A Sure-Fire Strategy to Fill Those Holes in Your Calendar

Question: When should I call brides about my services, and how can I fill the holes in my calendar?

My biggest frustration is knowing how far out to call brides for the vendor services my company provides: Entertainment, Lighting, Pipe & Draping.

I called brides getting married as late as September and those I’ve gotten a hold of have all their vendors. Many of them I left voicemails….is that a good idea or should I just hang up and have them wonder who called them? Also, what is the best day and time to phone call brides?

One last frustration. Being that this is my fulltime job and I don’t have many brides booked in the upcoming months, what would you suggest I do to create business from April through the summer months and into the fall when I start reaching brides that don’t have their vendors already booked.

As you can tell, asking me what is frustrating about my business may have opened up a can of worms because I am getting quite frustrated.

Answer:

Some thoughts about your questions…

“My biggest frustration is knowing how far out to call brides for the vendor services my company provides. I called brides getting married as late as September and those I’ve gotten a hold of have all their vendors. Many of them I left voicemails….is that a good idea or should I just hang up and have them wonder who called them? Also, what is the best day and time to phone call brides?”

Calling brides is not the most efficient or effective way to reach them, in my experience. Many brides really resent being called unless that have specifically requested information. Plus, most young people under 25 never answer the phone unless they recognize the number and rarely listen to messages. You’d actually have more success getting through if you text them…but then you run the risk of ticking them off with unsolicited texts that may even cost them money.

Every market is different. So I have a question…does calling them up really work to get you bookings? If it does, by all means keep doing it! (In my experience you’re most likely to catch them during lunch hour or dinner time. But it’s still tough these days.)

If not, focus on finding other ways to connect with them when they’re searching for services like yours. What vendors do they typically book right before or right after you? Those would be powerful partnerships for you.

Figure out when brides are searching for your product or service and where they are searching, and meet them there. That’s when they are ready to book.

“One last frustration. Being that this is my fulltime job and I don’t have many brides booked in the upcoming months, what would you suggest I do to create business from April through the summer months and into the fall when I start reaching brides that don’t have their vendors already booked.“

Call up your wedding vendor friends and buy them lunch! Chat ’em up, ask for their advice and listen. Help them out if you can. That’s the quickest and cheapest way to start filling up your calendar.

I’m not sure exactly what your service entails, but it sounds like connecting with tent rental companies, other entertainers, and planners would really help to drum up more short-term business.

If you can befriend another more established company who offers the same services as you, they can send you the overflow they can’t book. You can even pay them a referral commission for every one you book. That’s a win-win scenario for both of you; they turn those “extra” leads into cash, and you get to book up your calendar.

The quickest and cheapest way to fill up your calendar is by networking with other wedding vendors and befriending them to earn their trust and referrals.

You can learn more about the Power Lunch strategy in this blog post. Don’t be deceived by its simplicity. It works!

 

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