THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN CATERING TO A HIGHER END CLIENT AND CATERING TO A LOWER BUDGET CLIENT

Now, before I start … I write this blog for small business professionals to LEARN from … I have not one thing against people who want to save money on their events or weddings … I have not a single thing against cutting costs or going with a cheaper version of something expensive … my goals, my ONLY goals, in writing blog posts is to cut through the sh*t and give GOOD ADVICE to wedding industry professionals who are trying to achieve certain levels of service to very specific types of clients … and the type of client most of my clients want to appeal to???

A HIGHER END CLIENT.

Wedding planners, designers, and coordinators have a very hard job … they need to make other amazing wedding vendors want to work with them and refer them while at the same time keeping their clients happy and on ‘their desired budget’ … and sometimes I see wedding planners who want to appeal to a more luxury market doing way too much of the ‘appeasing to clients on a budget’ stuff … I get it: make a potential client think you’ll save them a sh*tload of money might get you clients … but what kind of clients?? Would they be the kind you want more of?

I have a list of things wedding planners do that completely go against goals of becoming a luxury / higher end planner … see those below … some come with a BONUS BLOG POST too ;)

MISTAKE 1. PROMISE THEIR CLIENTS CRAZY LOW RATES AND EXPECT VENDORS TO WORK WITH THOSE RATES:

I don't understand why any coordinator would think that making their clients wedding as cheap as possible is going to help them in the long run.

A:  YOU HAVE JUST SERIOUSLY ANNOYED AND PISSED OFF ONE OF THE VENDORS YOU WORK WITH BY POORLY EDUCATING CLIENTS ON WHAT THINGS ACTUALLY COST OR WHAT YOUR CLIENT SHOULD CUT OUT.

B:  YOU HAVE A PERSON OUT THERE IN THE WORLD USING WORDS TO DESCRIBE YOUR BUSINESS THAT INCLUDE: CHEAP, LOW BUDGET, AND SAVED A LOT OF MONEY.  

So, what kind of clients do you think those 'word of mouth' people will get you more of!!?  Think about it ... When you set up poor expectations of cost for your clients you are doing more damage than good. You are creating a 'dreamland' in which everyone who lives in it is either pissed at you or blind. Other professionals are going to start NOT WANTING to work with you because they will feel undervalued and if your goal is to raise your prices and get higher end weddings ... well, what do you think will create that momentum!!?? Certainly not all your 'cheap' clients talking about you.

MISTAKE 2. TELLING OTHER VENDORS TO SEND YOU THEIR ‘BEST’ PRICING

Part of becoming a higher end market designer is having other higher end designers LOVE YOU OODLES AND OODLES and refer their luxury clients TO YOU! The worst way to do this??? Offending them!!!

First of all, what is 'best pricing' ... is that just a smoother way to say: send me a low price or you won't get the job ?? ... let me back up a bit:  I have had a client on two different occasions with two separate wedding planners in the last month ask my client to send their 'best pricing' for a service.  To me, that's just a 'nicer way' to bully another vendor into lowering their pricing and it needs to stop being a thing.

PRICING IS PRICING. DEAL WITH IT.

We, as professionals, need to stop expecting people to lower their pricing for our clients ... business owners are allowed to price what they feel is justified ... if you, as a wedding planner, don't like it, then don't use them anymore.  It's as simple as that.  Don't try to be 'cute' with your wording by using the term 'best' ... it's offensive and it sounds stupid.

MISTAKE 3. SHOWING ALL OF YOUR WORK … EVEN THE LOW BUDGET, DATED, CHEAP LOOKING STUFF

If you don't want to plan 'cheap looking' weddings then don't show them to your audience. If you don't have high end looking weddings then CREATE THEM in a styled or editorial shoot. You can't show mason jars filled with carnations or brooch bouquets (srsly, I hate brooch bouquets) on your website or social media and expect to attract a bride who wants all white orchids and Vera Wang ... don't brag that you are serving beer at your party and expect those with champagne taste to want to attend. But, Heather, I have to pay my bills - so I still need to accept clients without 'champagne taste' as you put it ... so are you saying ONLY accept my target market as paying clients?? F*ck no!! Take clients. Take as many clients as you feel you can handle and pay your living expenses ... but don't show those weddings on your website or across social media if you want to establish yourself as a high end wedding planner, photographer, calligrapher, etc.

MISTAKE 4. CHOOSING DETAILS OVER PHOTOGRAPHY STYLE

Pinterest and Instagram have rewired our eyes and brains … we QUICKLY scan over hundreds of visual photos per day when you combine Instagram, FB, Pinterest, Google images, and the ‘real world’ … we scan, we decide, we stay or we leave … we ‘heart it’ or we keep on scrolling … we ‘share it’ on our FB feed or we look for the next … and maybe we THINK it’s because of the detail … but the details are SECONDARY to how the photo was shot, what kind of lighting was used, the vibe in the image, the style, it all combines to create the formula of:

LIKE IT OR LEAVE IT

How expensive something appears has absolutely NOTHING to do with the detail in the image … I can create a very appealing, luxe, mouth watering image using $3 street tacos, throw them on a website, and create business for my clients based on an image that looks high end and swanky, but uses food that costs under 10 bucks … I can also take a plate of food that costs $100 per plate, but was photographed with sh*tty lighting, a bad linen, and a wonky angle … build a website with it and literally scare all their potential clients away.

The photographers you work with can MAKE or BREAK you professionally when it comes to your goals of becoming a higher end vendor … so make nice with the best photographers out there … they are better than gold ;)

MISTAKE 5. MAKING BOLD STATEMENTS ON SOCIAL MEDIA THAT THROW OTHER VENDORS AND THE SERVICE THEY PROVIDE UNDER THE BUS

Remember this gem ??? < That backfired bigly … I will never understand people who try to gain clients by throwing other wedding professionals or business owners under the bus of ‘this isn’t needed’ so skip it … if you find yourself going on social media to give advice on making your wedding less expensive and your advice is to forgo things that other vendors make money off of … you may want to think on if that happened in reverse … there are people out there who think a wedding planner isn’t necessary ;) we shouldn’t grow a following based on telling people not to hire small business owners to do things that small business owners do … plus, I’m going to reiterate what I said at the top: each time you tell people how to cheapen their wedding and lower their budget, you have someone talking about you and your business using the words:

CHEAP, LOW BUDGET, AND SAVED A LOT OF MONEY.  

If your goals are to be HIGH END, these aren’t the words you want describing you ;)

I wrote a blog post about attracting a high end bride and groom a few years ago and almost all of it still applies today … definitely give it a read for more ideas :)

XO~ Heather