Having a wedding planning business is not just about organizing and planning weddings, it’s also about constantly marketing yourself so you have a steady stream of clients and a network of high-quality wedding professionals to help you execute the weddings you plan.
It’s crucial that you develop the people skills you need to meet and attract the brides and vendors who will help you be a success. This might seem difficult for those of you who are shy like the wedding planner whose question I answer today.
Question
I’m typically a shy person, I really don’t feel comfortable participating in bridal shows or networking events. Am I missing out?
Answer
Yes!
You can’t expect to meet the brides and the professionals you need in order to have a successful wedding planning business just by running ads on wedding websites, posting to a Facebook Page, and pinning to boards on Pinterest. You need to go out and make contacts and let people get to know you.
You don’t need to be super-extroverted and run around trying to meet everyone at an event. But you do need to, as one popular book title put it, “feel the fear and do it anyway.”
Here are 5 tips to help you get out and get over your shyness:
1) Choose your events carefully
Start with a small event so you give yourself an opportunity to succeed.
If you want to exhibit at a bridal show, start with a small a local one and set a goal for the number of brides you will talk to in your booth.
To network, get in touch with a local chapter of a wedding planner association or a find a business or social group that has interests similar to you, and the brides you want to target, so you automatically have something in common to discuss.
2) Prepare yourself in advance
Don’t exhibit at a bridal show without having a plan in place for meeting and marketing to brides and gathering leads.
Before you attend a networking event, think of questions you could ask other people to get to know them better.
And, so you’re not at a loss for words when someone asks you about yourself or your business, think about what you might want to say. Go beyond, “I’m a wedding planner,” and think of some examples of creative ways that you have helped brides that would make people want to ask you for more information.
Also, make sure you can talk about topics other than weddings by keeping up with current events. Even brides sometimes want to have conversations about other things.
3) Be prompt
Of course, if you are an exhibitor at a bridal show, you need to be on time or fellow vendors and brides will be afraid you won’t make it on time to a wedding.
When you’re attending a networking event, you have a better chance of meeting people when you get there on time. Once an event is in full swing, people may already have broken up into small groups and it will be harder to join in on a conversation.
4) Focus on others
Spend the bulk of your time letting the people you meet do the talking, it takes the pressure off of you to say and do the right things and it actually makes you more attractive to others.
For example, if you make having a conversation with a bride all about making a sale, you won’t know what she wants or how you can help her. And, she won’t perceive your benefits and won’t be interested in getting to know you well enough to hire you.
5) Follow up
The purpose of doing bridal shows and attending networking events isn’t meeting people once and moving on, it’s about setting up relationships.
Get contact information and permission to email brides you meet at a show so you can continue to market to them. Within 24 – 48 hours, call or email any bride who expressed interest your services.
When you meet someone at a networking event who you would like to do business with, contact them, again within 24 – 48 hours, and ask them to meet you for coffee.
Each time you get out to events you’ll open yourself up to meeting potential clients and other wedding vendors who will help your business grow.
