Wedding Biz Therapy with Terrica: From Local Planner to Global Mother Hustler

One of my favorite things that makes Terrica different is that she speaks very plainly, so much so you'll think it's a therapy session or your favorite biz bestie. She embraces this role to help over 4000+ wedding pros scale their businesses.

Terrica has spent the past eighteen years crafting exquisite weddings and events that captivate and inspire. Her exceptional talent has earned recognition in esteemed publications such as The Knot, Reader's Digest, Martha Stewart Weddings, Style Me Pretty, and more.

Beyond her creative endeavors, Terrica's passion for sharing knowledge takes her around the globe, where she imparts wisdom at workshops, retreats, and conferences. Known affectionately as the Mother Hustler, through her educational platform, HustleQuarters, she has empowered over 4000 wedding professionals to confidently elevate their pricing strategies and refine their sales processes.

A respected educator for industry giants like The Knot and WeddingWire, Terrica's expertise recently graced the cover of the Spring/Summer 2024 issue of Event Therapy magazine, further solidifying her status as a trailblazer in the wedding world.

Today's topics include:

• Celebrating Success: Event Therapy Magazine Feature
• Building a Business: Challenges and Triumphs in the Wedding Industry
• Empowering Wedding Pros: Education, Community, and Growth
• The Power of Boundaries and Systems in Business
•  The Art of Follow-Up and Adding Value
• Leveraging Social Media
• Navigating Competition and Budget Conversation
•  Building a Strong Brand and Client Experience

...and more!!

Connect with Terrica
Follow Terrica on IG
Terrace's Website
HustleQuarters
Event Therapy Magazine

Transcript

Podcast with Terrica

[00:00:00] Maximizing success then the wedding industry insights from a seasoned pro coming up here on Funktastic Chats. 

Terrica has been crafting exquisite weddings and events for the past 18 years. Her weddings and expertise have been featured on the not reader's digest. Martha store wedding style me pretty. And so many others terica travels the globe teaching at workshops, retreats, and conferences known as the mother hustler through her educational hub hustle quarters. 

She has helped over 4,000 wedding pros confidently increase their pricing and perfect their sales process. terrica is a popular educator for the knot and wedding wire. And has most recently been featured on the cover

Of spring, summer 2024 issue of event therapy magazine and join my chat with terrica. I coming up here at Funktastic Chats. 

Mike: Well, first of all, congratulations on being on the [00:01:00] cover of Event Therapy Spring Magazine 2024. Not only are you on the cover, you're on like what, 11 pages, 12 pages, something like that. So,

Terrica: Thank you so much. When Theresa asked me, I was just like a puddle of mascara and lip gloss. I was so honored and you know, she's doing amazing things within our industry, but to be featured and to be on the cover and to get so much love and so much amazing feedback has been, it's been overwhelming and awesome.

So thank you.

Mike: yes, I know you just had a lunch party too, right? Tell me about that.

Terrica: Yeah, so we, we had the, we did an official unveiling in August. I'm sorry, in February, I believe, in, um, Austin. And that's when they, uh, revealed the cover and, um, That was just, again, a magical moment because I was like, I was there. I took the pictures. I know what I look like, but to [00:02:00] see it all laid out and to see the image that she chose and the strategic and intentional, um, places that she put certain things was just, Phenomenal.

And we just did the magazine launch party because the magazine is now out in print and digital in Atlanta this past Friday, and I'm still going through all of the messages and all of the pictures. It's, I am one of those people, Mike, I don't know if this is you, but like I'm so immersed in the moment and in the minute.

That I'll, I may take a couple of pictures, but then it takes me a minute to like calm down and look at everything again. Cause it's just so overwhelming to, to take everything all at once.

Mike: Well, I read the whole article and I absolutely loved it. I was just so inspired and if you guys have not Had a chance to check it out. You guys could just Google, you know, Google search Event Therapy Spring Magazine 2024. Like Terica said, you could download the digital copy, um, [00:03:00] really easily. But, you know, before we get into everything, I, you know, you have no shortage of content here.

So, this is, uh, definitely, you know, had to, had to go down the Terica rabbit hole here, but, but You know, you are the mother hustler, the chaos coordinator, you know, normally I, I introduce the guests, but I feel like there's just so much to. I'd love for you to, you know, start by telling our listeners more about you and what you're all about.

Terrica: Yeah, so I actually own a wedding planning and design company in coastal Georgia. I've been a planner and a designer for almost 20 years now, but for the past seven years, I have been speaking on the national and international stages, teaching wedding pros how to sell better, how to make more money, how to increase their pricing, how to really create some phenomenal client and Uh, experiences, just anything that can help them build their businesses.

Now, what is [00:04:00] so different about me is that I speak so very plainly. I don't get up on stage or on anybody's podcast and talk about where I've been, whose wedding I've done. I don't care about that. You don't care about that. That doesn't make you any money, but I speak very, very plainly. So people are like, Oh my God, this was like a therapy session or.

You know, you just totally snatched me by my hair and told me everything that I needed. So I'm very happy to take that role on as everybody's favorite biz bestie. Um, like you said, I am the mother hustler. I will make a dollar out of 15 cents very quickly and show you how to do the same.

Mike: You are so open about your own challenges and kind of, you know, going from this bustling city life to the country life here and, you

Terrica: Oh my God.

Mike: crazy. Like, I'd love to hear about that. And then also what I think about when I was kind of digging more about you how do you kind of strike this balance between being open about all [00:05:00] your challenges and then also maintaining this super resilient public image, especially, you know, in an industry that like literally prioritizes perfection and glamour?

Terrica: Yeah. So I started my business never having a wedding of my own. I had never been to a wedding. It

Mike: Really? Wow.

