Adapt & Evolve Your Wedding Business or Be Left Out: PART 3

Welcome to the WedPro Business Solutions podcast. I'm your host, Kristina Stubblefield. We are back for part three of my energetic and information packed interview with bride to be and marketer of 10 years, Brittany Murphy to discuss her less than desirable experience of searching for wedding vendors. In part three, Britney and I direct our attention to the sales process down to the smallest of details that can make it feel like a luxury experience your clients will talk about for years to come. I think this clip from Brittany summarizes this episode well,

Brittany Murphy  00:45

the sales process starts before you are ever, ever thought of the minute we get engaged, the minute our hands go to the online world to find resources. So if you were not there, if you're not prioritizing it, you were missing out on the beginning of the sales cycle.

Kristina Stubblefield  01:04

Wow. Doesn't that say a lot, all the honest, raw, unfiltered information discussed in this episode is not rocket science. And I can assure you, if you embrace the power of the pause, during your slow season, to implement just a couple of these solutions we offer, your sales will flourish. Now let's get started.

Brittany Murphy  01:29

Whether you're new or old, just put yourself into their seat, pretend you're gonna go buy something very expensive for yourself and see what that process looks like. So walk to a car lot. Does that person tell you everything wrong? Great, perfect about that car? Does it kind of ask you? Are you looking for like good mileage? Like old or newer? Like? Are they asking you those questions? Are you are you getting the person's like, alright, well, you want red, black, white? Do you like have a budget? Did you bring cash? Like, what are you doing today? Oh, this car? It's great. Yeah, that car is great. No, if you that's experience you got on that side of it, then that's what your client was experiencing? Why would they ever refer you after that? Or why would they book with you in the first place? I mean, probably the buying a luxury item would probably be the most easy way for you to say, Okay, you're right, something's wrong about my process, what do I need to change it to look like other than talking to some experts like Christine or myself, and you're gonna get the right advice and strategy immediately. Go someplace nice and go buy something expensive. It's gotta be a couple of 1000 at least. And just with the processes, like you might find things that no one in your industry does that you're like, holy shit, I really liked that. For example, maybe a text confirmation after they book a zoom call with you. These are automations. Again, reminder, these are not things you're actively doing every single day to make sure all these processes are in place. It's a one time done frickin feature, my man have that little text that goes out. I'm so excited for your call. Hey, here's the three things we'll cover. And also, here's the three things I'd love for you to kind of have prepared so we can cover all of that during our 30 minutes together. Even little details like that. That's a luxury experience. Like I have my trees had a tree removed my front yard. That's a couple 1000 Unfortunately, these things are not inexpensive at all. For a tree company gave me a better experience than 99% of my vendors have so far out. Yeah. And those guys, let's just be honest, they're not always on top. Their stuff is a little more contractor style. It's not always all the niceties of they probably use the software though. I bet. Oh, they do. At least they do. Yeah, they have something in place that made me say, okay, they're gonna show up tomorrow for the estimate. Okay, cool. Here's the quote that got attached immediately. Here's the follow up email four days later, Hey, have you thought about this, we know we can get you scheduled this time or this time. All these little things. Again, if you're clueless of where to start, start with this podcast, book a call with Christie, get some shit done. If you don't, or are too scared to do any of those things. Go somewhere and just go through the process of buying something nice and seeing all the little things people do that make you feel warm and bubbly inside. And if you're not doing that immediately figure out a way to incorporate it. That's more UPS more matches with your industry. So that way, you can have that process streamlined. I'm a pretty easy buyer. If you made me feel comfortable. I asked more questions, if you don't.

