Nothing works all of the time
In this episode, I delve into a common challenge many wedding and event professionals face: the frustration when previously successful strategies start to falter. From interacting with clients across the industry, I've noticed a recurring theme—what once worked seamlessly may suddenly lose its effectiveness.
Join me as I explore this reality and share my perspective on why certain methods may no longer deliver the desired results. Whether it's your approach to handling inquiries or your sales process, I offer practical advice for navigating these obstacles and adapting to the ever-changing landscape of our industry.
Listen in for valuable insights and guidance on recognizing when it's time to reassess your methods and embrace change to drive success in your business. This 8-minute episode is packed with actionable strategies to help you stay ahead in the competitive world of weddings and events.
If you have any questions about anything in this, or any of my podcasts, or have a suggestion for a topic or guest, please reach out directly to me at Alan@WeddingBusinessSolutions.com or visit my website Podcast.AlanBerg.com
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Want to see about having me come for private sales training, or a mastermind (bring together some industry friends to have me spend a day with you all)? Reach out to me at Alan@WeddingBusinessSolutions.com or text or call +1.732.422.6362
I'm Alan Berg. Thanks for listening. If you have any questions about this or if you'd like to suggest other topics for "The Wedding Business Solutions Podcast" please let me know. My email is Alan@WeddingBusinessSolutions.com. Look forward to seeing you on the next episode. Thanks.
Listen to this and all episodes on Apple Podcast, YouTube or your favorite app/site:
©2024 Wedding Business Solutions LLC & AlanBerg.com
Nothing works all of the time. Listen to this episode, see where I'm going with this one. Hey, it's Alan Berg. Welcome back to another episode of the Wedding Business Solutions podcast. I was working with some clients just the other day, and this phrase that I've used before, and I know, I've written about it in, I know wirelessly, a ghost in me and probably some of the other books, the idea that what you're doing, no matter how good you're doing it, in terms of replying to inquiries, asking for the sale, following up whatever it is in your business, nothing works all the time, but almost everything works some of the time. And what happens is that fools us into believing that what we're doing should work all the time. And if it's not, it's not our fault that it's not working, when the reality is it probably is our fault that it's not working. And that's why we need to do something differently.
And this comes up, especially when it comes to the sales process, when it comes to responding to inquiries, when it comes to following up and things like that, even the most egregious of responses that I've seen in terms of responding to an inquiry, ones that are really, really long or have a bunch of attachments and that don't work really well on mobile, or have a bunch of links and things like that, or that only ask for the phone, call, the meeting, the tour right away. They work some of the time. And what you're looking at is, hey, this is working. This is great. What you're not seeing is when it's not working. And I've said this before, I'll continue to say this until I stop training. By the time somebody makes an inquiry, your job is to continue the conversation that they've started and move it forward from where it is. And your biggest opportunity is the people that haven't yet said no.
They've already reached out. They haven't yet said no. So if what you're doing works some of the time, that's great. Maybe it's just a minor tweak that you need, but what you need to look at is your biggest opportunity is the people that reached out that haven't said no. But that's something that's not as visible to most of you. And the reason I say that is no matter what you're using a CRM system or you're just doing this on paper, you're just doing it in an inbox or a messaging thing, or on the knot or wedding wire or some other service, Instagram messenger, Facebook message, or whatever. You're paying attention to the messages you're getting. What you're not paying attention to is the messages that you got that never responded to you.
And just because they never responded doesn't mean that they've booked someone else. I've spoken about this in other episodes, and I'll continue to talk about this as well. Just because someone hasn't responded doesn't mean they're not interested. It doesn't mean they've booked somebody else. And that from all the secret shopping we do, I can tell you that most of your competitors have given up a long, long time ago. And the tracking, as of just the other day, because I'm working on some presentations coming up, and I'm going to be talking about my experience from this. And we've now shopped between last year and this year, over 300 companies. And of those 300 companies, not even half of them have tried twice to respond to our inquiry.
