• Kate was turning away customers that didn’t fit in with the large-scale events that Glint produces. She realized there was an opportunity for her to introduce an ‘entry-level brand’ for coordination services.
• With the two separate brands, Glint & Snap are able to individually use language that each target audience will connect with.
• Creating separate brands allowed Kate to systematize Snap so that it operates independently from Glint.

Watch our conversation here:

​HIRE Kate to coach you on how to sell entry-level services, SEPARATE from your main bread-n-butter brand.​

ALSO – I’ll be on Clubhouse this Thursday at 4pm EST with Kelly Marie Thompson, owner of Fleur. We’ll be doing a live Q&A on staff development for your event business. Come with your questions for Kelly!

The post Creating a Second Brand for Entry-Level Services appeared first on Be Sage Consulting | formerly Sage Wedding Pros.

• Roxanne is SUPER detailed with her client avatar. (It’s Tracee Ellis Ross… don’t we all have a crush on her?)
• Roxanne creates storyboards. She leans on her English lit background to think about the tale behind the images she’s co-creating.
• Research is Roxanne’s Secret Sauce… and she spends a ton of time and energy on this – LONG before the shoot.

You can watch our conversation here:

​HIRE Roxanne to coach you on her process here.

The post How to Use Styled Photoshoots to Elevate Your Brand appeared first on Be Sage Consulting | formerly Sage Wedding Pros.

In my 12 years of coaching, it is apparent that one-on-one mentorship is STILL the most valuable way to grow your business. Conferences, courses, workshops are all valuable learning opportunities. (I do all of these and love them.) But – there is NOTHING like talking to a trusted colleague and expert.

A conference or course can plant a seed for a brilliant idea, but a coach will help that seed blossom into a beautiful venture!

Meet the SAGE COACHES!

I’m collaborating with some of the smartest, most generous professionals in our industry to introduce coaching for the wedding and events industry.

Reasons to hire a Sage Coach:

• Book our coaches one hour a time
• Book our coaches on YOUR schedule
• Each coach is specialized in a special area (but you can reach out for their help in any way you need)
• Our coaches are exclusive to Be Sage Consulting… you can only find them here!

You know those big ideas you have? Yeah – the ones that can make you a lot of money? Our coaches want to turn your big ideas into action. They’ll provide clarity, support, and accessibility in ways you cannot get anywhere else.

I’m excited to introduce our Sage Coaches:

• Roxanne Bellamy: Mastering the Style Shoot
• Gretchen Culver: Adding Profits with Small Weddings
• Kate Franzen: Diversifying with Entry-level Services
• Michelle Gainey: Standing Out with Your Superpowers
• Kelly Marie Thompson: Developing a Loyal & Independent Team

Book your wedding & events industry coaches here.

The post Hire a Coach for Your Wedding & Event Business appeared first on Be Sage Consulting | formerly Sage Wedding Pros.

Today’s guest contribution comes from Kylie Carlson, owner of The Wedding Academy, a globally-known education organization for industry professionals. Since its start in 2007, the Academy has launched the careers of over 4,000 wedding planners with their certification courses, and Kylie has devoted her time to empowering other CEOs and entrepreneurs to build a meaningful, powerful career. She’s also the founder of Wedding CEO Club and the Wedding CEO Podcast.

Many event professionals have committed to taking the strides to grow their business in 2021. After the rollercoaster that was 2020, it seems that we are on the path to recovery and that business, for the most part, will see increased profit and growth within their market. However, the tactics that will help you reach your goals may feel different than they were a few years ago.

With many business owners taking a reluctant hiatus in 2020, it’s time for everyone to dust off the cobwebs and get back to hustling for a more profitable future.

Here are a few key business trends from the Wedding Trend Report to factor into your future planning for 2021.

TikTok is here to stay.

In 2020, we saw TikTok rise from relative obscurity to become the one of the most downloaded apps of the year. Going forward, it will become a marketing mainstay that goes far beyond choreographed dances and unassuming pranks.

“Wedding pros will finally understand it’s less about them and more about community and understand the power of collaborations through duets and challenges with others in our industry willing to play on TikTok,” states Jóse Rolón, owner of Jóse Rolón Events. “The beauty of TikTok is that it’s not curated, and it allows wedding pros to use it as a creative outlet. You can give a tour of your venue, introduce new products as they come in, or share planning tips with your audience.”

Chat marketing is the next big thing.

Virtual communication served as a lifeline for many during the pandemic and, with it, market expectations have changed for good. As consumer preferences shift from scheduled appointments and phone calls to convenient, instant messaging, chat marketing will rise to the surface in 2021 as one of the best ways to nurture leads and clients alike.

“Whether your target audience is a wedding couple, venue, wedding pro or creative, people want to connect with other people on mobile messaging apps,” explains Henry Chen, founder of Wedding Chat Marketing. “The challenge is to strike a balance between providing a personalized, 1-to-1 level of communication experience with each individual that comes across your business without having to expend all of your limited resources. With chat marketing, you’ll be able to streamline your marketing, sales, and operations/customer support without sacrificing the “personal touch” that is unique to your brand and business.”

