How to Work With Leads

Let’s talk about Leads today!

There are few ways you can work with leads via Inspherio:

As a part of your Inspherio subscription you can have your own website. You can use the “Contact Me” form to collect leads from visitors that come to your website, those leads will then appear in the Incoming Leads section of your Inspherio account.
You can Embed the HTML code, to enable your existing website to accept leads and to directly import them into your Inspherio account.
You can also create a “Contact Me” link to your Inspherio account from your existing website.
If you want to transfer a number of leads from another program you can do that by uploading a .CSV file; just follow the program prompts. Voila! All your Leads are now in your Inspherioaccount with just a few clicks.

For more ways to organize your business visit our website and our blog. 

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How to Organize Your Home Office

Is your business growing? 

But is it still not big enough to rent a space in an office building? Then you are, probably, working from home. 
As a part of our “Improve yourself –Improve your Business Friday” we have researched these tips for Event Professionals that work from home.

Just like in any other office, you must plan your day. Your day must not include house tasks; working hours should be for work only.

Dress for the job, just as if you were going to work at a traditional office. Get up at a certain time, shower, and get dressed. You have to feel professional to be professional.

Create a work space that is used for work exclusively. Preferably, isolated from other areas of the house, such as a separate room or a part of the room sectioned off with a divider of some sort.  As a self-employed individual, you are entitled to a tax write-off for a home office as long as it is exclusively used for your business.  Working near a stove in the kitchen, is usually not a good idea, you will have hard time concentrating.

Know your business budget and arrange your office accordingly. To save money, it’s better to buy used furniture or re-purpose items that are already in the house. Buy supplies at warehouse stores in bulk to always have plenty at hand. Decide how much time you spend in the office. If you spend very little time in the office, pay less money for office equipment, such as desktop computer and office chair, invest, instead, into mobile assistance: cloud-based software such as Inspherio, a tablet, and car office organizer.

Not having a traditional office space does not mean that you would not have traditional business etiquette. Keep in touch with your clients just like you would in a regular office; return their calls and e-mails promptly.  To stay on top of your clientele needs and to schedule your appointments on the go more efficiently, click here.

Structure your family and personal time; get a baby sitter, house help, etc. if needed to concentrate on working during working hours. On the same note, devote ample family time during non-working hours, since working from home can sometime erase the boundaries of a work day there is a risk of working from home around the clock.

Just as we mentioned in our Efficiency blog plan ahead and set your goals, challenge yourself to achieve and surpass them.

Reward yourself for the job well done. You have to remember if you do not have a conventional boss to pat you in a back and give you a bonus at the end of the month, you have to do it for yourself. Well…, bonus, depends on your direct earnings, but reward yourself with a purchase, new fancy camera lens, for example, trip with your family or other things that inspire you to do more.

Remember to network, find vendors and clients and keep in touch. The unique "Marketplace" feature within Inspherio can make this process very easy for you.

To network, get tasks done, and stay on top of your business with ease, get Inspherio now! See what great features we have to offer, click here.

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Green Trends in the Event Industry | Catering

Today we will continue our conversation about Green Trends in the Event Industry.

This time let’s talk about Catering.

First of all, Catering is about serving food and/or beverages, so it’s important that serving surfaces are made of environmentally friendly materials. Buy or build your tables, bar stations, chairs, etc. from Earth friendly material, such as reclaimed wood, bamboo, and recycled plastic. Also, tables that can be used without linen are great to reduce costs.

Use vegetable based ink to print menus, seat placements, signs and invitations.

Low wattage light fixtures will not only save you money by using less electricity, but also by emitting less heat, this will lower air conditioning costs.

For your menu, you could use natural, locally grown, preferably organic foods. Sometimes national producers of organic foods may raise prices, because the cost of organic food is much higher. So, instead of using well-known brands, visit your local farmers market, speak to vendors there, and check if they can cut you a deal with a long term contact. You may also check if a farmer would grow organic produce for you, in exchange for a promise/contact. Some catering businesses start to grow produce themselves, “in house” as we call it. This may be a great selling point for your business; if you would know exactly where the food comes from and how it was grown.

While serving, opt for glass bottles instead of plastic, they can be easily recycled. The same goes for dishes, stemware and silverware, use the ones that can be washed and used for the next function. Using, paper and plastic serving tools add to waste and increase cleanup effort.

Use pitchers instead of single serve bottles, rarely a customer would finish the entire bottle of water or soda during a meal. By offering a pitcher, you will reduce waste and save the cost of bottles that were thrown out half full. Also, ask guests whether they want water, instead of automatically bringing the water to them, by doing so, you will save gallons of water, plus you will have fewer glasses to wash at the end.

Try to use Energy Star Certified appliances in your business; they reduce energy cost and usually are more efficient.

If your catering business has a delivery car, opt for a vehicle that is fuel efficient and is the right size for the job.

We would like to mention that being Green is extremely popular today, if you adhere to environmentally friendly standards, you can use them to promote your business. Rest assured some clients will choose you over another caterer just because you use Earth friendly techniques.
Inspherio can also help your Catering business to be more environmentally friendly. Inspherio can optimize your schedule; send contracts to your clients, so you will have fewer trips to take every day. Our unique KYE form with customizable questions for your clients can build exclusive menu for your client, you would know exactly how many people to prepare for, what foods to stay away from and what foods/ beverages guests liked the most at the previous event. You can easily prepare for your event and wow your client, all without leaving your office. So, what are you waiting for? Check out what Inspherio can do for YOU now by clicking here!

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How to Create Great Invoices

Picture yourself after you have completed a big wedding, Birthday Party, Bar Mitzvah, etc. You have worked hard at the Event, the customer is satisfied and you go home to get some rest.

But, you’ve forgot one thing…

The invoice!

It is very important that the invoice is submitted to the customer in a timely manner. First of all, because you want to get paid sooner, second, it’s a vital part of Customer Service routine.

A rule of thumb for invoicing is that it should be in the customer’s inbox 72 hours after the event. However, depending on your business size and the arrangement with your customer it may happen sooner. We don’t recommend waiting longer than that, unless there are circumstances that are known and agreed upon by both parties.

To prepare a good invoice it is advised to use a professional program. That makes it more automated and looks more legitimate; see this video to learn how to create a quick and accurate invoice with Inspherio.

Your invoice has to have a unique Identifier: number or name, or both. That way, you can easily find a record of it anytime.

Look through all your expenses, add them up. Was there any extra money spent, overtime? Did you have any last minute additions and/or cancellations?

Check with all your vendors that have billed you for the event, then double check that those charges are correct.

Make sure that the Invoice is easy to read and to understand for your customer.

Is the information on your Invoice clear (amount, due date, acceptable methods of payment)? With Inspherio, your customer can pay you directly from the Invoice page by using PayPal, Google CheckOut or Authorize.net.

Double check mailing address/e-mail address before sending it over (you don’t have to worry about this step with Inspherio, the program will use the information from your Address Book.

We hope that this tip will help you along the way to grow your Event business. For more tips and trends in the Event Industry visit our website and our blog.

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How to Become More Efficient in Your Business

Although Productivity and Efficiency are often used synonymously, they are not entirely same. Productivity is more about getting things done, efficiency is about the Way those things get done.  

If you are reading this blog, you probably have a business and that business is successful or at least becoming successful. So that means that you must be getting things done. Well, the tips below will help you make it more Efficient.

Always plan ahead. It’s best to pick the end of your workweek for this stage. (We don’t want to call it Friday, because we know that most people in the Event Industry are working over the weekend).  Sit down by yourself or with your team and go over your goals for the week, month or a year. Write them down and add them to the calendar. With SpanPlan, your team can share the same calendar to stay in-sync with your current agenda.

Adhere to your deadlines. Since you have written them in the calendar and everyone is aware that they exist, now is the time to plan according to the deadlines.  Make sure that you have all the staff and tools ready at the planning stage of the project.  That way there is less chance that you will be caught off guard in the middle of the project. (Think about it as if you are baking a cake and realize that you are out of sugar when all other ingredients are already in the bowl. Of course, you can run to the store, but will the cake be ready for the client to pick up on time? You are lucky if it will be. So, why stress out? Plan ahead!)

