Every great party requires a
great party planner and if you are someone who likes to plan for parties and is
interested in becoming a professional party or event planner, the good news is
that the event planning business is booming. Whether you want to become an
event planner or a birthday party planner in Sydney
the most common question on your mind will be about what you should charge for
your service.
Here are a few
different ways to charge your clients:
Flat fee
This is one of the most
recommended methods. This method is great because you can give them a number
upfront. A good practice is to collect fifty percent of that number upon the
client signing the contract, the other fifty percent is preferred to be
collected two weeks before the event. This way you can make sure that you have
all the money you’re owed upfront before the event goes.
It’s hard to pick a flat fee
number. An easy method is to think about the actual number of hours you’re
going to work on the event and how much you’re going to put into it. A general
rule of thumb is to think about the client’s budget and take about 15 percent
of that.
Vendor commission
This one is not very common, and
the one that is not necessarily recommended. The benefit to using the vendor
commission method is that you don’t charge the client very much or sometimes
nothing at all. So, what you’ll do is you actually charge the vendors a
commission on every vendor that you book. For instance, if you book a catering
company for your client, you’ll have that catering company for the services.
The problem with this method is that a lot of clients might think that you only
picked a certain vendor based on the commissions. Although this one is not a
recommendable method, in some specific circumstances it can work.
Percentage of the total
event
This one is a bit similar to the
flat fee method in the sense that you’re going to get a flat sum of money but
the difference is that you’re going to be charging after the event for this.
The problematic thing with this method is that the client might think that
you’re trying to escalate prices or not trying to get them discounts because
you want the event money to be so high. This can be a really good option for
you, especially in a corporate setting.
Day of coordinator
This method is becoming
more and more popular because it’s a lot less expensive. So, a day of
coordinator isn’t going to have anything to do with the actual booking of the
vendors. You’re basically going to be hired for the day of the event. This
doesn’t mean that you just come in on the day and help set up everything.
You’re actually working on the project for two weeks or maybe up to a month
because you’re the person that’s coordinating the event and the vendors,
running and making the schedule for the day event. You’ll also be in charge of
setting up on the day of the event and also for breaking down and making sure
everything moves as smoothly as possible. In this method, you can either charge
an hourly or a flat fee according to your preferences.
Hourly rate
Pick a number that you feel
comfortable for each hour work that you complete. You’ll add up all the hours
and you will bill the client after the event. You want to pick a number that
equals out the amount of experience you have in the event planning industry.
So, if you’re just starting out, somewhere around $20 per hour is a good start.
As you get more experience you can charge more and more. Event planners in Sydney with the
highest and biggest names can charge upwards of $100 an hour and even more than
that. So, start small and you can always work your way up.