How did one event planner / caterer go from working out of her basement to running an event empire … during a recession?

Catering & Event Business Grows in Recession. A Recipe for Success

This year, some catering businesses will close their doors forever.

After years of struggle and hard work - the business they poured their lives into will be gone. And most, will blame the recession.

Most catering and event companies will have lower revenues this year. They too, will blame the economy. This year is awful, they say.

But some event companies will grow.

They will attract more customers.

They will take home more money. They will hire more staff. They will buy new equipment, new homes. They will make more money than 90% of the competition.

Hold on, you say. Make more money in THIS economy?

How can one event planning / catering firm make millions when others are failing?

I decided to ask Martha Kostyra from Jersey City. She was crazy enough to start a catering company out of her basement when the world was falling apart.

Now she’s worth millions.

Is This a Good Year For the Catering & Event Business?

Record high unemployment. Rocketing fuel prices. Economic crisis. War in the Middle East. Uncertain times, for sure. But, that did not stop Martha Kostyra.

She went on to grow that catering company into an event empire and became a multimillionaire.

The year she started was 1976 - and Martha Kostyra was now known as Martha Stewart.

Rich Planner / Poor Planner

Martha Stewart was and is a master of marketing. She knew how to attract the right clients - the ones who let you make a profit - the ones who host many high-end events.

She knew how to listen to her clients. She knew how to exceed their expectations.

Martha didn’t focus on the bad economy. She focused on growing a world-class catering company.

You can grow a successful catering company this year too.

First, stop imitating the mediocre masses. Most of your competition doesn’t know how to market. So don’t copy them. Only model excellence.

Learn how to market your business. You may call yourself a caterer, photographer, event planner, wedding planner … but your real job is marketing.

To be successful in the catering & event business you need more than good service. You have to master marketing.

If you want to start quickly attracting more catering customers and you don’t want to spend any money to do it, make sure you download a free copy of  “More Clients Now.” This report reveals 10 powerful ways to promote your business.

I hope you feel a little bit more inspired for reading this - but more importantly I hope you take action. Make your dreams happen. Good luck.

I'd love to know what you think of this post. Leave a comment or question and I promise to respond.

Why are so many event businesses in trouble? The recession is only partly to blame.

Homogeny.

Because of the Internet, your customers can easily find lower-priced competitors faster than ever before. If you only provide generic event services that any other company can sell, you are a commodity. Take DJs for example, an industry full of copycats. Same song list, same equipment, same party favors, same everything. If the only thing that distinguishes one DJ from another is price then the lowest priced DJ wins the business.

The same can be said of caterers. Too many imitate and not enough innovate. As a result, the typical catering company’s proposal is almost indistinguishable from any other. Too many caterers let their customers control the quality and originality of their bookings. The majority of customers are too inexperienced at planning events to have the confidence to do anything original. Customers want to play it safe. So they imitate the last 10 parties they went to.

Therefore, most events are bland, generic and instantly forgettable. No one at the party needs to get your card because your service is invisible. You can’t stand out if you mirror other me-too event companies. You, as the event professional, have an obligation to your client into your business to be bold and memorable. If all you do is provide the same service that anyone else can, your event business is destined to fail.

Barbarians at the Gate

The barriers to enter the event services industry have never been lower. 10 years ago, a DJ had to invest thousands of dollars to build a music library. Equipment was more expensive, harder to find transport and required skill to operate. Now any knucklehead with an iPod thinks he’s a DJ. A song list is easy to pirate and play with a cheap laptop and inexpensive speakers.

Ten years ago, Event Planners would painstakingly build a Rolodex of high quality vendors. Now anyone can assemble there A- list of event professionals after a few hours on Google.

In the good old days, finding a good caterer took a long time. Advertising a catering business required a business address, a business telephone and an expensive Yellow Pages listing. Thanks to the Internet, almost anyone can throw up an impressive website for next to nothing.

Want to book bigger and better events? Download a free copy of “More Clients Now.”

