Are you tired of stressing about every detail of your event and constantly wondering if hiring a planning firm is truly worth it?
Will they really help? My budget is already stretched, how could I possibly add more?
The reality is that you’re likely losing more money by not partnering with an established planning firm.
How in the world does that make sense? Don’t worry, we’ll break it down in five easy ways:
1. Cutting Costs Without Cutting Corners
Have you ever described your event as having champagne taste on a beer budget? We get it – you want your guests to experience a lot of fun and luxury, but that kind of experience is not necessarily in your price range.
Planning firms have coordinated every event you can imagine, from small groups to city-wide conventions and domestic meetings to international incentive trips. With this level of experience comes all kinds of tips, tricks, and strategies to deliver their clients’ dream events within a set budget.
Here are some simple tips you can borrow:
- If you’re hosting an evening cocktail reception outside, save on lighting costs by checking your event destination’s sunset time and moving your event’s start time ahead of then.
- Want to host a super special event but don’t have the budget for fancy décor? Try scouting out the top restaurants with snazzy private rooms. Or better yet, negotiate in the hotel contract that you can utilize all on-site decorations at no cost.
These are just a few of the thousands of ways we can help creatively decrease your spending without compromising one bit of the overall experience.
2. Negotiation Opportunities Due to Solid Business Relations
With industry experts on your side, you have access to a solid stockpile of their tried-and-true partners: partners who have been vetted for quality service and trusted pricing. They also know exactly where pricing should fall unique to each destination.
Have you ever received an AV quote and just gasp at the labor costs? As planning firms are familiar with what is truly needed and what is not, they’ll analyze the quote and go to bat for you. And most likely, they’ll get better pricing from the start because vendors know they have repeat customers in the planning firms.
Have you ever incurred penalties for not meeting your room block? While event firms most certainly work to avoid situations like this, when they do occur, we’re here to help. On a recent program, we were able to negotiate attrition penalties by getting the hotel partner to apply revenue from another area (room credits our client surprised each attendee with) to the penalty. This creative maneuvering was only possible because of our long-standing relationship with the hotel. In the end, we happily saved our client over $27,000.
3. Ability to Elevate your Event at No Extra Cost
Planning firms indeed have professional planners to support you in leading your event, but they also have whole teams dedicated to building and strengthening industry relationships. It’s these relationships that help enhance your events.
Want to add fireworks to your next program at no cost? Host it in Los Cabos, Mexico. Want complimentary site inspection flights? Choose Aruba. Want to level up your welcome reception with a whole cultural dance troop? The Dominican Republic is your spot. Want an easy way to cut your entire event budget by 16%? Move it to Mexico.
How do we know all of this? Because planning firms are tapped into all the industry incentives, and they have every vendor on speed dial – all to benefit their clients.
4. Secure Concessions For Your Incentive Event
Let’s play a little game of “What matters more to you?”
- A discount at the spa or a discount for tee times?
- A complimentary cocktail hour or a complimentary mixology class?
- Lower room rates or lower food and beverage minimums?
When you ask a hotel for a contract, they typically provide a number of generous concessions (also known as freebies) based on the amount of revenue you’re bringing them. However, some of those freebies might not be relevant to you and your attendees’ preferences.
That’s where planning firms come in to negotiate. They serve as your advocate and your broker, working to reduce expenses and increase concessions that are tailored to your event.
In a recent hotel contract negotiation, Team Achieve’s contract specialists saved our client $35,000 for one program!
5. Saving Money On-Site
No matter how many hours you spend planning in advance and laying out contingency plans, there are always unforeseen situations that seem to pop up.
While on-site in Mexico, a catamaran trip was canceled due to poor weather conditions. The vendor was planning to charge our client for the onboard catering which had already been prepared, but Team Achieve worked on the clients’ behalf to get a full refund instead.
Partnering with event planning firms also allows you to benefit from their vendor partnerships. Our team works hard every year to earn their trust and respect. For that reason, we are able to secure many extras while on site.
In addition to knowing the right questions to ask you, planning firms know the right questions to ask all the partners involved. For example, during an event in Panama, our on-site team inquired about any available room upgrades during the pre-event meeting with the hotel. We were specifically interested in seeing if the Presidential Suite that our client was eyeing during the site inspection (but was unfortunately out of budget) was available. To our surprise, it was. Because we had such a solid partnership with the hotel, they ended up providing the suite complimentary to our group – who then surprised their top customer with the upgraded room – all because we asked the right questions to our partners.
As for when the COVID-19 pandemic started affecting events, we never worked harder to protect our clients’ dollars. Collectively, we have saved our clients over one million dollars in cancellation penalties, and continue to do so.
Each of these benefits can save you tens of thousands of dollars on any given program.
No matter where you want to go or how many event attendees you have, event experts have insider knowledge that leaves more money in your bank account and helps to elevate your event experience.
Would you like to access savings for your event while also getting hundreds, if not thousands, of your hours back? Reach out to Team Achieve today!
Are you interested in learning more ways to make planning simpler? Check out our Easy Button on Planning Blog to read more.