She loved that I came out to meet her and she didn't have to do it all online like the other company wanted to do.
As someone who emphasizes doing the booking online, I have two things to say:
1) Congrats on your salesmanship
2) Ouch! (I'd love to pull money like that)
That said, there are some valid points in this discussion. I too, do face-to-face meetings if requested by the prospect. I also have a 100% kill rate (past year) after meeting with the prospect in person. That said, there's still only a measure of validity to the argument that F2F equals more money. In my area, based on my own experiences, a large portion of the brides do NOT want a F2F. I regularly hear brides tell me they really like that they can do everything online. It's a great convenience factor for many of them. For those who want the personal touch, I do offer meetings and yes, there is a certain percentage that appreciate that aspect of the transaction. High-touch does often mean up-sell, just like this morning's phone call. A new planner in town with a client in January. She said they had ugly rafters to contend with and were asking if I did drapery or could string lights. I spent about 15 minutes on the phone and found what they were after; hiding the rafters. I pitched that it was better to use wall lighting and colors to pull eyes down, away from the rafters. I'd agreed to do a meeting with her and the bride but this afternoon I just got an email, saying the bride was sending money over to book me; no meeting necessary to close the deal. $1,100 for a January date.
As several said here the F2F does have its advantages, provided you're a good salesman who can take advantage of that situation. Sometimes, it will result in markedly improved prices. My personal gut reaction, you're losing 5-7 gigs to every 1 you booked using the "personal touch only" approach. No, not based on percentage of closings, based on the number of leads that will develop from quoting to closing phase.
Let's say you have 50 leads generated. You contact all 50, either email or phone, and ask for a meeting. I'm going to guess (not scientific, just gut reaction) that you'll get maybe 5 meetings. Let's pretend you land 3 of them at $1,500. Gross revs=$4,500. You figure how much time you'll have tied up in meetings.
Let's take 50 leads that I get in. All 50 will (most likely) receive and entertain my email quote. Of those, I'll get inquiries from about one-third (17) with about half of those booking; 7 @ $750 each (no uplighting) and 2 @ $1100 each (uplighting). $5,250 + $2,200 = $7,450 gross revs. These ARE hard booking stats, by the way.
Now if you're sitting in a large market with tons of leads and perhaps a lot of high-dollar prospects to be mined, that F2F approach might pay off. If you're in a smaller area, my guess is you'll have a lot of snow on the books (open dates). Both approaches have merit and I do thank you for raising the discussion. While my day job makes the hands-off approach the biz model I need to focus on, the discussion here does prod me towards getting on the phone and maybe even asking for more F2F time.
