Gary Bordman has been in the industry for over 20 years, and started his most recent company in 2014. Today, Amusement, Exhibit & Event Services, or AE&ES, is one of the most well-known names in the special event and trade show industries. Based out of Las Vegas, the business specializes in interactive and experiential rentals and activations. Their mission is to make clients' dreams a reality. Gary goes above and beyond this idea— everyone knows they should #JustCallGary, because if he doesn’t already have what you need, he’ll find it for you. He strongly believes in “collaboration, not competition” and partners with many other event businesses in the industry to bring clients their dream event.
Prior to subscribing to Goodshuffle Pro, AE&ES was using another software. However, the system was not user-friendly, and the customer service was slow. Accounting was tedious and took hours of time, and clients were slow to pay. AE&ES was taking on large events with lots of moving parts, and their software couldn’t provide what the team needed to stay organized and efficient. On top of this, COVID-19 was beginning— Gary knew his team would need to pivot, and that their software at the time wasn’t flexible enough to empower this transition. This is when he decided to search for a new software solution.
Gary was first introduced to Goodshuffle Pro at The Special Event and Catersource trade show. He was very excited after seeing the free demo and even more convinced after meeting the friendly team at their happy hour! He could tell they were the partners he needed for his future company vision. As he began using the software, he was pleased with many of the features, including:
The switch to Goodshuffle Pro had an enormous impact on AE&ES, especially as the company pivoted to virtual games in the wake of COVID-19. This new division of his company is called Virtual Game Show, and brings the fun to any device screen. While it’s comprised of completely new concepts for the business, everything still lives within Goodshuffle Pro. The flexibility of the software has empowered Gary to grow this new part of his business in an extremely difficult time.
On top of this, the company is paid 50% faster than before due to Goodshuffle Pro’s integration with Stripe, as well as the simple digital contracts that clients can quickly sign and pay. On average, AE&ES is paid within 2 days of a client submitting their payment online. The time in the sales process has also been cut down, as Gary can quickly update contracts when needed. These updates happen in real time on the client’s end, so there’s no need to recreate a contract from scratch. In addition, clients love the photos that are included on the proposals because they can easily see the vision behind the event. Even in a tough time for the events industry, AE&ES has gotten paid fast with Goodshuffle Pro.
AE&ES has also saved countless hours when it comes to website maintenance. The time spent on this effort has been reduced by 90%. Even though Gary isn’t a website developer, he’s able to create the content he wants and edit it how he likes with the Website Integration. The inventory in his Goodshuffle Pro account automatically syncs to both his website and to the Goodshuffle Marketplace, which is great for SEO.
In addition, the time spent on accounting has been reduced by 50%. It is also made easy with the QuickBooks Online Integration, and advanced reporting can be done with a few clicks of a button so Gary can monitor business health. Stefanny Avera, Head of Staffing and Marketing Management, says, “I no longer have to put a separate invoice into QuickBooks, or have to physically add the payment in QuickBooks either.”
