Question: “No matter how hard I try, I can’t get potential brides to call me rather than always getting emails, SMS’s, FB posts!! Is there any way at all to get them to pick up the phone?????”

vintage bride on phone

Answer: Get off your high horse and learn to speak Millennial already.

Let me get this straight…

You’re getting emails, text messages and Facebook communication from brides…and this is a problem?

I suspect your fellow wedding pros who are wearing themselves out chasing leads might take issue with this attitude.

A few facts to let sink into your noggin:

#1 – Celebrate the fact that these brides and grooms are communicating with you.

Spending the time and money to get your business in front of a potential client and getting them to inquire about your services is the hard part!  The wedding is practically booked.

When you focus on the fact they aren’t calling you (wah!) you miss the point: you have a red hot lead in your whiney little hands.

#2 – Get good at converting leads to booked weddings using the alternative communications the bride prefers: email, text message, social media.

If you want to book Millennial couples, you need to learn how to speak their language.

Let’s say you have a business selling orchids in China.  You wouldn’t throw a fit because no one spoke English, would you?  Well, maybe you would because you seem kind of prone to tantrums.  But most people would start taking Chinese lessons.

Today’s brides and grooms and still talking to you…then just aren’t doing it the way you want them to.

You can fight the tide or you can swim with it.  It’s your choice.

#3 – You CAN get Millennials on the phone, but only when they’re ready.

Gone are the days when your phone would ring and there’d be a ready-to-book bride on the other end.  These days, that lead is buried in your email inbox or a ping notification of a text message.

These are the new initial ways couples reach out to wedding vendors.  That’s just the reality.

Learn how to successfully communicate via these mediums and give them a reason to get on the phone.

Or you may be able to skip the phone entirely and book an in person meeting (or a Skype or Google Hangout) without ever speaking a word out loud.  How’s that for fancy pants?

#4 – Stop complaining about what couples do or don’t do and focus on what YOU can control.

You can’t reverse the trend and make the telephone the method of choice for contacting you.  Not unless you’re going to stalk each couple and hold a gun to their heads, which is kind of illegal.

What CAN you do?

You can use one or more of these 3 Killer Email Subjects That Make Brides Open Your Emails.

You can try one of these 4 Unconventional Ways to Get a Bride or Groom to Respond.

You can learn the latest strategies wedding pros are using to book weddings with text messages.

In short, there’s a lot you can do.  But complaining about things you can’t control isn’t going to get you diddly squat when it comes to results.

How do you (or don’t you) get couples on the phone?

Photo Credit Cropped