Client Event Booking Delays Cost Money, Create Disappointment

Are you an event planner or designer? Perhaps you're a venue manager or a stylist.

If you've ever had a client who cannot commit to a date, a venue, a supplier or a budget or any combination of these, your client is running a very big risk.

Thousands of events from expos, product launches and store openings to corporate dinners and milestone birthday parties occur every day across Australia.

As you can imagine, there is a finite number of venues, event hire suppliers and all the complementary services which make an event one to remember available at any time.

Within these are limitations too.

There are only so many venues that say, provide city rooftop views, or the industrial warehouse feel you're after, or have a capacity for 300 guests, or allow external catering, or which have drive-in access for supplier trucks, or which allow exclusive use for the day, or which don't force you to use their suppliers.

When you have a very exacting list of venue requirements, the number of venues drops.

When your client's event has to be for a specific date, the number drops again.

Within the suppliers, there are fewer again who can supply, for example, 400 x Tiffany chairs, or 60cm glass vases, or custom-made table linen.

While your client procrastinates and delays making a decision and/or a payment, other clients who are more organised, place their order and get a better choice.

If there are only few of a particular item, and your client's event is say, during Spring Racing Carnival, for example, there are four things that happen.

1. They miss out by failing to lock in an item immediately but they associate you (the supplier, stylist or venue) with the disappointment, not realising it was due to their own procrastination.
2. They now have to make alternative arrangements which may not necessarily meet their event moodboard brief or create the wow factor which increases the stress factor for everyone.
3. The supplier has less time to source options which creates the old you-can-have-it-fast-cheap-or-good-but-pick-two dilemma.
4. The client typically pays more to get something that is scarce, custom-made, couriered or expedited.

Enjoyed this? Did you know there are better days of the week than others to organise your corporate event?