I got this question from a catering sales manager who works for a well established restaurant:

What are your thoughts on using twitter to improve our customer base. I know it takes a couple months to build up, but it seems like an inexpensive way to develop a more loyal customer base. I could use your help, Brian.

The Twitter idea may work if your market is actively using the platform – but your entire strategy can’t just be self-promoting blurbs. Nobody is on Twitter to read boring advertisements.

Build Followers

Without followers you’re talking to yourself. You want local fans only.

To get a bunch of real live, qualified buyers to follow you on Twitter, target the restaurant’s customers. You’ll need to give them a real reason to follow you. One idea is to have the wait staff offer a free drink or dessert on the spot to certain customers who follow the restaurant on the spot.

Get Attention

Your tweets have to be remarkable. You can’t say “$2.00 off cheeseburgers on Thursday!” and expect the world to give a hoot. People tune that out.

You need “wow, this is amazing and I’ve got to tell my friends!” tweets like searching twitter and rewarding the local softball champs with free dinner if they come by within the next hour. By going into Twitter and starting conversations you can build a following – but no sales pitches.

Invest

Effective Twitter marketing takes work. You’ve got to be building a community. Think of it like the bar at the restaurant where you build loyalty by paying attention to people and making them feel heard, felt and important. That’s what brings people back to the bar, that’s what keeps them paying attention to you on Twitter.

It’s not easy!

Crappy marketing is easy. Just get a Twitter account and bust out junk like: “Large 16″ Pizza with 3 toppings, 8 pcs buffalo wings and 2 liter soda for $19.99 All Day” and you get nothing. ( I just found that tweet on a Twitter user with 0 followers – not surprising )

Want to learn how to use Social Media and other powerful tools to grow your catering business? Download a free copy of More Clients Now. It’s a free report that will help you build a sound strategy.

Marketing Catering via Twitter

Now imagine you’re really part of the local Twitter community. You follow the top 500 companies in your region on Twitter and you follow the people who work there.

You listen. You respond. You help. You make friends.

No one likes to talk to the person who is always trying to sell. In fact, you avoid that person as much as possible. My friend’s mom got into a multi-level-marketing scheme and she steers every conversation into a sales pitch into becoming a sales rep. That’s obnoxious.

What is obnoxious in the real world is obnoxious on Twitter. So, do not try to sell catering via Twitter. Make connections, build relationships and promote tactfully.

It’s a conversation.

You act like a real person (no one really cares about brands) and you respond just like you would in the restaurant (avoid nasty politics, be careful not to piss off the Cubs fans even if you like the White Sox better, etc – or if you’re the owner, pick sides! Make fun of the Cubs and the Sox fans will love you)

Now that you’ve got real followers who actually read your stuff, you slide in some exciting pitches.

Tweets That Sell

“Who works for Northern Trust in downtown Chicago? Free catered lunch for the first 4 people NT employees who DM me … now!”

Imagine if you had 400 followers in Chicago. Do you think people would spread that tweet to all their friends? Of course! It’s valuable and urgent and people love to spread that kind of stuff. Nobody cares about $4 beers every Thursday.

“RT @AdvocateMasonic 92 docs at Advocate Good Samaritan Hospital on U.S. News Top Doctors: Congrats! When’s the party?”

This tweet doesn’t give anything away except recognition. Do you think they’d follow you?

Follow and make friends. Target locals ( go to http://twitter.com/#!/search-advanced  when it works ) and seek out your neighbors, the people who work nearby, local writers, local Chamber of Commerce, etc.

There are lots of examples – but they all involve you listening and becoming part of the conversation. Twitter is not the fastest way to grow your catering business but it may be a huge driver for you if you put in the effort for 6 months.

Wrapping Up

Is Twitter a good way to promote catering? No, not if you expect to tweet today and get orders tomorrow. It doesn’t work that way.

If you need catering sales fast, pick up the phone and call every past client, buy some pay-per-click ads, do a Groupon, send out direct mail, cold call – in other words hustle.

If you want to build a long term army of loyal fans, Twitter can be tremendous.

Final Advice:

Go get yourself a copy of Gary Vaynerchuk’s Thank You Economy if you want to understand the power and potential of Twitter and other social media platforms. Gary built a small, local retail store from $4 million to $60 million using social media

And while you’re here, why not download a free copy of

Here’s a portion of a live presentation I did today …

If you struggled this year – and if you want next year to bring you more profits with less stress, please check out this video.

