What's on the Meetings Industry Horizon for 2011?

In the last few weeks I have been speaking with many hospitality and CVB sales & marketing executives about how 2010 was for them, and how they foresee 2011.  Here's what I have been hearing:

1. Demand is improving. Since most hotels had severely downgraded their expectations going into the year, most managers are telling me they will either meet or slightly exceed their budget this year.  Regions across North America are reporting modest increases in demand, especially in the latter part of 2010.  This trend is reported by a recent Starcite e-newsletter and the U.S. Travel Association.
   
   
2. Rates stay flat, at least for first half of 2011.  During most of 2010 meeting & event planners were able to drive a hard bargain and in most areas, they got what they wanted.  While suppliers in the Northeast and Canada are still cautious for the first quarter of 2011, many have told me they will be pushing up rates for the second half of 2011 or sooner if they can.
   
   
3. Fewer concessions. What seems to be taken off the table already are the concessions.  In our Benchmarking Study this fall, planners were reporting getting fewer value-added perks.  Most affected seemed to be those who have higher meeting-space-to-bedroom ratios.  Throughout 2009 and most of 2010, they were able to find suitable space for their groups.  Now many hotels are holding the line and refusing to give up precious meeting rooms for small blocks.  For those planners, finding suitable space has replaced budget as their primary concern.
   
   
4. Will planners still be able to pull things out of the hat? As the market shifts to a sellers' market and occupancy is tightening up, several meetings industry pundits were wondering recently how planners' ability to "pull things out of the hat" during the recession might come back to haunt them.  In the last few years senior executives were able to call last minute meetings, often for fairly large groups.  Planners would scramble, but usually succeeded in finding suitable space and at good rates.  One Helms-Briscoe Director I spoke to last week admitted that he hopes his meeting planner clients don't suffer their corporate bosses' wrath when space is either unavaible or at much higher prices.

What are YOU seeing on the horizon for 2011 and beyond?  Let us know what you think!

Database Management Tips for Meetings Industry Suppliers

With the dozens of data cleansing projects we do for hotels, CVBs and other meeting industry suppliers, I am often asked for tips on how to manage a sales database. Here are a few best practices:

1. Reduce the number of accounts your sales reps are responsible for: We did a LinkedIN poll last year and found the majority of salespeople who responded had more than 250, some even 500+ accounts under their initials in their company’s CRM. That is way more than anyone can effectively manage. CSO Insights reports that 100 accounts is probably the maximum number of actively managed accounts a rep can handle PER YEAR. If you want your data to be better maintained, cut back on the number of records assigned to each person.
   
   
2. Size should not matter: Do not allow a sales manager to earn a badge of honor for entering a ton of business cards after a tradeshow or event. Choose quality over quantity. Before ANY record is entered, make sure it is qualified; interest does not mean the ability to buy.
   
   
3. Have a mechanism to track & flush: If your CRM is also used to send out regular communication to prospects and you must enter the data before it is fully qualified, make sure you assign a source code and date. That way you can easily send dedicated follow-up messages (e.g. Thank you for stopping at our booth…). This also allows you to query your CRM to assess response to any campaign, organize a follow-up call campaign and eventually delete the data if there is no response.
   
   
4. Make sure to nurture: Communicate with your clients and prospects often and through varied media (not just email; snail mail too!). How often? At least every 30 days (click here for a great article about this). Maybe that big planner who was interested in your hotel for their annual incentive next year just got let go. How would you know unless you call as soon as you find out her email bounced? Make it the responsibility of one admin person in your office to call and update any undeliverable email record or address. (Do NOT assign this to the salesperson. You pay them to close.) When you do this monthly the task is less overwhelming.
   
   
5. With your regular communication, offer incentives to self-update: Ensure all your eblasts offer an opportunity to update their information online. Publicly thank people who have updated (e.g. “Congratulations to Planning Office XYZ on their recent office move, and thank you Sally for updating your information. There’s a Starbucks card in the mail for your efforts!).

