“The Great Resignation”. “The Great Reassignment”. “The Great Rethink”. Whatever you want to call it, the problem is the same. Event professionals everywhere are feeling the consequences of a tremendous labor shortage. Various theories exist as to “Where did all the people go?”, but even finding out the answers won’t solve your immediate problems.

By now, you have probably been working with this situation for at least a couple of years. It’s not been easy, but you’ve been learning to adapt. What if we told you that there are ways to help alleviate your struggles? We will detail five challenges that you may be experiencing that we can assist you with.

• Undertrained Staff
• Accountability
• Communication
• Direction
• Clarity

1. Undertrained Staff

With a tight labor market and an industry that requires a certain skill set, it’s hard to stack your team with the most knowledgeable, most experienced individuals. You might find yourself relying on a lot more part-time staff and calling in your family and friends. That might mean that not everyone is up to speed at all times— set them up for success by enabling your enthusiastic crew with readily accessible resources.

• Is your team delivering to a venue they’ve never been to before? Are there always load-in challenges there? Fear not! As your knowledge base about each venue expands, you can document those details right in the system by adding a file to the venue so that no matter who is delivering, they will have the correct instructions. 
• Does your team need to assemble a chuppah that they’ve never put together before? No sweat! Just upload the manual and attach it to the inventory item so your setup team will always be in the know and ready to go!
• If it’s time to prep a new piece of furniture and the team doesn’t yet know what the “Raye Sofa” is, then they can confidently select the right item with the use of the internal notes. These helpful descriptions will assist them with ensuring they are pulling, loading, and setting up the right items. This will decrease the number of questions your staff will need to ask you and save everyone time. Frustration levels will also diminish with this useful software feature.

2. Accountability

“Whodunit” is a fun question when it’s a mystery novel. But not so entertaining when it comes to running your rental business. No one wants to point fingers, but you also don’t want the same mistakes to be repeated. Everyone wants to feel successful at what they are doing.

• Who pulled the chairs and left you 10 short? Who overrode a client’s signature? Who discounted that order by 50%? You can answer all those questions without a sequence of interrogations. With our activity logs, you can find out where the errors are occurring and then quickly course correct to have a stronger, more reliable team.

3. Communication

Communication has come a long way since the old tin can telephone method. Being able to message quickly and effectively is a vital component of a smooth-running operation. In the events industry, professionals have tight timelines to adhere to. Wasting time with outdated methods is inefficient and unclear communication leads to costly errors.

• Do you wrestle with how your team conveys urgent changes to an order? Do your client messages get lost in a vast sea of emails? Stay afloat with an organized, proven message system, woven into our inventory and project management software. Our message feature allows you to provide greater clarity to your team and clients, respond quickly, and stay in control of your internal and external communication.

4. Direction

When multiple people work on the same project, it can be hard to discern who is responsible for which tasks. The events industry is fast-paced and it’s hard to find the time to have lengthy meetings about who is in charge of certain tasks.

• Is it time to order more champagne sequin linens? Do your gold Chiavari chairs need a quick paint refresh? Assign duties to the proper team members. With our task feature, you can monitor assignments, when they need to be done, and who is doing them which provides an effective way to keep moving the ball forward.

5. Clarity

The sales team is rapidly adding new orders daily and the operations team is tasked with fulfilling those orders. The right hand certainly needs to know what the left hand is doing and you need to keep your eye on it all. But with a never-ending to-do list, it can be hard to keep it all straight.

• When your business feels like it’s moving at record-breaking speed, how do you all stay on the same page? Can the sales team add more orders? What jobs are going out today? Are you reaching your sales goals? You can get a pulse on the business with the clean, easy-to-read dashboard. Your sales team and managers can all be on the same page with full access to the appropriate information they need to keep this machine running. Instead of having to click through to multiple pages, know where you stand (and where you are going) with this concise synopsis.

The event rental business is not easy. You know that. We know that. That’s why we have created software that strengthens and streamlines your processes to maximize your talent and instill confidence in them. Your employees are human and will make mistakes.  Help automate some of the basic functions to set them up for success and increase employee satisfaction. With Goodshuffle Pro on your side, you can combat many of your staffing shortage issues.