Maximizing Aisle Planner's Project Management and Sales Tools with Sara Kincaid

Unlock the secrets to a seamlessly orchestrated wedding with our special guest Sarah, an expert in Isle Planner, the all-in-one CRM, sales, and project management tool for wedding professionals. This episode is a treasure trove of insights for anyone keen on elevating their event planning business. Sarah guides us through the robust features of Isle Planner, highlighting its customizable client-facing features like checklists and timelines, which are invaluable in keeping both planners and clients in perfect harmony throughout the event planning journey.

Ever wondered how top wedding professionals stay ahead of the curve? Our discussion with Sarah unveils the strategic prowess behind Isle Planner's contact management and budgeting tools. Discover the magic of color-coded status indicators, vendor categorization that streamlines selection and coordination, and a budgeting tool that fosters transparency and helps in managing client expectations. These innovative features are not just about keeping things organized; they're about making every penny of the client's budget work harder while simplifying financial conversations.

Wrapping up, Sarah offers her seasoned advice for budding entrepreneurs in the wedding industry, emphasizing the importance of infusing one's brand voice into their chosen technology. We also get a peek at Isle Planner's latest advancements, like their RSVP tool and wedding website functionality, designed to enhance guest experience and streamline guest management. And for those looking to stay ahead in the competitive world of event planning, don't miss out on the special discount for Isle Planner, ensuring you have the tools to thrive in the industry. Join us and let Sarah's expertise help you transform your approach to wedding planning.

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:23

I know most wedding planners will know about Isle Planner. If they're not using it. They definitely would have come across it at some point. In my opinion, it's the world's leading platform for wedding planners, especially when it comes to client collaboration and managing all your tasks when you're organizing a wedding. However, it's not just for wedding planners, it's also for venues. However, it's not just for wedding planners, it's also for venues and, as Sarah's going to tell us today, it's actually a great tool for most kind of wedding professionals even you, ben, as a wedding photographer.

Speaker 2: 0:57

And I have no idea about our planner, so I'm just here to make you look good.

Speaker 1: 1:04

You know what, though, you are going to learn? A lot today because there's so much to this platform. It is such an incredible tool. So, without further ado, I think we better bring in the experts so we can get up to speed For you. What is Isle Planner For me? I want to know how we can use it better and these exciting new features that are on their way shortly. So, Sarah, we'd love to welcome you to Wedding Empires. How are you?

Speaker 3: 1:30

shortly. So, sarah, we'd love to welcome you to Wedding Empires. How are you? I am great. How are you guys Welcome? Oh yeah, it's great to see you on the other side of literally the world. Yeah it's great to be here. Thank you for having me.

Speaker 2: 1:41

I know absolutely nothing about Isle Planner. What is Isle Planner? What does it do? Tell us everything.

Speaker 3: 1:48

Absolutely so. Io Planner is an event CRM, sales management, project management platform for event professionals built out of necessity. The founder is an ex-luxury planner. Her husband was in event production and had a large scale corporate type planning. So the platform was built with the intent to create an all in one opportunity for event pros to do everything that they needed to do through the entire cycle, from the day they interact with the client the first time until the event or date of the event. So you've got your full CRM sales platform which takes you through lead intake, lead management, quoting, invoicing, contract management, payments everything that you need to do from the sales side. And then, once a client has booked with you, you can move them into project management and within the project management tool suite, we have everything from your standard checklist to keep you on task, to keep your clients on task.

Speaker 3: 2:46

It is a client facing portal when you get to the project management side. So not only is it you and your team working within the portal, but you can invite your client in as well, with permissions, of course, so you can make sure that they see only what you want them to see and have access to what you want them to have access to, but within that you have your checklist, which really works for all pros. You also have timeline management, layout, guest list, seating chart, budget management. We have a notes area, which is kind of like a Google Drive, but somewhere where you can store all of your documents for your clients, whether they be read only or that you want them to actually interact with and fill out.