Respect other vendors’ deadlines and demand the same from them. If you are an Interior Designer and the Event Planner wanted you to have the space set up 3 hours before the event, have the room ready 3 hours before the event, not 2 or 2 and a half. The same for your table linen and chair covers rental company, they must deliver 2 hours before you start setting up tables.

Get organized (see our post about Organizing your business), remember: clutter on your desk leads to clutter in your head. So, do it now!

Keep personal stuff out of business hours. As we always say, it takes a long time to gain the concentration once you have been interrupted. It is especially challenging if you run your business from home. For this topic we will dedicate an entire blog post, so stay tuned.

We decided that every Friday we will be sharing tips that will help you grow personally and as a business. So, come back and check our blog every Friday.  Also, read our other new blog themes, every Monday and Wednesday.

At SpanPlan we always strive to streamline your work to free up your time for the things you enjoy doing. Now, see what efficiency solutions Inspherio can offer for You!

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10 Useful Customer Service Tips You Need to Stay Above the Competition

If you are in the Event Industry, obviously, the Customer Service is a big part of your Business.Your Customer Service can be what sets you apart from your competition and keeps business flowing toward you. So, you want to make sure that the Customer Service You deliver is exemplary.

Picture Courtesy of Pinterest.com

So, what happened if you showed up on time, did your job, billed your client, but the client is not happy? What do you do?

• First thing: React Fast. With means of Social Media the customer feedback may go viral, before you even know it.
• Then: Listen. Make notes. Let your customer explain exactly why they do not feel satisfied. Make notes, to ensure that all points are addressed.
• Be Empathetic!You may think that the service you performed was great, however something fell through the cracks and your job NOW is to FIX IT. When listening to customer concern, think of how you may have felt in similar situation. Put yourself in their shoes!
• Offer an apology! It is incredible how often the apology is forgotten. Your customer may not expect it. However, by offering it you will add a start point toward the recovery process.
• Own up to the issue and offer the solution. Do not stop at the apology, offering solution is ultimately what you need to strive toward; solution is why your customer contacted you in the first place.
• Make sure that solution satisfied your customer. Discuss it with the client. Is it what they were looking for? Are there any other concerns that they might have forgotten?
• Follow up to ensure that action has been taken to recover the damage.
• Contact the customer via preferred way of communication to let them know of the outcome. (In previous blogs we have discussed the importance of knowing how your client likes to be contacted. There is nothing more annoying than calling the client, when they asked to be e-mailed, and interrupt them in the middle of an important meeting, or worse: honeymoon.)
• Take a note of the issue and establish procedure that prevents similar situation from happening in the future.

We hope that these tips help you establish great customer relationships. If you need more tips tailored for Event Industry professionals, visit our blogs. To make your business processes simplified, visit Inspherio and check out all the solutions we offer now!

Leave us a note! What do you do to make your Customers Happy? We are looking forward to hear from you.

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Green Trends in the Event Industry | Part 1

Everyone talks about being “Green” and "environmentally friendly" nowadays.  You may be wondering how your business could also be more sustainable by adopting some Green Business Strategies like these:

First, reduce your carbon footprint.

How? Try to use less paper in your office, add a note to your e-mail signature that invites the reader to consider twice before printing your e-mail.  Be sure to follow what you preach, do not print web documents unless absolutely needed. Even most legal matters, like contracts, for instance, no longer require faxing or mailing the paper version; with Inspherio you can send an electronic version of your contract and your client can e-sign it online from anywhere. The best part is that Inspherio keeps all the records for you. So you don’t have to keep bulky shelves made out of wood or other labor-consuming material.

Use modern means of communication to reduce commute. Skype is a great option if you need to speak to your client and, maybe even show samples of your work. A quick meeting that lasts 20-30 minutes is usually not worth sitting in traffic for 30-40 minutes. Think of the gas and parking expenses you would save if you could eliminate most of your in-person meetings. If you are a Wedding Planner, you can make a video of the room setup to keep your bride’s mind at ease, and e-mail it to her to confirm the details. See? She did not have to drive across town! What a great service you have provided!

