Latest / Wedding Pros who are ready to grow - with Becca Pountney / How to convert digital wedding enquiries with Alan Berg

Transcript

How to convert digital wedding enquiries with Alan Berg · Wedding Pros who are ready to grow - with Becca Pountney

• 0:00
  Alan: So you want to be conversational, make it sound like you, your voice,
• 0:04
  you want to respond quickly and mirror their tone and energy.
• 0:07
  You want to mirror how much they write and fit it on one screen of a phone.
• 0:11
  Don't start dumping data on them.
• 0:13
  Have a real conversation.
• 0:16
  attachments, continue the conversation and remember, type a question at the end,
• 0:21
  and when you're done, you send that off.
• 0:24
  Becca: I'm Becca Pountney, wedding businessmarketing
• 0:27
  expert, speaker, and blogger.
• 0:29
  And you're listening to the wedding pros who are ready to grow podcast.
• 0:33
  I'm here to share with Actionable tips, strategies, and real life
• 0:36
  examples to help you take your wedding business to the next level.
• 0:40
  If you are an ambitious wedding business owner that wants to take your passion
• 0:44
  and use it to build a profitable, sustainable business doing what you
• 0:47
  love, then you're in the right place.
• 0:49
  Let's get going with today's episode.
• 0:52
  I really hope you've been enjoying this August series here on the podcast where
• 0:56
  I've been taking some of the trainings for my Wedding Pro members and bringing them
• 1:01
  onto the podcast for you to listen to.
• 1:03
  So far we've had a wide variety of trainings and today is no different.
• 1:08
  Today we are joined by one of my most popular guest experts, the
• 1:11
  wonderful, the one and only Alan Berg.
• 1:14
  His sessions are always packed full of information.
• 1:16
  We actually have two of them inside the Wedding Pro Members
• 1:18
  Lounge, but I'm only bringing one of them to you to listen to today.
• 1:21
  Today's session was recorded back in March, 2021 as part of
• 1:25
  my Wedding Pro Summit that year.
• 1:26
  And it's all about how to respond to digital inquiries.
• 1:29
  And he talks a lot about wedding directories as well.
• 1:31
  Well, there's always so much to learn from Alan and I know you're going
• 1:35
  to absolutely love this session.
• 1:36
  In fact, it's a reminder to me, maybe I need to get him back into the members
• 1:39
  lounge, if you remember, so that we can get him to do an updated, fresh
• 1:42
  session on one of his new books as well.
• 1:45
  I would really love to welcome you inside the Members Lounge
• 1:48
  if you're not already a member.
• 1:50
  It really is a very special community to be part of.
• 1:52
  It's a place where people really do lift each other up, encourage
• 1:55
  each other on, and we're always trying to strive to better ourselves
• 1:58
  and our wedding businesses.
• 1:59
  I'm always looking to bring the Best experts every single month
• 2:02
  into the group, and it will help you stay ahead of your game.
• 2:04
  Cause when something changes, I bring in a brand new expert or an old expert returns
• 2:08
  to the group to give us the updates.
• 2:10
  If you want to join this summer, I have a very special offer on
• 2:13
  for you until the end of August.
• 2:15
  If you use the coupon code SUMMER at the checkout, you'll get
• 2:19
  your first month for just that.
• 2:20
  10 pounds.
• 2:21
  So you can come and check us out, see what we're all about this
• 2:23
  summer and hopefully join us.
• 2:25
  Most people join for a month and then stay for years.
• 2:28
  Enjoy this session with Alan.
• 2:29
  It really is fabulous.
• 2:31
  If you want to see the full recording with the slideshow as well, then
• 2:34
  you're going to have to be a member, go into the members lounge.
• 2:36
  You will find this session under build and get booked because that's
• 2:40
  what we all want to be doing.
• 2:42
  Okay.
• 2:43
  We are going to get straight in because I know Alan has got some amazing stuff
• 2:47
  to share with you guys and I want to give him as much time as possible.
• 2:50
  possible.
• 2:51
  So I'm going to bring him up to join us right now.
• 2:55
  Good morning, Alan.
• 2:56
  How are you doing?
• 2:58
  Alan: Good afternoon back.
• 2:58
  I'm doing well.
• 2:59
  Thank you.
• 3:01
  Becca: It's great to have you.
• 3:02
  Thank you so much for coming to join us this afternoon.
• 3:04
  I know that my audience are really excited about what you
• 3:07
  have to share with us today.
• 3:09
  Just briefly, do you want to explain who you are, what you
• 3:12
  do and where abouts your base?
• 3:14
  Alan: So let me crunch 25 plus years in the wedding industry
• 3:17
  down to about 10 seconds here.
• 3:19
  I started selling wedding advertising published to wedding magazines.
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  I was vice president of sales for a little site called the
• 3:24
  knot, which some people know.
• 3:26
  And I said 10 years since I left the knot and I've been traveling around the world
• 3:31
  in the UK many, many times in Ireland.
• 3:33
  14 countries actually speaking about the business of weddings and events.
• 3:37
  I've written five books.
• 3:38
  conveniently there they are over there behind me.
• 3:41
  And it's just amazing that I get to speak to wedding professionals
• 3:45
  this way in person one on one consultations to have a better
• 3:49
  business so you can do more weddings.
• 3:51
  It's just such an incredible business.
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  So that's the short story.
• 3:55
  Becca: And whereabouts in the States, you based?
• 3:57
  Alan: I live in New Jersey, about seven miles from Princeton University,
• 4:01
  a beautiful part of the state.
• 4:02
  No, it's not near New York.
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  No, it's not near the shore.
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  No, it's not.
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  It's not the Jersey Shore.
• 4:07
  It's not near Philadelphia, right in the middle of the state.
• 4:09
  It's just a beautiful New Jersey is actually called the garden
• 4:12
  state, and some people don't believe this when I tell them.
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  But when I leave my development, I have to make a turn because there's a farm.
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  So, yeah, and they don't think of New Jersey that way.
• 4:22
  You think of Newark Airport or where the shore or something like that.
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  So it's a, it's a beautiful state and we've been here
• 4:28
  about, yeah, about 10 years.
• 4:30
  So it's I grew up in New York, so I didn't go that far.
• 4:34
  Becca: Amazing.
• 4:34
  Well, it's.
• 4:35
  So good to have you with us.
• 4:36
  I'm going to hand straight over to you because I know you've got
• 4:38
  loads of great stuff to share.
• 4:40
  As soon as you get all ready, I will share your screen into the present
• 4:43
  for your presentation as well.
• 4:44
  And I will be back to answer and ask the questions later on today.
• 4:48
  So I will take myself out and add you.
• 4:52
  Alan: There we go.
• 4:53
  So if you hear anything you want to share, here's our social links.
• 4:56
  for Becca and I.
• 4:57
  So please do that.
• 4:58
  It will be at the bottom of every screen as well.
• 5:00
  I'm going to go through this.
• 5:01
  I want to get to your questions because I'm sure now that we're engagement
• 5:04
  season, you're gonna have lots of them.