Terrica: Insane, right? I was actually studying legal studies at the University of Baltimore. So you can imagine my parents joy when I was like, Hey guys, not going to be Johnny Cochran anymore. Going to be J Lo, right?

It was, it did not go over the way that I thought that it would. I wanted to be a criminal attorney. Because I had witnessed so many different challenges within the legal system and so many people who either needed help or had been falsely accused, and they would just sit either in jail or without [00:06:00] help because of the money that they did not have to have really great representation.

And then I had an amazing mentor who did a lot of work on the O. J. Simpson trial on the East Coast side. A lot of people don't know that that trial actually spilled over onto the East Coast. And she was probably the most brilliant woman I've ever met. And she was saying, you know, uh, this is passionate for me and this is my calling.

She was like, you're great at this, but I don't think it's your calling. And there, it's a reason why. I'm not married and I don't have children because I dedicate everything that I am doing to this. And I thought about it and I said, you know, I really want to be a part of someone's life and a part of someone's memory that they can fondly look back on.

Right? And it's, it's something I want to create a moment for them where they can just escape everything that's going on just for a few hours and be surrounded by so much love, so much celebration. And that's how I said I wanted to get into [00:07:00] events, especially parties. And then the romantic in me was like, yes, let's definitely do weddings.

So that's how I got there. And I ended up moving down to coastal Georgia. Everyone was so excited about me starting my business here because I am literally in probably one of the best places in Georgia to start a wedding planning company. We have three gorgeous islands off of the coast of Georgia, St.

Simon's Island, Sea Island, and Jekyll Island. And so many people from around the world come here to have destination weddings. So I was literally learning about a new area. I was a new kid on the block. I was in my very, very early twenties, starting a business, starting a business in something that I did not know in a new market.

With so many different challenges, right? You have to deal with the way that clients perceive you, the way that vendors perceive you. And it was very hard. I went through a lot of different changes, quite literally and figuratively. I went through three name changes. I went through [00:08:00] over a dozen logo changes until I really discovered who I was and who I wanted to be to other people.

And I think that that's something that wedding pros definitely have to do. One, two, Actually hone in on their own brands and making sure that they're working with their ideal client and to save themselves so much heartache and money. So that was a huge challenge for me. And then not even, you know, to mention being a black woman in the South and having to deal with, Oh my God, do I put my headshot on my, on my site or not, are people are going to hire me?

This is like almost 20 years ago, 15 years ago. And these were questions that were still being asked. So, as I began to grow, I also, I was very passionate about community as well. Um, the way that I felt about potential legal clients was also how I felt about wedding pros too, and having that community and having that support.

And as I became a speaker and an educator, I felt the same way about education. [00:09:00] I didn't feel like, Money should be that much of a barrier for people who really wanted to learn, who really wanted to change their lives and their businesses. So that had inspired me to come up with so many different educational tools and so many impactful, not zero fluff talks so that people could take what they need and they could run with it.

And if you wanted more, we could talk about that and we could do more, but there is such a low barrier of entry and cost with some of the things that I offer. And you also asked about, um, the authenticity thing and, and being so open about my challenges, I'm, I'm just super real. And I told somebody the other day, there isn't anything, there isn't anybody on this earth on two legs or four.

That I'm envious of, or they have anything that I want because anything that they can get, I can have too, but it'll be for me. What's for me is always going to be for me. And that includes my successes and my challenges. So there isn't anything that I'm [00:10:00] going to hide from anyone. What most people don't know is that I am quite the introvert.

I love being private. I love being alone when I'm not on stage and you see all these people like crowding around me and talking and screaming and all this other stuff. I am back in my hotel room, probably watching Game of Thrones yet again, ordering food and, and just being super quiet. So I think that for us in this industry, we have such an issue, Mike, with everything being perfect because we were told this is, this is somebody's special day.

We only have one chance to get it right. That is That is a, a verdict. That is an indictment for you to do your best, not to make it perfect, right? Because when you, there is no such thing as perfect. And you have to realize that you're, you may not be on your best A game and you may be perfect, but someone else may not be.

So you also have to be at your best and you have to show, [00:11:00] Grace. And I think that that is so very important when running our businesses is that, yeah, we got one shot to get it right and that's for us to do our best and not show up as perfect because perfect is a lie, right? Like, have the day of your dreams or we all have, you'll have the perfect day.

No, you won't, girl. It's going to rain, right? Your grandmother is going to be hot. It's, she's going to complain. The flower girl is going to have a meltdown in the middle of the aisle. I can't guarantee perfection, but I can, I absolutely will do my best to make sure that you have the most memorable day.

Mike: How do you go from this to, you've helped over 4, 000 wedding pros. In fact, you're, you're featured, you know, many times on Wedding Pro.

Terrica: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

Mike: how do you go from having, uh, because Cocktails in Detail, that, that's your planning company, right?

Terrica: It is. Yes.

Mike: How do you go from that [00:12:00] to, Helping all of these other wedding pros and just building this huge community around helping people.

Terrica: It is so symbiotic, Mike, because as much as I teach other pros, they're teaching me too. So I love to have conversations about, you know, what, what other people are doing in other markets. And I realized, I was like, oh wow, you know what, maybe I could implement that. Or maybe I am telling them to do something or to not do something.

And I see it in that moment and I'm like, oh, this is a very bird's eye view because I need to check myself. I need to go back to my systems. I need to go back to my boundaries. So it, it, it's always very fluid and very symbiotic. I, I get as much as I give and I give as much as I get. So it's always been a blessing to me to be.

an educator and a speaker in this industry because it opens me up to so many more experiences that make me a better planner, they make me a [00:13:00] better speaker, a better educator, a better friend, a better mom, a better partner, just a better person. So I'm always grateful for that opportunity.

