Candice (00:00.128)

A year is a long time to work with someone you don't like. Today I'm walking you through some of the biggest red flags I think a lot of wedding pros miss when they want the sale and at the expense of their sanity. So if you've ever ignored that little voice in your head that says, girl, maybe this isn't the right client for you, then this episode is a must listen.

You're here to grow a business, but not just any kind of business. You want to grow a profitable business with purpose, a business where you wake up every single day driven to serve your customers and make a difference in your own life. I'm Candace Coppola, published author, business coach, and your guide to building a profitable business with purpose. Join me here every single week as we explore how to build and grow your business with purpose.

Get ready to dig in and have meaningful conversations about the strategies and techniques that will help you build your dream business. This is the power in purpose.

Candice (01:14.328)

Hey there friends, welcome back to the Powered Purpose Podcast. It's me, your host, Candice, and we've got a juicy episode in store for you today. One with a lot of personal lessons and one that I hope leads you into sales season, feeling more empowered to say no to the clients who are not.

the right fit for you. We're diving deep into a topic that most wedding pros don't want to talk about, recognizing when to walk away from a potential client and maybe even an existing client if these red flags rear their ugly head during the process of working with them. And I know we all want to book clients and keep our calendars full, especially after a really strange sale season.

But sometimes a full calendar is not worth it if you're filled with dread every time you see that client's name pop up in your inbox. Raise your hand if this has happened to you. Uh-huh. Ask me how I know, please. So today we're going to talk about those little red flags and sometimes massive walking billboards.

that pop up during the inquiry and consultation stage. And these are ones that often go ignored because we're too focused on closing the deal. I'm going to share with you some real world scenarios too, where you might be tempted to overlook the warning signs so that you can start to recognize them faster. Now, before we dig in,

to all that's to come in this red flag waving episode. I want to share that this episode is sponsored by yours truly, me and my community, The Planner's Playbook, which is now open for enrollment. So if you're a wedding planner listening, please listen up because The Planner's Playbook is my educational community for wedding planners who want to grow their business

Candice (03:21.494)

and also sharpen their skills as a planner. It's got everything you need to grow as a planner and a designer, plus tools and resources focused on business that will help you book more clients, scale your systems, market your business better, and so much more. We've opened the doors, I think for like the first time this year. It's been a while since we opened up enrollment.

So this is a really exciting week. The doors to the Planner's Playbook are open as of today, and they will remain open until November 3rd, and they will close again on the 4th. So you have a short window to join us, but a long enough window for you to make a decision if this program is the right fit for you. And I'd love to just highlight some of the features inside of our community so you can get a sense.

of how I help you build your business. We have lots of features. I'm not gonna talk about them all, but I am just gonna call out a few that I think you should really know about because they are what make the Planner's Playbook so different from other programs. So first things first, you know we're getting together so I can answer your questions. And inside the Planner's Playbook, do that. If you've been a long time podcast listener and you're like, I wish I could just talk to Candice.

This is your chance. So we have our monthly group coaching call where I answer questions from the community. And we also have a new startup power hour coaching call separate from our monthly office hours where I'm answering questions from the community for our startup businesses and people who are really just getting going so that they can ask questions about startup related questions and get my support and help there. So we have two.

coaching calls per month, one focused on the entire community, and then a separate special one from my startup businesses. When you join the Planner's Playbook, you're also going to get access to our four signature courses inside the program. And this is really exciting. If you want to spend the next few months really sharpening up your sales process, you're going to get access to my seven stages of the sales cycle course, which is not available anywhere except inside the Planner's Playbook.

Candice (05:35.8)

You'll also get access to my blogging for bookings course, where I teach you the real simple fundamentals on how you can blog and rank on SEO. I also have a course on Pinterest, helping you understand how to use Pinterest as a visual search engine. So you can just diversify where those leads are coming from. And then finally, our brand new design course for planners is walking you through my exact formula for how to design your weddings.

So these four signature courses are included when you join. And you're also, as a bonus, going to get the Client Cocktail, which is my course for all wedding pros who want to level up their clients and book magazine-worthy weddings. You'll also have new frameworks and tools for your business released to you every single month. I'm very big on releasing practical, step-by-step, easy-to-implement frameworks.