Speaker 3: 3:29

We also have a vendor management area where you can input all of your contacts for that particular event, upload documents underneath of their folder, including pictures, their COI, et cetera, and then a design studio, and the design studio is where you can collaborate on inspiration for the event. So, as a photographer, you could upload, say you, the event or that couple is getting married at a certain venue that you work at. Often you might have a fly box of images for that particular venue so you know where the sunset photos are epic in the winter versus the summer, things like that. So you can have that. You can also talk about different inspiration places for them to shoot, kind of do run-up lists as far as like what their key ideas for, like what photos they want to get with their family, with their friends, major aspects and things that we want to make sure that we keep concise and that we're able to collaborate on during the actual planning process.

Speaker 1: 4:26

I think that's interesting to note in that, yes, me as a wedding planner, I would probably go in there and turn on every tab, but you have the ability to limit that and it's it's important to note that you can switch on and off. So, as a photographer, it might be important to you to do your checklist and send that to the client. Let's let's talk about the checklist, because that that is is something that you've got some great templates that come with our planner that are sort of typical every single step that you might need to do for planning a wedding. But you can also make your own templates depending on the needs of your business and the various packages that you offer and whatnot. Let's talk about the checklist and what's possible with the checklist, because I think even for those of us who use it, there's so much more that we could be using with it.

Speaker 3: 5:14

Yeah, so in my opinion, the checklist is probably your most valuable feature. The checklist is really where you are doing a brain dump of your entire process that you do within your organization. It is I call it your brain, your business on IELTS planner. So you are doing a data dump, a brain dump of everything that happens from the minute you start working with a client to the event date. Now that includes not only tasks for yourself, but tasks for your team as well as tasks for the client. So you are creating an entire run of show for a three month, six month, nine month, 18 month period of time, and the system is going to then keep you on track. It's going to let you know what needs to happen when, what is coming up next, where you are in the planning process, and really the big value of that is that it allows you to stop trying to keep all of that information in your head. You're working with, at any given time, somewhere between three and four to up to 10, 15, especially for photographers and DJs and venues you know, couples at a time, and if you are trying to keep all of that organized in your head and I know I know we all think we're really, really good at it and that we've got it on lock, but like it just allows you to stop using that brain space for all of those to do's and all of that running task list and checklist that you have in your head, so that you can use it for creative ideas or for expanding your business or for whatever it happened to be I don't hanging out with friends and actually remembering their birthdays, right, so like it's. It's that type of that is what the checklist is for. Now, within that checklist, you have a lot of opportunity to manipulate it how you want. You can set due dates or you can set general timeframes you can add into.

Speaker 3: 7:00

I always recommend, when you're creating that checklist, be as detailed and thorough as humanly possible. Your goal not to be morbid, but if you were not here tomorrow, someone should be able to open up your aisle planner account, read through your checklist items and know exactly how to finish executing that event. So every detail should be in there. Same for, like your client, if you're putting a checklist in there or a checklist item in there for your client say, obtain wedding, marriage license or something like that. Or if you're a destination planner, make sure we've got flights in play or we've got hotels booked, et cetera, when blocks do expire. So put all of that detail in there. Put the local magistrate or the local courthouse, email, phone number, address, hours of operation. Put it all in there so that the client doesn't have to come back to you and say, hey, you said it's time to do to get my marriage certificate.

Speaker 3: 7:52

What does that mean? Where do I go? What do I do? How do I find it Right? The goal is to keep the communication and still be very active together in planning the event, but remove the back and forth conversation. It's like to give you both more bandwidth, to be able to do more and work more and not have to get the emails when we've all get them like, hey, where are we? What's up? What are we doing? What can I help with? Where are we in this process? You know what's next. So we're taking all of that away so that we can plan better, so that we can both plan smarter and so that we can be really cognizant of each other's time so two things, well, a couple of things that I did as a wedding planner, using our planner religiously.

Speaker 1: 8:35

I would send them the access to our planner and I would have this very detailed email and I would say absolutely, your first step is to go to the checklist and you're going to be faced with this really, really long list and I want you both to get a bottle of wine. You got to commit to to being looking at this thing for a while, but remove anything that's not relevant or that you've already done, because we would quite often sort of not come right at the beginning of the piece.

