The culture of language in any business is fascinating.  It’s also fun.  It creates camaraderie.  It’s our own special language.

We also have this in the wedding industry: BEO, STD, DOC, F&B, FIL, MIL, MOH, BM… and those are just a few of the acronyms!  I’ve made the mistake of emailing clients to ask about their STDs.  It usually elicits giggles.  But, it probably causes them sit there for a few minutes, “What the hell is she asking me?”

The problem with the industry language we speak is that it can confuse the client.  We produce weddings 24/7.  These terms are commonplace for us and we often forget that not everyone speaks this language.  For a bride and/or groom, who has most likely never been married before, our terminology can be confusing.  And, worse than that, it can be exclusionary.  Without out knowing it, you may be distancing yourself from your client.

Soooo… wedding pros… keep in mind… this is all new to your clients!  Make sure to get back to basics when explaining how weddings run.  They’ve hired you to guide and educate them along the way.

Image: Creative Commons License

Yesterday, we talked about creating a recipe in your business that is impossible to recreate.  Today, let’s explore what happens when we are asked to take ingredients out of our recipe.

Here’s what I’m talking about:

Client comes into meet with me about her wedding invites.  We are super-grooving and coming up with a beautiful suite to send to the guests of her wedding.  We talk about pricing and the client wants to leave the RSVP card and RSVP envelope out of the proposal.  She wants to save some money and wants the guests to RSVP via email.

{HOLD IT}

I can’t do this.  By removing the RSVP from the set, I’m left with only the invite and the outer envelope.  This is hardly a strong reflection of my work.  This isn’t the sort of experience that I’d like her guests to have when opening up this gorgeous invite suite.  And, this isn’t in line with the brand and culture that I’m creating.

What happens when you leave out ingredients from a recipe?

When you leave out ingredients from a recipe, the meal is either bland or boring or flat… or it simply fails to be what it was supposed to be. (I know this well because I’m the world’s worse cook.  I accidentally melted my measuring cup last year.)

It’s OK to remove a little of the spice – but not KEY ingredients

I’m going to be REAL here.  In the art of negotiating, you will need to remove some ingredients from time to time.  You may have to switch out flowers, offer a variety of printing options, or take out a minor service.  This is part of the customization process.  Take out a little of the spice if it’s too hot for your client to handle.  But, don’t take out KEY ingredients that leave you with something bland.  Make sure your products and services still have your secret sauce.

Have you had this experience before?  Has a client asked you to remove services from your packages that left you with the inability to service them in the way that you pride yourself?

• Where is the client getting their information?
• What does your branding say about your business?
• Where are you advertising?
• What is your pricing history?
• Who is your referral network?

Today, let’s unravel our final question…

What is your sales approach?

One of our roles in the sales process is to be that of an educator.  We may have brides who are VERY knowledgeable with the “world of weddings” but the majority of newly-engaged people (most of whom have never married before) will not know the first thing about weddings.  It’s our job to teach them.  And, in doing so we must help them understand the importance of the service you offer, the value of your service, and the experience they will be having as a result of your service.

It sounds so simple, but I think we often forget this… we have to teach them WHY this is valuable.  And, we have to BELIEVE it.  Many of us sell our services in the hope of “getting the sale”.  We don’t often have the approach of truly believing in the fact that what we do is highly valuable.  We don’t always believe in ourselves.  And, that lack of confidence comes through during the sale.

What is the experience you give a potential client DURING the consult?

What are you doing during the sale that shows people that you are worth a million bucks?  How do you dress?  Where do you meet?  How do you present yourself? YES – we do judge a book by its cover.  And, potential clients are doing the same with us.  All of this plays into your branding and perceived value.  If you want people to pay you a fair amount of money, you need to show them bits of the experience they’ll receive.  Don’t give away the farm, but give a few bites of  your services in action.  Let them have a peek into the valuable experience you are trying to sell them on.

The art of negotiation…

If you want to learn from a true master in our industry about sales and negotiation, you need to pop on over to Saundra Hadley’s site and DIG IN.  I’ve learned a lot from this very smart lady.  One of the GREATEST things I learned from her is this very smart line for when I experience price resistance.  Here’s the basis of a conversation you may be familiar with:

Me: … and for the amazing experience I’ve described on your wedding day the investment is $8000.

Client: WOW!  That is SO expensive!

