Maintaining and Sustaining Relationships

Happy Happy Friday everyone!! Sorry for the lack of posts but my full time job is of course taking up more of my time so my posts won't be as frequent ;)

As an event planner, you will be communicating and developing relationships with a lot of different people but mainly your customers, suppliers and vendors. Another one of the many keys to being a successful event planner is to maintain and sustain relationships with these important individuals. Having ongoing relationship management will show that you care about maintaining the relationship with the individual and you appreciate their business/doing business with them.

Here are some tips on nurturing your event relationships:

Ongoing Communication. It's important to have ongoing communication with your customers and contacts even after you have finished doing business with them. This will show that you care and are dedicated to growing the relationship. If your customers were impressed with an event you executed for them, they will probably go back to you to organize future events. They also will have no problem in referring you to others. Word of mouth is very powerful. There are various ways to have ongoing communication - regular phone calls and emails, newsletters, social media.

Referral System. Some people may not agree with this but a great way to thank your customers and suppliers for referring business to you is to provide them with a future discount on your services or a gift of some sort. Providing this will show them that you appreciate the referral and value them. Another great way to show your appreciation is to refer customers to your preferred vendors/suppliers. They will be grateful for this and will most likely refer business to you in return.

Customer Relationship Management Software (CRM). A great way to keep track of all your customers, suppliers and vendors is to have a CRM in place. Most CRM's will allow you put in all their contact details, the business that you have done with them and any related notes. Having this system in place will allow you to know who needs following up and who has had recent communication. As an event planner you will be communicating with a number of different people and it's really important to keep track of all your relationships so they can be maintained.

Appreciation Events. Organizing and hosting an appreciation event for customers and suppliers will  show you that you care and value them. This can be as simple as providing a few drinks and appies at a restaurant or you could make it more elaborate. Not only is it a great way show your appreciation for their business but it's also a great opportunity for them to network and develop other business opportunities.

When it comes down to it your customers, suppliers and vendors are the ones that allow you to continue to be a successful event planner. Maintaining and sustaining your relationships should be an important daily task and should never be overlooked.

Hope these tips have helped you! Happy weekend everyone :)

-Shira :)

My Passions

Rather than a lengthy blog post today, I wanted to share some of my passions through images:

Music/Singing

Being Active

Event Management/Planning (of course!)

 Teaching/Helping Others












Movies/Films

Animals (mostly dogs, hehe)

 











Food

 











Yay for passions! :D Just looking at these pictures makes me smile!

-Shira :)

Have a New Event Job?

Happy happy Monday everyone! Hope everyone had a fabulous weekend! Mine was full of weddings - the first one I worked at and the second I attended. Both were quite fun!

As some of you know, today was my first day at my new job!! I met a number of new people and was  was given A LOT of new information. I'll be going through a bit of a learning curve over the next few weeks as I learn the companies processes, products and procedures. This may be a bit scary and overwhelming to some, but overall I am excited and ready to give it my all :)

This really applies to anyone with a new job, but here are some tips on how to have a successful transition into your new event position:

Ask questions  - To ensure you are clear on your job expectations and company procedures, ask A LOT of questions. I'm pretty sure that no one is going to reprimand you for asking too many questions in the first few weeks of your new job. Your manager and colleagues want to ensure that you understand everything clearly, so they are expecting you to ask many questions. There is no harm in clarifying something you don't understand.

Meet your new colleagues. Your manager may have already brought you around the office and introduced you to everyone but if they haven't, I would highly recommend you introduce yourself to everyone on your first day. If the company is too large, you should introduce yourself to just your department. You will be working with a lot of your colleagues very closely so it's best to be assertive and introduce yourself and get to know them. This will show them that you are confident and are looking forward to working with them.

Find out the company protocols/procedures. If it hasn't already been explained to you by an office or HR manager, find out what the company procedures are. This includes email signatures, printing/photocopying, email, phone calls/voicemail, computer software, meetings and much much more. One should never assume what the protocol is, always ask if you do not know. Once you know all the procedures, you will be able to go about your day to day duties in a confident manner.

Accept that you will have to go through a learning curve. Each new job that you enter will have some type of learning curve that you will have to go through. The length of time that it will take you to get up to speed with everything really depends on the company, your responsibilities and how quickly you can grasp all your tasks. In the first few weeks, you will probably be absorbing A LOT of information (just like me!). There may be times where you will get overwhelmed and not understand certain tasks right away. Try not to get frustrated, this is perfectly natural. We are only human, right? Just make sure to ask a lot of questions, review the information that you were given thoroughly and practice. It will take some time, but you will get the hang of everything eventually!

Document what you are learning. A good way to help you grasp all the information you are learning is to document it. Write the information down in a notepad or a Word document, whatever way works for you. It's easier to remember things when you write them down and you can refer back to your notes if you forget something.

There are definitely more tips out there than this but I think these are some of the most important. Also, my brain has gone to mush and I can't think anymore, haha.

-Shira :)