Speaker 1: 9:01

Right, we would come after the venue or whatever, or there's there's some religious considerations for in there that don't apply to this particular couple.

Speaker 1: 9:10

So I would say, before you do anything yes, it looks like 400 items, it probably is 400 items, but go through and bin anything that's not relevant or that you've already done and at that point also, I would do some detail around. If you're not the kind of person that's going to log in and look at your list, then assign a date to all of those items. It's going to give you a recommendation of you know it should be four months out, five months out, whatever but if you assign a physical date, you're going to get an email reminder on that date, and not only that, you could also subscribe to the calendar. So so there's a few options out there. Some people are are the kind of person that every Sunday I'm going to work on my wedding and I'm going to log into our planner and work down my list, and that's fine. The capabilities are there for that. But for the people who aren't and need that email or need to see the calendar reminder pop up on their phone, I love that there's those three options there for the checklist.

Speaker 3: 10:05

Absolutely, and if you are a full planner, I will often recommend, because there is such thing as like analysis, paralysis and like too much information at once. Right?

Speaker 2: 10:15

So that's me, that's me.

Speaker 3: 10:18

When you're creating your templates and, as Jack said earlier, you can create as many templates as you want and I highly recommend it I recommend that you create the most all encompassing one first that becomes your actual like template for your company and then you copy it like carbon copy it and whittle it down for different types of events. So, obviously, full planning is going to be different from partial. It's going to be different from coordination. It's going to be different from a social event. If you're doing a bridal shower, you're doing a birthday party or you're doing a celebration of life, so you're going to want a different checklist for each of those. Within that checklist, when you're creating the template, you can create something called a pre-assignment. It's just a little notation that tells you who you're going to assign it to.

Speaker 3: 10:56

When it comes to actually creating the project out, right, I will often say, if it's a really, really robust checklist, label client one, client two, client three and then actually put in your personal checklist release client one items, release client two items and release client three items at different points within that planning process and that way, that day when you're onboarding, you're only giving them the tasks that are, you know, really the 10 to six month out.

Speaker 3: 11:24

You know tasks, and then at the six month you're releasing. Six months to three months, and then finally the three three months to event date and few things. One we're squirrel. We like to look forward. There are things that are more fun to do. It's usually the things that are a little bit closer to the event date and people will skip ahead and ignore these like not as fun, like long-term aspects. So it's a way to keep your client a little bit more focused still. Give them a nice list of things that they're going to be responsible for, but not the entire, especially if we are with a 12 or 18 month out client. That could get really, really cumbersome and really overwhelming for them.

Speaker 1: 12:01

So that's a great way to do it as well, I think that the contacts tab is another favourite area of mine. I had a business and we all had this shared black book. Okay, right.

Speaker 1: 12:13

We did and it was in various locations in Australia, so we got creative when it came to using the tags you know.

Speaker 1: 12:18

So we'd have Floris Brisbane, floris Melbourne, you know tag like that so people could start from scratch and go I'm in Melbourne, who have I got you know, and do them all that way.

Speaker 1: 12:27

There's some cool things that you can do like that. But a nice touch also is when, as a wedding planner, when you're, you know, taking that intake for your clients is asking them who they've already booked, and then when you get them into our planner and show them that contacts tab, I'm already there as the planner, the venue's already there, I've gone the photographer and put all those details in there and just encourage them that that's how it should look and and you know that they're, I know that they're color-coded if they're under consideration or if they're confirmed, but nurturing that from the beginning and that this is where we put this stuff and you know if it's me, it's the planner that's booking all the vendors or if it's the client, because you know there's, there are those packages out there where it's the client who's going and doing that, and this becomes really a key communication tool in terms of what are they doing ahead of this event that I'm working on, so I think it's so important early on to encourage that.

