As a wedding planner, are you developing sales pitches or developing relationships? If you develop relationships, you’re more likely to make the sale. Today’s Q&A explains why.
Question
I’m a student at a wedding planning school and I’m supposed to submit a script for a sales pitch that will make a bride want to hire me. What should I say?
Answer
I removed the school’s name and the course you are taking to keep the information private. I’m not familiar with your school, so I’m not really sure what they want.
Personally, I don’t believe in having a scripted sales pitch. Wedding planning isn’t a business in which this type of selling is appropriate. As a wedding planner you are helping brides realize their dream weddings, something they may have imagined since they were very young. In order to help them plan their weddings, you have to ask questions, listen to what they want, and understand their challenges.
Then you need to help them understand that you care about them, that they can trust you, and that you have the expertise to help them have the weddings they have always wanted.
This means when you are at the point of asking a bride if she wants to hire you, what you say to her will be based upon what she told you she wanted and needed. A scripted sales pitch at this point would show the bride you didn’t listen and don’t have an interest in her, only in making a sale.
I suggest you ask your school for clarification. Perhaps they want you to put together information about the benefits of your skills and the value of the services you offer, these are certainly good things to think about before meeting with brides. However, an old-fashioned sales pitch is not going to work with today’s sophisticated brides.