How to Capture More Bridal Leads That Visit Your Website

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Question: How can I collect bride leads for my email list?

“Hi Stephanie,

I’m so excited about the AES [Automatic Expert System] and have so many ideas.  Since I design cakes for all occasions, I want to be able to collect leads so I can promote special promotions, new cake flavors/products, etc. Clients often can also forward to family and friends of these promotions.   Of course, I want to collect leads from brides.   Could you share some insight on how I could approach?

Thank you!

Sweet Regards,”

Veronica

Answer:

Hi, Veronica.

It would be really helpful for you to brainstorm ideas for capturing leads and following up with them.  I’m sure you’d be much better at this than me, since you know your business and market best.  :)

In order to capture the name and email of people who visit your website you need:

1.  An email marketing service like Aweber that lets you send personalized mass emails and  create forms for collecting these leads.

2. A compelling offer or cool free giveaway people get when signing up for your email list. This might be a free informational report, coupons, video tutorials, checklists, etc.

3. A webform displayed on your website to make your clear offer in a way that gets
attention and inspires action.

4. Website traffic.  Don’t forget that people need to SEE your offer in order to sign up for it!

Here are some suggestions for getting high quality leads on your email list:

  •  Invite them to sign up for your email list for a chance to win a “cake of the month.” (You could do the same as a reward for liking your Facebook page.)
  • Invite them to sign up for your text message list to get exclusive coupons and discounts.  This works great for the restaurant industry to make and keep loyal customers.
  • Use a wedding specific free giveaway and transition your customers to updates of your blog posts via blog broadcast, including special deals and promotions.
  • Get your followers involved, once you have a good number of them, by asking for their suggestions on cakes to make for your “cake of the month” or even let them name a new flavor.

The key is to make sure whatever you offer is really valuable and desirable to your customers.

Ask your current/past customers for ideas about what you can give away to potential customers that would be really cool.  They’ll be your best resource!

What do you think about collecting more leads this way?

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5 Tricks That Leave Brides Hot and Bothered About Hiring You

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Question: How can I write an email that gets brides to take action?

“****The webinar was great informational last night,  I created this [email to send to brides] and wanted to know your thoughts.”

Dear Stepanie,

Hope planning is going well for your upcoming May 5th wedding.

I just finished read a book where one of the chapters gave 7 tips on keeping everything
balanced at your reception.

I would love to be a part of your special day and to be able to create some new awesome ideas.

Contact me Friday 5th between 5-7 to sign up for your FREE consultation.

Dates are filling fast.

Talk to you on Friday

Thank you.

Brian

Answer:

Brian,

Glad you enjoyed the webinar!

I like that you mention her wedding date, you’ve included something to arouse her curiosity and a very clear call to action…and that your imaginary bride happens to have the same name as me.  :)

Here are some ways to make your email more enticing:

1. Share one of those seven tips you read or give her an awesome idea for her reception. Nothing will get her wanting more like having a real sample.

2. Invite her to meet with you to learn more about what you share.

3. Offer her something more compelling than a “free consultation.”  To a bride/groom, that’s code for a sales pitch.

Offer her a free copy of the book when she meets with you.

Would it be worth the cost of a book to get a chance to meet with a qualified couple?  If you know you book 50% of the people you meet with (or even less than that) heck yeah!

4. Go for the next action instead of going right for the meeting.  It’s really difficult to schedule a meeting via email; it’s much easier to get on the phone and then make the meeting happen.

I’m not sure about the relationship you have already established with this bride, but unless she’s already hot and bothered about working with you, asking her to “sign up for a free consultation” might be off putting.

Invite her to have a “quick phone chat to find out if we’re a good match” instead.  It’s much less threatening and it will make getting the meeting more likely.

5. Don’t lay it on too thick.  Letting her know that you have limited availability is good, but I’m kind of doubting dates are filling up fast for your free consultation.  (Sorry.)

Test it out your new approach and measure the response.  Do you get more phone calls and set more meetings?  The proof is in the results.  :)

What do YOU think about this email?  How can he make the bride/groom more interested in a meeting?

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“I’m Afraid I’m Going to Blow It With My Dream Wedding Client!”

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Bride and Groom at the beach

Question: My dream wedding client just contacted me, but I’ve never done anything like this. How do I let her know that HER wedding will fit her vision when I have nothing to show her?

“First off I have to say that I am loving every single bit of this! I just added client testimonials to my website, have personalized the 2 bride bribes to match my branding and am in the process of working through the email marketing emails with Aweber.

I have a huge favor to ask…So this is the deal…I received a call from a prospective bride last Friday and we talked for over an hour on the phone. It was the best possible conversation I could have had. I feel confidant that I couldn’t have said or done anything else differently.

This is my dream wedding!!!! The venues (catholic church & members only club) are gorgeous and prestigious!!! They are having a bishop flown in to do the wedding.

