How NOT to Close Deals

What do you think is the hardest part of selling your services?

1. Getting people to respond to your initial inquiry response?

2. Guiding the discovery call with great questions?

3. Putting together a convincing proposal?

4. Closing the deal?

Of course, there are 241 milestones in the buyer’s journey along the way, but these are the big checkpoints where you either keep things moving or lose the couple forever.

If you asked me, the discovery call is the hardest part of the sales process. It’s the first meaningful contact with a potential buyer, and you have so many things to do all at once. You have to be great at interpreting responses and thinking on your feet to guide the conversation. 

The initial response and proposal follow a similar outline every time, and once you get that right it’s not that difficult or time consuming to create what you need for couples to review.

And closing the deal? Well, that should be very easy if you’re doing all the things well before the end of the sales process

3 keys to success selling your services

The challenge most wedding pros run into is that they make it harder on themselves than it needs to be, because fundamentals weren’t done well earlier on.

Conversion rates go up (and so do prices!) when you share the right information at the right time in the right way.

Seems simple. And it is.

But along the way, you’ve also got to do so much more if you want to get couples to move forward and pay higher prices for your services.

When you guide the couple through the buyer’s journey you’re always concentrating on three main goals:

1. Create desire – People move faster and more confidently when they go after what they want. Motivate their emotional minds and they’ll run to give you a signature and deposit rather than drag their feet.

2. Build value – Couples pay more for what they value. The more value, the more they’ll pay. Stack emotional significance on top of the function needs you meet with your services.

3. Provide reassurance – The biggest concern at final decision time is risk: Will this be a good choice? Will they do what they say? What I want? Small pieces of social proof through the buyer’s journey compound toward the end when you really need it.

Do these three things well and the deals close themselves. Seriously.

5 major mistakes stopping you from closing more clients

The challenge most wedding pros run into when booking couples is that you’re doing so many things that work against these three priorities.

Here are five big mistakes I see all the time:

1. You’re using a “PDF and pray” approach to new inquiries

2. You’re pitching your packages and prices on the discovery call

3. You’re sending out generic pricing guides and proposals

4. You’re using base plus a la carte pricing or a menu of services

5. You’re leaning on too many scarcity tactics (like offer is only good for 72 hours)

If you’re like most wedding pros I know, your inbox isn’t flooded with inquiries right now. And if you’re getting at least a trickle, you know how important it is to make the most of the few that are flowing through.

That’s why it’s crucial to get the kinks out of your sales process – and a great place to start is when and how you’re trying to close the deal.

In this episode of Own Your Business, I talk about:

• Three big reasons why you’re getting ghosted or getting nos

• 5 popular approaches to closing that actually backfire more than they work

• Simple ways to tweak the process – not overhaul it – to convert more inquiries at higher prices