Access All Areas November 2018 | Page 39

NOVEMBER | SECTOR FOCUS “A lot of production companies that will always use the traditional sales process, offering cheaper rates and larger discounts” with clients pitching production companies against each other in order to get the best price, production companies do tend to feel the pinch. Is there a demand for all elements of the production process to invest into more training, learning, development? With technology becoming more and more advanced, training is vital to make sure you’re getting the most out of each and every piece of kit. We work closely with equipment manufacturers and industry bodies to ensure our staff are fully clued up. How is the relationship between organiser, promoter and production service working? Working with an organiser or promoter has always been based on trust and relationships. Here at Hawthorn, we’re very proud to have an excellent client retention rate. Playing testament to this is key accounts such as Walk The Walk using us for 18 years and BBC Worldwide, who returned to Hawthorn for the 12th year to help deliver it’s world-renowned Showcase. Are you outsourcing staff more now than before? We’ve seen an excellent level of growth over the past 12 months and the number of events we’re working on has increased. This has meant that we’re employing more freelance staff on-site. It’s not just about the workload though. With technology becoming more advanced, we often employ freelance specialists when an event calls for a certain piece of equipment such as disguise media servers or particularly advanced projection techniques. We strongly believe in collaborating with industry experts to create the very best solutions. Has the process of winning business changed for you? Are you more proactive or reactive in this competitive market? There are a lot of production companies that will always use the traditional sales process, offering cheaper rates and larger discounts, but for me this devalues the market. Our process has evolved and we believe that developing relationships, trust and credibility with organisers is key to winning new business, not price. Most organisers or agencies have a preferred supplier who they will have worked with for many years so when you do get an opportunity, you have to go about it in a proactive way. Gone are the days of cold calling and trying to make an appointment as the key decision makers are generally out of the office working on events. What willevent production look like in 10 years’ time? I was once told that production companies in 5 years would be dead in the water and that the only way forward would be to provide a complete agency type service. Over time, I think we’ve seen that hasn’t been the case!! Instead we’ve seen production companies go from strength-to-strength, providing organisers and agencies with technical expertise in a collaborative way, becoming a production partner rather than just a supplier. I can only see this becoming more important as demand increases over the next 10 years. 39