join because it's not at a specific time.
• 28:55
  It's just a specific 24 hour window.
• 28:59
  So you can get it in any time of day.
• 29:01
  you want, and it's on demand.
• 29:04
  So you don't have to be there for a specific time for the video
• 29:07
  to like stream live for you.
• 29:09
  You can press play, you can press pause, you can press one and a half
• 29:13
  speed, and everything is also available.
• 29:17
  on our summit podcast.
• 29:19
  If you're joining us for free, those expire every 24 hours as well, but it
• 29:24
  gives you another medium to do that.
• 29:26
  So you could very easily listen to and watch, you know, a couple
• 29:31
  of things from your phone.
• 29:33
  And quite honestly, like I said, this isn't school.
• 29:36
  The point isn't to do all the work and do the extra credit.
• 29:38
  The point is to get a result.
• 29:40
  And if you can watch one presentation and get some action steps out of that and
• 29:45
  take action on it and book more weddings as a result, congratulations, you've won.
• 29:50
  You've put in minimum time, gotten maximum results.
• 29:54
  Becca: Yeah, a hundred percent.
• 29:55
  And so often I think we just use that as an excuse to ourselves.
• 29:58
  Oh, we're just too busy.
• 29:59
  It's busy season.
• 30:00
  We can't do that right now.
• 30:01
  But I know that if we want to do something, we will find the time to do it.
• 30:05
  Right.
• 30:06
  Because I have an audio book.
• 30:07
  Sometimes I'll listen to audio books and maybe I'm listening to
• 30:10
  a novel or something like that.
• 30:11
  And I suddenly realized I've managed to listen to eight hours of this novel in
• 30:14
  one week because I'm really enjoying it.
• 30:16
  So I can listen to it while I'm cooking dinner or I can listen to it while I'm
• 30:20
  driving the car to my job or I can listen to it while I'm preparing some work.
• 30:24
  And so if you want to be part of this and you want to listen to it, I promise you
• 30:27
  you'll be able to find the time to do it.
• 30:30
  Now, if people don't have much time, I would love to just
• 30:33
  hear a couple of highlights.
• 30:34
  So can you give us a couple of highlights that you think there's
• 30:37
  some good sessions going on?
• 30:38
  Obviously mine, I'll do my own highlight in a minute, but some good sessions
• 30:41
  going on at the summit and also a couple of highlights from resources that
• 30:45
  you've seen inside of the PowerPack.
• 30:47
  Heidi: Okay, so I've got my schedule in front of me.
• 30:50
  So like I said, I'll be speaking about standing out and booking
• 30:54
  more weddings without discounting.
• 30:56
  Adriana McDermott is speaking about from ghosting to booking Gen Z
• 31:01
  marketing strategies to win them over.
• 31:03
  I absolutely love this topic and she comes at it from a very data based position.
• 31:10
  So it's not just like, oh, it feels like this is what's happening.
• 31:13
  Like, no, this is.
• 31:15
  This is happening and this is how we adapt to it.
• 31:18
  Becky Hart is speaking about networking and making the most of your relationships.
• 31:24
  If you're struggling with turning inquiries into bookings, Elizabeth
• 31:28
  Shields is talking about that exact thing.
• 31:32
  Let's see here.
• 31:34
  Oh, if you want to get more referrals from venues.
• 31:38
  Terza Caffey's presentation is all about how to play nice with venues
• 31:44
  and really practical tips to get and stay on a preferred vendor list.
• 31:49
  She is coming at this from working exclusively with venue owners,
• 31:54
  so she has heard everything.
• 31:57
  She's kind of reporting back and sharing with us.
• 32:00
  What it is that we need to do.
• 32:04
  Let's see here.
• 32:04
  There are so many here to choose from.
• 32:06
  Oh my god Mark Chapman is talking about what you need to know before you start
• 32:13
  Advertising and how to craft ads that convert and I really love this one
• 32:17
  because a lot of people Will just throw money at advertising and assume that it
• 32:23
  will work And that's not actually true.
• 32:27
  And a lot of times it can be a really big waste of your money.
• 32:32
  So make sure that you are not making that mistake because it is a huge one.
• 32:39
  So we've got a lot of topics that are really focused on marketing, on sales.
