Email requests for Wedding Reception Proposals

Hello Vendors and Wedding Planners and Brides:

I receive email requests for a proposal with limited information. I'm at a loss how to handle these requests.

I'm old school and think weddings are so personal and special that I believe a one on one meeting is important.

I'm got passed that!

I thought a return phone call would be forthcoming..

I'm got passed that!

Now I send an email requesting some really basic personl questions just to get a sense of personality. "Do you have any pets?" Nothing intrusive.

I believe this is due to age, growing up in an instant answer 24/7 world because of the Internet, facebook, twitter.

Any suggestions how to handle this? Thanks in advance for your comments.

Annette Aaron Owner/Creative Director
Annette Aaron Eventfulls
"Creating a Persoanlity with Food"
www.annettteaaronevents.con

Tags: caterer, catering, nyc, wedding

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Permalink Reply by Phyllis Cambria on December 23, 2009 at 9:38pm

Annette, chances are the brides aren't as serious as you might hope. If they won't respond to your questions or request for additional information, move on. I suspect that they have e-mailed every planner in the area hoping to get a proposal.

Just make sure that you state clearly on your website why it's important to meet with your clients. Explain that you don't do "one size fits all" proposals and that every bride is unique and her wedding is just as one-of-a-kind and in order for you to create a meaningful proposal, that you need to talk one-on-one with the bride. It's most helpful to have an in-person conversation but at least you need to talk on the phone.

By the way, when I tried to click on your link, it wouldn't go through because you wrote .con rather than .com. :)

Phyllis Cambria
Examiner.com
www.examiner.com/x-27776-Miami-Wedding-Planning-Examiner
WeddingPlansPlus.com

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Permalink Reply by Glen Shevlin on January 14, 2010 at 11:47am

Tire Kickers are problems in any basically sales business , that said e-mail is probably going to form a larger part of the introductory process in the future so you should adapt to it and use it to your advantage. Persononal meetings are very important int he wedding industry, the whole industry is touchy feely and as a result there are probably not a lot of first time brides who will settle for on line if they have any choice. Frequent flyers are another matter entirely.

If you incorporate the e-mails into your business process as a starting point and a customer screening aid it can save you loads of time, think of the number home visits with brides who are just looking and compare that to teh time involved replying to an e-mail , the both have a " it might turn into business " but then again.

USed properly it can save time and money but it needs to be used properly it can not replace the face to face personal touch, but it can help a great deal towards getting to the face to face with a qualified prospect.