Adapt & Evolve Your Wedding Business or Be Left Out: PART 2

Kristina Stubblefield  00:00

Welcome to the WedPro Business Solutions podcast. I'm your host, Kristina Stubblefield. We are back for part two of my dynamic interview with Brian to be and marketer, Brittany Murphy to discuss her less than desirable experience of searching for wedding vendors. In part two, Brittany and I dive deep into communication, setting expectations, and the systems and processes you can easily put in place, I can pretty much guarantee you a direct advantage over your competition just by listening and implementing a few of the things we discussed in this episode. Now, let's get started with this one. Well, so this has been a hot topic with video testimonials. I'm I've said it many times there go you to capture the emotion. Someone explaining their experience is just different than the written word. Now, I love when people say to me Yes, but if it's a video, then what if a person wants to read it? Newsflash, guess what, you can have it transcribed. So but closed captions are you can have closed caption goodness, you can have it transcribed to put in a blog post where you can actually use it as quotes. You know, in it's just that little pushback loop video testimonials. And this has been going on for a few years. And that's why I specifically we partnered with a company to do a video testimonial software to make it so easy that here's a link they go to, they can record it on their phone, tablet, laptop, it doesn't matter. And then guess what, they hit the submit button. They don't have to send it in Google Drive Dropbox, it's too big to email. All those hurdles are with with drawn out of the whole equation. The best part is the business owner can click Approve. And then guess what? It's on their website. It's magic in it. Those then can be used as social media posts on your Google listing. There's so many different ways to repurpose that. And but until people hear it talked about a few times, oh, it doesn't have to be this ginormous task, or I don't really know I'm scared of technology. I don't really know. There's so many tools out there to utilize that the power of those video testimonials can be not just one booking. It can be booking for years to come.

Brittany Murphy  02:39

Oh yeah. I mean, when again, a brides video testimonial from five years ago could still play impactful for me. I mean, it's not like your services have gone down to five years would be my expectation. So if someone's that happy, then five years you should be even more honed in which means you have even more excited clients now. So you do want them to be current. But just as you said, they will speak for years, and they'll speak volumes, because it's still an exact example of someone who went directly through your process. And this is how they felt afterwards. It all kind of feeds into it. So I'd like to touch on something you said. Okay, you mentioned a word that is one of my favorite words of all tools. And the reason I want to go after tools is because one thing I was ranting to Christina about before we filmed this is when I did do some search, and I did get some recommendations as well. I probably did something maybe that she would go to this tisket. But who knows, I sent out an email to 30 Different DJs Oh, I

Kristina Stubblefield  03:36

remember you talk Oh, this is a this is like pushing a button for me. Yeah, go ahead with your story. So

Brittany Murphy  03:43

I'm sorry if I'm sorry, a few more cuss words in here. But this is after someone's done a search, they might have loved what they've seen enough to send you out something and get some interest in it. And you send it out to 30. So I sent so I had 30 emails and I customized each one of them. So I just want to go and say this was not a mass email or I BCC everybody on it and just was that bad person? No, I did customize. I said hey, I found you from this place. So I would record out sales recommendation I said if I found your Facebook I found your from your website, because I thought that would help them again, I'm gonna helpful person may this might help you with your marketing. And I came from I mean, I know you heard back from every one of them. Yes, actually. 31 responded back to me was crazy.

Kristina Stubblefield  04:23

No pay very, very close attention to her actual answer.

Brittany Murphy  04:27

No. So that would be a multiplier of five. I only had six of my 30 DJs respond to me. Now. Some people might say well, when did you send these out? Is this high time and October on a Saturday? Yeah, no one's gonna respond you Brittany. I didn't do it then. I did give my guys enough time to respond to me. This was over a course of 90 days only six fully responded to me. Of those six half are already booked. You know why? Because the guys respond quickly. Always get booked first. So I was not surprised that the guys who did respond were good people who had some process, or some tool in place to say, Hey, I'm either available or not available. And here are the next steps of how I would like to start this conversation with you. Or on the flip side, I'm unavailable, here are my top four recommendations of other DJs in this area I'd recommend for you. So what's on your mind, Christina, I can see something boiling,

