Get your piece of the wedding marketing pie
Your slice of the wedding marketing pie
Think of your wedding market share as one piece of a tasty cherry pie. Perhaps, this year, the slice has been both tasty and satisfying. The revenue and profits from that pie have been just fine, thank you.
Before you can say ‘flaky crust,’ the size of the pie begins to shrink. Perhaps there’s a cherry shortage. Could it be that there has been a run on Crisco?
If the pie continues to shrink in size (# of weddings, or wedding budget dollars), you are going to be one hungry consumer of cherry pie.
Sadly, you have no control over the size of the pie. You just eat your slice; you’re not the baker. What’s a dessert eating wedding business like yours going to do?
Steal some pie!! You heard me. Steal some pie.
If your slice of pie is shrinking, you need to take a bite out of someone else’s pie. It’s nothing personal. It’s just necessary, from a competitive appetite standpoint.
If the pie were increasing in size, you could just coast on your percentage of the pie, and life would be cool.
Now is the time to hustle, not to coast.
If you are responding to your competitor’s appetite, you are toast. You need to be hungrier than your competitor. Make one more call, have a better print ad, get some face time with your venue contacts, have office hours that ridiculously convenient for the prospect, respond to inquires with lightning speed, and follow up on even the coolest lead as though it’s sizzling hot.
You’ve got to want it; no excuses!!
Want to motivate your sales staff. Go out to Marie Callendars, bring a cherry pie back to the office for a sales meeting, and retell this story with your own twist. Make little flags with your competitors names and stake them in the pie.
Make cherry pies a sales incentive. Top producer or every person that meets a sales goal for a 2-week period earns a cherry pie.
How about delivering a cherry pie to an industry contact who has given you the most referrals in a month?
OK, I’ve made myself sufficiently hungry. I’m going out to Marie Callendars for a slice of cherry pie (sugar free) and coffee.
It’s time to get get yours!!
Andy Ebon
The Wedding Marketing Blog
If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!
One way to get a bigger peice of pie is to share… Share business. Is that ethical? Of course. I share all my superfilas cherry’s (brides to be) with my other photographers. Its not like they are going to be around forever. Every cherry has is expiration date, and as long as I have enough for a certain date I pass them on. It only takes a few passed on cherry’s to make a competitor notice. There is usually enough cherry’s to go around, its just as important to find the ones with the right flavor for your pie. Two many sweet or too many sour Cherry’s will make your business not worth the bite.
My particular bride has personality. Not just money… Money is nice, but a client who values your product will spend just about anything to get you.
Wonderful comment.
Thanks for chipping in.
Andy