I suck at "clinching the deal" Advice would be great!

I am starting to get a lot of enquiries for parties but I lack the skill of getting them to actually book with me. I am not good with wording my response so that they book me straight away (or at all). I have copied a reply to an email I just received but not sent the email yet, as I know some of you amazing people might be able to see where I am going wrong. Here it is, and thankyou in advance for your advice x

Hi Emily

Thanks for contacting me, how did you enjoy the expo?

I have attached the information for you regarding a booking on the 25th August. Please read it thoroughly as this will answer all of the questions you might have. At this stage I am available, what time are you looking at having me start painting? I usually don't paint under two's but if you are happy for me to do that than that is fine. It might have to be a quick little something if they are a little wriggly You can guarantee that having me face painting will make for some absolutely memorable moments and photos for such a special birthday.

It will work out roughly to about $10.00 per head, or a bit less if you would like quicker less detailed designs for more kids/adults as per my party pricing.

If you have any more questions just email me, and I look forward to hearing from you. Have a great week!

Personally, I find your response a bit too long....

If I understand correctly, the customer just sent an enquiry for the birthdayparty?
In that case my reply would be:
Hello Emily, at this time I'm still available on "date"
THe price for two hours facepainting would be " amount", transportationfee will amount to "a......"
If you would like to book me for this party, could you please send me a confirmation as soon as possible?

I look forward to hearing from you soon!

Best regards,
Tineke



My e-mail signature states that a date can be held in option for max.10 days, so I don't repeat this in my e-mail....

I agree. The response is too long and the suggested format is more than enough information for her to decide. It sounds more professional too.

My response is actually longer. This is what I send to birthday party inquiries.

Thank you for your inquiry. At this time I am available for *your date/time*.

For birthday parties I offer the following options:

Small group/Birthday Party package (for up to 15 faces): $XXX
This includes blah blah

Medium group rate (16-30 faces) $XXX (note two-hour minimum booking required) blah blah

Large group/public evets (31+ faces); Full hourly rate of $XXX (two-hour minimum booking required) blah blah

Mileage charges apply if location is 50kms round trip of $0.50/km

**A deposit will be required for events held at third party venues of 50% of the total booking.

**When scheduling face painting please note that approximately 10-15 full face designs can completed per hour per artist (4-7 minutes per face depending upon detail required.)

The option of "Fast Faces" of 15-20 per hour is also available (4 minutes or less per face) for high volume events. Please request this option at the time of booking as the specific display and design board will be required.

When painting at Birthday Parties I like to take my time to make the design special for the kids. Full face designs typically take 4-7 minutes. See more examples of my face painting here: http://www.shannonfennell.com/facepainting.html

More information about my services and terms is available here: http://www.shannonfennell.com/rates.html

Please note that I am unable to face paint on children under three years of age but can offer them transfer tattoos or hand painting as long as they are willing and aware. [I highlight this paragraph with yellow]

I am fully insured and only use approved cosmetic products that are tested and meant for use on the face/skin.

If you would like any other information or would like to book please let me know.

Once booked, I will forward a written letter-contract for signature and return to me with any required deposit and then will confirm the booking. Please note until the signed contract is returned the booking is not confirmed.

Again, thank you for your interest.

Inquiries for events get a shorter response as I don't have to list the different options and I customize them. This is a standard response to all birthday inquiries as I get a lot of them.

I have the same problem.... I think the issue for me is that there are plenty of newbies in Utah that are advertising a lower rate and undercutting those of us that are more established. People really don't like to spend money here if they don't have to. I guess they learn when the person shows up that you get what you pay for!

I usually try to keep my responses short and sweet, along the lines of:

Hi [name],

Thanks so much for getting in touch with me! I am available on Saturday, July 28th to face paint for your party.

Since you're expecting about 12 kids, that will be about an hour of face painting (at $60/hour). There will also be a travel fee of $10 since you're about 25km away from me.

If you'd like to go ahead and make the booking, let me know and I'll add you to my calendar! If you have any questions, don't hesitate to ask.

Thanks and have a great day!

- Janna

Thanks for the feedback guys, it is so hard to know. I personally like information to make an informed decision so I tend to offer lots to customers. I have a 2 page PDF that I attach with all the nitty gritty on it.

