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A Wedding Business Podcast - Tips and tricks to, grow and sustain a amazingly successful wedding business in a way that's is fun and gives you tons of freedom.
Welcome everyone to the Wedding Pro Academy Podcast. I'm Nicole, your host. I'm an expert in the wedding industry and I've personally built two 6 figure businesses from the ground up. I am obsessed with building businesses that make lots of money but do so in a way that also create luxurious amounts of freedom. So, if you're looking to build, grow, or scale a wedding business in a way that doesn't burn you out, and you'd love some guidance from someone who has done just that, this podcast is for you.
Nicole:Each week I'll cover strategies, ideas, tips, and tricks that will give you your dream wedding business too. Thanks so much for tuning in today. Now let's dive in! Hello everyone! Welcome to episode 66.
Nicole:Today is a fun little short one we're going be talking about 21 wedding business mistakes preventing you from booking more weddings or making money in weddings. Number one not showing up professionally so this is not showing up literally dressed professionally. Like you look sloppy when you show up to a wedding or when you show up to meet other vendors. You don't look well presented like you haven't taken time to make sure you look like a pro, like a professional. You're dressing like you're going to, you know, the mall or out with girlfriends and not going to a actual professional meeting.
Nicole:And if you want other wedding vendors and brides and grooms to take you seriously, you need to show up dressed professionally, not wearing short little shorts and having your bra strap showing and whatever. Like, I've actually recently been to a wedding where I saw one of the the wedding photographers, and she was wearing this lace see through top. And my first thought was like oh my god so unprofessional because the guests were looking at her and they didn't know she was hired as the professional photographer. I was looking at her because I am another wedding vendor who was not working at the time but probably would not use her for my weddings because I don't want her to show up to my wedding dress like that. So make sure you're paying attention to the way you present yourself when you're attending events that involve other professional vendors and brides and grooms you always want to look professional.
Nicole:Now the other side of showing up professionally is how you are acting. So when you're picking up the phone are you picking up the phone in a way that is professional? When you are at actual events are you acting professionally or are you talking about stuff that has nothing to do with weddings that comes off as very unprofessional? When you are the face of a business you want to make sure that you're always showing up professionally that you always are being the professional because that is how other vendors are going to refer you. They don't want to refer someone that they don't they're they're gonna be embarrassed by so showing up professionally that's a big one something that I didn't realize was so important until a few years in and something that I'm telling you is insanely important and you need to start paying attention to now.
Nicole:Number two: not having enough reviews. This is going to 1000% prevent you from booking more weddings because brides and grooms look to reviews to trust you. They're never going to trust you enough to pay you money. I've said this like a million times. They're never gonna trust you enough to pay you money if you don't have the proof that you have done a bunch of weddings and that other brides and grooms have been happy with your services.
Nicole:You need to have reviews, need to have them everywhere. Number three over complicating your offer. Every new wedding business owner does this. We put way too much information and we overcomplicate what should be really simple. This confuses brides and grooms.
Nicole:They don't even know what you're selling anymore because there's so many details. You do this because you think you have to prove to them how good your services are and that it's worth the cost but it's just making them confused and making them go elsewhere because they can tell because you have so much stuff in there that you're not standing behind your offer and it's just too complicated and if they need to ask you for clarification on everything they're going to start to wonder if they need they need you or not. So the simpler your offer is the better. You can always elaborate later stop over complicating your offer. Number four: making your website all about you instead of focused towards them.
Nicole:So something that newer wedding businesses owner newer wedding businesses do is that, and I've seen this over and over and over again, is that you make your website about you. What your, you know, what your background is, why, how you got into photography, how you got into wedding planner, wedding planning, how you know this is your background and here's all your credentials and here's why you love it and here's why you love weddings but the truth is that couples they don't give a F about you. They want to know if you can give them what they need for the price that they can afford and exceed their expectations and create the weddings the wedding of their dreams like that's it. They don't care about your personality per se. They more they are more interested in how good you are at your job and how incredible you're gonna make their wedding.
Nicole:That's it. So stop making it about you make it about them. The more you can make it about them what you give them, how what the experience that they're gonna have, what it's gonna feel like working with you, what you know the way that you do things that makes things better for them. If you turn it around so it's more about them that's when they're going to feel seen, they're going to feel understood, they're going to feel like, oh this is the girl that gets me. I need to book her.