Stay tuned for more Trends every Wednesday.

For more ways to be "green" in your business visit our website and blog, follow us on Twitter, like us on Facebook!

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8 Features You Could Use Now to Run Your Business

Wouldn't you like to have all your business information in one place?

The answer is obviously: Yes! The perfect solution is Inspherio!

So, what is Inspherio ?

Inspherio is an all-in-one Cloud based Business Management solution for the Event Industry professionals.

 With Inspherio you can:

• Manage your leads and all your communications with clients
• Instantly send pricing and packages with just a few clicks
• Collect information from your clients in real time with our exclusive KYE form.  You can customize the KYE questions as you want and also apply end dates for each of them.
• Generate contracts automatically with information from KYE form
• Put together payment plans for your clients and set dates automatically
• Send the contract directly and your client can view and e-sign the contract. You also have the option to print and fax the contract if needed.
• Manage all your finances from one place
• Stay on top of networking by using the exclusive Market Place to promote your business to other vendors

Here is the best part, with Inspherio you can custom create a website and it is included with your subscription!
You can program your current 'contact' form on your website to import incoming leads directly into the leads in your Inspherio account.
At the end of the year, or at any other time, see where your business is and how it is doing by taking advantage of our extensive reporting section.  Now being ready for tax season is a breeze!

For a quick tour of these features, check out our video above.

We have only included a few of the features Inspherio is capable of, it is a very extensive program, so click on the ‘Try’ button now to get started & learn more!   There is no credit card required to try it out!

Check out our Popular posts: 

How to Organize your Business

8 Things you are not doing if you cannot get your Work done

7 Better Business Tools

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How to Turn Any Feedback Into a Positive One!

Customer Service is one the most important tasks in your business regardless of whether you are a B2C (your direct customer is a final consumer: Wedding Planner, Photographer) or B2B (your direct customer is a business: Party rentals, Florist) type of business.

Click Here to read our recent blog about handling customer complaints to learn some very important information about Customer Service.

Photos is a courtesy of Pixels On Paper. http://www.pixelsonpaper.biz

Today, we would like to talk about the times when the customer feedback goes public and the word spreads around. What to do and how to do it.

• As we mentioned earlier:  act fast. The faster you address the complaint the better.
• Contact the customer directly (if possible) asking for all the details of their complaint
• Start working on rectifying the issue, try to make it as fast as possible.
•  It is extremely important that the customer is satisfied with the recovery process.
• Go the extra mile, WOW your customer by anticipating the next step of the process or go beyond the usual line of service. For example, if you are a photographer and the bride is not satisfied with the picture quality. The usual step would be to make steps to improve the quality, if any way possible, and the extra step would be to mail picture copies to the relatives and friends of her choice at no cost.
• Depending on how the word got out, try to make an announcement via the same channel... i.e.: Facebook, Twitter, Yelp.  If possible, ask your customer to pass the word along that the issue has been rectified and to recommend your service in the future.

  Visit Inspherio for more ways to improve Your Business!

   

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Happy Independence day!

The Inspherio Team would like to wish you a fun and a safe holiday!

Enjoy the warm weather outside, but stay hydrated!

We will not be offering live support on July 4th. We will return (well rested) at 9am on July 5th.

Thank you for visiting our website!

Inspherio

One of a kind cloud based software solution for Event Industry Professionals.

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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.

Check out our Popular posts:
How to Organize your Business
8 Things you are not doing if you cannot get your Work done
7 Better Business Tools

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7 Better Business Tools

Think about all the tools you need to complete a simple task - like cooking a dinner for example: pots, pans, spatulas etc. There is a tool for every task. Have you ever tried to use the wrong tool? If so, it is likely it was not the outcome you hoped for.

So, to continue our discussion about Organizing your Business, we will be talking about Tools today.

If you have read our previous blogs you would have learned about separating your business into departments and keeping all of your files organized and up to date. So, what’s next?

Look through the files and Departments. Are you using the most up to date tools available?

Does the speed of your Internet meet your business requirements? If not, call your internet provider right now!

Do you have many different ways to be reached by your clients?

Make sure that your phone works and the phone number is listed correctly in the directories of your choice, including your website!

Do you even have a website? If you don’t your business is too 1990s! Get it fixed, get a website! Inspherio can give you one for free as part of our basic package.

Do you participate in social media? If for some reason you do not, (I hope you do, since you are reading this blog), you may be underestimating its power. Harnessing Social Media may be one of the greatest investments you can make. While it takes quite a bit of time, it will pay off in the long run.

Access your clientele. How do your clients prefer to be contacted? Is it e-mail, phone or, maybe Twitter? Be sure to know that and set up all means of contact to be available on the go: smartphone, tablet or laptop. You never know when your client will need your assistance. In the modern world there is nothing that makes more difference in winning business like great Customer Service! Inspherio allows you to keep all your clients’ information at your fingertips, no matter where, you will never be caught off guard again.

Do you still use paper receipts and bill your clients via paper bills? I have news for you: while you are waiting in line at the post office; your competitors are closing deals with their next clients. Is that really what you want? Send your next bill with this automated feature via Inspherio and move on with your day!

Ditch the paper calendar! Get a shared calendar that you can access anywhere, anytime and even set up a reminder for the task to be performed. It will be especially beneficial if you have a group of people working with you in different locations, give access to the calendar maintenance to your key staff to in order keep everyone up to date.

What is the tool that saves you time the most? Share with us, we’d love to hear from you!

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4 simple steps you can take NOW to Organize your Business: How to Manage your Files for Event Professionals

Let’s continue our topic, “How to organize your business."

In previous blog we recommended that you divide your business into departments/divisions listing all the activities that keep your business running.

Now that you have a list of all departments, create a folder/drawer/shelf (depending on your business volume) for each department.  Keep it neat, too! By creating a designated space for each of the activities, you can streamline your search process.

Make it a habit to go over certain files in regular intervals.

When you go through the file whether a paper file, or digital one;  get rid of old documents, papers, invoices etc. To file and dispose responsibly, you could use a shredder and recycle old paper.  Even better - stick with digital format; this saves paper and space.  Also, make sure that all invoices have been paid, contracts signed, meetings arranged, supplies ordered, etc.

If there is more than one person involved in your business,this will be a good time to share the responsibilities.  Sit down and go over what responsibility will be performed by whom, if you haven’t done so yet. Divide and conquer together! Feel free to delegate, but be sure to follow up that all tasks are completed to your satisfaction. We will talk more about delegating responsibilities in our future posts.

Also, use a scanner and transfer all old contracts, leads,receipts and magazine clippings to digital format. To prevent data loss use cloud data storage! See what Inspherio has to offer!

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Event Planning Business Organization; How to Divide and Conquer

First of all this article is for the people that are serious about their business, serious about making money and becoming successful. If you would rather watch dancing kittens, follow this link instead: Kittens Dancing.

Now, that we only have the serious readers, we will proceed.

Any business, big or small, needs a structure. Structure is the backbone of any business. A clearly defined structure will keep your business operations smooth and the management easy.

To create a structure for your business, break your business down into Departments. For Event Professionals like you, we recommend: Operations and Support departments. Ok, I can already hear you saying: "Wait, my business is run by one person, and it’s me!" Relax;we don’t want you to start a hiring campaign. These are Virtual Departments, the purpose of this is to keep your business organized; you can still serve in all departments and do a great job at it!

Divide your Departments in to Divisions or Sub-departments,whatever you want to call them, the main purpose is to reflect every activity that needs to be performed to keep your business thriving, think of everything. For example:

Operations:

Sales

Marketing

Customer service

Vendor relations

Accounting:

Accounts receivable

Accounts Payable

Taxes

Support:

Purchasing

HR

Building management

... and so on

We will continue talking about organizing your business in the next blog. For now, please, check our new product: Inspherio, which will help you organize your business and keep all of your event information.

Picture source: sp122809.eventbrite.com

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8 Things You Are Not Doing If You Cannot Get Work Done!

