TheWeddingMarketingBlog.com

When it comes to rants, Dennis Miller has nothing on me.

In advertising, I find cliches incredibly annoying. I also find them unimaginative and ineffective. Possibly because the proliferation of cliches, such as perfect, thoroughly water down any impact. It is lazy, uninspired copywriting, period.

In what is a visually interesting ad for company parties, its cliche approach to copy falls short. It is an image that was embedded in an email. Might have been used in print, too, but I can’t be sure.

Andy Ebon

The Wedding Marketing Blog

Technorati Tags: Andy Ebon, Cliches, copy, Dennis Miller, rants, uninspired, wedding marketing blog

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written by Andy Ebon \\ tags: Andy Ebon, Cliches, copy, Dennis Miller, rants, uninspired, wedding marketing blog

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

Technorati Tags: cherry pie, crisco, marie callendars, pie chart, sales motivation, wedding budget, wedding marketing share

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written by Andy Ebon \\ tags: cherry pie, crisco, marie callendars, pie chart, sales motivation, wedding budget, wedding marketing share

Today, I have the pleasant task of presenting a seminar on blogging, and a dinner presentation on new social media, in sunny and beautiful Ventura, California.

As I write this post, I’m able to gaze out the picture window from the bar (coffee only, equal, and non-fat milk) across the green lawn, shrubbery and palm trees to the deep blue Pacific Ocean, and morning fog in the distance.

The wide variety of greenery, surrounding the lawn, masks Interstate 10, and its traffic noise. Barely audible, it sounds more like a waterfall than a highway.

Last evening, I had dinner with a close friend, who is a catering manager (imagine that). She has a wonderful job, at a great property, but suffers from something many of her peers do, all over the United States: understaffing.

Oh, she, and her staff, are getting it done, but it’s not pretty. When last interviewed by personnel, she made a very subtle and telling comment. “I never see the sun, anymore.”

She works in a stunning part of the country; the world in fact, and doesn’t see the sun. Translation and interpretation: She gets to work early enough, and leaves late enough, that there is little contact with the elements.

When taking a catering manager to lunch or coffee, I always made it a point to take them off-property, if at all possible. Primarily so I could have their full attention. I never imagined that they had become so cloistered that sun-depravation was now an issue.

Certainly, my friends in Las Vegas, working in city-size casino hotels, suffer some of the same symptoms.

So, while you’re working on relationship building, take a catering manager off-property, and get them reacquainted with daylight. You have no idea how much they will appreciate it.

Technorati Tags: blogging, daylight, New Social Media, Pacific Ocean, renewal, sunshine, Ventura NACE

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written by Andy Ebon \\ tags: blogging, daylight, New Social Media, Pacific Ocean, renewal, sunshine, Ventura NACE