Promised to share with you the stunning, extraordinary images from Lindsay and Christopher's Rustic Gone Glam wedding at Carneros Inn. It's certainly a wedding that I can't take my eyes off of. Sure, every week I get to create amazing designs but this one makes me silly that I want to swoon.
Love everything about the details from the shoes to the amazing clouds that surprised us all.
Of course, the inspiration couple are to thank for all this eye candy.
I love the pop of deep eggplant and violet. The dark succulent in wood baskets really convey that sense of rusticness.
Of course any wedding cannot come together with our fierce leader --- the incredible
Kelly M D of A Savvy Event who planned this wedding while she was pregnant.
An outdoor wedding featured fall branches, green hydrangea, large Moss balls, woodsy orbs, and optical grass. A favorite of mine.
Another favorite detail was the beautiful sign(far top right) that Lindsay and Christopher brought from their home in Southern California. It really made the farm style restaurant at Carneros Inn look like a true home. Succulent, iron Initials, old mugs with initials and apples on a stick worked quite well together.
And we had the best team ever including the super fun and calm
Scott Andrew. His images..breathtaking.
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This is part two of the post called Salesmanship.
Last post I talked about selling to clients. This post will be about selling to vendors.
Much of what I said previously about selling to clients would also be my view on selling to vendors.
Instead of repeating the same lessons I'll summarize my position so look for those bold highlights below.
For vendors,
begin at a networking event by getting to know 1 or 2 people. Follow up with them with a note if you want to get to know them better. Grab lunch. Exchange emails. Send your promotional items to them (and ask if it is okay first). There are so many ways to build rapport. Trust me, if you have a product to sell to vendors, it's even more critical to build a foundation.
There's my buddy, Marian of Savage Rose meeting the great David Beahm at Wedding 360.
Treat vendors in the same way as you would your clients with strong and professional communications. I'm a vendor and I love getting a hard written note. I'm impressed by that just as clients would be impressed that you showed you care.
Be not afraid to share your new ventures. In fact, before I invest in a new product that I want to sell, I sometimes ask a few key vendors would they ever pay for so and so services from me. Pre testing new product on vendors is a great way to see if your new product would be worth the time to invest in. And should you launch or add that product, you already have a few vendors who know about your new venture.
Courtesy of Jackie's Flowers. Open House at La Tavola
To make sure that you have the tools to sell to vendors,
make sure your marketing and promotion items are top notch and not dated. I absolutely dislike getting an announcement that looks outdated. Most people cannot help but use mass mailings but I find them boring.
I would find a unique way to show off your product or service. Let me share an example: I love how La Tavola had these mini launch parties for their new 2012 collection. They threw several open houses and announced it to all wedding professionals in the area. I love this approach. Using an open house is a non pushy way of selling their products. With a little wine, food, it creates atmosphere which I love. You don't feel like you are being marketed to even though you are.
More from Jackei's Flowers of La Tavola's open house.
Most important ---
Work on building a legendary reputation. I find that when you work and focus on being known for something, others will see it. Vendors will see it. And when a vendor sees your difference, they will tell other vendors. That is how a reputation starts. It's so much easier to sell something to a vendor when they know what you stand for.
Recently I paid for a vendor listing/link on a wedding site/blog. They merely asked me, gave me the facts, told me why they wanted me to be on their list. It was a very short and exclusive list of vendors. I knew the site by reputation. I knew what the wedding site stood for and enjoyed the content which was aligned with my mission statement of being modern, American, classic in style and function. I had no issues at all. The price was more than fair for what I perceived was their product and I bought into it without hesitation. They simply let their reputation sell itself.
Also,
they asked nicely. And when I said yes, they followed up and made the closing so easy. I love easy! I love straightforward.
In comparison, another very good blog/website also asked me to buy into an ad for their upcoming wedding issue. When I said I would think about it and get back to them, I didn't expect them to aggressively follow up to the point that they made me feel bad.
It's best not to make anyone feel bad. Sending emails saying that people are going to miss out seems desperate as well as over promising. It's easy to see how things can turn wrong in this situation so it's best to use good and sound judgment.
When working with vendors, try to be positive. Create a positive energy.
Courtesy of Augie Chang. Great energy at this Classic Open House. Everyone left feeling up beat!
Unfortunately for this wedding site, my maybe turned into a no. Try to turn a maybe into a yes is not easy. But it's best to leave a customer and client (who is vendor) with a positive conclusion even if it didn't end with a sell.
Finally:
Be patient. Be courteous. It's all about respecting others.
A no today could mean a yes tomorrow.
.
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A couple days ago a reader commented on our post and asked a question.
How to sell to clients and vendors?
This is an excellent question and here's my quick answer.
Selling to Clients
In my opinion, I do not believe in selling to clients. I'm not a believer in aggressive marketing or pushy sales pitch or over the top the discounting to get a sell.
Great salespeople know the art of developing a rapport with clients.
First thing if you want to be in the wedding business and you want to make an impression ---- be in the mindset of wanting to build a relationship. How do you do it....simply ask questions(and not the yes or no variety). Listen to their responses. Get to know them. Find their story through asking about what they do in their spare time or how they met or what interests them. Have a curious mind, willing to be inspired by their interests.
Courtesy of Jean Marks - I love how Jean has built such a great relationship with her bride. She's even helping her get dressed. What a great relationship they have with each other.
Bottom Line: Find your client's story through building rapport.