Kristina Stubblefield  05:20

actually, you hit on like four or five podcast episodes I've just put out, I have, over the past several months come to realize, I don't know if I'm ready to completely accept it yet. How many wedding professionals work out of their email inbox, they don't have a CRM system, they don't have a business system. The list goes on. And the reason I'm mentioning this is because tools automations everyone's scared of that a word. And it's okay. But there are people like me out there to help you implement them, or there's other people, it doesn't have to be me that you could at least gotten a response. Thank you for emailing, thank you for your interest, thank you for inquiring, and said, if you're emailing us on Friday, through Sunday, we're probably at events, but we will get back to you in two to three days, you would have gotten some kind of response. And the problem becomes when you work out of your email inbox. The weekends happened, you're exhausted, you don't probably do anything on Mondays. And oh, well, you've gotten quite a few emails, well, you didn't make it back through all of them. So even if people did respond to a few of the inquiries, where if that was in a system, you would know you had x number of leads, and there hadn't been shit done on them. And here is why this is such a pain point for me, because it's communication. It that's really what it boils down to, is simple communication. It is like returning a phone call returning a text message, or an email. And that's what makes it so frustrating for me with my background is technology is there to be like an assistant, these tools in the software's. For those out there that are solopreneurs or have a small team it is to be there to help assist you. That's just one of the topics that you hit on for me. And I feel like customer service, lead follow up. So many times people are focused on advertising, I need to run ads, I've got to book more events? Well, the truth of the matter is, if you get your business together a little bit, okay, maybe more than a little bit, you probably are missing out on events along the way. Because I call it foundation just like your website, that business solution that's there. And there's different ones out there. The worst part about it is most of them are pretty dang affordable. Very affordable, in my opinion, from a technology standpoint, I

Brittany Murphy  08:14

mean, one thing you could do within the next 24 hours, it'll take you literally five seconds. Like we'll use Gmail, go into your settings Turn on an automated responder to always be on no matter what. So that way, it just says, Thanks. I received your email. I'm in the office between the hours of X and X and responded within 24 to 48 hours. I got none of those. And to me that's the simplest thing you could I literally just gave me the script guys go copy and paste this from what you hear put it in your Gmail now.

Kristina Stubblefield  08:40

It's so funny you said that because I actually did a podcast episode on auto responder, like not even having technology. Like this is an initial start point for busy wedding season like a lot of people are overwhelmed. It it's usually in any email no matter what email server you have, there is usually some kind of some we can call it a vacation. Some call it an auto responder. It's probably already in what you're using. So I'm so glad you said

Brittany Murphy  09:09

that. Yeah, I mean, but those are little things that feed into customer experience communication. Yeah, I mean, if you think about this, again, our first actual interaction with you. Our first one was your website. That was where we got a good sense of do we like you enough to play the game to get to know you to see if this is gonna be a good fit for both parties to take the next step to take the even step to reach out to you I had to check you out first. So again, that's why I wanted to start with the search. I didn't talk I mean, email 30 Guys, probably not all 30 were great, but at that point, I was desperate I had no one respond back from the first 10 So that's why I went down the rabbit hole 30 Guys, let's just I'm not crazy too much. But that's how the system worked for me as I was going oh shit is no one available. And I was doing this a full year out. So my weddings June of next year and 2023 and I was looking at this end of May, early June, which can be sometimes a bit busy time for Kentucky. So I understood Hey, I'm gonna send all this out, I'm gonna give me some time to get responses because I know guys are busy. Maybe this is what they do on the weekends, and they have a full time 40 Hour Work job, which is absolutely fine with me. I just want to know that you're legit. That's all it comes down to. So even those automated responders to say, hey, this, these are my hours, these are my hours. And it can be completely respectful. If I only respond back to emails within the hours of five and 7pm. On Monday, Wednesday and Fridays. That's okay. Because you accept you set up expectations for me. I'm okay with that. Because now I actually have something. Yeah, versus waiting 90 days and hearing back from only six by that point, like the sixth one came in at day 90. Oh, yeah, we're open on your date. Do you think I want you know, you shouldn't even respond like, at that point, I wonder, just please don't ever respond to me again, please don't ever do this in your practice.

Kristina Stubblefield  10:50

And here's the deal. You, you've just said the customer experience starts before you've ever talked to them. If you let that long of time pass by, even if they were the best recommended, and you add a great vibe with them, probably somewhere in the back of your mind is what is this? How the communications gonna go?

Brittany Murphy  11:19

Yeah, you start to build up more fear. So as an example, even after I purchased from a vendor, they weren't really good on email, they finally told me Hey, I'm better with text. My rant about that tell me that, at the very beginning, I have no expectation. That's the expectation of how you want to be communicated with because again, the word bride Zilla was made for some reason. And it's most likely because we're all going crazy. Because there's a million details we have to create. I did not know this, okay, it's been three decades, I did not know any of this. And now I'm coming into it. So even if I have some experience, I feel somewhat calm and comfortable. I have enough time and leeway. If nothing you're doing is helping me progress through that path, you're only bringing me more anxiety, then that brides not going to choose you because any anxiety before choosing to book you or before the date, even after they booked you is really gonna give them anxiety on the day of and now you're not setting yourself up to get a good testimonial, a good review, because now they were maybe hopefully everything goes okay. I think they liked me. I think they'll listen to my wishes. Who, who wants their bride to say that? None of us. I mean, if I if I was a vendor on that side, I would never want a client of mine to feel that way. And as a bride on this side, I never want to feel that way.

Kristina Stubblefield  12:30

And I've never what we've talked about, I have not heard you say anything in this like, gosh, like she's really asking a lot. Like, honestly, like you're talking bare minimum. Like that's the only thing I've heard you really talk about.