I am getting frustrated because I am getting so many enquiries- out of 10 I might get one book, which is a bad ratio I feel.

Well I will see what happens with this one and will work on a specific "winning" response in the meantime.

Thanks again, I appreciate it x

Dear Faces by Ainslie:
There was one week where I had happy conversations and both long and short emails with over thirty different people calling and emailing for bookings. i was so excited because I "knew" that I was on a roll, and was about to get really, really busy.
I DID get busy...
emailing, returning phone calls, etc.

Sigh,
They were all a bunch of LookyLuLu's.

Happy Painting!
xoxox

yes Fess it feels like that.... hopefullly, hopefully it will lead to something...

My suggestion is to get them on the phone. It's too easy to ignore emails. That being said, your email is TMI...

Hi Emily

Thanks for contacting me, how did you enjoy the expo? (Do you really want to know how much she enjoyed the expo? How about, I met a lot of wonderful people at the expo, I'm so glad you contacted me. It gives the impression that you have been receiving other contacts from the expo.)

I have attached the information for you regarding a booking on the 25th August. Please read it thoroughly as this will answer all of the questions you might have. (Why offer her information until she is booked. You are giving her a chance to have objections....reasons NOT to hire you BEFORE you get the money. Especially if you have this info somewhere on your website, let her do the research.)

At this stage I am available, what time are you looking at having me start painting? (I have a few openings that day, what time are you starting your party?)

I usually don't paint under two's but if you are happy for me to do that than that is fine. It might have to be a quick little something if they are a little wriggly Smile (Is the birthday child under two? Again, I wouldn't worry about this in an inquiry email. It's also a little passive aggressive "I don't do this but if you want me to I will." Well, they called you to face paint so of course they want you to. Usually I just say, I'll try to paint young children but if they protest or cry I won't, is that okay? What parent is going to say "yes, please paint my crying child.)

You can guarantee that having me face painting will make for some absolutely memorable moments and photos for such a special birthday. (This isn't bad, it just sounds like a website line. I usually give them a link to a particular gallery page on my website to get them engaged in my product or I'll attach some jungle animal photos or something to do with their theme.)

It will work out roughly to about $10.00 per head, or a bit less if you would like quicker less detailed designs for more kids/adults as per my party pricing. (This is exactly why I went to party pricing. As a parent I'm thinking "I have to pay $10 if they choose cheek art?" I think it is better to say "My small party price is $100 for up to 10 guests. They can choose any design they want from a tiger to spiderman." This puts a positive spin on the cost. They are hiring their own personal artist for each child for whatever design they want. It's a kid's fantasy and every parent's to be the talk of the neighborhood.)

If you have any more questions just email me, and I look forward to hearing from you. Have a great week!

I'm pretty assumptive in my phone conversations and emails. I assume that they want a face painter, first, I assume that I'm going to do a great job for them, I'm always enthusiastic (I really am!), and I go for the close...can I send you a Paypal deposit invoice to save the date?

I'm not perfect by any means but I try not to sound desperate. I have to assume that once they shop around they'll be back. I ask for the business and make it clear that I want the business and then let it go. I've had many "butterflies" come back to me after they've shopped around.

Hi Ainslie

I think a lot of people make enquiries out of curiosity for some time in the future than with the intention of booking something then and there, and some may not be able to afford our services, which is fine - we have to accept that, and we have to make our effort worthwhile and expect to be paid accordingly...

I probably have a similar ratio of 1:10 for birthday party enquiries, so maybe I'm not the best one for advice. But I guess I wanted to let you know that you're not alone, and in sales 1:10 is not actually too bad.

My goal in my correspondence with prospects is to find out more info from the client before giving away all the info I have on my service. Basically, to determine whether they are worthwhile. So I want to know what date they are thinking of, how many guests, general ages, and where they are located. I once went through a lengthy quote/response to someone who I found out lived in Adelaide, when I am in Northern NSW. Waste of time for both of us!

Recently I started offering to pencil in a date for prospective clients with the offer to get back to them 4 weeks out from their event to confirm if they are still interested (or if/when I have another query for the same date, I'll check to see if they are genuine or not). I'll let you know if that works out, but so far I've had a couple take me up on it.

