One of my favourite sayings is ‘you don’t know what you don’t know’ and I always try to apply this to furthering my education within the event industry. I often laugh at the entertainers and DJs who say on online forums such phrases as, “I don’t need to go to conferences, I am confident with my skill set” and “I think I’ve learnt all I need to know when it comes to DJing”. It’s funny, it’s often the same people who will then be complaining about not having enough work or potential customers not being willing to pay a high fee!

The truth is there will always be someone better than you and someone who is getting more money. So here is my question for you: are you going to complain about it, or take action to get better at what you do? The fact that you are reading this right now, means that you are probably committed to learning and furthering your business. You want to learn more and become more.

Here’s the thing, we want our clients to spend more money with us so we have to educate them on our value. Clients too ‘don’t know what they don’t know’! I am constantly learning from other wedding and event professionals about how to sell myself and create connections with potential customers. From this I have distilled the three things that I think we need to do to fill the void (the gap between our worth and our customers’ understanding): create trust, have a compelling USP (unique selling proposition) and convey value.

Creating trust is the first key to connecting with our potential clients. I am often looking for connection and trust in the people I choose to hire to help me. When it came to my dentist, it was someone I already knew and trusted. When it came to my financial advisor, it was someone I knew through networking and began to trust over time who eventually I hired. When it came to deciding which business coach to use, it was someone I knew who gave me value without asking for money first. These are people who gave me valuable knowledge, advice and time, which built trust, before asking for the sale. In fact, most of the time they never even asked for the sale. I went to them!