Getting It Right the First Time: The Know Your Event Feature

Let’s take a quick test!

When asked to plan an event, what would you do first?

1. Immediately talk about the budget and how much your client is willing to spend
2. Start planning and giving your clients ideas for their event
3. Let your clients fill out the Know Your Event questionnaire on Inspherio

Hopefully you went with choice number 3! Before you start planning any event, use the Know Your Event questionnaire and find out exactly what your clients want (the first time).

What is the Know Your Event Feature?

Well, it’s Inspherio’s exclusive event-information-gathering questionnaire that can help you plan your client’s dream event. But this feature is so much more than just a questionnaire. You can fine-tune this form to fit every client, vendor, and event. Once you try it, you’ll wonder how you ever planned an event without it.

How-To KYE Guide

Knowing exactly what your clients want for their big day is important. But it doesn’t have to be difficult to figure out. Let Inspherio’s Know Your Event feature help!

Ready to get started? Great!

• Click on the “Leads” tab on your Inspherio dashboard.
• Since it’s a new event, you’ll need to create a lead, so select “Incoming Leads” from the drop-down menu.
• From there, on the top right-hand corner of the page select the “+ Create Lead” icon.

• Here, you’ll be able to complete the pertinent information you need to get in contact with your new client.
• This contact will now be categorized in your Inspherio Active Leads section.
• Click on the newly-created lead under the “Active Leads” tab located on the left-hand side of the screen.
• Under the “Event Info” section of your client’s page, select “Know Your Event.”
• Choose the template for questions that are most appropriate for your event, add questions to the list, and send it to your client.
• Done—it’s that easy!

We believe in simplicity, that’s why we created the Know Your Event feature to help you get all of your client’s dreams, details, and information the first time. Try it and let us know how much it helps you!

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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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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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