Marketing Lesson From The Local Guitar Repair Shop!

Earlier this week my eight year old son's guitar had an electrical problem and we had to take it to be repaired. My husband suggested we pass on going to the local big box guitar shop and instead try a small repair shop close by.  What a great suggestion that was.

We called ahead to explain that my son's guitar was broken and asked if they could fix it on the spot. The owner answered the phone and replied that they could and told us to call him when we were on our way. We called for directions, found the store in the middle of a quiet industrial park and then rang the bell to be let in!  Once inside, we had to wait about ten minutes while the customer ahead of us was being helped. While we waited I noticed that this customer was a regular and that the owner seemed to personally know all the guitars being handed over to him along with who owned them.

When our turn came the owner immediately greeted us and asked my son's name. He then went on to compliment his guitar and asked my son what the problem was.  As he was working on the guitar, he constantly chatted to my son, asking him what music he liked, what his favorite band was and if he could play certain songs.  By this time Jack was in "guitar shop heaven". He was beaming from ear to ear and enjoying the attention. Half way through the work, the owner showed me a part and informed me that although it was still working, the plating was coming off. He suggested we upgrade this part for a better quality piece to avoid having to come back again in a few months for the same repairs.

When the job was finished, I was handed a receipt which had my son's name on it with my name underneath.  The owner handed Jack a handful of guitar picks and told him that their phone number was on them and to call them the next time his guitar needed to be repaired.

Awesome experience right? Here's the great marketing tactics this guitar repair shop used to blow us away. These tactics can be easily implemented into your wedding business immediately...

• We had to ring an intercom bell and be buzzed in. This gave us the feeling of exclusivity and made us feel like members of a private club.  Find a way to make YOUR customers feel exclusive. 
• The owner knew the customer ahead of us by name, he was also very familiar with the guitars being dropped off.  Make a point to call your customers by name. Calling someone by name associates them with familiarity and they'll instantly feel more comfortable with you.
• He remembered the guitars and who they belonged to.  By taking notes while talking on the phone or in person with your brides, you'll be able to recall the details of their wedding and their requirements every time you speak with them.
• The store owner spoke directly to his customer - my son - and formed an emotional connection with him! He asked questions and found out my son's musical preferences. This is a big one! Figure out who the decision maker is and form an emotional connection with them. Ask questions to find out exactly what they are looking for and show them how you can fill these needs.
• He sold us a new part although the old one was still working.  This was a great example of up selling. I was sold something I did not immediately need but purchased it immediately without a second thought.  Try to anticipate your customer's needs. Do they have lots of out of town relatives that can not attend the wedding? if so offer them a "special" for additional albums or DVDs.  Are they having trouble selecting just two menu choices? Create a "special" menu upgrade which includes three choices.
• He gave Jack some guitar picks and told him to call next time his guitar needed to be repaired.    I know that next time something goes wrong with that guitar - my son will do exactly as he was told and will ask me to call this guitar shop. Give your customers a clear call to action just like this one.  Tell them to call you on Friday to confirm which package they've decided on.  Tell a prospective bride to come for a tasting next week to try the menu choices - how does Tuesday sound?

Can't you tell - this guitar shop has found a new customer for life who's dying to tell the work how great they are.  Implement some of the strategies above and I'm sure you'll see some amazing results. You'll develop a loyal customer base eager to spread the word about your amazing service - and there's no better marketing than that!

Have you experienced great service and marketing tactics which you can apply to your wedding business? Please share your experiences - I'd love to hear about them.


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How To Grow Your Referrals From Other Wedding Professionals - Part Two.

How To Network With Your New Connections - aka Networking Etiquette.
 