Mike: One quote that, that you wrote on Instagram here in a caption that just really spoke to me was, as your life changes, you're So will your circle, especially as your dreams and goals expands. The bigger the wins, the bigger the circle. And it's like, whoo.

Terrica: Oh, no, baby, uh uh. The bigger the lens, the smaller the circle. The bigger the

Mike: the smaller the circle. Yes.

Terrica: the bigger the lens, the smaller the circle.

Mike: and you know, it spoke to me because, because the hardest thing for me this year was, you know, to be totally transparent with you, you know, was paying the inner circle, the people who have been working with us for, You know, years and years, um, paying them more, giving them more responsibility, and then

Terrica: Mm hmm.

Mike: myself.

And it wasn't until my wife said, Hey Mike, how much is your time worth though? You know, and it [00:14:00] freed up my time to like, work on a podcast, sit with you, work on the, work on the business more instead of in the business. And I, I think it was the smartest thing I've, I've ever done. I mean, we'll see what the accountant says, but I think it was the smartest thing I've ever done, you know?

Um, how do you balance your own professional Endeavors with, the time and the energy required to mentor and empower others within the industry. I know there was a lot there, but, um, however you kind of want to take that, it's

Terrica: You know

Mike: great with me.

Terrica: Well, first of all, kudos to your wife, because I am her number one fan. I am so here for what she said. And you know, that was something that I grasped almost like 10 years ago when I really started putting a big effort into hiring my teams. And then I carried that over as, um, a speaker and an educator too.

So in addition to being known as the, the mother hustler, everybody knows that I am like the [00:15:00] boundaries queen. I have no problem whatsoever with saying no. And I believe that no is a complete sentence and having those boundaries in place and knowing what I'm great at, knowing what I am not great at and knowing what I want to do and what I don't want to do absolutely directs How I'm going to hire and the people that I want to work with, because I don't want to do all the things.

I don't want to have all the weddings. I don't want to speak at all the conferences. I don't want to be on all of the webinars. There is absolutely zero use of you planting this gorgeous garden. If you never have a chance to spell the roses. So I have always said my job as the CEO of my businesses and my life is to fire myself from them.

Any role where I do not need to be. And if that means that I have to spend money so that I can get some [00:16:00] time back, then that's a good investment for me. Because I always say, people say that time is money. That's very true. But I always say that time is currency as well. Because if you think about it, When people pose the question to you, they'll say, well, how do you spend your time?

How do you spend your time? I always say, I'm love, you know, I have love in my life. I give love in my life because I am love. There's always going to be an endless reservoir of love. My money, baby, I'm a hustler. Whatever I spend, I'll make it back. So if I waste it, I lose it, whatever, I'll get it back. But the one thing I can't get back is my time.

And if I am working so hard on my business and in my business as well, I am not creative. I am not a great mom. I'm not a great daughter. I'm not a great friend. I'm not present. I'm being pulled in so many different directions. So the first, and I actually finally learned this, and this is just after of getting like, you know, a few day of assistance where [00:17:00] I finally said, you know what, it is time for us to go full out.

We're bringing in more planners, we're bringing in more designers. We're bringing in people to handle social and to be client concierges. Because again, I wanted to fire myself from so many things. I was doing way too many things. I had too many spoons and too many pots. Some were boiling over, some weren't getting hot enough and all of the food for the meal was disgusting.

So I found out what I was great at. And I said, I'm going to reserve this for me. And then I'm going to teach the people that I bring on my team so that they can be great too and then I can step out of that role. All the things I didn't want to do, I found people who were great at that and I hired them and I let them do it.

There's, there's a two step to this, Mike, because it's not only stepping up to the plate and taking the challenge of hiring someone. Then you got to let them do their job, right? Then you got to be like, God, you sure you got this? Can I walk away? Can I, can I do this? So it is an [00:18:00] endless lesson about trust and not only for the people that you're hiring, but also for yourself.

If you want to scale by any means, if you want to make any money, you either have to charge more and do less or you You can charge whatever it is that you would like and then teach people how to do it so that you can bring in more volume. You can do more things. So that's that. But actually the quote that you, you talked about, I meant something quite different with that.

Um, I say the bigger, the wins. The smaller the circle is that you are always a sum of the people that you are around and you have to choose who you are around and who you allow to pour into you and who you pour into others. You have to make that decision so very carefully. Because I always say not everybody that's in your circle is in your [00:19:00] corner.

And there's going to be a lot of people that are going to support you and say they support you, or they want to do these things with you. They want to work with you. I love your work, but sometimes they're just users. Sometimes they don't have the same motivation that you may have. Sometimes they may not have the same dedication.

So you have to understand that as you begin to grow, some people can't go with you. Some people have to stay where they are as you continue to grow, but you always have to make sure that you have such a great and strong foundation and base so that your circle around you can check you and say, Hey, you know what?

You seem a little bit off today. What's going on? Or We'll This could have been better. Let's look at another way of doing this. Or, this opportunity has come up and this would be great for you. Whether it's just them clapping for you, them motivating you, them holding space for you. I think it is so very important that as much as we as professionals Make a choice in who we hire for our [00:20:00] logos and handling our social media and taking our branding shots and all of those other things that we are also very cognizant of who we are around and who we receive our information from, our education from, and who we give our referrals to as well.

Mike: Let me back up a second there. When you spoke about boundaries, boundaries is a huge, struggle for wedding pros. I mean, we're taught, you know, the first one to respond to a message is essentially the first one who gets the gig,

Terrica: yeah.

