How to spot and deal with characters in the group When I started in bridal in the 90s it was so easy. With more brides (331,500 – down by almost a third to 239,000 in 2015) and fewer suppliers, shows, shops, magazines (only 2) and no social media it was much easier to be in [...]
Handling the Entourage Why is it that shopping for a wedding gown can often be more about entertaining a big group of friends than focusing on finding "the one". Every bridal consultant hates to hear "How many people can I bring?" as what is really being asked is "Can I bring everyone from my Mum [...]
Best Sellers Christmas Cracker riddles coming up (well what do you expect as I am writing this on Christmas Eve!!). What do Manhattan, Mayfair, Madrid & Mercedes have in common? What’s the connection between Michelle & Julie? And the same question for Ingrid, Gabrielle, Jessica, Emma, Scarlett & Gracie? And what about Esme & Papillon? [...]
First Impressions One of my team recently was in the market for buying a new car. Just for the record she’s a bit of a petrol head and Top Gear used to be her favourite programme. She’d thoroughly researched the possible cars, shortlisted 3 and made an appointment at her local dealership. She found exactly [...]
TOO MUCH CHOICE? With so many options out there, it’s no surprise that brides find it tough to find their dream dress. Maria Musgrove discusses how to ease your brides through their journeys... It's not surprising that brides are indecisive; a simple Google search provides 276,000 results for "how to choose a wedding gown". If [...]
Convincing Customers Convincing customers to buy can be a very difficult task for even the best sales person. However, Dianne Lowther from Brilliant Minds has a secret weapon under her belt, Neurolinguistic Programming, which can help you learn the line to take to convince the trickiest customer. NE U R O - L [...]
CLOSING THAT SALE She’s been there for an hour, she’s tried on a dozen dresses, she loves them all, her mum has shed tears, her best friend hasn’t stopped grinning. My next appointment is minutes away. How do you close that sale? And, just as importantly, how do you [...]
The 6 'Rs' of Bridal Selling Richard Branson and I have something in common and, sadly, it’s not that I’m his Necker Island neighbour. In 1997 we both opened bridal shops and expanded to multiple sites. There the similarity ends. For the launch of the London flagship store Sir Richard, shaved his beard, wore [...]
Show off your gowns Our training guru, Maria Musgrove, takes a look at trends in displaying dresses to help you to decide what will work for your boutique When I said “Yes to the Article” on displaying dresses, I’d foolishly forgotten that the deadline was only 72 hours after the Bridal Buyer Awards! With [...]
CHAT OR SELL? Go for chat and you could get it wrong; pitch your questions carefully and you could win a sale, says retail mentor Maria Musgrove Buying today? Budget? Brought the credit card? Much as we would love to ask these questions they’re more likely to result in a one-star review than a relaxed and ready-to-buy [...]
