Reviewing your enquiry process

It feels as though we’ve barely had time to recharge following Christmas and yet the hype of Valentine’s Day’s been and gone – A date that seems permanently tattooed on the backs of our eyelids in the wedding industry.

Although this is significant in everyone’s love story, it’s never a good time to become complacent as a wedding venue with the amount of enquires you receive and handle.

Engagements will be at an all-time high at this time of year following February 14th. This is an opportunity to review and revitalise your enquiry handling to ensure that you’re the stand-out venue where every new couple wants to be, and be too utterly irresistible to turn away from. What better way to prepare for the influx of interest you’ll undoubtedly receive.

This experience is a journey for your new couple….. a journey they are taking together like no other.

Lead the way and help take control of their now daunting ‘to do list’ by making the experience as easy as possible for them.

You now have an opportunity to manage your couple’s expectations and take control, all the time being sympathetic to their individual needs.

Here are some top tips on how to empower your couples to go ahead:-

Their Initial Enquiry
In whatever form this takes, where possible answer speedily. Time is of the essence. Remember that bridal couples don’t know you or understand your workload, it will be onto the next venue if you don’t reply speedily so make this a priority.

Respond promptly, with a really friendly and personal tone – couples want you to feel excited about their day, for everyone to jump onboard their ‘celebration train,’ and most importantly, feel like an individual.

Review your standard email replies / automated replies following an enquiry to your website. If there are long gaps of non-response or something that feels cold and impersonal you may miss a critical opportunity to capture at that special time.

Statistics show that with how ‘time short’ brides now are, email and phone replies speediness is vital!

Credit: Splendid Insights

Credit: Splendid Insights

Survey data taken from Splendidinsights.com – 2018 UK Wedding Market Report

Key facts and pricing

You’ll undoubtedly deal with a lot of couples whom simply don’t have the budget for your venue or whose wedding size or wishes just simply do not match. However regardless of your concerns, treat every response the same, friendly and genuine.

Be concise with key specifics like capacities and layouts, giving a clear guideline on pricing so brides can get straight to the point!

The decision of whether to give full pricing or not has its pros and cons but even if you prefer to bespoke quote each couple (which we believe is the most ideal to reflect the modern market), give a “from price” or guide price on your website so individually, they can quickly determine whether you fit their needs, giving you piece of mind as a venue that you are never deterring couples away purely based on your pricing strategies.

Be prepared to give happy couples approximate costings on your food/beverage options so that they can plan out their budgeting. Catering is a huge part of a wedding day, so it’s key that you highlight this at the early stages giving them a quick understanding of how much to allocate.

Around 50% of the wedding budget should be allocated to these key areas and if this is massively exceeded in early calculations, then they’ll quickly know this is not the right venue for them and will move on without wasting any time. Couples usually have a set price in mind initially, however, be prepared that it’s likely to move and change as their plans progress.

Satisfying the needs of a newly engaged couple can seem a daunting one as a venue, especially if you’ve only just started up or have some stiff competition around the corner.

However, with introducing / fine tuning these simple ingredients into your enquiry process, you’ll be sure to create a lasting impression, quickly becoming shortlisted as the brides ‘favourite venue,’ and be the place for that all important visit with friends and family.

The hope of then leading you confidently en route to becoming that ‘no compromises’ venue of their dreams!

Happy selling!

If you’re an established venue and you would like to elevate your wedding business to new heights, let’s have a conversation about how my ‘Refine and Shine’ programme  can help you. Please do get in touch on enquiries@kellychandlerconsulting.co.uk to schedule a discovery call.

Image credits:  Lauren Anne Photography // Labridals // Splendid Insights // The Budget Savvy Bride