Mike: And, and so it's like 1130 PM. And I mean, bring up my wife again.

 When we were engaged, she was like, Mike, you have to put You'd be on the computer sunup to sundown if, if, you know, if I wasn't here boundaries were just very, very difficult 

Terrica: it's also because we work in such, again, such a personal industry where we feel like we, we have to, we have to be there. And that's why another quote that I said is that we are of service, [00:21:00] not servants, right? I am providing you a service, not a person. So you don't have endless access to me.

People pay for access. And this is why I don't give a lot of things away for free, because if you want people. People that pay, pay attention, right? If you keep giving things away for free, it doesn't mean as much. And if you keep giving that access away, then people will abuse it. So I have, I'm all about systems and automations.

So if you send an inquiry and you get a response, I Absolutely guarantee you that was not me. That was one of my automations, I promise you.

Mike: We're the same in that way. We've got so many automations set up, it's ridiculous. But, um, but one of the

Terrica: Mike, let me tell you, even in my house, like I'm not even going to say her name, but she comes from Amazon and she runs this I have [00:22:00] a host who runs her house. Completely runs her house. Wait, what's her name? Mary Poppins here. She's the nanny Literally. I'm the same way with my business. I want to free so much space up for myself.

But the way that I say with boundaries, especially For wedding pros, because you're going to get burnt out, right? You are going to get burnt out so quickly. And when I ask my students and my coaching clients, I'll say, okay, what you're doing sounds amazing. Sounds like you're providing some phenomenal client experience, but we have 30 clients.

You can't do this times 30. Okay. So we need to bring on more people and they get terrified. I'm like, we don't really have a choice or you're going to burn out in three months. If that, because we feel the pressure, like you said earlier, to be so perfect and it's someone's day and we can't get it wrong.

And Oh, it, you know what? It's always that. It's gotta be me syndrome, right? Especially for wedding planners, [00:23:00] because we always feel like the buck stops with us. So if anything goes wrong, you know, We should have caught it. We should have known. We should have heard about it. We should have done it. And sometimes it's truly out of our hands.

But the way that I, I always like to share with people about checking their boundaries and really getting things in place is, again, saying that time is, is currency and we spend it. If I give you 20 yeses to spend this week. What would you spend them on? And so that makes you really think about what are priorities for you.

You're going to be saying no to a lot more things than you'll be saying yes to. So when you figure out what you're spending your yeses on, you'll realize, you know what, This isn't really a priority for me or this can wait or I can delegate this or um, I can bring someone else on to, to handle this short term or, or long term.

But having those boundaries in place, whether it is communications, whether it is [00:24:00] scope creep, whatever it is, is only going to strengthen and boost the longevity of your business.

Mike: I know you're a big systems person, so you're familiar with like, Dubsado and 17 hats and, um, You know, I, for me, like, the problem was, is that some of these systems are really made for, solopreneurs, or people with, like, a really small team, because you can only connect one email to it. , I mean, you're getting super stressed out because, um, the system really didn't allow for you to connect your team's emails to them, and it wasn't until, oh wait, well actually you gotta make an info address and have everything go to this one inbox, but it was a journey that nobody told me, you know?

And so, um, I wish you were in my life, like, you know, seven years ago here.

Terrica: And you know what? There's one thing too, that a lot of people don't know, especially if they grow very quickly. Cause that's, you know, I'm pretty sure you hear this too. A [00:25:00] lot of times people will say two things to me. I really want to grow. I want to have a team. And I said, well, why do you want to have a team?

And they're like, well, I just want to be able to do more. And I'm like, well, do you have more? Like, is your volume right now saying you need more people? And sometimes they'll say no. I'm like, all right, well, let's get the volume in first before, you know, we get the team, we can get teams in on a temporary basis, but let's not just go full on out and hire people and just have them sitting around and then you're going broke or it's, I really want a storefront.

I really want an office. And I noticed that this was really a huge issue when COVID happened and nobody could go anywhere and people got to see how self sufficient they could become from their home office, or from their living room, or from a diner. Shout out to Troy Adams who has the most amazing man shed slash studio slash office.

And yes, it is the most amazing thing. In the world, and when I bought my [00:26:00] house, um, I noticed that I have a very huge, um, outdoor unit and I'm like, Troy, I'm going to call you because I think I'm going to change the things here. But I think that it's very important to know why we want to grow and, and, and how we want to grow, right?

Do we want to grow wide or do we want to grow tall? And I think that when we ask ourselves that question, it allows us to figure out, okay, well, where am I going to put my boundaries in place? How am I going to do things? So just as much as some people go and they hire virtual assistants, if you are growing to the point where you need to have more team members, maybe you need to look into an OBM and, you know, an online business manager who can, you know, Pretty much be the Kris Jenner of your brand and make sure everybody's doing what they need to be.

So again, it's you taking a step back, you'll have the bird's eye view and the control, but you're not so much in the weeds of it from day to day so that you can focus on either the marketing and bringing in more clients or being the face or moving on [00:27:00] to more creative avenues so that the brand can be known for specific things.

Mike: Have you seen the difference in that between 2023 where it's like the first year, with no restrictions and there was just a massive demand for weddings and people had to bring on bigger teams to, service all of these couples, have you noticed Things shift now into 2024, 

Terrica: Yeah,

Mike: the space more competitive now?

Terrica: We're still being affected by the throes of COVID, right? Cause we still have that engagement gap where people weren't out and meeting people and, and doing everything. I met my partner on Instagram actually.

So, you know, when people couldn't go out and meet, that's where they went, but we still have this portion of couples. That we're like, Oh, well we waited because we wanted to make sure everybody could get together. Or we decided to buy a house in that time. So we, we waited for this too. There are so many different things.

