To be super honest, I’ve been in a rut lately…or…maybe it was a burnout.
I’ve had writer’s block for months. No matter how hard I’ve tried to make myself sit down and write, there was no inspiration to be found. For me, this was quite unusual. I would look over the group posts from our Becoming a Wedding Planner Facebook Group and still nothing would spark an article even though there were some really great questions being asked. For months, I questioned my purpose. Then one day, I decided to take a mindset course. OMG. This was a game changer. I had no idea that mindset could be so powerful. Today, I’m sharing a guest post by Sarah Nicole Nadler who specifically works with wedding planners needing help with changing their mindset. We as creatives can sometimes have issues surrounding money, and Sara is addressing that here.
How to Make Sales with a New Mindset
I remember when I started my wedding coordinator business, and how icky and awful I felt about asking people to pay me large sums of money.
Here was this beautiful thing I was going to do for them…planning the wedding of their dreams! And I was good at it. I knew, because I’d already been a professional event planner for ten years with plenty of weddings, large and small, under my belt.
Oh, I could get on the phone and explain in detail the value of my services! In person, it was even easier—I had a great software program that allowed me to quickly throw together in front of the couple (which really solidified my expertise!) a rough wedding style board as we went along in the conversation.
But as we approached the part where I would need to share the price of my services…I broke out in cold sweats. The cost stumbled off my tongue, often with a stutter or two (just to make things really embarrassing!). And I frequently undersold myself—quoting prices miles away from where I knew they should be for me to remain viable.
The Sales Hang-up
What is this subject of sales?
Why does it sometimes make us wedding pros so nervous, and feel so icky?
If you look at a common dictionary, it’s no mystery why so many of us having limiting beliefs around selling. Take a look at these definitions!
Sell:
- have sex in exchange for money. “if she was going to sell herself then it would be as well not to come too cheap”
- abandon one’s principles for reasons of expedience. “the prime minister has come under fire for selling out to the United States”
- offer (something) dishonorably for money or other reward. “do not your lawyers sell all their practice, as your priests their prayers?”
I mean, honestly! With definitions like that, it’s no wonder we all “hate” selling!
In this blog post, I’m sharing a few hacks I learned that helped me create a successful wedding coordinator business, and which I now use with my 6- and 7-figure clients to help them love jumping on a sales call feeling authentically themselves!
So if you’re d-o-n-e feeling icky about sales conversations, pushing people into buying from you, or running away scared and self-sabotaging every sale, then you’re in the right place! All of that is about to change for good.
Reset Your Mindset to Make Sales
When I work with a wedding pro on their sales mindset, one of the first things we always have to clear up is the heart-centered definition of “sell.”
“To ‘sell’ means to CARE enough about the individual to help them through the stops and barriers so they can get the solution that they need to the problem that you solve.” -Sarah Nicole Nadler
Right away, if we’re working with this correct definition, you can see what was wrong with most of the ‘sales’ you observed in your life (that you didn’t like).
Either the person was trying to ‘sell’ something that wasn’t really the right solution to the problem the buyer had…
…or the salesperson didn’t actually care about the person in front of them. They didn’t care whether the buyer’s problem got solved or not. So they do odd things—like run scared after the first objection. Or try to slime their way through the conversation just to make money. Etc.
These gross examples we’ve all seen in society or in the movies tend to give us this icky idea of what ‘sales’ really is.
But sales is just caring enough about the couple in front of you to help them through the stops and barriers (like fear of spending, concerns over their budget, questions they have, etc.) so they can get the solution that they need to the problem that you solve.
#1 Ask the Big Question
So that begs the first question: What problems do you solve? Are you passionate about solving it for people?
Because if you don’t have certainty on the services that you’re selling (and how they would help someone) or if you can’t get passionate about it, you’re going to struggle with sales.
Take some time to sit quietly with those questions and maybe observe some couples who used the wedding service you provide and how that service or product changed their whole wedding experience. See if you can get educated and passionate about this.
This also goes back to the stories we tell ourselves…and that have been told to us.
Also, check out the Initial Consultation Planner Kit if you need help figuring out the right way to communicate with a client.
#2 Tell Your Story
If you have a story of your own about how helping others is ‘stupid’ or something…that story is holding you back from making money. Because sales IS a form of helping people—and if you secretly think that’s stupid, then you’re going to self-sabotage.
Adopt the attitude that you’re here to help the person in front of you overcome their own limiting beliefs, lack of money, uncertainty, doubts, etc.—any and all barriers to overcome toward signing up for this service you’re trying to sell. That’s your role as a salesperson. To help them overcome the stops and barriers.
#3 Become an Advocate
One other thing will help you accomplish this mindset hack—become an advocate for the solution you sell.
For instance, if you’re a wedding planner, then you solve ‘no time to plan’ or ‘hectic wedding day’ for people, right?
What other problems does that solve for the person? It can help them keep their career on track, save money on the wedding, look good to relatives and friends, look happier in their wedding photos, etc.
So become an advocate for those things! Get passionate about those things. Talk about them on social media. Write blogs about them. “How to look your best in your wedding photos”—that would be a great content piece for you.
By advocating constantly for the solution you sell—without even necessarily bringing up your service packages—you become the go-to person for that solution. That builds up your authority and helps you find and create good stories—the ones of you being an advocate for the solution that you sell (not the product/service, but the solution).
This is perhaps the biggest ‘mindset hack’ or secret to making sales less pushy and more heart-centered. Become an advocate and become passionate about the solution you provide when you sell, and it won’t feel like anything but soul-centered help.
Remember, if you need a little added help with mastering a great wedding consult, check out the Initial Consultation Planner Kit.
Sarah Nicole Nadler is a business + balance coach, internationally-acclaimed author, and keynote speaker. Her background in event planning and ministry made her the perfect person to start a wedding business, which she sold to start her own coaching firm.
