Client Magnets Official Blog

Posts Tagged ‘event venue’

Venue pricing is always negotiable. There’s always another venue if one won’t meet your budget, or can’t provide a venue sufficient for your needs. However, supply and demand can play an important role in selecting a venue for your event. If you’re planning an event for a key time, or in a locale with limited supply, you may find your options limited when it comes to negotiating prices or selecting alternate venue sites.

Tip #1  Venue Availability Influences Price
Venue availability influences the price of your venue. If many venues are available for a particular period of time, the venue may be willing to negotiate a lower rate just to get a booking. Likewise, if you’re looking to book a venue during an off-peak period where the venue itself hasn’t been used in a while, the venue coordinator might be more interested in negotiating.

Alternately, if you’re booking a venue in a time of peak availability, venue pricing may vary. If the venue knows that several events are in town, or if it’s been booked repeatedly at a high rate for weeks or months, a venue may be unwilling to negotiate much on price. If this is due to a high rate of events in the locale, you may find similar rates everywhere, and may not be able to negotiate the great deal you could during off-peak times.

Tip#2 Venue Supply Varies by Locale
Some regions simply host a large number of events, or may have a limited number of venues available to meet demand. While it’s generally true that there’s always another venue, and you can shop around if a venue is unable to meet your budget, that’s not always the case. Some locales simply don’t have many venues for events.

Particularly if you’re planning a large event, your venue options are likely to be quite limited. Even if you’re planning a smaller event, you may still have trouble finding the right venue. Before you assume that another venue is available, make sure another venue is available. Don’t walk away from a venue in a locale that has a limited number of venues available unless you know you can get another venue.

Research Your Locale Before Shopping for a Venue
To ensure you have maximum negotiating power, research your locale before shopping for a venue. Learn what venues in the area can support a group of your size. Determine availability for your target date before you begin talking with any venue about price and reserving the venue.

Know whether other venues can support your event before you begin the negotiating process. You may find that venue options are limited, which might change your venue selection process. If you can’t or don’t want to pay what the venue is charging, you may need to move your event to a different locale, or schedule it for a different time when there aren’t as many events and more venues are available. You can still get a great price for your venue, but you’ll be better able to negotiate if you know what’s available.

Want to know more? Then make sure YOU reserve a front row seat at the Event Money Machine later this month. Tickets to this event are FREE – so join our priority notification list to be the first to know when they become available.

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When you think of hotels and conferences centers, visions of indifferent buildings off interstate exits might come to mind.  But, there’s a softer, human side to these establishments, and tapping into that human potential can greatly affect the bottom line of any event.

When you’re just starting out, it’s important to understand that most every conference venue will request payment (sometimes in full) up front, well in advance of your workshop.  Here’s the hotel industry truth:  Asking for that money might be protocol, but collecting it is rarely an unswerving policy.

Here’s how you can keep that money in your business’ bank account, at least for a few more weeks:

• Know the difference between a provisional booking and a confirmed booking.

- A provisional booking is the equivalent of “penciling you in,” leaving the staff under the impression that you’re expected to show up, but also leaving the date and time somewhat open to others who may request it.  Often, venues will make these types of bookings without a deposit.

- A confirmed booking means that your requested date is reserved, disallowing the staff to book any other patrons in that spot.  Often, a deposit will be required to hold the room for a confirmed booking.  Other interested parties will be turned away.

• If you make a provisional booking, request that you be called in the case that anyone else requests your date.  You may, at that point, need to change your reservation to a confirmed booking with a deposit. Discuss provisional booking terms with the staff.  Many times, they will agree to allow you to cancel your event the day before it’s scheduled with no money due.

• If you make a confirmed booking, be clear, up front, about the maximum amount of money you’ll be out if you change your booking.  How close to your scheduled date can you schedule changes, and how does the amount of notice you give affect the amount of money you’ll be charged?

• It’s okay to put a deposit on a room, or to give a credit card number to hold the room, but never, never agree to pay the full amount up front.  Again, venues may request that you pay up front, in full, but it’s rarely ever a solid policy.

• Provisional booking is generally the best route to take when concerned about cost.  When searching for a venue, call around to ask staff if they offer provisional booking; then only consider those establishments that do.

When you find a venue that suits your needs, treasure it.  When the staff knows about the general flow of your workshops, you can rest in knowing that many details will be handled when you arrive.  Even if you’re frazzled from a long flight, or if you’re running late, a good relationship with a venue generally means that things will be handled.

An assistant, provided by the venue or by you, can also come in handy during a busy workshop.  Someone willing to help with handouts, to regulate the temperature of the room, to distribute lunch, to handle registrations, etc. can be priceless when you’re trying to concentrate on the “meat” of the workshop.

Often, you can acquire that assistant at no little or no cost. 

Be creative:

• If the venue would like an employee to sit in on your seminar, offer free registration for that person in exchange for his or her assistance.

• Offer a free or discounted registration to an intern or friend who is willing to help.

• Work the fee for an assistant into the reservation deal that you strike.

I invite you to put these tips into practice when you prepare your next event.  By negotiating with your venue provider and arranging the support you need, you’ll increase your opportunity to make BIG profits at your next event.