Nicole:Okay. Number five, not having a business listing on Google. Super simple so many of you guys don't have it takes like ten minutes maybe less to set up a Google business listing if you don't have one set that up for so many reasons but for SEO because people take Google they're going to find you more easily it's just such a simple thing to do I don't know why you wouldn't have one and it is preventing you if you don't have one it's preventing you from booking more weddings. Number six: not reposting your testimonials. So if you only have a couple of testimonials and you're not reposting them in other places the easiest way to you know build trust with couples is to have testimonials everywhere and you want to repost those testimonials that you got on yelp repost it on your website repost it on your social media have have pieces of the testimonials especially if you've got really good ones have them in multiple places the more testimonials you have the better.
Nicole:Number seven, going into a consult with something to prove. This is what I used to do. This is what so many of you guys are doing. And the reason why we do this is because we think that we need to prove to the bride and groom how valuable we are. But when we're doing that, we don't actually feel valuable.
Nicole:And so we're going out of our way to say, here's all the things that I do that makes me worth booking. But if you already feel valuable, then you don't need to prove it. So instead of trying to prove that you're valuable, that they need you, that you're worth the cost, I want you to on what the couple is wanting what they're needing what their vision is let them talk more and you listen more Don't spend the majority of the time proving to them why they need you instead listen to what they need get a good understanding for it figure out what their problems are and if you can solve them. You want to try to spend more time assessing what's going on with them, what they're needing, if what you provide can make their life easier, If your services is are is exactly what they need. And if they are, why?
Nicole:What do they need from you? And how can you help them? That's what you're trying to do in a consult. You're not trying to sell, sell, sell, sell, sell. And that shift in perspective is what is going to book you more weddings.
Nicole:And they're gonna be able to feel it too. You're not gonna come off as salesy or as pushy. You're going to come off as genuinely caring and they want to work with someone who really is just wanting to help them. Number eight. Not being connected to the wedding community.
Nicole:This is a simple one that is very undervalued. The wedding community is so tight and like connected and intertwined you should really make an effort to be in that group if you can and the way you do that is to join your local wedding association to go to the group events get to know people be open to meeting other people that are doing the same thing you are doing because you can learn from each other. You can learn so much and you can work together. You can give each other referrals. They can help you.
Nicole:You can help them. You can work together and if you don't have that community, it makes it very hard to really get your business, you know, long term financially lucrative. And when you have that group behind you when you're in a community where everyone's helping each other out, you know, you don't feel so alone in it. You guys are all helping each other. That's how your wedding business is gonna survive during the more difficult financial times.
Nicole:Like, right now people aren't wanting to get married this year. It's a little bit of a harder year I think because everyone's a little scared with spending money but you know when you're connected to the rest of the wedding community you talk to them you see what they're doing what are they doing differently how can you help each other out that's really really helpful in keeping your business going and the quicker you get involved in that community the better. Number nine, being too available. In the beginning, when you're first building your wedding business, you you're so desperate to book a wedding. You're just available all the time.
Nicole:Anytime somebody calls, you pick up the phone. Anytime somebody emails, you're just right on it just free emailing these, you know, what giving them whatever they want. You're just being too available instead of being intentional. So when you're intentional instead of fully available, what you're doing is you are intentionally the time to connect with them and to listen to them and to give them what they need and what they want but not at any old time which means you're more focused you know like this is what I'm doing right now I have an hour where I'm I'm doing phone calls I'm focusing on this person I know what I'm going to talk about I'm present I'm professional I have every my environment set up for me I don't have extra noises around I'm not going to get distracted I am this is the time when I do my calls. I'm not picking up calls at all times.
Nicole:I'm not available at all times and when you look at your business that way and you are planning out times to do emails, planning out times to do phone calls, planning out times to do meetings, then you can be a lot more focused and you can show up in the way where you can give them a 100% instead of being scattered and having your energy all over the place. So being too available will be a turn off to rising rooms and it's going to make you appear like you're not the pro that you are. So don't be too available. Number 10, not learning SEO. I talk about SEO a lot because it's made such a like huge difference in my business personally and I know it will make a huge difference in yours too because once you get ranked on Google, that's when all the brides and grooms start reaching out to you.
Nicole:You wanna get on page one. You wanna get in ranking one, two, three, ideally one or two, and all of a sudden, weddings become much easier. You get a lot more people reaching out to you and inquiring. And if you have a bigger pool of people reaching out to you, it's a lot easier to book weddings. And you're not, you know, struggling as hard to just be seen.
Nicole:So if you can learn SEO, do it. Spend a lot of time working on that. Do it consistently and it takes time. It takes months, years sometimes to get that, you know, that ideal one or number two ranking, but it's worth it. Number 11, not being crystal clear on your ideal couple.
