Hosted Buyer Programs – Changing the Landscape in 2011

This is the time of year that meeting industry suppliers sequester themselves for days to hammer out their annual budget and marketing plan.  With the changing landscape for meeting industry tradeshows in 2011, I wonder what hotel, CVB and convention center plans will include?

New U.S. Tradeshows

MPI will no longer have MeetDifferent in the winter, and its World Education Congress in July will not have a tradeshow component.  Instead, MPI has thrown its support behind IMEX, a hosted buyer program to be held Oct. 11-13, 2011 in Las Vegas.  ASAE and DMAI have endorsed this new show.

The Convention Industry Council and PCMA have lent their education support to the Reed Travel Group, organizers of EIBTM (Barcelona, Spain); GIBTM (Abu Dhabi, UAE), CIBTM (Beijing, China) and AIME (Melbourne, Australia) who are bringing their hosted buyer show format to North America; AIBTM will be June 21-23 in Baltimore.

But it’s not a clear-cut MPI vs. PCMA situation as PCMA is also listed as a “supporting partner” for IMEX.  SITE, ICCA and AIPC seem to be playing safe too by supporting both events.

Pricing for the new shows is not for the faint-hearted. At $92-$110 per square foot, IMEX is the most expensive.  AIBTM is listed as a mere $68 per sq. ft.  These prices of course are “plus-plus” with shipping, drayage, electrical, furniture rental, and all the other usual tradeshow costs.

But as fellow meeting industry blogger Jeff Hurt asked in a recent post, “Are hosted buyer programs just reinvented timeshare prize promises or are they the magical silver bullet for an ailing tradeshow industry?”

While I do believe something needs to be done to revitalize the way business is done in the meetings industry, the hosted buyer format is not a silver bullet.  (Is there ever such a thing?) The biggest change I think needs to take place with suppliers expecting that just showing up at a tradeshow should guarantee them business. The biggest improvement with these new shows I think will be that the appointment format will force suppliers to put more time into pre-show preparation, something they should have been doing in the first place...

Jeff also asked if hosted buyer programs are “ethical and worth attending.” I remember that a few years ago, with the Sarbanes-Oxley legislation hoopla, many corporations would not have even allowed their American buyers to attend a hosted show.  But I guess now the recession has made it OK for many to save money by being hosted…

But let’s not forget that the hosting is not a guarantee; planners must meet minimum business criteria.  So I wonder where this leaves smaller buyers or those who cannot plan meetings outside the U.S.? (IMEX says that hosted US buyers “should place business internationally as well as domestically”).

And what about the smaller suppliers?  Those who cannot afford these big shows?  Will we see a resurgence of smaller tradeshows or showcases?  Will local MPI chapters use this as an opportunity to organize regional tradeshows? Maybe CVBs will opt to organize sales missions or host events in planners’ own cities?
I see a lot of fragmentation ahead and my thoughts are with those poor DOSMs who must sift through it all!

Reaching Planners in a Saturated Marketplace

On Thursday, July 15, SPIN Planners ran a webinar titled, A Rare Look Inside the Buying Process of Senior-Level Planners. Participants included third-party meeting planners Kimberly Ruby, CMM, of Ruby Meetings, Blanca Diaz of BND Meetings.  Association planner Stefanie Simmons of IAAM.  Moderating the discussion was Shawna Suckow, CMP, the Founder of SPIN.


Here are their recommendations on how hotel, CVB and other meeting industry sales representatives should reach out to planners like them:

• About cold calling:  while all planners universally hate pushy, “telemarketing”-like cold calls, they admit that the telephone is a necessary tool of business.  Do your homework, they advise – which means make sure you’ve checked out the types of meeting and destinations they have executed in the past.  They also warn to make sure you ask permission when starting the conversation.
• A pet peeve: cute, but useless giveaways and leave-behind gifts, said Kimberly.
• Because of their frequent business, all panellists report having close relationships with national sales office (NSO) reps.  In their opinion, CVB reps are not visible enough and don’t convey the often free services available through their bureau.
• About industry events and supplier receptions: planners will attend your event if it is in an unusual or new venue, or features a new food or theme, asserted both Blanca and Stefanie.
• About familiarization trips: “no more fams without an educational component!” they plead.  Optics are such that planners must justify fams to their bosses and clients.  Suppliers should include at least one educational opportunity in their program, and consider giving Continuing Education Units (CEUs) from a provider approved by the International Association for Continuing Education and Training (IACET).
• When asked by this author about regular, old-fashioned mail, panellists admit they open hand-addressed mail or other unusual, personalized email.  Shawna recalled a speaker at a past MPI event who asserted that “lumpy mail gets opened.”
• Be careful about email: Mass eblasts seem too impersonal, panellists said.  But a direct, personalized message inquiring about interest or through a group on LinkedIn is OK.  One supplier suggested sending an Outlook appointment, requesting a phone appointment.  Even if it’s “at the planners convenience” planners judged this to be intrusive and even “creepy.” Says Kimberly, “being a planner, I’m a control freak.  I want to choose when I speak to a new supplier.”
• How else should a supplier get known to planners?  Be visible at industry events, volunteer with industry associations such as MPI or PCMA.

