"Price Shoppers": Worth Pursuing, or Waste of Time?

I have a confession: I’m always a little concerned when a wedding vendor tells me – usually with great conviction – that he or she “doesn’t waste time with price shoppers.” (By “price shoppers,” the vendor means brides or grooms who begin a conversation by asking the price of the vendor’s service.)

Make no mistake, unless you are competing primarily on price, I don’t think you should invest a lot of time in trying to sell people who are looking only for the cheapest option. But, the question is, does the mere fact that a bride asked about your pricing confirm she’s primarily concerned with price? I don’t think so!

Shopping for a wedding is a new experience for most of your brides and grooms. Most of them have no idea how much it will cost to get what they want – or even, in many cases, what they should want. Many brides and grooms may start with price, therefore, simply because they don’t know what else they should be asking.

Consider the last time you made a major purchase that required a lot of learning on your part – say, a car, a computer, a piece of expensive sporting equipment. Did you end up spending more than you thought you would, once you found out the options you should be considering, and why they would be important to your overall enjoyment of and satisfaction with the product?

This process of learning what things cost – and expanding the budget to accommodate what you learn you want – happens for brides and grooms, too. Especially for services that may be completely foreign to or misunderstood by people who’ve never purchased them before – e.g., DJ services, photography, videography, custom gown design, etc. The vendor who takes the time to explain the benefits of going with a more experienced pro (or the risks of the reverse!) has a better shot of both creating an educated customer who is willing to pay more AND closing an attractive piece of business.