You can put this powerful but simple tool to work for you tomorrow and start seeing results fast.

Go check it out now and then take action. Only you can make your dreams happen – take action and good luck!

If you’re a wedding planner, event producer, caterer, photographer, DJ or any other type of event professional, this is for you – but the idea can be used be any small business owner or independent professional.

Please leave a comment or question! I’d love to hear from you.

Getting leads from your website without spending any more money is a pretty good bargain, wouldn’t you say?

You went to the trouble and expense of getting a website – so why isn’t it generating dozens of qualified leads every week?

If a Tree Falls in the Forest …

If qualified buyers can’t find your site, it’s like it doesn’t exist. You have to get people to visit your site before it can start selling for you.

I’ve consulted and coached a number of catering business owners and they know how important the right ingredients are to a wonderful meal. But so many business owners forget to add four critical ingredients to their web marketing. Without these ingredients your website is just a waste of electrons.

AIDA. Attention, Interest, Desire and Action.

Attention! You have to have strategies in place the will drive eyeballs to your website. If you build it, they will not come, unless you have traffic attraction tactics in place. What are you doing to get those local buyers to your site?

Interest. I have seen some terrible websites out there. If you’re a photographer you can’t afford to have an ugly website. An accountant can have an ugly site – but not someone in the creative industries. Is your website design scaring away buyers?

Desire. Does your website create a strong urge in the buyer to pick up the phone and call you right away? Do you use sound psychological principles of persuasion – or did you let your website designer just put up something pretty? Your site has to sell.

Action! Does your website make an irresistible offer that compels people to connect with you right this very minute? It is so tempting for a buyer to click the back-button and leave your site. They may bookmark it but forget all about it – they may really like what they see and decide to keep looking anyway. You must get visitors to take action.

But it all starts with attention. Your site can’t generate leads until it generates traffic and you won’t get much qualified traffic if people can’t find you. Right?

A few weeks back I invited folks to get together and swap links to each other’s sites. The idea here is that more links (popularity) and better links (quality) will drive your site to the top of the search engines.

Just about 40 brave souls emailed me and agreed to swap emails and links with each other. It was a challenge for some, it was frustrating for others but in the end most of us did pretty well.

Here’s some of the feedback so far, with names and businesses withheld for privacy sake …

“Just wanted to tell you that you have moved me from nowhere to the first page on Google. What’s next?”

“I just checked… I went from the middle of page 14 to the bottom of page 1.”

“I just did and I’ve moved from “unfindable” on a basic search (so far down) to PAGE 2!!!!”

“I moved to the top of Google and Bing – and at the bottom of first page of Yahoo.” “I Googled (my category) and I’m nowhere to be found.  Am I doing something wrong?”

“Working for me too.  We moved from page 3 to page 1 for (our category). Bing and Yahoo still not picking up results though.”

A mixed bag of results… some skyrocketed to number 1 and others didn’t move.

Now, why did some do well and others not so well?

1. On Page Factors - your site is not set up correctly. Your content is not being indexed by the search engines because of some fundamental mistakes.
2. Off Page Factors – some markets are less competitive than others. If there are few sites competing with you for your keywords it’s easy to place on page one with only a handful of backlinks. In more competitive markets you need to do more.

I’ll show you what to do next to get your site ranked higher and keep it that way. (You may be on page 1 today and vanish unless you follow these instructions).

Next week I’m going to do a free podcast and answer all of your questions on Search Engine Marketing for Event Professional.

Since I have a large number of international readers, a teleconference is tough to schedule. I always end up leaving some folks out – so I will record the podcast and answer all of your tough questions on how to get more leads from your website.

Please use comment button below and send me some topics or questions you’d like to have me cover. As soon as the MP3 recording is done I will send it out via email to everyone. Sound good?

I know the folks who did the link project have some great questions and comments they want me to share with you. Just take a moment and send me a few thoughts now.

What do you need help with the most? Where are you getting stuck?

I look forward to helping us all make more money in the home stretch of 2009. Speak to you soon!

PS. In April I offered a free 30 minute coaching session and a whole bunch of people approached me for business coaching. I was overwhelmed by the amount of people who wanted to sign up – but in order to provide real support to my existing clients I had to turn people away.

Well, good news.

I am opening up a few coaching slots this month. This will be a very limited number of slots.  I am not opening the door wide – so if you are accepted for a free introductory coaching session that means I will have room for you.