Now that you have a pocket full of business cards it's time to get to work and start networking.  There is no doubt that networking with other wedding professionals will increase your referrals. Sadly though most of us will not follow up. Don't let that stack of connections gather dust. Just by picking up the phone and making a few calls you'll be ahead of the game. Follow this list of networking tips and you'll soon have a large pool of professionals referring you:

• Call each new connection the day after you meet them (or wait till Tuesday if you meet them over the weekend as most of us need Monday to catch up).  Tell them how great is was to meet them and that you hope to stay in touch.  Use the calendar in your email program to set reminders to follow-up.
• Look them up on Facebook and become Facebook friends and fans of their business fan page.   Check their profile and make note of their birthday - send them a birthday card.
• Look them up on LinkedIn and connect.  Once you get to know them a little better and have worked together you can ask them to write a recommendation for you on LinkedIn.
• Set up a referral alliance!  A referral alliance is a group of professionals who refer each other to their own customers.  Some wedding vendors give a kick-back or referral fee back to the vendor who referred them. I suggest that you do not do this. Instead come up with some benefit or extra service the bride will receive if she books with a member of the alliance.  This gives the bride a reason to call your "friend" and make an appointment with them. I think this section needs a blog post all of its own!
• Set up all your new connections into a database and send them a quick email when you have some great news to share (perhaps you won an award or are offering some great deals during the slow season). Make sure you do not do this too often though as your emails will just get deleted and not actually read!
• Mail holiday cards.  Make sure they are tasteful, non religious and arrive before the holiday!  You are going to hand write them of course!
• Reciprocate - ask each couple you meet with who they still need to hire. Pass out their business cards and let your customers know about any special offers.

Don't forget the familiar fact that a potential customer needs to see your marketing message 8 or so times before doing business with you. Networking works the same way.  Other wedding professionals need to get to know you before they'll trust you with their precious clients. Keep networking consistently and you'll soon see the benefits.

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How To Grow Your Referrals From Other Wedding Professionals - Part One.

Referrals from other wedding professionals are a huge source of business for us.  A great comment on a blog post below reminded me that this topic deserves a blog post all of its own! In fact it deserves a whole series of posts. Here's part one - Where to meet and connect with other wedding professionals.

With marketing dollars tight for most of us, we often wonder how to generate new business without going into debt. Very often we forget that the simplest and least expensive form of marketing is often the best. Networking with other wedding professionals can open up a whole new stream of referrals.  Here are a few tips for uncovering new networking connections.

• Search online for local wedding professionals in your neighborhood. Call them to introduce yourself and keep in contact via email.
• Next time you have a booth at your local wedding show, take a few minutes to walk the room before the show starts. Introduce yourself to all the vendors who you do not already know. Take their business card and follow-up with them within a few days. Say hello to the wedding vendors you already know - but focus on meeting new connections. You can follow-up with older contacts at any time so don't catch-up and chat with friends when you could be meeting new contacts.
• The photographer or event planner working next to you this weekend may be a great source of leads.  Be sure to introduce yourself to ALL the vendors at each wedding/event you book.  Make sure you swap business cards and tell them you'll be in touch. Remember to follow up within a few days. 
• Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn are all great networking tools as long as you don't abuse them. Stay focused on business networking and don't get side tracked chatting with old high school friends! My experience has shown that participating in wedding related groups on LinkedIn has been a great networking tool. 
• Meetup is a great place to meet other wedding vendors. You can sign up for free and join a group in your neighborhood.

I'm sure they are many other ways and places to meet and network with wedding professionals - please add any that I've missed.

Don't miss part two of our series How To Grow Your Referrals From Other Wedding Professionals which will be posted on Friday 3/19. The second post will cover How To Network With Your New Connections - aka Networking Etiquette.

6 Reasons To Attend Your Local Wedding Show

Wedding show season is in full swing here in California. As we prepare to attend several shows I've noticed the large number of wedding professionals who do not attend.  A little research showed that many of those not attending are the ones who need the business most!   In today's economy I understand that advertising and marketing dollars are limited - but here's a quick list of reasons why you can not afford not to book a booth at your local wedding show...