Speaker 1: 13:29

Use that, because when it comes time to assigning those tasks and it's so much easier if they're already in there to be able to assign oh, we've booked the photographer right. I'm going to say it's the planner question number one. When sunset photographer wants to know that, let's put that into you know, and we can tag him and whatnot. So I think I think the contacts tabs really really key as well. Yeah, I think putting putting together two at the end. I mean it's important in the beginning these two tools together. But in my final meeting as a planner, the client has done her whole wedding and she's just booked us for day of, or we've done everything. That final meeting we're going to sit down and we're going to blow by blow go through these tasks and we're going to make sure that there's either a person attached to each of them and that person better bloody be in the contacts tab because I need their phone number and I need their email at least.

Speaker 1: 14:23

So those things are important in the beginning, definitely in terms of walking you through the process and kicking off the task, but also in the last few days and weeks where you're pulling everything together, it becomes a really complex and detailed document.

Speaker 3: 14:39

And I think you know, one of the things that we haven't mentioned yet is within the comment, or sorry, within the checklist, within the comments, within a few other places within the platform, including the design studio, you can make comments too, so you can actually have a running dialogue with a client about that particular vendor, about that specific checklist item. So what I call that micro level communication versus macro level communication, which would be like an email or like a general chat or like text stream, where that's just general communication. But if it's about something very specific that you're going to need to be able to reference back to, that's where you absolutely want to make sure that you have it in a running comment on the platform so that you all and anybody in your organization if it's not you who's running the event, say you were the person who took it over, but there's someone else who's actually going to be executing it day of. You need to make sure that they can see all of those running comments as well and like and I think this is kind of clean up the checklist, but you had mentioned having an email and kind of a getting to know IELTS planner and a overview for your clients, which is absolutely necessary.

Speaker 3: 15:45

As any pro knows, when you get into the system there's a lot. There's a lot you can do. It's a very robust system and it can definitely be overwhelming for the client. Not only can you do that, but remember that within your checklist items, at the very first one, you can put review aisle planner platform and you can put a link right in there. That's maybe a loom video, that's a 10 minute. Hey, this is Jack, your wedding planner, and I'm going to show you how to use aisle planner and what you need to do. A lot of times that visual is a lot easier for someone to understand than to like run through. But then you could also attach a checklist right there. Right, that is in your notes. That's an automatic note that was saved in your templates and so you're linking back to a note that you've already put in their project. That's a checklist of how to get started to make sure the client knows exactly what they need to do to be set up for success.

Speaker 1: 17:52

I used to do it in my first meeting. I would open up our planner and like give them the tour, but I think it was just too much. It was too much to take in one meeting. So yeah, I think you're right. I think the last format that we had in that email was a loom, and then we would say this is the checklist. In that hyperlink to the checklist we would change that and it would go to that particular client's checklist, so it would just take them straight there.

Speaker 3: 18:16

And so you don't even need to do the email. You could literally put it in the comments and the checklist item and then it's like right there for them to go click, click, watch it straight from the platform. But it's a great way to utilize it as well and just another way to think outside the box on how to utilize it. Yeah.

Speaker 2: 18:29

A video would definitely help someone like me.

Speaker 3: 18:32

There's visual, there's audible, and then there are people who and then there's me.

Speaker 1: 18:38

Sarah, tell me about the expense tracking. I think that's another really cool tool, Whether it's the client managing their own wedding budget or whether you're, as the planner, managing their budget. Such a cool tool. Can you talk us through the features and how that works?

Speaker 3: 18:51

Absolutely so. Yeah, I mean, especially when we're talking about weddings and being a wedding pro it is a large purchase for the client it is very it is.

Speaker 3: 19:02

Money is always a sensitive topic and it's something that you want to be very respectful of. It's clearly it's not usually the pro blowing the budget, it is the client who's saying more and more and more. But you know, you want to be respectful and you want to make sure that there is at all times 100% visibility into what is happening with their budget. So the budget tool allows you to set the initial budget. May go way over, but you can set the initial at least and set estimates of what that should look like for this client based on what they're looking to do for their event. Right, it looks different depending on the cost of an event, but estimates are pretty consistent depending on the client. You can always manipulate them a little bit and then, once you actually get your different contracts from your vendors, you can one create a invoice schedule within their contact folder. So they've got an actual payment schedule and they're getting reminders that, like a vendor, payment is due. But that will automatically, if you attach it to the category, automatically communicate over to their budget. And so now you've got an estimated cost, but then you've got an actual cost. So maybe the estimate for the florist was 8,000. The actual is 91.30, right? So you've got those two and then it'll show you when the payments are due, so you can keep a real, visual and 100% accurate idea of where we are as far as the budget and where we're spending the money. It shows them that breakdown, it shows percentages, shows where they're going off track.

