We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Laurel McFarlane a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Laurel, appreciate you joining us today. One of the most important things we can do as business owners is ensure that our customers feel appreciated. What’s something you’ve done or seen a business owner do to help a customer feel valued?
The best way to show your customer you appreciate them is by exceeding their expectations and creating space for surprise and delight. The ultimate appreciation of a client is to treat them with mutual respect, and garner trust between the two of you so they are able to focus on other important aspects of their participation in the event at large. Giving client’s back time – whether to be used at work or personally, is one of the most underestimated gifts.
As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?
It all started on the streets of the Gaslamp… McFarlane Promotions, Inc. is a high-design event planning, coordinating, and production company that creates unique festivals, corporate activations and immersive community experiences. With over 25 years of creating a wide variety of events and campaigns, we are capable of coordinating and seamlessly managing everything from national festivals to intimate team building retreats to virtual conferences. We become an extension of our client’s team to ensure you exceed all of your goals and targets!
We have handled multiple stages of live entertainment, parades, VIP areas, and over 100 vendors while creating an epic experience for over 100,000 attendees. With a specialty in permitting and logistics, we have shut down entire neighborhoods and transformed entire venues from the Gaslamp Quarter in Downtown San Diego to the Olympic Training Center in Chula Vista.
We are also pros at creating dynamic corporate experiences of all sizes from internal company meetings all the way to elaborate branding and sales-generating activations. With a deep understanding of experiential marketing and corporate planning, we have executed large scale campaigns across the Country (and online) for major tech firms, nationwide associations and corporate brands.
As a master in events of all sizes and intentions, our team of expert fundraisers can be your key to planning the season’s most talked about gala, awards dinner, virtual auction and more. We take the gnitty gritty details off of our client’s plate so that they can focus on donor cultivation!
Our event-based innovations are all backed by our marketing creativity and media mastery. From Public Relations to Digital Advertising to buzz-worthy social campaigns, we’re out-of-the-box thinkers that know how to get a message crafted, stamped, sealed and delivered to a client’s target audience.
McFarlane Promotions is committed to turning our client’s vision into a completed project that surpasses all targets for success!
How’d you build such a strong reputation within your market?
A commitment to excellence, innovation, and integrity has helped me build my reputation within my market the most. I value relationships, connections, and community that putting people first has helped me immensely in my business.
How do you keep your team’s morale high?
The key to managing a team and keeping morale high in high-stress situations is fostering a sense of safety and maintaining communication channels so you can accurately support your team as needed. Simplifying systems, ensuring trainings are efficient and thorough, and encouraging new ideas from your team also foster growth. Never underestimate the power of a good laugh or well timed cocktail hour.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.mcfarlanepromotions.com/
- Instagram: mcfarlanepromo
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/McFarlanePromotions/
Image Credits
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