Keep Event Personnel on the Same Page

Photo credit www.loyaltyandretention.com

We've all seen it before:

• He said, she said
• Someone didn't get the memo
• "Did you forget to write that down?"
• Last minute changes
• "I know that I called and told you about that!"

This is inevitable in any business, much less a business in the event industry where there are so many people and moving parts.

With Inspherio, however, we provide you with ample tools to make sure that everyone inside and outside your business is on the same page.

Working with clients

KNOW YOUR EVENT FORM
With Inspherio's unique Know Your Event - or KYE - questionnaire, you greatly diminish the probability that you will have the wrong information from the client. Each person that you work with will be assigned their own unique client portal. Within this portal, they can view their pricing packages, view and sign contracts, and view and pay invoices.

But it is the KYE form that will save you the most aggravation.

Within each person's individual portal, you can assign any number of questions, such as: event location, wedding colors, party theme, expected attendance, food allergies, music preferences, etc. (While you can set a standard questionnaire that you use for everyone, you can also edit it for each individual to cater to their specific needs.) The client logs in to their portal and answer these questions (especially if you mark them as mandatory). Once saved, the answers will show up within your own Inspherio account, organized and ready to go.

Not only does this save you time and endless scrolling through emails and sticky notes, but it also limits that event day second guessing by the client. Since they are the ones who provide the information, any errors can be traced directly to them.

MILESTONES
Did I send the lead my pricing packages? What about the KYE form? Did the client sign the contract or pay their invoice? We know that surfing through emails and notes can be a pain. And you definitely don't want to have a disagreement with a client on whether they already paid an invoice or not. Inspherio helps keep everything clean and organized. You can and your client can both see exactly what the status is of the event and whether the ball is in the your court or the theirs.

Working with your employees

EVENT ASSIGNMENTS
If you need to assign employees to specific events, you can do that easily in Inspherio. Within an individual event portal, simply select the "Assign Professionals" tab and select who you assign, their hours, and their pay rate or commission. Select to notify each employee of their assignment so that they will receive an email with the exact details. Did you forget who was assigned to which event? Simply go to your master calendar and check it out.

INVENTORY
If you have any inventory to deal with, I'm sure at one point or another someone has forgotten to put something on the load list or truck. With Inspherio, any items agreed to in a contract (such as a rental or sale product) will automatically show up in your inventory list. All you need to do now is add event products (such as tent stakes, serving utensils, or backdrops) that you need to carry out the event. Any employee that you grant privileges to view this page can easily see if everything is  ready to go for the event.

TASKS AND NOTES
You can also assign employees to various tasks, set deadlines, and view the status of each one.

Additionally, if either you or another account user need to add a note to an event, simply go to the notes page and everyone else (who you permit access) can view these notes as well.

As you can see, staying organized and on the same page is easier than ever, and we've barely scratched the surface of the program. If you're new to the Inspherio family, start your free trial today and see how Inspherio can help you run your business that much easier.

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Follow up to Last Week's Guest Post

Inspherio would like to thank Sharon Hill for her guest post last week. She has a lot of experience as a wedding and event planner, so her expertise is always appreciated.

Sharon provided several good tips on ways to reduce any stress or worries you may have as a wedding planner. We will now take a closer look at each of her points and discuss how Inspherio can resolve each matter.

1. Quit trying to keep all the details in your head 

"By getting things out of your head and onto paper or into your computer, you won’t have to keep worrying that you’ll forget something."

Inspherio is a one stop shop for organizing your event details. Whether it custom pricing, client/vendor information, or invoice/payment status, your Inspherio account keeps everything organized for you.

2. Enter all of your appointments and deadlines into a calendar 

"Keeping an up-to-date, fully detailed calendar will reduce your stress and the possibility that something will fall through the cracks.

Your Inspherio calendar allows you to add events, appointments, and tasks. Additionally, you can invite clients, vendors, and/or employees to appointments or assign employees to events and tasks. Add reminders to these calendar items so that you and others will not forget anything.

Furthermore, Inspherio acts as your own personal assistant. It will remind you whether or not you have sent out invoices, if you have payments due from your clients.

Also, by adding deadlines for your client to send you information for their wedding, you greatly minimize the risk of letting any information fall through the cracks. More on this in the next point. 

3. Take copious notes 

"Whenever you get a call or have a meeting, immediately record all of the relevant information."

 Inspherio's KYE (Know Your Event) Form is a thing of beauty for wedding planners.

• First, set exactly which questions you have for the bride and send them to her with a couple clicks of the mouse. It is now the bride's responsibility to provide you the correct information, which means you not only save a lot of time, but she also cannot come back later and say you had the incorrect information. Once she fills out the questionnaire, the answers save to your Inspherio account automatically in real-time.
• Should you want to fill out the information yourself, or edit any of her answers, you can do that, too. The same fields are readily available to you.
• You can set deadlines on when certain questions are locked and the answers cannot be changed. By setting these deadlines, you are guaranteeing that you receive the information in a timely manner and that the bride cannot change the information without your knowledge.
• You can choose which information will automatically populate into your contract and itinerary. By doing so, you avoid having to double-enter any information (potentially incorrectly).

Your Inspherio account also lets you add notes, tasks, and uploaded documents to each individual event as you see fit.

 4. File all of your information in one place 

 "[E]verything that has to do with a bride and her wedding should be organized and kept together in one place. This way whenever you get a call or need to do some research, all of the information is at your fingertips."

Not only does Inspherio let you keep all your information in one place, but it also lets you access it anywhere you want. Working from home instead of the office? Simply log in and have all your information at your fingertips rather than having to move data back and forth via a zip drive. Out on the road? Access all your client data via your iPhone or Android app.

Also, this applies to all of your clients and vendors. If you are planning multiple weddings at a time, you can have access to all of each bride's information at hand and neatly organized at all times. 

5. Share with your assistants 

"Always make sure your staff knows where they can get information when they are assisting you with a wedding."

Your Inspherio account allows you to manage your employees as well. Not only can you assign them to events and input their hours/pay, but you can also grant various privileges to each individual employee as you see fit. Should you want a certain employee to be able to send pricing and sign contracts, no problem. If you just want them to be able to view the bride's information, you can do that, too.

As you can see, Inspherio is a dream organization tool for wedding planners. You never have to worry about losing detailed information or letting anything fall through the cracks. Your account is there to make your job less stressful and more efficient.

If you are new to Inspherio , start your free 30-day trial now (no credit cards required) and experience what Inspherio can do for you!

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Wedding Planners – Stop the Wedding Worries that Keep You Awake at Night

This is a guest post by Sharon Hill at www.BecomeaTopWeddingPlannerBlog.com

As a wedding planner, you’re great at taking away a bride’s wedding stress. But it might mean that you’re now the one with nightmares about possible wedding day catastrophes. You stay awake worried that you’ll forget an important detail, that you won’t get everything done in time, and that you won’t do everything it takes to give your bride her vision of her wedding.

Here are 5 tips that will help reduce your worries so you can start doing your best:

1. Quit trying to keep all the details in your head

First, take the time to note everything you need to do for your next weddings. By getting things out of your head and onto paper or into your computer, you won’t have to keep worrying that you’ll forget something. All the information will be available and easily accessible and you can concentrate on doing your work.

2. Enter all of your appointments and deadlines into a calendar

Once you know what you need to do, schedule the time to get it done and don’t forget to note all of your appointments and meetings in your calendar. Also, schedule reminders to call vendors to verify they are on track with the commitments they promised for your weddings. Keeping an up-to-date, fully detailed calendar will reduce your stress and the possibility that something will fall through the cracks.

3. Take copious notes

Whenever you get a call or have a meeting, immediately record all of the relevant information. If a vendor has made a commitment to you and your bride, send them an email, state your understanding, and confirm their commitment.

4. File all of your information in one place

Whether it’s information about a bride and groom and their wedding vision, vendor information, wedding timelines, meeting notes, emails, contracts, or invoices, everything that has to do with a bride and her wedding should be organized and kept together in one place. This way whenever you get a call or need to do some research, all of the information is at your fingertips.

5. Share with your assistants

Always make sure your staff knows where they can get information when they are assisting you with a wedding. In case the unforeseen happens and you are not available when a bride or vendor needs a question answered, your assistants can step in and cover for you. 


About the Author:

 Sharon Hill is The Wedding Planner Mentor. Sharon has been a wedding and event planner for over 20 years. In 2008 she began mentoring and coaching new wedding planners. She also maintains a blog with tips for marketing and running successful wedding planning businesses and regularly posts answers to questions from new planners. She is the author of the e-book, “Become a Top Wedding Planner – Start a Successful Wedding Planning Business.”
Sharon Hill Social Media: Twitter, Facebook

UPDATE: Check out how Inspherio can help resolve each of these issues in our follow up post.

