A complete profile is essential

Our most successful suppliers all have detailed business profiles with the following information:

• 6+ high quality images
• Detailed descriptions of the service they provided
• Example of typical clients they work with (this helps people decide if you’ll be a good fit)
• Promotional videos introducing the company
• Pictures of the people behind the business

Bonus tip: Add a professional looking profile photo for a personal touch. This will show on every message you send and adds a great deal of trust.

Use Templates to be the first to respond

Responding promptly with detailed messages will greatly increase your chance of gaining business. In order to do this with ease the large majority of our top performers use our Templates feature.

Templates allow you to store pre-written responses (including images and files) which you can quickly customise before sending.

Cost estimate is key

We don’t recommend putting together complex quotes unless you have all of the information you need but we saw that the businesses with the highest number of responses all provided guideline price ranges in their initial quote.

It’s easy for organisers to assume that based on your profile and service you’ll be out of their budget so ensure you give a rough idea of costs to avoid this.

Include images that are specific to the request

Whilst the images on your listing will cover all the different services you offer you can attach specific images to each quote. This clearly shows the organiser that you can do exactly what they have asked for.

It can also be really effective for showing options which they can choose between.

Utilise attachments

Include some brief information on past experience or relevant qualifications. This doesn’t need to be long and you can always refer them back to your Add to Event profile to read more about what you can offer. Above all you need to get across why the customer would be crazy to choose anyone else but you.

Bonus tip: always save these as a pdf rather than a word document so they can be easily viewed without opening up a word processor.

Always follow up

Organisers will often take a bit of time to respond depending on when they receive the quote. There may be colleagues, partners or committees to consult with before responding so just because you don’t hear back immediately it doesn’t mean they’re not interested.

We send regular automated reminders but there’s nothing like a personal follow up asking if they’d like further information. Some follow ups we’ve seen working well include:

• Providing additional information or options
• Simply asking if they have any questions
• Offering to have a phone call to discuss
• Updating them on your availability if the date has had other interest
• Letting them know about a limited time promotion

Follow up by phone when appropriate

Typically, around 70% of our requests include the organisers phone number. In many cases it can be worth following up by phone to discuss what you can offer, though we would always recommend giving them some time to review your quote first. With our read receipt feature you can be sure when an organiser has viewed your quote.

Following up by phone can work especially well for corporate requests where they’ll be more open to taking a call during the day and eager to sort things out.

Keep the conversation moving

When you receive a message from an organiser it’s an opportunity to make more of a connection with them and increase your chance of gaining the business.

It amazes us how often we see short responses to questions like:

Yes, we could do that for you no problem.

This is an ideal opportunity to keep the conversation moving by expanding your message and asking questions. A response like this could make the difference between you winning the business or not:

Hi Sally,

That’s absolutely no problem at all, we’ve done that before at lots of similar events.

How are you getting on with deciding on a supplier? Are there any other questions you have for us at all? We have had a few other enquiries for this date so do let us know as soon as possible if you’d like to go ahead.

I’m available anytime at 07825 374 638 if you’d like to have a quick chat at all?

Kind regards,

Katie

Always be closing (ABC)

Once you have a conversation going make sure that you work diligently to close the booking. You don’t want them to feel harassed but do ensure you make things easy for them if they’d like to go ahead, this includes:

• Providing very clear instructions for payment
• Letting them know you’re always available for a call
• Regularly checking in to see where they’re at with the decision making process