Chapter 5 Selling the Corporate Meetings Market

1. Chapter 5 Selling the Corporate Meetings Market Convention Management and ServiceEighth Edition (478TXT or 478CIN) Courtesy Loews Hotels

2. Competencies forSelling the Corporate Meetings Market 1. Identify factors that corporate meeting planners consider when making a site selection. 2. Describe the different types of corporate meetings. 3. Identify characteristics of corporate meetings that are important for selling to the corporate market. 4. Identify who typically decides where to hold a corporate meeting. 5. Describe the tools salespeople use to locate corporations and to find information about the meetings they hold.

3. Corporate Meeting Trends • More regional rather than national meetings • Looking to second-tier cities • Using telepresence or webinars to save on travel costs • Less flamboyant and more strategic and practical • Corporate meetings offer the greatest potential for growth • A majority of corporate meetings have fewer than 50 attendees, making it an ideal market for small properties

5. What Corporate Meeting Planners Look For 1. Quality food service • F&B functions are major contributors to success of an event • Very important to planners and attendees 2. Adequate meeting space • Business centers 3. Service • Most important element in repeat business 4. Enough guestrooms • Prefer to use only one host property (continued)

6. What Corporate Meeting Planners Look For (continued) 5. Convenient location • Downtown, airport, certain suburban properties, and conference centers • Boutique/lifestyle hotels 6. Attractive location • Consistent with image of the corporation • Especially true for incentive meetings 7. Security • Prefer to meet away from busy areas • Often prefer to be the only group in the hotel

8. Types of Corporate Meetings • National and regional sales meetings • New product introduction/dealer meetings • Professional/technical meetings • Management meetings • Training meetings • Stockholder/public meetings • Incentive meetings

10. Sales and New Product Introduction/Dealer Meetings Sales Meetings • One of the largest sectors of the corporate meetings market • National attendance about 150, duration 3-4 days • Regional attendance about 65, duration 2-3 days • Meetings may involve new product introductions, sales training, or morale building • Good source of repeat business for hotels • Generally staged by the sales and marketing department of each division of a company (continued)

11. Sales and New Product Introduction/Dealer Meetings (continued) New Product Introduction/Dealer Meetings • National and regional in scope • Method of creating enthusiasm • Vary greatly in size and duration • Attract top company management, stockholders, and the press • Excellent chance to "show off" the property and attract new business

12. Professional/Technical and Management Meetings Professional/Technical Meetings • Often take seminar and workshop formats • Lecture and demonstration by consultants, educators, and/or vendors (continued)

13. Professional/Technical and Management Meetings (continued) Management Meetings • May be regular events, or in response to specific situations • Usually small in size, but premier facilities are required • Attendees are prospects for divisional or company meetings • Geographical location varies greatly • Commonly last two days

14. Training and Stockholder/Public Meetings Training Meetings • All levels of corporate personnel require training • Training meetings in hotels account for the largest number of corporate meetings • Attendance is usually less than 50 • Duration is usually 3 days • Special requirements: A/V capability, minimal distractions, adequate light, prompt service • Rarely require prestigious locations • Trainers tend to return to hotels where everything worked out well (continued)

15. Training and Stockholder/Public Meetings Stockholder/Public Meetings • Meetings for nonemployees • Public relations and industrial relations hold exhibits and meetings (continued)

16. Incentive Meetings • 85 percent of all incentive trips include a meeting • Attendees and planners look for first-class service and accommodations • Bookings usually guaranteed • Participants use all of the facilities of the hotel • Usually indicates high revenue • Group incentive travel averages 130 attendees for a 5-day trip • Individual incentives are growing in importance

17. Statistics on Group Incentive Trips

18. Characteristics of Corporate Meetings Small meetings Time cycle Lead time Geography Kinds of sites Attendance • Mandatory • Highly predictable • Use of rooming lists and VIP lists common Duration: average 3 days (continued)

19. Characteristics of Corporate Meetings (continued) Exhibits Meeting room requirements • Especially need breakout rooms near larger rooms Repeat business Multibooking potential One meeting—one check: master account Meetings business brings other business

21. Corporate Meetings—Cycle/Patternand Lead Time Cycle/Pattern • Irregular • As-needed basis • Usually midweek Lead Time • Short compared to associations • Incentive meetings: 8–12 months to 2 years • Annual sales meeting: 8–12 months • Most others: 3–6 months • Crisis meetings: virtually no lead time

22. Corporate Meetings—Geography and Kinds of Sites Geography • No pattern • No reason to vary site to attract attendees, since attendance is mandatory • Convenience is most important geographic criterion Kinds of Sites • Variety; depends on purpose of meeting and position of attendees • Each property has the right features to host some kind of corporate meeting

23. Corporate Meetings—Repeat Business and Multibooking Potential Repeat Business • