Is It Even a Goal If You Didn't Write It Down? Delores Crum on Setting and Achieving Wedding Business Goals

Kevin Dennis [: 00:00:01

Welcome to mind your wedding business podcast. I'm your host, Kevin Dennis. In addition to leading the charge at Wedding IQ, I also run fantasy sound event Services, a lighting and entertainment company based in Livermore, California that I founded over 35 years ago. Each week on this podcast, you'll hear thought provoking and empowering interviews with wedding professionals who have found success in the industry. If you're a business minded wedding pro who loves love but also cares about their bottom line, buckle up and get ready to learn from a new industry expert each week. All right, folks, let's welcome Dolores Crumb. She's going to be, she's here from premiere events, as you guys know, out there in Austin, Texas. Right? Am I right?

Delores Crum [: 00:00:43

Austin? You are so right. And the brand college station as well.

Kevin Dennis [: 00:00:46

Well, I am. I'm excited because cater source and the special event is coming to Austin next year. And I, as much as I'm a Texas Rangers junkie and fan, I have never made it down to you. So I've, I've heard, yeah, I've only been to Arlington, Dallas, Fort Worth area, but I'm really excited to get down to Austin because I heard the food, the culture, everything's amazing down there. And plus, we get to see you.

Delores Crum [: 00:01:10

Looking forward to having you. We'll eat barbecue.

Kevin Dennis [: 00:01:13

Yeah. Oh, I can't wait. So. All right, so we're here to talk about goals and goal settings and why that's important. So. So let's just jump right into it. So why are goals so important for both, like, professional and personal life?

Delores Crum [: 00:01:27

Okay, I'm going to go professional life first.

Kevin Dennis [: 00:01:29

Kevin, you got it.

Delores M Crum [: 00:01:30

I don't know how you measure your progress or know how well you're doing. If you haven't set yourself a benchmark, are you doing well or poorly? Are you doing all that you can do? Or you could be doing more absent goals. I don't know how, how you are able to make that judgment about how you're doing. So that's why, in my view, it's really important to say, this is where I want to be this year. This is what we want to get done. This is what we want to accomplish. And those goals are not only revenue goals, although they may be revenue driven, but they may talk about customer retention, they may talk about new customer recruitment, they may talk about growth, they may talk about not losing what you have, hanging on to all of that, but also how do you, how are you, what you plan to bring in new business, what are your goals in that regard? So when we look at goal setting, we look at, we look at all that and then the same with your team. What's your goal for team retention? How do you plan to do that? What does that look like to you? Or team growth? If it's team growth, how will you recruit new team members? What are those things going to look like? So again, I think.

Delores Crum [: 00:02:44

I think you just can't assess your, your progress or know how well you are, how well you're doing. It's like if you didn't have a scale and you were trying to reach an ideal weight.

Kevin Dennis [: 00:02:55

Yeah.

Delores Crum [: 00:02:55

Would, you know, your clothes get a little loose or your clothes get a little tight, but you need to, you need something to measure by.

Kevin Dennis [: 00:03:02

Okay. All right, perfect. So how is goal setting changed your life?

Delores Crum [: 00:03:06

Let me go back and talk about personal goals for just a second.

Kevin Dennis [: 00:03:09

Oh, okay. You got it. And then we'll go on to that question.

Delores Crum [: 00:03:13

I'm less diligent about setting personal goals, although I do have things outside of premier that I want to accomplish. So one of those areas is the charities that we work with. I tend to be involved in them at the level where I think I have some degree of influence or impact on the amount of money that we raise or that we seek to raise. So I set those goals or we set those goals. I'm part of organizations that set those goals. And again, it's about having a measuring stick. We also set goals in terms of travel, adventures that we want to have, where we want to go, things that we want to do. What are those goals going to look like? And everything else is just things that you know you need to do, like taking, taking care of the people that you love and the people that love you and cultivating friendships and spending the time on doing those things.

Delores Crum [: 00:04:07

So those goals are perhaps less strategic than the goals really that we set for Premier, but no less important.

Kevin Dennis [: 00:04:14

So how has goal setting changed your life?

Delores Crum [: 00:04:17

Yep. I really feel that a great portion of the success, a large part of the success that we've experienced in premier will be 23 in November. So we survived 911 and we survived the pandemic. So I don't think we'd have been able to do those things or to flourish in a crowded market had we not had goals. At the core of what we do and how we, and how we operate. We have annual goals, we have monthly goals, and we're not really numbers driven. At least I'm nothing but goals in terms of customer retention and goals in terms of team retention and those kinds of things are critically important and things that we really that we really strive to do. So it's made me, I think, more effective.

