Lending a personalised touch to corporate events

The husband-wife duo, former IT professionals and founders of Zodiac Events, a city-based event management firm, admit that there are several players in the market and customers are all that stand between boom and bust. But if you have the right contacts and a clear target group in place, doing business could be an adventure worth pursuing. 

“We started off hosting smallscale birthday parties to understand the basics of the business and build a rapport with the suppliers. We gradually moved on to bigger events and corporate get-togethers. We’d rent out high-tech consoles, speakers, DJs and equipment as we grew,” says Praveen, who soon realised they spent a lot on rentals alone. The duo coughed up close to Rs 1 lakh per event and realised that investing in ownership of such equipment would be good for the business in the longer run. 

“We had a good relationship with the suppliers. But due to the cost of equipment rentals, we were compelled to pass on the overheads to customers, which meant they had to pay a lot more. So we decided to buy all the equipment that we need. We spent over Rs 10 lakh, but we managed to cover the cost in less than a year,” explains Praveen. 

“We also collaborate with other event management companies and they choose us because of the facilities we have. We started offering our services at a very competitive rate to our customers, which ensured that they stick with us.” 

Talking about competition, he says, “One shouldn’t get into the business just for money. When you take charge of an occasion, you deal with human beings. We try offering a personal touch and it shows in the business. We have had customers who have been coming back to since the past six years. Also, we keep ourselves abreast with the latest technology.”