Prior to starting AVLD Events, long-time, self-proclaimed “A/V nerd,” Dan Longfellow, worked for an A/V business that specialized in corporate events. While he’d always dreamed of starting his own business, he didn’t seriously consider it until individual customers started reaching out to him directly for smaller, non-corporate events.
Dan was balancing the idea of fully starting a business while working his current job— even with how busy he was, his client base started to grow. He faced lots of challenges as he debated launching his own business. Building quotes was a long and tedious process that took up lots of his valuable time. On top of this, he was spending time chasing clients down for payments. He also had difficulty organizing his data for his growing team— he needed people to have access to equipment information, but wanted to keep financials private. Dan knew that if he was going to make this venture a full-time operation, he would need to subscribe to the right software.
The corporate event company he worked for had hired a Goodshuffle Pro user as a vendor, which led to Dan being introduced to Goodshuffle Pro through the quotes he would receive. He loved the look and feel of them because they were simple, clean, and professional. He decided that Goodshuffle Pro was the right software for him to start his own business.
In 2019, his company, AVLD Events, was officially launched. Ever since he was a child, Dan knew that he wanted to go into production technology. After years of sharpening his skills and working for other A/V companies, Dan decided to go for it. His company is founded on the belief that every client and event is unique, and that the relationship his team builds with each customer is integral to the success of the events.
Some of Dan’s favorite Goodshuffle Pro features are:
Upon opening the business and subscribing to Goodshuffle Pro, Dan quickly grew AVLD Events in its first six months. Building quotes took less than 30 minutes— and sometimes only 5, depending on the project’s scale. Clients were paying faster than ever too. The ease of quote-building, along with beautiful photos of the inventory and the company’s custom branding, made AVLD Events’ quotes a fan-favorite among customers. As Dan says, “Customers tell me all the time how the photos help them understand the vision behind the event, and that the layout is so clean and easy to read.”
Because of the elevated quote experience with Goodshuffle Pro, Dan’s clients were paying much faster— as Dan says, “practically instantly.” Goodshuffle Pro also sends out automated payment reminders, so Dan has stopped having to play bill collector. Clients get a clear email notification with a link for payment at the top of their inbox, which makes their lives easier as well as Dan’s.
With Goodshuffle Pro’s various levels of user seats, Dan has been able to segment information in the system so that his team has access to everything they need, without seeing any other data like financial information. He explains, “Onboarding a team member is almost instant, from adding them as a user to introducing them to the software and our methods.” The team tracking tools such as internal notes and messaging, plus the activity log, have also been helpful with organizing the business. This keeps everyone aligned and on track, all within one system.
Inventory management is now much easier with digital pull sheets, conflict detection capabilities, and built-in inventory reporting. Even from the beginning, as Dan was transferring his inventory into the system, he explained that it was “a simple, painless process.” As a new business owner, Dan faced the challenge of keeping accounting and finances straight, so the QuickBooks Online Integration is important for tracking and improving his company’s financial health. Goodshuffle Pro’s tools have streamlined the process, allowing him to make fast strategic business decisions.
On top of the top-quality features and benefits that Goodshuffle Pro provides AVLD Events, Dan says that the immediate customer support is invaluable. He “always has great conversation with the team” and explains that the Goodshuffle Pro staff is “quick to handle anything that comes up.” When he initially signed up for a trial, he ran into a minor issue. Goodshuffle Pro’s team had him up and running within 5-10 minutes— he explained that this was “a powerful story about Goodshuffle Pro’s customer service,” and is one of the biggest reasons he continues to love his experience.
