Speaker 1: 0:10

Welcome to the Wedding CEO podcast, where we discuss all things marketing, sales and scaling so you can become the CEO of your life and business. I'm Elora Rochelle and I've been a wedding photographer for over a decade and now I'm sharing all of my secrets so you can stop sacrificing your time and make more money like a CEO. Welcome back to another episode on the Hello podcast. I'm your host, Elora, and I'm really excited for today's topic. So we're going to be talking about three reasons why your clients aren't booking. And yes, this has to do with two things Sales calls. It's definitely something that, if you're very new to this, or if you'd rather just leave the whole conversation to email, I totally get it. I was there. I used to hope and pray my clients would never ask me to get on a call. I would be like we can just email if you want your earliest convenience. And they'd be like actually, can we hop on a call? And, even worse, they'd be like can we hop on a video call? And I'm just, ah, I have to like, do my hair and get dressed. What even is this? But now that we have transitioned into the world of Zoom calls and this virtual world, you can't really escape from video calls, sales calls, phone calls, whatever you want to call them, and I think that it's definitely something nobody talks about enough, which is why people have a hard time grasping how important a sales call is, because all we talk about is the pretty stuff, the branding, the marketing and getting lots and lots of inquiries, or maybe even Facebook ads, but nobody wants to talk about having to show up with confidence and representing themselves as the authority in their business, and that's pretty much what a sales call does. A sales call pretty much lets them know that you know your business inside and out, what you can do for them, what you can provide for them and how they can get in contact with you. So let's talk about the three things that are probably holding you back from booking those clients after they hop on a call with you.

Speaker 1: 2:13

Number one when you hop on the sales call, you are not confident at all. You have no idea what to say, so you end up babbling or, even worse, not say anything. I've done this and let the client take control of the conversation and you're both trying to figure out why you're even on the phone in the first place and what was the end goal for this call, and so I think a lot of times people really get caught up and feeling like they're too controlling and so they try to be really easy going and they're just like, yeah, I'm just chill, whatever, ask me your questions, but I believe in that to a point. I feel like I can balance pretty well, the very blade back, easy going, but I have all of my stuff together and you do not ever have to question whether or not I'm a professional. I am just a friendly professional. So if you gotta think about it like that and try not to hands off your whole process to the client and they're kind of probably wondering like well, this person take charge of my wedding day, are they going to be confident in what this has to offer? So you have to kind of think about that. Are you in control of the call or are they?

Speaker 1: 3:21

Number two, you send an automated email with no personality and a pricing guide, because that's what everybody says, like everyone's, like, oh, all you need is a pricing guide and an email and it's in the bag. And look, here's the thing you have to do. So much more than not to one be set apart, because I'm sure they're getting pricing guides from everyone. Anyway, all that to say this is false. Okay, clients want a customized experience. They don't want to feel like another number on your queue. They don't want to feel like another email in your inbox. They don't want to feel like they're just another client that you're going to get paid by treat like everybody else and go on with your day, which, I mean, maybe that could be what you do.

Speaker 1: 4:05

I believe in having a systemized business, but I don't believe in having a robotic business, and I used to do this. I used to give people pricing guides and a very blah email, and I used to be so upset and wonder why they didn't book with me. And it was because I wasn't taking the extra time. So why would they take extra time? You know what I mean. They're getting the same pricing guide that everybody else gets, and so this is why we talk so much about having customized proposals in our program, because it makes the client feel more taken care of and appreciated.

Speaker 1: 4:32

You are going to take the time and you are going to invest in them on their wedding day. It's something they're never gonna get back, and so we take it so lightly, because we shoot weddings all the time. We shoot weddings every other weekend or so, but to them it's their first time, you know it's their first wedding. Maybe sometimes, usually it is, but they wanna feel taken care of. You know, regardless of like, let's say, you go to a very nice restaurant, a four star, five star hotel, and you kind of wanna feel taken care of. You don't wanna feel snubbed, you don't wanna feel like a one star experience where they're just like here's your key, whatever see you later. No, you want the experience, and so think of ways that you can take this to the next level and not just treat people like a number, like a paycheck Number three don't give a call to action.

Speaker 1: 5:17

So afterwards, after the call, nobody really knows what to do next and when. And this could be a confidence issue, this could be a worthiness issue. This could really just be the common complaint of I don't know what to do after the sales call. I don't wanna do this in the first place. I don't wanna do sales, so it doesn't really matter. If they really like me, they'll just book with me. My ideal client will just book with me, like they know. They know how I am, or you know I built a really strong personal brand. They should just like me for that. I shouldn't have to XYZ, I shouldn't have to do more, I shouldn't have to go the extra mile.