Brittany Murphy  12:43

And luckily, I had enough girlfriends or brides before to say, hey, just so you know, they're always busy as well. I mean, I know you. I know these guys get busy. I've been warned from people in ministry, hey, they get busy around certain times, just give them time. But like, you know, you'll figure it like you'll get through it.

Kristina Stubblefield  12:59

But if you're thinking this, there's got to be another 10 people out there thinking this. At least Yeah, actually, it's probably many, many more than that. You're giving people that are listening or watching this right now. A direct advantage to their competitors. Yes. Hey, communicate back, hey, set some expectations for me to go off of, it's probably going to put you pretty high up.

Brittany Murphy  13:25

I mean, if you were one of 30 I emailed and all you wrote back was high up automatically in the number seven spot, you beat out over two thirds of the audience, just because you said hi. And that was all your roll back, given the be really weird email. But that's how low the bar is set on some of these things. So again, not that I'll be honest, mine's not a really expensive wedding. And in our area, there aren't huge, expensive weddings all the time. So I feel like I'm in the normal average budget most people have. So when it comes to that, if I'm in the average person, I have not said hey, I want to have $10 for this DJ service. Are you free on June 3? I didn't do any of that. I said, Hey, I love your style. I saw some videos. What's your pricing? Are you free? Because that's, that's the first blush. Are you available? Then what's your pricing? What's the process look like? Can we schedule a call and going through there and the fact that I was trying to make it so simple, and that's what hurt my feelings the most is all like, in I made a bullet point, not a novel. But I said, Hey, here's how I found you. Here's what I like about you. I mean, I'm complimenting you, and you can't respond back to me. I mean, that's almost like I feel like I was back in the dating world is what it felt like and at this point, the stage we are not dating anymore guys who are looking for committed. Right, right. committed relationships with your clients.

Kristina Stubblefield  14:36

And that's what it is. It's more than just a transaction. Yes, it is a working relationship. And I say to people all the time, the wedding industry is completely different. You're working with clients, not one day, not just the wedding day, potentially 1218 plus months in advance. In your Yes, I knew this was going to be a good one. So I know you've mentioned DJs, I'm going to probably assume, just because we're not pinning it on them, this probably happened in other categories as well. Other vendor types? Yes. Okay. Unfortunately, that was just a really good exam, that was just a really good example of a numbers game where I knew that hey, you know,

Brittany Murphy  15:19

I know I'm casting out a huge net, I knew that some of these guys are probably already taken, because some referrals and so I understood that, hey, I'm a summer wedding. So summer wedding, I was at a mass, you know, mass email out that are all customized to make sure, hey, I got a good fit. Because I'm gonna do this as quickly as possible.

Kristina Stubblefield  15:35

Again, you've already you've, you're on the other end of this. So you knew, I'm not just going to copy and paste or BCC people, you have went above and beyond because you've done your research to actually show some kind of interest in their business. So this happened, pretty business, what I would we say, I don't wanna put words in your mouth, but multiple other industries, multiple other categories, or kind of all of them

Brittany Murphy  16:00

multiple. So rental is another one, I could kind of throw under the bus. There are some good ones here in town, but a majority of them. It's been, you know, a couple of weeks. And so I'm sitting because I only message five. I mean, there's really not too many rental companies here in town. There were people who was a couple of weeks since I heard back from and I had to send a follow up. Hey, did you ever get that quote together? For me? I'm kind of ready to move forward with someone ASAP. Oh, yeah, yeah, it's right here. Now, do you think your brides going to be happy when they have to remind you when they're basically saying, Here's my money, take it. And you are not making it easy for them to shove their money in your face to take whatever services you're offering? Those added up to me that was kind of where all right, I do this for my job. I key with my clients. I know life gets busy. But also if I'm literally saying Where can I send this money? Like, where does this check it mailed to? And you're taking weeks to respond to me? That's not good. That's really not good. And the other half of it, I did pick someone they were great. The only thing kind of say about that is your follow up after the sales closed is is just as vital. I ended up mailing a check.

Kristina Stubblefield  17:04

Oh, wait, you mean just not the sign contract, I need to do something else. I

Brittany Murphy  17:08

know this is like really earth shattering content right here. But guys, guess what that process never ends. Why it's part of the client journey, as part of the client journey, and you want us to experience and you want to stay in business. You want happy people and communication? We're back to that word again. Yes. And I think again, something that all related. Wait, you were saying? You wanted to know that they had received her to pause? Oh, yes. Sorry. I want to I sent an email out said hey, I mailed everything. It's got a copy the contract, it has a check in it. Can you please confirm when you receive this? Because in my world? I don't know. I'm booked for this until you respond back yes to me.

Kristina Stubblefield  17:45

Because most of the time it says signed contract deposit paid.

