Video Production Business Tips - How to Attract and Retain Corporate Meeting & Event Clients

If you want your video production business to make a big difference in the market, build a rapport with the meeting staff at your local trade and convention center or any other venue where major corporate meetings take place. In Chattanooga, TN where I am located, there is one major trade center and about 3 hotels that host all the major meetings. So, I've worked hard over the years to make sure they are very familiar with my company and that I am very familiar with their decision makers and staff members.

This creates a smooth audiovisual experience for your client because you will already know the right people to contact in order to put on a good show. If you don't know these people in advance to working at the venue, it will be much more difficult to get what you need in a timely fashion.

The electricians won't move as fast for someone they don't know, the operations team won't bring you the table you need backstage for your equipment in a timely manner, etc. The list goes on and on.

Plus, by knowing all the right players, when your client realizes in the planning stages that they have forgotten an important detail, you can simply say, "I have a good relationship with Mary at the trade center. I'll give her a quick call and we'll take care of that issue for you ASAP."

This puts the client at ease and helps them realize that they can never do this type of corporate meeting or event without you again.

For one of my corporate clients, I have produced 10 meetings over 5 years. Each meeting generates between $15,000 and $20,000 in revenue so you can imagine how valuable it is to create this "we can't do it without you" feeling with all your video production clients.

It's better to have the vendors you rent the AV equipment from actually set up and test the equipment for instead of you setting it up yourself. The obvious reason for this is that they understand their gear and will be able to set it up faster than anyone else.

Another reason is that if they break it, they buy it instead of you having to pay, fix or replace it. Also, while they are taking the time to set everything up, you can focus 100% on the needs of your client as well as manage the entire event at a distance. The second you roll your sleeves up and start running a cable or setting up a camera, the tougher it will be to anticipate problems, needs, etc. as the meeting or event gets closer to show time.

Finally, it's much more impressive when your client walks into the meeting venue and sees 10 people running around setting up equipment for you than it is for them to see you and your intern doing it all. The perception is that you run a large operation and that you can handle their large and very important event.

Never let corporate executives see you sweat (literally). They want to trust that you can manage the entire situation. When was the last time you saw any of their executives sweat? Never!

Decision makers like to hire other decision makers when it comes to handling their important events and meetings. Let them see you making decisions while setting up and testing video production equipment instead of actually doing the set up yourself.

You don't have to worry about your video production business spending so much on man power. In most cases, labor charges from your vendors won't be that expensive mainly because they make most of their money with the rental and rarely try to actually make money with labor.