Nicole:I think in the beginning when you're first building your wedding business, you are not crystal clear on your ideal couple, and that's okay. But you will be after doing, you know, ten, twenty weddings. You will start to know, I like these kind of weddings, and I don't like these kind of weddings. This is, like, my jam. Once you get more clear on the types of weddings that you are best at, those are the ones you need to lean into.
Nicole:Those are the ones you need to talk to when you're doing your marketing, when you are doing Instagram posts, when you are writing on your website. You need to talk to that ideal couple. You need to know who they are exactly. What do they want? How do they want to feel what is the experience that they are needing specifically talk about that the more clear you are on who your ideal couple is the easier it's going to be to book them number 12 not having simple, navigation on your website.
Nicole:This one seems like duh. Like, course, you would have navigation, but like so many of newer businesses not just wedding businesses all businesses they skip this. They think that you know brides and grooms or whoever you're marketing to they're going to obviously know to press that contact button up top but maybe that contact button is not on every single page. You need to have a way for them to easily very quickly push a button and get in touch with you. And you want to have that not just on the top navigation but in all different areas of your website.
Nicole:You want them to very easily be able to get in touch with you because if you if they get distracted for like five seconds and start doing something else because someone calls them and then they can't figure out how to get back to contacting you, how to get in touch with you and they have to like figure it out, you've lost them. So very simple navigation on your website, contact buttons everywhere. Number 13. Taking too long to respond. This is such a simple thing, but so many wedding vendors suck at returning emails.
Nicole:I can't tell you, like, how many brides and grooms I book because I respond to them quickly and by quickly I mean that day especially in the beginning when they're first reaching out to me. I'm not waiting like four days to respond to them. I'm responding to them a very, you know, personal email with all the information that they're wanting that day. And then when they respond back to me, I respond back to them right away. And I've had so many couples tell me like, you were the only vendor that responded to me.
Nicole:Sometimes I would send out multiple emails and nobody even writes me back. So I knew I had to book you. That quick response time especially in the beginning is what's going to book you weddings. Number 14 comparing yourself to others. So I mean other wedding photographers, other wedding planners.
Nicole:You get lost in social media and you look at what everybody else is doing and you're like, I'll never be that good. I'll never get those weddings. Look at all this shit that they're doing. Like, I can't keep up with that. Well, keep, like, blinders on.
Nicole:Don't look at what everyone else is doing because they're not you. And also, it doesn't matter because your people will find you. Whatever they're doing, their people will find them. Their people are not your people. Your people will find you.
Nicole:So keep blinders on. Focus on what you're doing. Don't look at what everyone else is doing. Stop comparing yourself. What you offer is incredibly special, unique, and somebody needs it.
Nicole:Somebody needs you and you alone. Nobody else. They're not looking for anybody else. They're looking for you. So keep showing up for that person.
Nicole:Number 14, comparing yourself. Oh, I did that one. Number 15, expect expecting success overnight. This is I mean, I feel like I had to throw this one in because a lot of times you hear about overnight successes how, oh, I've only been doing this for six months and my my business took off and now I'm making a $100. Like, bullshit.
Nicole:Like, I don't believe that for a second, and I'm just being honest with you. If anybody says that they have been doing other stuff, they have a deeper background that they're not telling you about, success doesn't happen overnight. It is a grind. You need to show up over and over and over again. You need to fail.
Nicole:You need to you need to fail and you need to keep going. And you need to have the mindset that I'm gonna do whatever it takes to make this happen. And it's not gonna be easy. It's going to be difficult because if it were easy everyone would do it. But you need to, you know, to just hold that knowing inside of you that it doesn't matter how hard it is I am going to make this happen and if you can hold that it will happen.
Nicole:So I just wanted to say that if you're in this and you're in it for the long haul no matter what it is not going to be an overnight success but you will get there. Number 16: Hiding your pricing. I used to hide my prices because I was afraid that would scare brides and grooms away but as soon as I put my pricing out there on my website right there for everyone to see I was able to get behind it you know and really step into my belief around why my services were totally worth that cost and that's what you need to do in order to get brides and grooms to book you and if you can't stand behind that price then you need to lower it. So make sure you choose a price that you feel comfortable with but putting your prices directly on your website is going to make it so much easier for you to close brides and grooms. If you're afraid to do it take a chance put your prices out there And if it feels like too scary, maybe you need to lower them a little bit.
Nicole:No problem. Once you feel fully confident behind that price, you should have no problem putting it out there. Number 17, not feeling like your services are a deal. So this is sort of on the same you know wavelength of what I was just saying but you need to feel a thousand million percent behind your services. You want to feel like you're giving them a deal like what what they're paying for is 1000% worth the price that of course they need you that they're getting such a deal they like what you provide is so big it's so important it's so necessary they 1000% need you and like they if they don't book you then that's fine but they're totally missing out feeling like your services are a deal is what makes it so that brides and grooms get you know, that goes into your energy field.