Me: I realize that I may not be the least expensive option that you consider.  Here’s why…

This last line is ***MAGICAL***!  Yes – it’s true, you are not the least expensive person out there.  And, there are some really great reasons why.  This gives you the opportunity to talk about all of the value you bring to the wedding.  This gives you a chance to talk about your experience and expertise.  This gives you the opportunity to let them know I’m not just ANYONE who does this.  I’m WORTH it! Whatever you say here, NEVER EVER bad mouth the competition.  It makes you look petty and it lessens your dignity, which results in lessening your brand, and in turn your value.

(Thank you, Saundra for this little nugget of GOLD.)

It’s OK to walk away…

It’s important to keep in mind: if it’s not a match, it’s not a match.  It’s OK to walk away.  The more clients you work with that are a TRUE fit for your business, the better you will be at attracting those types of clients.  If you’ve exhausted your artillery of sharing your education, given them the 5-star experience, and regaled them with your witty repartee and they still – don’t – budge, it’s OK to move on.

If someone does walk away because they simply cannot afford you, it is what it is.  Find the ones who can.  And, if you’re struggling to find those people… go back to #1 in our series of posts and work to fix the problem.

Please share your tips below on how you help the customer understand your value during the sales consult.

Thanks for joining me in this series!

Image: Creative Commons

We’ve spent the last 4 posts discussing the conundrum of targeting the wrong bride. This happens when you continue to receive inquiries from potential clients who love your services but are shocked when they learn of your pricing.  If you are just catching up, you’ll want to revisit our posts:

• Where is the client getting their information?
• What does your branding say about your business?
• Where are you advertising?
• What is your pricing history?

Today, let’s tackle our fifth factor:

Who is your referral network?

Let’s talk about the people you build business relationships with.  These people are selling your services, whether you know it or not.  And, they may have misinformation.  I cannot emphasize the importance of having COFFEE DATES with these people so that you can educate each other on services offered.  Learn everything you can about that business to refer business TO them.  In turn, they’ll learn something about your business also.

The company you keep…

Let me preface this with my personal philosophy:  I make relationships with EVERYONE.  I think everyone has something unique to offer.  Everyone has something to learn and something to teach.  I work hard to understand someone’s business so that I can make the best of my matchmaking skills when making referrals.  I don’t refer anyone to just anyone.  I refer based on match of needs and what a business can offer to fulfill those needs.  I encourage you to build relationship with all people in the industry.  There is nothing to be gained from being exclusive of others – regardless of their pricing strategy or services offered.  This is one of the reasons why Kelly and I felt so strongly about launching Thursday Therapy.

All that being said, there will be people that are a stronger match for your business.  They may meet with a similar target market as you, have a similar pricing strategy, have a complimentary aesthetic in their work, and be branded in a complimentary way to your company’s branding.  These people will become your partners in business.  They will be people that you refer often and that often refer you.  Building these relationships is critical in establishing yourself in the segment of your market.

Here’s an example:

You are a wedding invite designer who prides herself on creating “out of the box” invitations with a funky edge.  Your ideal wedding vendor partners will be the wedding planner that caters to the bride with bright pink hair, the photographer to tends to shoot in super-urban environments, and the caterer who offers a locavore and vegan menu for clientele.

You see where I’m going? Think about your ideal bride and the sort of vendors that she would hire.  Now, go build partnerships with those people!  You have something in common… go make business together!

Referrals from the super connectors…

You may get referrals from a super connector that may not fully understand your business.  This is the “town crier” who loves sending you all sorts of people as soon as he or she finds out that they are engaged. These people are AWESOME but they may be sending you some poor quality leads. There matchmaking skills may not be all that good because they don’t fully understand your business.

I’ll give you an example…

I love my dentist.  God bless him…  He sends me a referral for EVERY single person he meets in his office that is getting married.  I am so grateful for every referral he sends me because I know he cares and I know he wants to see my business grow.  But, not every bride is a match for my business or my services.  In fact, I find that a lot of his leads are not a match for my services.

So, what should I do?  I invite my dentist for coffee.  I want to learn more about his business.  First of all, business ownership fascinates me and I always want to learn about other people’s successes.  On the flip side, this is an opportunity for me to share with my dentist a little more about my business.  Once he understand that I specialize in hand-crafted wedding invites that are middle to high-end, he can better understand how to sell me.  I have to teach him how to sell for me.  I have to tell him some of the wedding venues that my clients get married at.  I have to describe my client to him.  This gives him the ability to make a better match for me.

People like this need education.  They support your business and that should be encouraged.  But any direction you can give them will ensure that they’re sending you the right leads.  Describe your ideal client to them so that they can identify those characteristics before sending you the wrong leads.  And do this tactfully so that it doesn’t come off as a pushiness.