• 32:45
  We've also got some that are focused on the money piece.
• 32:50
  So finding the profit leaks.
• 32:54
  In your business, because that is a very quick thing.
• 32:57
  You can change that immediately changes your financial situation in your
• 33:03
  business or creating profitable packages.
• 33:07
  If you can make the next package you offer more profitable, that is going
• 33:12
  to make a huge impact on your business.
• 33:16
  And then, of course, Becca's presentation, which I have seen and I really love,
• 33:22
  all about getting a Visible and Becca, when you propose this topic, it really
• 33:29
  intrigued me because there's this idea that, well, yeah, I'm marketing.
• 33:34
  I'm visible.
• 33:36
  But are you, you know, how visible are you?
• 33:40
  So tell people a little bit about that.
• 33:43
  Becca: Well, I love to talk.
• 33:44
  Kind of have a bit of the shock factor in the beginning of my presentations whenever
• 33:47
  I do a presentation, because I know that a presentation can be dry and boring unless
• 33:51
  you realize you actually need to hear it.
• 33:53
  And so right at the beginning, beginning of my presentation, I am going to get you
• 33:57
  to find out how visible you think you are.
• 34:00
  And then I'm going to ask you that question a few more times as
• 34:03
  we go through the presentation, because often we think we're a lot
• 34:06
  more visible than we actually are.
• 34:07
  We feel like everyone knows our business and no one's booking us,
• 34:10
  but turns out most of the time, It's just that we're too quiet.
• 34:13
  So that's what I'm talking about in my presentation, how to get
• 34:15
  visible and book more weddings.
• 34:17
  And there's lots of actionable strategies in there as well.
• 34:20
  So that's worth the free ticket price on its own.
• 34:23
  Come along and listen to that.
• 34:25
  Although Heidi, you've got so many great sessions, but there's one thing that
• 34:29
  I like to do when I go to a summit.
• 34:31
  And I always encourage people to do this, whether it's an in person event.
• 34:34
  or an online event, play Summit Roulette, because sometimes there's a hidden
• 34:39
  gem in there that you don't think you need, but it actually ends up being
• 34:42
  the presentation that you are like, so glad that you listened to or watched.
• 34:46
  So, go to something you think, I wouldn't want to go to that, and then watch that
• 34:49
  one, because often it's the best one.
• 34:51
  I love that.
• 34:53
  Heidi: That's such good advice.
• 34:55
  And then I know you asked about the bonuses too that are
• 34:59
  available in the PowerPack.
• 35:01
  We've got, you know, a sales page template to help you better sell people
• 35:07
  from your website so they come to you much more sold and ready to buy.
• 35:13
  We have a vendor consultation with one of our speakers.
• 35:17
  We have a website review and consultation with one of our speakers.
• 35:24
  We have a guide to blogging for business from two women who are
• 35:32
  honestly really phenomenal at this and their whole business.
• 35:36
  is helping photographers in particular attract more business
• 35:42
  using their blogs for SEO purposes.
• 35:46
  We've got things to make your life easier, like multiplying your
• 35:50
  blog's impact with repurposing.
• 35:53
  We've got an SEO mini course.
• 35:55
  We've got a Whitney and Daniela Created a beginner's guide to building
• 36:00
  the ultimate Google search campaign and actually a step by step workbook
• 36:04
  showing you how to build that campaign.
• 36:08
  There's a lot here.
• 36:10
  There's about 2, 900 worth of bonuses inside of this on top of the
• 36:17
  presentations and all of the VIP sessions.
• 36:20
  So, there's a lot going on in it.
• 36:22
  Becca: Yeah, it's a ridiculous amount of value.
• 36:24
  And again, I'm always surprised when the people offer these things,
• 36:28
  how few people take them up.
• 36:30
  And so especially things like a website review, if you see that that's an
• 36:34
  option, don't sit back, take the website review, because that is like a money
• 36:38
  can't buy opportunity for your business that would again be worth so much
• 36:42
  more than you would be paying for it.
• 36:43
  So again, don't get overwhelmed by the resources, go through them one
• 36:47
  by one by one and highlight, okay, actually, I need some help with this.
• 36:51
  This is where I see that I need some help and go through the resources and
• 36:54
  actually take people up on these offers.
