How do event hire companies find new customers?
Updated 12 November 2026 · by Matt Vallis, Salenovo · counts from our own daily files, read from public registers
The firms that win most new commercial work reach a business at the moment it has to decide, before it has asked anyone for a quote. A festival is announced months ahead and its licence application sits on the council's register for weeks, and a works contract is published with the winner named before the compound goes up. We tell you which events, contracts and venues are at that point, and which company to ring. In our daily files from 5 to 11 November 2026, 0 businesses across Great Britain were at that point for an event hire desk, 0 of them opening or about to.
Why timing matters for event and site hire companies
An organiser books marquees, toilets, power and staging in the weeks before an event, and a contractor sets up welfare cabins, fencing and generators before the works start. Both show early if you know where to look. An application for a premises licence has to be advertised at the site for 28 days from the day after it's made (the Licensing Act 2003 premises licence regulations of 2005), the local papers name a festival, a show or a market weeks or months ahead, and every public contract award is published on Contracts Finder or Find a Tender with the winner named. We read all three every day, match the organiser, the venue or the winner to the company register, grade each row for a hire desk and tag it with what it points to: marquees, toilets, power, staging, fencing or welfare.
The usual ways to find new customers, and what each is good for
Referrals and repeat customers
The cheapest work there is, and the most likely to say yes. The catch is that you can't turn the volume up when you need more.
Your own website and Google Business Profile
These bring in businesses already searching for what you do. They're searching for your competitors too, so you're one quote of several.
Trade bodies and accreditation
Hire Association Europe and its Event Hire Association list their members, and its SafeHire certification is what many event organisers and main contractors ask a hire firm for.
Quote websites
Sites such as Bark pass on requests from businesses ready to buy. You pay to respond, and other suppliers can answer the same request, so the work goes to whoever answers first or cheapest.
Public tenders
Contracts Finder and Find a Tender list public sector contracts and are free to search. The jobs are larger and the paperwork heavier, and the decision takes months.
Bought lists
A list broker sells names in bulk by trade and area. Plenty of names, but no reason to call any of them today, and they go out of date quickly.
The moment a business needs you
Food registers, licence applications, the care regulators, operator licences and the councils' rates lists show the week a business takes on premises, changes hands or is about to open, each dated, if someone reads them every day. That's what we send: a file each weekday of the businesses at that point in your region, graded for your trade. Ring the events and the contract winners first, in date order, then the venues opening or under a new owner. The job column says what you'd offer before you ring, and the reason column says why now. An event's expected size is in the row where the source gave it.
What a business at the right moment looks like
The moments at a premises that matter to event and site hire companies:
| Coming | A business is about to open: a licence applied for, a unit being fitted out, a new company set up to trade from the address. |
| Changed hands | A new operator at premises that were already trading: a pub, shop or care home under new ownership, often keeping the old name on the door. |
Last week in numbers
In the daily files from 5 to 11 November 2026, businesses that took on premises, changed hands or were about to, graded A or B for an event hire desk: 0 across Great Britain, 0 of them opening or about to and 0 just moved in or under a new owner. 0 came with a landline to ring. 0.0% of them could not have been flagged by a service working from Companies House alone: the premises isn't the registered office, or nothing new was on the register.
| Region | Rows graded A or B | Opening or about to | Moved in or new owner | With a landline |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| East Midlands | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| East of England | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| London | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| North East | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| North West | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Scotland | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| South East | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| South West | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Wales | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| West Midlands | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Yorkshire and The Humber | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Counted from the daily files dated 5 to 11 November 2026, the seven days to the latest file, as they were read on 11 November 2026. Each event is counted once, on the first file it reached.
What we send
A file by 8am every weekday with the businesses in your region at one of those moments, graded so your team rings the best first, each row saying what happened, when, what kind of business it is and a way to reach it where one is public. £250 a month for a region, or £1,000 for Great Britain, monthly, and you can stop at any month's end. The first two weeks are free.
Questions people also ask
Do you know what they've already booked?
No. That isn't public. We tell you the event or the site, the company behind it, the date where the source gave one, and what it points to. Whether it's booked is the first question on the call.
Is it legal to email a business we haven't dealt with?
A limited company or an LLP can be emailed without its prior consent under PECR, as long as you say who you are and give a way to opt out. Sole traders and partnerships are treated as individuals, so the rules are stricter. Screen phone numbers against the TPS and CTPS before you ring.
What does it cost?
£250 a month for a region, or £1,000 a month for the whole of Great Britain, monthly, and you can stop at any month's end. The first two weeks are free.