We are proud members of the Australian Bridal Industry Academy (ABIA). In this article, we will discuss why the wedding industry NEEDS to have the ABIA to support to entire industry. We will look at why ABIA is a benefit to both consumers and suppliers and how ABIA helps to keep the industry moving forward with credibility.
For those who are unaware of what the Australian Bridal Industry Academy (ABIA) is, in a nutshell it is an academy with voluntary membership for wedding industry professionals to join. By joining, this then qualifies you for awards for excellence of service to clients. The way this works is through a process of voting by bridal couples who have used the services of the member. So, after each wedding, ABIA members will submit the details of the couple to ABIA, who will send them a form to vote for the member, giving them a score out of a top of 100 over four categories.
This is a “blind” vote, which keeps it honest. If we provide a bad service to somebody, they will certainly reflect that in their scores and we will never know who gave us a bad score. All scores over a 12 month period are averaged out to come up with an overall percentile score out of 100 on customer satisfaction. (We scored 99.13% in 2014 which saw us win the award for DJ of the Year for Queensland).
The annual awards event is a highlight of the entire wedding industry as suppliers from all categories come together for a wonderful evening of entertainment, awards, dinner and drinks. The networking opportunities and the ability to catch up with other great professional suppliers is fantastic.
Of course, there are always some naysayers in just about everything there is. Here are some of the common negative comments we hear about ABIA –
“I don’t believe in ABIA”.
It is interesting that when we hear this sort of negativity, upon further investigation it is frequently members that were past ABIA members who became jaded because they didn’t win. For us, it’s not about winning. It’s about having a fantastic client feedback system where we can learn how well we did. If we don’t score as well as we expected, this gives us the incentive to look carefully at where we can improve. So it’s a win for us as suppliers, and it’s a win for our clients.
“Winning an ABIA award doesn’t mean you are the best”.
That is true! Whilst we were fortunate enough to win the Queensland DJ award for 2014, does that mean that there isn’t another DJ out there that might be better than us? No. Of course there might be a better DJ out there. However, if they don’t submit themselves to being a part of something that is recognised as the industry standard awards, how can we be sure? At the time of writing this article, Rory McIlroy is currently ranked the #1 golfer in the world. Now, I might be better than Rory is. I can even claim that I am the best in the world, but if I don’t enter into the competition I have no way of proving it.
To us, it would seem that those that want to say negative things about the ABIA awards and sit on the sidelines may be little more than either sore-losers that have tried it and became insulted by the results (rather than working out how to improve) or people that are just too afraid to put their reputation on the line in a public way.
We may not always win. But to us, it’s not about winning. It’s about having the belief in yourself and your reputation enough to put it on public display. To open yourself up to public scrutiny. It’s about receiving valuable feedback. It’s about growing. It’s about making mistakes and correcting them.
If I was hiring any wedding professional, I would certainly consider ensuring all my suppliers were members of ABIA. This would instill a sense of trust for me knowing that they believe in themselves enough to put their reputation on the line.
Warmest wishes,
Nik Reeds