We are continuing the talk about the Time management; saving your Time and effectively managing your work load is what ultimately makes you efficient and successful.

We have come up with these tips to help our fellow Event professionals in their day-to-day struggle with time.

Before you start your day, make a plan, prioritize. Start by working on the most important tasks first in case if something comes up and you will be called away from your office, that way you can ensure that the most vital parts of your business are taken care of making you ready for whatever day brings ahead. 

Combat the procrastination; do the tasks you enjoy the least first, paperwork for example.

Needless to say your priorities should be ranked: Clients first, all other business next, but be sure to dedicate some time every day to build relationships. Call a client that you had an event with 3 months ago, ask how he/she is doing, speak to your employees and get feedback from vendors. It will help you stay in touch with reality and build collaborative relations with your team and clients.

Categorize your e-mails. There is nothing more frustrating than searching through hundreds of e-mails for that one e-mail you need right now to finalize the contract. It is especially hard when the subject line was not about what you are looking for. So, make it a habit to create special folders in your in-box. Usually by the event’s or client’s name, try to stay away from notorious “miscellaneous” folder. (If you are using Inspherio , you can paste the details from your e-mail into your client's page “Confidential information” tab to keep all the info at your fingertips.)

Before heading out to the meeting or making a call, make a list of what you need to say and ask, that will save you time of having to call back or reach for people to get or deliver the important information.

Always save your work on the computer every 10-15 min. Even better, use Google Docs that way you have your documents saved even if the computer crashes. 

Keep away from your e-mail. Make a habit to check your e-mail at regular intervals, say at 8am, 11am, 2pm, etc. Try to resist the urge to constantly checking your mail box constantly, it will save you time in a long run. Trust me; it takes on overage 10-20 minutes to return you back to the concentrated state of mind you were in before you received the e-mail that there were doughnuts in your break room.

Keep visitors out. Make your coworkers aware that you will be working on important tasks at particular time of the day, researching leads, for example, and you should not be bothered, the exception is your clients. Customer Service should be your number one priority!

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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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Destination Wedding: 7 Rules About Southern Wedding Planning

More and more couples choose to travel for their wedding outside of their hometown. There are different reasons why. Sometimes they don’t want to play favorites if one or both of them are not from the town they live in or their families are scattered across the country. The number one reason is to pick an unforgettable destination that will be remembered by the couple and their guests.

South Carolina has become a very popular destination for a wedding. No wonder! Great weather, beaches, lavish parks make perfect backdrops for the wedding pictures. Places like Charleston offer great historic locations for wedding receptions and ceremonies.

So, what if you have to plan a wedding in a south? Where do you start to ensure that the wedding will be not just a party with lots of food, but a very special occasion, the one people talk about way after honeymooners returned home?

Here are few things to remember.

If you are a Wedding planner, DJ or any other wedding related professional, please, make sure that your fees and your budget are clearly discussed with the couple or the other responsible party. Do not surpass your budget; do not add any last minute fees. That will ruin the day. The comprehensive collaborative platform of Inspherio allows you to do just that, set your prices and let your client see them clearly with our Client Portal tool.

Most southerners don’t like sit-down dinners, buffet  may be more appropriate. Make sure that set up of the tables and stations allows for a good traffic flow, yet make sure that there are places to gather. Southerners like to congregate and chat. Ample elbow room around a bar station usually does the trick.

For the menu, stick with simple comfort dishes, nothing over-the-top. A roast-beef carving station with lots of side dishes is a loved staple.

Outline the time when the reception will end, it is a courtesy that will be welcomed by both guests and the staff servicing the wedding.

If a wedding is outdoors, take measures to ensure proper airflow;  fans, ice sculptures and lots of cold beverages (ice tea is best) will make your clients more comfortable.

These are just few things that we could come up with. For more Tips and Tricks visit our other blog posts.
Of course, every event is different and takes a lot of collaboration, communication and hard work.

We know you work hard, that is why we’ve created the communication tool, called Inspherio. Like no other platform out there it allows you to manage your clients’ information from anywhere, add special notes and to keep a history of your client’s events. Anticipate your clients’ wishes and wow them with your attention to detail. 