And whenever I can give you a quick win by doing something for you, whether it's a swipe file or a pricing calculator, a spreadsheet, I'm going to make it and I'm going to give it to you. So you get access inside the program to all of that. We also have a private members only podcast. Yeah. So if you are enjoying the power and purpose, imagine getting to listen into our private members only podcast.

In the group, I go live each week, answer a question from the community, and we have that as our podcast episode. So it's a really great feature where you can listen to the Planner's Playbook on the go, consume trainings and all types of content, plus get to hear from me on some of your juicy questions. And then speaking of community, we have a community of over 150 planners at various stages of their business, some brand new and just starting.

while others have been in business for over a decade. And there's so much to learn in community from each other. My favorite is the posts that people make in the community, how they're getting together in person, which was so great to see, and just what these women are accomplishing together in their businesses with the community aspect. Having a successful and profitable, recognized wedding planning business is achievable. And I want to invite you

Candice (07:58.082)

To go learn more about the Planner's Playbook and sign up before we close the doors, you can go to plannersplaybook.com to read all the details on all the amazing things you'll get when you sign up and to learn about pricing and the different membership level tiers we have. So please go and check it out plannersplaybook.com. I'm thrilled to see you there. I cannot wait to get my hands on your business and to teach you everything I know about how to scale and grow your wedding planning business.

Okay, friends, red flags. Let's get into it. I feel like I need to do a disclaimer first. Of course, I'm not trying to pick on anybody and there are always exceptions to the rule. For every red flag that I'll share with you, I've also probably had a very positive experience or you might have as well. So please, this is meant to be fun and informative, but I'm not trying to pick on anybody. And of course, like everything in life,

There are exceptions to the role.

If enough of these red flags pop up in a consultation or in the sales process, I beg of you to please pay attention. So let's start off with the very first red flag. And maybe this is one that you've been seeing more lately. It's overly involved parents. I'm not talking normally involved parents. I'm not even talking normally slightly elevated involved parents. I'm talking about

parents who are basically planning their wedding through their child. When you need money, you might overlook the, won't deal with the parents that much. Meanwhile, you've been dealing with the parents the entire sales process. Meanwhile, spoiler alert, yes, you are going to be dealing with the parents a lot. And if that's not something that you particularly enjoy doing,

Candice (09:56.556)

And if you are not the type of pro who wants to work with overly involved parents, this is a huge red flag that you need to pay attention to. Overly involved parents can really overshadow the couple's wishes. They can cause miscommunication, over communication, redundant communication, add a ton of stress and conflict before you know it. You're the photographer for this event and now suddenly you're involved in a parent-child

and you're trying to mediate an argument and you're thinking to yourself, excuse me, I did not sign up for this. I'm just supposed to be here to document the day. I'm not supposed to be stopping a fist fight.

The biggest scapegoat when something goes wrong between the parents and the couple, if you're the planner or somebody overly involved in the wedding like a planner, is always gonna be you. It's always going to be you. And if parents dominate the conversation and consultations, interrupt to correct the couple or even try to follow up directly with you and sort of talk about, don't tell Candace that I'm following up with you.

that is a red flag. I'm wearing a red shirt for this episode as like the red flag. So you can see what we're talking about. That is a flag as red as my shirt. Okay. If the parents dominate the conversation, if they take control beyond what is normal, that's a red flag. And I encourage you to think about if you want to be involved in that dynamic.

for the length of time that you'll be working with this couple because they're showing you their cards very soon, which is a blessing. Don't be surprised if four months from now you were wanting to tear your hair out and you're even emailing me. And this has happened. And you're like, Candice, I didn't want to post in Planner's playbook, but I wanted to ask you a question about this. And you're asking me what you should do and if you should fire this couple and their parents.

Candice (12:10.38)

So please take this into consideration in the sales process. If you don't wanna be dealing with overly involved, very clingy, overbearing parents, it's probably best that you recognize the signs and let this client hire someone else. The next big red flag is asking to modify or adjust non-negotiables like your photography style, your planning services. Listen, a contract is a two-way street and in entering a contract, a client is entitled to ask

for changes, they're entitled to ask you to clarify pieces of your contract, they're entering into that contract as another willing party. They're entitled to make sure that contract reflects their own interests as well. What I'm talking about is modifying elements of what you do to the point where it compromises the integrity of your services and can even damage your reputation. It can be easy to think, you know what, I can be flexible.

