How To Increase Your Leads Immediately

Years ago I hit a bump in the road with my event planning business.  My leads had slowed down, sales had decreased, and so I did what most people do at a time like that.  I panicked.

 
One of the first things I did was spend THOUSANDS of dollars hiring an SEO firm to go through every detail of my website to find out how I could better optimize it to rank for Google. And one of the very first things they pointed out was a simple fix that had a HUGE impact.  My contact form was too long!!


How many times have you gone to a website and the contact form is just overwhelming?  You know the ones that ask you things like what is your favorite cookie, asks you to “tell a little bit about yourself,” or has you put in every single detail about the potential event?


The people that have these types of contact forms (and you might be one) are well-meaning.  They want to stand out or find ways to connect with you by asking you personal questions. Some want to be efficient and get as much information from you as they can so that they can properly quote you.  But what they are really doing is asking TOO much from a potential lead.


If you are so niched that there is no one else out there that can fill their need, they may fill out your form.  But if you are in a market where there are plenty of fish of the sea, you are going to lose some of your leads. 

I will be honest, when I am looking for vendors for my clients and I come upon these types of contact forms, I go elsewhere.  I don’t have the time or patience to fill out 50 questions when I simply need a quote.  I scan the contact form for an email address and email them directly. If they don’t have an email address, I find someone else.  And you may have done that too.  Sadly, not everyone will even scan your site for the email.


So if you want to increase your leads in a big way without spending a ton of time, follow these steps.

  1. Make our contact form short. People shouldn’t have to scroll down to see it all.
  2. Only ask for critical information. Name, email (or number if you prefer), and what they need.
  3. Cut out all non-relevant questions. Do you really need to know their address, their partner’s name, etc. Those things are nice to know but if it cost’s you a lead, is it worth it?

Now sit back and enjoy the additional leads you will get simply from minimizing your contact form. If you are an Event Planner wanting to diversify your Wedding Business income, check out my FREE resources here:

Top 3 Reasons You MUST Add Proposal Planning To Your Services NOW!​

The Ultimate Guide to Selling Pop-Up Wedding Packages

Email Marketing 101

Last week I talked about the mistake I made that cost me thousands of dollars. That mistake was not creating an email list that I could nurture and continue to market to. This week, I thought it would make sense if I explained exactly HOW to set up your email marketing strategy.

Step 1: Choose An Email Marketing Provider

You are going to need a service that can collect all of your emails and allow for you to easily email your list. I personally use Convertkit.

Step 2: Create An Opt-In

Once you have the email marketing provider in place, you need a way for your website to collect the email addresses and automatically put them in your email provider. You DEFINITELY don’t want to have to do this manually. The way that you collect the emails is by having an opt-in form on your website. You are going to offer them something for free (next step) in exchange for them providing their email address.

Step 3: Create An Irresistible Lead Magnet

If someone inquires about your services via email, then you can easily put them in your email list. But what about all the people that come to your website that don’t inquire? They aren’t just going to freely hand over their email address. You have to offer them something FREE, that is soooooo irresistible, they are willing to hand over their email address for it.

Some ideas for a lead magnet are free downloads, quizzes, guides, mistakes to avoid, how to save money tips, etc. Once you have a lead magnet that you think will be irresistible to your target market, create that resource.

Step 4: Nurture That List

The last thing you want to do is get all of those email addresses and then do nothing with them. To make this all worth while, you need to email your list on a frequent and consistent basis. Only you will know how often you should send out emails. I personally try to send one a week. I recommend doing it no less than once a month. This email can be updates about your business, highlights of your service, advice, or special deals you are running. And what this email does is put you in your customers minds on a frequent and consistent basis so that when they think about who to hire for the service they offer, they automatically think you.

Ready to get service about starting your pop-up wedding business? Want to learn how to be a Proposal Planner? Sign up for my FREE resources below:

How Big Is The Proposal Planning Market?

I know what some of you are thinking. How big of a market can Proposal Planning really be? After all, you need to know the possibilities before you decide if you want to make the leap to add Proposal Planning to your Wedding services right? Or to decide to start your own Proposal Planning business, correct?

Well, I have great news. The market is HUGE. Here is a screenshot of how many “ACTIVE” inquires I have right now. You read it right, almost 1,000!

To understand why Proposal Planning is in such huge demand, you should probably know the history of how we got here today. I don’t have to tell you how many people get married a year. If you are in the Wedding Industry, you likely already know that. You probably already know that each of those couple’s get engaged, normally through a marriage proposal. This is nothing new though, so why all of the sudden are people hiring Proposal Planners?

