We recently connected with Sherrie Eanes and have shared our conversation below.
Sherrie, appreciate you joining us today. What’s something you believe that most people in your industry (or in general) disagree with?
Training and pricing is a big issue. I think most small business owners don’t believe in training. I think they are competitive for sure and are staying up with the industry trends but, there is the business side that may need some tweaking for sure. From company to client, sending an invoice could go great or go left. Most clients want the look or style of your work, they just don’t want the price tag that comes alongside it. I think a lot of customers are amazed at how much balloon decor services can cost. Most clients are telling themselves they are “just balloons.” We have to respect that every clients budget is different. I believe that the best clients understand the services they are being provided. These clients are willing to hire you for the job and respects the artist worth!
Sherrie, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?
My name is Sherrie Eanes, I was born and raised in Saint Louis, Mo. I am a 40 year old married mom of three with four bonus children. I am also a full time nurse and owner of Miyah 7 Event Decor. The name is coined from my two daughters Jeremiyah and Seven. I work full time as a nurse for an outpatient mental health clinic serving the veteran population. I love being a nurse but, ultimately get my joy from putting together elaborate events and balloon arrangements that make my clients hearts smile. For me, making balloons is the best thing ever. I started Miyah 7 Event decor in 2020 at the wake of the pandemic. So many people in the world were experiencing sadness, stress, anxiety, and a multitude of other emotions. Graduations and public events were on a constant hold. I never experienced so much shutdown and I felt like the world was being cheated out of it’s joy! Even I for a few months was not my normal upbeat talkative self. I was looking for more. I have always liked to decorate and plan elaborate birthday parties for my own kids, family and friends. It was time to share it with the world. I was on social media one day and started searching groups that were catered to event planning. From there I discovered a whole world of balloons. So I thought to myself, I can do both! I started researching and taking business classes with some of what are considered the industries top professionals (Balloon Coach Joette Meyers Giardina, Steve Jones of Balloon Designers and “FLOAT”, Donte Longhi of Dream Factory Balloons, Chris Potts, Stuart Davies, Jenny Porter, Gary Ledbetter and Megan Raysby of North Shore Balloon Decor to name a few. I educated myself on services I wanted to provide. We went from getting our name out there providing giveaway balloon decor for high school graduates that year to booking corporate events!
Miyah 7 Event Decor went from creating small balloon bouquet arrangements to now 30 foot balloon arches, balloon and shimmer walls to full event party decor and large scale balloon sculptures. I think the thing that sets us apart is our grade A customer service! We listen to our customers and only provide them with the best. We offer professional grade biodegradable balloon decor and we believe in continued education and training. We love a fresh eye we like to provide professional decor that not everyone is offering. We want our clients to have a “WOW” factor and we want doing business with us to be easy. We don’t offer packages at this time because we feel every client is special and their needs are just as special. We prefer to offer customized services. I don’t like to be intimidated or anxious when handling business. I like it to be easy and that’s what we want for our clients. We want our clients to feel we are trustworthy and want them to feel a part of the process from start to finish.
How do you keep your team’s morale high?
My team is composed of myself and my two children when they are available. I have a few other loyal event planners that I can count on. I would say respect and decent pay are good for maintaining high morale. I let my team know that they are appreciated from a small job such as a social media post to a large physically demanding install. We do a lot of team building such as lunch and dinner meetings along with high energy outings where we also plan out our events. If I use other event planners they know that I make every effort to help them when they get into a pinch as well. We are like our own little support community.
Any thoughts, advice, or strategies you can share for fostering brand loyalty?
I use a (CMS) that stores all my client info, special dates, etc. I also connect with a lot of my clients on various social media platforms. I stay active on those platforms, interacting with them as well. For my corporate clients I reach out to them via email and phone calls to advertise new products that we are offering such as specials for events throughout the different Holiday seasons. We consistently provide professional grade and quality products along with unmatched services. You will not get mediocracy on any of our jobs we put forth our whole hearts in executing each job that we are hired for. We also deeply appreciate our clients’ feedback and constructive criticism regarding special requests.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.miyah7eventdecor.com
- Instagram: Miyah7eventdecor
- Facebook: Miyah 7 Event Decor
- Email: hello@miyah7eventdecor.
com - Phone: 314-649-0066