And I encourage you to be flexible. Where is appropriate? But the truth is, is that when couples ask for this, it means that they don't tend to trust your expertise. So if they're pushing against some of the core foundational services you offer or your style or approach to things, that's a big red flag. And it tells me that, first of all, they want to control everything, even the things that are

Quite frankly, they're hiring somebody to do, and that tells me that they don't trust your expertise. And no matter what, this will lead to dissatisfaction and a poor client experience because they don't actually know better. We know that. They don't know that, but they actually don't know better than you. You are the expert. And I've seen it more times than I'd like to count, but you're going to be blamed if you don't follow their lead. And then...

they're actually not happy with the final results either. last year we saw a lot of couples in the driver's seat having way more control. And I think moving forward, this is something that isn't gonna go away. I think that more and more with the internet and people doing their own research and figuring things out on their own, they feel like they come to conversations with a lot of knowledge when in fact they don't.

Candice (14:37.792)

And so this is definitely something we're going to have to combat and we're going to have to have a watchful eye on. And I think how you combat it and position yourself as an expert and push back on the client, their reaction to how you push back is an indication if they're going to be the right fit for you. If their reaction is negative, that's a red flag. If their reaction is positive and they're like, you know what? You're right. We're going to defer to you because you are the expert. I had just saw something on TikTok, but obviously.

That wasn't right. That's a better sign. That's a better sign. So we have to safeguard our services, the integrity of the work we do and our reputation. And if this red flag pops up in the sales process, I want you to guard that with your life. All it takes is one bad client who thinks they know everything, who distrusts you and your expertise to really burn you out and make you want to burn down your business.

The next red flag is they don't value your time. They're late to the consultation. They need several follow ups to take action. Like you're trying to get them on a call. You're following up, following up, following up on the proposal or the contract. It just feels really difficult. That's a red flag. Some follow up is normal. I mean, we have to follow up. People are busy. They get distracted. That's normal. One follow up, two follow up, not a problem.

If you have to follow up four or five times and there's these long gaps, lots of excuses, so sorry, to me, that means that there's a lack of respect for your time and a lack of prioritizing booking you and whatever it is you do for the wedding. And that's a red flag. We all know what it's like to work with couples and vendors who don't get back to us. It is the most frustrating experience. You're basically a babysitter.

for adults, and it sucks. And if someone is frequently rescheduling, is arriving late to meetings, and always has an excuse, I've been so busy, I promise I'll do it tonight, but it never gets done, that's not gonna stop after they buy from you. That's not gonna stop. In fact, it often is a pattern that's continued. And you have to ask yourself, do I wanna work with a client who's not gonna respect my time?

Candice (17:01.922)

and who's not going to respect deadlines. And if you're okay with it, then you just can't be surprised when it gets worse during the planning process. The next red flag is they're overstepping or they're just several steps ahead beyond what feels normal and reasonable, making you feel like you're years behind. Especially as a planner or somebody who is very involved in the process. I'm also thinking about my stationers too. There's nothing that makes you feel worse than feeling like you're constantly behind.

I've been there before. It sucks. It really does. You second guess yourself. You wonder, am I a good planner? Am I a good invitation designer? Am I a good business owner? And it can really get in your head. So while setting clear expectations and deadlines of when to expect things is your job as a business owner, if you're saying I'll send this by Friday and the client is following up Wednesday night,

or Friday at 8 a.m. that's not gonna stop when they hire you. Now they're eager and we have to draw a distinction between being eager and excited and being like just excited to dive in. want that energy over somebody being overbearing and type A to a point that makes you feel uncomfortable or like you're not doing your job.

So sometimes this is just a couple being really anxious or excited. That's good. We want that. And so you have to understand where that line is between being anxious and excited and being somebody who's going to be overstepping and over very far ahead of you, making you feel behind. And what they end up doing is they jump ahead. They're reaching out to vendors without you. They're making decisions without looping you in.

and it causes chaos, then they get angry that you're not doing your job. And I'm putting that in air quotes, because you are doing your job. You're following your process. You're an expert. They're not trusting you to do your job. They're overstepping. And so this is a huge red flag to me and something that you need to be paying attention to, because girl, if it's happening in the console, it's only going to get worse in the client dynamic relationship.