Speaker 3: 20:31

So, yeah, great tool, great opportunity for the client to stay well within budget and to stay in control. I can't tell you how many times I have talked to planners specifically, because this is usually something that's more in line with the planner side, if you're talking total budget versus the additional pros who are just looking at a piece of the budget. I can't tell you how many times where the client's going this, this, this, this, this the planner's going yes, yes, yes, yes, yes. Now it's five, six months out and all of a sudden the planner goes oh hey, by the way, just FYI, you're already at budget, we have all these things we need to pay for, and the client's freaking out because they hadn haven't been having that conversation. No one wants to talk about money. So, yeah, it's a really easy way to keep it very visible to everybody and keep it transparent, so that there aren't those surprises a little bit long further along the way.

Speaker 1: 21:28

I think it's key to mention if a client came to me and said I've got fifty thousand dollars right at the beginning, the whole piece, and I've put in my wedding planning fees and I've taken that $43,000. Let's start there, but I love you know the self adjusting of if you've got 43 left. This is our recommendation on how you should split that up. It's in this in gray font. It'll say this is what you should spend on flowers. This is what you know well you could spend on to make the most out of that what you have left. It's an interesting conversation when and most planners will have had this where someone will come to you with no details and say how much do you think I should spend on flowers? What's an appropriate amount for me to spend on catering? And you're there going. How long is a piece of string for me to spend on catering? And you're there going how long is a piece of string To have a tool like that where you can, with confidence, go back and say well, let's approach this in a different way.

Speaker 1: 22:23

How much is your overall budget? It's 50 grand, okay, and you're saying to me that flowers are really important. Well, we've got this tool here and it's saying it should be $5,000. But, for example, if you really that ceiling installation is really important to you and $5,000 is not going to cut it, yes, I can give advice around that, that I can tell you realistically $5, but it's going to mean these are the areas that we might have to sacrifice a bit of budget in order to allow for that. Presenting that in a visual way is such a great way to use the tool and be realistic and have difficult conversations about money that you know it's part of my job to make your money work harder and your budget work harder. But this is it in a visual way We've got to work with. So you know we can move this around and make allowances, but you're going to miss out somewhere else Absolutely Well.

Speaker 3: 23:27

And I think one of the other things that's really unique about the IL Planner platform and really brings the value of you as a planner up is the fact that a lot of these decisions that couples are making especially like when we're talking around money and budget but there are a lot of different things that they want to sit and they want to marinate on they want to think through. One of the things that's great about having a client-focused portal, somewhere where you guys are collaborating together but not like in the same room, is what Jack said earlier. Go look at your budget, grab a glass of wine, you know. Grab a beer, sit down, think it through. What realistically, do you want to spend? You know you're seeing that breakdown right there. If you know that your dream photographer is 15 K but you've only got a 7,500 budget, where can you manipulate it? Or are you okay coming out of pocket for the rest?

Speaker 3: 24:19

And that conversation happening in the comfort of their own home, in the privacy of their own home, is such an easier conversation and it gives them time to kind of settle into it, versus being at a round table with you going, hey well, that's the cost. Do you want to make it work or not, because if you're asking them to make a split decision, usually they're going to say no, and if they do say yes, you might get a situation where then they go home and they talk about it and 24 hours later you get a whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. That was a bad decision, right? So I think that that's something from the client side that is really valuable, because it gives them a little bit more autonomy to be a part of the whole planning process, but do it in a very private way.

