A Celebrant Institute member was listening to back catalogue episodes of the Celebrant Talk Show and found one where I mentioned that my sales process involved potential couples requesting an information pack from my website and a automated email would be sent to them containing a link to a secret page on my website which I called my “Information Pack” and that page detailed how I worked, what I did, what that cost, and how to book me in.
In the podcast I invited people to request an information pack, which that member did.
The thing is, that since then I’ve changed the customer journey, I’m always slightly adjusting it, so it serves my needs best, my potential couples’ needs best, and adjusting to market conditions. So here’s what happens today, in mid-2020.
Step one – they enquire
Step one is for couples to find out that I exist, whichever way that happens, they visit my website, and eventually make a decision to find out “how much.”
A few places around the website, at the bottom of the front page, and also on the contact page, I have the same form, which is an enquiry form, looking for details around who the couple is, when and where their wedding is, and a few personality questions which add some fun to a boring form to fill out.
Step two – I respond
Where I used to automatically email every couple with an information pack, I realised that my personal strength in sales is in my personality. And an automated email could not convey that well enough.
When someone fills out that enquiry form on my website, I now simply get an email that I can choose to hit reply to in my email client, or I can choose to send a video email. Video emails are an easy way to close a sale for me, and they are worth every cent I pay for the software and worth every effort I need to make to record a video.
So here’s the technicalities of this. My WordPress website, which has Gravity Forms form software running on it, sends me an email from the website. That’s the first screenshot. Gravity Forms then lets Zapier know that an enquiry has been received and Zapier is a really powerful tool, it can do so many things. I ask Zapier to do two things when I get an enquiry. One is to send a push notification to my Apple Watch and iPhone, so I know I need to reply, and secondly, to add that enquiry to Bonjoro so when I open the Bonjoro app, the couple’s name and email address are already there in my to-do list in Bonjoro.
- WordPress – website CMS
- Gravity Forms – WordPress plugin
- Zapier – like a translator, it speaks to everything on the web
- Pushover – push notification app for personal use
- Bonjoro – app for sending video emails
To recap – an enquiry is made, that turns into an email and also a Bonjoro task. If I’m not available I just hit reply and say sorry, if I am available I open up Bonjoro and record a 30-45 second video that is emailed to the couple.
You can watch the video email here.
Step three – we dance
In the video I invite the couple to view my information pack, and in the Bonjoro email I link to the information pack. From there my enquiry process probably looks remarkably similar to yours, we back and forth on email, get on the phone, or Zoom, or FaceTime, or in person, or whatever, but also luckily for me, maybe 40% of the couples who receive a Bonjoro email from me, just book without a meeting, because the video is authentic and personal.
This is fantastic man, appreciate you letting us into your process like this. I’ve been using a similar video reply service by Vidyard and couples have really loved it, my strong suit is in-person/video, so I try to get in front of as many people as I can. I’m curious about the back end of things (I use Dubsado as well, though not quite to the level you’re at – that proposal is reeeeally sharp!).
I’m curious about the two last packages – Ceremony and the Elopement Package. There are some clear differences (like HD streaming), but I was curious about what the flexibility vs no flexibility looked like on your end. What’s a “no flexibility” couple’s ceremony look like? They can’t change the date?
I’d love to differentiate packages, and I love the idea of a “can’t book this one after 1PM on Fri-Sun, that’s brilliant. Thanks bro, appreciate any thoughts on that…
I looked at my packages much like airlines look at ticket prices. There can be a range of prices, but they come with different compromises and different product offerings. Some tickets come with bags, some are flexible, some have better seats.
I’m really happy with the offerings this way, they allow for a good deal, but it’s not compromising me too much either.