• 5:07
  This is a presentation actually based upon one of my books, which
• 5:09
  is called Why Don't They Call Me?
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  Because I hear this from wedding professionals all the time.
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  You know, if they would just ring me up, it would just be so much easier.
• 5:16
  I could have that conversation, but we know they don't do that.
• 5:19
  So I want to give you eight tips for converting inquiries into sales.
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  There are four steps to getting more sales.
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  The first step is you get someone's attention, then they make an inquiry,
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  then you get to have a conversation, and then you make the sale.
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  Getting their attention is advertising, marketing, social
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  media, networking, things like that.
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  Getting the inquiry is being clear about the next step that they're going to
• 5:43
  do, but then once you get that inquiry, you have to have that good conversation
• 5:47
  or you don't get onto the next step.
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  So we're going to concentrate on that part and not getting ghosted.
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  Ghosted meaning they make an inquiry.
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  You respond, you don't hear back, right?
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  That's very common.
• 5:58
  There are some really, really simple reasons why they will go against
• 6:02
  what you're probably doing now.
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  But the opportunity is there because they're already making the inquiry.
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  So think about this.
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  If 10 people make inquiries and only 4 or 5 or 6 of them reply back to you.
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  What happened to those others?
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  Those other four, five, six, sometimes seven for some of you.
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  They made the inquiry.
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  Why are they not responding?
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  That's where your opportunity is.
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  And I want to just say this, everything works sometimes,
• 6:28
  nothing works all the time.
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  The idea is to make it work more of the time.
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  So why don't people call you?
• 6:34
  Why don't they just ring you up on the phone?
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  If you have Google analytics on your website, which you should, you'll see
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  the time of the day and the day of the week that people are reaching out
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  to you and those darker spots there.
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  And a lot of it is happening during the week during the day.
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  Well, where are they during the week?
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  During the day.
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  Yes, they're planning their weddings from work now for the last year or so.
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  They've been planning their weddings from work, which has been home.
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  But in normal times, they're planning their weddings during the
• 7:02
  work time or very late at night.
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  So they don't ring you up because they can't.
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  They don't ring you up because late at night they don't figure you'll
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  answer and they don't ring you up because they're digital natives.
• 7:13
  I'm a digital immigrant.
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  That doesn't mean I don't like technology.
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  I have my iphone 11 pro.
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  I have my apple watch.
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  I like my technology.
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  It just wasn't here when I started in this industry and I had to adapt
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  to it as opposed to the couples getting married today, most of
• 7:27
  whom grew up with that technology.
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  So think about this by the time you get to have the conversation
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  with them, which could be a conversation through your fingertips.
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  It could be a phone call, a zoom meeting and in person meeting.
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  By the time you get to have this conversation, they've already
• 7:42
  eliminated most of your competitors.
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  Because there might be dozens or hundreds of people that they could
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  have reached out to, but they only reached out to a handful.
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  Typically it's three to five, maybe seven.
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  Sometimes they go a little more, but when they start getting all those
• 7:56
  replies, that's when they start ghosting everybody because they realize they made
• 8:00
  a mistake in sending out 20 inquiries.
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  So typically it's going to be three to five because they've already
• 8:05
  eliminated most of your competitors.
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  So that means that they know at least a little bit about you because
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  you've made it to the next step.
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  They like what they've seen and read and heard and watched, because
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  why would they make the next step?
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  And they've put you on that short list.
• 8:20
  So most of your competitors don't even know there's a game going on.
• 8:24
  The coach told you to suit up and get in the game and get on the pitch.
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  But the rest of the people don't even know there's a game going on.
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  So they've started a conversation with you.
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  This is really critical.
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  You're not trying to start a conversation.
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  You're trying to continue the conversation.
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  They reached out and started the conversation.
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  Yes, even if it only said, how much do you charge?
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  That is the beginning of a conversation.
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  They ask how much you charge because they don't know what else to ask.
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  It's called framing.
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  They don't have anything to frame this decision by because
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  they haven't done it before.
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  So when you're buying something you've bought before, you know what
• 8:59
  to ask and you know what to look for.
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  When you've not done that, when you've not hired a venue or not hired a DJ or
• 9:06
  photographer or a band or a florist or or bought a dress that's that important.
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  You don't know what to ask.
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  So don't lose this opportunity that they are handing to you by reaching out.
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  Continue that conversation that they've already started.
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  So here are the eight tips.
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  Here are the eight tips.
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  This is right out of my book, eight tips for converting inquiries into sales.
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  The first one is that it's a real conversation.
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  One thing I hear from wedding pros all the time is how do I stand out?
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  How do I look different?
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  Well, the way you do that is by not looking and sounding like everyone else.
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  And if your voice doesn't come through in the conversation to them digitally
• 9:44
  in an email through social messaging, through WhatsApp, through text or
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  whatever it is, if they can't hear your voice, kind of like in the movies,
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  when someone's reading a letter.
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  And they hear the person who wrote the letter.
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  They hear that voice.
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  If your voice doesn't come through, you'll sound like everyone else.
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  We do a lot of secret shopping in my consulting.
• 10:02
  And what we find is so many wedding professionals think
• 10:06
  that they're being personal.
• 10:07
  And when you see yours alone, it's like, well, that looks very nice.
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  But when we see five or six or eight or 10 messages side by
• 10:14
  side, they kind of look the same.
• 10:16
  So you need to make it sound the same way as if they rang you up on the
• 10:20
  phone, that it sounds like your voice.
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  It's a real conversation.
• 10:24
  Just one more thing on that.
• 10:25
  What would you say if you were on the phone?
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  If someone rang you up and said, Oh, we're looking to get married in May of 2022.
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  And you say, what a beautiful time of the year at our venue.
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  It's just, the flowers are in bloom.
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  It's gorgeous.
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  You would say that on the phone.
• 10:40
  Would you write that if you don't write that?
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  It's not a real conversation.
• 10:44
  Number two is to reply as quickly as you can.
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  And a survey by WeddingWire here in the states of their couples had shown
• 10:50
  that about 50 percent said they ended up choosing the first one who replied.
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  So time is of the essence.
• 10:57
  Speed is of the essence.
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  I know that That stinks because sometimes you just can't do it.
• 11:02
  I want you to not only reply as quickly as you can, I want you to be the
• 11:06
  first one to get a reply back because otherwise it's not a conversation.
• 11:11
  If they message you, fill out your contact form, whatever, email you, and
• 11:15
  you send them back, you copy pasted, you attached your brochure, you send
• 11:20
  that back and you never hear back again, that's not a conversation.
• 11:23
  You gave them a license to shop and they didn't reply to you, so
• 11:26
  you're not having a conversation.
• 11:29
  Companies that try to contact potential customers within an hour
• 11:32
  of receiving queries are nearly seven times as likely to have a meaningful
• 11:35
  conversation with the key decision maker as firms that try to connect
• 11:39
  contact prospects even an hour later.
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  And this is Harvard Business Review.
• 11:43
  Yet only 30 percent of companies respond to queries within an hour.
• 11:46
  So think about this.
• 11:47
  If someone is.
