It’s simple right? Money in, money out. In a time where budgets are growing for some but plateauing for most, planners need to show how their efforts will drive money back into their own pockets. The good news is that there’s more than one way to make the case for more cash.
Start with these 7 ideas to negotiate a bigger events budget:
1.) Ask
What’s the number one reason that event planners don’t get the resources they need? They don’t ask in the first place. Initiating the conversation is half the battle. You know exactly what would make you and your team better next year, but don’t assume that your managers feel your pain. They’re not on the front lines.
Set a date, long before your company has agreed on a budget for the coming year. Show up with a clear agenda, and make the ask. “Attendance was lower than I expected this year, our team needs new marketing tools. Let’s talk about budget for tools that can help drive attendance.” Don’t sit in your cube with your fingers crossed, be a part of the discussion.
Pro tip:
Don’t try to gauge the outcome before trying to negotiate a bigger events budget because it might weaken your case. Make sure that what you’re asking for is clear, to the point, and that you’re making the single most important request. Picture hot dog vendors at a baseball game. Are they shouting: “How hungry are you on a scale of 1-10?” No. They couldn’t be more clear: “Hot Dogs! Get your hot dogs here!
Initiating the conversation (to get the budget you want) is half the battle.
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2.) Test the Waters
Often your budget is decided by your bosses and managers. You’re all on the same team, but like any negotiation, whoever has the most knowledge usually has the most leverage. That means preparing yourself by asking the right questions and walking into the conversation with all the known variables.
So what do you need to know? Find out what’s happening to other departments. Is your company spending more on online advertising and less on events? Run a quick poll of your Twitter or LinkedIn followers to get a pulse about how planners in positions similar to yours allocate their budgets. Get to the bottom of the reasoning for their decisions this year or in years prior. That way you can work backwards to help validate what you’re asking for.
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3.) It’s Not What You Can Prove, It’s What Can Be Proven
There’s no way of getting around it: data is everything when it comes to proving ROI. Use data whenever possible to negotiate a bigger events budget. But what if you’re not in the position to do that just yet? Not all planners have the tracking in place to support their plans with real data.
In that case, the answer is in your network. It’s okay if you don’t have all the answers today, because someone you know might. Reach out to your network, or other event professionals via LinkedIn. Come with a set of questions that lead to the answers you need. For example:
“How much time has your team saved designing room-sets since implementing event diagramming software?”
“Where do you find new speakers to work with? Do you work with an agency, how much do they cost?”
“I’m trying to make the case for Check-In software, how much does it actually speed up the process?”
4.) The Right Thing at the Right Time
When putting together your plan to negotiate a bigger events budget, know that every investment has the potential to backfire, so what can you do to make sure you’re taking the right risks? The trick is to start small. Determine if you have the right tools to measure results, before planning for the year ahead. It doesn’t have to be all or nothing. What’s important is that you’re making the right investments at the right time.
Don’t go requesting more money to boost F&B options, at least not until you can prove that it has a real effect. Your first priority should always be the right measuring tools. Metrics like registration count, social reach, and engagement at the event, can all be factors that determine exactly how important F&B is for your events. Once you have data behind each of these, you can focus more on what you need next.
Your first events budget priority should always be the right measuring tools.
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5.) Shift Your Strategy
Sometimes the best way to convince your managers and make the case for a little extra budget is to go in a completely different direction. Maybe next year is your opportunity to rethink your strategy from the ground up. Is there a marketing campaign, or a venue type you’ve been meaning to explore but haven’t had the opportunity to do so?
Venue rentals and F&B are among the most expensive budget items for any event. Create a plan to negotiate a bigger events budget that takes a different approach to events. If your manager is resistant to change, play devil’s advocate. Question the status quo and present an alternative, to overcome objections before they are made. What if you capped A/V expenses or refocused efforts on outdoor venues where A/V costs are lower? It’s a major shift, but it opens the opportunity for savings, and expanding your budget in new areas.
6.) Read the Tea Leaves
Forecasting: It’s not just for meteorologists. Putting the right measurement tools in place means you can start identifying trends, and that means you can predict exactly where you’ll be six to twelve months from now.
This makes it possible for you to do two things when negotiating budget. First, you can give managers insight into your goals at every stage of the year. Additionally, it makes it easier to identify the ways seasonality affects registration and participation at your events because now, you’ll be able to compare trends to actual results.
7.) Get the Tide on Your Side
One way to keep the tide on your side is by teaching your colleagues about the value of events at your organization. You can truly prove the importance of events when you have cross-department buy-in and more people are excited to be involved.
Invite your colleagues to a lunch and learn session at the office (especially if they’re not in your department). Walk the team through your most recent success and make it open anyone to share ideas and feedback. That way, you can walk into a conversation about next year’s budget with more ammunition. Now, you can show your boss that Sally from sales and Mark from marketing will not only benefit from an upcoming user conference, they’re willing to put some muscle behind it too.
Use our tips above the get the most out of that conversation you know you need to have! Negotiate a bigger events budget!
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