Five ways to smash your wedding venue show-round.

You’ve probably conducted hundreds of client show-rounds, but do you regularly take time to review your wedding venue showround and perfect the client experience?

Setting your venue apart from the rest is a huge step towards making the sale and if you’ve been using the same sales patter, the same journey through your venue, the same language since forever, then is it time to switch things up a bit?

It all starts before your couple has even set foot in the door.

HOW EASY IS IT TO BOOK IN?

Perhaps you go back and forth on email. It’s a long-winded way and thankfully there is a simpler solution. Are you able to reply quickly to requests for showrounds? Client gratification is key here and your couple want instant results. Do you regularly publish your availability for showrounds? 

Consider an appointment app like Calendly or Acuity, for easy management of all your show-rounds. Be organised with your diary as everything within the apps are automated for bookings, notifications and reminders, therefore reducing your workload too. 

This solution is ideal in a busy wedding season, you just need to make sure your calendar and availability are up-to-the-minute accurate!

ARRIVAL

The automated appointment system will have taken care of presenting your exact location, address and details of where to meet you, (plus a telephone number to call if they’re delayed) but do consider whether your venue is well-signposted for them to find you in the first place.

It’s now time to look at your venue exterior with a fresh pair of eyes. First impressions count massively, so this is where you make sure hedges are neatly trimmed, paths are swept and things like bins are stored out of sight.

Is it clear where they need to meet you? Is it obvious where the car park is? On dark evenings, will it be well lit? You might consider a personalised welcome sign for the couple. It’s little things like this that make your couple feel special and it helps them to build trust in your team.

ENLIVEN THE SENSES

You’ll have already covered the basics such as setting out chairs to show your ceremony room, tables dressed to show your reception space. Couples need all the help they can get in terms of visualising the space, so showing them what can be achieved in your venue spaces is so beneficial. Sometimes that’s not possible, so bring a visual aid with you such as an Ipad with a gallery of images lined up and ready to show, in the right order.

Sight, sound, smell, touch & taste. Once inside your venue, help to bring it alive with small touches that enliven their senses. On cooler days, turning the heating on and having all the lamps switched on will create such a warm welcome. Light scented candles, play some gentle background music and if you have a catering team on site, offer them a few tasty treats from the kitchen.

Offering a drink is always a nice touch, particularly if they’ve travelled some distance to visit your venue. Deciding when to do this is quite important….read on!

TIMING IS EVERYTHING

When your couple first arrive at your venue, they’ll be keen to explore and begin understanding what your venue has to offer, so you’ll not want to stall their excitement!

Be clear about how long you expect the showround to take and discuss at the outset whether there are any time restrictions you need to keep to. 

Try to find a natural pause in your showround where you can leave them to chat together without you being present. This might be towards the end of the showround while you fetch them a nice glass of fizz. Having time alone allows them to talk about your venue and establish each other’s thoughts, which in turn may generate some important questions for you to answer.

FOLLOW UP, FOLLOW UP, FOLLOW UP

At the end of the showround you’ll bid them farewell. Afterwards, be sure to write and thank them for visiting and follow up with any unanswered questions or information.

Keep it friendly, personal yet professional and end it with a pertinent question to keep the conversation flowing. 

If you found this helpful, tell me what ideas you’ll be implementing!

I’d love to see you at my forthcoming webinar “The Experience Era” where I’ll be going into more detail about how you can slicken up your show rounds for sales amongst a heap of other topics to give your clients the best experience possible!

And if you still need some help in perfecting your wedding venue showround, then I’d love to hear from you. I offer 1:1 sessions for venues just like you who need a little extra help in some areas of their client sales journey. 

You can send me a message HERE.