This is the Transcript of the #WeddingMarket Chat on November 26th, 2014 with Alan Katz at Great Officiants. The answers were made on Twitter so responses will appear different.

Alan Katz is the owner and Presiding Officiant at Great Officiants. Great Officiants is the largest wedding Officiant company in Southern California. With a team of 29 Officiants they dominate the market doing over 1000 weddings each year. In addition to doing weddings at the top venues in So Cal he owns a boutique wedding chapel where couples can get a marriage license and married 24/7.

Alan’s company was inducted into The Knot’s Hall of Fame, the Couples Choice from wedding wire for the last 5 years, LA Hotlist for 5 years and received a Trendsetter Award from the Association of Bridal Consultants. Alan is a highly requested speaker on wedding marketing in his local market and at the Wedding MBA. He serves on 2 wedding industry boards and is a member of many different wedding and event associations.

Learn more about Alan Katz at www.GreatOfficiants.com

Q1: How did you become a wedding officiant?

Answer
Alan Katz: A friend was getting married and he asked me to do his wedding. As a performer this was in my wheelhouse.

Q2: How did you start your business @GreatOfficiants?

Answer

Alan Katz:  After I did my third wedding I realized that I found my passion and decided to put up a website.

 
Q3: How important is it to obtain reviews for your business?

Answer
Alan Katz: Reviews are essential to let your customers what others think about your services.

 
Q4: How do you obtain reviews from couples for your company?

Answer
Alan Katz: It is very simple I ask for them. I give them the exact links and reward them with a $5 Starbucks card. By the way Yelp Sucks (#yelpSucks) they post some and don’t post others.

Q5: Where do you request that the couple place a review?

Answer
Alan Katz: Everywhere! I give the links to my pages on WeddingWire, The Knot, Yelp, Google and Yahoo.

Q6: What can wedding pros do about a bad review?

Answer
Alan Katz: Address the problem immediately and find out the real issue. If you did indeed mess up then admit to it and see what you can do to resolve it.

Q7: Can a bad review be taken off?

Answer
Alan Katz: Yes No and Maybe. Yes, If it is a false review and it was not your customer or it is defamatory or if they agree to remove it themselves. No, If it is a real review from a verified client or someone who has been to your event it will probably stay put. Maybe, if you reply to the review and apologize maybe they will remove it. Remember if you did mess up then you deserve it.

Q8: How can a wedding pro check to see if they have any reviews on their company?

Answer
Alan Katz: Do a simple search of those 5 different sites or EGOSURF Your Name + Reviews.

Q9: What are your thoughts on using non-disparagement clauses that prevents consumers from writing negative reviews into their contract?

Answer
Alan Katz: I am not a fan of that. If you are worried about bad reviews, don’t suck & learn how to deal with challenges effectively.

Q10: Now I heard that it only takes 5 positive reviews on a vendor listing on @weddingwire to be a Bride’s Choice Award Winner.  Is this true?

Answer
Alan Katz: Not sure of their criteria. But it takes 11 reviews you couples to really look at you as a serious vendor but why stop there.

Q11: What are the most important Websites or platforms to have reviews on? Do you need to setup a profile on them?

Answer
Alan Katz: You need to set up Google, Yahoo and Yelp yourself. Wedding Wire and the Knot are paid slots.

Q12: What steps should be taken to begin obtaining reviews for your wedding business?

Answer
Alan Katz: First do an amazing job at the event to earn the review. Contact them and ask for the review.

Q13: Do you include testimonials or reviews on your Website?

Answer
Alan Katz: Both are essential. I whip out my IPhone and do a quickie video and post it on Social Media and YouTube.

Q14: How long should you wait after the wedding to ask for a customer review?  

Answer
Alan Katz: I wait 2 weeks. One week for their honeymoon and one week to get it all caught up in their life.

Q15: Should you include a page on your Website with links to customer reviews?
Answer
Alan Katz:  I have a page with written reviews, one with customer testimonials, one with venue testimonials. I also just added a spotlight review on each page thanks to a recommendation by @alanberg.