Category Creep

Now that things have slowed down you see more and more vendors that used to specialize in one event service branch out into many. The florist now does balloons, invitations and party planning. Now the photographer is a videographer and books entertainment too. Event production companies are renting audiovisual equipment, selling staging services and are becoming destination management companies.

Stuck Off the Web

Most of event services professionals are clueless when it comes to online marketing. The companies that grew and matured in the last 10 years did so using antiquated marketing. They relied on print ads, Yellow Pages, cold calls. They depended on unsophisticated and unknowledgeable buyers. Just a few years ago, it was too difficult for the event shopper to compare vendors. Information was harder to come by. Now that has all changed.

To be successful in the event services business today you must have a powerful online presence. Today’s customers are shopping online. Today’s customers are comparing service providers. Requesting and comparing proposals from dozens of your competitors used to take days and now can be done with a few clicks.

To be successful in the event services business today you must have a powerful identity. You can’t afford to be fungible. A fungible event services company is exchangeable or replaceable in whole or in part, for another of like nature or kind. You must invest in innovation and create a unique identity for you and your company.

Hard Act to Follow

If you’re not a hard act to follow, expect someone else to get all your applause. How difficult is it for a competitor to replace you? What unique value do you offer that is next to impossible to replicate? Now is not the time to imitate.

Create a strong brand online. In my free report, More Clients Now, I share with you 10 powerful, effective and free ways to get more customers. Whether you are a caterer, event planner, wedding planner, photographer, DJ, designer, makeup artist, decorator … if you are in the live event industry I urge you to download a copy of more clients than before your competition does.

Many people think that their business is slow only because the economy is bad. However, I have to tell you that a number of my associates are doing quite well and making more money this year than last year because they know how to market better than 99% of their competition.

You can sit and wait for the economy to get better or you can take action now to grow your event business.  Grab my free report, More Clients Now and take control of your future.

Be bold, the daring, be different. I wish you success.

I met a wedding planner who told me she worked 100% by referral.  Who wouldn’t love that?

No need to promote? No advertising cost! No selling!

Turns out she only gets 5 jobs a year!

The reason she didn’t market and sell her services is because she didn’t know how to. She was terrified of selling. The process made her nervous. She was clueless about marketing.

What we don’t understand, we tend to avoid and even fear.  Marketing and selling your event business doesn’t have to be hard - if you have marketing systems.

With the right marketing systems you don’t have to “sell.” A well designed marketing system attracts the clients you want to serve. They don’t have to be “sold.”

Do you have a marketing system that works?

I posted a video the other day that describes a powerful way any event professional can quickly build up business - at zero cost.  I have received so many emails thanking me for sharing this idea. Watch it here.

And check out my idea for getting your business noticed by the people who matter most to your success fast.

For example, today’s bride shops around online. If she can’t find you there, you’d better hope her mother is planning the wedding. The older population still responds to pre-internet adverting. But for how long?

Learn how to promote yourself online with free tools that are easy to use. You don’t have to spend money and you don’t have to be a techie to do it either. Download a free copy of my report, More Clients Now and start attracting new clients.

Why You Should Never Work 100% By Passive Referrals

If you wait and hope for referrals, you’ll fail. If you develop a system for generating referrals, and you work that system well - you can have more clients than you’ll ever want.

Here’s the trouble with saying, “I only work by referral.” It isn’t scalable and it’s risky.

A scalable business is one that is capable of being easily expanded or upgraded on demand. How do you demand more referrals?

Risky Business

A business that is 100% passive referral driven is 100% dependent on actions it can’t control. You can’t control your customers. They move, retire and die. If they go away, so does your business.

Referrals are a great way to grow, but don’t grow dependent on them. You can certainly grow with referrals and if you have a referral system in place

To scale your business you need to marketing systems that generate leads and a sales system to covert leads into buyers. When you want more business you increase the output of your systems. It’s really that simple.

So … before you go back to business as usual, CLICK HERE and grab your free copy of my report, More Clients Now. It’s full of great ideas you can use today to start getting more business.