Think about who refers business to you.  How can you do a better job at building relationships with the right people – MORE people?  How can you improve the way you educate them about your business?

Image: Creative Commons License

Last week and this week, we are discussing what to do when you are priced in the middle to high-end of your trade but keep attracting low budget brides.  If you are just catching up, you’ll want to revisit our posts from last week:

• Where is the client getting their information?
• What does your branding say about your business?
• Where are you advertising?

I want to clarify: there is nothing WRONG with doing business in the low-end market.  If this is truly your target market and you are attracting this market, then keep on it.  You are matching your product/service with your ideal bride and you are doing the RIGHT thing.  There is opportunity for success in this market and some people do it VERY well.  Dana LaRue from Broke Ass Bride comes to mind, as does Khris Cochran of DIY Bride.

However, I have one note of caution if your products or services are in the low-end of the pricing spectrum: ensure that you are truly targeting this market with the intention to offer something unique and individual and not because you are wanting to compete on price.  This not only results in an under-cutting of the competition but also may be pushing you towards an unsustainable and unprofitable business model.

These posts are for anyone not meeting their client match.  We are only using the low budget vs high budget mismatch as an example because it is one that I so commonly hear from wedding pros.

And, so we continue today with our series to our fourth question…

What is your pricing history?

If you’ve bounced around in your pricing strategy, the market may not know what to make of you or your business.  You have not been clear in who your market is.  One year it’s the low-end market and the next year it’s the high-end market.  Cats and dogs living together!  Mass hysteria!  Here’s an example that may help you relate to this confusion:

A photographer new to the industry may decide that he wants to gain experience before assigning a premium price on his services.  So he starts his business with low pricing thinking that he can increase pricing over time as his experience grows.  He launches his business and lands a bride who refers his services to all of her girlfriends.  What he doesn’t realize is that this bride is telling her girlfriends, “Hey you have to call my photographer.  He gave me such a great deal on my wedding photographer!”  What the photographer doesn’t realize is that he has been branded as the “low-priced photographer”.  In year 2, when he raises his pricing to what is more fair for his region and the services he offers, all of his inquiries experience sticker shock.  They had heard something quite different from their friend.  They think, “Who does he think he is?!”

This is a common mistake when we first launch.  We make this mistake based in not having confidence in our skills, not feeling that we possess the experience yet to justify a hefty pricetag, and not knowing what our field charges in our region for comparable services.  (My advice: always start out at least 20% higher than your initial gut feeling.  And, if you must start with low pricing make sure you’ve communicated “special introductory pricing for the first 5 clients who book our services”.)

The same mistake is made when we offer discounts for products or services.  Word gets out and people come to expect discounts from your business.  My advice: don’t ever discount services.  While negotiating, it’s better to give “an extra service” than to discount the value of what you do.

How to rectify your pricing mistakes…

If you’ve made the mistake of pricing too low or offering discounts, you are not alone.  This is not a permanent mistake and you can rectify this.  However, it may take a little time for consumers to adjust.  If you have been priced too low and you want to correct it, do it NOW.  If you have starting rates on your website, beef them up.  And, make sure to put an effective date so that people understand that these prices do fluctuate.  (“Pricing effective thru December 31, 2011.”)

I want to warn you…

People who referred you in the past will continue to refer you based on the old pricing and this wave of inquiries will continue to have people thinking that you are a low-end vendor.  You will most likely have a season or two of inquiries resulting from this in which you’ll need to educate people on your new pricing.  If anyone says, “But you offered my friend Sarah a $500 day-of wedding planning services!” it is OK to reply, “Yes, I did.  In the last year I’ve made significant growth in my expertise.  I’ve taken time to expand my experience and education by doing X, Y, Z.  The pricing given to Sarah was introductory.”  They won’t be happy with this answer, but it’s an appropriate and fair answer.

Anyone who has been shopping your services or considering your services may not be happy with the pricing changes.  In fact, they may not email you for a consult.  And, you may never get their business.  You may, in general, see less inquiries and referrals.  THIS IS OK.  If the majority of referrals you currently get are for the WRONG customer (not your target market) then why would you want to continue in this way?  However, be prepared for this change in your traffic.

Once you have retrained the market and re-considered your branding in how it relates to your new pricing, you’ll be making a match with your target market.  And, you’ll be finding brides who can afford your services and value what you do.