Q16: Should wedding pros place a link in their email signature to their review pages?

Answer
Alan Katz:  I don’t want clients to go anywhere but my website. If they look elsewhere the may find other competitors information.

Q17: When you receive positive feedback from a client in an email, in person, or on the phone what should wedding pros do?

Answer
Alan Katz: Ask them to review you or the sites mentioned earlier. Give them the exact links (except Yelp) and thank them for doing so.

Q18: What are some the latest wedding trends in officiating weddings this year? 

Answer
Alan Katz: The latest trend in officiating is to have FUN ceremonies and no longer have the boring serious ones. Couples are moving away from having a friend officiate. They have seen so many disaster weddings the now want a professional.

Q19: How do you handle your social media on a daily or weekly basis?

Answer
Alan Katz: I post a lot on FB and Share it to my Twitter. Wedding pictures, Observations and venting about bad vendors I encounter.

Q20: What would you like everyone to take away from this #weddingmarket chat?

Answer
Alan Katz: Reviews are essential in attracting new business. If you don’t have reviews you don’t exist. Get them.

#WeddingMarket Questions From Twitter:

1. @Kai2Events  How do you handle less than stellar reviews? 

Answer

Alan Katz: If you did a bad job own up to it. Don’t ignore it and address it.

2. @TaylorWed Do you offer references for couples to call?

Answer:

Alan Katz:  I don’t because I could give them anyone or a fake person. Reviews are gold. Reviews on WeddingWire and The Knot are screened.

3. @JulieAlbaugh What do you mean by @WeddingWire & @TheKnot being screened?

Answer:

Alan Katz: They are good at making sure the reviews are not spam or self generated.

4. @amorojewelry How do you deal with people who are adamant about bashing you on the internet?

Answer

Alan Katz:  If you really messed up then accept it. if it is false then legal action may be warranted.

5. @Rev_Cindy_Lee Do you pay the bride and or groom before the review is posted?

Answer

Alan Katz: I don’t pay anything I reward them with a gift card after. Posting fake reviews or paying for them to be posted is BAD BAD BAD business.

@TaylorWed Is that right to do that? Seems like “buying” a review. (?)

Answer

Alan Katz: Its a reward for the nice words. People are lazy.

6. @BridalBalance What do you suggest for businesses just starting out with no or little reviews?

Answer

Alan Katz: For newbies have vendors you have worked with review you if you have done a good job.

7. @FrillsBridal If you want to respond to a neg. review & resolve, do you do so in the review forum or do you reach out them them privately?

Answer

Alan Katz: I do both. I first contact them and see if i can resolve it. if not then I reply to the post and explain.

8. @TaylorWed So…would it be better to have a bunch of reviews on your website vs The Knot or WeddingWire?

Answer

Alan Katz: Reviews listed on your website are not believable. Anyone can write them. If you put them on your site reference the platform they were made to give them credibility.

Answer

Alan Katz: Also has a widget you can place on your site.

9. @FiggieShoes How important ARE reviews? I’ve always had biz by WOM & never tracked down reviews..maybe I’m missing out?

Answer

Alan Katz: WOM is great but in this millennial driven industry Internet is everything.

@FiggieShoes By “WOM,” I mean online sharing as well–most of my clients are in UK and Aus, even though I’m in Canada. 

Answer

Alan Katz: Each country had it own big review sites find the big ones in each region and target them

10. @SweetestEvents_ How do you feel about video testimonials on a website w/ past clients/brides?

Answer

Alan Katz: I do video testimonials all the time and post youtube. Smart phone video after the event.

11. @TaylorWed OK – so a lot of my clients are NOT on WeddingWire or theKnot. Now what?

Answer

Alan Katz: Then YELP, Google and Yahoo.

12. @StrutBridal For us, Yahoo reviews pulls from Yelp, so we don’t both asking for Yahoo reviews.

Answer

Alan Katz: The more the merrier I say.

@StrutBridal Why not the Yelp links? Is it true they’ll filter reviews given from the direct link?

Answer

Alan Katz: Yelp will hide reviews that have a direct link. couples should find it through search company name and city.