Easy time saving tips for small business owners in the event industry to work smarter, not harder.
Running a small event business sounds fun, but there’s much more to it than one may realize. Timing is critical in your business, whether you are a florist, photographer, event planner, entertainer, etc.
The more time-efficient you are, the more money you can potentially make. Not to mention the admiration you get from your customers for managing everything in a timely fashion.
However, managing time is easier said than done. And that’s why we’ve brought you the best time saving tips for your small business, so you can book more events, make more money, get more referrals from your satisfied customers and finally have guilt free time to do a little something for yourself.
1) Listen to Your Customer’s Needs
Before starting your work, you should ask your customers what they really want and need. If you are a decorator, ask them about their vision and show how you can make them come to life.
This way, you won’t be spending your time on things that your customer does not want. By knowing the needs of the customer, you can estimate the time required for each job, and organize accordingly.
2) Make A Step-by-Step List
Making a step by step list can help you manage your work more efficiently. For example, if you are a decorator, think about the steps you take each time when working with a client. Step one is likely deciding a theme. The second step can be researching decor ideas, etc. Document how you do this…do you have a mood board? What tools do you use?
By capturing your process and then following the steps each time, you can manage your tasks with efficiency.
Planning is useful in any field, and is a way to help you analyze the problems you might face before you get too far along in your process. The list of steps will be useful to share if you hire staff or work with a team so they can follow your tried-and-true process. Everyone will be on the same page and working on one accord.
3) Make Changes With A Solid Plan
Sticking to the process that you have already established always helps in boosting your performance and saving time. Trying new methods to improve is a good idea, but can take more time because you are not aware if the results will be positive in the end.
When trying new techniques, start with smaller changes. Implement the change, analyze the results, and compare it with the outcome you want. If it’s a positive result, consider adding it to your existing process.
When the time comes to execute your plans, you might experience different challenges, be sure to stick to your plan and make necessary adjustments along the way.
4) Assign Priorities to Different Tasks
Organizing your tasks with priorities can help you better manage your time and focus your energy. Have you heard the term “eat the frog?” This is another way of saying “tackle the most difficult tasks first”. If you don’t know what’s most important, you’re likely to tackle easier, but less impactful work first.
Take a look at your work and ask, “based on my goals, what’s going to move me forward most?” This may mean prioritizing follow up calls to loyal customers vs. creating a new social media post.
If you are prioritizing all the tasks before executing, you will have a clear picture and can observe the pathway in completing your work. Setting priorities helps you track and perform your activities efficiently and in less time.
5) Always Be Ready to Face New Challenges
Whether you are a decorator, florist, event stylist, caterer, or you deal in party rentals, you should be aware that daily challenges can get in your way. But don’t let them take you away from your plan. No matter what issues you may face, you can lower the risks when you are prepared for them.
This is why it’s so important to have processes in place and tackle most important work first. Life happens! You will never regret being prepared when challenges hit.
Be sure you’re making a list of tasks, prioritizing your work, following methods with proven results, and putting customer service first, and you will weather the storm.
New Resource for Business Looking to Save Time
The above five tips are the ways we’ve eased managing the stresses of owning a small business. You too can win time back by adopting all the above we’ve shared, and make it your own.
You will see that you can ease up your work load and save a lot of precious time. Furthermore, to increase engagement with new customers, you can utilize the tools offered by www.Festively.com an online marketplace with automated steps and built-in features to improve communications with your customers and optimize your processes.
On Festively, you will find various event management tools available for you to transact directly with customers. Launching soon, Festively is the new go-to place for businesses in the event industry to sell and rent their products and services events both big and small.