• 11:49
  looking at your website right now, or maybe they're on guides for brides
• 11:53
  or wedding wire than not, or hitched or easy weddings or some, some site
• 11:57
  wedding weddings online, right?
• 11:59
  What if they're one of these sites and they message you and you get
• 12:03
  back to them two hours later.
• 12:05
  They're no longer looking at that site.
• 12:07
  They're no longer on your site or one of those sites or your social page.
• 12:11
  They're off doing something else.
• 12:12
  The quicker you get to them, the more likely they're still in that mode of
• 12:17
  I want to find out more about you.
• 12:19
  Number three is to marry their tone, which is the formality.
• 12:22
  Is it a very formal tone?
• 12:24
  Is it very casual tone?
• 12:25
  And number four is to marry their energy.
• 12:28
  So how much excitement is in there?
• 12:30
  There's a big difference between hello, I'd like to inquire about engaging
• 12:34
  their services for impending nuptials.
• 12:37
  That's very different than OMG, my BFF and I are getting married, right?
• 12:41
  They're different, different tone, different energy, formal, casual,
• 12:45
  how much excitement is there?
• 12:46
  Even a casual one might not have a lot of excitement in it.
• 12:50
  It just could sound a little bit more friendly, a little more casual
• 12:53
  than something that's more formal.
• 12:55
  You need to mirror because people do business with people that
• 12:57
  they feel comfortable with People they know, they like, they trust.
• 13:01
  And you need to make them feel comfortable with you by mirroring.
• 13:05
  So you don't get credit for doing it right, but you can lose
• 13:08
  points for getting it wrong.
• 13:10
  Contact forms are wonderful.
• 13:11
  You should have a short contact form.
• 13:13
  I actually have that form there on the left on every page of my website.
• 13:17
  You want to have a contact form because more people will fill that out
• 13:21
  than just send you a direct message.
• 13:23
  But it removes their tone.
• 13:24
  It removes their energy.
• 13:25
  So a lot of times you'll get a query and it'll say, hi, here's our wedding date.
• 13:30
  Could you give me more information and price?
• 13:32
  Right?
• 13:32
  You get very similar queries like that all the time.
• 13:35
  So, what you want to do is mirror how much they write and since they fill
• 13:40
  out a contact form much of the time.
• 13:42
  You don't know how much they're going to write.
• 13:44
  So what you want to do is fit your first reply on one screen of their smartphone.
• 13:50
  Here's the rub.
• 13:51
  Do you know what fits on one screen?
• 13:53
  I'll bet you don't because if you write your messages on a laptop and desktop,
• 13:58
  or even a tablet, squeeze that down to a phone screen, what does that look like?
• 14:02
  So one of the things I want you all to do.
• 14:05
  Is start BCCing yourself blind, copying yourself on the messages you're sending
• 14:10
  out to your customers, to your prospects.
• 14:13
  When you write it on your desktop and then squeeze it down to the phone, you'll
• 14:16
  see how little actually fits on one screen, and you'll have to start cutting
• 14:20
  down, cutting down, cutting down if they write you back a very long response.
• 14:26
  You now have been given permission to write them back longer.
• 14:29
  You don't have to, but you've been given permission to.
• 14:32
  If they write you long, they will read long.
• 14:35
  If they write you short, and you know, sometimes they give you sound
• 14:38
  bites, not even full sentences.
• 14:39
  You ask a question, they give you a word or two words or a phrase
• 14:42
  or a number, and that's it.
• 14:44
  They're signaling.
• 14:45
  Don't write me back a lot.
• 14:46
  I'm not going to read it and we've all been there where you open
• 14:49
  up your phone and you see a long message and you start to scroll.
• 14:53
  You're like I'll get to that later.
• 14:54
  Ever done that?
• 14:56
  I'll bet you have and your customers will as well.
• 14:58
  And sometimes they don't get to it.
• 14:59
  They just go to the shorter message and respond to them instead.
• 15:03
  Number six, very important.
• 15:05
  This is a rule of sales.
• 15:06
  Just not just an emailing or messaging with people just in general in sales.
• 15:11
  Don't answer questions they haven't asked you.
• 15:13
  And that applies to COVID as well.
• 15:16
  So if someone reaches out to you and you're having a conversation
• 15:19
  and they don't ask about your COVID protocols or what you're doing to
• 15:22
  protect them and their guests and your staff, don't talk about it.
• 15:27
  But if they do, they bring it up, your answer should be,
• 15:30
  Thank you so much for asking.
• 15:32
  I'm really glad you did because we're very proud of what we're doing to
• 15:34
  protect you, your guests and our team.
• 15:37
  But if they don't bring it up, don't talk about it.
• 15:40
  Think about this as well.
• 15:41
  How many times does someone make an inquiry and you respond telling
• 15:45
  them some things that were on the website where they came from?
• 15:49
  You talk about some of the features of your venue.
• 15:51
  You talk about some of the features of your photography,
• 15:53
  video, flowers, decor, DJ, band.
• 15:57
  How many times do you respond and just put that information
• 16:00
  in when it was already there?
• 16:01
  Now it was there.
• 16:02
  It doesn't mean they read it, but it was there.
• 16:05
  So don't just start volunteering information because they want to talk
• 16:08
  about what they want to talk about, which they think is important to
• 16:11
  them, not what you think is important.
• 16:14
  And you have the curse of knowledge because you know what you do,
• 16:16
  and you've done it for dozens and hundreds or thousands of people.
• 16:20
  Don't start volunteering.
• 16:22
  What you want to do is ask them one question at the end of your message.
• 16:28
  Two important parts there.
• 16:30
  One question, not two, not three, not four, not five.
• 16:33
  And at the end, now why is that?
• 16:36
  The same thing as if you were in person or on the phone with someone, if you ask
• 16:40
  the question, would you keep talking?
• 16:42
  I hope not.
• 16:44
  If you want them to answer your question, why would you keep talking?
• 16:47
  So if you were having a conversation with someone and you asked the
• 16:50
  question such as, Oh, are you thinking of having both your ceremony and
• 16:54
  reception at the same location?
• 16:56
  Or how many guests do you expect?
• 16:59
  You wouldn't say how many guests are you expecting and then keep
• 17:01
  talking, you'd let them answer.
• 17:04
  So when you ask a question, make it its own paragraph at the end of your message.
• 17:08
  And then the only thing after that is your sign off your name, not a big sentence.
• 17:13
  If you want to say regards and your name, that's fine.
• 17:15
  But don't say, I look forward to hearing back from you.
• 17:18
  And you'll see why in a minute, because we don't want to create these dead ends here.
• 17:22
  Creating dead ends is why they don't reply to you.
• 17:24
  If you end with a statement.
• 17:26
  Why should they answer?
• 17:27
  If you end with a question, it's implied that they're supposed to answer.
• 17:30
  So dead ends are things like this.
• 17:32
  Let me know if you have any questions.
• 17:34
  It's a very polite statement, but it's a dead end because that's if they have
• 17:38
  any questions now, they respond now.
• 17:40
  Otherwise maybe later, or please let me know if that works for you.