Candice (19:23.702)

It's only going to get worse. Only going to get worse. The next red flag is they're disrespecting your process or your communication style. I've talked in past episodes about how we need to adjust our communication style to get business these days. And I believe that if you haven't listened to that, check out my communicating with Gen Z episode. But that doesn't mean that clients can cross boundaries that are there for.

for several reasons. doesn't mean that they get to do that. And that doesn't mean that you need to just open yourself up to talking to people at all hours of the day or night in any way they see fit. If potential clients are calling and texting outside of office hours or following up in a way that is overstepping your boundaries and you get that little feeling, you get that little feeling in your shoulders where you're like,

they're already annoying you or they're already making you upset and you're already feeling like you need to rush and jump to your computer and you're at dinner with your significant other, that is a red flag. A gentle correction is always a great place to start and if they take to that correction, great, they're probably just eager and excited. But if they don't take to that correction and you can tell that this is gonna be the vibe and it's not the vibe you want,

it's best that you probably don't work with those clients. It's not going to make a good relationship. The next red flag is lack of transparency in finances. And tell me if you've been seeing this recently in your consultations more or less. If clients aren't upfront about their budget, it leads to unrealistic expectations, misunderstandings.

and wasted time on proposals that just don't align with their budget. So the lack of financial transparency in the sales process is a red flag for me. It tells me that either they don't have any understanding of what they want to spend, they haven't taken the time to figure this out, or they're just not going to be forthcoming with important information like their budget, how much they have to spend.

Candice (21:38.828)

And that means they may not be forthcoming with other information that's pertinent to you doing your job. It can be hard to give a number. And I think we all give people grace, which is why we try to educate in the sales process what they can expect to spend on stationery, on flowers, on planning, on photography. But being uncomfortable around money talk is different than being completely unwilling to give a number, like completely unwilling to put it out there.

It also tells me that they might mistrust you a little bit, or for some reason they don't feel like they can trust vendors with this information. Maybe TikTok's gotten in their head and told them that the price increases as soon as they say wedding, which is so ridiculous. So some red flags are, still figuring it out, and they're just not able to commit to any kind of baseline number. Those to me are some red flags. Lack of financial transparency is very important.

And no matter your role in the wedding industry, you need to understand maybe not their entire budget, but what they would like to spend with a vendor like you so you can make sure to guide them in the right direction, even if that direction is with someone else. The next red flag is a very unclear vision. This often means that they haven't really thought about what they want. And it could mean that there's going to be some frequent changes.

in the process, a lot of discussion at length, flip-flopping back and forth in decision analysis paralysis. And for you, whether you're the designer or whether you're the photographer, it just means your workload is going to be so increased. Not everybody is going to be decisive. And it's not that we're looking for people who are so decisive. They know everything they want. I'm talking about folks who are just really cannot make decisions. That's a red flag.

It's going to... That behavior is going to be the behavior in the process of working with you. People just don't tend to pay thousands of dollars when they don't know what they want. Most of us just don't tend to throw money at things we don't want or know what we want or understand.

Candice (23:55.56)

While it's normal to not be able to articulate exactly what you're looking for, especially in the early stages, it should correspond with the majority of couples who have an idea, they're excited, they have a sense, they're willing to listen, they're asking questions. It should fall in line with that. People who are completely indecisive or lack any kind of vision, I personally think it's a red flag.

The next is obviously price shopping, but not just price shopping of doing their due diligence and researching multiple vendors in a category, which they should do and they're going to do. The days of just finding the best online and just going with that one person or over, people are definitely looking around. But price shopping is more about getting you to shop down your price. They're asking you questions like, tell us what makes you different.

Which is such a weird question, honestly, in a consultation. I mean, you should be able to answer it. usually, when somebody says that to you, feels, I have to tell you, it feels gross. There's sort of this superiority, I think, people have when they ask that question. They feel sort of superior to you in a way.

