I know this has been regurgitated a hundred times for some
of the DJ’s, but why not once more because it applies to everybody. At the recent EPMEN seminar, one of the key
things I walked away with, was a message that has out for a long time but not
as widely used as it could be. There
have been many articles, seminars, and other educational offerings on it. Some people that I personally see, are
actually listening to the message, because they are the most successful (at
their trade). The people that are
struggling, in one way, shape or form are people that I know are not practicing
this one simple technique. When I say
struggle, I mean that they are just trying to get ahead, so I say that in the
dearest of terms.
The Wow Factor. The
art of going above and beyond your customer’s expectations. Steve Moody mentioned it in dealing with
venues, where he WOWs the venues and the venue staff. Peter Merry mentioned it several times in
dealing with your clients. I’m not going
to go into details at exactly how they presented it, because you had to be
there, but the message was crystal clear.
And it is so simple and so inexpensive, but yet, goes so far. I know a whole bunch of people that can adapt
this and make their businesses better.
In a recent survey by The Wedding Report, 62% of couples
pick one of their wedding professionals through a friend or family
recommendation. Something that a
particular vendor did, impressed this friend or family member to recommend
them. It could be price (I doubt it), it
could be performance (possibly), or it could any number of things. But there was something that stuck in
someone’s head about what a particular vendor did. There is where the WOW factor comes in. YOU NEED TO MAKE PEOPLE REMEMBER YOU.
When you perform your service at a wedding or reception, it
is s no brainer that everyone there is a potential client and a potential
lead. So you need to find a way to have
your business stick in everyone’s head, other than you plain old regular
service, which you are already great at.
But you being great is yesterday’s news and is a given at any function
you perform your service. Heck, that is
why people pay you. It is time to go
above and beyond what you are supposed to do.
The time and money you spend in
doing this is far less than you will ever spend in any advertising of your
business AND will lead to quality leads for
your business.
Disc Jockeys have been doing this for years with quiet
surprises for brides and grooms. People
the likes of Peter Merry and Randy Bartlett (who get a lot more than $800 for a
wedding reception) have been doing this and trying to educate DJ’s on this for
years. The successful DJs are taking
this advice…and it shows (ask any one of them).
The guys getting $800, well, they
either don’t know or think they already know it all. This great principal can be used by every
single wedding vendor category out there.
I don’t care what your profession is, there is something you can do to WOW
at least one potential client in attendance at any given portion of the
wedding. You need to be personal, creative,
not obvious, and humble about whatever you do.
I’m not going to give away anything from the presenters at
EPEMN, but one that immediately comes to my mind is cakes and bakeries. OK you make a beautiful and great tasting
cake for the wedding reception. Big
deal, it is yesterday’s news because you are supposed to do that. How about finding out where the ladies of the
bridal party are getting dressed and sending cupcakes for them to that location
(send a few extras). Right there you
have at least 4 or 5 probably single ladies or a mother with other single
daughters that are going to remember that.
Don’t bother sending anything to the guys because unless it is beer,
booze, or boobs they are not going to remember anything anyways. But you have a small (extra) intimate audience
there that is going to remember you because of something extra that you did…for
free. It cost you maybe $50.00 total,
but not only did you do something nice and out of the way, you now are stuck in
someone’s mind. There is no better
return on investment.
I am sure there are hundreds of ways each and every wedding
vendor category professional can go above and beyond and get people to remember
you by the extra mile you went to make someone’s day special. Don’t ask me to be creative for you because I
am a computer geek that has trouble picking out anniversary cards for my
wife. If you are creative with flowers,
cakes, photographs, this should almost be a no brainer for you.
This is the one thing I am going to give away from the EPMEN
seminar because it is so profound. It is
from Steve Moody and it is, “Don’t think of it as kissing their butt, think of
it as kissing their A$$” (and note the dollar bill signs).
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