I just read this article and had to share it with you. If you’re like me, you’re always looking for ways to grow your event business … and you hate to “sell.” And furthermore, you really hate cold-calling.  But, here a secret  for you … most of your competition hates it too and the few that do it, do it the wrong way.

There is a way to use the phone and sell more event services … without sounding like a bad telemarketer or cheesy cold-call-cowboy. Read on!

If you’re in the B2B side of the event business, the article below by Jill Konrath shows you how to prospect by telephone – without sounding like a telemarketer. I’m a big fan of Jill Konrath and I highly recommend her book, “Selling to Big Companies.”

If you’re in the social side of the event trade you can use these ideas too. This approach is adoptable. Use it to build strong relationships with key influencers like banquet managers, country club directors, hotel general managers, destination management companies, travel bureaus and so on.

Jill and I share the same philosophy about cold-calling. Don’t do it. Don’t call to sell anything … call to share valuable information and ways to help your prospect be more successful. Focus on building lasting relationships with the people who matter most to your business.

As Zig Ziglar said, “You can have anything in life you want, if you help enough other people get what they want.”

Last week I mentioned I share with you how I manage to keep in touch with thousands of prospects without costing myself a ton of time or money. Email is a great tool, but you can’t spam people. Make sure you only send valuable information and not a sales pitch.

To make sure I get my emails delivered automatically to thousands of people without getting lost in spam filters, I use and highly recommend Aweber.  That’s who I use to keep in touch. Click on the graphic below for my affiliate link and you’ll get a free test drive:

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Secrets to Achieving an 80% Close Rate

By Jill Konrath

Eric has been in show business for 15 years – the trade show business.  His company sells and customizes virtually any kind of display imaginable. Some of Eric’s customers have huge booths at the world’s biggest conventions. Others have portable pop-up exhibits for regional shows.

In a cut-throat market filled with competitors, Eric stands above the crowd with an amazing 80% close rate and minimal customer churn.

How does he do it?

“I’m not a salesperson,” says Eric. “I’m a consultant. My customers have a strong confidence level in my recommendations because I know what they want to accomplish. I understand their objectives. I know what they like and what works or doesn’t work for them.”

Eric’s relationship with his customers often begins years before they ever do business together. He calls his approach “long-term telemarketing” and it starts with targeted vertical marketing.

His prospects are other companies attending the very same trade shows as his clients. He checks them out on the web, learns what events they attend and about any major happenings in the organization. He finds out who makes decisions. Everything is entered into his contact management system.

Then Eric gives these companies a call. His befriends the receptionist, learns her name and uses it frequently. Being quite savvy, he even gets her email address – which gives him the company protocol. Next he e-mails these prospects to alert them to literature they’ll get from him shortly.

About a week later, he follows up. Eric introduces himself as a trade show consultant and tells the prospect, “My goal is to make my clients successful at trade shows.” He mentions he has customers who do similar shows, which always catches their interest. He engages them in a short non-threatening discussion. They talk about which events work best for them and other general ‘show talk.’

On these calls, Eric is NOT trying to sell any products or services. He’s working to establish a relationship.

And he’s learning a tremendous amount about their business in the process – which vendor they use, how old their systems are, what works for them and more. All this comes out in the discussion because Eric quietly asks for it. Everything is entered into his database.

Eric offers to keep in touch, to share information they may be interested in. His prospects graciously agree. He hasn’t tried to push or pitch them at all. No products mentioned; no meetings begged for – just an offer of assistance. Whether the prospect knows it or not, their relationship has begun.

Flash forward six months: Eric’s customers have just returned from a big show. He checks in right away to find out how things went: “How was attendance? Was it on par with last year? How did the promotion work? How effective were the graphics? How about the leads? What changes do we need to make? How was the overall experience of the show? How was the labor? ”

Of course, Eric’s customers love his attention and commitment to their success. They immediately begin planning for the next event because new needs are always uncovered. This is why he rarely loses a customer.

But what else does Eric do with what he learns? He immediately calls his targeted prospects who attended the very same show to share information about his survey.

“I’ve been surveying my clients who were also at the XYZ show. They said attendance dropped 10%. Did you experience that too?”