Delores Crum [: 00:05:10

It's made us more successful. I set goals to write the books that I've written. That's another activity over and above a layer of thing to do. So until I wrote it down and said, I'm going to do this, I'm going to do it by x time, by x day, probably never would have happened.

Kevin Dennis [: 00:05:29

All right, so let's talk about setting, you know, any tips you may have for setting goals for when it comes to business.

Delores Crum [: 00:05:35

Yeah. Try. Try to use that smart goal formula.

Kevin Dennis [: 00:05:38

Okay.

Delores Crum [: 00:05:39

Try to make sure that your goals are specific and attainable and tangible and measurable and all of those things that smart goals are, because otherwise, again, you're not. You're just not going to be able to assess your progress and gauge how well you're performing individually and collectively. So make them smart. Google is rife with goal setting tips and use them because they're very helpful.

Kevin Dennis [: 00:06:07

It's amazing, too, because you said Google, so many people, you could just type in something in Google and it's right there at your fingertips. It just blows my mind.

Delores Crum [: 00:06:15

Absolutely. Or go to a Google image and it'll take you to a thousand other worthwhile.

Kevin Dennis [: 00:06:19

I know I have a. I have a relative that puts out there on their Facebook all the time. It's like, how do you do this? Or does anyone know? I'm like, it's called. I want to write back in there. It's called Google. And you'll find so many answers.

Delores Crum [: 00:06:32

Wikihow. Go to Wikihow and say how. And say how exactly. And it will tell you what you need to know.

Kevin Dennis [: 00:06:38

So when we're talking about goals for businesses, how important is it for your team to know what the goal of the company is?

Delores Crum [: 00:06:47

Let me tell you, Kevin, I had a real struggle with that early on in our, in our existence. It took me about eight years to share fiscal goals with our team, to convince myself that that was something that I wanted and needed to do. And it was at a team retreat, and I literally was physically ill from the thought of doing it. Honestly.

Kevin Dennis [: 00:07:14

No, I.

Delores Crum [: 00:07:15

It wasn't easy.

Kevin Dennis [: 00:07:16

Yeah.

Delores Crum [: 00:07:17

You know, it's easy to share goals about customer retention, and it's easy to share goals about, we want to have x number of trucks or x number of people working or x number. When it came to sharing money goals, I really did struggle with that. Yeah, I'm glad that I got past it, but it wasn't that. It wasn't an easy thing to do. And now, we do clearly share revenue goals. We're taking our team on a Jamaica trip in June. I think it's June, July, because of the goals that we set and reached last year.

Kevin Dennis [: 00:07:49

And so they. So let's talk about that. That's amazing. So did you guys set up some kind of a benchmark goal, and then if the team met that, they got to go on this amazing trip?

Delores Crum [: 00:07:59

Exactly right. So it's our sex team, which stands for sales and customer service.

Kevin Dennis [: 00:08:03

Okay.

Delores Crum [: 00:08:04

We're not taking the whole company because that'd be about 100.

Kevin Dennis [: 00:08:09

Well, someone's got to deliver everything, so. Well, you've got your.

Delores Crum [: 00:08:13

That's exactly right. The store has to be minded, but we're taking the people who had a part or the most critical part in making those things happen. We're doing other things for those who aren't able to make this trip. But I just said it in an off the cuff kind of way at one of our sacs teams. Meaning how, hey, if we do x, we'll do y. Well, we did x plus, and Y was a trip, and so. Yeah.

Kevin Dennis [: 00:08:39

Oh, wow. I never even thought about that with the team. That's amazing.

Delores Crum [: 00:08:43

We're thrilled. They're thrilled. I got it from. Do you know Cindy Ludwig, red velvet, here at Olson?

Kevin Dennis [: 00:08:49

No, I do not.

Delores Crum [: 00:08:51

Well, I'll introduce her when you're.

Kevin Dennis [: 00:08:54

You got it.

Delores Crum [: 00:08:55

Cindy's a thing, and her company, red velvet events, is a thing. Red velvet. And she has annually done that for probably the last ten years or so, taking her team pre Covid.

Kevin Dennis [: 00:09:08

Okay.

Delores Crum [: 00:09:08

I don't know that they've gone post Covid.

Kevin Dennis [: 00:09:10

Yeah, yeah.