Brittany Murphy  17:49

Yep. And that's all I get. And I don't know anything else. I don't know. No one says are excited to work with you. No one says anything like that to make you excited, as well. And I know if you do just rentals, you might not think tablecloths napkins chairs are fun. It's a it's a really creative industry. You might not think that but guess what some of us really do. And some of us are like yeah, I can't wait to pick out these colors like this is really neat. We're so excited for this day to happen. And when they

Kristina Stubblefield  18:16

but design I hear a lot about that now honestly, more so than then in years past like this whole I don't want to say theme, but this whole design. I'm obviously not in the design world. If my husband was on this, he say why are you even talking about this topic, but you hear more about it with the tablecloth, the napkins, the Chargers are just all coming together and not hate to say helter skelter but in to hear you say like you're excited no matter if it's the most exciting thing for someone else or not. For people's wedding day. It's everything that the envelopes, the probably the return, whether it be a stamp or label or if the envelopes printed on. And if you're in that category, attention to detail and the customer service, just because you're in one category or another in my opinion. It's all important. It is

Brittany Murphy  19:23

and these are all things you can throw back to that really crazy a word automation. Now,

Kristina Stubblefield  19:29

a quick thing gotta you didn't say assume you had

Brittany Murphy  19:31

worried they're hosting a lot of other words, but what I landed on was automations and I'll throw myself on the bus. I have templates for almost everything I do within my sales process. And one template I have it's one of my longer ones. It's right after someone says yes, they're going to move forward with us. It is a step by step bullet point process of what they need to do with all the attachments. But guess what the first sentence says after Hi blank. We are so sorry. So excited to work with you and start building your blank, whatever that might be their website, their marketing, presence, their strategy. The first thing I tell them is, the one thing marketing team and myself are so excited to have you as one of our newest clients, you know, we're, here's the next step,

Kristina Stubblefield  20:15

feel the love, I feel the love of your client, you want them to feel the love, because

Brittany Murphy  20:19

they are excited, because here's the thing on the bright side, they are excited as a client, they've made a decision. That's also something they're celebrating, not just, oh, I picked a great venue, I picked a great rental company, I picked a great, whatever. It's also like, I can cross that off my checklist. And

Kristina Stubblefield  20:36

it's a way to keep that momentum, that excitement flowing for an engaged couple. Yeah. And I call this an onboarding process. And a lot of times, I use onboarding and off boarding. And recently I had someone brave enough, and would never share who they are anything, say to me. Listen, I get that an onboarding and off boarding process is important. I've heard you say it multiple times. But I need to ask something, please don't think differently of me. I don't know exactly what you mean. And I was like, first of all, I'm somebody you can ask. There are no dumb questions. I always say that to people about, they don't know what you don't know, you do not know what you don't know. But to have the courage to say something to me, it was actually even in person. But it made me think this person's thinking it. The rest most time people won't even ask, they'll try to either Google like you mentioned, or try to figure out what I'm saying. And then I was like, okay, like that's, you know, the process of bringing in a new client into your business. You know, in my point in sharing this is, as wedding professionals are those out there that are listening, whether you've done it for six months, or 16 years, you know, sometimes you can start to take some wording in some things with the process for granted. And the thing about the wedding industry, it's a lot of times fresh people every year, it's not like they've come and grown along with you for the last few years. They're new in this. When I work with people on video, I remind them, you're saying this because you've said it for the past 10 or 12 years, the person hearing this could be hearing it for the very first time. And I'm guilty of speaking way too fast. And you know, it's something I've had to personally work on. Because a lot of times when I'm sharing tips or information, you know, I'm just so used to saying the word sometimes I found I wasn't even finishing the full sentence, just kind of letting it roll off. And I think wedding professionals have great intentions. I don't think that they're like, Well, I'm just because if you're a wedding vendor, you really got to love what you do. And I would say the same about the marketing business. You know, it's not something that you just kind of skirt by it really isn't it's ever changing, even the wedding industry is. And I feel like wedding professionals deserve better for themselves in their business.

Brittany Murphy  23:22

Yeah. And I think even if you're successful, if you have been in the industry for quite a bit, maybe you're taking for granted, your new bookings, like maybe it's a little things you used to do, which built your business up so much. And now it's kind of like, well, we're just known around town, so you stopped doing it? Well, slowly over time you're gonna see is maybe I don't recommend you to my friends who haven't been married yet. Because yeah, they were fine. They showed up. But I mean, yeah, they were fine. Fine, is one of the worst F words ever invented. And that's not what you want. So describe your business. Yeah, they showed up, they put the cake up. Did they talk to me beforehand? No, my maid of honor had to call them up five times the day before to make sure they're still coming tomorrow. But other than that, know that the taste? I mean, the cake was great. But all those words, it's it's any part of that process, where now they might be regretting the purchase afterwards. If you think about it, client conflict is going to take us 10 times longer to resolve than just keeping the client happy.

