WEDDING BIZ SPEAKER Alan Berg

WEDDING BUSINESS SPEAKER Let's talk weddings!

Alan Berg—Wedding Guru

Alan has been a friend of mine for a long time.  He’s a top notch speaker and consultant in the wedding industry.

He’s been in the business a long time and started out in the advertising and copywriting end of things, selling ads and creating industry publications.  He realized right off, as many do, that even though you have a dream of being in a certain occupation, like cake decorating, or florist, or wedding dress designing, there’s so much more to it than just what’s in your log line.  Saying to yourself, “I want to be a florist” conjures images of happily designing beautiful flower arrangements for weddings and brides, but it leaves out all the nitty-gritty sales and accounting and other details that goes along with that business.  So he saw a need and he filled it.

That’s one take-away I get from so many of the people that I have on my podcast:  they identify needs and then they go in and fix them.  Alan’s a perfect example of that.  He didn’t wait around for someone else to figure out that a lot of these wedding industry professionals needed business coaching and expertise.  He decided to create the job and started speaking and mentoring to those who needed that extra education on how to get their business to the next level.  And what do you know?  He was a hit.

Alan says that sales is not a dirty word.  It’s a necessary part of any job that’s out there.  Jobs begin with someone seeing a need, having an idea, then creating a service or a product, and then selling that idea.  Selling is a key piece of the process and we should not be ashamed or shy of selling. Really, it’s about being personal with the customer.  Treat them the way you’d want to be treated.  Don’t try to make a sale. Try to make a positive personal relationship.  Look people in the eye.  Pay attention to what they’re saying.  Don’t talk so much.  You can’t learn if you’re doing all the talking. So ask questions, find out what the customer wants, not what you want them to want.

Another thing Alan mentioned that I thought was interesting was that he joined NSA (the National Speakers Association) to learn about speaking and how it could take his business to the next level.  NSA taught him that by narrowing the niche market you serve, you elevate your expertise.  He already had expertise in the wedding planning and production business.  But he wasn’t a speaker.  But he could be, he realized. By focusing on that narrow business (which does not mean small, by the way—the wedding industry is a multi-billion dollar one), he then became an expert such that he could share his wisdom and make money doing that.  And NSA opened the door for him to realize that.

After talking to Alan, I realized one other thing:  people are crazy.  And the crazy comes through in their approach to weddings.  A wedding these days is, and really always has been, so much more than standing up and declaring in front of someone your commitment to a certain person and your promise to walk through life together.  Weddings, of course, are also expressions of the people who are throwing them.  Alan has seen it all—weddings on roller coasters, weddings at a Taco Bell in Vegas, four day elaborate Indian weddings at special venues, weddings at Stumpy’s Hatchet House.

Weddings that are over the top or excessive almost always are because the wedding couple (or their parents) lose sight of the fact that the wedding is not just about them, Alan says, but is about their guests too.  If the bride and her mother (okay that was a snarky dig at mothers of brides who have reputations as control freaks—not my mother in law, I have to put in) focus on only their needs and forget the guests have needs too, you will get an over the top wedding.  Really it’s all about focusing on who’s important and what the wedding is trying to symbolize.  Focusing on impressing people with your wealth or prestige?  Over the top wedding.  Focusing on saying promises in front of your best friends and family, and making sure they’re having a good time?  Nice wedding.  Just sayin’.  (Ok, that last bit was me.)

The last thing I always ask my guests is what gives them hope in this crazy, messed up, stressful world of ours.  And Alan, of course, has an awesome, thoughtful answer, because he’s actually thought about this before.  He said what gives him hope is people.  And more than that, it’s people who have a positive attitude.  (Wow, is he speaking to the choir!) People who are nice, who think of others and not always of themselves, people who are generous, kind and considerate, people who step up to help and support others, they are who give him hope.

People like Alan Berg is what I say.  Thank you Alan, for taking the time to be with me here today and sharing your wisdom both in the business of sales and leadership, and in the business of life and living well.  I’m glad we’re friends.

0 replies

Leave a Reply

Want to join the discussion?
Feel free to contribute!

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Bio of a Motivational Speaker

Funny Motivational Keynote Speaker Brad Montgomery is an award-winning speaker.   He speaks to audiences across the globe (and across the USA), and is based in Denver, Colorado.

Although he speaks to audiences in nearly every industry, he is known as a funny health care speaker, a education speaker for teachers, a real estate speaker, and a sales speaker.   He got his start as a magician & comedian, but now is known almost exclusively as keynote speaker.

He speaks both at live, in-person events, as well as online and virtually as a zoom speaker. No matter what you’re trying to accomplish with your audience, if you’re ready to invest in your people, give us a call now.