Prospects are interested. Eric’s been doing a survey – they could learn some valuable information. The discussion starts.

Eric shares other things he’s learned from his customer. They chat. Relaxed, the prospect opens up. Slowly, gently Eric slips in questions about how successful the show was for the prospect. He quietly asks additional questions triggered by his database notes. He learns more.

Soon the prospect is sharing his frustrations with the event or his display company. “That’s terrible. How could they do that?” empathizes Eric incredulously. He learns more; it goes in his database.

Eric finds out about the prospect’s upcoming shows and sets his contact management system to notify him 2-3 days after they’re over so he can follow up. When he phones, he asks more questions, willingly offers advice, helps solves simple problems, brainstorms possibilities and sends helpful material. He learns more; it goes in his database.

When Eric senses his prospect’s frustration level is high enough to warrant a change, he offers, “If you’re not happy, you can come to my showroom and we can do a free analysis. There’s no obligation. Let me see if I can help.”

Once Eric has prospects in his showroom he knows he pretty well has their business locked up. He just needs to keep his focus on their objectives, likes and dislikes, successes and failures. After all, these people trust him implicitly; they’ve had a relationship for months or years – even though it’s always been by phone.

It’s no wonder Eric has an 80% close rate!

Lessons Learned

1. A long-term, keep-in-touch telemarketing strategy has tremendous paybacks.

2. Conduct your own surveys. They’re excellent sales tools for existing customers and especially for your prospects.

3. Always focus on helping the customer. If they ever sense you’re out for yourself, you lose the relationship.

4. Contact management systems are a huge sales aid. Keep track of everything. Use your notes to trigger additional questions in future discussions. Have them notify you when it’s time for follow-up.

Jill Konrath, author of Selling to Big Companies, helps sellers crack into corporate accounts, shorten sales cycles and win big contracts. She is a frequent speaker at annual sales meetings and association events.

For more articles like this, visit http://www.SellingtoBigCompanies.com . Get a free Sales Call Planning Guide ($19.95 value) when you sign up for the Selling to Big Companies e-newsletter.

How did one event planner / caterer go from working out of her basement to running an event empire … during a recession?

Catering & Event Business Grows in Recession. A Recipe for Success

This year, some catering businesses will close their doors forever.

After years of struggle and hard work – the business they poured their lives into will be gone. And most, will blame the recession.

Most catering and event companies will have lower revenues this year. They too, will blame the economy. This year is awful, they say.

But some event companies will grow.

They will attract more customers.

They will take home more money. They will hire more staff. They will buy new equipment, new homes. They will make more money than 90% of the competition.

Hold on, you say. Make more money in THIS economy?

How can one event planning / catering firm make millions when others are failing?

I decided to ask Martha Kostyra from Jersey City. She was crazy enough to start a catering company out of her basement when the world was falling apart.

Now she’s worth millions.

Is This a Good Year For the Catering & Event Business?

Record high unemployment. Rocketing fuel prices. Economic crisis. War in the Middle East. Uncertain times, for sure. But, that did not stop Martha Kostyra.

She went on to grow that catering company into an event empire and became a multimillionaire.

The year she started was 1976 – and Martha Kostyra was now known as Martha Stewart.

Rich Planner / Poor Planner

Martha Stewart was and is a master of marketing. She knew how to attract the right clients – the ones who let you make a profit – the ones who host many high-end events.

She knew how to listen to her clients. She knew how to exceed their expectations.

Martha didn’t focus on the bad economy. She focused on growing a world-class catering company.

You can grow a successful catering company this year too.

First, stop imitating the mediocre masses. Most of your competition doesn’t know how to market. So don’t copy them. Only model excellence.

Download Free Report

Learn how to market your business. You may call yourself a caterer, photographer, event planner, wedding planner … but your real job is marketing.

To be successful in the catering & event business you need more than good service. You have to master marketing.

If you want to start quickly attracting more catering customers and you don’t want to spend any money to do it, make sure you download a free copy of  “More Clients Now.” This report reveals 10 powerful ways to promote your business.

I hope you feel a little bit more inspired for reading this – but more importantly I hope you take action. Make your dreams happen. Good luck.

Why are so many event businesses in trouble? The recession is only partly to blame.