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Tips for Delegating Tasks Effectively for Event Professionals

Hectic! This is how most Event Industry Professionals describe their day. You have to effectively communicate with customers, send and sign contracts, keep up with invoices and all that while doing site visits or may be even cooking dinner. Have you ever felt overwhelmed by all this? Don’t fret. These simple steps will help you manage your business more effectively by delegating your daily tasks to free up your time.

In our previous posts we have discussed how you can organize the structure of your business, and how to make that structure work. Yesterday we discussed the tools that help you get things moving smoothly.

What if after you have done all that; you still don’t have enough hours in a day to get all the work done? You need to delegate! Whether you have a team of people helping you, or you run your business on your own, you could benefit by automating simple business processes

See what Inspherio can do for your business!

You no longer have to fax or mail your contract, you don’t have to sit across a table with your client to go over it either (unless, of course you or your client prefer to do that).

Your e-mails, Tweets, Blogs and promotion texts can be scheduled to come out on certain dates strategically picked to suit your business needs. If you prefer to do it yourself, anyway, use our Task Calendar feature.

When it comes to managing humans, it’s a little more complicated, but here are few things to keep in mind:

Think of all your team members, asses their skills and interests, Determine who would be better at a particular task, or maybe who is more passionate to learn a new task and distribute the responsibilities according to that. 

Only delegate tasks that need to be and can be delegated. For example, if you are out of the office a lot; someone needs to answer the office phone (you can also invest in Call Forwarding), sign for courier packages, etc. That’s a perfect example of some tasks that you can get off your hand right now.
Contract negotiations and custom price quotes take a lot of skill, so unless you have a business partner that you trust these decisions to, do not delegate these tasks! 

For any task you pass on to someone, there must be proper training! Make sure that the person has a perfectly clear understanding of what needs to be done and how to do it, as well as what you expect to see at the end. Follow up frequently, offer feedback. 

They say there is nothing personal in business. So, don’t make it personal. Do not assign tasks based on family, that’s a big no no! Do not hold grudge if a team member made a mistake, give your feedback and move on.

How do YOU delegate your daily tasks? What is the most challenging part? Tell us! (Unless, you are too busy doing everything by yourself.)

For more helpful ways to save your time and money, visit Inspherio, follow us on Twitter and Facebook.

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How much does the Wedding cost in US?

24,973 - Number of jewelry stores in the United States in 2009. Jewelry stores offer engagement, wedding and other rings to couples of all ages. In February 2011, these stores sold $2.27 billion in merchandise.
Source: U.S. Census Bureau, County Business Patterns, NAICS code (448310)

$17 million is the combined wholesale value of domestically produced cut roses in 2010 for all operations with $100,000 or more in sales.
Source: USDA National Agricultural Statistics Service

17,124 - The number of florists nationwide in 2009. These businesses employed 75,855 people.
Source: U.S. Census Bureau, County Business Patterns, NAICS code (453110)

2.1 million - The number of marriages that took place in the United States in 2009. That breaks down to nearly 5,800 a day.
Source: National Center for Health Statistics

28.7 and 26.5 years is median age at first marriage in 2011 for men and women, respectively.
Source: U.S. Census Bureau, Families and Living Arrangements: 2011

Average cost of wedding bouquet, according to the Brides magazine is $230

Average cost of a Wedding is about 25,000, with about 6000 couples getting married daily, that makes the wedding industry one of the most lucrative industries, surpassed only by chocolate and travel industries. Even with economy slowing down in past few years, the average cost of the wedding went down only about 3k, (in 2007 it was 28,000). Couples still put a lot of value on how their event will look, where it will be held and by whom it will be planned.

Wedding Photography is another industry of its own, according to census survey, wedding photo make about 40% of the total professional pictures taken. Kids’ pictures are the next runner ups.

June, August and October are the 3 most popular months for the weddings.

Most recently there has been a lot of buzz on the web about what average event planner, DJ or caterer should charge for their service. Some debate that the flat fees are the best and give you better edge to win a customer, but the downfall is that the flat fee may not adequately reflect the effort and extra work you put in to the event. Some say that charging the percentage of the total cost of the event may be a solution to the problem; however that unorthodox approach caused quite uproar among meeting planners and other industry professionals. Seems that some sort of hybrid approach is needed here?

Would you charge your client a higher flat fee to stay on budget or would you rather sacrifice your effort to keep your client satisfied? Tell us what you think…

Pictures source: Pinterest

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