Delores Crum [: 00:09:11

When. When they reach, she has a goal and a stretch goal. So it depends on the level of goal reach, how impressive the trick is.

Kevin Dennis [: 00:09:19

Oh, well, that's fair. I mean, yeah, because you hit. You know, if you hit benchmark a, we're going to go an overnighter. You know, it just gets a little bit better as we go, so.

Delores Crum [: 00:09:29

That's exactly right. If you hit benchmark a, we may go to Dallas.

Kevin Dennis [: 00:09:32

Yeah.

Delores Crum [: 00:09:34

If you get one past that, we might go to Jamaica.

Kevin Dennis [: 00:09:38

I would personally be happy with Dallas because, as we talked about earlier, I'm a baseball junkie, and the Texas Rangers are my team, so. All right, so now, what steps should someone take when taking their goals? Like, how often should they set a goal? You know, like, how often should they be reviewing their goal? You know? Like, I'm sure it's different for every type of a goal.

Delores Crum [: 00:10:02

So I'm going to do my fiscal year, my fiscal goals first.

Kevin Dennis [: 00:10:06

Okay.

Delores Crum [: 00:10:07

So we set an annual goal, but I look every two weeks and have since COVID at where we are compared to where we were at this same time last year.

Kevin Dennis [: 00:10:19

Oh, okay.

Delores Crum [: 00:10:20

And I do that every two weeks because what I'm measuring is are we on track to do as well or better than we did last year? Every quarter we look at the goals as a company because we do something called a year over year quarterly bonus. So if this quarter we did better as a team than we did the year before, that's an incentive that's shared with the team depending on how impressive the growth was or how impressive the, of course we go. So we do that. And then annually, it's part of our annual retreat that we're looking at the goals, the fiscal goals as well.

Kevin Dennis [: 00:11:02

Okay.

Delores Crum [: 00:11:02

When we're talking about other things, I'm looking at those things on a monthly basis.

Kevin Dennis [: 00:11:08

Okay.

Delores Crum [: 00:11:09

Because we have marketing goals by the month, things that we want to do, visits that we want to make people that we want to make sure that we chat with those kinds of things. And at the end of the year, we're looking at how well did we do. We're looking at how well our customers did and we're assigning loyalty levels for the following year based on that. So we're really, I think, very goal driven and helping our customers to be goal driven as well because there's an incentive for them to be a platinum or a platinum plus or a gold or a similar whatever it is they're going to be. So we try to let them know whether they're on track or not as well.

Kevin Dennis [: 00:11:53

Oh, that's, that's interesting. I never even thought about that aspect of it as well.

Delores Crum [: 00:11:57

They might throw you a December order, you know, that they might not have. Yeah.

Kevin Dennis [: 00:12:02

Yeah.

Delores Crum [: 00:12:02

So it's good. It's good.

Kevin Dennis [: 00:12:04

But then I guess that's a good way to strengthen that customer relationship as well because you're constantly checking in with them and you let them know what's going on. And then all of a sudden if there's a dip from, you know, event planner a, you can go check in. Hey, what, why, why are we not, you know.

Delores Crum [: 00:12:21

Yeah, exactly what's going on here?

Kevin Dennis [: 00:12:22

Yeah.

Delores Crum [: 00:12:23

You know, are things, are things slow for you? How can we help? Yeah, you know, let's get back on track. What do we need to do on our end to help get you to where you want to be at the end of the year so that you qualify for the, that next level of benefits?

Kevin Dennis [: 00:12:42

Wow. That's, that's a really good idea. And that, that's really good way for the, like, your customers to be selling you as well, you know? Cause they're out there. Yeah. Marketing and getting you guys going as well. So that's amazing. So now when you meet with your staff, like, when you're. Do we talk about the goals at every meeting or how often?

Delores Crum [: 00:13:01

No. No, we don't.

Kevin Dennis [: 00:13:03

Okay.

Delores Crum [: 00:13:03

And I will tell you, we've got a senior management group.

Kevin Dennis [: 00:13:08

Okay.

Delores Crum [: 00:13:09

And we talk about those things probably at most. At most every meeting. We touch base on those bi weekly reports. I told you that I do. We'll look at those. If we're trending behind, if we're trending, even if we're trending ahead, we'll look at those things and we'll chat about those things and look at how our marketing plan fits into what those things want to look like. Maybe we didn't hit the penguin hard enough at a particular time. Maybe there were open houses that we could have gone to.