• 17:45
  Another dead end or feel free to let me know if you have any questions.
• 17:48
  These are all actual statements from the secret shopping that we've
• 17:50
  done that wedding pros have put.
• 17:53
  We look forward to hearing back from you.
• 17:55
  Well, good luck because that's a statement that is not a question.
• 17:59
  If you want them to respond to you, don't end with, feel free to let me know or I
• 18:03
  look forward to because they're all going to end with periods or exclamation points.
• 18:07
  Periods are the end of sentences.
• 18:09
  End of the statement.
• 18:10
  Exclamation points are emphatically the end of the statement, so don't do
• 18:14
  that because those are all dead ends.
• 18:16
  Do something like this.
• 18:18
  Dear Kristen, thanks for reaching out about having your beautiful wedding here.
• 18:21
  We still have dates open in April 2021.
• 18:24
  How many guests are you expecting?
• 18:25
  That's what's called a low commitment question.
• 18:29
  A low commitment question is one that they can answer without thinking you're prying
• 18:32
  or they're giving up private information.
• 18:35
  They don't have to consult with anyone.
• 18:37
  They don't have to ask anyone.
• 18:38
  What do you think?
• 18:39
  What do you think?
• 18:40
  They know the answer.
• 18:41
  Here's a Facebook messenger conversation that came in from one of my clients.
• 18:45
  He got a message that said, Hi there.
• 18:47
  My name is Lisa.
• 18:48
  I'm getting married 25th of September.
• 18:50
  I'm looking for a DJ was wondering if you could send me some
• 18:52
  pricing and packages you offer.
• 18:54
  Also, my fiance is active duty in the military was wondering
• 18:56
  if you do a military discount.
• 18:58
  Thanks in advance.
• 19:00
  My client responds back, Lisa.
• 19:02
  So glad you reached out.
• 19:03
  Do you have a few minutes to chat here?
• 19:04
  I have a couple of questions.
• 19:06
  Yes, I know technically he didn't end with the question, but she
• 19:09
  responded very quickly, sure, with two exclamation points.
• 19:13
  What is she trying to signal with those two exclamation points?
• 19:16
  She's excited.
• 19:18
  She's excited that it responded and responded so quickly.
• 19:20
  I do have one DJ available.
• 19:22
  You picked a popular date.
• 19:23
  He's setting a sense of urgency and a scarcity to that.
• 19:28
  Where is the wedding being held?
• 19:29
  They went back and forth on Facebook messenger.
• 19:32
  He wrote the sale, took a deposit, never spoke to her on the phone.
• 19:35
  Didn't have to.
• 19:36
  They had a conversation.
• 19:37
  She chose Facebook messenger to reach out.
• 19:40
  He continued it there.
• 19:42
  There was no reason to try to move it to the phone when she was answering all of
• 19:45
  his questions, showing her excitement.
• 19:47
  Another one.
• 19:48
  Here's a response.
• 19:49
  Somebody came in on a contact form.
• 19:51
  Hi, James.
• 19:51
  Thanks for reaching out.
• 19:52
  Great news.
• 19:53
  We're available on your date.
• 19:54
  We love working at the San Clemente Casino.
• 19:56
  They had indicated their venue.
• 19:57
  This was for an entertainment company.
• 19:59
  Are you having both your ceremony and reception here?
• 20:02
  All of those fit on one screen.
• 20:04
  They're nice and short.
• 20:05
  They're friendly.
• 20:06
  He's showing his excitement here as well.
• 20:08
  This went back and forth.
• 20:10
  Same thing again, wrote the sale without a phone call.
• 20:13
  Number seven.
• 20:14
  When I first wrote this, when I first started speaking about this, I
• 20:18
  said, please don't send attachments.
• 20:19
  They haven't yet asked for it.
• 20:21
  And now I just say, don't send attachments that you remember the movie men in black.
• 20:24
  Everyone remember the movie men in black?
• 20:26
  They had their little flashy things.
• 20:27
  Well, I'm going to flashy thing.
• 20:28
  You there.
• 20:29
  There you go.
• 20:30
  I just broke the attachment button on all of your computers.
• 20:34
  Think about this.
• 20:36
  If someone rings you on the phone, there are no attachments.
• 20:39
  You don't give them any links.
• 20:40
  You just have a conversation.
• 20:42
  Email is no different.
• 20:44
  WhatsApp is no different.
• 20:45
  Texting is no different.
• 20:46
  Social messaging is no different.
• 20:48
  Messaging through a site like WeddingWire, The Knot, Guides for
• 20:51
  Brides, or Hitched, or Weddings Online.
• 20:55
  It's the same thing.
• 20:56
  It's a conversation.
• 20:57
  So try not to send attachments.
• 20:59
  But there's a bunch of good reasons.
• 21:01
  One is, you sent them something to read.
• 21:05
  They think they're supposed to read it before they get back to you.
• 21:08
  You're wondering why they're not getting back to you and it's your fault.
• 21:11
  The other reason is when you open that attachment up on
• 21:14
  a desktop, Oh, look at this.
• 21:15
  That's beautiful.
• 21:16
  It's a, it's right there on the water.
• 21:18
  Same thing on a phone.
• 21:19
  Can't read it.
• 21:20
  Can't read it, right?
• 21:22
  These are actual attachments that we got in our secret shopping.
• 21:25
  You can't read them.
• 21:26
  I mean, look how big that phone is on that screen.
• 21:28
  Imagine if it was just really the size of a phone.
• 21:31
  You can't read that.
• 21:32
  This is one of the other day.
• 21:34
  I was doing a master class on how to reply to inquiries without getting ghosted.
• 21:39
  And one of the people we saw what she was sending out initially,
• 21:42
  this brochure was attached.
• 21:44
  Can't read it.
• 21:45
  No matter how beautiful the photos are, it's not going to help if they
• 21:47
  can't read the details on there.
• 21:49
  So don't send attachments, just have a conversation.
• 21:53
  Plus, you're giving them a license to shop you against other people
• 21:57
  when you give them these documents.
• 21:59
  So you give them these documents and you're wondering why they're not
• 22:01
  replying and they're looking at your document comparing it to somebody else's.
• 22:05
  And you're not getting a chance to have a conversation to ask, ask questions to
• 22:09
  answer questions to get them excited about having you for their wedding, having their
• 22:14
  wedding at your venue, having you cater it, having you take the pictures, having
• 22:18
  you provide the stationary they want.
• 22:20
  You need them to get excited about wanting your results and very few of
• 22:25
  the brochures that I've seen do that.
• 22:27
  Well, number eight is don't stop the conversation if they haven't.
• 22:31
  Most of your competitors will give up when we do our secret shopping.
• 22:36
  What we find is first thing is not everyone that we reach
• 22:39
  out to gets back to us at all.
• 22:42
  Sometimes it's technical.
• 22:43
  Just had this the other day, we sent an inquiry to this venue.
• 22:46
  We didn't hear back.
• 22:48
  We went to them and said, Hey, we didn't hear back and they went and checked
• 22:51
  and they never received our inquiry.
• 22:53
  Well, that's not our fault.