So things have definitely slowed down. I noticed, Mike, a difference from [00:28:00] December until now. I'm not sure about you, but like even just the consumer mindset has changed dramatically about so many things, about pricing, about service, about availability. I have also found. Most recently that clients are very slow to make a decision and it affects availability and some of them get very frustrated or either with losing out on a particular vendor or, um, losing out on specific pricing too because pricing is also fluctuating and changing too with so much that's going on.

So yeah, I, we're not out of it yet. Fingers crossed. It's always been the light at the end of the tunnel, that 2025 was going to be where, you know, The ship righted itself, but you know what, stay tuned. Cause like I said, there's so many different factors that are affecting everything.

Mike: When I made a post that I was chatting with you today, a few planners wrote me kind of questions all in the same theme here. Common question was [00:29:00] that, a lot of people are inquiring and going through the sales process, but they are not pulling the trigger and signing the contract.

A little ghosting and a little bit of not ready to make a decision. Why are we not closing?

Terrica: That's such a, that's such a varied question here. I always ask about the sales process in and of itself. I always say that this sales thing within the wedding industry is a lot like dating. For some, Pros, they're not closing because they just jump right in, right? Can you imagine? Us going out and we're at a coffee shop and we, we watched this couple come in and you and I are just sitting there kiking.

We're like, Ooh, Mike, Terica, let's watch this. And we watched the couple come in and sit down across from us. And one person is like, Hi, how are you? And I'm like, Oh, great. I'm great too. And the other person is like, so do you want to get married? Because I want 2. 5 kids and I want a white picket fence and I want this and I want that.

And that's how some pros come [00:30:00] off to their potential clients. And it's just like, whoa, you're a little bit too much. You've given me too much and I don't know what to do. Now imagine that same couple coming in and one of them is extremely just harried, right? It's been raining outside. They don't have a rain coat.

They don't have an umbrella. They've got like the, the folded newspaper over their head. It's very rom com. They lost their wallet. And they come to the other person and the other person can either save the day or they can continue to ruin the day. And I feel like that's another aspect that we have to think about too.

Some of our clients are coming to us extremely overwhelmed. They're coming to us where they don't have enough information or they're coming to us where they have way too much information and they realize, Oh my God, I don't have enough money for this. I don't have enough time for this. I can't get the dream that I want and I need you to help me.

So I think that. Again, it's going back to that being of service thing. Even during the sales process is educating and [00:31:00] guiding your clients through your process. So whether you are spoon feeding them, you know, you want to make sure you're giving them enough information. I say no empty calories, right? We want to ask them a couple of questions in that initial inquiry where we can get to know them and find out where their heads are with certain things, but we're not just going to fill them with fluff.

If they're coming to us and they're asking us about pricing right from the beginning, it's because 1. That's an important factor to them, and two, they don't know what else to ask. They don't know what, what pricing is. This is a whole new realm for them. So you have the opportunity, again, to save the day or to continue to ruin their day.

So when you come up with a really great process of building that rapport, serving them, educating them, and then letting them decide what the next step is. Would you like to continue via email? Can we get on the phone for 15 minutes, letting them kind of like somewhat take the reins a little bit, but you are constantly [00:32:00] guiding them.

I say it's so important for us to know how we show up for our clients. Are we going to be the hero in their story? Are we going to be the sidekick? Are we going to be the guru? What is it that we're going to be? So you really have to figure out how you show up for your clients and honestly, What clients do you show up best for?

Do you work best with type A's? Do you work best with clients who are willing to delegate and let things go? Do you work really well with people pleasers? Do you work tremendously well with those who are overwhelmed and always anxious? Do you work well with clients who are so focused on the aesthetic?

Knowing your brand and knowing who your services are actually built for can really help you build a sales process that just makes it smooth as butter, right? You want clients on you like white on rice and milk on a paper plate and a snowstorm. And the only way that you can do that is really understanding who it is that you serve and giving them exactly what they need [00:33:00] when they need it.

Mike: I was literally going through this process as a, as a groom, and there was one vendor that was like, hey, I haven't heard from you in a couple of weeks, so I'm gonna close out this inquiry.

Or something like that, like, pretty much have a nice day, goodbye, and it makes me think, when is a ghost not really a ghost, I think the good news about all this is that most likely your competitors have given up a long time ago, you know,

Terrica: So true, Mike. So true.

Mike: yeah, so, I,

Terrica: why I always I'm sorry, go ahead. I didn't mean to cut you off.

Mike: No, no, no, no, go for it.

Terrica: No, that's why I always say, and I ask people who are like, oh, I'm just not closing. And I'm like, okay, well, how many times did you follow up? And I'm like, well, I checked in with them once. And I'm like, once?

You You are damn near going to have to get a restraining order on me. Okay. Because I want to help you and I want to know where you are. So I always ask right at the beginning, whether it's on the contact form or that initial [00:34:00] communication, when do you want to work with your wedding team? Because that lets me know how often I need to follow up.

That lets me know where you are in the process too. Because I don't want to make it even more stressful for you. And throughout that followup process, you need to constantly be adding value. The problem with so many wedding pros is that we just check in our clients to death or our leads to death. Hey, just checking in.

Hey, just checking in, just checking in. Did you have any questions? Just checking in. I, I have, I joke around and I say, I have four, Four kids and a cat with warrants. My life is so busy. I do not, I told you Alexa runs my house. I, I, I miss things quite often. So it may take a couple of follow ups for me, or it may take me seeing something.

that I really need in order for me to pay attention again. So think about what it is that your clients need. Are [00:35:00] they super visual? Do they need to see more videos? Do they need to see more pictures? Do they need interactive options where they can put custom information in from their wedding to get an answer?