Delores Crum [: 00:13:38

Maybe there were other things that we could have done. And so we'll look. We'll look at those things. But it's annual goal setting. It's quarterly goal setting. It's for me, I've got a two week planning cycle in the busy months or months planning cycle in the slowing months.

Kevin Dennis [: 00:13:57

Oh, okay.

Delores Crum [: 00:13:57

So what do, what do I need to do in the next week, in the next two weeks, in the next month? Those are not goals as much as maybe they're tasks. Yeah, but there's still things that have to be done, and when I get to highlight them with my yellow marker, it's really good.

Kevin Dennis [: 00:14:11

Yeah, it probably makes you feel really good. So. So you said tasks and goals. So. So can we have. Is, you know, like you were talking about yearly, quarterly goals, you know, are. Is it short term goals a good thing to have, too? You know? Or is that.

Delores Crum [: 00:14:26

I think so. I do. But I think every, every member of the premier team will do that. So our team members on the SACs side are incentivized to achieve revenue goals, and that's how their commissions increase. So we encourage them to build a book of business so that they can increase their percentage of revenue derived from the revenue that they produce, if that makes sense.

Kevin Dennis [: 00:14:56

So then, now for them going to like a nice or an ilea, is that good for them to go to these associations? And it's golden, Kevin. Okay. All right.

Delores Crum [: 00:15:06

It's gold. But our most successful team member will be. Is president elect. Will be president elect in a month or so.

Kevin Dennis [: 00:15:15

Okay.

Delores Crum [: 00:15:15

She'll be president a year after that. I went through the whole Aileya and Nace progression. She, our most successful team member, from a revenue perspective, is also a nice member. So for me, anybody who's listening, it's golden. It's absolutely golden to be a part of those organizations.

Kevin Dennis [: 00:15:36

Oh, yeah. Because you only, you only, you know, because I've been involved with WIPA, which, there isn't a WIPA chapter in your area yet. Nace and Ailea, I did MPI for a while, but I find that you only get out of them what you put into them. So that's, you know, so, like you were saying your most successful person is president elect because, you know, they know everyone. They know what's going on. They're, you know. Yeah. They're totally involved, and therefore they, they have their finger kind of on the pulse of the area.

Kevin Dennis [: 00:16:01

You know, if there's a new company coming in, they'll know what's going on or, or, you know, someone's closing up for retirement or, you know, they'll just know what's going on. You know, they'll have their finger on the pulse of the, of what's going on.

Delores Crum [: 00:16:14

So I mentor other business professionals through the American Rental association. We have a mentorship program, and the one thing I tell them most consistently is be a part. But you can't just have your name on the membership roster. You have to go to the meetings. You have to step up and stand out.

Kevin Dennis [: 00:16:36

It's funny you say that because there'd be so many people that say, oh, I'm a member, but I don't get anything out of it. And like, well, do you go to the meetings? Do you, you know, what, what have you put into it to get out of it? You know, that's all. Yeah. Cause the membership is such a small dollar amount, you know, that they're asking for. It's not even. Yeah. And I don't know. I mean, why someone would expect dollar 400, you know, membership would get you any kind of revenue without, without doing the work.

Kevin Dennis [: 00:17:02

So.

Delores Crum [: 00:17:02

That's exactly right. I just wanted to mention, too, that most organizations have both a young profession, a young professional.

Kevin Dennis [: 00:17:08

Yeah.

Delores Crum [: 00:17:08

And a student membership.

Kevin Dennis [: 00:17:09

Yeah.

Delores Crum [: 00:17:10

You can't start too soon.

Kevin Dennis [: 00:17:11

Yeah.

Delores Crum [: 00:17:12

So whether you're in school or just got out, take that path, especially if you're a person that's looking for, and quote, j o b job. I know many professionals who have found their place through an organization like an Acer idea.

Kevin Dennis [: 00:17:25

Well, it's, it's amazing. I agree. So we could probably do a whole podcast episode. Yeah. Is there a better time of the year to set goals? You know, like we end the year and then people start and I'm going to go hit the gym, and the first of the year, I'm going to do this and do that. And then come Valentine's day, it's all, what? They don't even remember what they were talking about come, you know, the end of December.

Delores Crum [: 00:17:49

So just a couple of things. They're not gold if they're not written down.

Kevin Dennis [: 00:17:53

Okay. Oh, that's, I never. Okay. That's amazing. Okay.

Delores Crum [: 00:17:57

So if it's not a plan.