Second thing, I am impressed when sales people get back to me. If you want to get a client to even consider hiring you, you need to work on your communication. Make it easy for them to get a hold of you. Make your responses consistent and friendly in nature. When you develop trust from the get go, your clients will be more inclined to hire you. Also equally as important is following up. Response time is key. At the end of any meeting or presentation, give them a time frame for when you will produce a floral quote. If you are a caterer and write customized menus, tell them what the next step is. If you are not the type of vendor who needs to write a custom quotation, follow up with them a couple days after your meeting to see where they stand. Regardless, write a nice hand written note or call them to let them know your interest and to also thank them for your time.
Even after you've got the green light, make sure that you continue to respond. Putting clients off is one of the worse things you can do.
Same goes for when you are not available. If we are not available, this is an opportunity to be even more considerate as a client may be working on a short time frame or planning a wedding on a popular weekend in which it may be hard to find an available vendor. I put equal if not more priority on answering inquiries for which we cannot service.
Continue to service these clients that you have to turn down. And offer them recommendations or suggestions. Build rapport and work on communication by selling the services of another vendor. This is how you build strong customer service is through treating each client whether they work or not work with you.
Here is my response when I cannot do a wedding.
Thank you Jessica for your note and the thorough details of your wedding at Cornerstone. The venue is lovely with so many good options. Though we are already booked for your date can I recommend the following floral designers who I admire and would recommend.
Try Jasmine of Peony Productions - Jasmine's work is very lush and garden like which would work for your venue
Another good suggestion is Kerry Doherty Designs. I've always admire Kerry's work and how meticulous she is.
When I got married I choose to work with S.P Designs. S. P. is known for his creativity and great use of color. Based in the Peninsula I do not know if he will come to Sonoma but give him a try.
If you need any other vendors, let me know I would be thrilled to suggest a planner to caterer to a music d.j. Though we are not available for your date, we hope these suggestions will be a good fit.
Best,
Nancy
Bottom line: Practice strong customer service if you want to sell to a client.
Foremost -- let your product and service speak for itself. If you have a great product, you do not need to tell your client that you are the best. It will make selling your product or services so much easier.
When you love what you do, when you put out something so well crafted, when you know that you put your heart and soul into your service or product, when your presentations leaves the rest behind, your product and service will raise. It will make your clients want to hire you.
Courtesy of Cake Coquette. Their cakes sell themselves!
The last few weeks, my husband has been car shopping. The one thing I cannot stand is when a salesperson tells me their car is the best or that the competitors car is inferior. If you know that your product or service is top notch, you give your customers the attributes that define your car(product/service). You show them the attributes, point out uniqueness.
I love working with Marc at our local European car dealership. I love his approach. When we leased a car from him several years ago, I was so impressed that he never said, "our cars are the best". He never once knocked his competition either. By never putting the competition down, I knew that he knew that his car was top notch.
His presentation included how he showed off the car. He would walk us through the parking lot pointing at several cars, letting us lead him to what we were looking for. Then instantly, he would get the keys to the car and let us evaluate it.
When you know you have an outstanding product or service, an educated, discerning client can see the difference and it will speak for itself. Someone who is interested will ask you questions. This is an opportunity for you to articulate what makes your product/service unique and outstanding.
In contrast, I heard from other car salespeople that their cars were the best and that they were voted #1 for this or that. Instead of saying what the features were they just kept repeating this mantra of "our cars are the best" when clients don't want an opinion but the attributes that make a product outstanding. In the end, when someone is trying to sell you, you just want to run. They throw in deals, the aggressive hound you, they call endlessly and leave you messages. You just know when a car salesman is trying to sell you. Whereas Marc only left messages to see how we liked the car and what specs we would want to see. He was a straight shooter giving us the facts, quoting us the price. Allowing the natural process to flow. No aggressive push.
Courtesy of Vero Suh. Her images sell her work. And it shows.
Bottom line: Let your product and service stand out.
Ask and you shall receive, sometimes.
That statement is so true. If you want a client's business, you have to ask the question and so many people just are not comfortable with this. But it's really important to ask the question in your own unique way. It just cannot sound forced.
Once your presentation is done, ask your clients, would you like to move forward? Ask them if you should send them a contract. Use the language that feels right to you.
If you don't ask, you let them walk out without knowing anything. And personally, I hate ambiguity.
I do ask my clients, shall I save the date? Should I write a former proposal.
Most important, I follow up with them so that the answer is clear.
Bottom line: Ask, follow up. Close with sincerity
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How many of you were Girl Scouts? Brownies? Camp Fire Girls?
I was lucky to have been a Brownie and Camp Fire Girl. I don't remember much about those times except for huddling around a campfire eating dinner from our grilled foiled packs of food. Of course there were the sing-a-long. Who doesn't have memories of singing "Kumbaya" around a fire pit. And let's not leave out the scary ghost stories all told with someone putting a flashlight under their chin to make things look more ghoulish at night. Oooooh - scary times.
Though I started life loving the outdoors, in my late 20's till now, I have trade the backpack, sleeping bags, and s'mores lifestyle for thread count, room service, and a heavenly bed.
But a couple weeks ago, a little bird told me about a new concept - glamour and camping = glampiing.
And within a few days of me posting on twitter that I think glamping is so "in". I got this email from Kelsey Sheofsky about her new venture.
Let me introduce Shelter to you.
Shelter Co is a pop-up luxury camping service offering a curated outdoor experience anytime, and anywhere. Well, that's exciting! I can have my luxe and outdoors!
Shelter provides fully furnished European style canvas tents and all necessary amenities for group camping trips, weddings, family reunions, corporate retreats, and music festivals. Depending on the client's unique needs, they can provide everything from sleeping tents and restrooms to full service catering and activities.
Based out of San Francisco but launching in LA, Shelter is more than willing to travel outside of California.
Let me just say ---- I'm getting my gear ready and you should too.
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