Bridal Seamstress Real Talk: My Biggest Client Mistake This Summer

We've just been having the best guests, so I'm like, "Okay, if we're getting all these great marketing pros, and systems pros, and people who can help us make our lives easier, by all means, let me take a backseat, and let's get these awesome guests in." But I had a scenario recently within my local business that I wanted to share with you guys, and I think it's really important to put it into a podcast episode.

I'm gonna be honest, I'm a little nervous to share it, because it's kind of embarrassing, and I don't know.

I went back and forth.

Do I wanna talk about this? I don't know.

I don't know, but I think it's really important, because there's this false idea out there that once your business gets to a certain level or to a certain point, you are not gonna have any issues, and if you do have issues, obviously it's the client's fault, because you're a pro.

So it's gonna be the bridezilla, or it's gonna be a really stressed, annoying bride, and you just have to write it off as a one-off, right? And sometimes, whatever, that, that can happen.

But if you have talked to me about any client issue that you've had, if you've heard me ever talk about bridezillas, you know that I am a big fan of looking inward, reflecting on the scenario, and, and learning from it.

What can we do better for the next client? Because the truth is, if your business is growing, and it's strong, and you're confident in your brand values, when these issues come up, it should be seen as an opportunity to grow and evolve and serve the next client better, rather than evidence that there are bad brides out there.

You know what I'm saying? And the narrative is so loud [laughs] that either you're working with bridezillas, or you should be so ashamed of this incident and never speak of it.

[laughs] It's one or the other, right? So yes, it's a little embarrassing, so I hope you appreciate that I'm s- [laughs] I'm sharing this with you, please.

But we learned really big lessons with this whole situation, so I...

That's why I wanna share it with you, because we, as a team, came away with five, literally, five things that we're doing differently in our business after this particular scenario, and I'm so grateful for it.

I, w- Because if it weren't for this client, we wouldn't have seen kind of just all of these little communication issues that had been slipping through the cracks, and I'm so grateful that it happened with this particular client, 'cause she was so gracious.

And yeah, so I, I thought about, okay, how do I wanna talk about this? Do I wanna tell you the whole story and then go back and tell you all the things that we changed? And no, because maybe that would be better in a storytelling aspect.

[laughs] But then I'm gonna lose track of what we actually did and how we grew, and I want you to hear in real time the changes that we made, okay? So I also wanna open by saying 100% this is not a bridezilla situation, okay? This client was actually super gracious about everything.

She had reason to be annoyed or to be kind of upset, and that's fine, and I told her that, you know? And we have a good relationship now.

She tagged us in all of her wedding photos.

She's getting her gown cleaned and preserved, so all is well.

Okay, so she wasn't a bridezilla, and also, she is my ideal client.

So I can't look at the situation and be like, "Oh, I just need to really hone in on my ideal client." Actually, she is my ideal client, you know what I'm saying? So take all this into consideration as you're hearing the story, and I, I can't wait to hear your feedback.

You can share your feedback with me either in the comments of this episode, or you can shoot me an email if you're on my email list, or message me at secrets of a bridal seamstress on Instagram, because we all go through this stuff.

Whether or not people are actually talking about it, it's happening, okay? And I will tell you also within our membership, this year has been, I don't know, something's in the water, and that's a different topic for a different day.

But these women who I look up to and I'm like, "Gosh, you're the bee's knees in this business," they're still going through stuff, and we are learning through it.

So first thing I want you to take away from this episode is if you had a difficult client experience, you're not alone, you're not a loser, and you get to use these opportunities to grow.

Okay, let me dive into the story, because I know you're on the edge of your seat to hear what we did to this poor bride.