How Marquee Tech Saved Us Time and Streamlined Our Business | South Coast Marquees

Tim: Can you start by introducing yourself…the events and the equipment you specialise in?

Becki: Yeah, certainly.

Becki: So, my name is Becky, and I run South Coast Marquees with my husband, AJ. We're based down in Hampshire, Lymington, and this is actually our 20th year in business.

We started off years ago on a very small scale—a small tent, garden parties, the odd wedding here and there. Twenty years on, we now mainly cater for larger weddings and events.

We use king poles, Celeste pole tents, and stretch tents, which we introduced over the last five years and have proven popular.

Tim: I actually didn’t realise you’d been going for over 20 years!

Becki: No, yeah. It’s mad that it’s been so long! AJ started it way back…

Tim: …what were the main challenges you were facing with your old processes, and what made you consider switching over to Marquee Tech?

Becki: Before Marquee Tech, we were fully 100% manual—creating quotes, templates, and sending them out manually. As you can imagine, that was just a nightmare.

We also had another sideline business alongside it…

Becki: …which we were both running. AJ was managing the marquees, and I was running the glamping side.

Becki: And time just ran away. We just couldn’t manage it. We were losing business because we couldn’t keep on top of the enquiries. We didn’t know what kit we had left available—it was always a guesstimate by glancing at a diary on the side of the desk.

We thought, if we need to grow the business and streamline it, we’ve got to get some software in place to free up some time…

Tim: So, in those four-plus years, what would you say are the top three features you use the most in the system?

Becki: The quoting and invoicing features, definitely.

Tim: And do you use it at a component level as well as by units—like chairs and tables, but also the individual components for tents and dance floors?

Becki: Yes, originally we set everything up at a component level. Now, while our stock hasn’t changed drastically, we’ve grown certain elements of it.

For example, an oak barrel bar—it’s all built from components. You’ve got the planks, the barrels, and if a load of barrels are booked out for one event, the system flags up that you can’t book the bars for another.

Tim: Got it.

Becki: Likewise, for the larger structures like marquees. That’s been really helpful.

Another really useful feature is the cross-hire element.

Tim: Is there any tangible result that you can give as an example—either time saved or higher profit margins? And what do you think the return on investment has been since moving to Marquee Tech?

Becki: I’d say naturally, because of the volume of quotes I can now pump out, there’s definitely been an increase in sales.

Becki: I mean, as a company, year on year, we’ve grown, and our turnover has increased each year. That’s always my target…

Tim: Has the system helped you take on more bookings or win bookings faster?

Becki: Originally, we were getting quite a few comments from clients saying, “This looks great,” and that it was way more advanced than anything else they’d received.

I’ve definitely noticed fewer people commenting on that in the last 12 months, so I’m guessing that’s probably good for you guys—because more companies are using it now!

Tim: To combat that, we’re planning an update so that quotes look even more bespoke, helping businesses differentiate themselves. Would that be helpful?

Becki: Yeah, that would be good!

Tim: Last question—if another business was thinking about using Marquee Tech, what would you tell them?

Becki: I’d absolutely recommend it.

Becki: I’m sure people have other stock control systems, but the way you guys have built this specifically for the marquee hire industry makes a difference.

Becki: You’ve really thought about the little things that help with the day-to-day running of a marquee business—things that other rental software won’t have.

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