Homogeny.

Because of the Internet, your customers can easily find lower-priced competitors faster than ever before. If you only provide generic event services that any other company can sell, you are a commodity. Take DJs for example, an industry full of copycats. Same song list, same equipment, same party favors, same everything. If the only thing that distinguishes one DJ from another is price then the lowest priced DJ wins the business.

The same can be said of caterers. Too many imitate and not enough innovate. As a result, the typical catering company’s proposal is almost indistinguishable from any other. Too many caterers let their customers control the quality and originality of their bookings. The majority of customers are too inexperienced at planning events to have the confidence to do anything original. Customers want to play it safe. So they imitate the last 10 parties they went to.

Therefore, most events are bland, generic and instantly forgettable. No one at the party needs to get your card because your service is invisible. You can’t stand out if you mirror other me-too event companies. You, as the event professional, have an obligation to your client into your business to be bold and memorable. If all you do is provide the same service that anyone else can, your event business is destined to fail.

Barbarians at the Gate

The barriers to enter the event services industry have never been lower. 10 years ago, a DJ had to invest thousands of dollars to build a music library. Equipment was more expensive, harder to find transport and required skill to operate. Now any knucklehead with an iPod thinks he’s a DJ. A song list is easy to pirate and play with a cheap laptop and inexpensive speakers.

Ten years ago, Event Planners would painstakingly build a Rolodex of high quality vendors. Now anyone can assemble there A- list of event professionals after a few hours on Google.

In the good old days, finding a good caterer took a long time. Advertising a catering business required a business address, a business telephone and an expensive Yellow Pages listing. Thanks to the Internet, almost anyone can throw up an impressive website for next to nothing.

Want to book bigger and better events? Download a free copy of “More Clients Now.”

Category Creep

Download Free Report

Now that things have slowed down you see more and more vendors that used to specialize in one event service branch out into many. The florist now does balloons, invitations and party planning. Now the photographer is a videographer and books entertainment too. Event production companies are renting audiovisual equipment, selling staging services and are becoming destination management companies.

Stuck Off the Web

Most of event services professionals are clueless when it comes to online marketing. The companies that grew and matured in the last 10 years did so using antiquated marketing. They relied on print ads, Yellow Pages, cold calls. They depended on unsophisticated and unknowledgeable buyers. Just a few years ago, it was too difficult for the event shopper to compare vendors. Information was harder to come by. Now that has all changed.

To be successful in the event services business today you must have a powerful online presence. Today’s customers are shopping online. Today’s customers are comparing service providers. Requesting and comparing proposals from dozens of your competitors used to take days and now can be done with a few clicks.

To be successful in the event services business today you must have a powerful identity. You can’t afford to be fungible. A fungible event services company is exchangeable or replaceable in whole or in part, for another of like nature or kind. You must invest in innovation and create a unique identity for you and your company.

Hard Act to Follow

If you’re not a hard act to follow, expect someone else to get all your applause. How difficult is it for a competitor to replace you? What unique value do you offer that is next to impossible to replicate? Now is not the time to imitate.

Create a strong brand online. In my free report, More Clients Now, I share with you 10 powerful, effective and free ways to get more customers. Whether you are a caterer, event planner, wedding planner, photographer, DJ, designer, makeup artist, decorator … if you are in the live event industry I urge you to download a copy of more clients than before your competition does.

Many people think that their business is slow only because the economy is bad. However, I have to tell you that a number of my associates are doing quite well and making more money this year than last year because they know how to market better than 99% of their competition.

You can sit and wait for the economy to get better or you can take action now to grow your event business.  Grab my free report, More Clients Now and take control of your future.

Be bold, the daring, be different. I wish you success.

Brian McGovern

I met a wedding planner who told me she worked 100% by referral.  Who wouldn’t love that?

No need to promote? No advertising cost! No selling!

Turns out she only gets 5 jobs a year!

The reason she didn’t market and sell her services is because she didn’t know how to. She was terrified of selling. The process made her nervous. She was clueless about marketing.

What we don’t understand, we tend to avoid and even fear.  Marketing and selling your event business doesn’t have to be hard – if you have marketing systems.