Kristina Stubblefield  04:08

So to unpackage that whole thing right there. This is why I knew this episode. Again. I'm gonna say another reason is so important. Because we're not going back in time. We're not We're not hopping in a time machine and going back to the way business was done five years ago, the things that we're talking about is only going to accelerate in the digital age that we're moving into. More so than ever for these wedding professionals, and especially in this industry. Exactly. A lot of times your younger audiences, your younger buyers. They might not like to talk on the phone, or they may prefer to text and email that might not be your favorite thing to do. But we're going with less than less communication, it seems like maybe I should say in person communication, which makes automations responses, any form of communication back as part of the process more important. And this is one of those things that as a business owner, especially in the wedding industry, to appeal, I've done a video before about wearing all these hats to take off every one of those hats, and try to put yourself as a client, it's very difficult, very difficult. And a lot of times having that outside person to just break down the process with you. I mean, a lot of times, I just did another episode. And then I was like, you know, just whiteboarding, documenting down, I tell people get out a blank piece of paper, and just start writing. If you're a tech person, then great use a digital notepad or your tablet or whatever, whatever works for you get it down. And a lot of times reaching out and having someone help you set up software set up automations, hell helping you define the process like, okay, it's there. I've worked with so many different people, one of them had 25 steps in their process. The first time around, we got it down to 10. Now a year later, we're getting it down to three. All of this stuff that you've talked about is time and energy, not only for the engaged couple, but for the business owner or the business team. Yes. And when you can save time. And you can make more money. A lot of times people just think, well, it's a software, it's X number of dollars a month or X number of dollars a year. And when you talked about putting your pricing on the website. A lot of times people are I don't Oh, I don't know. I mean, then what am I folks with me in my phone room worrying? Or I don't get my emails? Well, hell, if you don't respond to them, what does it matter? Well, yes, but the point of it is, is own your shit. If you're going to charge 5000 or $10,000. In that's it. I tell people be confident in it. I'm here to tell you, I am probably one of the most unique marketer, people out there when it comes to the wedding industry. Why is that? Because I know things outside the wedding industry. I was a wedding professional in the business for seven years. I have a podcast and I work with engaged couples that I get to hear this kind of stuff. And I come back and share it with my audience. You know, so I have the whole full spectrum. But you can hear it, you can listen, you can take notes. But if you don't take some kind of action, nothing changes in the stuff that you've described is not rocket science. And I can sound like I'm frustrated. Because I am we are. I am because there is great, terrific, amazing wedding professionals out there that are missing the boat, one event 10 events, I don't know 50 events, because they're dependent upon remembering in their mind. And every one of my audience that's heard me before knows I'm 100% transparent. I'm not good. I have to take down notes. I'm terrible at remembering things, I have to put things in my calendar. I am not perfect by any stretch of the imagination. But if we don't do things to change God, Lord for mentioning that name, that that word, I mean, if we don't adapt and evolve with the times

Kristina Stubblefield  09:06

you're going to be left out. And what that means is you're not going to book as many events and then it's going to be to booking few events to you know, and it's it's unfortunate because there's a lot of great wedding professionals that have just started and there's a lot of great wedding professionals. There's also been doing it a long time. But if you don't know about them online, if their informations not out there, if they're not visible. They were not even in your options to reach out to them. Yeah.

Brittany Murphy  09:38

And go back to that main word you just said evolve evolve. Now crusius gave you sorry Christy Christina has answered all of it. KK gave you a million reasons why you should do it. But one thing I feel like we did not mention just yet evolving, so not just your business, but your clientele is also evolving, right every year every year the

Kristina Stubblefield  09:59

wedding industry. So

Brittany Murphy  10:00

I am in my young 30s. Now let's just say that maybe someone 10 years younger than me, is looking just got engaged. Now, when I guess this will date me a little bit, but I don't care. I was first given a cell phone, my junior year of high school, they had come out like my freshman year when it was more acceptable for people to have cell phones, and I was going to school downtown. So my mom was like, Hey, since you're riding the bus, you know, coming downtown of my work office, let's make sure your cell phone. So I was getting used to it in high school. Now someone who's 2223 Today, that means that they were in elementary school when cell phones were coming out, which means they grew up with the ability to research anything at any frickin time, we did not. So the joke is that people 10 years younger than them actually grew up in the head of like the iphone four come out of the womb, I think with them, now the iPhone 14 comes out the womb, I think with you with an upgrade, you know, just the pay extra for that the doctor's office. But that's the whole point, more people are going to have more access to these resources. So if you're not providing those resources, they're never going to find you. And they're evolving, meaning they're only going to have more capability and more access to this. So if you're making it difficult for them, it's not that they're lazy. It's that you're making it more jumping hazard than your competitor did. And your competitor was able to sell them with all the things they needed quicker, which meant they went to them. And the sad part is we don't know if that competitor is better or worse than you wedding professionals

