11 Aug 10 Four Guidelines For Getting Great Catering Deals
Catering can be one of the most expensive aspects of any event or meeting, but there are ways to save money. Savvy planners can save a bundle on catering by following a few simple steps:
- Discuss long term relationships – If you can talk to an owner and/or manager at the catering company, it is often possible to save money by discussing long term agreements. Consider the first event to be a demo for long term work and prices might drop perceptibly.
- Exchange – Is there a possibility of a goods/service exchange? If so, then determine what your bottom line is and weigh it against the possible gains. If it proves to be a wash or profitable then the decision is simple. If there is a slight loss, remember that caterers are a good source for word of mouth and may consider a mutual word of mouth exchange to be valuable.
- Remember your manners – Everyone is busy, some of them may actually be more busy than you! Caterers tend to be very busy, and often appreciate both brevity and good manners. Keep things brief and polite in order to build rapport that can be leveraged later.
- Start small and get big – Start discussing price by starting with a small number of people, usually around 80% of the actual amount, and then ask for pricing on additional plates/heads. This method is often effective reducing the possibility of being oversold.
Tags: Bottom Line, Brevity, Catering Company, Demo, Good Manners, Long Term Relationships, Planners, Service Exchange, Simple Steps, Term Agreements, Ways To Save Money, Word Of Mouth
04 Jan 10 7 Simple Steps to Get More Out of Your Day
Let's face it – time is probably our greatest resource, especially for meeting planners. We never seem to have enough of it and it seems to pass so quickly. Well we won't get any more of it and we can't slow it down.
What we can do is make the most of the time we have. Here are some simple steps you can take to get the most out of your day.
1. Plan your day the night before – At the end of each day write out all the things you need to do the following day to achieve your goals. Pull together all the information you'll need, phone numbers and relevant paperwork.
2. Prioritise the list – Number each item and do the nasty jobs first. There's always the temptation to do the easy jobs first. However, think how the thought of doing the nasty jobs hangs over you as you do the easy stuff. Think how good you'll feel when the nasties are out of the way and how motivated you'll feel.
3. Stick to your list – Tick off each item as you go and don't let yourself be distracted. The temptation is to handle the telephone and e-mails as they come in. The phone is hard to ignore but you could always pull out the plug and let it go to voice mail and switch off the email program. Make an agreement with yourself to check for messages every two hours or so.
4. Remember the Three "D's" – Do it, Delegate it or Dump it. Handle each piece of paper only once. Either do something about it now, delegate it to someone else or chuck it in the trash. And remember – "Only do it if only you can do it." 5. Don't procrastinate – Procrastination really is the "Thief of Time" It's so easy to put things off till another time or till "I've had time to think about it." DO IT NOW!
6. Plan your leisure time – Take up activities that need you to be at a certain place at a certain time. Instead of just "going to the gym," book a fitness class or an appointment with a personal trainer.
7. Be honest with yourself – Keep asking – "Is what I'm doing now getting me to where I want to get to?" if the answer is "no," change what you're doing.
This is the easiest way to more out of your day and more out of your life.
Tags: Jobs, Leisure Time, Meeting Planners, Nasties, Nasty, Nbsp, Phone Numbers, Piece Of Paper, Procrastination, Quot, Relevant Paperwork, Simple Steps, Temptation, Thief Of Time, Trash, Voice Mail
20 Nov 09 Planning Successful Corporate Events
Planning an event could get very tedious, as you will need to look into every small detail and ensure that everything runs smoothly. However if you follow a few simple steps, there is no reason why you cannot achieve satisfying results. There are many ways to organize corporate events and some of these could even get expensive.
During times of economic crisis, it makes more sense to make use of event planning tools that come at affordable costs. The event planner industry is always in demand, be it a sluggish economy or a robust one- corporate groups will always want to organize in-house as well as inter-corporate events. This ensures the steady business of event management planners and also prioritizes the need to adapt to changing economic situations. Following are some handy tips to keep in mind while organizing a corporate event: (more…)
Tags: Corporate Executives, Corporate Groups, Corporate Meetings, Economic Crisis, Economic Situations, Evenings, Event Management, Event Planner, Handy Tips, Important Events, Management Planners, Olympics Opening Ceremony, Planning Tools, Rest Of The World, Simple Steps, Sluggish Economy, Steady Business, Successful Event Planning, Time Of The Day, Venue
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