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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. Let's dive in. Hello, everyone, and welcome to episode 51. This episode is literal gold.
Nicole:I am so excited about it. I can't wait to tell you this advice that is going to, like oh, it's just so good. Okay. So today, we are going to be talking about why cold pitching established wedding planners is the worst the literal worst way to book your first wedding. So this is a piece of advice that I keep seeing people talk about.
Nicole:It's like everywhere. They tell you, and by they I mean like when you search on Google, when you see other people offering advice, how to get in to the wedding industry, you'll hear people say you really need to get in with established wedding planners. And, yes, that's true because they have connections. They have weddings. They have brides.
Nicole:Okay? But cold pitching established wedding planners is the worst way to get in. And here's why. So what they tell you is reach out 50 wedding planners in your area, introduce yourself, offer to work for free. Do it for the experience.
Nicole:Do it for the connections you'll make. Do it for the social content you'll get. It's the easiest way to get into the wedding industry. Planners, photographers, videographers, wedding stationery companies, favor companies, illustrators I get all of them. All of them email me I am an established wedding planner.
Nicole:They'll email me introducing themselves and basically try to pitch me on why I should promote them, why I should tell my brides and grooms about them. And it makes sense why you would think this would work. Right? You reach out to an established planner. You offer to work for free, and you're good.
Nicole:And you're really, really helpful. And she gets you for free. You get experience. Right? She gets free help.
Nicole:It's a win win. Or is it? And I'm gonna tell you why it actually isn't a win win, at least not for the planner. So here's why I never respond to new wedding planners who reach out to me this way offering to work for free for me. Or new wedding photographers who I've never heard of who introduce themselves, they tell me about what they do, they want to work in my area, here are their packages and here's their website and please promote them or new videographers that are doing the same thing.
Nicole:Here's why I never respond to these people that are cold pitching me. It's because my business is my baby. Right? It's really, really important to me. Everyone on my team has been vetted by me.
Nicole:So every vendor that I work with, I know them. I like them. I trust them. They're experienced. They've been trained by me.
Nicole:They know how I like to do things. They work well under pressure. They are incredible team players and I know this for a fact. They over deliver on the day of. They're willing to go the extra mile for my couples.
Nicole:I know how they work. I know how they show up in a very professional way. I know how they execute. Every wedding that I put out as a wedding planner has to be a five star experience for my couple because if it's not, that's on me. Right?
Nicole:Like, every vendor has to be handpicked by me. Every vendor has to be incredible, and I only recommend the best of the best. That's something that is very, very important to me. So I mean, even my assistants. My assistants that I bring on, the extra planners, they have been trained.
Nicole:They know how I like to do things. They know how to talk to couples. They know, you know, exactly what is expected out of them, and I pay them. But the reason why they're so important is because they are a reflection of me. So why would I take a chance on a brand new planner or a brand new photographer who number one has no experience in weddings or a very little amount of experience.
Nicole:Number two has no idea how I run my weddings. And number three who I have never worked with before. I don't even know if they're any good. I don't know if they are professional. I don't know what kind of work they put out.
Nicole:This gives me zero guarantee that I can count on them. I don't know if they're going to show up executing at the level that I expect my team to execute at. I don't know if they're going to communicate with me in the way that I expect communication to happen on the wedding day. I don't know if they're going to communicate in the way that I expect, the level that I expect them to communicate with the couple, with the guests, with the other vendors because I don't know them at all, really. So it wouldn't be worth it for me as an established wedding planner to take the chance on this new photographer, new wedding planner, new videographer, even if it's free.
Nicole:Because I don't know them. I don't trust them. I I can't vouch for them. Does that make sense? I mean so if you're one of those people that is reaching out to 100 wedding planners, hoping that they're gonna bring you on to one of their weddings in exchange for your time, and you're getting ghosted.
Nicole:This is why. And, you know, it's it's not your fault. It's just how it works. Like, I can't take a chance on somebody new like that. It's not worth it for me.
Nicole:Too many things could possibly go wrong. So what do you do instead? Right? That's probably what you're asking right now. And don't worry.
Nicole:I'm not gonna leave you high and dry here. I am going to tell you. And this is what I was saying earlier. It's pure gold because it's so good. So here's what I would do instead.
Nicole:Here's something that would work way, way better, and I'm gonna give you a very specific example for wedding photographers. So say you are a newer wedding photographer trying to get into the wedding industry, trying to get in with an established wedding planner. So what you wanna do is try to get this established wedding planner to say yes to working with you. You want to make a connection with them. In order to do this, you need to offer her something she needs something she wants.
Nicole:You need to make it super easy and super simple for her because she is busy. Very, very busy. So here is exactly what I would do. Number one, reach out to her by email. Introduce yourself.
Nicole:Be kind. Be authentic. Be you. Number two, tell her you've been admiring her work. Compliment her.
Nicole:And then tell her why. And the reason you want to do this is you want to build connection with her right away. So an example would be, I love that you got your start in graphic design. I used to work in graphics as well. So she's gonna take notice of you.
Nicole:One, because you are making her feel good about herself because you're complimenting her, and two, because now you have a connection. Okay. Number three, offer her something she would value. For example, I'd love to offer you free professional headshots for your team. Number four, make it feel immensely valuable and exclusive.