Kristina Stubblefield  11:23

get very frustrated a lot of times because the younger, potentially younger, newer wedding professionals or they have a bigger online presence as of right now. Even though someone else has been doing weddings for 15 or 20 years. You know, they're using the tools, they are there out there. Whether you love tick tock or not you need to be on tick tock it is a platform Tiktok and Instagram, people are talking about crazy about wedding planning. But first and foremost, Google, whether you love Tiktok and Instagram or not go Oh, and that's the thing is change it in I really do like that evolve word better. Because each year, it's a change over in the wedding industry. And that is one thing that I do see a lot of wedding professionals miss out on i A lot of times end up with very frustrated ones like alright look like, I mean, come on this time a year, I you know, I'm halfway through a year, I would have booked twice as many weddings. And then you start diving into the website, the online presence, the social media, the this that you're not on Tik Tok, those, then you can just feel them radiating. It's different, because it's not what we've grown up with, so to speak. And I think that's what makes a lot of times people very leery about the benefits, and how the Worldwide Web Search Engine Optimization systems, processes, automation, all of that can save you so much time, honestly can end up saving you money and making you a lot more money than then some of the cost. And but they have to be shown that in that is one of the things that I will hope people can take from this episode is when you go back and you've listened to this episode, think to yourself, What did Britney really ask for? That was so out of the norm. wasn't common sense. Absolutely nothing you said stood out to me as I mean, make it easy to contact me. FAQ page. I say common sense. But because they have so many of those hats stacked on their head. They're the accountant, the Social Media Manager, the this the that they're the one doing the services. It's hard to get through all of that and really think to themselves as a potential client. And I hope this will just open them up just a little bit to considering some of this. Because just a few of these points can make a hell of a difference for your business for your online presence. Not even all of them.

Brittany Murphy  14:41

Yeah, I mean, every little step can add up a percentage point to how many more people are going to choose you. So maybe the first step is your thing, your website, well, maybe eight out of 10 people who see it like it and they're willing to go to the next step with you. Maybe only some people actually show up to that video call. But if you have more processes in place to make sure they show up there. Hey, here's some things to check out to make sure we're still a good fit. maybe out of that five are really interested in and then you end up booking those three. Now that could be three, which is not a huge number, but that could be up from one. Because now you had more people at each stage interested in where you were and what you're offering. Again, we're not always gonna be a fit for everybody, we have to understand that all of this was said with a grain of salt that we have to make sure they're a good fit for us as we are a good fit for them. So you do want to narrow out prospects. You never know if if I was asking more things or like, you know, that's just on a client want to deal with, then you know that about me or whoever you're talking to now, but it's all those little stages that again, it's a little tick marks that we're looking at, not to just judge and grade you on. And let me be honest about that. None of the brides like, I can't wait to see how long it's going to take all these DJs to email me back. None of us are saying that we're like, I hope this goes by quickly because I want to pick someone good. And I want to pick them very quickly. So I can get this done and feel happy and confident with it. So any of the ones I talked to who do you want back? Who do follow up? Who do say hey, when a quick zoom call or phone call will make you feel comfortable? And they try to walk you through that? Well. I am choosing someone who just kept me on that path. Hey, well, it makes sense for a phone call. Yeah, that sounds fine. Okay, can we do tomorrow? Yeah. On the phone call. So what questions or concerns you have about me that will make you not want to book? You know, none right now that I can think of, you know, I've gotten some good referrals from you've answered all my questions, you know, I think we're pretty good. I said, I'll be honest, I'm waiting for one of the person on this phone call with and after that, I'll make my decision. Hopefully, within this week or next, I will get back with you as to because I understand we'll get booked up quickly. And go with that person. Because again, other person I can't talk to did the whole line dance thing a little bit. So I was like, okay, weren't really listening to you. Even though I loved that they were in business longer, they have more experience, they had more things that may feel comfortable to make sure this is a good experience vendor and have a good quality relationship with. But the whole not listening thing completely derailed all of that. So even if you're in business, short term, or long time, like opening your ears and just giving back what that person wants. We're literally telling you what we want. I don't think there's a bribe. That's just stonewalling you like, just tell me about you. And I won't tell you anything about me.

Kristina Stubblefield  16:57

Everything you've come back to, though, has to do with communication. I mean, that's the crazy part. Is all of that stuff that you just went through right there. One thing, communication. Yeah. And I think that everyone tries to make digital marketing marketing nowadays, such this, like an onion with all these different layers. And, you know, sometimes we tend to think about some of the most common sense things. And I don't say that the people aren't smart, you just get in your own way you get busy, you get used to your own pattern, you've said it, you've done it over and over again. And the next thing, you know, years fly by, and you haven't adapted, evolved, changed? Nothing.