Kristina Stubblefield  24:18

I mean, we could just do that two sentences. And that'd be the podcast episode, what you just said there, and I'm throwing this backup. You know, it's like talking to people about a marketing plan every year doesn't mean you duplicate what you did last year or the year before. I've been in business for 10 or 15 years. I'm just gonna keep doing the same thing. Well, if that works for you, kudos, because it's definitely changing out there. But evaluating your workflow, your process of bringing new clients in your process of a client exiting your business, and I don't want to So when I say that people, you know, you become close most of the time with people, because you've worked with them for a while you're part of their day. And I'm happy to say that clients I've worked with, they become friends with their past couples and things like that. And I'm glad that that is a great relationship. And it does not hurt to evaluate your templates, your candy mails, or your templated emails, your workflow, your business, anything, does not hurt to review it. And I'm not sitting here because I think it's different for every business. I don't want say you should only review it once a year. I'm not giving that response. So don't say that I said that. But you should review it. No matter how long you've been in business. I think that's really important. And that can help refresh. Not only your engaged couples or your new clients momentum, but it can also rejuvenate something in yourself with your business. Yeah. And if

Brittany Murphy  26:03

you ask for that feedback from your clients, you'll know where you dropped the ball. If they're honest with you, again, if you didn't

Kristina Stubblefield  26:09

drop the ball, where you can refine exactly the process exactly there. I always say constructive criticism, like I want to know, tell me, you're not going to hurt my feelings. Like, that's what makes us who we are. That's what helps us continually grow as a person as a business. But I think a lot of times people shut the door on that. Don't even give it an option, because they don't want to hear it. And that is so important in I hate using the word leveling up, but being a better version of yourself for your next clients.

Brittany Murphy  26:43

Yeah, and I mean, the last thing a bride wants to feel is feeling as if she's shopping for a car when she shopping for vendors. And the maybe that's something I want to get into next, but the actual sales calls with your prospects with your new brides or newly engaged couples. That's a huge portion as well, that's going to come to your marketing and come to your advantage as much as possible.

Kristina Stubblefield  27:04

That's that kind of question. But was most of those phone calls were they resumes where they in person

Brittany Murphy  27:09

most resumes and I was absolutely happy with that, because most of them wanted to schedule in the evening. And for me, hey, I'm logging off work, I can log onto your resume.

Kristina Stubblefield  27:17

But did you like that being able to love versus that phone call?

Brittany Murphy  27:20

I loved it because with my videographer, he was able to show me one of his most recent videos because I said hey, I'd still love to see that five to seven one. If you don't have your website, could you shoot me an example and said, well, let's just watch it now. And I was like, perfect. I gotta watch in real time and I always listed in this I'm not gonna say Who am I vendors are because they might think I'm crazy bitch before they get to see me on June.

Kristina Stubblefield  27:40

But don't worry, she's coming back for a part two or three. She might not know that yet. But yes, don't worry.

Brittany Murphy  27:46

I'm fine. We're gonna have a great time on that. But

Kristina Stubblefield  27:48

drinks on the recap one though, definitely will do a little something. Something that that

Brittany Murphy  27:53

one. Hell yes.

Kristina Stubblefield  27:55

The reason you heard her say she's coming back story.

Brittany Murphy  27:58

Every time I rant, we're just going to take a swig. But But back to my videographer I'd really love to praise him about something is yes, it was a zoom call, which absolutely fine. To me. We've all gone through the pandemic, it feels just as normal, natural, we can get the things we need out efficient. I'm fine with that. I'm a very time structured person. I'm not the perfect leader, most organized person. But I love that structure to things outside of fun and play. So we got to watch this video and I said, Okay, well in my head. I'm like, dang, I can literally just watch this on my own time. And also I can have my fiance here to watch it. But I'm so glad he did that with me because what I actually witnessed is his face in the corner. And he smiled. And I got to watch it was watching it with watching it with me. And I watched him smile at certain parts. That was the reason I booked with him. I could see passion. I could see everything. I wanted a videographer photographer to think of his work when it comes to my time. I wanted all that experience with it. And so, you know, I watched the video, obviously, but I was kind of checking back to see and I was like, it really looks like you love that video. Are you proud of it? And he was like, yeah, he's like, of course, there's things I would fix about it. I'm a perfectionist. I said, I get that. But are you proud of it? He was like, Yeah, I think I captured a beautiful day. And I was like, I agree. I'm not trying to fight you on it. I just want to get your opinion on it because I didn't tell him that. You smiled so much at this. It made me feel comfortable that you actually have a passion for your business. Now if he's listening to podcast, you know why now or if you have an outboard meeting, you'll find offboarding you'll find out as well. But it's little things like that that yes, we can still get it within the zoom. I did phone calls with DJs that was absolutely fine as well. When I was a person I just want to speak with you whether phone whether visually just understand how you talk back to me. That was really all I was looking for. And when I mean talking back to me, I'm a specify. I wanted you to treat me like I wasn't one of the next five brides. You'd call with that

Kristina Stubblefield  29:54

like at the license branch when they call your number.