Pinterest is embracing e-commerce.

For businesses that sell products, Pinterest is becoming a strong contender when it comes to online marketplaces. The visual nature of its platform creates an organic shopping experience and the numbers show that it works for online consumers.

Creative content coach, Rachel Waring, reveals: “According to data released by Pinterest, 85% of pinners have bought something based on content they’ve seen from brands, and 25% of time spent on Pinterest is active shopping, which is higher than any other social media platform. Specifically designed Shopping Pins are encouraging these user habits further, and with more brands opting into this feature, it’s likely to further shape buying habits on the platform in 2021.”

Expect stringent privacy laws online.

From websites to social media profiles, we all have our ‘spaces’ online — but it’s important to remember that they don’t truly belong to us. As Internet users, we are all subject to legal changes that impact online platforms and there are likely some new changes on the horizon that business owners must be prepared to navigate.

“With Europe’s GDPR and California’s CPRA leading the way, expect new and more stringent privacy laws to make it more difficult to get precision insights on audiences for targeting and to retarget or gather additional data using 3rd party cookies,” explains Christie Osborne, owner of Mountainside Media. “This may make digital advertising on platforms like Facebook and Instagram harder and more expensive as targeting for down-funnel ads that focus on booking gets less precise.”

Osborne continues: “So what should savvy marketers do? Focus more on funnel marketing, first seeking to drive interest and engagement, then warming them up before asking for the sale. To this end, plan to get comfortable with lead capture through short email marketing campaigns, or (better yet) chatbot campaigns. The more you can build and capture your own audience, rather than relying on interest targeting and retargeting with 3rd party cookies, the easier it will be to comply with privacy laws while still marketing cheaply and effectively.”

Staying on top of the market’s trends throughout the year will help you to keep up with the changes that we’ll see in the wake of the pandemic. Consumer habits have changed indefinitely and you will see that play out as the market reopens and rebuilds. We may move past the pandemic, but human behavior will never be the same as it was in 2019 and prior. Smart business owners will be diligent about planning, observing, and adjusting as needed.

For more wedding business trends (as well as those pretty aesthetic trends!), check out the full Wedding Trend Report and learn about the latest and greatest from wedding pros from around the world.

The post 2021 Must-Know Business Trends appeared first on Be Sage Consulting | formerly Sage Wedding Pros.

Sign up below and you’ll receive 20 FREE daily tips to help coach your business in January and start you on the right foot.

I promise they’ll be full of purpose and action steps. 

Daily, I’ll send out a simple easy-peasy message, short and quick,
via email to get your business moving forward.  It may be a cool little app I love or a way to save money that you’re unaware of. OR, a free template or tool.

You can opt out any time. SIGN UP HERE.

The post Join the 2021 Launchpad! appeared first on Be Sage Consulting | formerly Sage Wedding Pros.

Soooo… how are you doing implementing ALL.THE.STUFF?

Feeling dread? Uh-oh. 

I see this happen a lot… we drink in ALL.THE.EDUCATION… and then aren’t quite sure what to do next. Are you spinning your wheels? Not sure of how to tackle that goal? (Feeling a little weird setting goals when our industry is a bit insane right now?)

Do you need someone to talk to?

That’s what I’m here for! Join me for a strategy session… either on a zoom or a vox. Let’s create some structure to your big dreams. Yeah, yeah, yeah… I know there is a pandemic happening and all that. But, let’s chat it out. There’s no reason to feel stuck.

Learn more about my on-call coaching here.

Can’t wait to chat!

The post On-Call Coaching with Michelle Loretta appeared first on Be Sage Consulting | formerly Sage Wedding Pros.

Listen to the podcast here.

The post The Amazon Effect on Your Business appeared first on Be Sage Consulting | formerly Sage Wedding Pros.

I’ve invited Kelly Marie Thompson, owner and operator of Fleur to share her sage advice on creating a successful pivot. With over 20 years of business in the floral industry, she recently launched her online course – The Art of Growing an Extraordinary Floral Business. 

2020 will be the year that I reflect upon as my greatest challenge overcome.  My company, Fleur, has completed just three, full scale weddings – which, suffice to say, is a little shy of our normal 65-plus. 

Now, there are just four months left to wrap up the truly weirdest year in the history of our business and we, like many of you, have paused, pivoted or evolved.  No matter what size your company is, you’ve had to make some big decisions on what your next move will be.  In the middle of a pandemic (And I say middle, because we need to keep reminding ourselves that we still have a lot of time left), we’ve all had to make some major choices regarding the survival of our companies.  

Stepping Into the Pandemic

I’ve owned my company, Fleur, for almost 19 years.  We are a special event floral design studio paired with a lifestyle boutique in Chicago.  This past January, I launched a floral business course as well.  2019 was an exciting year for me and my floral team.  I had spent the better half of the year training my designers to take over the majority of our sales and production for our weddings and I was writing and filming my online course in addition to overseeing operations.  In January of 2020, we moved into a new design studio and expanded our retail, giving us a total of 3300 sq. ft – and doubling my rent.  I was working on a webinar for the online course and planning a trip to Italy to teach my first workshop abroad, a 5 day floral design retreat. Things looked pretty good, and I was feeling grateful.