Brittany Murphy  17:49

Yeah. I mean, that's kind of where we're, we all have to adapt through it. I mean, even like for our own marketing, like, I'm not doing so many videos, given like we talk videos are impactful. But also I'm doing videos where I'm saying, Hey, thanks for download, you know, thanks for booking your strategy session. Here's what's next. And it's literally a 45 second video of me just saying I'm a look at A, B and C and D. And what I'd love for you to prepare for this meeting is E, F, G, you know, and please make sure you accept that calendar invite, and I'll be there ready and waiting for you. You know, like I'm pre telling them all these things. And I'm not a person that wants to get on video, like I do not enjoy that. It took me 10 takes to get that 45 segments, I'll be frank and honest with you, I was not good at recording that I'm not good at it. But if I can do it, anybody can do it. You're just talking to a screen and saying, Hey, this is what happens if you didn't have someone stand behind you. So that phone's right here and it looks like I'm talking in your eyes, then do that whatever makes you feel comfortable with it. But even I

Kristina Stubblefield  18:41

had there's an app that you can read a transcript off of it. I don't even think it has a free version. I mean, they're about we're back to Tools. Like it doesn't have to be rocket science. Yeah.

Brittany Murphy  18:51

And but the reason I'm adding those videos is because what I found out all my competitors have them. So again, I'm doing research on my own guys to see hey, what's going on my industry, what's working. And then I watched someone in my industry actually do a case study about we have hired we have a 30% higher conversion. Now. We've added videos to every step within our website, and I was like sharpish. Guess I'm making videos.

Kristina Stubblefield  19:12

I'm gonna be honest with you. I'm surprised it's not higher. Yeah. I mean, the open rates with emails that have video. I mean, it. It. And I think people tend to say, well, I don't understand why people are lazy, and they don't want to read anymore. And I think that's a misconception. Yeah, honestly, because like you said, You've got to rewind or I'm sorry, you've got to think people have grown up with phones in their hands or tablets, or, you know, different than maybe how we grew up or when it got introduced to us and they're

Brittany Murphy  19:45

so used to a YouTuber having a camera in front of them. 24/7 placer do their hands so they're really used to that aspect of it. So that's kind of where, again, you're speaking to what's working well for them. I don't want to make videos, but I know my clients. What they're going to learn from my videos is more about me And it's not that they don't want to read. And maybe they don't I don't give a shit. But they want to learn more about me and who they're gonna be partnering with. And that's exactly the same. Do you videos, you talking? Yes, it's you, they're getting to know who the brand the personality, everything is. So, I mean, a quick idea I had in honestly, this would probably save all your guys 10 more minutes of the day, when a bride sends you an email, go download the loom app extension on your chrome wherever, it really records the video for you on your computer. And you could open up their email, have your face on it, answer all their questions, and I get to know a little bit about you how you respond. Did you read what I had to say? answered all my questions. And now I know, how do you sound like, let's just say you're a DJ, what's your what's your DJ voice sound like, you know, like, I gotta know, wait, the No,

Kristina Stubblefield  20:41

like address factor My goodness, out the gate

Brittany Murphy  20:45

immediately. And the reason I'm throwing that out, there is a I'm doing it myself, which is why I'm trying to preach what I'm doing in my own business. But people are asking me sometimes technical questions or something that it's not easy to write out. And I don't want them to misunderstand it. And maybe that's something for you as well. You could say this in three minutes. Can synced consistently, consistently. Consent or

Kristina Stubblefield  21:08

Cisely? Is that what you're after?

Brittany Murphy  21:10

succinctly? Okay. Robots are not my word today. All the tongue ties in here. But even that little aspect of it, you know, let's just hear that tone tone of video I did. I could laugh myself. Sorry, guys. It's 5pm is when I send this video because I'm still really excited to meet you tomorrow. And I wanted you to get this before 9pm 9am call tomorrow,

Kristina Stubblefield  21:29

you're not perfect.

Brittany Murphy  21:30

Oh my god, I'm not perfect. I'm not expecting to be perfect. But here's me still doing to show you I'm so excited to meet you. Those are what's feeding into. And the reason I'm even mentioning that is because if you don't like to type, if you don't feel like you have a great way of expressing yourself in the written form for whatever reason, but you know, you're a social person. And you've done this for so long. There's record yourself answering a question answering their questions in a video. Now I get to know all the answers and I could see a vibe from you. And

