Episode 19: What To Do In a Down Year

Episode Summary

Friends, a quick look at my sales numbers sent me into a spiral this busy season. Once I made time to compare the data, I realized the sky wasn’t falling—and the context behind bookings and engagement timelines made all the difference. In this episode, I share why I track inquiries, proposals, and conversions, and why that recurring booking meeting matters. We also talk about what to do when the numbers really are down: examine your marketing and referral channels, respond to new clients, nurture relationships, and ask for help. Deep breaths. You don’t have to figure it all out alone.

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julianleaver.com | @julianleaver

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Full Episode Transcript

Hi friends and welcome back to Mind Over Matrimony. We are in the month of May and so this whole month all the episodes are sponsored by your friend and mine, Diet Coke, because it is literally the only thing that gets us all through this insanity that is basically the busiest month of the year.

And today I wanted to touch on something that I think we all experience in our businesses and that is when you are at your busiest, you're in the middle of executing in whatever season that is for you, right? I would say May is a pretty universally busy season across the wedding industry. It's the like the beginning of some people's seasons, it's the end of other people's.

And so when we're busy like that and we're running around and we're trying to make sure that everything is all squared away for the events that we have, sometimes we lose a little sight of the booking side of our business, right? Because in every one of our businesses, we are both the booker and also the servicer. And so there's this fine balance between booking and servicing clients.

And I think it's very easy to sometimes be busy and then just all of a sudden think, Oh my God, I need to see where we are with sales and just go check in on that very quickly. And so this month this happened to me. We're running around, we're trying to get everything organized and make sure all of the T's are crossed and the i's are dotted and we're in a good space, right? And so I was like, oh, I need to see what's happening with the sales. So I go and just look at a quick snapshot of the sales and I freaked out.

What's interesting about that is when you just jump into something and you look at a set of data, but you don't give the data any context or you don't look at the past data, or you are just looking at what you think should be the correct metric, but you're doing it very quickly. And so I think that's actually where the fault comes in. My own, in my own experience in this month is that I looked at the data very quickly and I was like, Oh my God, the sky is falling, Chicken Little. What are we going to do about it? And this is not all working. And and we get a little freaked out. We get a little bejangled. We call our panel of people that we trust and we're like, Oh my gosh, this is going on.

And this is your reminder, friends, to just take a deep breath, deep breaths, and then go and look at the data and compare it. Don't just look at a snapshot of it because that will get you in trouble every single time.

And so I called all the people in my little cabinet and said this is what's going on and this is what's happening and why is this way and what am I doing wrong or what am I doing right? Or is this really what I wanted it to do based on all the metrics that I've been looking at for the past year? And every single one of them basically said to me, Julian, take a deep breath as we just did and go back and actually book some time and look at the metrics.

And this is something that is already booked on my calendar. So I do a kind of budget and booking meeting every two weeks with my OPS team so that I know where we are with all the inquiries and all of that. But what had happened over the last couple of weeks is that because we get busy, then I book over that meeting. OK, so pot, kettle, please, friends, don't book over your own inquiry booking meeting because you need to look at the inquiries. And if you're actually looking at that and you're looking at your funnel and all the things, then it makes a lot more sense and you can actually read the data.

We also have to back up even further and just say you need to be tracking the data. OK, It does all start with the data, with the sales flow, with an understanding of who is calling or emailing, where are they coming from? How and where are they in the sales process? If you've spoken to them, have you sent them a proposal? Have you had your second call with them? Like where are they in the process? What they're looking for exactly? And also what date that they're looking for into the future. So you can really see and have an understanding of what your

data looks like. And so luckily here at Julian Leaver Events, we've been tracking this data for a very long time. It's one of the things clearly that this podcast is about, but it's because my passion is in this space, the numbers don't lie and they can tell you the story that you need them to tell you if you have a full data set of them. So I have a full data set that

goes all the way back to 2016, but it's not, you don't need to go all the way back to the beginning of your business. You just need to go back maybe one year or two years so that you can get a full 3 year data set of this is when people were inquiring, this is how many proposals I sent out. This is how many people booked. And then this is was my

conversion rate, right? And so I was freaking out because I had booked over those meetings and hadn't actually been looking at the data. And so I went back to look at the data and what the data actually told me was that the sky was not falling and that I was not Chicken Little. So I needed to just calm down. And but what it did tell me was something very interesting is that in looking at the data set

of events that had booked for the next year, I was going through the list from last year at this time into this year and then of course this year into next year because our business is very forward thinking. We're always thinking about the future. And what I found there was very interesting in terms of the way that the engagement pattern has been occurring within the wedding world.

And I think this is something that we're seeing shift and adjust and change in real time is that in 24 for 25 and then 25 into 26, there were a lot of engagements and bookings that ended up being a two year engagement period.