The craze all started with social media. 20 years ago, when someone proposed to their partner, only their closest friends heard about it. But now, when someone proposes, they put photos and videos of it on Instagram, Youtube, etc. This is all searchable online so NOW, when a person proposes, they head to the internet or social media to look for proposal ideas and they see all of these crazy, elaborate proposals. They know that their partner’s are also seeing these types of proposals and will want one like it. And most of these clients can’t plan an elaborate proposal by themselves…which is why they turn to a Proposal Planner.

Hiring a Proposal Planner is getting as common for men as hiring a Wedding Planner is for women. And the industry is growing. When I started The Heart Bandits in 2010, there were 3 Proposal Planners in the world. Now there are over 10x that and it is growing every day. Do you want to learn more about Proposal Planning? Sign up for my FREE resources below. And don’t forget to sign up for the Proposal Planning Formula™ waitlist here. I am hosting my FREE Masterclass in just 2 weeks and you won’t want to miss it. Sign up for the Waitlist and be the first to know about it!

Create Your Business Legacy

A person’s legacy is about the richness of the individual’s life, including what that person accomplished and the impact that he or she had on people and places. Some examples of leaving a personal legacy would be having children or dedicating your life to a social cause.

But for us entrepreneurs, we have a special opportunity to also leave another kind of legacy. We have the chance to create a business that will leave a legacy. Today, I want to share my story of how I feel I have done that, in hopes that it will help inspire you to determine what kind of business legacy you can leave.

When I was a little girl, I created a neighborhood circus. I put together the talent, I sold tickets to my show, and I turned my first profit. From that moment on, I knew I wanted to be an entrepreneur. I spent my whole adult life chasing that feeling. I worked in the corporate world but my mind was always racing, thinking of new business ideas and daydreaming about being my own boss. I had a lot of bad ideas, some good, and some even moderately profitable.

But everything changed when my now husband proposed to me. I didn’t think the proposal was that great and I asked him why he chose to propose to me that way. He told me that there weren’t any resources out there to help men proposing (this was 11 years ago) and a lightbulb went off. I told him I wanted to start a Proposal Planning company and the rest is history.

Now when I started my business, I didn’t know it would be as huge as it ended up being. But I just kept working hard and growing my business because I wanted to quit my day job so bad. And then something happened. People from all around the world started contacting me, asking me to help them start a Proposal Planning business in their country. People all over the US were also starting their Proposal Planning company, many using my model as their starting point.

And that is when it hit me. My business had left a legacy. My business had given people around the world an idea to start their own business. My little idea had helped to create jobs and a path to financial freedom for people around the globe. When I am no longer on this earth, when The Heart Bandits is no more, there will still be a Proposal Planning industry and I helped start that. Now with my Academy, I continue to help people around the world start their own Proposal Planning biz.

What can you do in your business that would allow your business to truly leave a legacy? To truly leave an impact on people or places that will last longer than you are here on this earth? Maybe you can offer a new service that will be the game changer. Or maybe you can get your business involved with a cause that will change lives. If you don’t already have the legacy in mind, work backwards. Think of the legacy you WANT your business to leave and then add a service or goal that will put you on the right path. Maybe it is creating a pop-up wedding biz or starting a Proposal Planning company in your area or for a certain segment of the market?

If you think Proposal Planning might be for you, be sure to sign up for my Proposal Planning Formula™ waitlist here. Don’t forget to download my FREE resources:

PSA: Stop Judging Your Competitors

Most everyone keeps an eye on their direct competitors, and I think you should. When you watch your competitors you can keep a pulse on trends in your industry and be motivated to stay on your game. But what happens when keeping an eye on your competitors turns into an obsession? What happens when you start watching everything your competitor does and it even starts making you upset?

I remember when I started my proposal planning company 11 years ago. I had a client instruct me to wrap boxes in Tiffany blue colored paper and to stack those presents next to a table for 2 for his proposal. I did exactly what was asked of me. But to my surprise, when I posted photos of the proposal later, one of my competitors accused me of copying their idea! The thing is, I hadn’t copied their idea, I was taking the direction of my client.

And that is what leads me to the topic of this blog. I urge you, not to judge your competitors and here’s why:

You Don’t Have The Whole Picture

When you see a photo of your competitors work, you may think, “they copied me,” “that is ugly,” or some other negative thought. But the reality is, you don’t know what the client asked for. You don’t if the client came to that planner with an existing vision and the planner was merely executing the vision. You don’t know if the client had a specific budget and the planner had to substitute things to accommodate. You simply don’t know any parameters that the event planner was working under.

You Don’t Know What Information They Had

With Wedding Planners, they are allowed to work with the bride AND groom to create their vision. A Proposal Planner has a serious challenge in that we are ONLY allowed to work with the Proposer yet our goal is to satisfy the Proposee. It may be easy to look at a proposal and think it was missing or lacking something, but sometimes the clients do not provide correct or ample information and the event planner doesn’t have much to go on. We have to assume that the information they provided about their partner is thorough and accurate.