Want to know more? Then make sure YOU reserve a front row seat at the Event Money Machine later this month. Tickets to this event are FREE – so join our priority notification list to be the first to know when they become available.

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Venue-finding services are a very specific subset of the event planning niche. When you include venue-finding services in your budget and your venue requirements, the service then does the venue research for you. A venue-finding service can research various venues, negotiate pricing, and move on to another venue if a venue doesn’t look like it can accommodate your budget. Venue-finding services do provide a unique value, but only if you work with the right company.

Venue-Finding Services Free You Up
Finding the right venue can take a lot of time. You’ll start by spending some time researching venues. Once you’ve narrowed down your options to venues that are in your locale, you’ll need to visit those venues in person. You’ll need to establish a relationship with the venue manager, and then begin the process of negotiating the price. You may have to do this for more than one venue if you find that a venue simply can’t accommodate your budget, or doesn’t meet your needs.

A venue-finding service takes this entire process out of your hands. All you do is tell the service about your needs, and then sit back and wait for them to find you an appropriate venue. You’ll probably still want to visit the venue yourself in person, but you can let them deal with the initial research, price negotiations, and all of the back-and-forth; eliminating you from this time-consuming process, and freeing you up to focus on other aspects of your event.

Venue-Finding Services may Negotiate Better Rates
In many cases, venue-finding services can actually get better rates than you can as an individual event planner. Venue-finding services often make agreements with companies to utilize them for many events, thus effectively negotiating a volume discount. You can take advantage of this volume discount to pay a significantly lower rate for your venue, even if you’re not the one doing the volume. In this way, venue-finding services can pay for themselves quickly by providing you with rates you couldn’t get otherwise.

How Venue-Finding Services Make Money
Venue-finding services may make money in several ways, depending on their structure. Some venue-finding companies charge an up-front fee for locating and negotiating a venue. Others charge a percentage, based on the total cost of the venue, or on your cost savings from using a venue-finding service. Yet others take a percentage of the venue fee to cover their own time spent on locating a venue. Finally, some venue-finding services are actually employed by the venues themselves to source events to fill the space.

Beware of unscrupulous venue-finding services who are actually just venue-promoters in disguise. These services rarely or never host events elsewhere, and may seem unwontedly attached to the venue they recommend to you. If you’re working with a venue-promoter who is masquerading as a venue-finding service, you may find that you pay higher rates and may not get an impartial assessment of the best venue for your needs. Be sure to research a venue-finding company thoroughly before working with one.

A venue-finding service can be the solution you need for your event planning. If you’re feeling overwhelmed by aspects of planning the event, or if you plan multiple events and just don’t have time to hunt down venues for everything, consider using a venue-finding service. Free yourself up to do what you do best – sell your product, provide your services and make money!

Want to learn more about how to make money with your own events? Visit our Event Money Machine Blog. You’ll learn about an amazing Telesummit being held later this month. Tickets to this event are FREE – so join our priority notification list to be the first to know when they become available.

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When you plan an event, you establish specific goals for your event. Maybe you simply want attendees, and the revenue stream is the event itself. Or maybe you are launching a product, or providing a service, and your event is a marketing strategy. No matter why you’re planning an event, selecting the right venue for your event is important.

Match your Venue to Your Event
One of the most important reasons you must find the right venue for your event is to match the venue to the event. If you’re launching a high-profile coaching program, you don’t want to hold an event in an overheated community center or a low-priced, low-quality venue. On the other hand, if you’re hosting a budget marketing event for small businesses, you don’t want to host the event at an upscale hotel that the event costs can’t cover. Plan accordingly and match your venue to your event.

Venue Affects the Total Experience for Participants
When people register for an event, they’re registering for the contents of that event, but they’re also registering for an experience. The right venue complements the event that you’re planning. Selecting the appropriate venue helps to set the mood for your event, and puts your attendees in the right mindset for your content. By selecting the right venue, you can add value to your events and improve your attendees’ satisfaction with your events.

A personal development event may be more of a treat, and you may market it as a retreat or special indulgence. For an event like that, you want a sumptuous, peaceful, relaxed venue; something that fits the overall mood of your event. If you hold a personal development retreat in a school classroom that you were able to borrow, you’re not creating the experience that your event promises. Your attendees are less likely to attend future events, and may share negative press about your events.

You Want People to Remember Your Event
You want people to remember your event; not the room that was so cold people couldn’t take their coats off, or the fact that fire alarms were going off and your venue had to be evacuated. When you select a venue, plan ahead for the event. Does it provide ample seating? Is the venue guaranteed to be reserved? If you can visit the venue before your event, you can ensure that the temperature is good, and that the venue will meet your needs and work well for your event.

Remember: you don’t want to mismatch your venue and your event. You want a venue that will complement your event, and provide the overall experience that guests are seeking. You also want a venue that won’t become the focus of your event, through faulty heating, a noisy environment or otherwise inconvenient venue details. If you put thought into your venue before you set up your event, you can minimize venue-related issues and focus on preparing the best event you can present.

Want to learn more about how to make money with your own events? Visit our Event Money Machine Blog. You’ll learn about an amazing Telesummit being held later this month. Tickets to this event are FREE – so join our priority notification list to be the first to know when they become available.

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