Whether you’re opening a new venue, or re-evaluating your audio-visual requirements, it’s always best to consider your options as it’s not a “one size fits all” scenario!
Flexibility
- Pro- Owning your own equipment gives you flexibility in terms of your pricing you put forward to your clients. You have the control to offer your equipment free of charge to win business.
- Con- Whilst this flexibility may give you the edge competitively, if you are not allocating a certain amount of your packages in your revenue splits then you can find yourself in a pickle later when upgrades are required and parts need replacing. Much easier to show your financial controller the revenue it gains for any capital expenditure approvals. And if they go wrong on the day, and you aren’t charging from them, any refunds are taken from your food and beverage revenue, which from experience does not go down well with the chefs!
Increased Revenue
- Pro- If managed effectively, you can increase your revenue by charging for these items and not paying commissions to an audio-visual company.
- Con- Are your sales team knowledgeable enough to hold their pricing if the client negotiates? When it starts needing an upgrade and inevitably starts playing up, it’s the first thing to not get charged for because of reliability. When you then need to provide compensation, you are going backwards.
Knowledge
- Pro- Some systems can be operated as a simple plug and play. Meaning banquet staff should be able to get your clients connected with ease.
- Con- Banquet staff are not trained effectively to troubleshoot, meaning you essentially can be throwing them to the wolves should anything not go to plan. Could be as simple as a plug is knocked by the cleaners, or a power cut resets the settings. Much better to have a trained technician on hand to help with any issues that may arise.
Scalability
- Con- Only a con here unfortunately! If your client wants to add in an extra mic, streaming facilities or get an audio feed for their videographer, very few audio system will allow additional equipment to be patched in. So your client may be receiving a mic free of charge, but because they need two they can’t use it as this will all need to be brought in separately. When an AV contractor installs a room, we do so with scalability in mind. It also means we can store a lot of equipment onsite for such occasions and ensure that we can connect in accordingly.
Maintenance
- Con – Services of audio-visual equipment is recommended every 6 months. This prevents any failings and can be monitored for when parts will need to be replaced. This would be an additional cost.
- Pro- did you know AVisual have their own installations and maintenance team?!? So even if you have your own equipment, we can be on hand to service or, as well as provide anything over and above your standard equipment. And because we know your site, we are familiar with your equipment which ultimately helps your clients!
A lot to take in! But the good news is that AVisual do not stick to a certain model. Every venue we operate with varies in the amount and style of equipment they provide. We’d be delighted to discuss how we can benefit your venue and your event clients, so call us today on 1300 AVISUAL.
