Why Brides Ask About Price First

By Rick Brewer

Seems like almost every client that comes through a wedding professionals doors will ask one question before all others; “How much”. There are three basic reasons for this and learning to overcome these three reasons will help you to take your prospects further in the buying process, which we all know means more will potentially buy from us.

Reason #1 They only know how to measure with $$$

Statistics show that 85% of brides in any given area will be first-time brides and have not purchased what you sell prior to her wedding (at least not in the same quantity or of importance in the case of a cake, flowers or dress). As a buyer who is dealing with who she sees as a salesperson, She doesn’t know how to ask questions about quality, experience, service, etc… which truly matter. She does know about comparing green dollar bills. It becomes our responsibility to teach her why we may be more expensive, as well as how to measure properly with money through properly building value and explaining the potential differences between what we offer vs. the competition.

Reason #2 They are spending more money for this one day than they ever have before

Because they are spending more money than ever before on one day of their lives, they simply become stressed out at the amount they are spending and start to sweat. This worry and angst will keep them up at night, whether the money is theirs, Dad’s or a combination. The average wedding in the US is around $25,000 from start to finish. This is usually a big sum for almost any budget and though they do not have a proper view of value vs. delivered product/services, they will try to get you to come down on price based on what they think or are experiencing. When you have the right strategy and approach with this reason in mind, you can give a better response which will again get you further in the process.

Reason #3 They like to try to control the situation

It is interesting how I see wedding professionals get so pushed out of shape about the price question and even more interesting to see their responses on how “tough” they get. Here’s a hint: getting tough on a client will help you to lose trust and lose the client pretty quick. There are tactful, nurturing methods where you can get a better result and not let the client push you around. Even more important, it is crucial that you maintain your cool- let your competitors lose their cool and you will gain that trust you need and want. It simply does not make sense to allow the client to try to control the sale because they don’t know which direction to take the sale. Most times they will take the sale to a “let me think about it” response, also known as a very unproductive method in buying. The reason, why it’s unproductive, is they won’t think about it (you will though- in fact, you will probably be the only person thinking about it). In order to get the sale, most of the time you have to maintain control of the sale.

By working to overcome these three reasons, you can work more clients through your process to get them to the point of truly figuring out what matters and whether you are a match to what they are trying to buy for their wedding,