Wedding Business Solutions

Should you reply differently to leads from different sources?

• Alan Berg, CSP, Global Speaking Fellow

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Should you treat every lead the same way? What does someone already know about you before they reach out from a wedding expo, website, or a platform like Hitched? In this episode, I ask: does your follow-up need to change depending on where the lead came from—and if so, how? Find out why a “one size fits all” approach may not get you the best results, and discover smart ways to tailor your follow-up messages to increase your responses and bookings.

Listen to this new 8-minute episode for practical strategies to improve your follow-up and convert more leads by understanding where they come from and what they know about you.

If you have any questions about anything in this, or any of my podcasts, or have a suggestion for a topic or guest, please reach out directly to me at Alan@WeddingBusinessSolutions.com or visit my website Podcast.AlanBerg.com 

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View the full transcript on Alan’s site: https://alanberg.com/blog/


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I'm Alan Berg. Thanks for listening. If you have any questions about this or if you'd like to suggest other topics for "The Wedding Business Solutions Podcast" please let me know. My email is Alan@WeddingBusinessSolutions.com. Look forward to seeing you on the next episode. Thanks.

Listen to this and all episodes on Apple Podcast, YouTube or your favorite app/site:

©2025 Wedding Business Solutions LLC & AlanBerg.com

Should you follow up differently for leads from different sources? Listen to this episode and find out. Hey, it's Alan Berg. Welcome back to another episode of the Wedding Business Solutions podcast. I have another ask me anything suggestion from Tom Walters in the UK photographer who asked if should you follow up differently from leads from, say, a wedding fair, or as we would call it in the States here, a wedding expo versus leads from your website? And I'm going to expand this. Tom, thanks so much for the suggestion. Should you follow up differently with leads from different sources at all and it's a qualified no or maybe. Really, I'm going to say it's a maybe and here's why. A lead is a lead is a lead.

The difference is what does somebody know about you before they reach out from different sources? For instance, a lead from a wedding fair may not know anything about you. They might not have stopped at your booth or stand at all. Might not know anything about you. About you. So that's following up. Not cold, but kind of cold. And the reason I say it's not completely cold is because they came to the wedding fair, they came to the expo, therefore they're in the market for stuff. You don't know if they need your service, your photography in your case, Tom, but in whatever it is that you do.

So I would definitely follow up differently with that person than I would follow up with a lead from your website. Where they came to your website, we don't know how they got there, but they came there and they're interested in finding out more about your services. So specifically, right, somebody coming in from a search engine, right, who searched for a fill in the blank in your area, they need a band in your area, they need a florist in your area, they need whatever, need a venue, right, that they don't necessarily know that much about you, but then they get to your website. Their stuff on your site, did they see it? Don't know. Did they read it? Don't know. But they know enough to want to make that inquiry. That's a different kind of a lead than a wedding fair. If you refer to a podcast I did about how to get the best out of wedding shows, I talk about the six steps to wedding show success.

You know, there you can go back and look for it. It's in the archives. If you can't find it, just email me alan@weddingbusinesssolutions.com and I'll get that link for you. But if you look at that, I talk about how to follow up. There's Four lists that you'll end up with from a wedding show. And the four lists are the sales that you made. If you go there with the intention that I could make sales, therefore you're prepared to take a deposit, you're prepared to collect their information. Right.

The second list is appointments that you make, which is an important thing. So get them away from that show to a time when you can have quiet time to have a one on one phone call, zoom call, in person meeting with them. The third list is people you had a conversation with, you took some notes, but they weren't ready for that meeting and they're going to follow up to try to get that phone call, that meeting or just have a conversation digitally with them. And then the fourth one is that everybody walks through the door if they hand, if they give you a list at the end of that particular show. So you're going to follow up differently with those four, right? Obviously sales you made you follow up is your post sale procedure. Appointments, get them to keep the appointment, try to get the next group to have continue a conversation, get to a phone call, zoom call or appointment. And then the last group is the ones you're trying to get interest, see if there's even an interest. So you definitely going to follow up differently with those, Tom, than you would with people that made an appointment or you just had a conversation with the ones you had a conversation with.

You know if there's an interest, you know if they still need your service. So definitely going to follow up different. If you listen to that wedding show one, you'll hear that, you know, I would want you to have a landing page for that show. So when you do your follow up, you're sending them to a landing page, not your homepage because your homepage is where everybody goes to. You at least know these people came to that show. You could refer to the show, refer to any show specials you have on there, thin that page down to very, very focused page, trying to get them to make an inquiry through there because they now have to take that next move because you don't know if there's an interest. So Tom, you're definitely following up differently with those. Now let's talk about you get a lead through and Tom's in the UK and he referenced Hitched.

Hitched is probably the most popular website in the uk. It's kind of like the Knot and Wedding Wire in the us, right? And whatever the most popular one, if it's weddings online in Ireland or in Dubai or in India, right. Wherever you are there's the most popular site, Hitched, is that in the uk. Somebody coming in through Hitched already knows something about you, read your reviews, saw your photos, maybe watched your videos. Right. So they do know something about you making an inquiry. I wouldn't necessarily follow up differently than I would through somebody through your website because they do know something about you and they did make that first move that way, as opposed to, again, a list from a wedding fair. So I would have a very, very similar, if not exactly the same procedure for that, which is read what they wrote and then respond to their messaging, keep it short, fit it on one screen.

All the things that I teach and I've talked about in my books, like Shut up and sell more or why are they ghosting me how to respond to these inquiries. Right. It's pretty much the same thing. I was working the other day with someone who's on Wedding Wire and they were responding and they said only one out of 10 people would get back to them. Well, we changed what they were doing. A few days later, six out of nine people had gotten back to them. The leads didn't change. The leads didn't get any better, any worse or whatever.

The way they responded did. They got more response. So in that case, if they're doing the same thing on Wedding Wire as they were doing on their own website, I would change the way they're responding from their website as well because this would also work better for them, the same tips do. And when I consult with folks like you, big businesses, small businesses all around the world, it's that that makes the difference. Once they make that inquiry, you're trying to continue a conversation that they have started. You're not trying to start a conversation, trying to continue it. So, Tom, thanks for the suggestion. Again, would I respond differently? Would I, Would I follow up differently? Yes, because a wedding fair lead, that's just a list of people that came through.

And if you didn't already have a conversation with them, I would definitely follow up differently than someone you had a conversation with or someone who made the first move by inquiring through your website or through your storefront on Hitched or the Knot or Wedding Wire or Weddings Online or, you know, whatever site Bodas or whatever around the world. So definitely differently on those, not necessarily differently on your website versus Hitched versus, you know, maybe your social ads. Social ads, you know, they're still making the first move because they're responding to your ad. That would be similar, might be a little different, but definitely more similar than it would be for just a cold list from a wedding fair. So thanks for the suggestion. If you have a suggestion, go to podcast.allenberg.com Click on the Ask me Anything button, make your suggestion just like Tom did and might end up here on the show. Thanks.

I’m Alan Berg. Thanks for listening. If you have any questions about this or if you’d like to suggest other topics for “The Wedding Business Solutions Podcast” please let me know. My email is Alan@WeddingBusinessSolutions.com or you can  text, use the short form on this page, or call +1.732.422.6362, international 001 732 422 6362. I look forward to seeing you on the next episode. Thanks.

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©2025 Wedding Business Solutions LLC & AlanBerg.com


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Alan Berg, CSP, Global Speaking Fellow

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