As a wedding planner you may be offering free consultations over the phone to get brides to agree to meet and hire you. Don’t treat these lightly! You can’t wait until a face-to-face meeting to “Wow” a bride, you need to make a great impression over the phone in order for a bride to want to talk to you further.
Here are 6 tips that will help you get hired from a phone consultation:
1) Practice your phone voice
You need to sound confident, professional and easy to do business with when you speak over the phone.
2) Take the call from a quiet place
There shouldn’t be any background noise during your consultation. Take a scheduled call in your office away from the sound of children playing, dogs barking, gardeners mowing the lawn and other noises. If youre out running errands when a bride calls, sit in a quiet, parked car to speak or reschedule the call for later in the day. Of course, never carry on a conversation when driving!
3) Always be prepared
You should know the questions you need answered that will help you determine if a bride would be a good potential client. You should also know what you want to say about your services that would make her want to hire you. Consider writing a checklist and keeping it with you until you are skilled at remembering what to you need.
4) Listen and stay focused
When the bride tells you what she needs, don’t finish her sentences for her. Pay attention to what she says and listen to the tone of her voice so you can determine what is important to her. Also, don’t multitask when you’re on the phone, it’ll make you sound distracted and disinterested.
5) Keep it short
Don’t feel you need to create and share details of your plans for a bride’s wedding during your call. Free consultations should be not be more than 20 minutes long.
6) Ask for a face-to-face meeting
Thank the bride for taking the time to speak to you and, if you believe she would be a good client, ask her when she would like to meet with you and schedule an appointment.
This is important! She may not know what to do at the end of the call so you must ask her to take the next step.
If she isn’t ready, suggest she contact you if she needs more information and tell her you will follow up with her in a few days, then do so.
If you also have her email or physical address, write a thank you note letting her know you would love to plan her wedding and that you are looking forward to speaking with her again.
And if you want more help to become a top wedding planner, sign in to get my ezine “Wedding Planner Tips.”