With the right marketing systems you don’t have to “sell.” A well designed marketing system attracts the clients you want to serve. They don’t have to be “sold.”

Do you have a marketing system that works?

I posted a video the other day that describes a powerful way any event professional can quickly build up business – at zero cost.  I have received so many emails thanking me for sharing this idea. Watch it here.

And check out my idea for getting your business noticed by the people who matter most to your success fast.

Download Free Report

For example, today’s bride shops around online. If she can’t find you there, you’d better hope her mother is planning the wedding. The older population still responds to pre-internet adverting. But for how long?

Learn how to promote yourself online with free tools that are easy to use. You don’t have to spend money and you don’t have to be a techie to do it either. Download a free copy of my report, More Clients Now and start attracting new clients.

Why You Should Never Work 100% By Passive Referrals

If you wait and hope for referrals, you’ll fail. If you develop a system for generating referrals, and you work that system well – you can have more clients than you’ll ever want.

Here’s the trouble with saying, “I only work by referral.” It isn’t scalable and it’s risky.

A scalable business is one that is capable of being easily expanded or upgraded on demand. How do you demand more referrals?

Risky Business

A business that is 100% passive referral driven is 100% dependent on actions it can’t control. You can’t control your customers. They move, retire and die. If they go away, so does your business.

Referrals are a great way to grow, but don’t grow dependent on them. You can certainly grow with referrals and if you have a referral system in place

To scale your business you need to marketing systems that generate leads and a sales system to covert leads into buyers. When you want more business you increase the output of your systems. It’s really that simple.

So … before you go back to business as usual, CLICK HERE and grab your free copy of my report, More Clients Now. It’s full of great ideas you can use today to start getting more business.

Want more free marketing ideas? Download “More Clients Now” and discover how to attract more clients with low-cost and free promotions. Download it here.

If you’re looking for a fast way to generate more event bookings – try this strategy.  You can actually increase the amount of advertising you do AND decrease your advertising costs … in fact you can even make advertising a source of revenue instead of an expense.

Put together a group of 10 or more event services professionals. In the example I used in the video, an off-site caterer could partner with;

• Wedding Planners
• Event Producers
• Florists
• Limo Services
• DJ
• Entertainment / Talent Agent
• Tent / Marquee Rental
• Amusement Rentals
• Event Designers
• Event Staffer
• Event Marketers
• Speaker’s Bureau
• Awards / Gift Baskets

Next, contact 3 or 4 of each type of event vendor. Look to partner with the those who demonstrate a level of professionalism and entrepreneurial spirit.

Offer each vendor the opportunity to partner with you and a dozen other non-competing businesses who all share a common target market. Show them how, by combining resources, each member of the group will get more value out of their promotional budgets.

By combining forces with a dozen or so other event businesses – you can bundle ads and direct mail … and get a higher open rate. I used this concept to mail out my material to 5,000 prospects at zero cost to me – and I ended up making over $11,00o. The mailer cost the group  $6,000 to print, label and mail. Each of my ten partners contributed $600 – I contributed my time and energy and got the project done.

Remember, most event business owners will never take the time to do this themselves. It’s well worth it to pay 10% of the total cost, just to get it done. Off that one mailer, the photographer booked $2,100, the DJ got two jobs for $800 and my caterer grossed $15,000 and picked up a repeat buyer. Not bad for $600 each!

The secret to making this work is to just do it. Make sure each vendor contributes a very exciting discount or special offer to the group mailer. Your cover letter or brochure cover should read something like, “Over $2,000 in Special Event Services Savings.” Or, “Save Over $2,000 on Your Wedding.”

The event buyer will open, read and save a brochure like that. You’ll have more success in attracting new clients by teaming together.

So, are you going to give it a try? Any questions? Let me know.

Good Luck!

Brian

PS … have you downloaded your free copy of More Clients Now? It’s packed with great marketing ideas for event business owners. Get yours now.

If you liked this article … please pass it on … post it to Facebook, Twitter, Digg and more. Just click on one of the buttons below. Thanks.

]]> http://brianmcgovern.com/marketing-ideas-catering-events-v/feed/ 16 http://brianmcgovern.com/beat-the-recession/ http://brianmcgovern.com/beat-the-recession/#comments Sat, 14 Mar 2009 02:52:59 +0000 Brian McGovern http://brianmcgovern.com/?p=302 Event & Catering Biz: Will You Beat the Recession or Will It Beat You?