Image: Creative Commons License

We are examining the reasons why you may be attracting the wrong clients.  If it seems that you keep meeting with clients who cannot afford your services, it’s time to examine why.  On Tuesday we talked about the INFORMATION that people get before they send an inquiry to you.  Yesterday, we discussed branding and how it impacts the image of your business and the people who are attracted to it.

Today, we tackled the third question…

Where are you advertising?

Be very strategic with whom you choose to advertise.  Be intentional in your decisions.  Many of us advertise with companies because “everyone else is doing it”.  But we don’t always take time to ensure that these advertising choices are a good match for our business.  Some of us advertise on sites and in magazines because we are offered a great rate. This is a huge mistake that can result in attracting clients that are not a match for your business and who cannot afford your services.

Ensure that where you choose to advertise is a match for your:

• Target market and your audience
• Specialty or niche
• Pricing
• Branding

These are the questions you should ask yourself about your current advertising campaigns or ones that you are considering for the future:

• Who is the target audience of this website or magazine?  Is it a bride and/or groom that I would want to work with?  Can they afford my services?
• What are magazine and website articles about?  Do they encourage and promote wedding professionals?
• Are they realistic in educating brides on how to work with wedding vendors? Do they promote the value of hiring professionals?  Or do they give false information about budgets?
• If the website has forums for brides, what are the brides discussing?  If the site’s blog has comments, what are the brides commenting on?  Is this your customer?
• What other wedding professionals advertise on this medium?  Would you be proud to be featured amongst them?
• How are they branded?  Does their branding compliment yours? Are they a good partner for your business?

Here’s an example…

From time to time I see a wedding magazine do a feature on “How to Get the Best Deal on Your Wedding Invitations”.  In the article there are all sorts of tips on cutting invitation packages, asking designers for discounts, and false average budgets for luxury products.  This magazine would not be a match for my business.  I know that if I advertise here, the bride is going to come to me with these expectations.  Simply by associating myself with this publication, I am saying “Hey, I’m cool. I can give you a great deal.  I can sacrifice my blood sweat and tears to make your dream day a reality.  My family doesn’t need to eat.  I like ramen.”  This magazine may not support my artistic process. If they do, this article doesn’t show it.  Why would I want to advertise here?

What are you seeing in the sites and magazines you advertise?  Are they a good match for your business?  Are they bringing you the RIGHT or WRONG clients?

Image: Creative Commons

We are spending this week (and next) talking about what to do if you keep attracting brides with a low budget.  Something is amiss if you receive a lot of inquiries and have a lot of consults, but the sale stops when you begin to discuss pricing.  Why does this happen?  I want to get into the nitty gritty and help you make some changes to your your  business.

Yesterday’s post will help you determine the information that the client is getting PRIOR to their meeting with you.  If a potential client is coming in with only half the information (or misleading information) it is our job as wedding professionals to educate.  We’ll get into education when we discuss the sales consult.

Today… let’s break down our second factor…

What does your branding say about your business, your services, and your pricing?

This second question correlates with yesterday’s question.  It’s all about the information that the client is gathering before they meet with you.  In yesterday’s post, the information that people gather are hard facts:

1. Pricing on your website (I recommend listing “starting rates”)
2. Average cost of your services as communicated in the media (magazines, websites, and TV)
3. Cost of services of “low ball” wedding professionals

But with branding there is intangible information the consumer is gathering. Your branding is comprised of your company’s core values + your strengths & specialties + your target market’s needs & desires + the value of your services.  Branding identity (your website, your blog, business cards, marketing material, and your personal styles) are ways that you communicate these things to the world.  Your branding identity is extremely important because people are formulating opinions on which you have very little control.  You can say that “I’m a top-notch florist” but if your branding doesn’t speak to that, you aren’t going to make that match with the right clientele.

There are some things you can do to ensure that your branding identity is a match for your company and attracts the right clientele… 

Here are my 6 rules for BRANDING:

1. Hire a professional!

We are very creative people, but most of us are not branding experts nor are we graphic designers.  A skilled branding expert will help make sure that your company’s values, vision, and services are being communicated appropriately to your target audience.   A skilled branding expert has outside perspective that we don’t have whiled we are wrapped in our cocoon of a business. Make sure you revisit our 7 Steps for Hiring a Designer.

2. Know your target market.

Who is your ideal customer?  Who do you like working with?  Who do you want to work with more often?  What do they want to see?  What are they attracted to?

