In today’s show, we are going to talk about how setting minimums and maximums for your event orders can help strengthen your business by knowing what exactly you can take on, how many events you can execute in a set time frame, and how creating boundaries with enforcing minimums and maximums can take the stress away from your team. 

LISTEN NOW – APPLE | SPOTIFY | YOUTUBE

When setting a minimum or maximum for your company, it is important to know what those are, and how they fit into your company and learn how setting these can help you better serve your clients. So what is a minimum and maximum, you ask? A minimum is the lowest amount you will accept for an event or order. This can be in the dollar perspective, a product order amount, or even services booked. A maximum is the highest amount you can accept for an event, or order, and even the highest amount of bookings or orders that you can accept in a set time period. When having a maximum in place, comes with understanding what your business, products, and staff can manage during that time. 

For example, the maximum dollar amount we will generally accept is $150k for an event or order. We have done a few of these types of these orders, but with this comes making sure every single moving part and logistics are taken care of and managed well. Understanding our team, our products, and the size of our work and stored space factors into this. 

You can also measure your maximum amount in not only dollar amounts but in the number of events you can take on during a set season, the same day, week, and even month timeframe. Remembering your capabilities when looking to set these is very important. Consider your resources and make sure your Sales team understands what you can take on. 

So, why do you need to have a minimum and a maximum in place?

#1 — Establish Boundaries and Expectations

This helps to establish boundaries for your clients and your team members. In doing this you are already setting your team up for success when it comes to the workload and helps establish expectations to your clients. When you receive an inquiry, your Sales team should be able to look at what we mentioned above: the dollar amount, time frame, season, and products requested. When you have these expectations and boundaries in place this also helps alleviate stress and overwhelm from your team. 

#2 — Know Your Costs

What does it cost to produce an event in different areas of your city? Knowing that a $500k inquiry may cost you $150k-$200k in just products and services, you already know that this is a huge undertaking and you need to make sure you can accommodate that. Understanding how much you need to charge per set up person also depends on the distance. We know that our warehouse is in the Design District of Dallas allows us to have a differing rate for venues just 10 minutes away versus venues 30 minutes or more away from us. 

Another cost to consider is Will Call Orders. When you think of Will Call, you may think that the client is just coming to pick up the item, use it for their event and then return it, but there are so many other factors to consider. For instance, you have to pull the item(s) from your stock and shelving, check the condition, clean the rental item(s), and then upon return make sure that the item is returned in a rentable condition plus storing it again. These things take time, energy, and staff to do all of this. 

#3 — Stay in Conversation With Your Team

Understanding your minimum and maximum for your company goes further than just the numbers and logistics. If you have a team, checking in with them and keeping an open dialogue about how they are feeling, whether they are stressed or overwhelmed is important to consider. If you know that, for example, November is looking like a packed month, consider a blackout of dates so the Sales team understands that you are not taking anything additional for that week or month. This reminds your team that you see the hard work they are doing and you care about their well-being and stress levels. 

We hope you enjoyed this week’s episode and you found it helpful! We would love for you to go listen to the full episode on Apple or Spotify and get ready to set your minimums and maximums for your company if you have not already. 

Joyfully,

Raven Scott | Podcast Manager