Post from: Marketing For Event People - Catering, Wedding & Live Event Businesses

I’ve made thousands of extra dollars off this tactic. It’s a fun, positive and free way to build your brand and generate high quality leads. Use it!

The Thank You Blog

Do you send thank you cards to clients?

Most business owners and salespeople know how well thank you cards help build a relationship. Because so few people do it on a regular basis – you stand out from the competition, in a good way.

Well, the thank you card concept just got better.

I call it the thank-you-blog. When I ran my event company in New York I was “famous” because of my thank-you-blog. Here’s the concept; when you do an event, work with a great vendor, and especially clients – blog about it.

For example, if we did a party at a catering hall, we’d take the time to speak to the owner or manager and share genuine praise. I’m not suggesting flattery – but genuine praise. Get a photo of the manager – that’s really important.

Now – create blog post about the venue and the manager. Share your honest praise in the post and publish it. Make sure it’s not just a generic review about the venue- make it about the person. Make them the star.

Next, send the subject of your thank-you-blog a link to the post (and print out a copy and mail it too – along with an old fashioned thank you note).

Guess what happens next? Besides making that venue manager like you more, and make you more memorable – like a thank you card would – the manager will send that post to friends, family  and business associates. We’re talking viral.

If you want to learn more ways you can promote your event business, I invite you to download a free copy of More Clients Now. You’ll learn over 10 powerful and free ways to promote your business – starting now. I’ve been getting some really great feedback from readers – so grab your copy now and book more – book bigger – book better events now.

Download Free Report

When the subject of your thank-you-blog posts your link on their Facebook page or website, you’ll end up with a back-link and targeting traffic.

Plus, when you use proper keywords (keyword+local append) you now have content that can attract new buyers.

A prospective bride may be looking for a review of a hotel or banquet hall. When she reads your review on your page – she may reach out to you too. (Make sure your individual post pages contain sales copy in the sidebar and header).

I booked thousands of dollars off of one thank-you-blog post. Give it a try!
Make sense? Any questions? Leave a comment. Hope this helps!

I talk to many business owners and salespeople and most don’t blog. To them, it’s a huge mysterious concept, blogging. That’s good news to those of us who do blog, but only if you use this potentially powerful marketing tool intelligently.

For example, a lot of wedding planners blog about getting ready for weddings and caterers blog about their day-to-day activities. What’s wrong with that? Plenty.

First – how are buyers supposed to find you- if you aimlessly blog? Let’s say you’re a wedding photographer and your market is Cleveland, OH. If the article of your blog headline is “Here We Go Again,” and your post is about doing your taxes – how is someone going to find that post if they’re typing “Cleveland Wedding Photographer?” If you want a platform for your personal thoughts, get a personal blog. If you’d rather blog to get clients – only blog about what your customers care about.

Thought Leadership Blogging is Stupid …

… if people don’t buy your thoughts. If I’m hiring a consultant, I want to read “thought leadership” blog posts. If I want to order a wedding gown – I want to see some pictures, reviews and prices. As a consumer, I really don’t care that much beyond, “Do you have it in my size?” (I doubt it, I’m 6′-3″ and 210 pounds and besides, I don’t have the legs for it).

Who Cares?

“Today I went to the car wash and aren’t my kids cute?” Really? Who cares? Not your potential customers. Save that stuff for your personal blog. If I’m searching for a local graphic artist to do my invitations, all I want to see is your portfolio and prices. Remember, I’m talking about local service businesses.

It’s OK to let potential buyers see you as a real person via blogging. But, if all you ever post about is unrelated personal drivel – how are they supposed to find you?

The Only Way to Blog & Attract Local Customers

You must think “keywords” if you want to be found. For local buyers to find you, think, “keywords + local appends.”  Huh? Stick with me, it’s easy.

I go into the subject in more details and include some links to video tutorials in my free e-book, “More Clients Now – Ten Free Tools.” But, let me give you the 5 cent tour. Here’s tip one;

Use the same words your buyers use.