Not quite earth-shattering advice, but the good news is that business is picking up.  And those suppliers who find ways to balance personal touches and a professional, consistent approach will be successful.

When Is the Best Time to Prospect? Everyday!

Being in the business of creating business development campaigns for hotels, CVBs, and other meetings industry suppliers, I often get asked, “when is the best time to call prospects?”

I used to want to answer this question with empirical data.  I had read some studies which indicated that calling between 4 and 6 p.m. lead to slightly higher connection results.  In 2008 we measured our connection rates and found that, in Canada, we connected with more meeting planners in the summer months and from mid-November to mid-December than at any other time of year.  Our assessment at the time was that planners seemed to be in their office (and not travelling, or attending meetings).  Even if some were on vacation, they often were more willing to have conversations shortly after their return.

Since the economic downturn, however, I have revised my tune.  Just like trying to time the stock market is often a recipe for disaster, waiting for the “best time” leads salespeople to make up all sorts of excuses and never pick up the phone.  Successful salespeople prospect consistently.  They know it’s always a good time to call prospects.

One of the best resources that drove home that point for me is downloadable poster called “Everyday” from sales blogger Paul Castain.  You can download it for free at http://yoursalesplaybook.com/free-stuff-from-uncle-paul/ .

His insightful observations inspired me to re-write it for meetings industry sales representatives:

Everyday . . .
A new business is born that requires a venue for their company launch.
An “accidental planner” is asked to plan the next meeting and he/she needs your help.
A sales rep goes M.I.A., leaving a jilted planner ready to be wooed.
A business moves into your area, needing a nearby hotel for their visiting employees and clients.
A new meeting planner is promoted and is looking to make a name for him/herself.
That old decision-maker, who used to favour the hotel across the street, may have left.
A vendor screws up the client’s conference, creating an opening for you.
A supplier takes the client’s next event for granted, creating opportunity for you.
A rep fails to offer an idea that you have that could improve your prospect’s meeting.
A meeting planner just doesn’t like their sales rep.
A buyer feels like they have to continually “babysit” their convention services vendor.
A planner is managing too many hotel/supplier relationships and needs a “one source solution.”
A planner hates the contracting (and invoicing!) process with their convention hotel.
A planner wants to deal with a travel supplier who isn’t just about the commission cheque.
A planner feels like they are over paying for the AV services they are getting.
A rep misses the RFP deadline.
A rep fails to communicate convention centre construction news, giving you an opening.
A volunteer committee needs the benefits of your CVB services to help them streamline their site selection process.
An association needs to improve meeting attendance . . . your idea can help.
A company needs happier customers, employees and shareholders . . . your venue is a perfect spot for their event!
A buyer wishes they could find a caterer that would “get it right the first time”.
A referral from the group that just checked out is there for the taking . . . you need only to ask for it!
A “low ball” competitor can’t sustain quality in their service delivery.
A sales rep gets caught in a lie and loses credibility.
An existing supplier implements some stupid, non customer friendly policy.
A competitor raises their rate, making the planner re-evaluate their site selection.
A planner needs to find out about your awesome new resort to make them look like a rock star!
A planner gets FED UP with surprise extra charges on their hotel bill!
As Paul instructs us, "Our job is to find these people!" Happy selling!

Follow-Up Strategy to Speed Up the Sales Cycle

Recent research indicates that B2B sales cycles have lengthened.  In the meetings industry, hotel, CVB and other hospitality industry suppliers are telling us that they have to “chase” clients more than they used for that signature on the contract.