Speaker 1: 25:04

I think, just as a side note to having those conversations about money, in particular as a wedding planner, where you are involved either wholly or partially, I always, early on in that first meeting, would say I'm making a commitment to you to be absolutely transparent and if and when things pop up that are out of scope, I'm going to come to you as soon as that happens. But I'm making a commitment to you to be transparent about that. If you want something and you can't afford it, or you want something and it's not possible, I'm going to be realistic and bring that to you straight away. So I think I think it's important to make mention of that that set those things up early and not later on where you're going. Okay, I know we said 50, but it's actually it's actually about 75, right?

Speaker 3: 25:50

yeah, fifty thousand dollar budget, but you know, a dripping, a dripping ceiling of florals and you, you're like that's your entire budget.

Speaker 1: 25:56

Yeah, that's why I am so. Set it up, set up those expectations that I'm going to be a realist Confidence, give you advice around things that we can't do, and here's a solution. You want that? Look, here's another way to do it. That's who you are and our planner is going to facilitate that in a visual way and back you up with the data.

Speaker 2: 26:14

Yeah.

Speaker 3: 26:15

Well and I think that's actually a great segue into the design studio because, again, it's one of the pieces of the project management platform where you and the client are collaborating on the vision right. That is where you get to maybe bring in a vendor, your florist, who you know you're going to use. The clients absolutely love this florist, it's their perfect aesthetic. So you know you're going to use this florist, you have a great relationship with them. You go ahead, you invite them into the project. You only give them access to the design studio and you say, hey, florist, can you please upload a handful of different sprays and, underneath of it, comment on what is the cost of that spray? You know things like that. What is the size, what is the scope, how many stems is that? You know same with.

Speaker 3: 27:04

In a previous life I was a vendor, specifically linen, and so my clients would invite me in and I would just have access to the design studio. I knew their aesthetic because I had access and I could see the entire inspiration for what they were doing. And then I would just have access to the design studio. I knew their aesthetic because I had access and I could see the entire inspiration for what they were doing and then I would create a folder and I would put here are four linen options that I think would work really well for your event. They're within your cost. Here is the cost per of the different sizes. Here are the quantities we have Let me know which and it was a really easy way for all of us to collaborate without having to be in the same room and all the back and forth via email.

Speaker 3: 27:40

Again, yeah, a great way, nice, like segue, but the design studio, great way to communicate with your client as a photographer, putting folders in there of different venues, different light sources, what they're going to look like. Maybe, if you've got three different ways that you edit final, you know you've got a natural, you've got a moody and you've got, you know, a bright light. So maybe you put different folders in there of three different aesthetics and what they're going to look like and what they're really going to do to the photos, so that they know, you know, and there's no crossing of the wires later when you do all the editing and the soft and moody and they're like no, we wanted bright light, right, yeah, so lots of different ways that you can utilize it. Get inspiration from the client.

Speaker 3: 28:26

Lilac is not lilac to every single person, right? So I want a lilac wedding and you will get it from and you're like that's periodical and I just sourced everything I like. So great ways to be able to utilize it on both ways giving inspiration to the client, but also getting their inspiration from them.

Speaker 2: 28:45

For wedding professionals that are new to IELTS Planner like what kind of advice can you give them to get started in maximizing the platform's capabilities?

Speaker 3: 28:52

Absolutely so. We offer a free 30-day trial for any prep so you're able to go in, test it out and you have full access to all of the features within the IO Planner platform. So it's not like you're limited to what you can do. We want you to truly be able to feel it out. We want you to be able to get in there. We want you to be able to do a test project or maybe a real project, whatever that looks like for you. But we want you to be able to really feel it out.

Speaker 3: 29:16

We also offer onboarding. We have a customer success manager. She's phenomenal. She is an ex-event pro, one of the things I love about our company. We are all ex-event pros. We have all been in the industry. We have all been exactly where you are. We know the challenges. We also know what works and what doesn't. So she is there to help do an onboarding. We're going to start doing monthly onboarding monthly or bi-weekly, we're not sure which, depending on interest but orientation webinars where you can just get on and see like, how does it work, where to get started, what to do.