Kevin Dennis [: 00:17:58

All right.

Delores Crum [: 00:17:59

If it's in your head, okay, it's only a plan if it's committed to paper, and it's only a goal if it's written down.

Kevin Dennis [: 00:18:07

Wow.

Delores Crum [: 00:18:07

So we, we do our major goal setting in November, December.

Kevin Dennis [: 00:18:13

Okay.

Delores Crum [: 00:18:13

Because again, we're getting ready for that next year, what that's going to look like. So we're setting our goals and making our plans to accomplish those things that we do. So I think most everybody is good about doing that at the end of the year. But no, you don't. You don't set that document aside and dig it out of your file cabinet in August because by then it's too late.

Kevin Dennis [: 00:18:37

Yeah. Yeah.

Delores Crum [: 00:18:38

So, too late. So you've got to live, that document has to live with you again. I liken it to a diet. You have to weigh every day, but you have to weigh once a week and you have to draw a line in the sand. I'm not going to weigh more than x or less than yemenite, but you got to get on the scale.

Kevin Dennis [: 00:18:56

So that's a good part of thinking about it, too. So you set your goals in November, but then you're looking at it, like you said, weekly. But then it may be a yearly goal, but by March or April, if you're not hitting a number, then what happens?

Delores Crum [: 00:19:16

Yeah, you'd better get with it and understand why. Perhaps you wouldn't. For, like in our, in our business, in the rental world, did you contact the people who have annual events? Did you lose any of those events? And if you did, why did you, did you read the newspaper or the Austin Business Journal and learn that there's a new this or a new that? And if there, if you did, did you contact those people who are a part of that organization? So you've, you've got to be able to live those goals and live that plan. If you don't have a plan and you don't have goals. You're just kind of, you're kind of like the lost pilot. You, you don't know where you're going, but you're making record time. Yeah, I just wanted to say another word about, about goals because I, because I think about this. I'm not, I'm revenue driven.

Delores Crum [: 00:20:06

I'm not profit driven. I don't obsessed over profit. I assess over revenue.

Kevin Dennis [: 00:20:15

Okay.

Delores Crum [: 00:20:16

I try to spend as much as I can for a variety of reasons, including Texas, and to keep our inventory current and exciting. Oh, I'm not looking at my bottom line, I'm looking at my pop one.

Kevin Dennis [: 00:20:29

Okay.

Delores Crum [: 00:20:30

Other people do it very differently and I get that. I do.

Kevin Dennis [: 00:20:32

Yeah.

Delores Crum [: 00:20:32

For me, it's revenue that excites me. I can control those expenses, but I wanna earn.

Kevin Dennis [: 00:20:39

And it's funny you say that cause the more you're bringing a new product, the more people are talking about you. Hey, have you seen premier has this or. Oh, have you, you know, you know, are you brought in a product for a special client? And I'm sure you know that that goes a long way. Cause I've actually done that for my business. It's like someone's asked over and over again for something and I'm like, all right, let me see what I can do to make that happen. Bring it in. And then, you know, you're just strengthening and building that relationship with that client.

Delores Crum [: 00:21:05

And in our world, if you don't have it and someone wants it, you're going to have to go to a competitor.

Kevin Dennis [: 00:21:11

Yeah.

Delores Crum [: 00:21:11

And that is something I do not like to do. Oh, so if I stuck, rented something a time or two, I need to own it.

Kevin Dennis [: 00:21:18

Yeah. Yeah. Wow, that's a good way. That's a good rule of thumb probably in your, in your world for sure. We've gone through all these, you know, sales goals. Now what about out in your, you know, your setup guys, your, your warehouse folks, do they have different set of goals that they're working by?

Delores Crum [: 00:21:36

They do, but they're not as clear cut.

Kevin Dennis [: 00:21:39

Okay, all right. Okay.

Delores Crum [: 00:21:41

They're not as Thor cut. They're working on things like earning a safe driver bonus.

Kevin Dennis [: 00:21:46

Oh, okay.

Delores Crum [: 00:21:47

They're working on things like being eligible for late night pickups which pay very handsomely.

Kevin Dennis [: 00:21:53

Oh.

Delores Crum [: 00:21:53

They're working on things like they know that if the company suffers, they suffer too. That if the company doesn't, isn't successful, they can't be successful. If the company doesn't earn revenue, they're not going to get those quarter over quarter bonuses or those lovely holiday celebrations as well. As well. So we don't talk as much and probably should talk a whole lot more about how our earnings and revenue relate to them specifically. But it's something that's difficult to quantify.