Nicole:So you could say something like, I have five slots open for a private professional photoshoot for you and your team in November. Number five. Let her know exactly what she'd get. So you could say something like you would get a forty five minute photo shoot for up to five people, which would include individual headshots for your team, a few team photos at an outdoor location at your of your choice. And here are some of my favorite spots to shoot.
Nicole:So this makes it easy for her. So she now knows where she has to go. Right? You'd also get 50 digital professionally edited photos provided to you in a week's time. Look at that offer.
Nicole:I mean, how could she say no? It's so good. Like, it's free. She gets a team shoot. Like, love it.
Nicole:Number six, create urgency. So you wanna end it with something like there are five slots available and the photo shoot must be held in the month of November. And the reason you wanna do this is because now she's gonna take this seriously. She's gonna be like, oh shit, like another planner might take take this, and I won't get a shot in it. Like, if I don't respond right away, I won't get this awesome free photo shoot, which I could really use, and I need it.
Nicole:So you want to create some kind of urgency in there. Number seven, show proof of your talent. So you wanna make it easy for her to check you out. So link up your website, include at least three sample headshots of headshots you've done in the past, your best work. And maybe even include a couple of wedding shots.
Nicole:Just like paste them into the email so she doesn't have to spend a lot of time researching. She can just look at it and be oh, these are great. Love it. And she'll be like, yes. Let's do it.
Nicole:Right? So you wanna show her that you aren't just, like, pretending to be a photographer. You wanna show her some of your work. You wanna show her that you're good. Okay?
Nicole:And make sure you have some professional photos that you can embed into that email. So that's what I would do. Seven steps. Super simple. Very easy.
Nicole:Yes. It is going to take some of your time. It's probably gonna take, like, the forty five minutes for the shoot plus whatever amount of time you spend emailing her plus, I don't know, two hours of editing. Right? But it's going to be so worth it.
Nicole:This is so much better than a cold pitch that says Hi! I'm Andrea, I'm a LA based photographer and I'd love to offer you my services. Check out my website, please promote me to your brides. Like blah blah blah. Who cares?
Nicole:I would not even give that a second look. What does that give me as a wedding planner? Literally nothing of value. So ditch those right now and offer her something that she's gonna really value instead. Make it simple, make it immensely valuable, make it super easy to say yes.
Nicole:It's so good. If you loved this and you want more of it, I have a really killer freebie for you and you can grab it on my website today. I just made it because this is so good. Just like the example that I gave you for the photographers, I'm gonna break this email down into very specific steps and an outline that you can steal. You can copy and paste it.
Nicole:Super easy. And I'll tell you exactly what to say, how to pitch yourself, and how to make it feel incredibly valuable. You're gonna wanna grab this. It's so good. Plus, I have two more insanely valuable offers for wedding planners.
Nicole:So new newbie wedding planners and newer wedding video videographers just like the one I gave you for newer wedding photographers. I did one for planners and for videographers too. And this offer is gonna be different because you're offering something different. Right? So you have to be specific to what you do, and you have to offer a very specific type of help.
Nicole:So like the photographer example, I have a similar one for planners and videographers. And yes, these will work. They are so good. I feel like I could sell this. It's literal gold.
Nicole:So you can grab that freebie today at weddingproacademy.com backslash this is gold. Again, weddingproacademy.combackslash this is gold or I'll just put it on the front page of my website because I think it is gold. And it is going to be a free step by step guide with actual copy that you can copy and paste into an email draft that is gonna get you in the door with established wedding planners. This is going to be specific to newbie wedding planners, new wedding photographers, and new wedding videographers. It's a really easy, really simple way to get connected and get in with established wedding planners and offer something of value to them.
Nicole:Why do you even care about getting in with established wedding planners anyways? Well, it's pure gold to get in with an established wedding planner because she has connections. Really good ones. She has brides she has consistent new weddings coming her way every single day. You don't and you need all of that.
Nicole:She can help you by throwing you some weddings. But she's never going to do that until she's actually worked with you, until she has actual experience, you know, in real life, seeing how you work, seeing how you show up, seeing how you execute, seeing how good your work is. If you're a photographer, you better send her killer photos. You better show up dressed professionally. Don't look sloppy because this is your first impression.
Nicole:This is really, really important. If she likes you, she knows you, she trusts you, you build a connection with her. She is going to need photographers, videographers, She's gonna need makeup artists. She probably also needs assistance. She's gonna need help with her weddings.
Nicole:So she's gonna need planners, and this is how you're gonna get experience. But she's never gonna just send this business to just anyone. She needs to know you. She needs to trust you. She needs to know that you're gonna show up on time and execute at a very high level.
Nicole:She needs to know that you're professional, so make sure you dress professionally. Make sure you show up on time. She needs to know that you will give her her couples, her brides and grooms, immense value. So she's gonna take a chance on herself first because that's how she's gonna gauge if she can trust you. And yes, 1000% this will work.
Nicole:So grab the freebie. It's literal gold. I love it. It's so good. I'm guaranteeing you this is gonna work.
Nicole:So grab it at weddingproacademy.com/thisisgold. Again, that's weddingproacademy.com. Thisisgold. This is a short one today, but I think it was so good, and I hope you guys try this out. And then message me on Instagram and let me know how it goes because I'd love to hear about it.
Nicole:Hope you guys have a wonderful weekend. I will see you all next week. Bye for now.