• 22:54
  We filled out the contact form on their website.
• 22:57
  If they're not getting the inquiry, how many other inquiries
• 23:00
  did they not get that were real?
• 23:02
  I had another client who the inquirers were coming in from their website
• 23:05
  and from advertising, but they were going to an email address of a former
• 23:09
  employee and that person wasn't there anymore and no one was checking.
• 23:13
  So they were missing out on all of these inquiries.
• 23:15
  So sometimes it's a technical reason.
• 23:17
  So the first thing is we don't get a reply from everyone.
• 23:20
  The second is how long it takes to get a reply varies from auto replies,
• 23:24
  which I don't count as a real reply because that's not a conversation.
• 23:27
  That's a computer sent you information.
• 23:30
  So from auto replies, which are almost instant to minutes,
• 23:34
  hours, days, sometimes weeks.
• 23:38
  You have an opportunity because they've reached out to you.
• 23:42
  Your competitors are giving up way too soon, way too soon.
• 23:47
  I did a series of short videos for the not recently, and one
• 23:50
  of them was about replying and how often should you follow up?
• 23:53
  And my short answer is if you follow up even just one more time than you are
• 23:58
  now, you have an opportunity to write some sales that you're not writing now.
• 24:02
  What I see very often is couples apologizing to the wedding professional
• 24:07
  for not getting back to them because this thing called life got in the way.
• 24:11
  Life gets in the way because you have work and you have school and you have
• 24:15
  some have kids and you have people getting sick and you have all these
• 24:19
  changes with the rules that are going on and they just get a little overwhelmed
• 24:23
  with other things and they put the planning the wedding on the side burner.
• 24:28
  You get back to them one more time.
• 24:30
  A lot of these people are still interested.
• 24:32
  There's three possible responses.
• 24:34
  When someone reaches out to you, you can get a yes.
• 24:37
  That's the best one.
• 24:38
  You could get a no or you could hear nothing.
• 24:41
  You could get ghosted.
• 24:43
  Which of those is the worst?
• 24:46
  Some people say no because the person said no.
• 24:48
  To me, no is not the worst.
• 24:50
  No is a definitive answer.
• 24:51
  And if you might offer other services, you might be able to get them.
• 24:55
  For instance, a hotel venue here in New Jersey, I remember speaking
• 24:58
  with the sales manager and she had someone who said they thought they
• 25:01
  were going to go with someone else.
• 25:02
  I said, well, first they said, they thought they didn't say they did.
• 25:05
  I said, get them come back in for another appointment.
• 25:09
  See if there's something you could work out, which they couldn't, but
• 25:12
  they did get them to have their rehearsal dinner and got a block of
• 25:15
  rooms, overnight rooms for the guests.
• 25:18
  So what was going to be a complete no turned into something.
• 25:21
  Now, not all of you have that.
• 25:22
  I totally get that.
• 25:23
  But maybe is the worst that no answer is the worst because some of those are yeses.
• 25:28
  And if you give up, somebody else gets the sale.
• 25:32
  I was, I was telling a story on a podcast one time about how I was working one on
• 25:36
  one with a, an entertainment company here and happen to be here in Jersey also.
• 25:40
  And we went in to look at the inquiries he had gotten.
• 25:43
  So it was on the Knot and it was an inquiry from 30 days ago.
• 25:47
  He responded quickly.
• 25:48
  He attached his brochure.
• 25:50
  He asked for a phone call right away, which is a high commitment.
• 25:54
  Phone calls and appointments.
• 25:55
  If you ask for those right away, those are great reasons for people to stop replying
• 25:58
  because that's not what they want.
• 26:00
  They want to find out some more information before committing to that.
• 26:03
  That's a higher commitment.
• 26:04
  So I replied to this inquiry that was 30 days old.
• 26:08
  And I said hi, Jennifer, are you still looking for a fun DJ to make your wedding?
• 26:11
  Great.
• 26:13
  Three minutes later, she responded.
• 26:15
  Yes, we went back and forth about four times asking her low commitment
• 26:19
  questions about, had she already booked the venue and how many guests
• 26:23
  and is she having the ceremony there?
• 26:25
  And then I said, I'm getting really excited about your wedding.
• 26:27
  I'd love to find out more about how I can make it amazing for you and your guests.
• 26:31
  Can I give you a quick call now or would later today be better?
• 26:35
  She said, can't talk now later.
• 26:36
  Today's better.
• 26:37
  I said six o'clock or seven.
• 26:39
  She said, six is good.
• 26:40
  She gave me the phone number.
• 26:42
  He calls her at six o'clock and made the sale.
• 26:44
  He hadn't been going back 30 days before he did his one try.
• 26:48
  And that was it.
• 26:49
  People heard me on this podcast.
• 26:50
  And while they were listening, some of them went and responded to some people
• 26:53
  that hadn't been getting back to them.
• 26:55
  And one of them said, while I was still talking on the podcast, he got a reply.
• 26:59
  Try at least one more time, but I want to give you a better plan.
• 27:02
  I want to give you a five step.
• 27:03
  This is what I teach in my master classes.
• 27:05
  This is what I've written about in my books.
• 27:07
  So you want to reply as quickly as you can using the method that they chose.
• 27:11
  If they email, email them back.
• 27:13
  If they text, text them back.
• 27:14
  If they WhatsApp, WhatsApp back.
• 27:16
  If they ring you up, call them back.
• 27:18
  Unless they say in an email, could you call, which that happens sometimes.
• 27:22
  And if they email you and say, I'd like to arrange a meeting
• 27:25
  or a tour, Sure, go for it.
• 27:28
  But if they don't do that, don't go right for that.
• 27:30
  But remember, in emails, not in texts or in WhatsApp, there's a subject line.
• 27:34
  And people decide what emails to open based upon what the
• 27:37
  subject line is and who wrote it.
• 27:39
  So if your subject line is something like these, Which are not very exciting.
• 27:44
  Like, you know you know, form submission, new form wedding.
• 27:47
  I mean, the bottom one, my DJ services for Jennifer's wedding.
• 27:49
  That's not bad, but these, will your wedding dance floor be packed?
• 27:55
  Your old cave and wedding begins here.
• 27:56
  Wedding's done right.
• 27:58
  Sterling estate.
• 27:59
  Let's start planning your wedding.
• 28:01
  Say I do with our newly renovated venue.
• 28:03
  And my favorite one, actually, this company was on a
• 28:05
  presentation I did yesterday.
• 28:06
  I've done private training for them.
• 28:08
  They have these boats that do weddings and events.
• 28:12
  on them.
• 28:12
  They're in the U.
• 28:13
  S.
• 28:13
  in various cities.
• 28:14
  They also have the tours like going around Statue of Liberty and out in
• 28:18
  California by Alcatraz in San Francisco.
• 28:21
  So if you inquire about having your wedding on one of these
• 28:24
  boats, they respond with, oh ship, you're getting married.
• 28:30
  Now many of you smiled, I hope.
• 28:32
  If you get them to stop and smile, they're going to open that to see what's in there.
• 28:37
  Will your wedding dance floor be packed?