Kristina Stubblefield  21:56

the more that you don't have to have your hair done and makeup. No,

Brittany Murphy  21:59

I don't care what you look like, if you're excited to speak with me. That's all I give a shit about right? You say? Oh my god, Brittany, thanks for reaching out. So excited, I am available. I'm available on your day, my style is like this, you know, my pricing only starts at this, if you're interested in what I have to say so far. Again, these could all be automations, you just slap in some these links into, but attached is my price sheet. And my most recent work, example, boom, boom, boom. If I got all of that from any of my vendors, I probably wouldn't have answered any way back. I'll be very honest with you, Christina, that sounds really sad and pathetic. But when you're trying to manage and organize all these things, because I don't have a coordinator, I'm in trying to do this myself. When you're managing all those things. If someone I could know, like, and trust and vibe with that quickly, what concerns do I have, then you're gonna have to, you're gonna put concerns in front of me, you're gonna have to fuck up, you're gonna have to drop the ball, you're gonna have to do something for me to get out of this good vibe with you. For me to say, Nah, I don't, I don't feel good about this anymore. Because again, out of the gate, I liked what I saw on your website. And then I reached out to you, and you can make communicated back so quickly. And so effectively with me that I understood exactly who I was talking to. And it got me 10 times more excited. So let's just say 30 deejays did respond back to me in one did that, Oh, that one's go to the finals. I mean, let's their pricing is ridiculous. And it is not in your budget. But again, you probably should have done some research. So you know, they should all be somewhat near that. But that person might be a little bit out of it, but you're like, but they sound like they're really going to do a great job. And the stress in me is already vanquishing away. Like, I feel so comfortable and confident this person I haven't even paid any money to yet. Like, those are the things where you're gonna have an easy process, you're gonna have a great party celebration that day. And the best part is you're going to have raving fans afterwards, who are when you're onboarding them, are going to tell you everything you need to know to replicate that over and over and over. And again, we need to evolve. That's why you need to offboard them. So asking them questions. And I mean, I don't know what the best way is to I'll be honest, it probably isn't the day of the wedding because we're busy as hell. Probably not the week after we're on the honeymoon. But I'm sure it's a couple of weeks right after when we get back. And we're like, oh, this is so great. I'm so glad we did it. Like

Kristina Stubblefield  24:07

you're still on that. Hi, I'm hot. It's enough that you've been respectful with the time.

Brittany Murphy  24:12

Yeah, it's the experience is still fresh enough in my head, that I'm willing to give you all that advice. And again, if you did, right by me, and I'm sure this works for 9.9 out of 10 brides. If you did right by them, they're going to want to do right by you. So they're going to want to give you that feedback. I'm assuming most people listening to this might not be asking for that. So that's why you don't know what the feedback you need to be getting to work on your business effectively is we're telling you everything you could do on your own. But again, the cheap way, the cheap and the trick, cheap way around this. Ask your clients like literally they're the ones who bought from you something about them was sold. You were able to sell sold the keys, they hold the keys to all the information

Kristina Stubblefield  24:52

and to help you successfully market your business. With the wording the feedback they give you that that's the keys right They are to the next step in your own business.

Brittany Murphy  25:04

Yes. And if you ask them questions about the very beginning of their process, which do I mean in your sales process, when you get to each step with them asking those questions of what was just previous on their mind, so like my intro sales call with these guys to learn more about their services. This is where you should ask How'd you find out about me if they've not already said, Just confirm those things, because now you're gonna find out more about your marketing. And then when you close them, and you're off board them, you're finding out 10 times more about your marketing, but now you're having to wait a year out to get that information. Because you got in this Oh, I loved your FAQs. Although a question didn't have was the data. Boom, go to your website within the next week or so while it's fresh on your head input that it will take you five seconds login, type the question out, push submit, enter, now it's there. And now you're saving yourself time. And you just got an answer that immediately you could fix

Kristina Stubblefield  25:53

the answers to so many things, especially in the wedding industry lie in the clients. And truthfully, that's probably an accurate statement across all industries, but specifically in the wedding industry, because it is event driven. And you're getting that that feedback that the wording they use that in making them if you've made them feel comfortable enough, they're going to say it in a way that's probably not well, you should do this for you, you know, in that, that's back to that relationship you've built with the person. But I tell people all of the time, about testimonials, about feedback, surveys, any of that kind of stuff holds the answers, maybe to go to another phase of your business to grow your business to simplify it or streamline it. There's really answers to every aspect of your business. It's just an asking the right questions to get some of those answers, honest answers. That's what I wanted to say about the wedding industry is I feel like you stand to get the most honest feedback, because of the close relationships you have with your vendors and your engaged couples.

