Understanding and measuring the Return On your Investment will help you understand your business and take it to the next level.
If you’re like many wedding and event pros, it was your creativity that brought 
you into the industry, not your business acumen. To be successful, you need both. Once you decide to sell products or services, you need to develop your business skills and an understanding of the many ways to measure your success.
HOW DO YOU MEASURE SUCCESS?
Any good financial advisor or consultant will tell you that it’s not what you make, it’s what you keep that matters. In the early years of your business, you should plow back much of your profits (if you have any) into growing your business. A growing business should invest 10%-15% of its anticipated sales into marketing and advertising—not 10%-15% of their actual sales; the higher sales number that they’re trying to achieve. Then, once you’ve gotten there, you can lower that percentage to maintain your sales. Read More
I was doing sales training the other day and I noticed that one of the sales reps was using the word “I” too much. I was trying to teach her to have a better digital conversation. She wanted to get the prospect on the phone, because it would be better for her to find out more about what they needed. I can’t disagree with the logic, but the reality is that if they had wanted to talk on the phone, they would have called you! So, if you hear yourself saying “Well, I’d like to schedule a time to talk with them” or “I’d like to get them in for a meeting/tour”, it’s time to pause. 
I was presenting at an event the other day, and I asked the group to let me know if anyone gets a new lead while we were meeting. A little while later, one gentleman told me a new lead had just come through via email. It was from a university, but a department with which he had never worked. It sounded like a referral, although they didn’t mention that in their email. As he read us all the email, it seemed as though they weren’t shopping around, rather they were checking availability and pricing.
s I travel from conference to conference, event to event, I often hear wedding pros talking about different speakers and well-known industry people. They often debate the success of that person; but, hang on – who are we to debate someone else’s success? Success, as with beauty, is in the eye of the beholder. Each of us gets to define our success. For some, it’s a monetary value. For others, it’s quality time with family.
I’m just getting back from another successful Wedding MBA conference, and I was reflecting on the many, many conversations I had with wedding pros, like you. A common theme was that it would be so much easier if brides and grooms would just get on the phone with you. Many wedding pros were reminiscing of the days when your phones were ringing off the hook with inquiring couples – and that’s when I popped your nostalgia bubble. In the digitally connected world we live in, while there is an occasional phone inquiry, most of your initial contact comes via email, text or a contact form.
If you’re like many wedding and event pros, it was your creativity that brought you into the industry, not your business acumen. To have a successful business, you need both. There are lots of hobbyists who are very creative. Once you decide to sell your products or services, you need to develop your business skills and an understanding of the many ways to measure your success. 
I’m a happily married man. So, when something goes wrong, it’s always my fault. That may sound like a joke, but accepting responsibility when there’s a problem is a major step towards getting past it. Rather than trying to find blame, we try to find solutions. Chapter 15 of 
to add a new service or product to someone’s offerings. Of course, the answer will be different for each business, but we’re very fortunate to be in the wedding and event business. Why, you ask? It’s because of the lead time between when they book versus when the wedding or event will happen. Rather than investing in the new product or service, especially one that’s capital-intensive (code for significant financial investment), why not try a different approach?
online ad profiles. It still amazes me at how many wedding and event pros are using the wrong images to promote their businesses. For years, I’ve been saying to use, what I call, Aspirational Images; images that show your prospective clients what the result of doing business with you looks like. When possible, make them so beautiful and emotional, that someone viewing it would want to jump into that photo and be a part of the fun, excitement, and emotion of that event.