We All Start Somewhere

Proposal Planning is a relatively new niche that is expanding and growing by the day. New Proposal Planners are entering the industry on a daily basis and they aren’t going to be the Dave Tutera of Proposals coming out of the gate. We all start somewhere and you may see a proposal and think “meh” but remember, the newbies are learning and fine tuning their craft too. We should be supportive and remember, we all started somewhere.

It Is Negative Energy

Hating on someone else is a non-productive habit. We should be lifting each other up and not tearing each other down. So keep these things in mind next time you think about your competitors. And hopefully they will do the same!

Proposal Planning is an amazing niche in the Wedding Industry and completely changed my life. Do you wonder if Proposal Planning might be right for you? Looking for a Proposal Planning school? Download my FREE resources below to learn more.

How To Diversify Your Wedding Business

Whether you are a Wedding Planner, Florist, Photographer, Videographer, venue or any other type of wedding vendor, diversifying your wedding business is a must.

We all saw it first hand during the pandemic. Businesses that relied solely on income from large weddings sadly took a big hit. And while I pray this ends soon and never comes back again, none of us can predict the next thing that will come and impact the wedding industry.

That is exactly why diversifying your wedding business should be on the top of your to-do list. In fact, if you ask any wealthy person what their secret is, 9 times out of 10 they will say, “diversification.” It is critical to have income coming in from different avenues. So HOW do you diversify your wedding business? Here are a couple of options:

1. Proposal Planning

Offering Proposal Planning is such an amazing way to diversify your services. The market is huge and the earning potential is too. It is also such a great compliment to your existing wedding business! A photographer, florist, planner, videographer, or venue can easily adapt their marketing plan to start attracting clients looking to propose. And who will that client call to photograph their wedding day? Provide their wedding flowers? Plan their wedding? YOU!!

Download my FREE resource, “3 Reasons You MUST Add Proposal Planning Services To Your Existing Services NOW!!”

2. Pop-Up Wedding Packages

When I started my Proposal Planning company, The Heart Bandits, I knew I needed to diversify. Wedding Planning made sense but the market is so saturated and bridezillas are not my jam. So I decided to start a pop-up wedding business where I sell simple, streamlined pop-up wedding packages. This is a great way to diversify because once the packages are built, they are so streamlined that they are a really simple way to get a nice cash injection into your business. And these types of weddings don’t follow any traditional wedding rules. They are popular during off-seasons and they don’t take much time to plan. These packages are great for any wedding vendor to add on and pop-up weddings, microweddings, and elopements are all the rage right now due to the pandemic. When it ends, you will have a whole new source of revenue coming in!

Download my FREE resource, “The Ultimate Guide To Selling Pop-Up Wedding Packages“

The Heart Bandits Academy is the only educator teaching you how to become a Proposal Planner. Sign up here and follow my journey from being a Proposal Planner to educator teaching students around the world how to market their business to clients looking to propose.

Do You Really Need A Blog?

A question my students ask me all the time is, “Do I Really Need A Blog?” And the answer is, “YES!”

Now I know why people ask this question. I think I can safely say that most of us don’t actually WANT to write a blog. And why is that? Well, because writing a blog is time consuming and quite frankly, it can get exhausting.

So why not just scrap it then? Well there are actually 2 very important reasons:

1) SEO

Writing a blog is a CRITICAL part of your SEO strategy. When Google (or another search engine) crawls your website, it is looking for relevant keywords and fresh content. If you only have a website and no blog, there won’t be any fresh content and there will be limited keywords. However, if you write consistent blogs, you are CONSTANTLY sending signals to Google that you are the authority on the subject you are writing on. You are adding keywords over and over again and adding fresh content. If you do this CONSISTENTLY, Google will reward you by ranking you for your keywords.

2) Establishes You As An Expert

Another reason a blog is critical, is that your blog lets your target market know you are an expert in your field. For example, if someone goes to a Proposal Planner’s website and they have no blog, they can only review the website and photos. But if they go to YOUR website that has a blog that covers all kinds of Proposal topics, you are going to appear like a true expert in the field. They will also spend way more time on your site because you have so much content on your site that actually helps them with their marriage proposal. And lastly, each blog you write is an opportunity to sell your services.

So now that you know you must include a blog in your marketing strategy, how do you get started? You can start by downloading my FREE resource, Checklist For Your Proposal Planning Marketing Strategy.

Want to take it a step further? Join me in my FREE Masterclass, “3 Simple Secrets You Need To Know To Effectively Market To The Proposal Planning Client.”

How Getting Featured In Media Can Boost Your Biz

My absolute favorite module of my Proposal Planning course is “Getting Featured In Media.” Why? Well because getting featured in media can really boost your business in ways you may not even know about. I want to talk about some of the ways that being featured in media can really boost your biz.