In our post last week we promised to share a strategy we have implemented in our own lead generation process as well as client projects.

This approach was taught to us by our “sales coach of record,” Colleen Francis of Engage Selling Solutions.  We use this when we have discussed a business opportunity with the person and have tried to follow-up on at least 4-5 occasions, with no success.

First message: “Hi Sue, it’s Doreen from Greenfield Services.  Sorry I missed you.  I’ll call you again on Wednesday, at 10:15.”

• Choose the date and time before you leave the message so that you are sure to be available.  I recommend choosing a time that is a little unusual – e.g. 10:15 instead of 10 a.m.  It stands out more.
• Protect the time in your calendar right away.
• At the appointed date & time, make your call!  This is a crucial, trust-building step! If you don’t get the person (and assuming you have dialled 0, tried with the assistant, etc.), leave another message:

Second message: “Hello Sue!  It’s Doreen calling from Greenfield Services.  I promised to call you today.  Sorry we didn’t connect.  I will call you again on Friday at 2:45.”

• Remember to keep your tone light, never accusatory (guilt is a good thing only if the prospect feels guilty because you’re so nice, not because you sound like their mother).
• Always apologize for missing them – it’s your fault not theirs (this helps with the guilt factor!)
• Pick a different time frame for each message and let at least 2-3 days go by between calls. To help me keep track, I enter a note in my CRM each time I call, with the date & time I said I will call again.
• I’ve tested this dozens of times in the last three months and I get a return call 2/3 times before my third attempt.  But if you don’t hear from your contact, try one more time.  Again, set yourself a reminder, and call at the chosen time:

Third message: “Hey, Sue.  It’s Doreen from Greenfield.  I’d promised to call you today and heard you were out of the office.  It sounds like I’m really lousy at guessing when it’s a good time to reach you!  Because I don’t want to be a “sales pest” I will send you a quick email, and perhaps you can let me know how you wish to proceed regarding our proposal?  Looking forward to it!”

• If you feel comfortable using humour (as I am), go ahead.  The point is to be yourself.
• The above gets a couple of important points across: first, it shows that you have held your end of the bargain.  You are a trustworthy salesperson, and you deserve respect.  Secondly, it shows that you empathize.  Stuff comes up all the time and you’ll earn brownie points with the potential buyer when you tell them you understand.  It also lets the prospect off the hook if he/she has chosen another option or the business is not happening.
• Realizing that sometimes people hate to deliver bad news, I follow up with an email:

Follow-up email: “Hi Sue.  I hope you had a great long weekend.  I’m sorry we haven’t been successful in connecting last week to discuss the proposal I forwarded on May 14.  I'm imagining that perhaps this no longer fits into your plans, or that other priorities have come up. Either is OK.  Can you just let me know whether it still makes sense for us to hold space for you for next month?  I really appreciate it.”

Recently when I sent the above to a repeat client who’d “gone silent,” I received a “thanks for understanding” email.  He was very apologetic for not getting back to me sooner and he promised to phone me with an update.  He called when he said he would, and now all is well again.  It was a relief for both of us!

In closing, keep in mind that you will also speed up your sales cycle if you have more business opportunities in your funnel.  Find time to prospect more often and you won't have to wait by the phone for that prospect to call you back.

Let us know about your strategies to speed up the sales cycle or whether you have any questions & comments!

Sales Efforts Making You LOSE YOUR RELIGION?

Some think the 1991 song "Losing My Religion" by R.E.M. is about unrequited love while others maintain it’s about a Southern expression meaning "at my wit's end." Both interpretations are appropriate for those of us in hospitality sales who have lost faith that our efforts are paying off and that clients just don’t love us anymore.

Before you throw your hands up in the air, read on about what the experts are saying:

It’s not you

Contacts not returning your calls?  Hot prospect suddenly gone cold?  Even with business picking up, hotel sales managers and CVB account rep report having to chase buyers longer to get a commitment. Frustrating exercise, but the silver lining is that this is happening all over the place, not just in the meetings industry.

The Aberdeen Group and CSO Insights both have published extensive papers about how sales cycles have lengthened since the recession.  One possible explanation is that in rough times, buyers become more conservative; they stick with who they know even when they have not been completely satisfied with their current supplier.  With leaner staffing levels, it’s also likely there are fewer people to get the work done and meeting planners and tougher to reach!