Speaker 3: 29:51

But really, with IELTS aisle planner, the number one thing I will tell you is that it takes time. It is you're truly recreating your entire business process on a new platform. It is a platform that will work for you as you build it out. It's also a great value asset. You now have your entire business process in a sellable product that you can literally transfer the rights to someone else, and it gives you value to your company. You're building out your entire business. So be patient, take the time, put time aside to really learn what it does and how to make it work for you. It's technology. It only does, it only knows, it only works as well as the information. So you can't just log in and expect it to set up and ready for success. You really have to put that touchy into it. And it's creating out those templates, creating out those checklists, making sure you've got a real clean vision of how you're going to utilize the system.

Speaker 2: 30:54

Yeah, yeah, I mean CRMs in a CRM form is something that I've kind of run from my whole career because I I tried a couple here in Australia right in the beginning and over the years they've gotten so technical and there's been so much involved in them that it's become too hard for my little brain and I've just had to bail and just do it in a way that I can understand.

Speaker 2: 31:24

And I think there's a lot of creatives out there who are I often joke and say I have galloping ADHD, which which here I am, here we are. And I think there's a lot of other wedding professionals and a lot of other creatives out there that have the same thing, that really struggle with the volume of technology that is required and getting your head around everything that gets done. And it's the same with me and Jack here. I quite often think that I'm just here to make her look pretty because Jack does so much of all of the tech stuff, because I just have no idea and it's really hard for me to get my head around. So you know, you know, helping people make the most out of it and the videos and stuff that are there, I think is is a great way to really help, and your advice in putting the time in is is good too.

Speaker 3: 32:18

It's. It's hard. You know the number one conversation you will hear out of any event pros mouth, no matter what vertical they're in I just don't have enough time, right. One of the things that technology will help you do, though, is make more time for your business, and to work outside of your business too. You know vacations, having time to step away, being able to know that you can, you know, go out of town for a weekend or go to a friend's event and not have to worry that things are falling apart. You know within the business, or that things are falling behind or that you're going to come back to just a smorgasbord of issues. Yeah, that's what technology helps you to do.

Speaker 3: 33:01

So the other thing I will say, especially from the CRM side there are CRM. There are a ton of CRMs for event professionals. They they're constantly throwing new ones at you. I think that it really is. It's about focusing on the process, how much flexibility it gives you. There's a lot of thought process of like. If it's already built out, that's just easier. I just have to plug and go. But the problem with that is it. It takes away from the buyer's experience. It takes away from the individualism of your company. It takes away from your brand voice when you're, you know, kind of confined to just four templates for this particular thing or something like that. So there's pluses and minuses to all of it. I think that it's about finding one that you understand and works with you and has the flexibility you need to be able to do your job and run your company the way you feel comfortable, versus kind of being forced in a single direction.

Speaker 1: 34:03

I think one good thing about that situation is our planner can be as simple or as complicated as you need it to be. You can go to the budget tab or the seating plan or the checklist and it is an obvious checklist and it makes sense how to use it. But you know the minute that you go up to the right and you go to the little advanced option and start digging deeper, like I do. But what I'm trying to say is you don't have to. It's simple and it makes sense the way that things are laid out, so you can go in there and not be scared to give it a go, and go tab by tab and just start using one feature and start expanding on your repertoire as and when you see fit.

Speaker 1: 34:46

Sarah, important, important, important. I have to know this new feature about the RSVP because, as a planner, I have been absolutely dying for this because there's so many hacks that I had to do to make this work. So, ben, just so you know, there is a great feature in that you can manage your guest list right and it all makes sense that you know the couple will put in groups of people that need to be together, or if you can imagine you don't just put in name by name.

Speaker 1: 35:15

you put in Ben and Hayley for example, and then you can export that for the caterer or for the seating plan or whatever like. There's all these great things that you could do with it. But one thing you couldn't do was include on an invite here's a link for you to go and rsvp and it talked to our planet, it insert those people into. So there was this, always this manual sort of rsv over here. I'll export it. I'll import it or manually typing in these names. So tell me it's fixed.