Figure out how your clients search for your business online. What words do they type into Google when they’re shopping for services like yours? Don’t assume you know – it’s really eye opening to see how people really describe your services.

Too many times, we get caught up in out trade’s slang. Don’t use technical jargon unless your customers do too.

If it ain’t broke

Don’t get cute. You may be bored and want to describe yourself, as a “bridal consultant,” but “wedding planners” is better. Don’t believe me?

A quick check on Google’s Keyword tool shows the facts; just this morning I compared “wedding planner” to “bridal consultant.” The exact phrase “Wedding planner” gets searched 201,000 a month and “bridal consultant” only 36 times! That’s almost 6,000 more searches. Do you see why blogging strategically is so important?

I feel bad when I see a business owner create post after post the wrong way. What a waste of time and energy. So, here’s another tip – just because I like you.

Use local keyword phrases

How hard is it to show up on page one of Google for a keyword like, “catering?” It’s possible – but only if you work hard at it. You’ll have to displace sites that have full-time SEO squads and large budgets to do it. The firms that rank on top for your primary keywords are spending an enormous amount of time and energy to target the global market.

So, here’s the tip. Our wedding photographer would be wise to blog about “Cleveland Wedding Photographer,” one day and “Wedding Photography in Cleveland,” the next.

But why stop there? “Cleveland OH Wedding Photography,” “Cleveland Ohio Wedding Photography,” “Wedding Photography – Cleveland Area,” and don’t forget “West Cleveland Wedding Photography,” and “Cleveland Heights Wedding Photography,” too. Next, use your unique knowledge of your location to outgun the big sites. How many national firms are optimizing web pages for “Cuyahoga Wedding Photography?”

OK – so there you have it. YES – blog to get business. It’s easy, it’s free and it CAN work if you do it strategically.

Blog about high volume keywords that are most relevant to your business. Then add on your local phrases. Put your keyword+local phrase in your blog’s headline and be sure the content of the post includes the keyword+local phrase.

You won’t get 200,000 searches a month with this strategy but the traffic you get will be highly targeted.

Any questions? Download my free e-book for more instructions and leave a note in the comments section.

And, in case you’re wondering … this is how I look in a wedding dress …

“Working yourself to an early grave pushing hors d’oeuvres is no way to live.”

You can have a wildly successful event business – or you can have a money-sucking nightmare. The choice is yours.

Whether you are just starting a catering business or event company, or you’re an old pro and you’re not having any fun (or enough income) this article will show you 8 ways to not grow your business – and some tips to help you achieve the success you want.

Here’s my take on why so many in the live event business work long, crazy hours and have little to show for it (and that include you … caterers, event planners, wedding planners, photographers, designers, decorators, entertainment, event services … did I miss one?).

• Not Thinking Right

The number one reason why event people fail at business is that they think of themselves as “wedding planners,” “event planners,” “party planners” or “caterers” but not business people. Thinking this way limits your ability to grow your company. If marketing, sales and money management are not your first priority your business will struggle. You’ll lose business to your business-minded competition.

Your top priority must be building a business. If you lack the skills needed to promote and manage a growing company – you can either develop these skills or collaborate with someone who has them.

• Stuck in a Rut

Are you a hack? I see too many event people who get out of the gate strong with bold and creative ideas and a few years later stall out. They’re happy with just rehashing old and boring ideas.

Innovation is one the core qualities of a successful event business owner. Don’t be content with the ideas that worked five years ago. Always look for the bigger, better idea.

How do you find exciting new ideas that will thrill your clients and build your reputation? The very best in the event and catering business are active members of trade associations and attend trade shows and conferences.

ISES (International Special Events Society) and ICA (International Caterers Association) are two outstanding groups to consider joining. However, don’t just join – be an active participant and leader.

Attend trade shows like those sponsored by BizBash, Catersource / Event Solutions. Subscribe to outstanding publications like BizBash, Special Events, Events Online, Catersource and Event Solutions.

• No Systems

It’s so easy to spend your entire day handling urgent tasks – at the expense of important ones. Yes, balancing your checkbook, ordering supplies, inspecting event sites – these are urgent tasks that must be done. Just don’t let them steal all your time away from growing your business.

