Five Questions Every Client Asks Themself Before Hiring An Event Manager

If an organization is looking to run an event on which the reputation of its brand could very well rest, it’s not terribly surprising that they’d want to be as thorough as possible regarding who they hire.  After all, if they make a bad choice, they could see their organization’s reputation dragged through the mud; if their event truly goes south, they might even see people take legal action against them. As an event planner, you should thus be prepared to answer questions as part of the hiring process.

Naturally, that process will go a whole lot smoother if you know exactly what to expect. Here’s five of the more common questions prospective clients tend to ask their event planners.

What Have You Done In The Past? How Many Events Do You Do Per Year?

Basically, a client who asks this question wants to know that your firm understands what it’s doing. They may be looking to see how events you’ve run in the past worked out, or how many clients you’re typically able to take on at once. Be prepared to answer questions about past clients as well as the scope, attendance, and budget of past events. Be sure you’re also able to describe, in detail, each event you’ve run, including what the event’s goal was.

What’s Your Payment Status? What’s Included?

This one’s pretty obvious – the client wants to know what sort of deal you offer. Chances are, if they don’t like what you’ve set out on the table, they’ll go with a competitor. It’s thus imperative you’re aware of what the competition’s charging – and what your client is looking to get.

What Certifications Do You Hold? What Are Your Qualifications?

Again, this indicates the client’s simply trying to get a feel as to whether or not you’re worth spending their hiring budget on.  Be ready to present a list of certifications and qualifications for both yourself and any staff you might employ; make absolutely certain you’ve a diverse and well-rounded team at your disposal, as well. While questioning you about your qualifications, they might also delve into your technical knowledge, too. If you’re unfamiliar with the technology they want to use in their event, they may well move on to another manager.

For this reason, you need to make sure you’ve a diverse and studied technical background.  The more you know, the less likely you are to run into something that you don’t know how to use.

Chances are good that they’re also going to ask for an organizational chart detailing who will be working where. Make sure you’ve got one drawn up before meeting with a potential client.

Are You Insured? How Will You Mitigate Risk?

As I’ve established in the past, liability can be a pretty difficult thing to manage when running an event. Except a number of pointed questions about what sort of insurance your firm is equipped with; your clients naturally want to get as far away from being legally liable as possible. 

Your clients just want to know they’re in good hands when the inevitable happens. Prepare a risk management plan, and keep it at hand.

What’s Your Cancellation Policy?

If your client decides, at some point down the line, that their relationship with you isn’t working out, they want to know that they can terminate it without you completely ruining them. A good rule of thumb to work by is to charge clients for hours and services utilized, and any purchases acquired up to the point that a contract is terminated – and letting them off the hook for anything that comes afterwards.

In Closing

Potential clients are very likely going to have a few questions before they decide to hire your firm.  That shouldn’t come as any surprise – they simply want to be sure that you’re the real deal. Equipping yourself with foreknowledge of what they’re going to ask isn’t just a good idea, it’s downright necessary if you’re going to make it as an event planner.