Gordon Ramsay, David Tutera & Building Your Catering & Event Business

Love him or hate him, you have to admit Gordon Ramsay is a powerful brand. David Tutera may not plan events the way you would, but his client roster is pure A-list.

So what business lessons do a hot-headed chef or a celebrity party planner offer you? Plenty… here are just two lessons:

Thou Shall Not Be Fungible

Fungibility is the property of a good or a commodity whose individual units are capable of mutual substitution. Examples of highly fungible commodities are crude oil, wheat, orange juice, precious metals, and currencies.

If you are fungible it means you are easy to replace – a commodity.

You must be irreplaceable.  If you are just “a caterer”, “a wedding planner”, “a wedding photographer”, or “a corporate event producer” – you have to compete with everyone else in your category. Gordon Ramsay is not “a chef,” he is Gordon Ramsay.  David Tutera isn’t “a wedding planner,” he is the one and only David Tutera.

When you create a strong brand like Ramsay or Tutera – you don’t get price shoppers. You become an incomparable category of one. Customers know that if they want you, only you will do and they will have to pay the price you set.

Thou Shall Build a Great Reputation By Great Deeds

Cynics may think that the only reason these two men have strong brands is because they “know how to work the media.” While no doubt they know exactly how to exploit media – I don’t believe this is the secret to their success.  (But perhaps Tutera owes some of his success to that hair cut. Geesh, if I could only get my melon coiffed that way.)

Drawing attention to your business only works well – in the long run – if your business is worth paying attention too. The only way for a business to build genuine buzz is to produce a great product or service that’s worth talking about.

Build your reputation by accomplishing remarkable things. Create fantastic events and wondrous catered affairs. Be daring, be bold and be different.

Thou Shall Be Judged By The Company Thou Serves

People want the best. Whether they’re throwing a party or planning a big corporate event – they honestly want to give their guests the best they can afford. But food and entertaining is so subjective. How’s a bride to be supposed to know who is the best wedding planner? How is a posh party planner going to find the best caterer?

As I mention in my free report, More Clients Now, people who are shopping for event services use short-cuts to try and find the best vendors.

There isn’t enough time to try out every potential event service provider in town – so the typical shopper looks for shortcuts. The biggest shortcut is word-of-mouth – the shopper asks for referrals from the people she knows and respects. Failing to find a suitable referral, the shopper takes cues from strangers that she respects.

If while poking about the web, an event shopper discovers that David Tutera is the wedding planner of choice for Jennifer Lopez, the shopper automatically assumes David must be the best.When we read that Gordon Ramsay’s restaurants attract celebrities – we assume the place must be good. Otherwise, why would the famous eat there?

Might you do a better job than our famous peers? Maybe, but unless you have an equally impressive client list – Mr. Tutera will win that client (assuming she has the budget!)

Get Thee A Celebrity

It’s amazing how much a testimonial from a celebrity can boost your business. Humans are a herd animal and celebrities are perceived to be the Alpha.  Make it your mission to land a big-name client and make them so very happy – happy enough to grant you a testimonial.

One way to land celebrity clients is by donating your services to their charitable cause.  It’s easy enough to discover with Google search.  Don’t bother trying to make your offer directly to the celebrity. Contact board members or the director of the charity. Donate or deep-discount – do what you must.  Aim to be a big part of an event that your celebrity of choice will actually attend.  Do a great job and unless the celeb is a complete jerk you should be able to get a nice photo and thank you card. Bingo.

I show you  in More Clients Now how to get tons of testimonials and use them to generate new clients. Be sure to download a free copy of More Clients Now and learn how to attract new customers using free online tools.

Don’t limit yourself thinking to pop celebrities. Landing Fortune 100 clients has the same effect.

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