Not everyone is your customer.  If you aren’t happy with the types of customers that have been attracted to your business (namely, people who cannot afford your services) then you need to be OK turning them away.  It’s OK to say no to a client that is not a match for your business.  And, if your services are out of their budget, they aren’t a match for your business.  This is NOT your target market.

So… if you are drawing the WRONG target market (the one who can’t pay you) what is it about you that’s catching their eye?  You may want to revisit your branding.  If it’s not your branding, come back over the next few days where we’ll break down a few other factors impacting your ability to catch the right client.

3. Know what you do well and capitalize on that.

We try to be all things to all people.  This doesn’t work.  The client gets confused.  The lack of consistency reflects poorly on your company and your branding.  Which brings me to the next point…

4. Be consistent

You need consistency in your branding to build trust.  It’s hard to tell customers that you are worth every penny they invest in you if you aren’t consistent with the value that you offer.  You need to be consistent in the following:

- your services and products
- your pricing strategy (Notice that I said “strategy”?  Pricing should increase annually, but huge bumps up or discounted services confuse people.  We’ll discuss this next week.)
- your branding identity and the way your personally project your branding
- your communications
- your timely delivery of products and services
- professionalism

It’s difficult to ask for a certain price if you lack this consistency.

5. Understand your perceived value

Perceived value is the value that the consumer perceives your company to embody.  Godiva chocolate has a high perceived value because of it’s gold packaging.  Hershey’s doesn’t have the same perceived value.  What does your branding identity say about the value that you offer?  This is where working with a designer is REALLY important.  If you design your own website you may not be best at communicating the value that you add to the wedding experience.  A designer can ensure that the perceived value matches your actual value.  Which leads me to…

6. Be confident in the value that you offer and stick to your price.

CONFIDENCE sells.  Confidence allows you to talk about your price and explain your value.  Confidence ensures that the potential client believes that you are worth every penny.  Don’t ever second-guess the value you bring to the client or the price that is attached to that value.  This greatly affects your branding and the perceived value.

So often people confuse branding with a logo.  They have logos designed for their company based on personal preferences.  But branding runs so much deeper.  And this branding is a symbol to potential clients of what your company does and the value of your products and services.

Is this helpful for you to see the impact that it has on what people think they can spend on your services?

Come back tomorrow… we are going to discuss WHERE YOU ADVERTISE and how that impacts the type of clients you have and their budgets.

Image: Creative Commons

Here is a scenario that some of you may be familiar with:

You’ve been humming along your wedding season.  The phone is ringing; emails are coming in.  You seem to be meeting with quite a lot of brides and/or grooms.  But the consults don’t end in sales.  You have a great rapport with the couple.  But they are a bit shocked by your pricing.  They came in expecting something quite different.  In fact, they were expecting a much lower price.  SHOCK and AWE!

Has this happened to you?

I want to spend these next two weeks breaking this down and helping you make some changes to your business.  FIRST, I want to uncover the factors that cause the low budget people to KEEP finding you, time after time after time.  AND THEN, I’m going to ask you to take a look at how you are communicating with these potential clients: before the consult and during the consult.  We’re going to break this into six parts over the next two weeks:

1. Where is the client getting information PRIOR to the consult?
2. What does your branding say about your business, your services, and your pricing?
3. Where are you advertising?
4. What is your pricing history?
5. Who is your referral network?
6. What is your sales approach?

Ready?  Let’s do this!

Where is the client getting information PRIOR to the consult?

If you find yourself in this scenario often, the client is getting the message somehow, somewhere that you may give them a good deal.  Something has indicated to them that you are “budget-friendly”.  Your job is to figure out how they are getting this information.  Here are some factors to consider:

• Do you have “Starting Rates” on your website?

It used to be that branding alone could dictate how expensive something is.  Everyone knows that the jewelry in the little blue box with the white ribbon is pricey.  But, these days the lines are blurred.  This is particularly true in the wedding industry where everything is luxurious – or so it seems.  Unless you are a celebrity planner – or well known in your market – your branding alone may not be able to tell someone that you are middle to high end.  You need to spell it out – especially if you keep having people come to you that are expecting lower pricing.  By listing a “starting rate” in your website you give people a price to start with.  And, you weed out the people who cannot truly afford you.

There is a LOT of debate about listing starting rates.  In my experience – and in many businesses I’ve watched over the years – it is VERY helpful in finding your target market.  (Please feel free to ask me question and opinions about this in the comment area.  I’m  happy to share more thoughts on this!)

• Are you clients familiar with your products and services?

