Last week, we began our sales conversations, and I had the opportunity to practice selling my wedding planning services to our TA David Lugo. In preparing for this conversation, I thought through the Sandler submarine for the approach of talking with my client. First, I made sure to clarify how much time we had set aside, asked what he was hoping to cover in the meeting, and created an upfront contract. These three aspects were taught to us by one of our guest speakers in order to have a clarified foundation to the conversation. Next, I asked who the decision maker was since his fiancé was not present because, if he was not cleared to make the decision by himself, there was no point in having the conversation. He was given the go ahead, so I began asking him questions about what he was looking for in general for his wedding and in a wedding planner to find their pain point(s). When he asked questions, I made sure to answer if I needed to, but I answered questions with questions so that I remained in control of the conversation. After discovering they only needed someone to help with day of coordination because they were worried about the day running smoothly and being stressed the day of, I shifted to budget. He asked how much it typically costed, so I asked “Would it surprise you that wedding planners typically charge x. Is that something that is doable?” In order to see his initial reaction. I then told him the price would vary depending on how much help the couple needs leading up and day of. After I discovered that price wasn’t too much of a worry, I began to shift to the decision part of the conversation. I asked him if there were any other questions I could answer to help him (asking permission to talk in this case). Finally, I offered to give him some contacts of my other clients so he could find out what I typically help with the day of for himself since he had a few questions about that, and I suggested we set up another meeting the next week with his fiancé present as well to come to a decision. This conversation was useful in practicing many concepts we had learned throughout the semester, gaining confidence in selling, and gaining experience in talking about my wedding planning services which is what I want to do in the future.
BoweryJE22