Business Competition in the Party Planning Business
If you live in a big city and there are 5 party planning companies around, you don’t have to worry about clients. In fact, you may even want to hook up with your competition so that you can spill some excess work on them when you finally decide to have your days off as a company to enjoy the rain of profits all year. The thing is, if there are so few party planners around and everyone wants to throw a party, you don’t need to act like competitors at all.
But we all know that a party planning business is relatively easier to start than other businesses in the food, wine and service industry. You don’t need a big capital to build a resort or a restaurant. You don’t need to learn how to be a great cook, just a good food taster. All you really need is a good head on your shoulders, some social skills, time management and voila, party!
So, because party planning can be lucrative, there is no telling whether or not your competition could be going after your few clients, especially during the lean months when no one really throws a party because they would rather do it themselves. You don’t know who could be whipping out his HD7 while he’s in your display room and taking photos of your party theme ideas when you’re not looking.
You can’t stop your competition from being, well, competitive, but you can do several things…
1. Never burn bridges – Some clients may have come across as nasty, nit picking or tightwads, but they may just save you when there are no other clients and the bill deadlines are coming in hoards. Never burn your bridges by throwing away good clients.
2. Subcon Option – In an ideal world, every party planning company keeps all the profits and they never have to split with anyone. But in reality, you may have to swallow your pride a bit and agree to a subcon. When a competitor or a company books a project and asks you to do most of the job for a meager profit, go for it if you’re hungry enough.
3. Advertise where they don’t advertise – I can guarantee that if your company becomes word of mouth online among the “hip” people on facebook, you’ll blow everyone else out of the water. I’m not talking about setting up an account and getting as many friends from your city as possible. I mean real FB advertising, like the pros do it.