If you are overwhelmed by marketing and sales and you need personal guidance to create and execute a smart plan of action, this may be what you need.

Some people don’t know what they should be doing or how to do it. Others know what they should do – but they’re just not doing it. My job will be to help you overcome procrastination, inertia, fear and confusion and get you booked solid fast.

If you’re interested please let me know right away. I’ll be making a formal announcement next week and if you want to get on the short list get in touch.

OK … so enter your question in the comment area below now!

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.

Your long term success as a caterer will depend on the quality of your service. No marketing or advertising scheme can keep a bad caterer in business for very long. Your food, staff and service have to be top notch. Your pricing has to be competitive.

But being a great caterer doesn’t guarantee success. You have to be a skilled marketer too.

I’ll put it to you this way.  A caterer with average food but excellent marketing will out earn a great chef who is lousy at selling and promotion.

Think you have a lot of competition now? Just wait. (Actually, don’t just wait …. you’ll go broke! Take action. Learn how to promote your catering business.)

Need more catering clients? Check out the article below and be sure to download a free copy of “More Clients Now.” This free report will show you how to use 10 powerful, breakthrough online tools to promote your business far and wide – for free. So grab your copy now.

Promote Corporate Catering

Marketing a catering business is tough – you’re competing with price-cutting newcomers and solidly entrenched established businesses.  But you can promote a catering business and get catering clients if you follow these tips.

Download Free Report

Five Tips on Marketing Your Catering Business:

• Review Your Marketing Plan. It’s time to dust off your business plan and make sure it’s still actionable and relevant. Review your stats. How many new catering customers did you bring in this year? What advertising works best for you? How can you better track your advertising to make sure you’re getting a good return? Which catering jobs are most profitable? What clients do you need to drop?

• Who Are You Competing With? You need to know who you’re up against.  Who else do customers call when they’re ready to book an event? Why? What are they doing differently or better than you? This exercise can help you discover ways to bring your business to the next level. Which of your services creates the most referrals and repeat business? How can you improve it?

• Revisit price points. Competing on price alone is one of the dumbest things a caterer can do. Yet, that’s exactly the trap many fall into. Booking  jobs just to keep the staff busy is bad business.  Check your numbers (total costs) and make sure every job you book is profitable.

• Grow Your Offerings. Explore exciting new trends and don’t let your business become dull and ordinary like the majority of caterers. Constantly try to wow your customers and deliver more value.

• Grow Online. It’s never been cheaper or easier to promote your business using high-impact social media tools, email marketing, lead services and directories.

While it’s easier to jump online and spend loads of time blogging, Twittering and Facebooking (are those really words?) – it’s even easier to be completely overwhelmed by the amount of options and information you need to know before you even start. That’s why I wrote “More Clients Now”. This easy to read report takes away the mystery of marketing online – you don’t don’t have to be a techno-geek or pay big bucks to an agency to start getting more clients.

Catering Business Marketing – Creative Ways to Get More Clients

By Brian McGovern

Creating a profitable catering business starts with a solid marketing plan. Marketing is the most important function of your business. The right marketing plan can make or break your business.

First, you must understand the needs and wants of your potential customers. You must determine the most efficient way to reach them, and persuade them to do business with you.

After you determine how you will provide superior service, you must focus on most of your energy on promotional efforts. This includes the advertising, publicity and public relations that will capture your customer’s attention and create demand for your services.

One of the most effective ways to reach out to your potential customers without breaking the bank is cooperative marketing. A wedding caterer should create alliances with wedding planners, disc jockeys, bands, limo drivers, decorators, then use, photographers, florists, designers, travel agents, bridal shops, beauty salons, tuxedo rental stores and other affiliated but noncompetitive businesses.

Create your own leads club. Organize a weekly breakfast meeting for members of your leads club. Keep the meetings short, organized and focused on sharing referrals. Work hard to create business leads for your fellow members.

Pool financial resources and create your very own wedding services directory in your local paper. You can even pool money together and produce cable and radio advertising for your wedding business group. Create a common website and phone number for inquiries.

Finally, consider organizing a bridal show using your core group to fund the cost of production. Open the bridal show to your competition as well. Remember today’s competition maybe your partner tomorrow.