• Because hundreds of brides will be walking the isles looking for qualified wedding professionals. Don't miss the opportunity to connect with so many potential customers. 
• Because wedding shows are the most cost effective way to get your business name in front of brides. 
• Because as long as you select the right shows for your business and do the necessary before, during and after show follow-up - you can almost guarantee you'll make your investment back many many times.
• Because wedding show leads are easily trackable. Unlike most other types of advertising you'll be able to easily calculate your roi.
• Because wedding shows give you access to FACE TIME with hundreds of brides.  More face time equals more bookings!
• Because your competition is there!  Many of your competitors will be there meeting hundreds of your potential customers.  By not attending you are automatically giving them a huge advantage.

Want to learn more about how to make wedding shows a huge source of new business?  Subscribe to receive our free report and marketing information created exclusively for Wedding Professionals. We're planning a special edition covering all aspects of wedding shows and how to make your number of bookings explode!

5 Easy Ways to Network and Stay Ahead of Your Competition

As wedding professionals we already know that networking is a must if you want to grow your business, but the truth is, many of us are just not doing it!  We make a point of meeting other wedding vendors at every given opportunity. But our experience tells us that although they all  seem eager to network and stay in touch - this only happens because we make the effort and follow-up.

Networking is a very easy and inexpensive way to increase your circle of connections. The larger this circle of connections, the more opportunity you have to be referred to a bride and potential customer. Seems pretty straight forward right? You'd think we'd all be running to each others doors or frantically logging onto to our computers to make these golden connections. Sadly this is not the case. Only a select and dedicated percentage of us actually make the effort and those that do will probably not do so on a frequent basis.

So no more excuses. Implement these 5 ways below and start building your golden circle of connections...

• Face to Face Networking - Nothing beats meeting someone face to face.  Once someone meets you in person they'll tend to remember you more that it you'd just introduced yourself over the phone. Give yourself plenty of opportunities for these face to face meetings by attending at least one networking event each week.  Be sure to have your "30 second intro" ready and have a pocket full of business cards.  Make a point to connect with as many people as possible and be sure to collect their business cards. I always suggest attending networking functions alone as you won't have your colleague to chat with and will be forced to go out into the pool of new connections.  Networking groups are pretty easy to find and a simple Google search will probably list more than you could ever attend. Meetup.com is a great place to find a local networking group and a great way to start out. In fact if you're in Los Angeles we have our own Meetup Group.
• Email Networking - Now that you have a large stack of business cards and new contacts you'll want to keep in touch. Start by sending them an email the very next day to say how nice it was to meet them. Remind them what you do and say that you hope to keep in touch. 
• Telephone Networking - Now that you've made some new "friends" you should chat occasionally on the phone just as you would with a personal friend. Give them a call to tell them about a wedding networking event you may be attending or invite them to your businesses open house. 
• Online Networking - Join all the current social networking sites (Twitter, facebook, linkedIn...) Go through your stack of business cards and do a search for their profile so that you can connect.  Most social networks have a function which allows you to search for people in your specific industry. If so, perform a search for wedding professionals and make even more new connections.  They key to online networking is to be active and relevant. Post comments, answer questions and just be yourself. 
• Mail Networking - Don't forget about the snail mail!  You're new connections will love to receive holiday and birthday cards from you (hand written of course!).  Here's an extra tip - if you forgotten to collect birthdays you can usually find them posted on your contacts facebook account!

Now that we're all committed to network - let's get started. Please post a comment below and add your business details along with links to your facebook, twitter and linkedin accounts. Let's connect to each other online and let the networking begin.

I'll go first...

Julie Zarchi
Email: julie@aevideography.com
Website: American Event Productions
Blog: Your Wedding Rocks
Marketing Blog: Wedding Marketing Network
Twitter: @aevideography
Facebook Page: American Event Productions
Facebook Marketing Group: Wedding and Event Vendors
Linkedin Profile: Julie on LinkedIn
Local Los Angeles MeetUp Group Los Angeles Wedding Marketing Network

Now it's your turn...