FYI, here's what I do.... start by 'selling the benefits' (ie what my service will 'do' for my clients), and my unique selling points (USPs) then finish by asking a question... letting the prospect know that I will hold the date for a period of 7 days after receiving written or verbal confirmation from them, and that a booking will not be confirmed until a deposit has received.

I have a fairly standard response for birthday parties, but corporate and retail events are different as I charge by the hour. Same principals though, but I have a much higher "yes" ratio for business clients - generally I think because they have a budget in mind and are more or less realistic in what a professional service will cost.

I usually have to travel up to an hour each way for birthday parties, so at the end of the day I'm not making that much on them, so I don't go out of my way to promote parties. I prefer PPF and retail/corporate events. I have developed good relationships with a few key clients over the past 12 months I've been in business, and look forward to expanding on these in the future.

Anyway, my process has evolved over time, and will probably continue to keep changing.

I prefer to do all my contact by email. My work schedule does not allow me to do personal business while at work and I do not use a cellphone, so calling me means leaving a message. I have me email on my recorded message if they want to contact me faster as I can check my email on my breaks at work quickly and answer them right away.

I don't post my phone number on my website or other media so it usually means they got my number from my card or car.

Gahhhhh Denise where were you this morning at 9am Aussie time!! hehe

It was for a 1st birthday party which was why I was saying that. That is really helpful and I will absolutely take on board what you said for the next ones.

I have had 2 more enquiries today so I'm soing something right, but it is getting them to book me that is hard.

Shannon thanks for always being so professional and everyone else, you are stars! I will let you all know how I go xxx

I have to agree with Shannon. Information is often key to landing a gig that would've otherwise gone to the cheapie painters out there. I give my potential clients a spiel much like Shannons and let them decide. I've gotten gigs simply because my spiel had educated the price shopper and when he'd called around to the cheap painters, non of them could offer what I had going for me and he opted for quality over a cheap price.

You customer inquiry is yet another opportunity to sell yourself but that doesn't mean you have to spend hours formulating repsonses. A standard reply can be typed up and saved on your computer so that when you get an inquiry, you already have an informative response provided...just change out the name for personalization reasons.

It's just been my experience that short and sweet here leaves the customer with little else with which to compare you and other painters than price, and oft times the spiel can address concerns the customer didn't even know they should have.

That's why I like to get them on the phone. In an email I think people tend to scan headlines and keywords like they do with web browsing and really don't read all you've written.

So for me, I save my information overload for the website (for mommies that do that, and there have been a few) and keep my emails about 3 short paragraphs with headlines and then my personal sales pitch for the phone.

D.

I'll add my two cents, lol. I keep my initial response short and sweet as well. I look at it this way, most calls/e-mails are usually to find out if they want to book you or not. So if I had to read a 2-page documenet just to figure out if I wanted to book you, I'd probably move on. Sorry. :-( Making it easy for these parents is the best route, in my experience anyways. :-)

The way I look at it, I want to give them all the info (whether I am available for their date (if they gave one), my prices, my restrictions (no under 3), the options for speed, and explain how booking works) I'm not interested in multiple emails/calls for additional information - give it to them all at once and they can then let me know if they want to book.

Works for me.

Realistically, many face painters have 2 jobs and the day job doesn't always permit for a phone conversation about face painting. Just as realistically, many parents contact me from work and don't WANT a phone call because they can't discuss matters. I leave my phone and email on my site. If someone calls me, I call them back...if they email me, I email them back. I give them enough informatioin to make an informed decision because I have to believe that there is still hope for reading to make it's comeback in our society before the spelling atrocities hurtle the U.S. into 3rd world country status as far as education goes.

You have to do what works for you. Phone calls don't always work for me, nor my clients, so I'm flexible and whether or not they read it, my emails are always informative and professional. That's what works for me.

So for those of you who like to talk on the phone, what do you say when they email you with the enquiry? Do you email back asking for a phone number to talk?

Well the person I was asking you guys about has booked along with another one too, so that's great.

Thanks again for your help

I'm glad it went well. I try to call if they've given their number...like Gig Salad referrals. If not, I just go with the flow. I do feel that If I'd called my former client (that I complained about in another post) I'd have booked her. Email is good for answering questions once you have a client but I don't think it's very influential.

D.