Kevin Dennis [: 00:22:29

Yeah, it is. I could see that.

Delores Crum [: 00:22:32

We're going to implement a program where we have, I think we have like 4.6 stars today, but we want to be at 4.8 stars at the end of the year. So if we're at 4.8 stars at the end of the year, there's a, there's an incentive for doing those things. So. So we'll do those, we'll do those, those kinds of things.

Kevin Dennis [: 00:22:52

Now, do you find your staff gets excited for these, you know, like incentives and goals and is it, it sounds like it's a good motivator.

Delores Crum [: 00:23:02

I think so, Kevin. But our, our Dax team delivering customer service is primarily not female.

Kevin Dennis [: 00:23:12

Okay.

Delores Crum [: 00:23:12

And our sax team is primarily female. So in the expression of excitement and emotion, those two groups are fundamentally different in my experience.

Kevin Dennis [: 00:23:23

I get it.

Delores Crum [: 00:23:24

Do they get excited? I don't know. If they do, it probably, probably doesn't show. The Saks team gets really excited. So there you go.

Kevin Dennis [: 00:23:34

That makes sense. That's funny. I do find my staff out in the warehouse. We just bought a brand new truck and they got all excited about the truck. You know, it's little things like that that they get. Yeah, I.

Delores Crum [: 00:23:45

We've a new forklift that makes things easier when we bought it. Yeah, the tip ox. When we bought it, those things might get them really excited.

Kevin Dennis [: 00:23:54

Yeah, yeah. Tools like, they like. Yeah.

Delores Crum [: 00:23:57

Stuff.

Kevin Dennis [: 00:23:57

Yeah. Stuff that get going. So, you know, we were, we've been talking about it, so. And, you know, how can we get the team, you know, just everyone on board with the goal setting. Like, do. You mentioned you do a meeting in November, you know, like how, how can we get them all on board with, with, with these goal settings?

Delores Crum [: 00:24:16

So I mentioned the senior management team, but another thing that we implemented maybe last year, uh, was post Covid, is a, is a leadership group. A leadership team. So we feel like if, because we do have a large number of employees and they're, and they're both in Austin and in college station and they're 2 hours apart, 120 miles difference.

Kevin Dennis [: 00:24:38

I.

Delores Crum [: 00:24:39

The leadership team, though, can convey what needs to be conveyed and peer to peer, we feel like that's probably more effective or an effective way to proceed with the goal setting. So it's not as, again, there's not as much clarity and time performance to the goal, but everybody gets it, and everybody gets the relationship between how well we all do and how well each of us does.

Kevin Dennis [: 00:25:11

Yeah, that's good. So, you know, so let's play devil's advocate, but if you got someone that's not meeting the goals, you know, like, do we mentor them? Do we coach them? You know, like, how do we get them up with the rest of the group?

Delores Crum [: 00:25:26

Or.

Kevin Dennis [: 00:25:26

That's a rough one.

Delores Crum [: 00:25:30

There's peer pressure.

Kevin Dennis [: 00:25:31

Okay, so. And that works. That really. That is the thing.

Delores Crum [: 00:25:36

So it is a thing.

Kevin Dennis [: 00:25:37

Yeah.

Delores Crum [: 00:25:37

And it's like, hey, dude, don't bring us down.

Kevin Dennis [: 00:25:40

Yeah.

Delores Crum [: 00:25:41

You know, we got it. We got to do. So we're motivated by good feedback, positive feedback, and we have to take issue on those instances where we have negative feedback.

Kevin Dennis [: 00:25:53

Yeah.

Delores Crum [: 00:25:54

Especially if it was something that we did that we ought not to have done or something that we didn't do that we should have done. We have to deal with those situations that we have to deal with them as they come. So, yes, there's coaching, and, yes, there's mentoring from our senior staff, and those are really the ways that we try to help shape behavior. Those are the ways we try to shape behavior.

Kevin Dennis [: 00:26:17

Yes.

Delores Crum [: 00:26:18

We say, follow good examples. Follow good examples, and you'll do well if that's your game plan. And we do have. Now, we do have a tiered compensation system that's not just experience based but also performance based as much as we can make it. So.

