Gary
With a wide variety of marquee hire companies available it can difficult to separate the wheat from the chaff!
Every quote is different. You can offer the same brief to four different marquee suppliers and receive four vastly different cost estimates in return! So, how do you tell which marquee supplier is going to be best for you and your event? After all, it’s not like you can walk into a showroom and try before you buy…
Guarantees
Do any of the marquee companies that you are talking to offer guarantees? It’s rare, but check anyway. At Lifestyle marquees we offer a 10 point ‘Stress Free’ service guarantee. We put or money where our mouth is, offering a 5% damage waiver insurance refund should we fail to live up to our promises.
What is their customer care policy?
Ask marquee companies about their customer care processes and policies. They should have a structured procedure in place to ensure that everything runs smoothly, stays on track and that you are kept informed from beginning to end.
Their policy should clearly detail every step of the journey; from the moment that you first meet them until your event has been successfully delivered, enjoyed and your marquee site cleared.
We’ve created a detailed customer care process that you can view by clicking here. We share our process with all of our potential clients; leaving a printed copy behind at each of our initial client meetings, along with a plethora of other information in our customer packs.
Industry accolades
Have your potential suppliers won any awards? Do they enter any competitions? Awards may not tell the whole picture, but if a company is confident enough to enter industry competitions and pit themselves against industry rivals then they must believe that they are providing a pretty great level of service.
We enter the annual wedding Industry awards (TWIA) and have twice won the accolade of ‘Wedding marquee supplier of the year’ for the south east of England.
We’re extremely proud of this award as TWIA entrants are judged by their own clients. A voting link offers the opportunity to rate and comment on a comprehensive list of factors regarding the service that they received from their marquee supplier; winning is a genuine validation of all of the hard work that we put in to ensuring our customers have the best service, marquee and event possible.
Beware: You get what you pay for
When gathering quotes for marquee hire you’ll discover that – regardless of your brief – you’ll receive a wide variety of quotations and estimates from the companies that you approach.
Not only that, but each estimate will be presented in a different format; some will be formal some informal, some will be detailed and some will be simple. It can be hard to decipher why one might be vastly higher or lower than the next.
As a rule of thumb, the more comprehensive the quote or estimate, the more comprehensive the service on offer.
Compare the detailed quotations carefully and see what is included in one and not in another. The cheaper quotations are likely to be less detailed, so make sure that you check exactly what is included and (perhaps more importantly) what isn’t; cross compare this with the detailed and more expensive quotes before making any decisions.
Marquee structures (let alone the service on offer from the supplier) vary greatly. Just as you’d understand when looking at buying a car, there are high quality ones and low quality variations; more features and less features included and price tags to match.
Review previous customer testimonials
Take a look around the marquee supplier’s website to see if they offer customer testimonials. Ask the marquee company directly for testimonials. We include testimonials on our website, click here to visit our testimonials page. We also put printed copies into the customer packs that we leave behind when we first meet up with potential clients.
Find out what superb service looks like!
We would love to speak to you if you are considering hiring a marquee. Our team takes a consultative approach; meaning that we listen to you, consult with you and offer advice and guidance designed to help you create the perfect marquee venue – regardless of the type of event you are holding.s
Click here to contact us, call 01483 322070 or email enquiries@lifestylemarquees.co.uk to find out more.