“The God’s cannot help those who do not seize opportunities.”

Listen up my event & catering friends. Whether you’re an off-site caterer, a wedding photographer, event planner, DJ, designer …. you have a choice;

You can a) make less money and blame the economy - or b) make this your best year ever.

Yes, the  event & catering industry will generate lower revenues this year as compared to last year. But it doesn’t mean everyone in the business is going to suffer.  Just because your industry average is down - it doesn’t mean your business will sink too.  As with any average, there is a bell curved distribution.

Some will do much worse, most will do average and some will do much better.

FACT: Some businesses will fail this year.  And they will blame it on the economy.

Their owners will wait and hope for the economy to improve. They’ll hope “business will pick up” and the phone will start ringing again with orders like the good old days.  They’ll wait for their old clients to start making money again and hope that eventually those clients will start to spend.  They’ll wait for things to get better.

They’ll just keep plodding along with the “marketing plan” they followed last year. And what is the marketing plan of a failing business?  Advertise randomly, imitate the average, wait for the phone to ring and drop prices and margins in order to book any  job they can.

FACT: Most catering and event companies will struggle and make less money than last year.

FACT: A certain percentage of our industry will not only survive - they’ll have their best year ever. Why?

Their owners will take an honest appraisal of their strengths and weaknesses. They’ll actively look for the opportunities that their competition doesn’t see, and they’ll take action.

Instead of waiting for the phone to ring with orders, they’ll create a compelling reason for clients to call.

Instead of hoping old clients will return, they’ll help new clients in new markets.

Instead of winging it, they’ll create a strategic marketing plan that diversifies their revenues.

You can wait for opportunity or create your own.

Are you still using the same old marketing ideas? Have you finally realized that your customers are online - shopping for solutions - and if they don’t find you first - you’re losing out?

Too many businesses think the phone ain’t ringing ’cause the market is bad. Meanwhile, their marketing is to blame. Customers are still shopping - don’t believe otherwise. But they’ve changed the way they shop.

• If you don’t know how many visitors your website gets everyday - don’t blame the recession.
• If you’re not optimizing your site to turn visitors into leads - don’t blame Obama.
• If you still think today’s customers are still looking for you in the yellow pages - don’t blame Bush.
• If you don’t have a current, printed and regularly reviewed marketing plan - don’t blame the economy.
• If you think SEO is an 80’s rock band - don’t blame the mortgage meltdown.
• If you’re not using free online tools to promote your business worldwide at the click of the button - don’t blame the credit crunch.
• If you still haven’t downloaded a free copy of my ebook, More Clients Now - don’t blame me!
• If you haven’t spoken with your best clients in the last 30 days - don’t blame anything or anyone but yourself.

Please - don’t sit and wait for “things to get better.”  Go and find better things and make your business better.

Only you can make your business a success. I wish you great success.

PS. Take action right now. Learn how to promote your business with free online tools. Grab your free copy of More Clients Now.

“Wise men make more opportunities than they find.”

I’ve made thousands of extra dollars off this tactic. It’s a fun, positive and free way to build your brand and generate high quality leads. Use it!

The Thank You Blog

Do you send thank you cards to clients?

Most business owners and salespeople know how well thank you cards help build a relationship. Because so few people do it on a regular basis - you stand out from the competition, in a good way.

Well, the thank you card concept just got better.

I call it the thank-you-blog. When I ran my event company in New York I was “famous” because of my thank-you-blog. Here’s the concept; when you do an event, work with a great vendor, and especially clients - blog about it.

For example, if we did a party at a catering hall, we’d take the time to speak to the owner or manager and share genuine praise. I’m not suggesting flattery - but genuine praise. Get a photo of the manager - that’s really important.

Now - create blog post about the venue and the manager. Share your honest praise in the post and publish it. Make sure it’s not just a generic review about the venue- make it about the person. Make them the star.

Next, send the subject of your thank-you-blog a link to the post (and print out a copy and mail it too - along with an old fashioned thank you note).