And also, how you answer it, I guess, depends on what they're looking for. There's just so many things, right? There's so many ways you could answer that question. I you should be able to understand what makes you different in the marketplace. But it is such a weird question to ask. And also, when they bring up the price of other people, like this person is cheaper, or is that the final price, or can you price match? If you're not in the business of doing that, and that is not...

the norm in your area and it's not the norm in your industry, of the wedding industry, that is obviously a red flag. And I think the reason why it's a red flag is not that they're asking for you to adjust the price. It's because the person isn't necessarily interested in you. They want the best value. They want the best price. They're not picking you because of what makes you different. That elevator pitch that you worked so hard on and hired a copywriter.

Candice (26:15.896)

to help you figure out. They're not purchasing you because your work, your personality, they don't want you. They want the best price. And somebody who is focused on price over everything else is honestly somebody who you probably want to walk away from, unless those are your ideal clients. And if you are in a position where you're working with this person and you're recommending other vendors like a planner, they're going to...

mentality is going to be for every single interaction, that is exhausting. Huge red flag. Huge. The last red flag, and I maybe saved the best for last, is a super long timeline. This is not always necessarily a red flag as the disclaimer that I gave early on in the episode, but a long planning experience may not be the best experience.

A long, drawn out, two-year planning experience may not be the best experience. And as a business owner, you need to be really focused on providing a great experience for your client. And sometimes that means doing things differently than what they want or expect because it's in their best interest. And while booking ahead is fine, a super long timeline

and that will be very subjective to you in your business, is going to cause you to do more work. There's just no if, ands or buts about it. And so it might be worth booking clients only at certain stages or having a certain window of time that you begin booking clients based on your experience and how far in advance you want to book out. Also from a business perspective, if somebody's booking you two years out,

What about your... I mean, you don't know where you're going to be in two years. You don't know what kind of clients you're going to be wanting to book, what your packages or services might be. And it feels kind of dangerous to book so far out in advance and then be beholden to an old way of doing things, potentially a contract that no longer exists and a price that might be well underneath what you are charging in two years. So from a business perspective, it can be kind of dangerous.

Candice (28:42.124)

I suggest that you decide when your booking will begin for weddings based on what you do. And then obviously there are always exceptions to the rules so you can feel that out and feel out the couple and see how things are, the dynamic. But a super long timeline, especially in the wedding planning world, is a red flag. And what ends up happening is you just go round and round and round. They make decisions. They have enough time to change their mind.

So let's just use design as an example. You create a design, it's all let's go. And then six months later, they're like, we wanna change our mind. We wanna do things differently. You've gotta start from scratch. And it can be kind of difficult having the conversation of making changes with the client and how to bill for those changes. It just leads to a lot of difficult conversations that are no fun. So those are our walking red flags.

Let's wrap up today's episode. I hope this gave you some clarity on the red flags to watch out for when you're booking your clients. Remember, your sanity and your peace of mind are worth more than any contract. The right clients will value your expertise, respect your boundaries, and trust your process. Above all, trust your gut. I talked about your gut this month and why you should be trusting your gut more.

in your business. Trust your gut. And remember, clients are entitled to ask. They're just not entitled to get what they ask for. Your peace of mind and your sanity deserves to be protected. This industry that we work in is not easy. It's not for the faint of heart. It's challenging. There's so many dynamics that you have to navigate, and you deserve to have as much peace as possible in your business with your clients.

If today's episode resonated with you and you're looking for more support on how to navigate tricky clients and grow your business, I want to remind you that the doors are open to the Planner's Playbook right now. Inside, you'll get access to actionable strategies, trainings, office hours, and the community that has your back. And the next time you're in a consultation and you're like, is this a red flag? All you have to do is come to the community and

Candice (31:06.094)

Ask us and we'll tell you. All right, friend. Thanks for tuning in to today's episode. I hope to see you in the Planner's Playbook if you're a planner. And I want to remind you, there's so much power in your purpose. Until next time. Thanks so much for tuning in to this week's episode of the Power in Purpose podcast. If you enjoyed the show, be sure to subscribe so you never miss an episode and consider leaving a review.

Head over to powerinpurposepodcast.com to access all of the resources and links mentioned in today's episode. That's powerinpurposepodcast.com. I'll see you next time.