Financial Predictability

0:00 So Lance, the first question here, many event planners have dealt with hidden fees and budget creep.

0:10 Steelhead offers guaranteed pricing.

0:12 What exactly does that mean and how does the promise hold up when clients are hit with the inevitable last minute on site request?

0:23 Well, that's a great, that's a great question and one that I love to talk about.

0:29 I think as partners it's our duty to be good stewards of the budget, right?

0:35 Clients come to us for a couple reasons.

0:38 They come to us usually or prospects come to us because they're having issues with quality, creativity or service, but most of them come to us because there's some sort of budget issue and they're being held accountable for that.

0:51 And so I think it's our duty to preserve that.

0:57 First of all, we need to understand it, you know, so when you go, when you go into a project, having a clear understanding of exactly what it is that they've got to spend is super key.

1:07 I mean, it drives everything that we do from that point forward, right?

1:13 And that happens whether it's a last minute ad, whatever it is that they might be, I mean, we, we will always let our clients know that, hey, if you're going to make these changes, it's fine.

1:25 Things pop up at the last minute, right?

1:27 They, they always do.

1:28 I mean, since they're dynamic, right?

1:31 But we're going to let them know, hey, if you're going to make this change, it's fine.

1:36 We just went went through this at a recent event, someone the day before the show started said, hey, we want to add a 16 foot wall to block out our our competitor, right?

1:46 Last last minute, right.

1:47 OK, we can do that.

1:49 It's going to cost X.

1:50 Do you want to move forward?

1:52 Yes.

1:52 All right, we're going then we're going to do that.

1:54 So regardless of what the scope of work is, whether it's installation, dismantle labor, the rental graphics, the whatever it is, the client should know exactly what it is that they're going to spend because they are being held accountable.

2:09 Yeah.

2:10 So what I hear, yeah.

2:11 So what I hear you saying is that there's an agreed upon scope that we guarantee, steelhead guarantees.

2:17 And then if something changes, there's an agreement on the cost ramification.

2:24 So everybody's on the same page.

2:26 There are no hidden fees as mentioned or surprise invoices is something else that you hear in our industry quite often.

2:34 And sadly, no, never.

2:36 It's that would be a terrible feeling.

2:39 If you're responsible for managing a budget and the show is over and all of a sudden you get this bill and you're, you don't know what to do with it.

2:47 It just doesn't seem like a partnership, right?

2:49 Totally.

2:50 OK, Cool.

2:52 All right.

2:52 So Steelhead offers event planners strategic flexibility through what we call an access model.

3:00 It essentially means rental.

3:02 How does our access model allow event planners to maintain premium custom presence across like their entire event calendar without the logistical and financial sunk costs of owning several different booths?

3:19 Yeah, that's, that's also a great question.

3:22 First of all, we need, we, we should have full visibility into the calendar year because it, it should start with strategy, right?

3:32 And not all events are created equal.

3:36 And there's usually flagship events or, or national events or global events that happen.

3:42 And then there's regional events that are also important, but less important as some of the other shows.

3:48 And so I think it's incumbent upon us, you know, to ask the right questions, understand that, understand the budget as a whole so that the we could put together a program plan to address each of those things individually.

4:04 And because we work with an access model, we're not trying to put a a square peg in a round hole and make that thing fit all right.

4:14 Well, you know, with other companies, they would take this thing and say, well, how do we make this thing work?

4:20 Well, it's not really optimized over here at this event, but it's what we own.

4:25 We don't have those sorts of limitations.

4:27 And so we are able to maximize each and every event regardless of where it's at because the objectives change.

4:37 And if you own something, you'd be trying to make this thing achieve those objectives when it was really optimized for one specific event.

4:45 So they had to make concessions.

4:47 And so we don't, we don't do that.

4:50 We designed specifically for the moment and we will maximize that of regardless of of where it's at.

4:57 And then you don't have to worry about all of the sunk costs and storage and handling fees and and that sort of thing because all of that sort of stuff is, is completely removed.

5:10 Right?

5:11 Yeah.

5:11 And as a marketer, you know, I cringe at the idea of retrofitting something.

5:17 I want to address the audience that I'm working with from a fresh perspective.

5:23 Absolutely.

5:24 And you know, you get to show up differently, right?

5:27 Like what's the lost opportunity fee?

5:30 If you own this thing and you take you use it for three to five years and attendee is walking by your space and and they're like, well, I visited that thing last year.

5:39 It looks, it looks the same.

5:41 So I may as well not stop.

5:42 I mean, that's one thing that's difficult to measure, but you know, you know, it's happening.

5:47 But each and each and every year you take a look at that thing, you're like, wow, something, something is different there.

5:52 I need to stop by and learn more.

5:54 Right?

5:55 Yeah.

5:55 The only way.

5:56 Absolutely.

5:57 OK, cool.

5:58 Last question.

5:59 So we can all agree that event planning as a career can be stressful.

6:06 So when an event planner's team is already overwhelmed by all of the internal demands, how does Steelhead's account and on site team function as an extension of 1's own team to reduce the workload and stress?

6:22 Yeah, you're right, Their events are super stressful.

6:29 People have a limited amount of resources.

6:32 You know, often times our clients are accountable for press events, they're booking corporate travel, they've got executives that they're working with and they're getting phone calls from a number of different suppliers.

6:49 We want to eliminate as much of the burden from them as we possibly can.

6:54 And so when we get on site, you know, we they have an account management team that works with all the pre show planning, right?

7:02 Well, well, then the accountability transfers to our on site supervisors who are there.

7:07 And I think of them almost as like a concierge.

7:11 If there's anything that you need you, you should call that person and they're going to figure it out.

7:17 Whether it's a catering order, they shouldn't have to worry about working with the the myriad of service contractors.

7:24 Our clients don't have to do that.

7:26 They've got more important things to do as an event manager then worrying about the logistics and everything that's happening on the show floor.

7:36 And so, you know, as they're, they're overwhelmed, all they have to do is pick up the phone and say, hey, you know what, there's this thing, it's at a hotel.

7:43 Can you, can someone go figure that thing out for me?

7:47 I don't have time.

7:48 Of course, we've got resources in every major city in the country.

7:52 And so let them focus on on product, their team and literally 0 to do with the installation, dismantle the execution of the booth.

8:05 And then every morning when they get to the event, they don't have to worry about preparing because we're going to get there a couple hours before they do.

8:13 Everything's going to be up and running so that they can they can get refreshed, energized, get good rest and come in fresh each and every morning. The team's going to take care of that for them.

8:22 So they shouldn't worry about any of that stuff working with Steelhead.