Wedding Bookings - Two couples looking at the same date

Mark1616 · June 15, 2011

Hi all, I'm after a little advice. This is the first time I've had this situation arise, there are two couples considering my services for the same date and I want to know how you would play it.

The situation so far is one couple contacted me on Monday and we have a meeting arranged for Thurs, the other couple got in touch Tuesday and so far I've said that I have a couple meeting me on Thurs to discuss this date. The 2nd couple are still keen and have said they would like to meet if the first couple don't book.

Obviously I want to ensure I get one booking for this date and not do anything that might mean I don't get either (well unless they both don't like me or my work).

How would you tell the first couple that there is another couple looking at the date, would you meet the 2nd couple while the first ones are thinking, would you set a time limit for decision, would you just say first to book gets me, or anything else?

HELP!!!!

Thanks,

Mark

wave01 · June 15, 2011

Hi heres my take couple one I would meet and not mention anything at this time looks like you could be trying to pressure them. Second couple be up front honest meet them and say if they want you then it cann only happen if couple one does not proceed. I would give couple one a time scale to say yes or no.

DWS · June 15, 2011

A nice "problem" to have. Unless the 1st couple desires to sign a contract when we meet, I would meet with both couples in as close a time frame as possible. After having met with both, the 1st signed contract and retainer gets my services.

mmmatt · June 15, 2011

Use the other couple as a "close" and I wouldn't have told the 2nd couple about the first yet. Schedule both meetings. This is assuming you don't have a preference... If one was a more $$ contract or a more high exposure venue or client I would try to get that client, but assuming no preferance I would schedule both and meet with the first. If at the end of the meeting, if they aren't ready to sign, tell them about the other meeting and that will likely get them to put pen to paper, if not then whatever they say, tell them that they can still think about it and you will follow up with them in a few days or a week. Same thing with the next client but I would start the meeting off by telling them that you just had another meeting about their date and the client is thinking about it. Do your presentation and then remind them of the other client if they are unwilling to sign. Use the 2 clients to your advantage to cause a sense of urgency... salesman 101. If neither sign at their meeting, and still assuming no preference, then follow up with both a few days or a week later to let them know the date is still open and "you really feel a connection with them" and hope that theirs is the wedding you shoot and you would like to book them before the other client calls back.

Matt

Good luck!

ssimmonsphoto · June 15, 2011

My policy from day one has been that the first one to contact me gets to decline before I proceed with the second. I also give about a week from the second contact for the first to book or else I proceed with the second. I say all this, but it bit me in the butt this year for a 2012 couple. During that week it took me to hear back, the second had moved forward with someone else. And the first says they are likely going with a family friend. That week sucked for me.

However, I have also been on the beneficial end when a photographer doesn't even WARN the first bride that they have another inquiry. A bride my first year in business literally had a check made out and called the photographer to verify the shipping address. Then the photographer said sorry and that she had just received another couple's contract. The photographer told her that she didn't think the second couple was serious at all. In the end, the bride wound up booking with me, so it worked for me. But she was very mad about how it all happened.

sellis · June 15, 2011

This has happened to me five times and four times I've made the mistake of telling the couples about the other and NOT BOOKED EITHER COUPLE. When I didnt tell the initial couple and booked another before we had a chance to meet, they werent happy but it's business.
I think the couples I told thought I was making a sales pitch. I just tell everyone that only a contract and deposit book the date.

heatherfeather · June 16, 2011

ssimmonsphoto wrote: »

However, I have also been on the beneficial end when a photographer doesn't even WARN the first bride that they have another inquiry. A bride my first year in business literally had a check made out and called the photographer to verify the shipping address. Then the photographer said sorry and that she had just received another couple's contract. The photographer told her that she didn't think the second couple was serious at all. In the end, the bride wound up booking with me, so it worked for me. But she was very mad about how it all happened.

The other side of that coin is a situation I had last year.... I met with the couple, they lived on an Aleutian Island and were only in town very infrequently. Anyway. They took the contract home with them and said they were going to mail it the next week. A sure thing, right? I contact her a couple weeks later... still going to mail it.... still planning on using me.... but nothing comes in the mail. A full 3 months later, out of the blue I get a contract in the mail with the retainer. No phone call letting me know it was headed my way... no email, nothing. Oh goodness, that was a scary 20 minutes until I figured out it was still available, especially since it was a destination wedding in the middle of a busy wedding season.