Not so much so that they can plan or they can do on their own, but just to make them a better client so that they can make better, um, decision informed decisions. So whether that's calculators, worksheets, or whatever it may be, checklists. There are so many different things that you can offer throughout your follow up process that adds value and makes them better so that when you do finally circle back, and we always do, we always offer them another opportunity to You know, have a conversation.

We'll say, we just want to know how the wedding planning is going so far. We haven't heard from you. Would love to catch up. Can do it over virtual coffee or via email. If I don't hear anything by then, then I do. I take it away. I say, Hey, you know what? We don't want to inundate or stress out your planning, um, process with a ton of different emails that may not be of use to [00:36:00] you.

So what we're going to do is remove the soft hole that we have on your date. And you are more than welcome to inquire with us again when you're ready to get started with your planning. And we will be able to quote you based on the pricing at that time per hour availability. So you got to kind of take it away.

And I've had so many clients say, no, no, no, no, no, don't give my, don't give my date away. Please don't give my date away because you know, oh, I'm sorry this happened. We were in school. Things got really busy at work. I had to go out of town. I got sick. You never know what's going on in someone else's life.

And it always amazes me how busy wedding pros are. And we know how things can slip through the cracks just for ourselves. I've had some wedding pros say something crazy to me, Mike, like, Oh, I forgot to eat today. What? That has

Mike: Oh

Terrica: happened to me.

Mike: Oh,

Terrica: Never happened to me. So if you can forget to eat, do you think it's quite possible for you to be planning one of the most momentous events of your career and you forget to respond?

To an email. So this is where grace comes in [00:37:00] again. So you have to stand out. So imagine if someone had been sending you things and you're like, Oh, wow, that really liked that. I'm that I'm going to save that. I'll come back to it. I'll do it again later. And they then reach back out to you and they're like, look, you know, we really want to work with you, but we're going to take your data away.

Or, you know what, we're going to close this out or we're going to, Remove the soft hold, or we have someone else that's interested. Sometimes people need to see that they might lose something in order to keep it. But there has to be something in between. It just can't be radio silence and, Oh, I'm taking your date away.

Because they have no reason to, to be worried about losing that date. But I've booked so many clients who have said, Oh, you know what? So sorry, things got away from me. We definitely want to book. So you can book so much more just from your follow up process.

Mike: We have a pretty extensive blog on our website, but not so, not so much for the purpose of SEO, or I'm sure it helps with it. But if, somebody [00:38:00] inquires, , at the, um, I don't the Renaissance Hotel, downtown Chicago, we have pictures and posts of what it looks like to have, Funktastic at your wedding venue, we are able to solve your problem here.

Hey, this is what a 10 piece band looks like. Hey, this is what their ceremony looks like. That's been really really fun for us as a follow up to and I really love your soft hold email 

I'd rather hear no than nothing at all, really, you know?

Terrica: exactly. And people can respect that. Right now, I'm not going to go so deep in the weeds where people are like, oh, I'm going to find out why and who they hired. You can definitely do that if you feel like you've built the rapport for that.

But sometimes if they've told you no. And if they haven't given any additional information, if you don't feel like you can ask any additional information, sometimes you just have to let that go and just revisit your process.

Mike: Let's talk a minute about, Advertising, you know, especially with like, with the Gen Z generation here, [00:39:00] right? WeddingWire, The Knot, and, and Partyslate, and Zola, and then you've got, TikTok, and Instagram, and blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. It's funny, I just did a call with, The Knot, and they were like, yeah, a lot of times they don't even submit, an inquiry through our inbox anymore.

They want to go to your website and submit an inquiry there. So there's all these different touch points, but anyway, do you, do you believe it's crucial for wedding pros to embrace this adaptability, uh, to all these different platforms here, instead of relying on solely one advertising platform these days, like, is it, is it different now, as far as where to 

spend your advertising.

Terrica: Yes, yes, yes, yes. It takes seven to 10 impressions, seven to 10 times for a potential lead to see you before they take action. I didn't even say hire you. I said before they take action. And that action can be to follow you, to leave a comment, to send a DM, to fill [00:40:00] out your, your inquiry form, to, to call you, to book you, you know, to pin your things.

So. For lack of a better term, it's always seemed so very arrogant to me where people are like, oh, I don't have to do that. Okay, well, some of us do, right? Because some of us gotta. And I feel like it all also depends on the type of service that you provide because there are some vendors that are seen as absolutely essential.

You must have a venue. You must have a caterer. You must have entertainment. You must have some sort of documentation there. Everything else sometimes to certain clients is like, Oh, that's not a big deal or that's not a priority for us. So for those other vendors, they have to be everywhere. They have to be affiliated with some of the essentials.

They have to be seen in different dynamics. I know people who have totally different content on TikTok than [00:41:00] they do on Instagram, because they're reaching two totally different people. Same thing with Facebook. A majority of parents are on Facebook. Some couples are on Instagram, some are on Pinterest, some are on TikTok.

So your content, your reach, your communication, your relationship with them is going to be totally different. But if you're just relying on one, And I am literally telling you it takes seven to ten times. Do you think that they're going to your profile on an advertising site ten times? This, we're talking about search engine rankings.

We're talking about online ad sites. We're talking about ads themselves.

There are so many places that you have to show up in order to make an impression and everything else is just social proof. It's just clout that keeps coming up. And for some of us, the algorithm works for us, right? Like if a client likes your stuff, they may see more of your stuff, um, later on social media, or your ads may begin to show up.

There are so many things that are available to [00:42:00] work in your favor, but It's a little bit arrogant not to, you know what I mean? When we have so many different resources available to us to put us in front of so many more people.

