In many ways, the event industry is very unique. Often planners will just take a few clients each month. The sales cycle is long, the travel can be trying, and the results are tangible. But in other ways, the event industry is the same as any other industry out there. To make money, planners need to generate clients and increase margins. This is a list of three things to keep in mind when building a successful event planning business.
1. Save Money with Smart Lead Generation
The best way to increase margins as an event planner is to get your company’s marketing and lead generation efforts in order. One model to seriously consider is the allowable marketing cost per customer model. Instead of making marketing a fixed cost (X amount per month), marketing should be a variable cost worked into the per customer cost structure (X amount per customer).
If marketing is a variable cost, you should figure out how much in marketing costs you can afford per customer and then scale lead generation based on this cost. As long as your marketing cost per customer is under an amount you are comfortable with, you can scale your amount of customers endlessly. To do this, you should analyze each lead source for your business by cost and conversion rate. If a lead source is viable, its conversion rate will enable you to secure customers under your cost threshold.
2. Cashback on Venues and Hotels
In business there are two ways to increase profits – to do more business or to make more money on business you are currently doing. Did you know that you can join networks to make money back on things like venue bookings, meeting space bookings, or even group hotel rates?
EventPlanner.com does just that. Partner with them and you can get 2 percent back or more on your everyday bookings. If you’re a conference planner, for example, this can be huge. Imagine booking 500 rooms at $200 apiece. That’s $2000 back in your pocket. Do this for all of your events and you can make some serious cash back.
3. Become an Event Insurance Affiliate
You can also choose to be an affiliate for other event services. A notable service that is on the rise is event insurance. A quick Google search will yield many possible partners you could work with, but one thing is for certain, demand is going up and to the right. This is because many venues are starting to require a liability policy in order to host your event. As a planner, you can receive money back for leads you submit to these partners.
So, there you have it – three ways you can increase the profits of your event planning business. Remember, there are two ways your business can make more money regardless of your industry. You can generate more business, or make better profit margins with the business you are already bringing in.
Have other ideas for event planners? Leave them in the comments below.