Guess what happens next? Besides making that venue manager like you more, and make you more memorable - like a thank you card would - the manager will send that post to friends, family  and business associates. We’re talking viral.

If you want to learn more ways you can promote your event business, I invite you to download a free copy of More Clients Now. You’ll learn over 10 powerful and free ways to promote your business - starting now. I’ve been getting some really great feedback from readers - so grab your copy now and book more - book bigger - book better events now.

When the subject of your thank-you-blog posts your link on their Facebook page or website, you’ll end up with a back-link and targeting traffic.

Plus, when you use proper keywords (keyword+local append) you now have content that can attract new buyers.

A prospective bride may be looking for a review of a hotel or banquet hall. When she reads your review on your page - she may reach out to you too. (Make sure your individual post pages contain sales copy in the sidebar and header).

I booked thousands of dollars off of one thank-you-blog post. Give it a try!
Make sense? Any questions? Leave a comment. Hope this helps!

“How to double your profits by selling a product nobody buys, or how one business owner increased revenues by 20% with a crayon.”

If you want to make more money during a recession, should you raise your prices?  To understand the answer to that question, first I have to tell you about my shoes.

On my way to the Catersource Event Solutions conference and tradeshow last week, I stopped off at the shoeshine stand in JFK Airport.  On a handmade cardboard sign, they offered a choice of shines at $7, $9 and $11. I thought about it.  My shoes were scuffed, and I had time to kill before my flight. But which shine? I’d hate to get to Las Vegas and realize the cheap shine didn’t last. But I wasn’t going to fall for some silly $11 shine. I asked for the $9 option.  I felt I was making a rational decision, but little did I realize that I was just zapped by a sales trigger called “contrast.”

I asked the shoeshine about the sign. He told me that he used to just offer a choice between a $7 and a $9 shine.  When he only had two choices, most chose the cheaper price, as might be expected.

Then one day, he got an idea from a friend in the restaurant business. The restaurant owner discovered that when his most expensive wine was $80 a bottle, most customers bought a $30 bottle. However, when he added a $300 bottle of wine to his wine list, he started selling more $40 bottles. He never sold a $300 bottle, but its very existence created a price point in his customer’s minds. It seems people don’t want to go broke, but then again, they’re afraid of looking cheap. Typically, the next to cheapest wine on a wine list is often the best seller.

So the shoeshine gave it a try. He scrawled “Bullet-proof shine - $11,” above the “$9 Deluxe” and “$7 Basic.” Within the hour, he knew he was on to something. Suddenly, more and more customers were buying his mid-price offer. When he added an ultra-premium price of $11, he saw most customers choose the $9 price instead of $7. His revenue increased by 20% in the first week and his profits doubled.

Goldilocks Pricing

“This one is too cheap. This one is too expensive. But this one is just right.”

I shared this example of Goldilocks Pricing with my catering clients. The majority of social event shoppers have very little experience at hiring caterers. Most consumers in the social market will only plan a handful of big parties in their entire lives. Inexperience, combined with the emotional stress of planning a big event, often encourages automatic, emotion-based reasoning. The buyer will select what seems to be the best choice based on a gut feeling - when that feeling can be rationalized.

Be sure to grab a free copy of More Clients Now. 10 Breakthrough Tools for Promoting Your Business. Get it now and start booking more events.

Customers need to convince themselves they are making a deliberate and logical choice based on sufficient information. That’s why I advise offering at least three drastically different  price points; one exorbitantly priced offer, one cheapo and one that’s just right. The high and low prices give buyers a benchmark and a sense of choice and control. If you do not give them an adequate amount of choice, you compel them to seek it from your competition. They’ll be less likely to continue searching for bids if you give them enough choices.

Offer your clients a limited number of drastically different choices. Don’t overwhelm them with a myriad of choices that have only minor differences. Make sure each offer is clearly defined. Clients want to be able to make a decision easily. By offering them three drastically different options, they’ll talk themselves into the mid-tier range most of the time.