Racing to the Top on Standards in Service Industry

You do not need to own the venue to use entertainment strategically. Concert tickets. Sporting events. Restaurant experiences. VIP packages. Local partnerships. In this Coach Conversation, Chris Giles shares why external entertainment can be just as valuable as in-house inventory when it is used with intention. The goal is not to own the event. The goal is to control access to experiences your players value and to use that access to drive trips, strengthen loyalty, and create more value from your database. https://lnkd.in/emQDCf_9 #CasinoMarketing #CMBCKreweontheroad #CasinoMarketingBootCamp

One of the most overlooked decisions in event planning isn't the venue—it's the entertainment. Mike Amado shared that the right choice isn't simply "DJ or band." It depends on the goals of the event, the venue, the budget, and the experience you want guests to remember. The best professionals don't start with their service. They start with your objectives. What factors do you think matter most when choosing entertainment for an event?

One of the most overlooked decisions in event planning isn't the venue—it's the entertainment. Mike Amado shared that the right choice isn't simply "DJ or band." It depends on the goals of the event, the venue, the budget, and the experience you want guests to remember. The best professionals don't start with their service. They start with your objectives. What factors do you think matter most when choosing entertainment for an event?

Most companies plan their event budget around the venue, the catering, and the AV. Entertainment gets whatever is left over. Here's what that misses. The entertainment is often the single biggest driver of how people remember your event. Guests forget the appetizers. They remember whether the room was alive. A few things we've learned from years of corporate bookings: The right band reads energy, not just a setlist. Genre flexibility matters more than any single hit song. The best entertainment makes your brand look good without saying a word about your brand. Planning a corporate event this year? Happy to talk through what your room needs. #eventplanning #corporateevents #liveentertainment #musicindustry

Most venues have one package and hope it fits everyone. The highest-performing venues don't lower their prices. They create better choices. A clear tiered pricing strategy helps more couples find an option that matches their budget while increasing your average booking value. It's the same venue. The same calendar. Just a smarter way to sell. If your pricing hasn't changed in years, this might be the easiest revenue opportunity you're overlooking. Would you ever switch from one flat package to multiple pricing tiers? #VenueOwner #EventIndustry #PricingStrategy #Hospitality #Tiers

A free drink at the door is never really free for the venue. In 2024, we hosted one of several Saigon Punk shows at Arcan with Jägermeister supporting the headline slot. The brand wanted people to try the product as they entered. The venue still needed the bar to perform. That creates a real negotiation between the brand and the venue owner. Give every guest a full complimentary drink and some will carry it for a long time before ordering at the bar. At a crowded, high energy hip hop show, many people also want to enter the room without holding the same drink for the next hour. The shot format worked well for both sides. The guest tried the product immediately. The brand received a direct sampling moment. The guest entered the event with empty hands and could return to the bar for the next drink sooner. That last point is an operator hypothesis. We did not have the point of sale tracking to prove whether the shot increased the speed or value of the next purchase. Today, I would measure it. Compare hourly bar sales with similar events. Track how many samples were served. Measure whether first hour paid drink volume drops or recovers quickly. Product sampling works when the economics make sense for the brand, the guest and the venue. If one side loses, the partnership becomes harder to repeat.

Why the Best-Run Venues I've Seen Still Struggle to Grow I once walked through a property in Canberra that ran like a Swiss watch. Every shift briefed properly. Every guest greeted by name. Complaints resolved before they became reviews. And it hadn't grown in three years. Everything I'd been taught said that shouldn't be possible, that great service, delivered consistently, is supposed to generate its own growth. It doesn't. Not on its own. Here's what that property taught me, service and strategy solve different problems. Service protects the guest you already have. Strategy goes and finds the next one. You can be excellent at the first and have no muscle built for the second, and never notice, because the first one feels like the whole job. A few things I watch for now, because of that. Service is a ceiling, not an engine. It stops guests leaving unhappy. It doesn't bring new ones in the door. Repeat guests are not referred guests. A guest coming back tells you the experience worked. It tells you nothing about whether they told anyone else. Consistency defends revenue. It doesn't create it. It's easy to mistake the absence of decline for the presence of growth. They're not the same thing ,and the gap between them is where a business plateaus without anyone noticing. Nothing was broken at that property. That's what made it hard to see. The team had optimised, brilliantly, for a version of success with a ceiling built into it, and nobody had the job of looking past that ceiling. Growth isn't a reward for great service. It's a separate function, with its own owner and its own effort. Great service is the floor, not the strategy. So, is anyone on your team's job explicitly to grow the pipeline? Or is everyone just running the floor and hoping the floor is enough?

One of the biggest mistakes planners make when planning a corporate event is waiting too long to book their entertainment. The best DJs and photo booth companies are often reserved 12–18 months in advance, especially during peak season. Waiting can mean fewer choices, higher prices, or settling for a company that wasn't your first choice. Booking early gives you: The best availability Today's pricing before rates increase More time to personalize your celebration One less thing to worry about Lock in the entertainment early so you can relax and enjoy the planning process. Have questions? We're always happy to help with ideas—even if you're just getting started. https://lnkd.in/eycpX-Aw

The right supplier doesn't just deliver a product. They help bring your brand to life. Whether it's for retail, events, hospitality, or venues, memorable branded experiences start with the right manufacturing partner. Which industry are you in, and what branded products have worked best for your business?

Most event planners spend weeks picking a venue and a menu. Then they book entertainment in a five-minute call. Here’s the problem: entertainment eats up to 40% of the event budget — and gets a fraction of the vetting. Three things that actually matter, that most people forget to ask: 1. Certificate of insurance naming your venue as additionally insured. Some venues require it, some don’t — but if yours does, ask upfront. A vendor who can get one quickly (I can) beats one who’s never heard the term. 2. Sound engineering for the actual room. A ballroom with a stage is not the same job as a multi-room layout with a quiet networking area next door. Ask how they handle sound bleed. 3. DJ or MC? Different skill. If you need someone running the mic for speeches, toasts, and pacing the night — that’s a different ask than “just play good music and hype the crowd.” I ask about all three before the client has to bring them up. Got a date on the calendar? DM me the details and I’ll tell you straight whether it’s a fit.