Kevin Dennis [: 00:26:37

Yeah, well, that sounds. Yeah, it sounds good. But, you know, I just. I think in the end, like you said, you have to have that measuring stick to know where you're going, and I think, you know, and then everyone will just kind of come right along, and if you don't have a leader telling you where to go or what are. What our goals are for the day or the week, the month or whatever, you know, it only goes so far.

Delores Crum [: 00:26:59

So on the sales side, that's relatively simple.

Kevin Dennis [: 00:27:03

Yeah, it is.

Delores Crum [: 00:27:04

But for the rest of the team, that's a lot more difficult.

Kevin Dennis [: 00:27:07

It is. But I always. I have kind of a rule of thumb. I always say is we're only as good as our last event, and if we really blew it on our last event, then we're not doing so good right now, you know? And it's just like, you know, and I always take, when something does happen, it's like, all right, how do we fix it? How do we make sure this does not happen again, you know, and that it gets everyone thinking and everyone has good idea, you know, comes with good ideas or we missed the boat on. We didn't do a, or we should have done b, you know? You know, or we took. Should have took the time to, you know, look into this or, you know, go further. It's. There's so much, you know, I think so many people get stuck in doing the same thing over and over and over and over again instead of really learning, you know, and evolving.

Kevin Dennis [: 00:27:50

Like you said, bringing a new product and bringing in new thing. If you have the same product you did 23 years ago, you'd be out of business, you know?

Delores Crum [: 00:27:57

That's right.

Kevin Dennis [: 00:27:58

Yeah.

Delores Crum [: 00:27:58

Well, every fail is a learning opportunity.

Kevin Dennis [: 00:28:01

Yeah. Yeah.

Delores Crum [: 00:28:02

Every success is a learning opportunity as well.

Kevin Dennis [: 00:28:05

Yeah.

Delores Crum [: 00:28:06

What did we do? Right. What are the behaviors we want to repeat?

Kevin Dennis [: 00:28:09

Yeah, that's true.

Delores Crum [: 00:28:10

And what did we. Poorly.

Kevin Dennis [: 00:28:12

Yeah.

Delores Crum [: 00:28:12

What are the behaviors we do not want to repeat from this? So we learn as much from. From our failures as we do our successes, but we need to learn from our successes, too.

Kevin Dennis [: 00:28:21

Yeah, I agree. So what have I not asked you about goals?

Delores Crum [: 00:28:26

I don't know. I think we. I think we covered it fairly comprehensively. But again, you've got to have them.

Kevin Dennis [: 00:28:33

Yeah.

Delores Crum [: 00:28:34

You've got to have.

Kevin Dennis [: 00:28:35

And you got to have them written down.

Delores Crum [: 00:28:36

And you've got to have them written down, because if they're not written down, they're not goals.

Kevin Dennis [: 00:28:41

Yes.

Delores Crum [: 00:28:41

You don't have a written plan. You don't have a plan.

Kevin Dennis [: 00:28:45

There's so many people I know that don't even have a business plan, or.

Delores Crum [: 00:28:48

It'S like, I'm so sorry. Bless their hearts.

Kevin Dennis [: 00:28:50

Yeah. And I'm like, what are you doing? What do you. What are you doing? You know, like how. What do you don't even, you know.

Delores Crum [: 00:28:56

I don't know the phrase to fail. To plan is to plan. To fail.

Kevin Dennis [: 00:29:01

Yeah.

Delores Crum [: 00:29:02

Is a true. Is a true truth.

Kevin Dennis [: 00:29:03

Yes.

Delores Crum [: 00:29:03

One of those truths with a capital t. Yeah. So don't. Don't do that. If you want to be successful, set goals, make a plan to accomplish them. Work your plan, you'll succeed.

Kevin Dennis [: 00:29:16

Yeah. No, it makes sense. And I think so many people now are going to be getting out the paper and pen or getting out the computer and writing down their goals and going from there, because that's something that I think a lot of people miss the boat is if it's not written down, they're going to miss out on it.

Delores Crum [: 00:29:33

Ask Google.

Kevin Dennis [: 00:29:33

Yeah.

Delores Crum [: 00:29:34

It will confirm that.

Kevin Dennis [: 00:29:35

Yeah. There you go. That's so funny. All right. So on. Mind your wedding business. We ask all our. All our folks here is what is your favorite part of a wedding? So Dolores and I love, because we have so many different people from so many different backgrounds, but what is your favorite part of a wedding, Dolores?

Delores Crum [: 00:29:51

I'm going to tell you my favorite part of weddings that we attend.

Kevin Dennis [: 00:29:54

Okay.