Mike: That is awesome. Yes, because I mean the minute You start taking advantage of just the hashtags alone. I mean forget spending money on something. I mean, oh my god that you know the dreading hashtags for venues that we've played at or Even something as simple as the Chicago wedding bands. I mean couples have found us that way, you know

Terrica: that's why I say, you know what, use hashtags so intentionally. Stop using these dumb, made up hashtags that only like four people are saying. Like, oh, pink is the new whatever. You know, like nobody's saying that. Think of hashtags as, I say, let's say we're going to a networking party. And we walk into the room, it's a huge room.[00:43:00] 

And there's thousands of people there. You can get really intimidated, right? You're like, well, who do I talk to first? Where do I go? Who are my people? And then above these neon lights pop up of different conversations that people are having. Those are your hashtags. So if it's hashtag Chicago Wedding Venue, you're going to get a lot of attention.

I'm going over there and I'm going to be part of the conversation. Whenever you use a hashtag, you're making your post a part of that conversation. So think about what people are talking about. Think about what people are searching for because now people are searching more on TikTok and Instagram than they are on social media.

That is not a suggestion for you to slack on your SEO. I'm just saying. Make sure that you use your hashtags intentionally and become a great part of that conversation.

Mike: Speaking of Instagram, I have one more post that I want to bring up from you that I saw

Terrica: Oh God!

Mike: thought it was so freaking awesome here, okay? Four responses when a lead pits you against their [00:44:00] competition. My, my favorite one, my favorite one, you put a bunch here, but my favorite was, um, Hey, another vendor mentioned they can offer a specific service for a lower price.

Can you include that in our package? And then you suggested to say, you know, I understand the appeal of staying within budget. While we can't necessarily include specific service at a lower cost without compromising quality, let's discuss alternative options that may achieve a similar result but still stay within your budget.

And this is my favorite part. Tell us about your financial comfort zone and we can prioritize other Aspects of the wedding that are most important to you. I love this. Because the word budget is thrown in, it's a groom, was thrown in my face all the time, you know, on the contact forms. What's your budget?

You know, what's your budget? Um, on a phone call, what's your budget? And this idea of, tell us your financial comfort zone.

Terrica: Everyone loves that. Like, I need to trademark that. Everyone loves that I teach that. Like, if I go out and I speak and I'll say, guys, you know I don't say budget, what do I say? And the [00:45:00] whole room will yell Financial Comfort Zone! It's

Mike: you serious?

Terrica: Yes,

Mike: Wow. Oh my God.

Terrica: I have so many word swaps, so many words.

So I don't say like, um, things are cheap because that can be offensive, right? Or things are cheaper. I don't say that things are expensive because that can also be somewhat offensive. So let's say that something is more cost intensive or less cost intensive. So that doesn't sound as aggressive or, you know, very at your throat, but budget is a dirty word.

And I say budget's a dirty word because again, a majority of our clients, they don't know what their budget is. They don't know how to frame the cost around these certain things. And when I say it's a financial comfort zone, okay, well then now we got a range, right? Maybe photography is a priority. But you know, the suits aren't, maybe cake is not a priority, but the bar is.

That's going to affect my financial comfort zone. As opposed to me saying, well, what's your [00:46:00] budget? And you're like, God, I really do need a budget. And can I afford this? It just. It

Mike: and it's most probably not going to be a realistic number anyway they give you, so what's the point of

Terrica: Ever, ever. But my favorite thing is when they're like, oh, we don't have one. And I'm like, cool. So we're going to start off with 150, 000 just for me.

And we'll go from there. And just to see their eyes like bulge out. And I'm like, oh, so we do got a number. Okay. So let's come back down to reality and let's talk about what it is.

Mike: Right, without sacrificing results too, which is

Terrica: And that's my thing. You know, you can have whatever you want. I tell my clients all the time, you can have an amazing wedding, whether you spend 1, 000 or 200, 000, 300, 000, whatever it is that you want to spend, of course, there are going to be some things that are going to be affected by that, like guests, vendors, time of year, time of day, things that are going to be available.

But you have to really understand where your stop is, right? Is this a [00:47:00] priority for me and do I really want to spend this much on these things? And does it make sense? Are we only going to be in this particular area for 30 minutes? Do I really want to dump 50, 000 on this? Can this be used better somewhere else?

Is there anything that can be done? Can be repurposed. Is there anything that we can use over the course of a couple of days? So there are just so many questions that, again, this is a great opportunity for education, for you to guide your client through so many different ways. And I always say, when you have a really great sales process, it makes it so much easier for you to plan.

And when I say plan, I say for all of us as wedding pros, all of us have some sort of planning period with our clients, but they trust you more. They don't give you pushback because you have always been giving them really great information, really great feedback. You've been taking into consideration their wants and their needs and really putting them in place.

And I always say, well, tell me, tell me about your favorite thing on your Pinterest board. And they'll, You know, go [00:48:00] off and you can see the dreams or whatever. And I'll say, okay, well what is it that you want for your wedding? And they keep describing things. I say, well, do you have a financial comfort zone yet?

And they'll say, Oh, we want to stay between this and this. And I'm like, all right, well what you just described is really a blank wedding. And they're like, Oh, and I'm like, but when we work together, we will find ways for us to really intentionally Place our financial emphasis in specific areas to ensure that we're not sacrificing the vision or the experience.

So that's me doing an Assumptive Close. Everything is when we work together and then I will fill in with the result that they want. So they don't feel like they're left out there on a limb.

Mike: I, uh, I thought of another dirty word. You ready for this one?

Terrica: Say it, I'm ready.

