In February 2008, I spoke at The Wedding Conference in Toronto, Canada, hosted by WPIC (Wedding Planners Institute of Canada). WPIC is sanctioned by the Canadian government to provide certification for wedding planners.

The event producers, Danielle Andrews Sunkel and Tracey Manailescu, had discovered me through this blog, via a Google Search. Imagine that!

Since then, we’ve stayed in regular communication, and reconnected each other, in person, at Wedding MBA. Imagine my excitement when they asked me to be the opening speaker at their Wedding Conference at the Beaches Resort in Turks & Caicos.

The conference in Turks & Caicos was combination of inspiration – business – fam trip for about 100 wedding planners, almost all from Canada. WPIC has partnered with Beaches – Sandals to inform, train, and certify wedding planners about its resorts and how to effectively serve brides and grooms. The goal is to help planners understand the culture of the various Caribbean destinations, special features of Beaches – Sandals resorts, and generally create a climate for wedding planners to facilitate destination wedding business for its resorts.

The Success Formula was straight forward:

• Bring planners to a Beaches Resort, and immerse them in that experience.
• Program three days of seminars (8:00am – 1:30pm), including one day of Beaches-specific training. Leaving plenty of open time to simply enjoy the resort, on one’s own time.
• Fill the rest of the seminar time with solid, first tier speakers to inspire, motive and inform attendees.
• Offer a couple of group activities, to build camaraderie.
• Punctuate the conference with a closing gala dinner, showcased by all the appropriate recognition, fun and prizes.

The key collaborator and champion for WPIC is Gina Tsirmpas, National Business Development & Promotions Manager, Unique Vacations Canada Inc.. In simple terms, Gina is responsible for business development of Beaches and Sandals Resorts in Canada.

From the untrained eye, it felt as though every staff member at Beaches – Turks & Caicos wanted not only to please every guest and conference attendee, but also felt a particular need to do a good job for Gina. A conference/fam trip  is a catalyst for bringing destination weddings to the resort, and its sister properties. That’s the business reality; however, it was clear that the desire to serve and succeed went light years beyond that.

Not one staff member would let you pass without asking if you were enjoying your day. If there was a maintenance issue at your room, it was attended to, with rocket speed. All needs during the conference sessions were attended to with complete professionalism.

COMMENT: I often refer to the importance of making the right donation (one that benefits both you, and the recipient organization). This conference, is not a donation, but a promotional event. Yet, there are great similarities in the Win-Win formula.

The Wedding Conference was a success on all counts. The major ones are these.

• Attendees received value, in terms of information, education, face-to-face time at the resort, and wedding industry camaraderie.
• The resort received value by educating wedding planners who are likely to book destination weddings, and even more likely to direct those bookings to one or more of the Beaches Resorts.
• Guest Speakers enjoyed speaking to a highly focused audience, interested in soaking up the information and inspiration.
• WPIC continued to enhance its standing as THE organization for wedding planner education in Canada, and a leading resource for training and education on destination weddings.

A Question For You: What are you doing (or should you be doing) in your market to better inform, train, excite and empower wedding industry peers to drive leads, bookings, and sales to you? The greatest element of the Wedding Conference was better educating the planners about what the Beaches resorts have to offer.

• Do the wedding professionals in  your market really know the range of your services?
• Do they know what makes your company better or different.

Holding an open house, sending holiday cards, or taking a colleague to lunch are all good public relations and business development tools.

If you developed a program for educating you referral contacts about your services, from the standpoint of how it would benefit them (and their companies), first, and the customer, too, what would be the result?

Developing and maintaining one good referral contact, may generate 10-20 pieces of business in a year. Earning the trust of one bride can often feel like finding a needle in haystacks.

Danielle, Tracey and Gina are great examples to emulate. More important than the companies they represent, it’s the values and execution they carry out that count. As if often said, we do business with people we like and trust.

Andy Ebon
The Wedding Marketing Authority

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