And so I was walking into 26 with four clients who had actually been engaged for two years and we had been planning with them for two years. And then I was, I had three more clients that had really just been like in a one year engagement from 25 into 26. And then I had two clients who were in what we call a research package, which is another podcast for another time. But it's basically clients that we're doing research for that are going to move into the more full service client kind of perspective.

So I had two of those. So then I started looking at the data from this year into next year. And I actually have 4 weddings booked for this year, for next year. And then I had three research packages from this year to next year.

And so if you don't account for the four weddings that were two year long engagements, which that cycle has drastically changed and the engagement periods have shrunk as we all know. So we're looking at year long generally engagements and sometimes six months, three months, four months. It's been a crazy year in terms of short term engagements. Then the sky is not falling. I'm basically where I was the year before, if not slightly better because I have some more people on deck in that research phase to move into being full service clients.

So I'm right where I need to be. I just want to go back and say number one, friends, take a deep breath number two, I know we're all busy, but we are also usually, as the business owner, the sole person doing the bookings. So don't forget to look at your bookings in your busy season and understand where they're coming from and what's happening with them and make some time for them. Right? Number three, clearly don't book over your own booking meeting because that's the thing that's going to save your ass and help you understand what you need to do.

And then of course, just track your data, right? Track your data. It's so boring. But I think what's the coolest thing about AI right now, honestly, friends, is that you can go into any of these AI platforms and create these, these artifacts that will help you track all of this stuff, right? Wherever you might have it saved. There's even AI experts who you can hire to help you build an engine to help you track all of this, track your data, right?

And then I think the last thing that I want to say is, yes, this worked out well for me this time, right? I went and I looked and it wasn't as bad as I thought it was and I could take a deep breath, right?

But that doesn't happen all the time that happened in this case. So what do you do if it is actually down, if the numbers aren't aligning, if you are having a harder year than normal, if the business is not where you want it to be or maybe even that your market is being pushed out, what do you do?

I don't think there's a one-size-fits-all answer for this and it's hard. And if it is a down year and you're not really sure what to do, I'm really sorry that's happening. It's definitely a different year

for all of us, right? I think the first thing that you really need to do and to look at is is your referrals. Honestly, that's the number one place to go and take a look at what are your referral channels basically get even more specific. It really needs to be about your channels, right? How are people finding you?

How are they reaching out to you and what does your response time look like? I think we get in trouble to bring this all the way back to the beginning. We get in this busy seasons and so we don't want to respond right away because we're busy and we're not worried about it. And we're like, oh, we have enough business.

But it's really important to make sure that your new clients feel the love as much as your current clients. And like we say here all the time, we book people who do and say what they're going to do and then do those things, right? So we have to be the same. We have to say, OK, we're going to respond to you right away and get back to you and make sure that you have what you need to make a good decision in those

channels. I would say it is the marketing channel, right? And then it's also the referral channel and the referral channel can be broken into two different quadrants. One is other vendor referrals and then the second is really past and former client referrals, right?

And so you have to be touching all three of those referral channels all at the same time to make sure that everything is flowing nicely, that you're staying in touch with people, that you are doing the activities that you need to do. And each of those is a little bit different.

Every business is a little bit different, right with our I'll just give you a really good example. An easy one for us is the client is the client referrals, right is staying in touch with them on Instagram. It's talking to them about the things that are happening in their lives. It's going to dinner with them, It's staying in touch with them through all the different methods that we have available at our disposal with those

vendors. It's about for us like hosting people at Taco Tuesday, right? It's just as simple as having some gas station tacos and a charcuterie board and staying in touch and being like, hey, I'd love to keep working with you. I'd love to have this conversation not so much about work, but more about how are you, How is your life? How are the things? How are your children? How are your travels? Be engaged with people because you actually want to engage with them because they're the people that you work with all the time, right?

And then on the social media side, I think that's consistency, right? It's just about being consistent and again and again, and it's all about the reps and doing it again and again. And if you're looking at all of

those channels and generally, I would say you're probably going to find one of them that's a little got a kink in it, right. Something is not quite firing like it should be. And you can adjust that and then see what happens from there.

I know not every year is going to be an up year, I would say at Julian Leaver Events, it's always been like one incredibly over-the-top, amazing year. And then the next year is a little bit slower and it's almost like a rebuilding year. And then the next year is crazy over the top amazing. And then it's like a rebuilding year. That's really been the cyclical fashion of my business for the

last 10 years. And so don't panic, don't freak out and just look at the pieces that can help you that are in front of you. And then always if you don't understand something, ask for help because a problem shared is a problem cut in half. And so you have friends in this industry who are willing to help you and give you good guidance and get you where you need to end up.

We have to just continue cultivating the referrals, making sure that your relationships are where they need to be and showing up for people, right? Which really I think is actually the basic piece of this is just showing up for those people who are kind enough to refer you, who are kind enough to believe in you, who are kind enough to send people your way. And you have to just keep showing up for them again and again, just like going to the

gym. So the sky is not falling today, friends. And I am not Chicken Little. I am bald. And this is Mind Over Matrimony.

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