• 28:38
  If that's something that's important to them, they're
• 28:40
  going to open that email first.
• 28:42
  So subject lines are very, very important.
• 28:44
  Go back and look at your subject lines.
• 28:46
  That's why I said a BCC yourself.
• 28:48
  Is it so long that it gets cut off?
• 28:51
  Can you put their name in there?
• 28:52
  You know, and if it's just a boring one about your inquiry, That's not exciting
• 28:57
  for somebody who's getting married.
• 28:58
  So the second thing is to reply again the next day.
• 29:02
  And yes, he said the next day.
• 29:04
  Not next week, the next day, put yourself back to the top of their inbox.
• 29:09
  Cause you have to remember who started this.
• 29:11
  They did.
• 29:14
  So when they reach out to you, if you don't hear back the next day around the
• 29:18
  time that they inquired, because that was obviously a good time for them.
• 29:21
  So if it was 10 in the morning, 10 in the morning, you don't have to do 11 at night,
• 29:25
  but around 24 hours later, try again and just simply send the same message again.
• 29:31
  And at the top of the message, say something like, okay.
• 29:34
  Hi, Chris.
• 29:35
  Just making sure that my email made it through to you yesterday.
• 29:38
  Very excited to speak to you about, and then it's basically the
• 29:41
  same message from the day before.
• 29:43
  Now, if you're emailing them and you email and you don't hear back the first day,
• 29:47
  you don't hear back after the second day.
• 29:49
  Maybe your emails aren't making it through.
• 29:51
  Maybe they're going to spam.
• 29:53
  Now you need to try something else.
• 29:55
  Ring them up.
• 29:56
  Text them.
• 29:57
  Whatsapp them.
• 29:58
  Some other method.
• 29:59
  I have a different email address that I'll use that's on a different server.
• 30:04
  So instead of using my allen at allenberg.
• 30:06
  com, I'll use whatsapp.
• 30:07
  A gmail address because sometimes gmail goes to spam and the other
• 30:11
  doesn't sometimes my regular goes to spam and the gmail doesn't.
• 30:14
  I have this all the time.
• 30:16
  I'm booked to speak for the Bahamas Ministry of tourism next
• 30:19
  week and I know the person there, but yet she didn't email me.
• 30:23
  She went to my site and filled out my short contact form.
• 30:26
  Great.
• 30:27
  I responded.
• 30:27
  Didn't hear back.
• 30:29
  Okay.
• 30:30
  She's busy.
• 30:31
  I responded the next day.
• 30:32
  Didn't hear back.
• 30:33
  Went to my gmail address responded from there and said, hi, Frida.
• 30:38
  I know that spam filters are getting crazy these days.
• 30:40
  I just wanted to make sure that my messages came through to you.
• 30:43
  Very excited to find out more about speaking at the conference.
• 30:46
  All right, my other message.
• 30:47
  She responded almost immediately.
• 30:49
  I thought it was strange that we didn't hear back from you.
• 30:51
  So my messages weren't making it through.
• 30:53
  Well, if you're giving up thinking they're not interested, what
• 30:57
  if they're not getting them?
• 30:58
  Try something else.
• 30:59
  Leave them a short voice message, send them a text, send them a
• 31:03
  WhatsApp message, do something else.
• 31:05
  Don't give up that soon.
• 31:07
  You know how a dog is with a bone.
• 31:08
  You try to take the bone away from that dog.
• 31:10
  That's what I want you to be.
• 31:11
  I want you to be like,
• 31:14
  don't give up that easy.
• 31:15
  They were at your website, reached out to you.
• 31:17
  They were at your ad online, reached out to you, your social
• 31:20
  profile reached out to you.
• 31:22
  Don't give up that easily.
• 31:25
  You still don't hear back.
• 31:26
  Wait, maybe just a few days and send one line.
• 31:30
  Are you still looking for, in this case, a venue or caterer
• 31:32
  for your event, for your wedding?
• 31:34
  Just like I did with that, that one, that DJ, it was 30 days later.
• 31:37
  He hadn't tried within the 30 days.
• 31:39
  Hi, Jennifer.
• 31:40
  Are you still looking for a fun DJ to make your wedding great?
• 31:43
  That's what we sent.
• 31:44
  I didn't say you're looking for a DJ, a fun DJ to make your wedding great, right?
• 31:48
  Are you still looking for a beautiful venue to host your wedding?
• 31:51
  Are you still looking for a great caterer to make your
• 31:54
  food look as good as it tastes?
• 31:57
  Something to get them to come back and say yes or no.
• 32:01
  If yes, they're still looking, continue the conversation.
• 32:03
  If no, ask if there's anything else you can help them with.
• 32:07
  And that's it.
• 32:08
  Remember, the no answer is the worst answer because they might be interested.
• 32:12
  So try that extra time.
• 32:14
  Now, let's say you still don't hear back.
• 32:15
  That's four times.
• 32:17
  You still don't hear back.
• 32:18
  I will tell you this.
• 32:19
  Most of your competitors gave up after number one.
• 32:22
  Fifty percent never try a second time, sometimes more than that, right?
• 32:27
  And then some of them might try a second time.
• 32:29
  They're not trying a third.
• 32:30
  I just did a shopping of nine venues, four of whom I'm training
• 32:34
  and five of their competitors.
• 32:35
  And one of their competitors has tried three or four times.
• 32:39
  Another one has put them into an automated system.
• 32:42
  You can tell they're not personal emails.
• 32:43
  So yes, they're reaching out, but it doesn't feel very personal.
• 32:47
  And the other three, they give up after one, actually, one
• 32:50
  of them didn't reply at all.
• 32:52
  Now.
• 32:53
  So if you still don't hear back.
• 32:55
  Try something to break through the clutter of their day, to break
• 32:58
  through the monotony of their email inbox, and try something funny.
• 33:01
  So here's a couple of real examples.
• 33:04
  This is one that an entertainment company in Maryland, here in the States did.
• 33:08
  Subject line, Ree, I thought this might be useful.
• 33:10
  I'm sorry, no, this is somebody in the UK.
• 33:12
  This is a, a coach in the UK who had reached out to me about
• 33:16
  selling me her coaching services.
• 33:18
  Now, I never reached out to her, So she wasn't technically responding
• 33:21
  to me, but I thought this was cute.
• 33:23
  So Carrie R said, I thought this might be useful.
• 33:25
  Hi, Alan, I know you're busy.
• 33:27
  So I've prepared three convenient calls to action for you.
• 33:30
  One, ignore this email and eventually get the picture and write
• 33:32
  terrible poetry about the deal.
• 33:34
  We never did most popular to hit reply.
• 33:38
  And I'll do the same.
• 33:39
  Recommended three wildcard.
• 33:42
  Call me on, there's a phone number, interrupt my day.
• 33:44
  Like I have yours.
• 33:45
  I deserve it.
• 33:46
  Limited time offer.
• 33:48
  Option two is my favorite.
• 33:50
  Have a great day.
• 33:51
  Kerry, chief of magicing up a profitable business out of thin air.
• 33:54
  I thought that was very creative.