Keeping a database current is not a complicated thing to do. Unfortunately it is often the simplest things that don’t get done… If you are looking to organize a larger-scale clean up effort, check out our data cleansing tips. To ensure success, do the basics regularly and keep your database CLEAN.

Staying motivated

As Meagan stated in her post “It’s not just about the money… ”, at Greenfield we start our day with a positive focus, to share something we liked about our previous day. This could be something that made us smile or brought us personal satisfaction. I’ll admit that at first I didn’t really see the point but as time went on I began to appreciate it; at least one person will make me smile. So I take that smile and make it last. I’ve had my share of days where I had to “fake it ‘til I made it”. But I made it.

Remaining positive is sometimes easier said than done. We’ve all been in situations where we had to really search for something nice to say about someone or something.  Take Seinfeld for example; the episode where the gang went to visit their friends who just had the ugliest baby. Do you say the first thing that comes to mind or do you focus on the best feature? The pediatrician’s comment was, the baby was breath taking and judging by everyone else gasping when they saw that baby, it certainly was.
You can use the same tactics at work:

1. Find the one thing you really like about the project you’re working on or the hotel you’re representing and elaborate on it. Plain and simple: it’s easier to promote something you honestly like.
   
   
2. Another thing that really works for me is goal setting. Depending on the project I’m working on, I will either set a daily or a weekly goal. I try to set different goals and keep them attainable but not too easy. A small goal may be reaching my completions for the day or making one really good connection. A larger goal would be getting more leads for a project than forecasted. To stay motivated, I keep in
   mind that no matter what happens on each call; go into the next one with a smile and a clean slate.
   
   
3. Another tactic to staying motivated when prospecting is to imagine that you are the best call your contact is going to receive today. That you’re bringing them something they may not have considered or something they didn’t think could be done. Who knows, maybe its true!
   
   
4. Find something that makes you happy, work-related or not, and make it a part of your day. If you really can’t think of anything at all, talk to someone, maybe they have something you can borrow until you find your own happy place.

So was I crazy about it when we began sharing positive focuses each morning? No.
Did I change my mind after I saw the result?  Definitely.

It’s a very simple thing to do and takes almost no time and little effort but it can make a huge difference on how you go about your day. And I highly recommend it.

Booking a Blitz? Remember to Qualify…

When booking a blitz (or, Sales Appointments) to meet with prospects at their office & discuss future potential, a question often arises:  Quantity or Quality?  It can be answered a few ways.  An argument can be made that if you see and speak to enough people, you will end up getting some qualified business potential.  While this certainly is possible, some may say that this is like throwing things at a wall and waiting to see what sticks…

Personally, I believe that Quality is better.  Our projects of late show some interesting stats.  To book appointments with companies that have not shown activity with you in a few years, or that would be entirely new business, it takes 20-30 times the number of contacts to book 1 appointment.  What does this mean?  If your want a salesperson/team to see an average 5-6 appointments per day over a 2-day blitz, then you could potentially have to contact 360 contacts to fill their days with 12 appointments.  Now, multiply that with several Sales Managers, properties, etc.  The numbers can be daunting.
To create a successful blitz, you have to create a successful plan.  Consider the following steps:

1. Identify your timeframe early.  Reserve the dates in your calendar, and reserve back-up dates if you can.  This will be helpful should you come across unexpected barriers (industry tradeshows, provincial holidays, etc).
2. Know the markets you want to meet.  Whether it is Association, Tour & Travel, or a mix of everything, identify them and prioritize them!
3. Find your data.  Whether you pull from your CRM, or you are purchasing a list, you will need to secure it early, because….
4. Start qualifying calls early – 6 to 8 weeks out, even 10 if you can.  Confirming whether the contact is still the same, identifying if they want to meet and if the dates selected are a viable option.  Ask them on their business potential – all very important – the more you qualify the better!
5. Nurture your prospect.  Between the initial call and securing the appointment, nurture them with a series of emails. Start with a thank you email (for the initial conversation) – start including links to your website and/or helpful information on your product/service.  The final email could re-direct them to book their appointment online, or to advise them to expect your call to secure the best time.  Once you have re-connected and booked the appointment, offer to send them an appointment for their calendar.
6. Reconfirm appointments.  If you have someone doing this for you, or if you are unsure which participants are going to be on what team, ensure that you call them back to let them know who will be coming to meet with them.  I also recommend calling a few days before to reconfirm the appointment, so both can be done then!