At her April 2010 Sales Mastery Workshop, sales trainer Colleen Francis reported that, across various industries, closing a new B2B client now takes an average of 7 to 11 interactions with the customer.  That’s 7 to 11 conversations or meetings – not just one-way emails and voice mail messages.

So stop taking it personally.  It’s not you, it’s the way of the marketplace right now.

Be persistent

In a 2008 blog article, Brian Jeffrey describes that 81% of sales are made after the fourth call, by which time 90 percent of salespeople have quit calling.  Similar numbers are reported by Stanford University research whereby 85% of clients buy after the fifth meeting and 95% of sales people give up after the fourth.

Sales experts agree: be persistent, without being a pest (for tips on the latter, check out Brian’s article).

Have more leads in your funnel

From personal experience, it’s easier to have faith in your sales process when you have more opportunities in your pipeline.  Fear sets in quickly when you only have a few tentative pieces of business on the books…

The only antidote to this fear: prospect more to increase your volume of potential business.

Chewable Chunks

Start with past clients, or prospects you know you have a closer connection with through industry membership such as MPI, PCMA, etc.

When we haven’t prospected in a while it’s easy to get overwhelmed with a long list of overdue traces.  Start small: commit to reaching out to 10 customers in one hour.  On average at Greenfield Services, our Business Development Specialists connect with 1-3 live prospects in an hour (that’s the meeting planner – not the receptionist!).  Be prepared to leave a voice mail, and if you know the client well, follow-up your message with an email.

Next week, we’ll explore voice mail and email tactics we have successfully implemented in our Greenfield LEAD Generation Process.  Have a great week!

Contacts not returning your calls?  Hot prospect suddenly gone cold?  Even with business picking up, hotel sales managers and CVB account rep report having to chase buyers longer to get a commitment. Frustrating exercise, but the silver lining is that this is happening all over the place, not just in the meetings industry.

The Aberdeen Group and CSO Insights both have published extensive papers about how sales cycles have lengthened since the recession.  One possible explanation is that in rough times, buyers become more conservative; they stick with who they know even when they have not been completely satisfied with their current supplier.  With leaner staffing levels, it’s also likely there are fewer people to get the work done and meeting planners and tougher to reach!

At her April 2010 Sales Mastery Workshop, sales trainer Colleen Francis reported that, across various industries, closing a new B2B client now takes an average of 7 to 11 interactions with the customer.  That’s 7 to 11 conversations or meetings – not just one-way emails and voice mail messages.

So stop taking it personally.  It’s not you, it’s the way of the marketplace right now.

Be persistent

In a 2008 blog article, Brian Jeffrey describes that 81% of sales are made after the fourth call, by which time 90 percent of salespeople have quit calling.  Similar numbers are reported by Stanford University research whereby 85% of clients buy after the fifth meeting and 95% of sales people give up after the fourth.

Sales experts agree: be persistent, without being a pest (for tips on the latter, check out Brian’s article).

Have more leads in your funnel

From personal experience, it’s easier to have faith in your sales process when you have more opportunities in your pipeline.  Fear sets in quickly when you only have a few tentative pieces of business on the books…

The only antidote to this fear: prospect more to increase your volume of potential business.

Chewable Chunks

Start with past clients, or prospects you know you have a closer connection with through industry membership such as MPI, PCMA, etc.

When we haven’t prospected in a while it’s easy to get overwhelmed with a long list of overdue traces.  Start small: commit to reaching out to 10 customers in one hour.  On average at Greenfield Services, our Business Development Specialists connect with 1-3 live prospects in an hour (that’s the meeting planner – not the receptionist!).  Be prepared to leave a voice mail, and if you know the client well, follow-up your message with an email.

Next week, we’ll explore voice mail and email tactics we have successfully implemented in our Greenfield LEAD Generation Process.  Have a great week!

Only a Few “Good” Hours Per Week to Prospect

Being in the business of creating business development campaigns for hotels, CVBs, and other meetings industry suppliers, we often get asked, “When is the best time to call prospects?”

Analyzing this empirically, we can now say the best time to prospect is on Wednesdays between 9:30 and 11:30 a.m. and 2 to 4 p.m.  Have a look:

While a year is 365 days, there are only 261 weekdays, though not all productive work days for prospecting.
Since it’s pointless to prospect around Christmas and New Year’s, that cuts out 15  days.  Take away 10 federal U.S., three Canadian holidays, plus another five religious holidays, we’re down to 230 days.