First, let me define “media.” Media is the main means of mass communication (broadcasting, publishing, and the Internet) regarded collectively. So this means TV, radio, print, and Internet.

When you are featured in media, there are 3 things that can happen that can really boost your biz:

1. Potential Clients Will See The Media

This is probably the number one reason people hope to get PR. When you are featured in a major media outlet, you are going to get your name in front of potential clients. Some of them may contact you right after the feature and some of them will save your information for later. They may even tell their friends about your services weeks or months later in conversation. So the more media exposure you get, the more potential clients will hear about you. Now this is an amazing benefit to be featured in the media, but not the only one.

2. Potential Partners Will See The Media

One of the things that typically happens when you are featured in the media that you may NOT think about is that potential partners will see the media. Now what do I mean by this? Well let’s look at my business The Heart Bandits. After I was featured in New York Times, I had restaurants, jewelry stores, and many other vendors reaching out to me. They emailed me to say they saw my feature and they wanted to collaborate with me. Creating a partnership can not only boost your sales, but can get you in front of a whole new audience.

3. Other Media Outlets Will See The Media

Unless you have been featured in a lot of media, this may never even cross your mind. But when you are featured in major media, there is a high probability that other media outlets will see it. Again, let’s take my company as an example. After I was featured in Good Morning America, I was contacted by the Oprah Network, Time Magazine, and LA Times. They wanted to feature me as well!

All of these reasons are EXACTLY why I urge all of my students to try to get media when they launch their Proposal Planning businesses or services. Not only that, but I walk them through my PROVEN techniques on how to get featured. And believe me, they work.

Just ask my student Jasmine from Jasmine Rose Events who just emailed me that she is going to be featured in The Boston Globe and she JUST LAUNCHED!!!!

If you want to find out how starting a Proposal Planning business can transform your life, download my FREE guide here:

How To Handle Competition In Your Business

how to handle competition

This week I am focusing on competition, and more specifically, how to choose community over competition. When I first started The Heart Bandits a decade ago, there was hardly anyone doing it. After we started getting a lot of media attention, other Proposal Planners started popping up all over and I used to get so nervous. I would get so scared that they would take all of my business. But the truth is, they didn’t. My business continued to thrive in spite of more competition!

It took me a while but now I realize, there is more than enough business to go around. I am not scared or threatened by competition, I am THANKFUL for it. Competition is what pushes me to always stay on my game. If I didn’t have competitors, I might get comfortable and not push myself.

So today, I want to challenge you to think about your competition differently. Here are 4 mindset shifts that can really transform your business and your mental health if you implement them.

Choose Community Over Competition

I’ve been in the proposal game for a long time. I have a really positive relationship with most of the top Proposal Planners in the world. And that is by choice. There is MORE than enough business to go around in this world. I don’t feel the need to try to plan every proposal in every country, every time. So having a network of Proposal Planners that I can collaborate with is something I truly value. One day, Proposal Planning will be a huge industry. When it is, I want to be known as someone that helped create the industry and provided the platform for Proposal Planners to network and collaborate with each other.

Let Competition Push You

As I touched on earlier, allow competition to push you. When you have someone that is really great at the same thing as you, it pushes you to be better. When they get featured in media, let that drive you to try to get featured. When they are utilizing all of the latest and greatest technology, then you know you have to do it too. Don’t get intimated when your competition does something groundbreaking, let it inspire you to think how you can do the same thing but bigger!

Competition Raises Awareness

One thing to consider is that competition actually raises awareness of your industry which in turn, can help you get more business. So let’s say that someone starts a Proposal Planning company in an area I don’t do a lot of proposals in. And let’s say they make a name for themselves there. Well now, many people in that geographical area know that Proposal Planners exist! And some of them may end up coming to my turf to propose and when they look up a Proposal Planner here, they find me. It is a win-win and I am all about wins!

Have Confidence In Yourself

I have seen many Proposal Planners enter the scene. Heck, I have literally had people outright copy and paste my packages to their website. But I no longer let it concern me. Because the truth is, I KNOW what I bring to the table. I know that there are other Proposal Planners out there that are great. And still, I KNOW many people will choose me because they like me and MY style. I am not threatened or concerned with anyone else because I know my value. And you should too. Whether you are the first Proposal Planner in your country, or the 10th, all that matters is that you bring something different to the table.

And you are welcome at the table.

I find it exhilarating to teach Wedding Planners and aspiring entrepreneurs how to add Proposal Planning services. If you want to get started, here are 3 free resources to help you along the way.

Private Community – Proposal Planning Academy Tribe

Top 3 Reasons You MUST Add Proposal Planning Services Now

Checklist For Your Proposal Planning Marketing Strategy

I hope to see you there!