Nicole:They pick up on it, and they're like, yeah. I have to work with her. Like, I need her. That is the sort of energy that you need to embody. Number 18, not coming off as the expert.
Nicole:I want you to remember that even if you're new, you are still the expert. You know more than them. You can give them what what they need. You know how to navigate around situations that are gonna come up during a wedding they wouldn't know. It's not like them having their best friend photograph their wedding.
Nicole:It's not like them having their best friend be a planner. They can't do that and actually enjoy the wedding. They need you because you do it better because you know how to look out all the things they don't know how to look out for because you are the pro you need to really get behind the belief that you are the expert and start coming off as the expert and start embodying the expert because you are the expert. Number 19 being too vague not personalizing and building the connection with them in a real authentic way. If you're being too vague in the way that you talk to them when you do a consult and you're just running a script that you're reading they're never gonna really feel bonded with you.
Nicole:And if they don't feel connected and bonded with you in a really authentic real way, they're never gonna book you. So, you know, the way I like to explain it is think about them, think about the bride as though she's your best friend. I don't care that you don't know her. If you think about her like she's your best friend, you just want to help her, that immediately takes off the pressure and allows you to build that bond. You need to have that bond if they're going to book you.
Nicole:That's how they feel that connection, and they're like, oh, yeah. This is the girl I need to work with. Number 20, not showing up consistently. So one of the things that allowed my business to stand the test of time, be around for over a decade is that I have continued to show up consistently even when I was having no bookings, even when I was having a lot of bookings, even when things seem like they were never gonna work. Like, I was never going to hit my first, I don't know, $20,000 year.
Nicole:I remember that. But I was still showing up consistently. I was still working on my business for, like, eight hours a day even though I had no bookings. I was still showing up. I was still putting in the time, the effort, the energy.
Nicole:I was still trying things. I was trying a thousand things that weren't working but I was showing up consistently for my business until I figured out something that worked. And if you continue to show up consistently, something will work. It has to. It's law.
Nicole:Number 21. Not holding the belief long enough. Oh, this is such a good one, and I've been sort of hinting at this the whole time, but you have to hold the belief that I will make it. This will work. This is happening for me, and you have to hold it for a period of time until it actually starts working and you start making the money and everything starts working out for you.
Nicole:And you need to show up consistently holding that belief even when you have no proof, no results, no booked weddings you just keep showing up you keep holding the belief, keep holding the belief, you keep saying I remember when I had this like goal to make a $100,000 in my wedding business and that's all I would think about. I'm gonna make a $100,000. I'm gonna make a $100,000. There's no proof I'm gonna make a $100,000. I have no idea how I'm gonna make a $100,000 but I was holding that belief and I kept holding it and holding it and holding it until one day I made a $100,000.
Nicole:It didn't happen overnight. It wasn't easy. It wasn't like as simple as everyone that talked about it made it seem, but I held the belief for as long as it took. And honestly, to me, it didn't matter if I made a $100,000 or not. I was still gonna hold the belief.
Nicole:I was still gonna try for it. And once I hit that $100,000 mark, I pretty much stayed there. Like, once you hit the goal, you're gonna stay there because you have now embodied that belief. It's become a part of who you are. And once it becomes a part of who you are, you can't go backwards.
Nicole:So you're gaining this capacity to hold that amount of money to hold the dream that you're in, you know, visualizing and you have to build that capacity slowly. And once you're ready for it, then you can lose everything and start another business and still make a $100,000. So holding the belief for long enough and what's long enough? It could be two months, it could be five years, I don't know it's different for every person but you got to keep holding it until you get it and know that even though it hasn't happened yet you are growing you are building this capacity that is only going to benefit you. Okay guys I thought this was going to be a quick one turns out it was almost thirty minutes but I hope you found it helpful that was 21 business mistakes that are preventing you from booking more weddings and if you can just maybe take in two or three of these and embody them, embrace them, you know, implement them into your business, then I don't see how this could not help you.
Nicole:If you loved this and you would like to hear more or you want to get in my wedding business masterclass because I give you all the tips and tricks in that one Jeff you need to check out weddingproacademy.com and get on my list and I will send you weekly tips and tricks about ways to improve your wedding business and when the wedding business masterclass opens back up you can jump in on that too. Alright guys, hope you have a great weekend! I will see you next week! Bye for now!