That being said, I always tell my brides: First signed contract and retainer in my hand gets the day. And I am up front if I have other couples interested in the day.

Mark1616 · June 16, 2011

Thanks a lot everyone for helping out. I had already let the 2nd couple know what was going on as initially wasn't going to arrange to meet them until I had met the 1st couple. I have decided to arrange to meet the 2nd couple, unless the 1st book me straight away and then first come first served. I haven't decided if I will tell the 1st couple or not that I'm meeting another couple for the same date as I'm concerned that I might look like the pressure sales guy. Obviously if I don't tell them I will make it clear that the date is available until there is a contract and deposit.

Thanks again, Mark

Matthew Saville · June 16, 2011

Mark1616 wrote: »

Thanks a lot everyone for helping out. I had already let the 2nd couple know what was going on as initially wasn't going to arrange to meet them until I had met the 1st couple. I have decided to arrange to meet the 2nd couple, unless the 1st book me straight away and then first come first served. I haven't decided if I will tell the 1st couple or not that I'm meeting another couple for the same date as I'm concerned that I might look like the pressure sales guy. Obviously if I don't tell them I will make it clear that the date is available until there is a contract and deposit.

Thanks again, Mark

Whenever this happens, and NEITHER client has paid or even consulted yet, I do immediately email BOTH clients and let them know that "I'm getting other inquiries for that time of year, and have at least one inquiry for this exact date now"... I tell them specifically that I do NOT want them to feel "pressured to pay", but I just feel like I should give them fair warning.

Of course, that is IF I have the time to do so. Certain times of year, I'm honestly just so dang busy that I can't afford to go calling / emailing every single inquiry 3-5 times to check up on them and warn them about every double-inquiry. I just reply to each client and ask for a consultation, follow up on the phone a few days later, and that's *all* I make time for...

Anyways, every client has always been extremely grateful for me simply "giving them fair warning".

=Matt=

ssimmonsphoto · June 16, 2011

heatherfeather wrote: »

The other side of that coin is a situation I had last year.... I met with the couple, they lived on an Aleutian Island and were only in town very infrequently. Anyway. They took the contract home with them and said they were going to mail it the next week. A sure thing, right? I contact her a couple weeks later... still going to mail it.... still planning on using me.... but nothing comes in the mail. A full 3 months later, out of the blue I get a contract in the mail with the retainer. No phone call letting me know it was headed my way... no email, nothing. Oh goodness, that was a scary 20 minutes until I figured out it was still available, especially since it was a destination wedding in the middle of a busy wedding season.

That being said, I always tell my brides: First signed contract and retainer in my hand gets the day. And I am up front if I have other couples interested in the day.

That's why I give them a deadline, typically one week, and after that their date is fair game for other couples and I cannot hold it for them. If I'm still available, great! But I'll return their check after calling them if I am already booked.

Matthew Saville · June 20, 2011

ssimmonsphoto wrote: »

That's why I give them a deadline, typically one week, and after that their date is fair game for other couples and I cannot hold it for them. If I'm still available, great! But I'll return their check after calling them if I am already booked.

So that means if one client inquires and you give them a week to decide, and then another client inquires, you'd make them *wait* till that week is up before allowing them to book?

It may never become an issue, but you may lose a booking this way, if client #2 ever books another photographer within that week, and then client #1 decides to back out as well. Just something to consider...

=Matt=

ssimmonsphoto · June 20, 2011

Matthew Saville wrote: »

So that means if one client inquires and you give them a week to decide, and then another client inquires, you'd make them *wait* till that week is up before allowing them to book?

It may never become an issue, but you may lose a booking this way, if client #2 ever books another photographer within that week, and then client #1 decides to back out as well. Just something to consider...

=Matt=

Unfortunately, it has happened to me once and it was this spring. It stunk, but it also meant that I didn't wind up with contracts and checks from both at the same time that I had to deal with. For me, this is my "self supporting hobby", so my husband isn't disappointed if it means he gets to see me one weekend during the summer. It was for a 2012 wedding, so I'm fairly certain I'll book the date in the end anyways. This is just what has worked for me and for my clients since they don't feel rushed or pressured.