Get Inspherio today!

Pictures source: Pinterest.

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Why a Cloud Based Solution?

Every day we are more and more involved in the IT revolution. Our phones now talk to us, TVs can order movies, refrigerators can tell your power company how much power it used in a day while ordering groceries from a supermarket nearby, and those are just a few examples. Yet, everyday there is something new appearing on the market. Now more than ever we need to keep up with the growing demand of the customers for that famous “I want it now!” kind of service. The only way to keep up with it is to stay mobile.

However, according to the research conducted by Mark Fieldeman, contributor of Forbes magazine, it’s not that easy as it seems. 84 percent of traveling executives and managers report that they cannot work effectively on collaborative projects while on-the-go, despite increased enterprise adoption of iPads and smartphones. Of the executives surveyed, more than half (56 percent) admitted to project delays or missed deadlines because of poor mobile collaboration, and 38 percent missed business opportunities altogether. Half of all respondents reported difficulties in getting input from colleagues in a timely manner with 41 percent working off potentially out-of-date documents.

Clearly, there are several challenges for our increasingly mobile workforce that need to be addressed. Our effectiveness in the future workplace depends on us getting it right. Ignoring the Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) mobile trend is only causing employees to circumvent the rules which places your organization at risk.

Inspherio is a completely cloud based software solution. Give yourself an edge over the competitors! With Inspherio you will never have to tell your potential client that you will get back with the quote, send a quote right from your phone, tablet or any other device, receive the response and lock in the contract without any downtime or without calling your assistant. This is just a one of the things you can do to stay ahead of the competition. Please, check out our website to see more: www.inspherio.com.

For more about Trends in Cloud Data storage click here

Photo courtesy of All Things D.

Source: Mark Fieldeman blog 06/13/12

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Fathers Day!

This Sunday millions of Americans will be celebrating Father’s Day. It is the Fourth most popular holiday to send a greeting card to someone!They say that there are 70.1 million fathers in United States.

The first Father’s Day was celebrated on July 19th, 1910 after it was proclaimed by Woodrow Wilson. It may be surprising to learn that this holiday actually was preceded by Mother’s Day.

Mother’s Day originally started as a peace-and-reconciliation campaign after the Civil War bringing together mothers of Confederate and Union soldiers.

Mother’s Day is more commercialized than the Father’s Day, however, 110 million greeting cards are being sent around the globe. Yes, other countries like to celebrate it too! Many other countries around the world such as: the United Kingdom, India, Canada, China, France, Greece, Japan and even Hon-Kong celebrate Fathers’ Day is on the third Sunday of June. In Australia, the first Sunday of September is observed as Father's Day, while Finnish people celebrate the festival on the second Sunday of November. In Thailand, December 5th is observed as Father's Day every year.

What are your plans for the holiday?

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Wedding Decor Trends

The official start of summer is just a few days away.  While our fellow wedding planners are busy working on their next magnificent event, let’s take a moment and see what trends are out there.

What is the first thing that comes to your mind when you think of a wedding? 

Of course, it’s a bride dressed to the latest season’s fashion. We will talk about dresses some other time.

What is the second thing?

What about wedding decorations?

There are few parallel trends this season when it comes to wedding décor. Some go with glamour, decorative lights, but the trend that stands out the most; is natural, organic weddings.

All decorations should look natural as if they were put together in a bliss by loving family members, featuring fresh flowers from the garden nearby, organic textures, such as burlap, tree bark, rocks, fruits, vegetables and, of course, candles.

Flowers have been a wedding staple since the beginning of times. So what is new this season? The trends this season is unexpected flower arrangements, whether that flowers hanging from the ceiling in place of a chandelier or centerpiece flowers submerged in water, which gives them that magnifying fresh look that any wedding decorator is striving to achieve.

Of course any wedding look takes lots or preparations and coordination. To help yourself put your next event together, stay organized with Inspherio, one of a kind, cloud based software that does most of the work for you, so you can dream and stay inspired!

Check it out at www.inspherio.com.

 

Pictures source: Pinterest.com

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