Delores Crum [: 00:29:55

And my favorite part, and I, and I cry every time even if I don't know the people well. But my favorite part is the ceremony.

Kevin Dennis [: 00:30:01

Oh, yeah.

Delores Crum [: 00:30:01

Especially when people have written their own vows. And in the cards that I send, I usually say, may you always be as happy as you are today. May you always love one another as much as you do right now.

Kevin Dennis [: 00:30:15

Yeah.

Delores Crum [: 00:30:15

So the ceremony is the exchange of vows. I don't need all the other stuff I can do without the music and the walk down and the whole nine. But that exchange of vows where two people are looking at each other with their hearts, it's just great. I do love it.

Kevin Dennis [: 00:30:30

And I love, it's funny that you say that because it's a trend that we're seeing, especially in my market right now, is the personal vows. And I think it's so much better than the repeat after me because every, you know, it's so boring. But the personal vows, they put it, they just put it all out there and from, from sit, you know, from being compassionate to funny to, you know, there's all the most people tug on all the different emotions all the way.

Delores Crum [: 00:30:55

Through and I've seen people do it. Yeah. I've seen people do it both ways where they, where they do some of the traditional vows.

Kevin Dennis [: 00:31:01

Yeah.

Delores Crum [: 00:31:01

But they also do that personal value, change it. In my view. There's no substitute for, there's no substitute for that.

Kevin Dennis [: 00:31:07

And I love that you said you don't even know them, but you get a little tear to your eye, you know, like, I know I do as well because you're sitting there, you're like, that was amazing. You know, and, yeah, you'll remember that. And that's what I think what, you know, people, you know, tend to forget when they're, you know, planning their weddings is, is those little moments actually go, they won't remember the chicken, they won't, like you said, they won't remember all the music or, you know, but they'll remember little, little touches like that. So anyway.

Delores Crum [: 00:31:33

And they should. And they should write them and frame them.

Kevin Dennis [: 00:31:36

They should.

Delores Crum [: 00:31:37

Yeah. And you know that day that you're having a really tough time? Oh, yeah. Is this what I've got? This is the person that I actually met. Oh, that's why.

Kevin Dennis [: 00:31:46

Yeah.

Delores Crum [: 00:31:46

Get that out and take another look at it.

Kevin Dennis [: 00:31:48

Yeah. Yeah. Well, that's part of. A. Part of growing as we. As we.

Delores Crum [: 00:31:51

I've been married 40 years. I know this.

Kevin Dennis [: 00:31:53

Yeah, well, I've only been married 14, so I got a lot to learn.

Delores Crum [: 00:31:56

There you go.

Kevin Dennis [: 00:31:57

I do know. Yes, dear. That's. Yeah. Yes. Uh huh.

Delores Crum [: 00:32:00

That's good.

Kevin Dennis [: 00:32:02

I learned that a long time ago.

Delores Crum [: 00:32:03

Happy life.

Kevin Dennis [: 00:32:04

A hundred percent, for sure. So. All right. So, Dolores, how do people get in touch with you if they want to connect with you?

Delores Crum [: 00:32:11

Absolutely. So it's Delores, my first name. D e l o r e s with the extra e on the end. Premiere eventspluraline.com. or you can access my author page, to which I'll also respond, deloresfrom.com dot.

Kevin Dennis [: 00:32:32

Oh, perfect. All right. Well, it sounds amazing, Dolores. We can't thank you enough. I hope everyone is now, you know, got their mindset and ready to take on goals. And, you know, a year from now, they're going to be writing us, telling us all the amazing things they accomplished over the last year. I do, too.

Delores Crum [: 00:32:48

So, anyway, Kevin, thanks so much for having me.

Kevin Dennis [: 00:32:51

I appreciate it. Thank you, Dolores.

Delores Crum [: 00:32:54

Absolutely.

Kevin Dennis [: 00:32:55

To our listeners, thank you for tuning in to another episode of mind your wedding business podcast, brought to you by Weddingiq. I hope you've enjoyed listening to this episode. Please get in touch with me. If you have a topic you would like for me to cover, or, or if you are in the area of your business you would like you're struggling with, let us know. We'll be happy to help. I encourage you to check out our other episodes on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you listen to podcasts. And if you're a fan, we'd love to hear from you, and we'd love for you to subscribe to our podcast and leave a review. It helps others find our podcast so they can learn from our guests, too.

Kevin Dennis [: 00:33:30

Thanks again for listening.