• 36:56
  Because again, people are offering really great stuff.
• 36:58
  They're not doing it to try and upsell you something else.
• 37:00
  They really want you to get results because I know a lot of the people
• 37:03
  that are involved in the summit.
• 37:04
  I know Heidi, and that's what they're about.
• 37:06
  They want to give you value.
• 37:07
  Yes, of course you can go and work with them, but actually they're all
• 37:10
  about helping you and they just want the industry to grow and thrive.
• 37:15
  Heidi, I'm so excited to be part of the summit again this year.
• 37:17
  I know that people are going to get loads out of it.
• 37:20
  Can you remind us once more about the dates?
• 37:22
  And again, I'll put the link in the show notes.
• 37:24
  Heidi: Yes, it is August 19th through the 23rd.
• 37:29
  You are going to get so much out of this.
• 37:33
  And like we've said time and time again, Isn't it worth it if you get one
• 37:39
  thing out of it that you can implement and it helps you book more weddings?
• 37:44
  That sounds like a good use of your time to me.
• 37:46
  Becca: Yeah, absolutely.
• 37:47
  And if you've been part of Heidi's Summits before and you've listened to something
• 37:51
  that you've learned from, let us know.
• 37:52
  Reach out to Heidi or myself on Instagram.
• 37:54
  We'd love to hear from you.
• 37:55
  If you're in her Facebook group, then post in there and say some of the learnings
• 37:59
  that you've learned from the Summit too.
• 38:00
  We're always keen to hear.
• 38:02
  What you guys are doing with the information that you're learning.
• 38:04
  Now, Heidi, I'm always in the podcast with the same question and it's
• 38:07
  this, what's one thing you wish you'd known sooner in your own business?
• 38:12
  Heidi: that you never figure it all out.
• 38:14
  There's no finish line.
• 38:16
  There's no end.
• 38:18
  And in the beginning, it felt like, Oh, I just got to do
• 38:22
  these things and I'll get there.
• 38:23
  You get better.
• 38:25
  You learn, but it's like kind of trying to build a house on moving ground.
• 38:31
  Like things are always changing.
• 38:34
  So you have to change with it.
• 38:36
  And you will never, it's never complete.
• 38:39
  And to be honest, I'm kind of glad that's the case because it would be pretty boring
• 38:47
  if it was, you know, if you get 10 years into a business and it's like, well, I
• 38:51
  know everything, I've done everything.
• 38:54
  What's the point?
• 38:55
  You know, there's nothing to do anymore.
• 38:58
  So yeah, it's definitely that you never are finished.
• 39:03
  It is never finished.
• 39:05
  Sometimes it feels like it's.
• 39:07
  taped together with duct tape and just folding and that's okay because
• 39:11
  everybody else's business is too.
• 39:15
  Becca: That is so true.
• 39:15
  It's like my children when they're trying to find the end of a rainbow
• 39:18
  and it's never coming to them.
• 39:19
  And the closer you get to the end, the further away it feels.
• 39:22
  It's so true.
• 39:23
  Our businesses are a marathon, not a sprint and they're growing and they're
• 39:26
  evolving and there is no end deadline.
• 39:29
  I love that.
• 39:29
  Heidi, it is such a pleasure chatting to you.
• 39:31
  I always enjoy our conversations and hopefully you're going to
• 39:34
  make it to the UK sometime soon so we can go for that coffee.
• 39:37
  Heidi: Yes, there are some plans afoot.
• 39:40
  So I'll keep you posted.
• 39:43
  Becca: Amazing.
• 39:43
  Thank you so much for your time.
• 39:45
  Heidi: Thank you.
• 39:47
  Becca: I love chatting to Heidi once again on the podcast Isn't She Great.
• 39:51
  Honestly, her summit is well worth attending.
• 39:53
  So go check out the links in the show notes or come and find me over on
• 39:57
  Instagram and I can send you the link.
• 39:59
  Over there.
• 40:00
  Even if you just take one thing away from the summit, it's absolutely worthwhile,
• 40:03
  but I promise you there's so many great sessions and so many great resources
• 40:08
  that you'll want to dive right in.
• 40:09
  I'll see you next time.