When someone asks what you do, is your first response: “I’m a salesperson”? If you’re in the wedding and event industry, that’s not likely the case. Actually, if you’re in almost any service business that’s not going to be your answer. While I teach, train, and write about sales, it’s not my answer, either. If you’re like many wedding and event pros, you love providing your products and services to couples, companies, and customers more than you like the sales part. Why is that? Is it your perception of sales that’s holding you back? Does it make you feel dirty? Slimy?

Sales is not a four-letter word (it’s five). When people think of a salesperson, they often get a vision from a book or movie, usually the worst iteration they can imagine. Why is that? Sales is an essential part of every business. As a matter of fact, isn’t that the difference between a hobby and a business?

So, if you’re a venue, caterer, officiant, band, DJ, florist, photographer, videographer, designer, planner, wedding favor-maker (or any of the 12 to 14 services the average wedding has), you need to make a sale to have a successful, profitable business. You need to make sales—whether you have a successful, profitable business is a separate discussion.

Many of the ideas for this book came from conversations with wedding and event pros just like you. You’d ask me at conferences: “Which of your books has...?”, and if it wasn’t already in one of the existing books, I’d answer: “The next one!” So, thank you for being curious about sales, and welcome to the next one! While I was tempted to actually call this book "The Next One", I chose: Stop Selling and Help Them Buy because it’s a phrase I use so often when doing sales training. I hope that the ideas in this book will help you sell more, profit more, and be more comfortable with the sales part of your business. Thanks for taking this journey with me.