Speaker 1: 5:52

Here's the thing. Yes, you do. You kind of have to tell people what to do and you have to think about this in your everyday experiences. So, yeah, I use the example about the hotel or like a five star restaurant. But think about, like if you're one of the dentists and they tell you hey, after this appointment, don't eat anything for the next, you know, two to three hours because of your enamel or something. Or let's say, you're doing any sort of activity where you have no expertise and you have no idea what you're doing and you're hoping that they're gonna guide you along the way. Think about the same thing for your clients. So you kind of have to tell them, well, what do you want them to do after this and why? Because sales works in our everyday conversation. Whether it's with marketing, whether it's with your clothes, that you buy the ads, that you see the commercials that everyone is selling, it's not as scary as you think. It's actually something that we come in contact with every single day. So here's how it goes right.

Speaker 1: 6:42

I call it mindset marketing and sales. This is like my secret weapon is being able to create a successful business out of anything. You have to overcome the mindset first, the money mindset, the mindset of I can do this, the mindset of oh my gosh, what if I fail. Once you start working through those things and like self-correcting, then you're gonna want to get into the marketing part, making sure your outward presence is very inviting and it's exactly what you want to attract, but also that you're saying the things that you want people to do. Marketing is like a fire Maybe. Like you see a fire in the background like whoa, what is that? I wanna go see what's wrong with that. Like marketing just brings awareness to your brand and sales is what makes you the money. So now that they're very aware of you, now they're filing you an Instagram, they're like sending you emails. Like how are you gonna get them now to buy the product or the service that you're selling?

Speaker 1: 7:38

So in our wedding CEO program, we have a sales strategy and a script and a structure, depending on the type of approach that you want it to take personally, but I like to talk off script, so I kind of have a general outline so that if I don't want us to chase rabbits or end up on the phone for an hour. I usually like to keep it at 25 to 30 minutes. So I just have like a bulleted outline that we gear towards and using sales psychology to get them to say what I need to hear so I can better help them. But also, if you're like I actually hate talking on the phone, to my biggest fear, don't worry. We have a actual step-by-step script. So if you're literally don't know what to say, we give you an actual script of what to say and what to do next and how to get them to go along with what you want them to do.

Speaker 1: 8:23

So we have all that stuff inside of the program. It's not scary. Sales is a little bit more structured and strategic. But you can definitely make those 10K months that you're hearing so much about. And don't be afraid to sales. Sales is your friend. Sales is what makes you the money so that you can have a business in the first place.

Speaker 1: 8:39

Don't talk about marketing so much and you get all these people and all these inquiries coming in and then they're not buying. What's the whole point of your marketing plan and I think this is another thing that people get confused with is they're like oh well, I have all these inquiries but nobody's booking, nothing's wrong with your marketing. We're now aware that your marketing is great, but you need to work on your sales strategy. So that is why I like to talk about mindset marketing, sales. Of course, branding is in there and I think branding definitely has to deal with more of the attraction marketing. So I don't really list that on its own, but we definitely talk about all of those things inside of the program, which is why it's five modules, but it's totally fine. It's every single thing you need is every single thing I've done to be able to scale my business to six figures and beyond and be able to offer other things like education, outsourcing, hiring, a team, all the other great stuff. We are adding the associate team course strictly for this program.

Speaker 1: 9:36

I'm debating on selling it outside, but don't hold me to it. I might just have it only for my wedding CEO people, because it's like I don't know if you haven't gone through our process. It feels like I would want you to be able to have a successful business and then add the team, but if your business is a hot mess and you add the team, it might just completely crumble and die. So you wanna get everything organized and ready to go and then you can work on building the multiple six figure business, if that makes sense. So I hope you guys are going to nail it on your next sales call. You got this and don't make these three mistakes that I constantly see and why your clients aren't booking with you. Keep killing it. I'll see you in the next.

Speaker 1: 10:20

The Wedding CEO. The Wedding CEO. The Wedding CEO. Wait, don't go yet.

Speaker 1: 10:26

If you loved today's episode, I would love if you took five seconds to leave a rating and a five star review. If you do, send me a DM so I can give you a virtual hug and, of course, a shout out. Now, if you're ready to grow your photography business, I invite you to join the waitlist for the wedding CEO. The Wedding CEO is my signature program for wedding photographers who are ready to scale their way to a hundred K. You're finally ready to work less, make more and live your dream life. If you've seen my Instagram, then you'll know we have students making five figure months, launching their dream brands, doubling their prices, taking vacations and more, which are lifetime skills that you can take with you even if you decide to leave the industry. Join the waitlist for when we open the doors on November 14th to the waitlist only, and you're gonna get an exclusive advanced private training on how to scale to a hundred K, booking less than 20 weddings a year. And trust me, you don't wanna miss this Link in the show notes. I'll see you inside.