She responded to me this morning.

Hi Kim,

I didn’t get through all of these, but I wanted to let you know I’m still looking and hope to make a decision soon- as in this week. I’ll keep you updated and if you wouldn’t mind keeping me updated if you receive further inquiries regarding our wedding date, I would very much appreciate it.

Thanks again and I hope you’re having a great week!

Marion

The thing is…is that I do gorgeous images but I have yet to do a wedding at the kind of place that she’s getting married. The gallery I sent to her is of a simple, country wedding with nothing spectacular. There are some gorgeous pics but nothing like hers will be if you know what I mean.

I need to be able to respond to her email with a sentence or 2 in a positive way that reminds her that this was their wedding vision and not hers.

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated :) I will send you some chocolate ♥ ”

Kim

Answer:

Hi, Kim.

I’m happy to hear you’re enjoying the training!

From what you’ve said it sounds like you’ve done everything you can to communicate your value and connect with this bride.  She obviously likes you and is anxious to keep you available, which is a good sign!

A note: did you mention any “deadline” or “limited availability” when you spoke with this bride?  We recommend NOT holding the date indefinitely, otherwise you encourage the couple to wait before booking and increase the chance that you will lose them.

Rather than writing something that sounds like you’re making excuses for your work, which you don’t want to do, how about something like this…

Marion,

I’m glad you had a chance to look at some of these images.  [BRIDE AND GROOM] had a very clear vision of country elegance for their wedding, and I can’t wait to help you capture the elegance of the church and the details that fit your own wedding vision.  It’s so exciting, and a style I can’t wait to shoot!

I can hold this date for you until the end of the week, but after that I’ll have to open
it up for other couples because I have limited dates available for booking.

Would you contact me by Saturday to let me know what you think, either way?

Thanks again for taking the time to chat with me and I look forward to hearing
from you!

Kim

This response is super positive and gives her a gentle reminder that you won’t be waiting
around forever.  Plus, asking her to follow up with you (she’ll most likely agree) will make
her feel committed to responding even if she decides to go a different direction, so you won’t have to chance her down.

On Saturday, if you don’t hear from her, send a short friendly reminder that she said she was going to contact you, and let her know that you’re happy to answer any other questions but you can no longer continue to hold the date for her.

Make sure you remind her that you might not be available when she gets around to hiring you; this will light a fire under her butt (very nicely!) to get that deposit in your hands fast.

No chocolates necessary.  Just be sure to tell us how it goes and report on your successes.  :)

Have you met your dream client yet?  Tell me your story!

​

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Five Ways To Get Rid Of Writers Block

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Writers block happens to everyone, even if you’re just trying to write an email. So how do you get those creative juices flowing?

Writing

A quick fix is to just jump in the middle and write whatever comes to mind. You can format it later to get everything in order. Second, talk about what you have to write to someone else or even talk outloud to yourself about it (we won’t tell!). If you’re really stuck try taking a break and getting yourself a cut of coffee, or do some other work while listening to music and come back later to finish the project. Stop thinking about the black and white of the page and think about the people it’s for. For more tips about breaking writers block read Katheryn Rivas’s blog post.

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Gmail’s New Weapon Against Email Overload: Smart Labels

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emailing-brides

The larger your wedding business grows the more important it is that you have a quick system to sort, read and file your emails. After all, who wants to sort through 500 or more emails a day when a huge chunk of them are email notifications from social networks, and bulk mailings? You need to be able to quickly see and deal with the emails that are coming in from clients, and worry about the rest of it during slow times.

Email servers are aware of this issue and have been working at finding ways to smooth out the process automatically. Gmail launched its Priority mailbox last fall, but it has kept working on finding more solutions and just released the Smart Label option. What makes this tool invaluable is the fact that it automatically sorts your emails and sends them to folders. According to Jason Kincaid in his article on the subject, Gmail is reporting a 15% decrease in the time that users are spending in their email inboxes. That is one good chunk of time to be saving every day!

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Taming the Email Beast

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emailing-brides

I don’t know about you, but the amount of email heading my way has been increasing non stop.  I’ve taken some measures to cut down on the constant distraction.  Creating some rules like only updating a couple of times a day helped.  Making sure the chime letting me know I have mail turned off.
I liked the idea in this blog post.

Reducing Email Intake

Another great idea from “The 4-Hour Workweek”

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How To Wipe Out Spam Email

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Spam.  Who doesn’t hate it?  articles

The good news is that there are some great tools to deal with the mystery minced meat of mail! I’m a fan of Gmail myself, which is pretty cool in this area and of course is FREE. Here is a great blog from Lifehacker on some options to deal the killing blow to our least favorite type of  correspondence.

P.S.  Steph says I’ve got to stop rhyming in my posts..BUZZ KILL.

http://lifehacker.com/5713914/how-to-wipe-out-spam-email-in-your-inbox

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