• 33:56
  I stopped what I was doing to read it because I could use something useful.
• 33:59
  It was pretty short and it was fun.
• 34:02
  This is the entertainment company in the states.
• 34:04
  Where we're going, we don't need roads.
• 34:06
  Some of you got right away that that was a reference to the
• 34:08
  movie Back to the Future, right?
• 34:10
  When they have that DeLorean, they don't need roads.
• 34:13
  Hi, I hope your wedding plans are coming together.
• 34:15
  I sent you a few messages and haven't heard back from you.
• 34:17
  I figured there were a couple of different reasons why this could be the case.
• 34:20
  So please reply back with the number of the correct circumstance.
• 34:23
  One, you're all set with your entertainment and I could stop
• 34:25
  sending you annoying emails.
• 34:27
  Two, you've been meaning to get back to me, you've just been really busy.
• 34:30
  Three, you're interested but just aren't ready to talk entertainment yet
• 34:34
  and I should follow up in two weeks.
• 34:36
  And four, Doc screeched into your driveway in his DeLorean and after
• 34:39
  some whimsical time traveling adventures you found yourself stuck
• 34:42
  in 1955 without access to email.
• 34:45
  He sent this the first three couples he sent this to that had been
• 34:48
  ghosting him all responded with either number two and number three.
• 34:52
  They were still interested and either wanted to talk now or talk later.
• 34:56
  What are you doing to follow up again?
• 34:59
  So I did the same thing for people that had reached out to me about
• 35:01
  having me do sales training for them.
• 35:03
  Some of them haven't done it in a while.
• 35:05
  Some of them haven't done it at all, but they reached out to me.
• 35:08
  So my subject line was R2D2 and C3PO aren't responding.
• 35:12
  Oh, and by the way, they had already been mailed one of my flashlights.
• 35:15
  In a white tube and gotten four emails and hadn't responded.
• 35:19
  So the people that hadn't responded to any of that, I sent this.
• 35:23
  Hi, Patrick, I'm sure you're responding to inquiries right away.
• 35:27
  And like many others, you're frustrated by getting ghosted by
• 35:29
  your brides, grooms, and others.
• 35:30
  You've thought about having me come for sales training for your team,
• 35:33
  but it just hasn't happened yet.
• 35:35
  I can only imagine that it's one of these reasons.
• 35:37
  One, your sales team is selling so much and profiting you so much that
• 35:40
  you could possibly help them sell more.
• 35:42
  Two, you know it would be valuable and want to find out when I can come.
• 35:45
  Three, you know it would be valuable, but it's a little out of your
• 35:48
  budget and you'd like to find out about small group sales training,
• 35:51
  share the cost and the experience.
• 35:53
  And four, imperial forces are storming your outpost and you want
• 35:56
  me to use the force to hold them off.
• 35:59
  Please respond with the appropriate number and I'll respond accordingly.
• 36:02
  Five businesses that hadn't responded to getting a flashlight and a tube
• 36:06
  mailed to them and four emails responded to this almost immediately.
• 36:10
  Try again at least one more time.
• 36:13
  And then here's one where after a couple had come in for a tour
• 36:16
  of a venue, the venue tried this.
• 36:19
  After they had been in and the couple was so excited, it was so excited
• 36:24
  and then they hadn't been responding.
• 36:25
  So they sent them this.
• 36:27
  Did you run off in a lope?
• 36:28
  That was the subject line.
• 36:29
  Hi Rebecca, I'm just checking in to see if you're still
• 36:31
  looking for your wedding venue.
• 36:33
  Touch base with an update when you have a minute.
• 36:35
  Cheers, Tracy George.
• 36:36
  I probably would have worded it differently.
• 36:38
  I probably would have said hi Rebecca, you guys were so excited when you came in
• 36:42
  and I haven't heard back so we can only imagine that you're on a warm sandy beach
• 36:45
  somewhere with a, with a drink with a little umbrella and you decided to skip
• 36:49
  the wedding and go right to the honeymoon.
• 36:50
  If that's not the case, are you still looking for a beautiful
• 36:53
  venue for your wedding?
• 36:54
  I probably would have said it that way.
• 36:56
  However, Tracy sent this and got this back.
• 37:00
  Tracy, LOL.
• 37:01
  Good subject line, but lucky for you, we did not.
• 37:04
  We've just been spending time looking at other venues and comparing
• 37:06
  costs, atmosphere, et cetera.
• 37:08
  I'll tell you this.
• 37:09
  The Oaks is our number one venue.
• 37:10
  Look how excited they are.
• 37:11
  You're a number one venue, but why weren't they responding even with having
• 37:15
  to move it to Sunday due to budget?
• 37:16
  They're talking about lowering the guest count.
• 37:18
  There's still about 3000 over budget, and they were talking about
• 37:22
  having their dream wedding there.
• 37:23
  They're ready to book now.
• 37:25
  Look at the buying signals here, but they hadn't been responding,
• 37:28
  and it took Tracy sending.
• 37:30
  Did you elope?
• 37:31
  lope to get them to at least come back with an answer?
• 37:34
  And that gives them the opportunity to have a conversation and
• 37:37
  see if there is something that they can work out with them.
• 37:40
  So you want to be conversational, make it sound like you, your voice,
• 37:45
  you want to respond quickly and mirror their tone and energy.
• 37:48
  You want to mirror how much they write and fit it on one screen of a phone.
• 37:51
  Don't start dumping data on them to have a real conversation.
• 37:56
  Don't send attachments, continue the conversation and remember
• 37:59
  type of question at the end.
• 38:01
  And when you're done, you send that off.
• 38:04
  Just read what you wrote because auto correct is not your friend.
• 38:07
  I posted yesterday about getting my second dose of vaccination and
• 38:11
  somebody wrote back and said they haven't started vacations here yet.
• 38:15
  I think she meant vaccinations, but it's a vacation.
• 38:18
  So I guess she's waiting for vacation.
• 38:20
  There are four ways that you could talk about price.
• 38:23
  Becca, maybe we'll do this on another session because this could
• 38:25
  take an hour or longer by itself.
• 38:27
  But just real quick, the four ways you could talk about price.
• 38:31
  If you have all the details and can tell them, tell them and then ask for the sale.
• 38:36
  If you don't want to tell them yet, don't antagonize them by avoiding the question.
• 38:41
  Say to them, thanks so much for reaching out.
• 38:43
  I would love to give you pricing information.
• 38:46
  I want to make sure that I don't leave out anything that's important to you.
• 38:49
  And I certainly don't want you to pay for things you don't need.
• 38:52
  So let me get some details and I'll be happy to give you a price.
• 38:55
  And then you ask one of those low commitment questions, ceremony
• 38:59
  and reception both there or the guest count or verify it.
• 39:03
  Have you already booked your venue or are you still working?
• 39:06
  The third is one I prefer you don't use unless there isn't
• 39:10
  a big variation on price.
• 39:11
  So let's say you have two photo booths and there's only a hundred
• 39:16
  difference between the two photo booths.
• 39:18
  You could say it starts at.
• 39:20
  695, just picking numbers here, right?
