Many corporate executives think that organizing events increases costs but does not bring much benefit. Is it really just that some companies invite partners or entertain employees because they can afford it? Not at all, they are actually investing!
You’re a business manager and you can’t even get past the title of this article without asking yourself some uncomfortable questions. How on Earth can I increase my business’ revenue through events? Event planning costs money, so doesn’t it add to my costs? And what about the bottom line? How will it benefit me? Do I even need an event?
Events do cost money, as does a good event management company. But you also know that if there is no outflow from your company, there will be no inflow either. You hold events for your employees or your partners, which may become strategic partners or customers one day.
For years, the month of December has been full of end-of-year parties within the company, yet it is only in the last few years that most companies have realized that the success and size of the year-end result is largely a function of how well or poorly employees feel at work. The most successful companies are those where employees can and want to do their jobs as a team, helping each other. One of the most effective ways of fostering cohesion and motivation is to organize the kind of events where employees can access the necessary knowledge through shared experiences and/or enjoy recognition of their efforts.
Covid, which devastated the world in spring 2020, did not spare the workforce. Resignation has become part of our daily lives, with hundreds of millions of people having to give up their former lives and habits. At the same time, businesses and work were reorganized to survive. In these changed circumstances, the above will perhaps be even more significant. Most business leaders considered it unthinkable to employ their staff in a home office scheme before 2020. Today, even the most skeptical of them are finding that their employees can work more efficiently at home if they can manage their own time on teleworking days. Because working from home is tried and tested and works, there will be companies that will continue to take great care to manage their employees’ working time flexibly. However, the importance of teamwork did not diminish and in the new working environment, as a matter of fact, managers will need to provide more opportunities for personal contact.
But what about partner meetings? Few have denied the need for this type of event, as there is practically no company that produces a product or provides a service that would argue that face-to-face sales is the most effective way to sell. Indeed, partnership events, conferences, workshops, product and service launches are the best way to do this.
However, we believe that in the coming years the focus will be on events that build employee loyalty. The importance of team-building events is not only appreciated by the confinement at home caused by Covid or the more frequent home office, but also by the mere fact that many companies have forgotten their employees in the highly competitive environment, who have not received the attention and support they deserve to boost their motivation to work.
Each event is therefore an investment that will pay you back many times over, if only you pick the right one. At the same time, we also see that it can only be a powerful instrument in the hands of those who can think in the long term.
As a result of the digital world, personal relationships have not only become more valuable, they have also become the most important. Everything can be said over the phone, much can be written down by e-mail and even on a video-conference. But none of these modes of communication can create the kind of intimacy that you can easily achieve with a well-chosen event. Why not? Because a good event adds a ‘bond’, a shared experience, a memory that you can still associate with a meeting years later.
Why are these relationships important? Because they are the true and highest value of your company. If valuable relationships are the hallmark of your company, and that applies to your partnerships as well, revenue will flow and you’ll have no problem making a healthy profit too.
Author: Krisztián
