Helios Event Productions, Modernizing the Realm of Events into Eternal Memoirs
The event industry in India has grown massively over the years and this vertical brings opportunities quite flourishing in the near future. The thrill and glamour filled the form of marketing and advertising are not all about celebration, it demands a fairly high investment of planning and hard work.
With the growing number of events taking place each day, these occasions have become an essential part of our lives and the need for them being organized well is a priority we just cannot ignore. Balachander Pitchai, Founder and CEO, Helios Event Productions, understand this dire need of the changing market and ensures the services match of to the demands.
Helios Event comes with existence of 9 years in the market and 18 years of experience in the industry. They have the excellence of handling events in 9 different countries other than India managing everything from Sales Conferences, Knowledge Seminars, Dealer Meets, Anniversary & Family day celebrations, Press meets, Influencer meets, Get-together and Parties, Brand & Promotional campaigns, Exhibition Designer Stalls, Family functions and Weddings. With offices in Chennai, Mumbai and Delhi, their client base boasts of a number of big MNC’s and corporate clients.
In a conversation with Business Connect Magazine, Mr Balachander Pitchai talks about his eye for detail, the innovations that are used, the never-say-die attitude of his team, and their strong belief in service delivery beyond excuses and more.
Business Connect: The event industry is quite a competitive one, why would your client choose you over others?
Balachander: The client would prefer choosing us over our competitors for the transparency that we bring in our processes and the quality we deliver. We make sure that each event that we conduct makes an impact fruitful enough for us to maintain a strong client base that will further bring in references.
Business Connect: Did you see any transformation happening for event startups, over the years?
Balachander: Of course, transformations have happened, now there are a number of event suppliers that claim to be event organizers because of the sheer reason that there is no entry barrier and exit loss. Each day more and more youngsters are gaining experience for a few years and starting their own event agency.
Business Connect: Did everything come easy, or you have your story of struggle?
Balachander: Nothing comes easy, everything has its own set of efforts involved. When we started, we, me and my 2nd in line, operated from a crude instant office of less than 10ftx10ft and had worked for more than 12-15 hours in a day. We kept working hard and started building a trained team. But after approximately 3 years, the team parted and started their agency. This happened almost 3-4 times now.
It is a difficult task to maintain and retain a good team because each team we trained, they learned the trade well and left to start their own set-up to competing against us by reaching out to the same clients we serve.
Business Connect: What kind of clients do you serve any special mentions?
Balachander: There are a number of clients with a big brand presence in the market that are associated with us like Building and construction material companies -SAINT-GOBAIN GLASS, SAINT-GOBAIN GYPROCK, NIPPON PAINTS, ASIAN PAINTS, Glazing Society of India; Automotive industry – Johnson Electric, Isuzu Motors, Visteon, Nexteer Automotive, Wabco; IT companies – Tata Consultancy Services, Worldbank IT, Mphasis; Other companies like Indian Express and Serdia Pharma etc to name a few.
Business Connect: How do you ensure unbreakable faith of clients in your company?
Balachander: We keep adding value to our services and we believe in a never-say-die attitude towards our work. We make sure that the services of paramount quality are provided to the customer beyond any excuse.
Business Connect: How do you keep pace with the changing market trends?
Balachander: We as a team constantly experiment with new and innovative ideas and ensure that modern technological mending is always encouraged. The need for experimenting and bringing in new ideas is inevitable in an industry like ours, it becomes a key differentiator for us because of the growing demand of the clients for something new and innovative every season.
Business Connect: Do you still come back to work with the same zeal, like you did when you started?
Balachander: Yes. Even after 9 years of talking to the same client on an everyday basis, we pick the client calls with the same enthusiasm. Even today we pay attention to smaller details. Even today we respond and dedicate our time and resources to our older clients with the same passion. We cannot take our clients or us for granted. Being complacent in the execution will be the biggest pitfall one can face in Event Industry.
Business Connect: In terms of the event sector, what do you feel the future holds for entrepreneurs?
Balachander: A lot of opportunities are available in bringing technology into creating Event experience. The event industry is going to be more and more organized and more technologically demanding in the coming years, as a growing number of Indian companies are going global for their day to day meetings, the global network is going to be a major difference-making point.
Business Connect: How necessary do you feel is it to keep your employees content, how do you ensure it?
Balachander: The event industry is highly manpower oriented. It is like a football game. There is no time limit for preparations but there is strict play time in the form of deadline and event duration. The team has to be in the best of form every time. The final game calls for the highest teamwork.
The outcome is unpredictable until the last moment. To keep your team inspired and motivated and keep playing as a team is the biggest challenge. We keep ourselves charged up by celebrating successes, incentivizing performances, recognizing contributions, group planning meetings, group medical insurances, etc.
Business Connect: Who is your role model in the business/entrepreneurial world and what have you learned from the person?
Balachander: Role models are everywhere around us. You learn from so many aspects of life and business from so many people around you. I’m an ongoing learner. Today what I am, is a collective character developed out of what I have learnt from different people in different times in a day to day life, and from different forums like BNI Networking and Marketing training,
Life training at Landmark, sales techniques and marketing skills from Brian Tracy-Grant Cardone-Tony Robbins books or podcasts and inspiring such videos, Money Blueprint from the Harv Eker courses and the list goes on. While one inspires you to ‘Keep your word’ no matter what, the other inspires you to ‘Add 1% every day’. Someone teaches you ‘Financial Freedom’ while the other teaches you ‘Take the Risk’.
Business Connect: How are you giving back to society (CSR)?
Balachander: Recently we volunteer to do a cost-to-cost event for Nethra Foundation’s CYCLOTHON for Empowering the Visually challenged student. This year we also have decided that we will use some percentage of our earning in CSR activities.
In an age where the industry is moving towards being organized and getting extremely professional with time, the categories to cater have broadened and so have the demands. And drawing parallels to these demands with revolutionary ideas and creativity, Helios Event Productions after a decade down the line sees itself as a business house that has achieved the status of an e-commerce company with a long-lasting healthy association with its clients around the country and globally.
“Business is about making more customers, keeping each of them satisfied, and making them give you repeated business over a long period of time. Without keeping your word, without adding value, without going beyond your ordinary self, you can’t achieve that”
Balachander Pitchai