Mike: I

Terrica: I gotta go. I am so over that word. So over that word.

Mike: And you know what's crazy is that, you know, the, [00:49:00] uh, most luxury clients that I, I could think of really don't see themselves in that way.

Terrica: I do an exercise during my classes when I talk about this and I pull up some of the most high end vendors. And some of the most high end non wedding related products. And I have everybody pull out their laptops or their phones. And I asked them, I want you to Command F, Control F, whatever it is that you're using.

I want you to search for the word luxury. And so many people are so confused. They're like, I don't see it. I don't see it. And I'm like, right. Because it's like my great grandmother said, you know what? If you have to tell someone you're a lady, you're not one, right? Or for my fellow Game of Thrones fans, when Tywin Lannister said, Any man that has to say, I am a king is no king.

If you have to constantly scream that you're luxury nine times out of 10, you're not. Your clients are not hopping on Google and searching luxury, blah, blah, [00:50:00] blah. They are looking for your proximity to specific vendors, specific aesthetics, specific services, and specific products. That's how they know that you're luxury.

Not because you're telling them.

Mike: Yeah. What do you think about best, you know, for SEO purposes, I see at a lot of wedding bands and DJs website, best Chicago wedding band, best Chicago wedding DJ, best, uh, I know that's a little bit of a, you know, Ick Vibe too, but I mean if that's what

Terrica: No, but here's the thing. Exactly. And so that's why I feel like I get aggravated with the luxury concept, but I also understand there's a, there is a hustle, right? There is luxury always and luxury for the day. Luxury always, people are not searching for luxury things. But if you're trying to hustle, and when I say hustle, I'm not saying scam.

I mean trying to work with. If you're trying to work with people who want to be luxury for the day, Then [00:51:00] it may make sense for you to say luxury whatever, or best whatever, because that's what some people are asking for. Who is the best? Blah, blah, blah. So it makes sense if you think about it. Now, I'm definitely about to age myself here.

Back in the day, children, there was a very huge book of yellow pages called Affinity. Phonebook. And that is how you were able to find many of the services and businesses and proprietors in your local area to do certain things for you. There was no internet. There were no things. So whenever you would look at it, it was always in alphabetical order and it would always be like triple A, Whatever company because they would show up first, but as I would continue to look down you would also see people with names like Affordable Lawn Service and that name has kept on because that's what people were looking for So many people continue this naming strategy because people are Typing that into Google, people are searching for that.

Affordable lawn care, affordable this, [00:52:00] so that is by no means an invitation for you to name your business, affordable DJ service. But understand what it is that your clients are looking for and make sure that you are incorporating that in your copy without sacrificing your brand experience.

Mike: For those looking for their ideal clients, I mean, I know this is a loaded question, but is it the messaging? Is it the branding on their website? 

Terrica: Yes. That's my answer. Yes. Yes. To all of the things. Um, so another thing about me is that I am absolutely obsessed with. 90s R& B and hip hop and St. Jay Z of Brooklyn once said, we don't believe you, you need more people. So it is one thing for you to call yourself luxury, but the font on your website is Comic [00:53:00] Sans or worse, Papyrus, right?

So you can't have these conflicting, These conflicting visuals are how you do all of these million dollar events, and I'm only using these as examples since we're kind of like on the luxury thing. But how you do all of these high end events, but you have four pictures on your website and they were taken with your iPhone SE.

It just doesn't make sense. There is a brand aesthetic, there is a brand experience, there is a customer experience. There is your pricing presentation that all makes sense. And a lot of things that people don't really consider, Mike, is that how you present your pricing absolutely makes a difference.

Whether you use a dollar sign or a currency symbol, whether you use commas, decimals, um, zeros in the coinage section, all of those things, the way that you present your pricing can make you look Just to use my word swaps again, more cost intensive or less cost intensive. The way that you [00:54:00] position your packages on your site or you position your services on your site or in your service brochure can absolutely make you look like the must have and the must hire or that things are certain throwaways.

So it's so much more than your logo. And that's why when I ask about brand experiences, people will say, Oh, well, I love my brand so much. My logo's pink or whatever. And I'm like, no, no, no, no. There's so much more to this. Your brand is what people say

Mike: you're talking a lot of people's language here, so tell me what the Wedding Pro University is, how do people work with you, what is the process, uh, would love to hear more about that.

Terrica: Yeah, so I have decided to just combine all of my educational products into one unit, and that is the Wedding Pro University, and that is a monthly subscription where you can go in, you can build your own curriculum, we have majors within the university, everything from finance, which helps [00:55:00] you with your pricing, your marketing, your sales, your client experience, and And so much more.

And as soon as you register, you get a curriculum builder to help you figure out which classes you should take first. And we meet every week for me to go over your information, to help you practice your sales consults, for us to go over your pricing or any type of client issues you might have. I've always felt like that support is so very important and you get the education that you need when you need it., 

terrica, thank you so much for coming on here and just sharing your invaluable expertise and insights in the wedding industry. 

Make sure you guys check out the links in the show notes. We'll have terrica cause Instagram to connect with her. We'll have her website. So make sure you check out the link in the show notes and on the 28th, uh, just a little bit about what's coming up next few weeks. We're going to have Mark Chapman from the, I do society who is a leading expert on paid advertising and the wedding industry. 

So we're going to be talking about tic-tac Mehta. Metta Google Instagram on June 4th, we're [00:56:00] going to have Alan Berg. He's an international speaker, author of seven books, consultant sales trainer. He's also the host of the wedding business solutions podcast. And then on June 11th, we'll have Julie Novak who is the CEO and co-founder of party slate. 

So a lot of great stuff coming up here on the podcast. You are extraordinary. We'll see you next time.