Learn how this wedding venue booked more weddings, saved time, and got paid instantly with HoneyBook. With a more seamless booking experience, it was easier for clients to choose them and move forward with payment.
The Situation
See Canyon Fruit Ranch is a family-run apple farm and wedding venue business on the Central Coast of California. “We love to share our little slice of heaven with people,” says venue manager Hannah Kenny. But while the property is idyllic, their internal systems to book clients weren’t as blissful.
Before Hannah took over as the venue manager, See Canyon Fruit Ranch handled all of their bookings, including contracts and payments, by hand.
The Challenge
The inefficient booking process wasted Hannah’s time and prospective clients’time, preventing the venue business from landing more weddings.
“Before HoneyBook, the average time was around a month or longer from inquiry to booking,” Hannah says. “This was because we would send contracts by mail and have to wait for a check to be mailed (sometimes from across the country or world) from the client as well. On average we would usually wait around a month for checks to be received.”
HoneyBook to the Rescue
“I was talking with a friend about some administrative problems I was having, and she told me about HoneyBook’s business management solutions designed for venues. As soon as we got it, it was a huge time saver and also opened up so many great opportunities for clients,” Hannah says. “On average, we would book around 15 weddings per year. After joining HoneyBook, that went up to around 20 weddings.”
On average, we would book around 15 weddings per year. After joining HoneyBook, that went up to around 20 weddings.
Automating lead capture and nurturing
“The initial feature that I was really happy about was the automations,” Hannah says. On the See Canyon Fruit Ranch website, she implemented a HoneyBook contact form that connects directly to her HoneyBook account. Automations take care of the rest to funnel prospects into their system and move things along quickly.
Whenever someone submits an inquiry via the contact form,” Hannah said, “a specialized automation I created shoots back a sales brochure for our clients so they get things right away, which is incredibly important.”
Within the sales brochure, these clients can learn more about the venue before moving forward to schedule a tour. It takes zero time of Hannah’s plate, and it provides an excellent experience for all new leads.
Pro Tip: Venues can also include a HoneyBook Scheduler block with any smart file template, which means you can send a sales brochure about your venue, then offer your prospects to schedule a tour. The scheduler syncs with your calendar, so you’ll never double-book. And it can all happen immediately after a lead inquires!
Customizable templates that reduce workload
Along with the sales brochure, Hannah also loves HoneyBook’s additional templates designed for selling services, booking, onboarding clients, and more. To make the booking process easier and more professional, she created different online contract templates for each of the venue’s different packages.
All of her templates are stored within HoneyBook and ready to go. Instead of creating a new contract from scratch for each individual client, she just pulls up a template. With a few clicks, she can customize the online contract for each new client.
Online proposals to collect signature and payment in one step
After using her HoneyBook templates to create contracts, Hannah streamlines her booking process further by sending the contracts and online invoices through HoneyBook. When clients receive the proposal, they can sign the contract, view the invoice, and pay online–all in one step.
“Online payments and online contracts have streamlined the process, helping clients book more quickly because everything is in one place in their HoneyBook portal,” she says. “The online payment option has made it possible for our clients to pay the same day they book.”
Online payments and online contracts have streamlined the process, helping clients book more quickly because everything is in one place in their HoneyBook portal.
Success by the Numbers
The Results
See Canyon Fruit Ranch saved hours managing the administrative side of their business, booking more clients—faster. “HoneyBook is an amazing tool that has really streamlined our business process to give us the space that we need to focus on what’s important for growing our business and also give us the space to focus on other things in our life that are really important,” Hannah says.