Most people who are newly engaged know VERY little about getting married, how much things cost, let alone your specific products and services.  Where did they get their information on wedding budgets?  They may have read in an article in a magazine that the average budget for wedding invites is $200 when we all know full well that this is nearly impossible unless you have a guest list of 10-20 people.

We assume that potential clients have all the information.  We assume this because we are in the wedding industry and are knowledgeable about our field and talk shop all.day.long.  But, a newly engaged couple may not know the first thing about wedding services – particularly what they cost.  It’s our job to educate our clientele.  This can be done on our site, on our blog, or in the consult.  But somewhere before they found you, they got information that made them feel comfortable with a price.

• There are other “low ball” wedding vendors in your market.

There are some new wedding vendors who are incredibly under-priced. This is true EVERYWHERE in this country and I don’t think it’s going to change.  The barrier to entry in the wedding industry is nil.  You need to adapt to this.  Face the challenge and move forward.  Don’t use this as an excuse as to why potential clients think they can get a $700 wedding planner.  You know that your services are worth much more because you have identified the RIGHT PRICE for your experience, expertise, knowledge, reliability, branding, niche, etc.  Regardless, they may think that a $700 wedding planner is the norm because their cousin Sally found someone on Craig’s List that charged that.  Again, your job is to educate and inform as to why you are valued at much more than that.  (We’ll get to that on our last day when we talk about the sale approach.)

Do you see where I’m going with this? Take a look at the information that the potential client is getting BEFORE the consult: on your own website and in other media.  When you know how and where they got this information you can start working to fix it.

Come back tomorrow… we’ll talk about your branding and perceived value!

ME: So, tell me… what are the services you offer?

WEDDING PLANNER: I have 3 packages.  The first one is my day-of package (which is really a month-of) and it gives the bride 10 hours of this, 5 hours of this, they get access to that, and I am there from the beginning to finish.

ME: How does this give the customer value?

WEDDING PLANNER: Well, they are getting 40 hours of this and that.

The big question that I want you to sit on: HOW DO YOU GIVE VALUE?

When I was in the world of accounting and worked for one of those big firms, there was a big to-do in the industry about selling “Value-Added Services” and “Exceeding Expectations”.  (This company had some pretty strong core philosophies.  See how well I remember after 14 years!)  I think about this a lot in terms of our business and our industry. 

HOW DO YOU ADD VALUE TO YOUR CLIENT’S LIFE?
HOW DO YOU ADD VALUE TO THE CLIENT EXPERIENCE?

At the end of the day, we all sell the same things: pretty weddings, organized weddings, fun weddings, beautiful weddings.  You get the idea.  But what is it about YOUR business that gives that person a valuable experience?  How do you make the client’s life better?  How do you improve their wedding experience?  How do you enrich their lives?

Now… next time you are in a consult… don’t talk in “technicalities”.  It’s a little boring to hear about the nuts and bolts of a package.  Tell the client how you will improve their lives, how you will add value to their experience.

Getting Info Up-front

If you don’t yet query your clients before you meet with them, you should.  By learning more about my clients before meeting with them, I’m better able to service them in that first meeting.  I help them build their vision and educate them from the get-go.  Before you meet with your clients, send them a little questionnaire to learn more about them.

Streamlined Questionnaires

There are quite a few form-building tools for your business.  I’m a sucker for all things google and was a long-time user of Google Forms which is an easy and free online tool that allows you to provide an online form to your clients which then feeds into a google spreadsheet.  It’s amazing and magical!

But, once I started using 37signals’ Highrise to manage my client information and communication I needed to have everything get into Highrise in one easy step.  (You cannot move information from a Google form to anything other than a google spreadsheet without going through a few steps of downloading, uploading, etc.  That’s too time consuming.)

Formstack to the Rescue!

Formstack is easy to use and I love how it integrates with Highrise.  You build your form or questionnaire in a few steps.  You can add your logo and customize it so that it ties with your company branding. For me the branding match is more important than having a “template” form.

To integrate with Highrise, simply input your merge code (called an API key).  Voila!  When someone completes a form the data (name, address, phone, etc) goes directly into your Highrise database.  No need to copy over info to multiple programs.  You can also integrate with Mailchimp (for newsletters), Paypal, and a bunch of other programs.  You can also embed the form onto your website.  And, if you don’t use Highrise, you can also export the data to Excel or print the information.

The lowdown on Formstack:

Formstack offers a free 14-day trial.  After that, the starter package for 5 forms is $14/month.  If you have an inquiry form for meetings on your website and a follow-up details questionnaire (2 forms) this package is probably all that you need.