Brian McGovern
Here in NYC, the big catering company everybody knows is Great Performances. They have over 150 full time employees and grossed over $36 million last year.
A recent article in Forbes highlights the accomplishments of GP’s founder, LizBeth Neumark. It’s a wonderful story of a gifted woman. I highly recommend reading the original article.
It makes sense to model your business after a very successful one. Here’s are some of the business tips I took away from the article Maybe it will spark an idea for your event business.
What should a business owner focus on?
“Neumark today focuses most of her attention on marketing, business development … I honed habits of delegating. I knew there were other people who could do parts of the business better than I, and I let them,” she says.
Like any great business leader knows, marketing and business development is a business owner’s biggest focus. Is it yours? Or are you still doing all the cooking because you’re a caterer and all the photographs because you own the studio? Lesson: focus on marketing and sales.
On sales and marketing
Don’t expect repeat business. Go out and sell. “Just saying to a customer ‘I did your party last year’ is not enough,” she notes.
The economy
There’s a recession! What ever do I do?
Forbes quoted Neumark, “It’s only a recession,” she shrugs. “Nobody died.”
Lesson, keep things in perspective.
Neumark started GP in 1979. For you younger readers, 1979 was a lousy time to start a catering company. (Actually, it was just an agency for booking waitresses at first).
1979 was a much tougher time for a woman to be in business.
1979 was Three Mile Island, the USSR was pointing a lot of big nuclear weapons at us, Chrysler was begging the government for a big loan to keep its doors open, the Iranian Hostage Crisis … oh, did I mention inflation?
Prices increased 40% in three years, from 1979 to 1981. The crime rate was soaring.
My point? Yeah, yeah, the economy is bad. It went bust. It will be back. Are you ready for the boom?
But Liz Neumark didn’t let anything stop her.
What’s holding you back?
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If you need more client’s, why not download a free copy of “More Clients Now?” Or are you just gonna sit there and worry?
Thanks Brian for another informative article. Goes great with a good cup of coffee!
Best and continued success,
Andrea Scatuccio
Hmm coffee sounds good. Be sure to read the Forbes article, Liz Neumark’s rags to riches story is amazing.