Staying Profitable During Slow Seasons

SLOW seasons are a reality in the event planning business and for us event planners in Nigeria, that period of the year is now, the first quarter of the year and after the holiday season. There are not much events now and things appear quiet. The question then is, “what should you do to maximize the period?” and “what profitable things can be done now?”

Here are a few activities to make the “sabbatical leave” a time of charting a new course for your event planning business:

Take A Break There is no better time for an event planner to rest than this period.  Reward yourself for having worked hard for about several months at a stretch. Spend quality time with your family and friends, go on vacation if you can, exercise your body, or even invest time in your hobby and/or pick up a new one. Just take time out to relax and replenish your energy. It’s a very important thing to do.

Invest In Personal Development Since both personal and professional developments usually get sacrificed when we are busy, you should take quality time to invest in them this period. Read books and articles, take a course or attend a seminar related to event planning, marketing or any other area of interest. Ensure you improve your skills this period. It will definitely increase your value and the contributions you can make when business picks up again.

Look Inward Evaluate weaknesses and seek ways to improve on them, review clients comments from past events, learn from market leaders and pick up a bit or two from competitions who are doing better than you are. Look for ways to enhance quality.

Get Creative Once you are rested and have regained some energy, then it’s time to re-focus and generate fresh ideas to improve your event planning business. Think outside the box and try new ideas that no one else in your market is doing. The more creative you can get, the more distinct you’ll be from the rest of your competition.

Marketing Slow seasons are also the best times to strengthen marketing activities, develop new strategies and to build your profile as THE event planner to call. You should check in with former clients, reconnecting with them on a personal, rather than on a business level. That way, you will keep your company fresh in their minds. You could also create a new program to introduce yourself to new clients, as well as redesign and/or update your company’s website.

Network Networking and building good relationships with vendors is an essential part of the event business. So this period, work out ways to improve relationship with your event vendors. Focus on them now that you can since you only focus primarily on the clients when hosting the events. It will only make things get better for both you and those vendors the next time you have work to do together.

The slow season or downtime season is a normal occurrence in the event business. It will definitely dwindle and go away. What you make out of it however, is what’s important. So don’t just fold your arms and watch the time tick away, rather, take advantage of it and make it your “strength building season”.

We will return again next week by God’s grace to continue with our Event Planning Best Practices.