Make the most of social media. Become an active blogger. Promote yourself using sites like Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter and other social media tools. Learn all you can about how to use these very powerful and effective lead generators.
To learn how to use social media to get more catering clients, download a free copy of Brian McGovern’s “More Clients Now.”
This free report will show you how to attract all the new business you want using 10 breakthrough tools for business growth. Start marketing catering services like a pro!
For a limited time this report is available at no charge. Limited time offer, download your blueprint to catering success today. Download your free copy of More Clients Now here.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Brian_McGovern
http://EzineArticles.com/?Catering-Business-Marketing—Creative-Ways-to-Get-More-Clients&id=2189312

Resources:

• The International Caterers Association
• Catersource
• Event Solutions
• BizBash
• International Special Events Society

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

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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.

Singapore caterer Purple Sage  was doing great during the boom times – selling to high-end special events and corporate clients.

Then, the recession hit and now they’re doing what they can to keep their 50 person company alive. Revenues are down 35%.

Before the recession, 80% of their business came from multinational corporations and banks.

According to the The Straits Times; “The biggest shock came during the week after Chinese New Year. ‘On the third day of Chinese New Year, there were zero events. And for the whole week, we had only one event a day,’ said Mr Seow. ‘That was quite a shocker which got us worried.”

Time to get creative! Marketing and sales ideas to bring in new catering clients were needed at once! Download a FREE copy of  “More Clients Now” for breakthrough business ideas and book bigger and better events!

What Are They Doing About It?

What now? The corporate catering firm plans to fill the void by promoting itself to weddings and other social events. Would you switch markets?

Also, they’re tightening their belts – turning off lights, and cutting waste where they can.  That makes sense – of course we should always be looking for ways to cut waste, true?

Event staff is being redeployed as marketing and sales. They’re using their down time to cold call, follow up on leads and even handing out fliers. Would you have your waitstaff handing out coupons?

The firm is offering a lower priced menu for cash strapped clients. Would you see it as a step down or embracing change?

My Take

Seems like Purple Sage will make it through the slow time and be a stronger company if they don’t forget the lessons they learned.

• Diversify – Lack of diversification is always a risk to any business. Make sure that most of your revenues don’t come from a handful of clients. Diversify your vendor list too. Play favorites, but have your plan B vendors at the ready.
• Systems – create a system for everything your business does – including monitoring projected sales very closely.
• Speed - you must be able to react to market trends fast. The only constant in business is change. Always be ready for it.
• Scenario Planning – What if you lost your biggest client? What if you grew by 150% in the next 6 months? What if your key employee left? What if your biggest competitor left town? Plan for many different scenarios and you’ll be able to react faster and more intelligently.

What Are You Doing About It?

Are you pursuing new markets, new marketing channels and new ideas – or are you just hoping things will get better soon? I’d love to hear your ideas.

Business Plans for Event Businesses

Should you hire an expert to help you write a business plan?

I saw that question on Linked-In ( link to me here ) and it got me thinking.

The answer is yes. And the answer is no.

Yes, if you need a plan to raise capital. But first make sure the expert in question has the right credentials and references.

No, if the business plan is merely a formality. Many banks will only loan to event businesses with personal guarantees and real estate collateral.  The business plan is stuffed in a file. No need for expensive consultants, you can do it yourself with some inexpensive software. Check out  Palo Alto for a great business planning tool.

If you are starting a catering business or other live event business – a business plan is a must.  Yo must go through the planning process. Be sure to seek the advice of someone who specializes in the industry.

Marketing Plans for Event Businesses

What about a marketing plan? Should you hire an expert to create a business plan for your business?   No and no.

A marketing plan is more than a formality – it is the blueprint to your business success.  If you run a small business, never abdicate the responsibility of building a sound marketing plan to anyone.

A marketing plan is more than a document – it’s the crystallization of copious amounts of research and deep thought.

If you want to build a successful event business (any live event business, from wedding planners and caterers to banquet halls and entertainment companies) never let anyone else plan the success of your company.

After the consultant is paid and the marketing plan starts to gather dust – you’re  the one who must execute the plan. You’re the one who knows the customers. Who knows the vendors.

You’re the one who has the vision. These are your goals and your company is a big part of your life.

I’m a big believer in using consultants and workshops to facilitate the creation of your marketing plan. The facilitator can guide you through the confusion, help you work through your doubts and lend a constructively critical eye.

Use an expert to help you build a sound marketing plan the same way you would use a personal trainer to build a sound body. They can motivate, instruct and correct – but ultimately it only works when you do the heavy lifting.

If you want to attract more clients and market your event business better, be sure to download a free copy of More Clients Now.