Shima · June 20, 2011

I let them know up front if I have anyone else interested, but as others have said, point out that I'm not trying to pressure them just that I want them to be fully aware that they're not the only one asking about their date so that if the other person does decide to jump on it and sign a contract faster, they will know why I didn't let them book me in the end.

ssimmonsphoto · June 20, 2011

Shima wrote: »

I let them know up front if I have anyone else interested, but as others have said, point out that I'm not trying to pressure them just that I want them to be fully aware that they're not the only one asking about their date so that if the other person does decide to jump on it and sign a contract faster, they will know why I didn't let them book me in the end.

I will likely wind up adjusting my "policy" after the thinking this conversation has provoked. I don't want to be pushy, which is why I've done what I have for the past three years. But now I'm to the point that people are contacting/booking far enough out that I sort of have to be pushy. Light dawns on marblehead.

WillCAD · June 20, 2011

Mark, do you know yet whether either will be an all-day event? Is there some possibility that you could shoot both, if the times do not overlap? I know that's a very unlikely scenario, but it's worth asking about, just in case.

heatherfeather wrote: »

The other side of that coin is a situation I had last year.... I met with the couple, they lived on an Aleutian Island and were only in town very infrequently. Anyway. They took the contract home with them and said they were going to mail it the next week. A sure thing, right? I contact her a couple weeks later... still going to mail it.... still planning on using me.... but nothing comes in the mail. A full 3 months later, out of the blue I get a contract in the mail with the retainer. No phone call letting me know it was headed my way... no email, nothing. Oh goodness, that was a scary 20 minutes until I figured out it was still available, especially since it was a destination wedding in the middle of a busy wedding season.

That being said, I always tell my brides: First signed contract and retainer in my hand gets the day. And I am up front if I have other couples interested in the day.

A friend of mine was in a similar situation once.

He met with a potential, but they didn't seem terribly enthused; he was pretty sure he wasn't going to get the booking. He made sure to tell them that he would only hold the date for them for X days (I forget what his policy is).

Over 3 months went by, far more than the time he promissed to hold the date for the first couple, and he met with another couple, who signed a contract and gave him a retainer on the spot.

Two weeks before the date, he got a check in the mail. No letter, no contract, no explanation of who had sent it or for what. It took him a while to compare the name on the check to his records and realize that it was from couple #1, and they had sent him the full amount for the package they wanted (his cheapest bare-bones package). He called them and explained that he had already booked the date, and they seemed to take it in stride, but he suspected that either they had been shopping around for a cheaper photographer and couldn't find one, or they forgot about the whole thing until two weeks before their wedding and thought they could slip in a last-minute booking without paying the last-minute premium.

FedererPhoto · June 21, 2011

Be honest with both - not in a pressure way, just let them know - and take the first person that gives you a retainer.

mmmatt · June 30, 2011

Just had this happen to me. Couple 1 was waffling but they were friends and I offered a discount so I was torn as to which I wanted. Couple 2 saw my old pricing before they called and then said we will get back to you when I gave the the increase number. A couple days after talking to couple 2 I remembered 1, who is a friend but was definately told they didn't have the date until I had a check... I never offered any first right of refusal or "I'll call you if someone else inquires", just ended my last email with "Please keep in mind that you are not on the books until I have a signed contract and retainer".

So it had been a couple days since I talked to couple 2, and I called back and got her voice mail. I said "please call me back today or I am going to meet with another couple" This is the first they heard of couple 1. They didn't call back, so I emailed couple 1 and said someone else want to talk about your date. They said lets get together tomorrow and we signed them up last Saturday. Today I get a call from couple 2 saying "we should have called you back sooner. I'm so sorry and PLEASE call me back right away if the other client didn't book." So today I call back to say I'm booked. Between the discount I gave couple 1 and the price increase I was going to hit couple 2 with, I lost $1000 on the deal, but I get to do a friends daughters wedding where I will know most everyone so there is pleasure in that also. They also understand that I am giving them a great discount and these are the kind of people who appreciate things like that.

Just thought I would drop a real life scenario in the thread. The end result is that I have a gig booked for that date and that is the most important thing.

Wedding Bookings - Two couples looking at the same date

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