Building a steady stream of new leads and creating a client base is more important than ordering new linens for that party next week – but marketing tasks don’t seem as urgent. In addition, if you’re more comfortable ordering supplies than picking up the phone to cultivate a new lead … well, that’s just what you’re likely to do.

Realize that your primary mission as business owner (remember – stop thinking like an event planner or caterer) is to create new clients. To do that efficiently you need systems. Systems to attract new clients, systems to make existing clients happy and systems to make sure all the nitty-gritty details get done.

• Marketing

When you turn on the lights in the morning and discover your to-do list is twice as big as it was yesterday – you tend to work on the easiest or the most time-sensitive things first. Marketing and selling event services is neither easy or time-sensitive. Many event people hate selling and are clueless about marketing. Therefore, they put it off.

It’s not that they’re lazy. Caterers work crazy long days and event planners tackle impossible challenges every day (and nights and weekends). It’s just so easy to get caught up in the day to day stuff.

Here’s another smart thing to do. Learn how to use free online tools to market your business. Download your copy of my free e-book,  More Clients Now.

Schedule one hour a week to think about your marketing and don’t let anything stop you from keeping that scheduled appointment. Use that hour to develop your marketing plan and task lists. Make those task the first thing you do everyday and soon business will pick up.

Be careful what you wish for – you may just get it.

• Poorly Defined Goals

I know a caterer who achieved her goal of “make more money,” and she’s miserable for it. She works 12 hours a day, seven days a week. She’s overweight, grouchy and heading for a divorce. By accomplishing a shallow and ill-defined goal, she got what she wanted – but whole bunch more she didn’t want.

An intelligent goal is essential to the success of your marketing plan, and more importantly your life. A better goal would be, “make more money by creating business systems that allow me to delegate and outsource so I can work 4 days a week … have a 3 week vacation … and have the option to sell my catering company for $2 million in 5 years.” Yes, it’s a more ambitious goal – but one many event people would love to achieve.

• No Strategy

What is your marketing strategy? When I ask my workshop clients this question, they’ll list off the things they do; advertise, yellow page ad, ad in the local paper, post-card mailers and so on. These are tactics, not a strategy. What’s the difference? I’ll let Seth Godin tell you;

Here’s the difference: The right strategy makes any tactic work better. The right strategy puts less pressure on executing your tactics perfectly.

Here’s the obligatory January skiing analogy: Carving your turns better is a tactic. Choosing the right ski area in the first place is a strategy. Everyone skis better in Utah, it turns out.

If you are tired of hammering your head against the wall, if it feels like you never are good enough, or that you’re working way too hard, it doesn’t mean you’re a loser. It means you’ve got the wrong strategy.

It takes real guts to abandon a strategy, especially if you’ve gotten super good at the tactics. That’s precisely the reason that switching strategies is often such a good idea. Because your competition is afraid to.

I help my clients develop marketing plans by helping them create and articulate marketing strategies. I don’t believe you should rely on a consultant to hand you a marketing plan – your business is too personal and important to use a fill in the blanks plan.

It’s important for you to identify your worthy and meaningful short-term and long-term goals. Figure out the “why.” Why you are in the (event, hospitality, wedding, event, catering) business. Then build a plan that fulfills that bigger vision.

• Selling Skills

Do you hate selling? Do you dread the idea of picking up the phone to try to talk a stranger into booking an event? How about schmoozing with knuckleheads at networking and business card exchanges? Do you enjoy putting on a phony smile and hard-selling people into handing over a large deposit for a party?

I hope you hate doing those things – and I hope you don’t do them! What I described above is not professional selling – but sadly so many new event people think it’s the way to do it. The day I stopped trying to sell the old way and discovered how to help people buy was a happy one. But, it wasn’t until I learned how to market that business became fun. When you market right, you don’t waste anytime talking to people who aren’t already “sold” on you. Learn how to sell and market the right way.

• Financial Controls

The event and catering industry attracts many “non-financial” and “non-analytical” types of people. The industry tends to draw in creative and social personalities – but only those who have or develop analytical and executive skills survive as business owners.