Brittany Murphy  29:57

Oh God. Yes, I don't I don't One thing that you know, and a few things some of them started with, which is not a great way to start you, you need to ask me questions to get me excited about my wedding excited about working with you excited about this part of the music or the flowers or the photography. Give me excited about that part of it. Now starting your questions off because this used to be old sale tactics, but how important is this to you? If you could rank all the things you have to book? Where would you rank your venue? Now I understand the point of this question is understand are you willing to pay for their services? I get it. I've heard multiple questions form different ways. Nine out, you know, 10 out, one out of 10. How would you rank how aggressive you're going to be at purchasing this or you want to make sure that you get the best of that? It's fine to ask me questions like that, but that one specifically is so salesy and things of that nature are so salesy, because here's the thing, if you actually put your information, your process, your pricing, your FAQ, all of this bullshit on your website. And yes, I'm calling it bullshit, because you may think it is. But to us, it's all the BS, we need every time to make a decision, because we're looking for the stuff we know there's fluff in it, just get to the shit, I just want to know the shit. Sorry, love it. But that's why I want to get down to so if your sales tactics, when you're on that first phone call with them is to go over all those things and just try to price them to figure out what they are. Well, if you had that information on there, they should have set the phone call with you in the first place. Because they don't know you're starting at maybe your price point is either range, or they're not know okay, it starts at a price point that's in my range. What all can you include? That would might be me expand this, what more or maybe things weren't, this is my range, I just won't do the extra stuff yourself. upselling because I just need these foundational services are perfect match for me. You can get all that information without having to ask them those super salesy questions. So that's kind of one thing, when you're getting towards that end of the process, really kind of closing them on it, get to know them and answer their questions. And make sure these questions are here on the website first, so that we can just clarify on that call versus going through all of the same 10 questions that you asked. So had my photographer sent me? Maybe an email the day before? Hey, excited for our call tomorrow to talk over? You know, your wedding day? Here's some good things just to look at before a phone call. So you already so you have better questions to ask me if maybe you didn't have any off the top your head right now. And I could go to the FAQ page. I guess you're right. What do I own? What's what's included? What's not included? What's the pricing packages look like? Where's he been? How long has he been around? You know? Because if you listen, every bride listens to a million YouTube videos. There's a million people out there podcast. Here's all the top 20 Questions to Ask venues, DJ, photographer, videographer, makeup, hair, we're bombarded by those. So the more you can like, we're going to probably ask you those who probably have some brides who don't have Excel sheet like me going through these to make sure they remember to do this because I'm forgetful as fuck. So I'm going through all these questions. But what I loved is the few I talked to, I looked at their website, and I preferred almost questions, but didn't ask them how long you've been doing this? Because it didn't matter. I had the answer. My question was, what do you love about doing this? What's your favorite part about the wedding day? You know, how do you get your people up and dancing and moving? And you're like, what's your strategy? Things that maybe they couldn't answer on a website. But now I can get into details.

Kristina Stubblefield  33:08

You were looking for that connection? That you all were going to be able to vibe together? Did they listen to you? Did they truly hear what you were wanting? You wanted to be? Make sure you were heard? Yeah. And that's how they responded. And

Brittany Murphy  33:25

that's how we make a decision. Because what we feel good that know like, and trust, that's exact same thing. So, so quick example, for the very few DJs. That extra responded that were available. I had, I think I had two that had phone calls with both or both were awesome. Whoever I picked was gonna be great. A third one I talked to, this is what I'm gonna run into the bus. One of the very first things I said to them was, you know, this is going to be super traditional, just so you know, you know, we're both in our 30s we kind of want to have fun and make it more of our own versus sticking to all the normal sentiments everybody does. So with that said one thing I do know as well that I've been to a weddings that I absolutely hate and so does my fiance is we do not like many of your line dance songs that you normally hear to get people up and dancing. I was like, if we have to have one, the wobble is the only one I'll agree to I said, but the cha cha slide, the electric slide. I was like, Oh, chicken dance the chicken. Oh my god. I've been told when we're the dance. Yes. Like any of those. I said, That's not our vibe. That's not us. And so it's okay. Well, you know, 10 minutes later, after talking, I got to my question of, hey, you know, I saw some videos, you know, you'd really have a rockin party, but how do you get them? Like, what are your strategies to get them to rockin parties, line dances, I was like, Okay, I said, Well, as I said earlier, like it will literally set my fiance on fire if he hears a cha cha slide and I've grown up with it since the sixth grade. I've heard it every year on the year I could sing that song Christina now without any help to lyrics. That's how well I know it. I know exactly how to do the peanut like every dance move with it. I grew up with that song. I'm tired of that song. I don't want to hear that song anymore. Right? It makes me cringe to hear it so I said I'm just gonna remind you again, I don't like that said so. I'm sure there's probably other brides like this. I hope so. Are there any other strategies you'd recommend? Or is that the end all be all? He was like, what? I guess there's other things I could do. And so the way that was said yes, made it seem to me, You didn't listen to what I wanted. And I guess I maybe don't fit what your vibe is, which is fine. Our vibes don't match, we're probably not a good fit. But to me, the initial reason I didn't feel like we've arrived is because you didn't even hear the thing I spent two minutes talking about, at the very beginning, hey, this is the only like, we could probably pay anything like we're not huge country fans, but we love all generations of music. And we just really don't like line dances, because I've taken him to a few weddings. And that's one time where he's like, I just, I don't like these at all. I've never been into this type of music. So if we could not have that our wedding, that's my only request. And I said done.

