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Straight answers on growing a production company.
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23 field guides for production and rental company owners
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23 articles/3 editor picks and 20 more
Suggested reading
Start with the foundations.
Three practical guides to choosing better work, building accurate quotes and getting unstuck.
Growth/3 min read
Why production company growth stalls
Most production companies stop growing at the point where the owner can no longer be in every deal, every quote and every show. Here’s what’s actually holding the number in place.
Brand and sales/3 min read
How to get the clients you want
Higher-end clients decide whether you’re right for them long before they call. Your brand, your website and the way you sell and run a show all have to tell them yes.
Quoting/2 min read
How to build professional and accurate quotes
Your quote is often the first real work a client sees from you. It should be fast, complete and right, because every mistake on it comes out of your margin or your reputation.
More articles
20 guidesPricing/2 min read
Why you shouldn’t cut your price just to land a contract
Discounting to win a job feels like progress. More often it trains the client to expect less, squeezes your crew and gear, and leaves you with work you can’t afford to do well.
Systems/2 min read
Why a CRM and follow-ups are essential to landing more business
Most lost work isn’t lost to a competitor. It’s lost to silence: an inquiry nobody answered fast enough, a proposal nobody followed up on, a past client nobody called before their next event.
Clients/3 min read
How to get corporate clients for your AV or production company
Corporate buyers don’t pick the cheapest production company. They pick the one that looks safest to put in front of their executives. Here’s how to become that company.
Clients/2 min read
How to become a preferred vendor at venues
Venue recommendations are one of the best sources of work a production or rental company can have. Here’s how to earn a place on the list and stay there.
Marketing/2 min read
How to market an event rental company without relying on ads
Ads can fill a gap, but the rental companies that grow steadily build marketing that keeps working when the ad budget stops: search, reviews, venues, planners and past clients.
Pricing/2 min read
How to price event production without leaving money on the table
Most production companies don’t lose margin on the equipment rate. They lose it on labor, time and everything that never made it onto the quote.
Team/2 min read
When to hire your first salesperson at a production company
Hiring a salesperson too early burns cash. Hiring too late keeps the owner stuck in every deal. Here’s how to tell when it’s time, and how to set them up to succeed.
Profit/2 min read
Buy or subrent? How to decide on new production gear
New gear feels like growth. Sometimes it is. Sometimes it’s a payment that sits in the warehouse. Here’s how to decide before you buy.
Profit/3 min read
Where to sell used AV and production equipment
Used AV, lighting, LED and staging gear can fund what you need next, or sit in the warehouse losing value. Here are the ways to sell it and how to choose between them.
Systems/3 min read
How to choose rental software for an AV or event rental company
Rentman, Current RMS, Goodshuffle Pro and the rest can all run a rental company. The right one depends on how your jobs book, prep and bill, not on the feature list.
Sales/3 min read
How to follow up on an event quote without being pushy
Many quotes don’t get a no. They get silence. A follow-up schedule tied to the event date, and messages that give the planner a reason to reply, close more of that gap.
Sales/4 min read
How to write an event production proposal that wins the job
A quote tells the client what it costs. A proposal tells them why you’re the safe choice. Here’s what a winning event production or AV proposal includes, section by section.
Clients/3 min read
How to win event production and AV RFPs
An RFP looks like a price comparison. It rarely is. The production companies that win them answer exactly what was asked, show they understand the event and make the evaluator’s job easy.
Growth/3 min read
How to grow a party rental business
Party and event rental companies grow by booking more of the right orders with less handwork per order: a site that quotes, fast follow-up, repeat clients, referrals and an office that runs without the owner.
Profit/3 min read
Is an event rental business profitable? What decides it
Event and party rental can be a good business, but profit isn’t decided by the rental rate. It’s decided by how often each item goes out, what each delivery costs and how much handwork each order takes.
Pricing/2 min read
How to price event and party rentals
Rental pricing has to cover more than the item. Delivery, setup, timing, damage and minimums decide whether an order makes money. Here’s how to build a rate structure you apply the same way every time.
Systems/3 min read
Rentman vs Current RMS: how to choose between them
Rentman and Current RMS both run AV, production and event rental companies, and on paper they cover much of the same ground. The way to choose is to run one of your real jobs through each.
Marketing/3 min read
What an event rental website needs to book more orders
An event or party rental website has one job: turn a visitor into a complete quote request or an order. Here’s what the sites that do it well have in common.
Operations/3 min read
How to keep track of rental equipment from prep to return
Missing cables, double-booked fixtures and gear that comes back broken without anyone noticing all start in the same place: equipment that isn’t tracked at each step. Here’s a simple system that works.
Clients/2 min read
How to get more clients for your event production or rental company
More clients don’t come from more of everything. They come from knowing which clients pay best, where you’re under-represented and how those buyers choose a vendor, then going after them on purpose.
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