By Audrey Isaac, 100Candles.com
The end of the year is a time for reflection and evaluation as we look at our year’s accomplishments and determine what worked and what should evolve.
As you plan for the year ahead, it’s important to review your annual numbers and take a hard look at the return of your investments. From your project management software to your wholesale partnerships, it’s time to evaluate your ROI and make adjustments accordingly.
First and foremost, let’s look at how you can determine whether you are seeing a positive return from your wholesale partnership.
When you are looking to build in additional revenue streams, it comes down to dollars and cents – as well as happy customers. You’ll need to take a look at both sides: Are you seeing an increase in the amount your couples are spending with you? (Note that this should be simple, as you should already be tracking your revenue per account.) Have your reviews continued to be positive? Consider surveying your recent clients at the end of the year to ensure that your business model meets all of their needs – not just for wholesale-related upgrades, but for your general services as well.
So, what is a wedding pro to do if their ROI isn’t quite as successful as expected?
You’ll first need to determine why the numbers aren’t matching up as planned. Connect with your wholesalers to ask about some of their most popular items. They should be able to share what items are selling well in other markets, as well as online.
If the product itself isn’t the issue, then it may be time to look at your sales process. Assess your methods of upselling, as well as when you try to upsell in the course of your work together. It may be time to switch things up and test the waters with different methods – perhaps later in the sales process or through a different presentation entirely.
Ask yourself: How do you present your items for upselling? Do you share them virtually, in person or both? Can you realistically switch it up to see if it results in a higher conversion rate? Are you selling too early in the process, before clients are ready to commit more of their budget? Alternately, are you selling too late in the process, after they’ve already made their own purchases?
The answers to these questions will help guide your future decisions in the business of upselling. Consider reaching out to recent and current couples and asking for their thoughts so you can get a better understanding of what types of items they need. While you may have initially based your offerings on what you think they want, it may be time to circle back to the source to see if their needs have evolved.
If you’re unsatisfied with your ROI, don’t fret – chances are you just need to mix things up a little to really meet your clients’ needs. Now is the time to use the off-season to work through the kinks and tweak the process so that you’re ready for your best year yet.
Audrey Isaac is the spokesperson for 100 Candles, a wholesale market for candles and lights. Since 2002, thousands of wedding and event professionals have entrusted 100 Candles with their wholesale candle accounts. For more information, please visit http://www.100candles.com/.