Kristina Stubblefield  35:47

It's your day, it's our day. And if you don't, if there's certain songs you don't want, and you need to feel comfortable that that will be respected.

Brittany Murphy  35:53

Yes. And so I know when you go through questionnaires and your process onboarding with these clients, you're gonna hone in refine things, they want things they don't want. But again, these are all the things in marketing, they're going to get your person to buy from you

Kristina Stubblefield  36:05

turn your ears on, because like you just said, you went through, not 30 seconds, not three seconds, two minutes of why no line dances. And it sounds like to me just observing, they just spit back out an answer that they've said multiple times. Yes.

Brittany Murphy  36:23

And that's kind of where I think when we do things, I mean, yeah, almost 10 years, I've been doing this, I have to watch what I say every year because it changes, the terminology changes, who I'm talking to changes what they call it changes. So all those things aside, if you're pre programmed, just say the exact same thing every single time. I'm not going to feel like this is going to be customed. To me. And again, you might not customize all of this, but we have to feel as if it is you could be offering dress shopping, it's a boutique, we sell wedding dresses, it's the exact same experience for everybody, no matter what your preferences, we have a huge range of assortment. That's great. That's fine. That's dandy, but I'm greeted with a personal person who treats me like I'm 18. If you have an appointment, maybe they know your name. Yeah, they know my hair. They know what I'm looking for. They reached out me beforehand said, Hey, do you have a Pinterest board you'd like to share with us so we can see what your style is? All those things preemptively. Before I got to that call, now, whether that assistant chose to look at all that stuff before I got there, you know, that's somebody to internally manage. But that process made me so much more excited to go in there and to do it. So just as if my DJ when I get to that meeting a month out. That's all right, guys, like, let's look through all the song songs, hone them in Where do you feel in? I have my note again, no line dances. All right. You said wobble wasn't maybe though. And but again, the way you're saying it to me says I'm listening to you. And maybe you know, you took notes, I remember you, I give a shit about how you feel about this. And then lastly, but not leastly. Let's just say for line dances, you know that that is a winner every time you know, 10 out of 10, you're gonna get a party started because you can actually have a line dance because you know for sure as a DJ, that's what gets people's butts out of their chairs and onto the dance floor. Here's what you can do instead. Tell me how you do what you do in a way that works. Smooth that DJ could have said, All right, I know you said the wobble was the only one you're like okayish with. so hear me out. What about this? I started for one minute max. And I roll that into a good mix of two like September by Earth, Wind and Fire where everybody's loves that song and starts a dance. I'll put a good beat with the back with it. So we'll get them up. But once I see some bodies are up, I'll get it moved to the next one pretty quickly. What would you think about that? Now you're actually given me an opinion. I get a say in this. Oh my god. Yeah, that sounds? That sounds awesome. Do it, man. Yeah, you've sold me on your book again. So I might want you to customize it. But now you're at least telling me you've heard me out. But still tell me why your way is going to work better because you've done this a million times more than I have.

Kristina Stubblefield  38:50

And they know what you want your result to be is people having a good time up dancing, they've listened to that's really what you want, but you'd prefer no line dances

Brittany Murphy  38:59

Exactly. Just as I'm here with Christina de vich. And about what your marketing is look like. It's because I've done this for 10 frickin years. I know what your marketing needs to look like. I've never DJ to wedding. I'd love to that sounds really fun, really cool. I love music, but I've never done it. So I'm looking to you for advice, knowledge and a game plan. And if what I'm coming to you with, you know, is gonna be an epic failure, or hey, we can do it that way. But usually what I see is it takes about 15 minutes then for people to really get up or about 10 songs in you know, naturally nine o'clock, and I know what the party started because at sunset, what I think might work what better is if I could do it in this way. What do you think? I'm gonna go with your plan because options, options, you give me options. Again, you show you share,

Kristina Stubblefield  39:41

paste your expertise and saying you're not saying no, that's not going to work. You're just saying I've heard you. But let's kind of talk this through.

Brittany Murphy  39:51

Exactly because I'm sure I would say I'm not a Bridezilla. Let's just say before I probably will turn into one because it all just that rapture comes out of everybody, right? I'm in enough weddings, I can say pins, my girlfriend's know that they're a little bit of a nut kiddo. It

Kristina Stubblefield  40:03

sounds like you've been pretty detailed. Um, I, you know, I always say to people like life happens, like, there's usually some things that happen, but that vendor team, and if you're using professionals, a lot of times they've seen stuff before. So things happen and you might not even hear about it until a week later or someone in the wedding party mentions it to you, hopefully not at the the night of, but maybe the next day or something. And that's great, you know, things are gonna happen. But it's awesome if you don't know about it, or it doesn't affect your event, so to speak. Yeah. So but nothing I've heard out of your mouth to me has screams Bridezilla or anything? Now? We'll find out at the recap. Yes,