• 39:22
  Is it 695 and 795?
• 39:24
  You could say starts at 695.
• 39:25
  That's fine.
• 39:26
  But for most of us, there's a much, much bigger range.
• 39:29
  So doing that, if you say starting at, you're saying here's the cheapest
• 39:33
  thing I have, do you want that?
• 39:35
  Because if that's the only number they see.
• 39:37
  That's the number they're going to expect to pay.
• 39:39
  So you, I want you to do top down selling, not bottom up like that.
• 39:42
  So then the way to do it would be with a price range and a price range.
• 39:46
  Everybody can do just by looking, we'll look at a normal year, not last
• 39:49
  year or this year, and look at all the weddings that you did, let's say in
• 39:53
  2019 or all the ones you have booked for the future and look at the range.
• 39:57
  They're going to be small weddings to big weddings and small guest counts to high
• 40:00
  guest count, but that is a true range.
• 40:02
  And then you can find that sweet spot where most people end up.
• 40:06
  But when you're quote, you can quote two different ways.
• 40:09
  So on a recent masterclass, I had a woman up in Canada and she did design and decor.
• 40:14
  And she originally was quoting 6, 000 to 10, 000 plus.
• 40:18
  I said, okay, that's good.
• 40:20
  But what do most people pay?
• 40:22
  And she said, eight to 10.
• 40:24
  I said, gosh, you're telling them they have to buy at the top of your range.
• 40:27
  And she often does 20, 000 and up or 30, 000 and up.
• 40:30
  I said, so why don't you say we go from 6, 000 plus most of
• 40:34
  our couples ending up 8 to 10.
• 40:36
  And now it sounds like, Hey, we can do that higher work.
• 40:39
  Most people don't end up there, but you could.
• 40:42
  And that's a better way to do a price range is to show them that and give
• 40:45
  them what's called framing again, which is not what it costs for everybody in
• 40:49
  this market to do something like this, but what it costs if you come here.
• 40:53
  Kind of like if you go to a car dealer, if you go to a Hyundai dealer,
• 40:56
  the range is different than the range at the Mercedes dealer, right?
• 41:00
  But they both have ranges, but they're different.
• 41:02
  And it's supposed to be that way.
• 41:04
  They need to know your range to know if they're, they want to continue the
• 41:07
  conversation, but always acknowledge that they've asked about price.
• 41:10
  Don't ignore that question.
• 41:12
  And don't assume because they're asking about price that they can't afford you.
• 41:15
  Everybody that's ever booked you at high dollars has asked
• 41:18
  you how much things cost.
• 41:19
  If you assume that they're looking for cheap things, you're actually
• 41:22
  losing out on higher sales.
• 41:24
  And some people who are looking for something higher are going to say,
• 41:27
  Oh, well, gee, you're only that much.
• 41:29
  I'm going to go find somebody who can do the kind of work that I need.
• 41:31
  So don't assume that they're looking for cheap because they ask about price.
• 41:34
  Don't assume they want your lowest package.
• 41:36
  Don't assume they can't afford you.
• 41:39
  It's their wallet.
• 41:40
  It's their budget and all budgets can be changed because all budgets were
• 41:44
  made up by somebody and according to a survey here in the States, couples
• 41:48
  go over their budget by 30 to 40%.
• 41:53
  And if you want to know their budget, don't ask until you've
• 41:56
  given them some idea because the transparency of you saying, yeah,
• 41:59
  our prices range from here to here.
• 42:01
  Most couples are around here.
• 42:02
  Where are you guys looking to end up?
• 42:05
  They'll be more truthful if you've first given them some numbers than if you say,
• 42:10
  what's your budget without them knowing what you charge, because they'll feel
• 42:14
  like they need to hold back some, and you're not going to get a truthful answer.
• 42:18
  And please don't leave with only your lowest price.
• 42:20
  Don't do that starting at if you have a range, because I want you to
• 42:23
  do top down selling, not bottom up.
• 42:25
  And I love talking about price.
• 42:27
  I love whenever somebody says to me, Alan, how much is it
• 42:30
  to have you review my website?
• 42:31
  How much is it to have you do sales training for me?
• 42:33
  I love it because you're communicating with buyers.
• 42:36
  People who are looking to buy things ask how much they cost.
• 42:39
  So be happy when someone says how much does it cost and just
• 42:44
  have a conversation with them.
• 42:46
  But continue the conversation they've started.
• 42:49
  Using the method they've reached out to you.
• 42:52
  Now, there's lots of resources on my website.
• 42:54
  There's actually a resources page right there at the bottom.
• 42:56
  You can see allenberg.
• 42:57
  com slash resources, any upcoming workshops.
• 43:00
  I have an upcoming masterclass on not getting ghosted and
• 43:03
  upcoming website review class.
• 43:05
  There are some webinars there that are coming up or on demand.
• 43:08
  And there's also a whole bunch of books, not just my books,
• 43:12
  but books that I've read.
• 43:14
  I know many of these authors.
• 43:16
  And there's some great books there.
• 43:17
  So just scroll down on that resources page and you'll see the paradox of
• 43:21
  choice in the bottom left corner.
• 43:22
  It's a great book on how people make decisions.
• 43:25
  Never split the difference by Chris Voss about negotiating.
• 43:29
  It's a great book.
• 43:30
  There are all of these.
• 43:31
  I recommend them highly.
• 43:32
  Again, I know many of these authors there and there's links right to
• 43:35
  Amazon there as well for them.
• 43:36
  And then because you've made it this far with me, thank you so much.
• 43:39
  We're going to get to your questions in a second, but if you do want any of
• 43:41
  my books, you can just go to my shop.
• 43:44
  We ship all over the world, shop allenberg.
• 43:46
  com and use the code webinar 20 when it asks you for the coupon code or
• 43:51
  promo code webinar 20 and you'll get 20 percent off anything there.
• 43:55
  There are already some discounted bundles.
• 43:57
  You'll still get 20 percent off on top of that.
• 43:59
  And my most popular book, which is shut up and sell more weddings and events actually
• 44:03
  comes in three different versions.
• 44:05
  The original version, which is good for all wedding and event pros,
• 44:08
  a version for caterers and venues specifically, and a version for DJs
• 44:12
  and entertainment companies, photo booths, lighting is another one there.
• 44:15
  So webinar 20 over there and Becca, let's see if we have any questions here.
• 44:21
  Oh, by the way, if you want to get on my email list, so you'll know
• 44:24
  what upcoming events I have and get my free article every month.
• 44:27
  Just go to connect with Allenburg.
• 44:31
  com.
• 44:33
  Becca: I really hope you enjoyed today's sneaky look inside
• 44:36
  the members lounge portal.
• 44:38
  I hope that you will consider joining us in the members lounge.
• 44:41
  We have current up to date training just like this every single month.
• 44:45
  Plus a huge library of training that we've had previously.
• 44:48
  Also, if you want to see this video again, but with the PowerPoint visuals
• 44:51
  or with the Q and a, at the end, you'll find it all inside the members lounge.
• 44:54
  I'll see you next time.