Early Decisions Made

When the news of COVID-19 began to spread, I knew that the impact our world would feel would be massive: weekly accounts would cancel, walk in sales would slow if not halt entirely and we saw the changes almost immediately.  I put my professional course on hold – I knew I couldn’t help other businesses if I didn’t make sure my business would still be around, come 2021.  I also knew that the way we operated would change, which meant that my business model had to change as well.

The beginning weeks were the most difficult – I had to furlough my entire team, we had to shut down our retail and close up the shop entirely.  Those were uncertain days with a lot of questions, no answers, and a dozen scenarios of what life might be like when we could open back up.  Eventually I was able to bring back some of my employees and shortly after that, we were allowed to offer deliveries and curbside pick up.  

As I ran through numbers and potential outcomes, at one point I realized that although not ideal, this wasn’t as difficult as I had imagined. It occurred to me that I had been anticipating potential scenarios since the initial shutdown – and that as small business owners we are always pivoting and evolving our companies.  Although I certainly wish these changes were on my terms and not an invisible enemy, options existed were available.

2 Steps Towards Pivoting

First, through email, Zoom, and phone meetings, we made sure all of our weddings were secured for 2021 and our clients knew and trusted that we would be there for them along the way.  We let them know we were excited that we had more time to work with them, and by the time their celebrations came around, there would be so much love and joy that all of the current difficulties would be worth it.

Second, we made sure that our retail was restructured in the safest way possible.  Nothing was as important as the health of my team and our customers.  We installed plexiglass shields around our retail checkout and design stations for when we could unlock our doors and also installed sanitizing stations all over the boutique for customers.  We immediately changed our point of sale system and pivoted to online sales – this was a huge challenge that required a lot of time, and we had to do it on a shoestring budget.  However, this was the change that was the most necessary for our retail to survive. 

We streamlined our online floral offerings and created a Google questionnaire and sent it to our email list. But how could we project what our customers wanted? We asked them through social media and they answered. This information allowed us to know what our customers were able and willing to spend, what they prioritized, and how we could meet their needs. Eventually we were able to allow customers back into the store, but our online orders are now the bulk of our retail sales.  

Prepared for Transition

There are two major points that allowed me to make these transitions.  A number of years ago I began running my business in a way that it could run without me.  I don’t mean that I can move off to some secret island and let the money roll in, but that there were systems ready and my team was prepared in case of any kind of emergency.  I firmly believe in systems and team transparency.  We were able to quickly create new procedures and train together to implement them.

Second, all small businesses need more than one source of income. The floral color wheel doesn’t need to be reinvented, but remember when we said that weddings would survive any recession? Well, here we are now.  The more diverse income your company has, the more padding there is for when a curveball is thrown. 

A New Path Forward

Whatever choice you make for your business, whether is it a pause, a pivot or you evolve, make sure that your decision is based on what you love and where your heart is.  With that as your guide, create your plan & systems and you will be ready for all the new challenges presented to us. Life and business didn’t stop, it simply changed. 

Fleur is a Chicago-based company creating custom floral for special events, paired with a brick and mortar lifestyle boutique. Kelly Marie is committed to education, helping clients formulate systems and train teams in order to meet their business goals.  She has been noted as a top florist by Martha Stewart and her work has been featured notably in Vogue, Town and Country, Better Homes and Gardens, and many others. She lives in Chicago with her husband and in her downtime enjoys painting watercolors and studying art history.

The post How Fleur Made a Strong Pivot Forward appeared first on Be Sage Consulting | formerly Sage Wedding Pros.

Like Ross, everyone is yelling at you to pivot. Or, maybe it’s just that little voice in your head. But, I’m here to tell you that pivoting may be a horrible idea.

Here are 3 reasons your pivot may be flawed:

The Volume is Unsustainable.

If you have to do 3000 micro weddings in order to successful at it, this may not be realistic. Sure – 3000 is doable. You need to hire staff, or clone yourself. And, hiring that staff may obliterate any chance you have for profit. How much do you need to sell to be successful at your pivot?

It’s Not Profitable.

The biggest mistake I see pivoters do is create a REALLY amazing idea without thinking of the pricing and financial strategy behind it. What is REALLY the cost and expense behind your big idea? Is it viable?

It Doesn’t Meet Your Market’s Needs Over the Long-Term.

A pivot may take more than a hot minute to get off the ground. So – what does this new service look like over time? Are you meeting a short-term market need? Or, does it have legs to bring you income longer term?

Best way to see if your pivot is viable? Write a business plan.

Got a pivot your contemplating? Talk to me about it.

The post When Your Pivot is a Bad Idea appeared first on Be Sage Consulting | formerly Sage Wedding Pros.

“The world is imploding… should I lower my prices?”

In a nutshell: NO.

Here’s why:

Want more help with this? Talk to me.

The post Should the Wedding Industry Lower Its Pricing Now? appeared first on Be Sage Consulting | formerly Sage Wedding Pros.