Speaker 3: 35:47

It is so we do. Now it runs through. So, just so everybody's aware, there's a wedding website on the within the Isle Planner project. It's pretty flat, you don't have to use it, you just have to enable it, because it's where the link lives. Once you actually enable it, you have to quote, unquote, send the guest list. But there don't. There doesn't have to be any emails in there, you can send it, just to create the database, basically, and then and then you have a link.

Speaker 3: 36:16

So a lot, of, a lot of pros now will want to create like a QR code. So create that QR code, put it on the event website, whichever one they're using, but it directly links back to the IELTS Planner website. They can also go in and edit, which that was probably the number one request we got was. Okay, they can get the initial one, but we want them to be able to edit their RSVP. They put a plus one. They put in their boyfriend today. It is now six months later, that boyfriend is long gone. We need to change that RSVP. So I love that. Or, you know, I was vegan yesterday, I'm not today, so whatever it has to be, but they can. They can now go in and search and edit it as well, which just adds it.

Speaker 3: 36:59

We know it's it's. We're constantly listening to our pros. Like I said, as a group of um x event pros, we do understand your frustrations. We promise we understand, like the feedback that we are receiving, and working as diligently as we can to continue to push through requests that we do receive, and so that was. That was a big one for us, that had been asked for a while and so it finally made it on. The docket, went through, has been very well received and the goal is to make you, as the planner as well as the client, make it easier, make that process just a little bit less cumbersome so that you can focus on other things.

Speaker 2: 37:36

Coming to the end, here I get to ask my Ben's question, which I ask all of our guests, and that question is what advice if you walked outside and ran into an 18-year-old version of you? What advice would you give that 18-year-old version of you, knowing what you know?

Speaker 3: 37:54

now in terms of life and business and everything. So I would say from the very beginning, if you can, from the minute you have an idea or decide I want to go into business, whether it's going to be a solopreneur, an entrepreneur, whether you're going to be a boss with a million employees, whether you're going to be an individual contributor to another larger organization, before you go out there and you actually take on that position, think about what you're going to need to be successful and think forward. Don't think tomorrow. Think 5, 10, 15 years ahead of time. If you are setting up your business today, put the processes in place, put the technologies in place to support you all the way up.

Speaker 3: 38:34

I would say one of the biggest mistakes and it's I can't say that it's wrong, because most are starting with a hairline budget and a dream, you know, of making this thing work. But if you really want to succeed, take the time to put the effort in that's necessary. I always used to recommend when I was doing some business coaching for newer pros take a step back, only take five or six clients and take a part-time job. That helps you be able to take only the clients you want and really set yourself up for success. If you want to be this type of planner or this type of photographer, if you want to work at this level with this type of client, you're going to need to make sure that you're setting yourself up for success from the very beginning.

Speaker 3: 39:16

It's also a whole lot easier to do it from the very beginning than to try to three, five years into your business, when things are busy and you're active and you're getting more and more successful, to stop the wheels and like, put these different programs, technologies, processes in place. So, honestly, I would say the number one advice I would give is if you really want it to work. One advice I would give is, if you really want it to work, give yourself the ability to invest in yourself and invest in your business. And investing means time, it means technology, it means resources, it means education. But all of those things are going to ensure that as you move forward in your career, you are set up for success and you don't hit a roadblock at five years because you didn't do those things and now you've found that you are growing past your capabilities.

Speaker 2: 40:10

I love that Awesome. Thank you yeah.

Speaker 1: 40:12

So if you would like to invest in your business, sarah, big way I'm so corny Sarah has given us a really generous deal for all of our listeners 10% off Isle Planner for the first 12 months. All you have to do is go to a dedicated page that has been set up. So the website for Isle Planner is isleplannercom. Forward slash affiliate. Forward slash winningacademyglobal. Affiliate. Forward slash Wedding Academy Global. You will be able to redeem that offer. Don't worry, I'm going to put it in the show notes. I will share that link with everybody, but it is 10% off for 12 months. So thank you very much for your generosity, sarah. I think that I rave about Our Planet to anyone and everyone, so I think you need to get on board and go and try it for your business, no matter what kind of wedding professional you are. If you're looking to streamline things, it's an excellent tool.