We’ve all been there before. Those dreaded youth in your event planning career when you’ve had no paying clients. the times of struggling to create your portfolio to be ready to book new clients.
How does one confidently book clients with nothing to show?
Who would pay you to plan an occasion once you haven’t any previous clients to verify your awesomeness?
Sure you’ll get your mom, dad, aunts, and grandparents to write down testimonials about how amazing you’re, but what proof does that provide to potential clients looking to ascertain your work?
It is difficult when you’re first starting out, but I promise it gets better. And today I’m sharing four strategies you’ll use immediately to book your first paying client without an occasion planning portfolio.
1. Offer your Event Planning Service for free of charge
One of the fastest ways to book clients is to supply your service free of charge. you’ll do that by volunteering with a corporation to plan an occasion or offering your service to individual clients like a bride and groom. Post a billboard on a directory listing like Craigslist or on a forum like Wedding Wire offering your event planning service free of charge. this may allow you to figure with clients, albeit they’re going to be unpaid, gain experience, and supply content for your portfolio.
I also suggest using these clients to develop your event planning business processes also. for instance, If you were unsure of the way to price your event planning service. Use this experience to trace the number of hours it takes to plan each event for your future reference. you’ll also track the things you needed to get and therefore the costs related to these for future client proposals.
You can use these events strategically to make templates for your business, such an occasion planning timeline, budget, and contract. These templates are going to be reused numerous times in your business. Just think, performing on an occasion with $0 cost to your client, allows you the time to check and develop your templates to raised fit your business needs.
Even more valuable is that the addition to your portfolio that these events can bring. you’ll now have photos of your events to use in your portfolio. These also can be used on your website and social media accounts to plug your business. most significantly you’ll now be ready to gather client feedback and testimonials that you simply can provide to future clients.
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2. Use your Past Event Experience
Most event planners I’ve met began planning events for friends and family before joining the industry professionally. albeit your past experience isn’t with a client you’ll still use this to represent your experience. Helping your sister plan her wedding won’t be much different from helping a client plan theirs. the sole difference is that you simply are being paid, and can therefore have greater responsibility for what you deliver and the way it’s delivered.
f you propose all the birthday parties in your family, use these as samples of your work. Organize your events as if you’re working for a client, and document the method and time it takes to finish the event coordination. make certain to also take many photos that you simply can use in your portfolio to showcase your talent. albeit these are for friends and family they’re still evidence of your skills and expertise!
3. Create your Own Event Portfolio
As a newbie, event planning clients will often ask to ascertain samples of your previous work. Let’s be honest, they still ask to ascertain examples even when you’re an experienced planner. the sole difference is experience planners would have a portfolio of events to share and their websites would be crammed with photos from their past events.
If you are doing not have any client or family events to feature to your portfolio, there are literally two ways you’ll start creating them:
Styled event shoots
The first thanks to creating your own event is to style your own styled event for a photoshoot. Styled shoots are essentially mock events wont to create samples of events and experiences that will be re-created for clients. They often involve collaboration between multiple vendors like event planners, photographers, florists, bakers, etc. The vendors close to stage an occasion for photography. These shoots also allow each vendor to showcase their talents and express their creativity in a unique way. Plus, each vendor can then use these photos to plug their respective goods and/or services to potential clients.
Self-hosted events
The second thanks to building your portfolio is to host your own event. this might be anything from a business launch party if you’re new the industry, a marriage pop-up event with other vendors, or maybe a networking event with other professionals. the aim of a self-hosted event is to supply you with a chance to curate content for your portfolio, showcase your business, and if possible build relationships along the way.
4. Source Testimonials from your Past Employers
Even if your previous job wasn’t within the event planning industry, another good way to create your business and your client’s confidence is thru testimonials. While testimonials from family and friends are great, I highly recommend getting them from past employers if you’ll. These are going to be more credible and may be used for references if needed.
Ask your past employer to write down a testimonial speaking to not your event planning skills (unless they can), but rather about your work ethic, character, and professionalism.
Even though these won’t directly relate to your experience as an occasion planner, they work as an excellent indicator of what a client can expect when working with you. This helps to create trust and put them comfortable about working with a replacement assistant.
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