3 Tips to Prep For a Successful Wedding Off-Season

By Kevin Dennis, Fantasy Sound Event Services

As the wedding season starts to wind down, we’re often inundated with thoughts of relaxing, going on vacation and taking some well-deserved personal time. Of course, taking a break after the season is certainly a great way to loosen up and clear your head, but I’m here to tell you to keep your company in the forefront throughout the off-season.

Sure, your business is the last thing you want to think about when you’re jetting off to Hawaii, but once you return, be prepared to take ‘work’ off the backburner and give it some quality attention.

#1 – Identify unfinished projects

As your schedule opens up more, the off-season is the ideal time to knock out all of those lingering to-dos that never got finished during the season.

Have you been pushing off that website renovation you need? Or is it that Pinterest profile you’ve been meaning to sink into?

Whatever it is, get it done during the off-season since you already know that peak season is no time to be worrying about those things!

#2 – Expand your inventory

In our slower periods, we focus on expanding our inventory, whether it’s building new items or shopping for pieces.

Once the year does start back, we feel more prepared with new inventory, leading to increased sales and productivity. It’s hard to argue with that!

#3 – Update your promotional materials

We also focus on updating our marketing and pricing collateral, in addition to any projects we wanted to get to but never did. (We’re all guilty of it!)

That may mean we find ourselves testing out new software or putting together new customer service policies – it changes from year to year, depending on what we need to work on the most.

#4 – Evaluate your past year

It can help to have a team meeting at the end of the season to look back on the year and determine what went right and what didn’t go so well. Start an open discussion between everyone to get multiple perspectives on how to improve your operations.

We host our annual staff retreat during our off-season and it does wonders for getting organized and motivated for the year to come! The off-season team bonding also brings positive energy to the office and makes coming to work fun.

As this season starts to wrap up, by all means schedule that vacation you’ve been dreaming about. Just don’t let your mind wander from your goals until the next season creeps up on you.

Evaluate your company at the end of the season and ask yourself where you’d like to be when the next season starts – then get there!

Kevin Dennis is the owner of Fantasy Sound Event Services, a full-service event company based in Livermore, California. Dennis is the current chapter president for Silicon Valley NACE, and the immediate past national president for WIPA.