Brittany Murphy  40:48

yes. But that's what I'm trying to say is you might have some brides who are very adamant about what they want, but if you can present it and how it works best, because again, you're the expert at this. There's a reason we're coming to you. And we're not just going and buying a Bose sound system and plugging it up and putting your iPod to it. No, we want to experience we want a party, we want a club like atmosphere, or whatever you're going for. So again, we might have demands, that does not mean you just have to say, Okay, I'll do them. I would rather you push back a little bit and say, Well, this is what I've seen. So now I'm like, okay, he hears me, he's going to do close to what I feel comfortable with, but he's going to do in a way that's gonna be most effective for the party, and for everybody else to have fun because, yes, this is my fiance's day. This is what we're paying for. But we're inviting all of our closest friends and family and for my fiance, all of his friends and family are coming from another country. So I want the best, less stressed day as possible. So we can enjoy, enjoy. So we can spend this time with everyone coming out the country and out of town to hang out with us for this week. Like that's what it's about. So again, now I feel even more confident because you know your shit well enough, you're saying, hey, Bernie, listen, I didn't do one line dance, it's gonna be a wobble, because that's your least hated of all of them. I'm gonna get in and out girl, you're gonna notice it, and I bet five bucks, your booty is gonna be dancing when you hear it, because I'm gonna mix it in so well, it's gonna be really it, we're not gonna go back to it a lot. But it's just a way I know where I get the party started. And if that fails, I have three other strategies after that, get the party poppin. So don't worry, I have this taken care of you. And again, now it's like, oh, there's no need for me to be a bride Scylla, you're going to take care of what I'm paying, they got money to do, yeah, they got stresses off, you got me, I can just have a day, get dressed, hair nails done, and just enjoy the day. And that's kind of where again, from the very first thing I see about you, what's your website say about it, I'm already determining how I feel about you to the final sales call. And I'm if I'm a huge extrovert person and every personality test, which means I can read a lot about how people are thinking, which is why every time I see Christina, barely where her eyeballs, I'm like, ooh, something hit, she's ready to say something and get a good point after these guys, because I can tell it hit something on her, I can read that. So when I see those things of, I'm just another cog in the wheel, or I'm just gonna personally about your Excel spreadsheet, if you even have that. Or you just follow respond to email on the person you're talking to. I don't feel any organization behind it, all those things could completely derail all of my research to say, oh my god, I can't wait to work with this person. So again, every little point from the minute someone gets engaged, which is all your presence online to the very end when they're physically talking to you. All that is a sales cycle. And all of that incorporates marketing, your marketing yourself, your services, how you're different. And what's going to take that bride to say, oh my god, this was the best day ever, because literally, things might go wrong. But it was fine. The people play their part to take care of what they needed to do. That's the N word brides deliberately created. Probably because no one responds to emails, no one said their check got deposited, like, I should not hear from my bank first before you that you cash my $2,000 check, ever, I don't care what industry you're in, I don't care if that was the first two grand deposit down on the 50, grand total investment of the venue. All of these steps, all of that communication and say, okay, they're on top of their shit. And I'm on top of mine, which makes me again, just build that trust the entire way down. It's it's just a sad, sad journey. I feel like I've kind of gone through this where some vendors have been phenomenal. But I'm seeing overall arching similar issues, I kind of see with all my own clients who are in the home services. You know, no one expects the plumber to have a really good social media, which I agree. But, again, even my plumbers have something on there that shows a recent project or a recent review to showcase Hey, I'm in business. These are the things my clients have to say about me. And I'm going to do the best by you that I humanly can. And you're going to absolutely love the unfinished product. Like that's the sales cycle. And that's all we want to hear. Like, just make us feel comfortable. Because that's where I joke the Bridezilla term comes from are crazy because we're uncomfortable. We don't have control and not to get the control of meaning you have to put all the pieces in the right place and everybody needs to line up it tool. You know, 159 not two o'clock that's late, but it's more of okay. I can pass and delegate this control to this person to this entity, and they're going to take care of everything that's crossing off my list and that for me is where that calm sense of ha I'm so excited about this day. Now, because I'm partnering with some people who I hope are gonna be my friends afterwards. I know we're not gonna grab a beer afterwards. But hey, my vendors wanna grab a beer, I'm happy to grab a beer in your website for you. Consider Christina, get all those automations put into place. But that's the whole concept we want to, we really want to enjoy our day. And we are I want to build a relationship. Like I want my DJ, my photographer, like, I want everybody to love me, because I give a shit about them as well. Like I picked you because I like you. I picked my videographer because I saw him smiling at his video, you give a shit. I like you. I don't even know anything else. That's literally it like you take passion.

Kristina Stubblefield  45:34

Part two did not disappoint. And I'm telling you what, you do not want to miss part three. We are talking about all kinds of tips and strategies throughout this whole three part series. Special thanks to Brittany for just being raw herself in her emotions and sharing amazing information for wedding professionals. So don't miss part three. Again, if you have not joined the free Facebook group, just go to the website, web pro solutions.com and click on the link. Until next time, take care