I had the privilege of speaking at a national conference about a touchy subject: getting older. Why is it a touchy subject? After all, isn't aging inevitable? As a matter of fact, getting older beats the alternative of dying young! The reason it’s a touchy topic is because in our industry wedding pros like you get older every year, while your target market, engaged couples, stay about the same age. In my 25+ years around this industry, couples have only gotten about five years older, while I’ve added those 25 years to my total (that’s not fair, but it’s true).

So, what’s the problem?

Actually, I don’t think there is a problem. But for many wedding pros it can become an issue, especially for DJs. At a certain point you find you're the same age as the parents of your couples, but you still need to relate to the couple and understand their needs. Any of you with children know that relating to your kids is not as easy as relating to people your own age. And therein lies the issue - or does it?

As with many other life issues there are several ways to see this. Do you need to be the age of your couples to relate to them? I don’t think so. You just have to work to understand their needs and how they relate to your business and services. You also need to constantly adapt to the way they want to do business.

Technology changes all the time

One of the fundamental ways our market has changed over the past 20 years is the growth of email, along with other forms of digital communication. For many if not most of you, getting a prospect on the phone is your preferred first method of contact. But we all know that doesn’t happen these days and email will continue to be the primary way our potential customers reach out to us for the foreseeable future.

It’s not up to us to try to change this preference, it’s up to us to adapt. A basic rule of business is to communicate with your customers using their preferred technology. If they email you, email them back. If they call you, call them back. If they text you, text them back.

Don’t make a problem where there is none

The key is to avoid highlighting something that may not be an issue. Don’t do and say things that get them thinking you may be out of touch (by the way, any of us can be out of touch, regardless of our age).

Don’t say things like: “When I was your age…” or “My kids are your age…” or “My grandchildren…”. For example, I used to talk about how long I’ve been married, but now I just say I’ve been happily married for a long time (my wife wasn’t happy about me omitting the number of years until I explained why – and if asked I’ll certainly say how many years).
I used to say how old my two sons are, but now I just say I have two Gen Y sons. I have a five-year-old grandson whom I love to brag about any chance I get. I just don’t do it on stage or in social posts.

How many years' experience is enough?

Do you really need to say you’ve been in business “since 1992” on your marketing materials? Is that relevant to your prospects? What they care about most is what you’re doing now, not what you did 10, 15 or 20 years ago.

Is having five years' experience better than one? Probably. Is having 10 years' experience better than five? Maybe. Is having 20 years' experience better than 15? Hard to say, isn’t it?

It’s not the number of years, it’s what you did in those years that matters. One wedding DJ could have done five weddings per year, for 10 years, for a total of 50 weddings. Another may have done 30 weddings per year, for five years, for a total of 150 weddings. So you can see that the number doesn’t tell the whole story.

It’s not just your words, it’s your actions and marketing