Brittany Murphy  27:16

I mean, because we went once I did go wrong. So

Kristina Stubblefield  27:19

you didn't set out to spend all this time planning it for it to be a shit show for lack of better word. Yeah. So I hope it's not like that hope for anyone. Actually. Yes. Yeah. I mean, you've shared a ton of valuable information seriously. I really do hope you'll come back to talk about you know, how how things go, you know, the off boarding or just to, you know, it's nice to hear that where you're at right now in this part of it. Because I've done this with engaged couples. But talking to other engaged couples, I've never done this from an aspect to get honest, raw, unfiltered information to help wedding professionals right this second in their business. And I think that is such a valuable tool they can use as tools in their business. In this isn't something that necessarily we expect you to implement all 50 things that we've covered. To be honest with you, we may have covered more than that, in this. The thing about it is is baby steps. This isn't okay, I need to block off my calendar for a month and not do events to do this. It's baby steps. If you need help reach out, schedule a discovery call and let's figure out where the hell do you start? Like, you know what, maybe you want to make sense of all the information you have, maybe you do ask us your clients questions and for feedback. Maybe you're not booking events, but this is the feedback you're getting address that head on. It's not going to change by itself. That's the key here is taking those steps to make the changes so you can't evolve. We're not going to slow down in the digital world. I don't see that happening. And that's why new Brittany would have such great information since she just went through this but she also understands the business and also how to explain it in layman's terms instead of coming in here and throwing out a bunch of lingo that people are like oh shit, I need to do some of this stuff but I don't know what what is this? Yeah, what is this? Like what? And then you Your eyes have glazed over you've hit stopped because oh shit. I need to do some stuff in my business. But I don't understand any of this. And that's what I've always prided myself in is making sure don't expect you to understand all the lingo. Are the terminology, let's break it down to where you do understand it, I'm not asking you to do something with it every day, maybe you're gonna have someone else do it for you. But having some kind of understanding is important as the business owner, to know about your marketing and your business presence online.

Brittany Murphy  30:19

And I think maybe in this industry, we might get really sad, when is the slow season or get happy because it's some time off. But I think I watched one of your podcasts on the ring and the bleeding and all the things that was about pause. Like when you're in those slow seasons, guys, this is when you need to repeat pick in this podcast and listen into those two or three times, like listen to it now. But when you know you're getting to that low part in your season, there's no reason that this should that shouldn't be the time you were blocking out. All of the things you need to be doing. Everything we've suggested is turn taken away at those step by step. So maybe you don't get through all the 5000 things we mentioned before high season picks up again. But you've already ticked some things off in the finagle list,

Kristina Stubblefield  30:59

make having a plan, getting your ideas out or Okay, these things that we said I want to take these 10 Like a checklist, like you just said, because if not, you're gonna forget, yep,

Brittany Murphy  31:10

prioritize all of this. And things I think you could do very quickly, might be sufficient, but the top of your list and one of those just might be the auto responder type of automatic automatic, oh my gosh, automations you can put on your Gmail. So therefore, already, when someone is reaching out to you, they're much more happy because they feel comfortable and confident your real business, you're going to respond, you're going to have that open communication channel with them. But after that,

Kristina Stubblefield  31:32

start your day, your Google listing, oh God, careers, photos, videos, information, look at what's out there. Like, I'm so surprised how many people haven't Googled themselves. They do not know what's out there on the web. But updating your Google listing, Google loves Google. And it is it's the king of search engines. I'm not taking anything away from anyone else. But like you said, a lot of times there wasn't information there. There things were missing. There were holes in things. I think that is one of the first things that should be somewhere at the top of your list,

Brittany Murphy  32:11

what things are you missing that most likely they're going to be asking for? And that's where you need to re listen to this again, because I did mention quite a few of it. But really go back to that website stuff like what can we learn about you that's going to easily make us want to book that next step with you. So do you need to prioritize things you need to put back into your website. And again, maybe the first thing to do is prioritize and gain feedback from some of your brides and grooms. And so that we

Kristina Stubblefield  32:34

can so other vendors. That is the nice thing about the industry. A lot of times people work with people week in and week out. You can also ask for feedback from not only engaged couples, but other vendors.