If you hate doing the books and can’t stand the operational side of the business, find others who can do it for you. Partner, outsource and delegate – but never abdicate your financial controls

• Employee Management

You probably know one or two business owners who pay and treat their employees poorly. They don’t like or trust their own employees and the feeling is mutual. The workers only do what they’re told to do and only if their activity is closely monitored. Turnover is high and clients don’t stay for long either. When the boss isn’t around, nothing good gets done.

A toxic employee-employer relationship can make the event business a drudge instead of a joy.

Remember, your employees are more important to your long-term success than any client is. Hire the best, take care of them and they’ll treat your clients like gold.

Don’t be greedy. Pay your team well and you’ll grow faster and bigger. Moreover, you’ll enjoy what you do.

• Burnout

Burnout is a very big cause for failure in any business – and very easy to do in the catering / event business.

Take care of yourself. Stop trying to do everything yourself. Instead, create systems that allow you to delegate and outsource or simply do things more efficiently.

Set realistic goals that include all aspects of your life. Working yourself to an early grave pushing hors d’oeuvres is no way to live. Make sure your business plan includes your vision of a good life.

Did I miss any of the causes for a business to flop? Have you made any of these mistakes? I’d love to hear from you. Leave a comment!

“How to double your profits by selling a product nobody buys, or how one business owner increased revenues by 20% with a crayon.”

If you want to make more money during a recession, should you raise your prices?  To understand the answer to that question, first I have to tell you about my shoes.

On my way to the Catersource Event Solutions conference and tradeshow last week, I stopped off at the shoeshine stand in JFK Airport.  On a handmade cardboard sign, they offered a choice of shines at $7, $9 and $11. I thought about it.  My shoes were scuffed, and I had time to kill before my flight. But which shine? I’d hate to get to Las Vegas and realize the cheap shine didn’t last. But I wasn’t going to fall for some silly $11 shine. I asked for the $9 option.  I felt I was making a rational decision, but little did I realize that I was just zapped by a sales trigger called “contrast.”

Goldilocks Pricing Model

I asked the shoeshine about the sign. He told me that he used to just offer a choice between a $7 and a $9 shine.  When he only had two choices, most chose the cheaper price, as might be expected.

Then one day, he got an idea from a friend in the restaurant business. The restaurant owner discovered that when his most expensive wine was $80 a bottle, most customers bought a $30 bottle. However, when he added a $300 bottle of wine to his wine list, he started selling more $40 bottles. He never sold a $300 bottle, but its very existence created a price point in his customer’s minds. It seems people don’t want to go broke, but then again, they’re afraid of looking cheap. Typically, the next to cheapest wine on a wine list is often the best seller.

So the shoeshine gave it a try. He scrawled “Bullet-proof shine – $11,” above the “$9 Deluxe” and “$7 Basic.” Within the hour, he knew he was on to something. Suddenly, more and more customers were buying his mid-price offer. When he added an ultra-premium price of $11, he saw most customers choose the $9 price instead of $7. His revenue increased by 20% in the first week and his profits doubled.

Goldilocks Pricing

“This one is too cheap. This one is too expensive. But this one is just right.”

I shared this example of Goldilocks Pricing with my catering clients. The majority of social event shoppers have very little experience at hiring caterers. Most consumers in the social market will only plan a handful of big parties in their entire lives. Inexperience, combined with the emotional stress of planning a big event, often encourages automatic, emotion-based reasoning. The buyer will select what seems to be the best choice based on a gut feeling – when that feeling can be rationalized.

Be sure to grab a free copy of More Clients Now. 10 Breakthrough Tools for Promoting Your Business. Get it now and start booking more events.

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Customers need to convince themselves they are making a deliberate and logical choice based on sufficient information. That’s why I advise offering at least three drastically different  price points; one exorbitantly priced offer, one cheapo and one that’s just right. The high and low prices give buyers a benchmark and a sense of choice and control. If you do not give them an adequate amount of choice, you compel them to seek it from your competition. They’ll be less likely to continue searching for bids if you give them enough choices.

Offer your clients a limited number of drastically different choices. Don’t overwhelm them with a myriad of choices that have only minor differences. Make sure each offer is clearly defined. Clients want to be able to make a decision easily. By offering them three drastically different options, they’ll talk themselves into the mid-tier range most of the time.