If you’re a venue owner feeling stuck, overwhelmed, or questioning why you got into this business, this episode is for you.

The truth is, most venues don’t fail because of the market. They fail because they lose focus on what actually drives growth. In this episode, I break down the core priorities that will move your business forward no matter where you are starting from: sales, upsells, and most importantly, taking care of every couple that walks through your doors.

If you get these right, growth is not optional. It is inevitable.

Get the CRM: https://thevenuecoach.co/crmExplore consulting: https://thevenuecoach.co/consult

Most venue owners are overwhelmed, understaffed, and leaving bookings on the table without realizing it.

In this episode, Kyle breaks down how we restructured our team to separate sales from operations, reduce workload, and improve performance across the board. I also walk through how we trained our owner to increase her conversion rate using the four core elements of a high-performing venue tour: rapport, value, staying on track, and actually asking for the sale.

If your team is stretched thin or your tours are not converting, this is a simple shift that can immediately improve both your workload and your revenue.

Get the CRM: https://thevenuecoach.co/crm
Explore consulting: https://thevenuecoach.co/consult

Kyle talks about some recurring issues at his venues and how they approach dealing with them. Doing a cost benefit analysis to compare the cost to maintain to the cost to fix permanently.

He also recommends not forgetting about the soft costs, not simply the dollar costs.

If you need help with your venue, reach out! The Venue Coach

Kyle talks about how he chooses where to allocate money for future investments in the venue.

Kyle discusses the need to have a Customer Relationship Manager (CRM) to increase visibility and tracking for your leads.

How Kyle and his team like to engage with past clients to bring in new revenue!

Kyle discusses why you should do a styled shoot if you are a brand new wedding venue.

Kyle shares some of the ways you can enhance SEO for your wedding venue website and increase your organic reach! If you don't have time to learn and do it yourself, schedule a time to discuss how Elevate Revenue Marketing can help you tackle that task!

Kyle talks about how google suspended their GBP for reasons unknown. If you have dealt with this before, let us know so we can get it resolved and help others who might face a similar challenge.

Kyle warns business owners to not click any links that come from someone messaging you saying they are with Facebook or Meta. These are scams and they will hack your account and spend your advertising dollars for their stuff.

Kyle shares some of the secrets behind lead engagement via email and text!

Kyle discusses the best ways to host a great multi-cultural wedding or event!

Kyle discusses how they have cultivated good relationships with various wedding vendors!

Kyle breaks down a recent discovery with his venue team. He shares how they discovered a discrepancy between the two venues and what steps they are taking to fix the problem!

hint: it's data

if you need help tracking your data, check out our Wedding Venue CRM

Kyle tells of a time where they didn't have security cameras in their wedding venue

Kyle breaks down the different expenses that new owners can expect to have and when to expect cashflow to start kicking in.

Kyle shares examples of ways to upsell venue expenses and expand your offerings!

Kyle shares his opinion on why they put the tour form and calendar on their website for leads to schedule from.

Kyle shares one of the ways they will be looking to bring in more business in 2024 and 2025

How you venue looks and smells matter! Kyle discusses how you present your venue shows how you care.

Kyle talks about the importance of repeat business and having good corporate relationships.

How Kyle and his team have optimized their website to lead people to schedule tours!

You can see the website: The Black Oak

Do you have a venue backup incase an act of God keeps you from being able to fulfill an event? Kyle shares why it is good to have cordial relationships with your fellow venue owners in the area.

Have you ever had a wedding rained out and scrambled to save the day? Are you prepared for bad weather?

Kyle breaks down the importance of these key wedding venue marketing metrics. Without knowing these different numbers across your different marketing efforts, it is very difficult to determine where the problem is.

He also discusses CAC or Cost to Acquire a Client and how it shows the efficiency of your marketing dollars.

If you need help with your venue, let's chat! The Venue Coach

Kyle shares the ways they have set up and promoted successful wedding venue open houses.

Consistency is the key to a good business. Kyle discusses how to help ensure more consistency with staff and the tasks they have to accomplish.

Kyle shares some ideas they have been working on for virtual venue tours.

Kyle discusses the best ways he has found to deal with difficult clients!

Kyle talks about the different strategies they use at their venues to come up with pricing!

Kyle shares how wedding planners have impacted his venues for good and for bad.

Kyle discusses how data in business can help you make adjustments that will actually help your business grow.

Kyle shares how to get customer reviews and how those can lead to more business in the long run!

Kyle discusses the benefits of having good relationships with your vendors and how it will directly and indirectly impact your business!

Kyle talks about how he likes to present seasonal offerings to encourage scarcity and urgency

Do you have lots of tours but struggle to get bookings for your wedding venue?

Kyle breaks down how to improve your tours so you can get more bookings! The anatomy of a tour contains 4 parts:

1. Build Rapport

2. Build Value

3. Stay on Topic

4. Ask for the Sale

If you need help improving your wedding venue processes, go here

Click here if you need a wedding venue CRM

Kyle discusses some of the strategies he likes to use and one strategy he is looking at doing in 2024!

Kyle shares some of the personal struggles he faced and lessons learned through the process of acquiring their second wedding venue.

Kyle discusses ways they like to overcome the common objection surrounding the deposit.

Conviction in selling is crucial. How much do you believe that the service you're providing is 5-star? Kyle discusses how to raise conviction in sales.

Kyle shares how he likes to build wedding venue packages that are so good people feel dumb saying no to.

Kyle shares lessons learned from a backed up septic system at their Wedding Venue.

Kyle shares his experience with lenders while getting loans for his wedding venues. He talks about requirements from the lenders and how long it can take from start to signing.

Kyle shares the scorecard that he uses to grade wedding venue tour recordings.

Kyle talks about one of his managers that has a hard time asking couples to book with them at the end of a tour and how to overcome the hesitation.

Kyle discusses the importance of building rapport at the beginning of the tour. Find out what they are looking for so you can tailor your tour to that!

Kyle shares his most recent tour experience and the feeling of anxiety he felt when he forgot to do this one simple thing to secure a booking!

If you need help with your venue sales process, let's talk: The Venue Coach

The interview with Jen continues. Jen shares the difference good communication makes for prospective couples!

Kyle interviews Jen about her experience with touring and picking a venue.

Kyle shares how important it is to present the value of your venue on the tour. It's not enough to just have a laundry list of amenities and features. What will they experience with you and not a competitor?