All Fridays before long weekends and Tuesdays after a long weekend should be off limits for prospecting.  Actually, come to think of it, prospecting should be banned from all other Mondays and Fridays throughout the year because Mondays everyone is grumpy and Fridays no one's at their desk.  Now we’re down to 130 work days.

July and August are a write-off; who wants to do business in the summer?  And let’s not forget the week when kids finish school in June, when they go back after Labour Day and off course the week of March/Spring Break.  That leaves 84 work days.

Then there are those other fun holidays and miscellaneous celebrations.  Who wants to be cold calling on Super Bowl Monday, Valentine's Day, St. Patrick's Day, Mardi Gras, or Halloween?  Let’s not forget patriotic days like Flag Day and Election Day!  Only 77 days left.

The average North American also takes two weeks’ vacation per year, and we all know it takes at least one week to prepare to go away, and one week to catch up after we return.  Another 20 works days gone.
Let’s not forget sick days!  According to the Society for Human Resource Management's 2004 Benefits Survey, the average North American is off 11 days for sickness, whether it is for themselves or to take care of someone else.  This means we only have 46 days left for prospecting.  A meagre 3.83 days a month, or less than one day per week.

Of course on that one day, probably mid-week, we can’t call too early, or over the lunch hour, or too late in the day.  Doesn't it make sense then that the best time to prospect is on Wednesdays between 9:30 and 11:30 a.m. and 2 to 4 p.m.?  But with voice mail, meetings and people travelling, is it even worth picking up the phone at all?

OK, by now you know what I’m up to.  I apologize to all of you who were looking for the silver bullet solution.  It doesn't exist.

If we try hard enough we will always find excuses why it’s not a good time to prospect.  This is a guaranteed formula for no sales!  Sure, there are days that are likely not as productive as others to be prospecting, but there are always people looking for a new supplier, no matter what the calendar says.  The point is to have a system and to do it consistently.

Do you have any success stories when you reached a prospect at an “odd time” and had a great conversation?

Planning Your Lead Generation Program

 Whether looking to venture into a new  market or mining for new opportunities  in an existing market, lead generation  begins with having a clear picture of  who is your perfect customer.


 Perfection is rare in this world, but the  better you understand  your ideal target, the better you can  focus your new business development  efforts so that your lead generation  program will bear fruit.  As famous  American football coach Vince  Lombardi once said: “Perfection is not  attainable, but if we chase perfection we can catch excellence.”


Whether you are looking to generate leads for a hotel, a convention venue, CVB, and independent meeting planning firm or other meetings industry supplier, questions you should consider include:

• What is my ideal group size and arrival/departure pattern? (for a hotel, your answer may vary according to seasons; what is ideal for you in the summer may differ from other times of the year when you have more business travellers in-house)

• What is the ideal range/extent of meeting space requirements? (e.g. size of main meeting room, average number of breakouts or room-to-meeting space ratio)

• What are your ideal customer’s food & beverage requirements? (do you offer special menus that might attract certain groups?)

• What are your ideal customer’s AV/connectivity requirements? (as a planner, maybe you’re very comfortable with meetings requiring heavy technical components – note it down!)

• What are the ideal rates/fees paid? (ranges may be provided, allowing for variability according to seasons/months)

Clarity about qualitative aspects of your perfect customer is also important. One of our clients wanted to work with organizations with Corporate Social Responsibility mandates.  They had done great work with socially-responsible organizations in the past and wished to leverage this success with prospects.

Are there certain companies or industries for which you have executed particularly successful programs?  Use your expertise to attract new business in that field.  Target the competitors of your best clients.  If you recently had a great product launch for one pharmaceutical giant, why not seek relationships with more?  According to sales trainer Colleen Francis, by making it clear that you understand the challenges pharmaceutical groups have to deal with, you build trust: “If your company has worked with them, then you understand what we need.”

If you are responsible for business development for a CVB, consider the less obvious attributes your destination offers.  One city focused a group lead generation project around the fact they had the highest number of engineers per-capita in North America.  This helped raise their awareness and receive RFPs from professional associations in the engineering field.

Documenting and refining your Perfect Customer profile with your sales team is an exercise that will help focus your business development activities and identify niches you may not have considered in the past.