Brittany Murphy  32:49

Yeah, I mean, there's, again, a wealth of resource out there for where you can get this feedback. But once you have this feedback, you know, don't internalize it too hard. These are most likely the things that they're like losers, my first question is I would have had, take that as you can't. And again, maybe that needs to come back to getting a few feedback from a few multiple sources. And then what the most ill mentioned the most is obviously your first area of attack, because everyone's having an issue with that area, go after it and then kind of work down ways from there. But that's kind of where not that I want to be a bitch. But all of these things we talked about are pretty simple to start to put into effect. So see, what were

Kristina Stubblefield  33:21

this news about this? Yeah, these aren't things that are wow, like, I need to really plan. Like, I'm gonna need to try to do this in the next couple years. For my business. It's not like that. But what you just said, make actionable steps and breeze strategic about it. If you don't like that word, like you said, put them in order of importance. What's the most important thing right now for you, your business? And attack

Brittany Murphy  33:45

was most impactful? Exactly. I mean, again, that's, it's not just marketing, that's every other aspect of your business, you're literally attacking it the exact same way. So play sticker shop on yourself, do whatever it takes to kind of understand what those things are. I mean, just opportunities. I mean, SWAT that's all it is, what are your strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats to your business, like go through that and things are doing well pat yourself on the back and move forward. But we had to focus more on the weaknesses and the opportunities we're missing out on because again, the sales process starts before you are ever, ever thought of the minute we get engaged, the minute our hands go to the online world to find resources. So if you are not there, if you're not prioritizing it, you were missing out on the beginning of the sales cycle. So again, we're just trying to help you figure out ways to prioritize it maybe that might be something to focus on. So you can have a lead flow you can have some people calling you set a meeting contact forms and I have more budget to maybe do some of the automations and do some more type of things that can help you out. It is that slow build with it but again, we don't know what your exact situation is. So book a strategy if you need it, but or just look at your shit. Where if I look at this are my questions not being answered? and play dumb plays if you are literally never done this before in your entire life. I mean, that's what you have to do. I do search engine optimization, no one knows what the fuck that is. That's okay. I don't call it that all of our website, do you need to rank higher? Do you need get more phone calls, all the other verbs of what the real pain point is. So even as a vendor of something in the wedding industry, what is our pain point? Name it, go after it because most likely your competitors are not doing that. And so therefore, you have a huge leg up. Again, I'm sure every industry is a little bit different with it. But like if all other DJs in your city don't seem to listen to the bribes when they had the phone call or email back or email back? I mean, what are those calls, you can kind of ask for some feedback. If you can get it you'll you'll learn? Because I'm sure I mentioned I'm very glad you emailed me back, I emailed quite a few people, no one did. I probably said something like that on one of the phone calls. And I and they were like, Oh, I'm so sorry about that. Yeah, you know, just some people, you know, since pandemic don't do this, or you know, people's schedules are changed. And I was like, great response. First off, he did not throw anybody under the bus. Absolutely. He just said up. Yep, stuff happens. I'm sorry to hear about that. But I'm very excited to work with you. And you know, kind of talk

Kristina Stubblefield  36:09

made it more about you than focusing on anything else.

Brittany Murphy  36:12

100%. But what we're trying to say read between the lines, hopefully what he wrote down was my competitors are not emailing back quickly, or they're not providing blank, write it down. These are areas if you have it, you're more likely going to get those bookings, those phone calls, because it's missing out, and you're focusing on it, and you're focusing on it. So I mean, if you're a person that's more detailed, I mean, I'll be honest, I'm not a detail driven person or forgetful as I'll get out. But I'm very intentional when I have to do something. So when I was looking for venues, I typed in wedding venues, Louisville, KY, and Google and I opened up every frickin website of everything that happened to like the first three pages, because I was like, I don't know where I want to get married. Let's see the options. I went through all of them. So all the websites had pictures. Okay, cool, had a picture. And unlike the place or didn't have any pictures, boom, gone, you got 30 seconds of my time to see if you had enough information. If you didn't, in my head, I said, Why are we got two places I pretty much like, you know, I'm on. Yeah, boom, like, I'm not going to, you know, consider a third of like, oh, I want to throw this a good third, like I want a good contender, or I'm not gonna waste my time going to a third or fourth, you want to wow, oh, yeah, I want this to be done quickly, efficiently. And the best results possible, I could get with it. And so those are kind of the things where if you don't provide that, if you're not there on those aspects, you don't know at what point they're already falling off the wagon. It's, you know, you're like, Brittany, but my clients don't email me back. I have always prospects, and I email back immediately, and no one emails back to me. Well, I'm, again throws back to you, because what else? Were you providing them that maybe your competitors? Were doing 10 times better than you? Maybe responded? The exact same? Our Great, okay, but did they give them resources? And you did it? Did they send them back to their previous work? Do they dig in? Do they have a website, figure it out? Do they have all the social, I mean, all those little things can kind of happen to it just yet, dig in to see what kind of works with it. Because again, there's so many facets to this business. And we get it we work in marketing, which is one of the hat of a million that a business owner has to wear. But this is literally life and blood of your business. Because if you don't get new clients, if you don't get new business, then you don't really have much to sell. So you have to take care of them, you have to get them in. So therefore you can do what you care more about, which is usually the service itself. You know, I mean, if you could get some his automations in place, you don't gotta worry about sending these templates every single time they automatically send for you or you go to canned responses, templates in Gmail, boom, boom, done.

