22 July 2019

There And Back Again: Business Experiences From Scotland to London

VenueScanner’s new Head of Sales writes about her business experiences moving from London to Scotland and back again for an exciting new career opportunity.

This is a guest post by Stephanie Livingston, Head of Sales at VenueScanner.

Almost three years ago now, I wrote about how I had returned to Scotland after a few years in London. Well, now I find myself writing about how I have returned to London after a few years in Scotland. There is a joke in there somewhere that compares this to my 8-year-old self’s PB with a yo-yo.

I absolutely loved my stint back in Glasgow and Edinburgh. This was not only because I got to spend time with my adorable nieces and nephews, but because of how different business in Scotland is in comparison with what I experienced in London. Relationships are essential for success and people in Scotland seem to understand that it’s a two-way street. My personal life has brought me back down to London and with it has come a career change that has been pretty unexpected but incredibly exciting.

I have been introduced to the world of startups by VenueScanner, a platform that allows everyone to search, compare, and book venues across the UK; think Airbnb but for venue hire. We are the largest venue platform in the UK (21k venues and growing) and are led by the seriously impressive Rebecca Kelly (Forbes 30 under 30 entrepreneur) and Benjy Meyer. The platform allows corporates and individuals to book venues for Christmas and summer parties, training sessions, meetings, conferences, weddings, team away days, birthdays… the list goes on. Our aspiration is to become the world’s event booking platform. It’s big. But the opportunity is real.

Recruitment is ultimately a form of sales – an answer I got wrong in my first interview as a graduate – so the transition to be Head of Sales for VenueScanner is a little more transferrable than some might think. None the less, it’s been a very steep learning curve and you’re expected to learn (and fail) fast. The team I’m part of looks after supply (the venues) and demand (the corporates and individuals who use the site) and we are relentlessly focused on how we can drive exponential growth for the business. We prioritise the customer and their feedback above all else and use this to improve the platform every day.

The primary aim of VenueScanner is to make booking a venue easier – gone are the days of organisers trolling through search pages on Google and calling each venue. Secondly, and just as important to most of our organisers, is that we want to save all our users money. It’s free to use the website, our range of affordable venues allow organisers to save 300%+ on venue hire, we have a price match guarantee for all venues on our platform and we offer money back! We want our organisers to have ample choice so, whether you are looking for quirky or traditional, new or old, blank canvas or fully set-up, you’ll find what you want at the click of a button.

And this is where you come in! I am now reaching out to all my contacts to ask how it is that we can support your business with venue hire in the future. I would be forever grateful if you could drop me a line on [email protected] introducing me to the person responsible for booking venues at your company… we’d love to help you find the perfect venue!