Doing these things will help ensure that the meetings are valuable for all parties involved.
And, if you still have a few time slots open during your blitz, arm your salespeople with  prospects located near your existing appointments.  If your sales team has spare time, they can drop in, gather some information from the receptionist or even the contact herself and leave some information behind.  That’s the power of face-to-face meetings!

Show You Appreciate Your Clients

Large or small… they ALL matter. That is the key message, and the one thing many people overlook.

Recently, I attended a Client Appreciation Event hosted by Cornwall Business Machines, which inspired me to write this post.

This event is held annually, and I have attended the last 3 years.  They go all out: limo pick up and drop-off, champagne & hors d’oeuvres, and a casino night.

It was a nice evening, and everyone seemed to have a great time.  But what really stood out for me was that they greeted you at the door, rememberedeveryone by name and came around several times during the night to ensure that you were having a good time and that you had everything you needed.

So…. What can you do?  While I am sure that events like these can be budget busters in some cases, there are things you can do to ensure your clients know they matter.

Send a thank you note at the end of the contract.  Handwritten notes are rare these days.  Thanking them for their business in this way will stand out.  Along with the note (and, if budgets allow), send a gift, based on your product/service.  We recently completed a Benchmarking Survey with meeting planners where we asked “what was a memorable way that suppliers reached out to them?” This came up a few times in responses, and I think it’s great!

Make a follow up call.  Sounds simple, but initiating the satisfaction conversation before they come looking for you shows you care.

Repeat clients are great to have, but don’t assume they will come back in 2011 just because they have for so many years previous.  Be proactive in delivering the most important message – they matter.
It goes a long way to ensuring that your relationships remain solid in the future.

Getting Around the Gatekeeper

One of the most frustrating things you can come across is the gatekeeper you can’t get past. You know there is potential there but you just can’t get through to the appropriate person.

First thing to remember is they are just doing their job. Ah, there’s the key phrase – their job. Now taking that into account, when do they do their job? If the office hours are 9 to 5, try calling at 8:45am or 5:02pm.

If you don’t know your contacts extension then you can use the name directory. I know we all think that we should wait until our prospective clients are in for the day and settled with their coffee and give them a chance to listen to their voicemail and check their emails.

That’s actually a great time to reach the contact. The early morning call when they aren’t overwhelmed with other calls or having someone dropping by their office or being pulled into a meeting. The after hours call, when they aren’t struggling to get everything done that they need to before that conference call at 3pm or meeting some other deadline.

Maybe they just found out about a sales meeting that’s coming up or haven’t had a chance to even think about the managers meeting and would appreciate someone calling them up and assisting them, taking some of the burden off their shoulders. Or try calling mid day when there’s someone else answering the phones, even receptionists need to take lunch I’ve connected with meeting planners who didn’t mind talking through their lunch, as it was the only chance they were going to get to drop a few details and let me take over the leg work for them.

What you naturally assume is the worst time to reach someone may just be the best time. I’ve picked up the phone and dialed out of time zone and reached Directors at 7:30 in the morning who had forwarded their office calls to their cells.

People who were actually glad to hear from me because there aren’t enough hours in their day to juggle everything they do. Especially when so many people are covering more positions. For more information regarding the best/worst time to reach someone you can refer back to some previous blogs such as; When Is the Best Time to Prospect? Everyday! And Only a Few “Good” Hours Per Week to Prospect.

Another tip is taking the email address of the person you want to reach and plugging it in to Google.

Often you will get a direct number for the person you are trying to reach and sometimes you will even be provided with the name and number of their assistant. If you don’t have their email address, try the basic formats such as first name dot last name at the name of the company dot com. It takes seconds and could be the difference between not getting passed the gatekeeper and making that connection.

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!