A floralpreneur® asked: Do you offer any courses or advice on how you do your consultations and booking process?
She went on to say, “I have seen you post that you have a phone conversation with a client for weddings and then you usually don’t really have much contact until delivery/setup day of wedding. Just wondering how you go about doing this, so that you are not in constant back and forth with the client? Thanks!”
I spent many years perfecting my consultation and booking process, and I offer a ton of resources for florists to help book weddings and write proposals quickly, inside my Wedding Templates which include my Proposal, Contract, Wedding Workflow and Email Templates,
but questions on “the steps to actually book weddings” keep coming up–so I put together 5 Steps to Book A Wedding in 10 Days, and I’ll walk you though them here!
I’m going to lay out the timeline for how I book a wedding in 10 days below…
As you scroll down, I’ll add more detail to each step with links to tools and resources I have available that take you behind-the-scenes to show you EXACTLY how I do each step!
Because I have resources to help florists book clients more quickly, but if you don’t know which tools are available, you may be missing out on these proven strategies!
Here’s the timeline for How To Book A Wedding In 10 Days:
- Day 1: New client inquires via website inquiry form (or phone).
- Day 1 or 2: Reply promptly and invite the client to book a call.
- Days 2-5: Ideally the consultation call happens ASAP.
- Days 6-8: After the call, I send out the initial quote ASAP.
- Day 9-10: Follow up to close the sale!
Want me to walk through the steps of the sales process in more detail?
Here’s a break down of all 5 Steps along with additional tips & resources:
Step 1. New client inquires via website inquiry form (or phone).
Pro Tips:
- Your inquiry form should help to pre-qualify clients for style and budget.
- This helps you save time by weeding out clients who cannot afford you.
Step 2. Reply and invite the client to book a call.
Pro Tips:
- This is where my Wedding Workflow kicks in.
- I start with the 4 C’s of Booking: Congratulate, Confirm, Compliment and Consultation.
- I also establish a starting budget if it’s unclear that we’re a budget match.
Resources:
- You can get all of my Wedding Templates in a bundle Here to lead clients through the sale (including How To Write Proposals That Sell, Contract for Florists, Wedding Workflow, & Email Templates for Florists).
Step 3. Consultation call happens ASAP while the client has your company at the top of their mind.
Pro Tips:
- The call is a mutual interview.
- It’s an opportunity to listen to the client’s needs/concerns to make sure their expectations are understood.
- This is also an opportunity to establish trust and authority with potential clients.
Resources:
- You can get Tips To Running A Phone Consultation inside my Wedding Workflow (access for just $19 Here).
Step 4. Write up the initial quote ASAP.
Pro Tips:
- I write this up quickly without a ton of detail.
- Establish a minimum spend for the clients.
- Put an expiration date on the proposal.
- This is usually sent to the client within a few days, but it may take up to a week.
Resources:
- You can download my proposal template, How To Write Proposals That Sell Here to see exactly how I establish all of the above.
- Or grab the Wedding Templates in a bundle to get all my booking tools including the Proposal, Contract for Florists, Wedding Workflow, & Email Templates for Florists.
Step 5. Follow up to close the sale.
Pro Tips:
- I’ve mentioned the expiration date a few times in the steps above and that expiration date serves as a cue or a prompt to check in and follow up to close the sale with clients.
- If you want to book the client, it’s your job to follow up!
Resources:
- You can find exactly how I follow up to check in with clients inside my Email Templates for Florists.
After 20 years of booking weddings, I’ve found that a phone consultation and a prompt quote, combined with the follow-up email to close the sale creates a smooth process to consistently lead clients through the booking process to get to a “yes”.
For example: Client sends an inquiry on a Sunday (Step 1), I reply on Monday afternoon (Step 2), we arrange a call for Wednesday morning (Step 3), I send a quote by the end of the day on Friday (Step 4) , which means I could have this event booked by Monday (that’s less than 1 week)!
Though the quote would probably have an expiration date of Wednesday (or 5 days after I sent it). And in this scenario, Wednesday would be Day 10.
On Tuesday (Day 9), if I hadn’t heard from them yet, I’d check in to try to close the sale (Step 5): “I have a note on my calendar that your quote expires tomorrow and I wanted to follow-up to see if you have any questions for me or if you’d like to move forward.”
From my proposal template to the emails I send when a client inquires, to my Wedding Workflow (where I walk through the 16 Steps in my Client Management Process), to “up close and personal” lessons on how to pre-qualify clients, how to write quotes more quickly (and with more confidence), to a transcript of a real consultation so you can be like a fly on the wall in a real client meeting–I have resources available to help florists book more easily and I’m happy to help you create your own shortcuts to make a seamless sales process in your business as well!
In short, you’ll find all of my resources for booking clients quickly inside my Wedding Templates for Florists (found here) along with additional bonuses & behind-the-scenes training that is usually only available to private coaching students.
If you have questions for me, get in touch. I’m a real person behind each of these courses and I’m here to help.
xo. -Alison Ellis