Now, what does that mean? We went to your website, we filled out your contact form. We track to see what you do, how fast. Well, first of all, if you reply, because only 81% actually replied at all, which is crazy because you're throwing money out the window. Somebody fills out your contact form, you don't reply at all. That's throwing money out the window. The second thing is, it's 46% have tried twice, and that's 46% of the 81%. So it's really not even 46% of the people we reached out to. It's only 46% of the ones that actually did respond, and they've given up.
The other 54% have given up after one try. They responded once to the inquiry and then said, that's it. That's it. I'm done. Well, I'm sure that works. Some of the time you get responses. Now, I guess if you're filling your calendar with the kind of people that you want to do business with, that are paying you the kind of money that you want to profit, then maybe any broke don't fix it. But what I hear from too many of you is, yeah, you can fill your a dates, right? Your most popular dates.
You're going to fill those, even doing things this way. But if you're having trouble filling the other dates, the a minuses, the B's, the Fridays, the Sundays, the not quite in season dates. Right. The ones that are not as popular, or if you had a lot of success doing it this way, and now this isn't working. Well, it's because nothing works all the time and we have to keep adapting. Now, if you're listening to this, in 2024, it's a presidential election year. It's wonky. It's always wonky.
In the 30 years I've been in the wedding and event industry, every 40 years things get wonky. We could argue that this year is wonkier than, than most, but I'm going to tell you, this happens. The economy is doing really well. The stock market is doing really well. Wages are higher. Yes, prices are higher. We know that as well. But people's uncertainty about the economy is not directly related to what's actually happening with interest rates that are starting to come down and inflation is leveling off in some cases.
Actually, prices have come down on some things. But you ask people what's their confidence? There's something called the vix, which is the volatility index. How do you feel about the future? And people are uncertain. Meanwhile, the stock market just hit 21 highs this year so far, or something like that. Now, I, granted the stock market isn't the same as your income. It isn't the same as you pay in the bills. But if you're saving for your retirement, it is. I know.
I like seeing the stock market go up because that means my retirement is a little bit more secure. I'm staying ahead of inflation. Okay. That means whatever I've saved is doing better there than it would be doing under the mattress. Right. So let's go back to this. Nothing works all the time. What you want to look at for your opportunity, rather than saying, I need to get more leads, I need to get more leads.
Need to get more leads, is look at the opportunity of the people that have reached out have never responded. The people that reached out did respond. And then it went quiet. Right. The people that reached out, you had a good conversation and then it went quiet for what? Again, we don't know why. You need to do something different. And that easiest thing to do is to reach out to them again. Just reach out one more time.
I've said this before, I'm going to keep saying this as well. If you would just try one more time than you're doing now, you'll be better off. Because some of those people have not booked anyone yet, and some of those people are still in the market, and you might be the only one who's still asking. So if what you're doing is filling your calendar, profiting you enough, I would say just keep doing what you're doing. But if it's not if you're not getting the responses you want. If it was working, but it's not now. Don't. There's a great book who moves my cheese? If you've never read the book who moved my cheese? It's a nice, small book.
It's a parable book. Just, you know, just read that your cheese got moved. Things changed. You have to adapt now. It's not up to the market to adapt to you. It's up to you to adapt to the market. Nothing works all the time. Almost everything works some of the time.
If what you're doing isn't working enough of the time, then it's you that has to change, not the customers. Hope that gives you food for thought. Thanks. Bye.
I'm Alan Berg. Thanks for listening. If you have any questions about this or if you'd like to suggest other topics for "The Wedding Business Solutions Podcast" please let me know. My email is Alan@WeddingBusinessSolutions.com. Look forward to seeing you on the next episode. Thanks.
Listen to this and all episodes on Apple Podcast, YouTube or your favorite app/site:
©2024 Wedding Business Solutions LLC & AlanBerg.com