Kristina Stubblefield  38:36

And they actually help you book more business. Yes, save time book, more events. Okay,

Brittany Murphy  38:43

I think that's a win win combination is what they call it. There

Kristina Stubblefield  38:46

you go. That's exactly it. And that, and I feel like Brittany could be here for hours talking about that. And I think the biggest takeaway there is we're very passionate about marketing. And if Britney didn't give a shit, she wouldn't be here talking about this stuff. She saw an opportunity as well to help wedding professionals because she saw wow, like this is, you know, this has been something I've been talking about for a while. You don't know what you don't know. But you have to be willing to make the changes and adjust with the times, marketing is not staying the same, just like the wedding industry is not staying the same pandemic, no pandemic, just saying things are evolving and wedding professionals, some or not. And ultimately, what that ends up doing is affecting the engaged couples, it's limiting the options there are for vendors, because they're not finding information. If they're looking for video and it's not there. If they're looking for this looking for that sealing up some of those holes or those cracks in your foundation can make sure that you are found, but as we've talked about, Throughout this, you can also do things to drill down to your more ideal client, which just gives you back more time, and helps you book more of the events that you want to book. Now, for some, that can be very scary. For others, you need to put your pricing out there as far as not wasting your time, because it can be a very big time suck. If you don't put some kind of starting point, not your exact amount. But Brittany said this a few times throughout this, putting a price that this is your starting that way, if it's not in that person's budget, you're not wasting their time, they're not wasting your time. It's for both sides. So I hope that you all are able to dissect this episode, get actionable steps. And that's exactly what I hope you do is put them in order of importance and tackle them one by one. And honestly, if you just do a few of these, it's going to make a big impact, like Brittany said, and you will notice a difference from your online presence, your leads, and essentially your sales with booking events. Thank you, I really appreciate. I mean, you've spent a lot of time going over a lot of this information, I know you're going to come back in. And so we can dive into this more, I've got mental notes that I want to have to go back over. So thank you, I really appreciate it.

Brittany Murphy  41:38

I'm glad to be here and submit as thought of wherever you post this comment what questions you had from us talking about this, so we can cover it next time. I know we talked about 50 Huge, different ideas. So if there's one that I thought it was 5000 Let's try to make it sound more reasonable by the end of it. But you know if one of those 5000 things we talked about if you do have a question, like write that down, because I would love to hone in some more things that we hear a few people really get feedback. If

Kristina Stubblefield  42:01

you don't want to comment where it's out there publicly, all you have to do is just go and there is a button you can just click on. On the podcast website, you can a type your message, guess what? If not, you can click the microphone and record your question. You can also reach out on social media, you know, there's plenty of different ways, but the podcast website is one of the easiest ways, go to the web pro podcast.com. And again, trying to make it as easy as possible for you to give feedback or ask questions. So thank you, Brittany, I really appreciate it. Thank you so much for tuning in. I cannot wait to hear people's feedback. And remember, it can be good or bad or indifferent. Any feedback is welcome. We made it through all three parts of this episode series. I cannot thank Brittany Murphy enough for just being herself authentic role unfill unfiltered, just given it to us straight her experience. We can all use this information and implement strategies and tips to be found easier online for those engaged couples when they're doing their research. If you missed any part of this three part series, don't worry, you can always visit the web pro podcast.com or find them on your favorite podcast platform. If you're not already part of the free Facebook group, make sure to join today, visit web pro solutions.com for a link. I cannot wait to hear your feedback on this episode. Make sure to find me on social media at web pro solutions and send me a DM if you're not already part of the free Facebook group. Just go to the website and you will find a link to join today. Thank you so much for tuning in. And until next time everyone, keep working on your businesses.