You’re elbow-deep into another pint of Ben and Jerry’s, reliving the sales pitch meeting in devastating detail. You wonder, Where did it go wrong?
You thought it went well. You laughed. They laughed. There was a spark of connection. No, more than a spark, you were on fire. But it all combusted when the prospective event client ghosted you, and now you’ve spent two days binge-watching The Bachelor in your pajamas.
Ditch the ice cream and turn off the tube because we have eight improvements your sales pitch needs to close more deals and win more events for your business.
1. Know Your Prospective Client
You can plan a hundred weddings; no two will be the same. There is a reason, besides your obvious genius for event planning, that each of your events is a singular triumph. And that reason is each client is unique.
Even corporations have a one-of-a-kind identity that sets them apart from the competition. Your job is to find out everything you can about your prospective client before your meeting. We’ll get you started by sharing a few things we know about your prospect.
- Your prospect has researched YOU and the event planning landscape before reaching out.
- Assume your prospect is meeting with at least one more event planner.
- Your prospect is ready to sign a deal with an event planner.
Pro Tip: Access the decision maker. Perhaps the most important thing to know about your prospect is knowing who is holding the purse strings. You can regale a bride-to-be with the wedding of her dreams. But if her parents are footing the bill, you need to convince them by addressing their concerns and fulfilling their needs, too.
2. Personalize Your Sales Pitch
You don’t plan cookie-cutter events. So why would you craft a one-size-fits-all sales pitch? Put your pre-sales-pitch research to work by crafting a pitch that is uniquely tailored to your prospect.
If you’ve uncovered that the celebrant of an upcoming bar mitzvah loves video games, then be prepared with a sales pitch that includes VR stations, gamification, or other event technology to pique their interest.
Pro Tip: Be prepared to pivot during your meeting. Oftentimes, you’ll learn key information about your prospect during the sales pitch meeting. Come prepared with a variety of niche ideas to appeal to clients of varying interests.
3. Practice Active Listening
There’s more to active listening than just not speaking. You need to make the prospect feel heard and understood. To accomplish both aims, you start by actively listening with no agenda other than to understand. Then, you paraphrase what you heard to both verify and demonstrate that you understand.
Use active listening to:
- Build trust with the client.
- Pick up on subtle clues that will help you pivot the conversation.
- Save time by zeroing in on the prospect’s unique situation.
- Win more event planning contracts.
4. Elicit Trust
What you say will mean nothing if prospective clients don’t trust you. The concept of trust is as heavy as it sounds. It means that clients believe:
- You will put their interest ahead of your own.
- You will deliver on what you promise.
- You are dependable, principled, and sincere.
You can have the greatest event ideas in the world, but prospective clients will run if they get the vibe that you are not trustworthy. Use these strategies to communicate trust during your sales pitch:
- Share case studies, success in securing sponsors, and online reviews.
- Share results you’ve achieved with other clients.
- Exude confidence through the way you dress and speak.
- Show empathy through active listening and genuine concern.
- Look prospects in the eye, and remember to smile.
- Share information (freely) that the prospective client can’t learn through their own research.
Pro Tip: Adopt the role of a trusted advisor for whom selling is secondary to helping the client. Doing so will prioritize the client’s needs over your own. Psychologically, you will shift from selfishness to generosity. Clients will pick up on the energy shift and will be more likely to sign an event planning contract with you.
5. Be Solution-Focused
Despite the focus on celebration, your prospective clients are coming to you with their problems. These problems prevent them from planning the event themselves or in-house. Event planning problems range from time scarcity to tight budgets to simply being unable to deliver the grandeur the event deserves. Identify the unique problems the prospective client is facing and offer personalized solutions.
6. Use Data to Target Your Efforts
We can see your eyes glazing over like you’re back in middle school math class. But stay with us because even if your event planning business is a one-man band, you can still use data to hone your sales pitch and land event planning contracts.
By sales data, we mean information about your leads, clients, and internal data, such as conversion metrics. Tracking and measuring this information can answer important questions, such as:
- Where do most of my leads come from?
- How many leads do I need to land one client?
- What is the average income and educational level of the clients I land?
- How much time do I spend interacting with a lead before I make the sale?
- What is the success rate of my sales pitches?
- What marketing strategies consistently bring in more leads?
Answering these questions and more will give you insight into how successful your sales strategy is. It will also help you create a roadmap for improvement and benchmarks to measure success.
7. Be Prepared to Overcome Objections
If you’ve woken up from our math lesson above, pinch your cheeks because it’s time for a physics lesson. Newton always taught us that an object at rest stays at rest unless it meets with Yoda-like sales skills — or something like that.
Newton was clearly talking about the common objections prospects make before signing on the dotted line. The acronym for these objections is BANT, and they stand for budget, authority, need, and time.
In other words, expect your prospects to hem and haw because of one or more of these objections. Come prepared to allay their fears or offer concessions to close the deal.
8. Close with a Call to Action
After you’ve run through your sales pitch, you have one more essential task before you call it a day. Close with a call to action that tells the prospective client exactly what to do next. It can be as simple (and obvious) as “Call my cell.” Saying it infuses clients with the extra oomph to get it done.
Learn Winning Sales Strategies and More at The Event Planner Expo
We know rejection hurts. But if you use these tips, you’ll win more event planning clients, and you can delete your sad songs playlist once and for all. You can learn even more high-powered sales strategies at The Event Planner Expo.
Learning and networking are keys to your success, and there’s no better place to learn and connect than with thousands of top event professionals and marketers. Secure your spot with Speaker Series or All Access tickets and make the connections that will drive your business forward!
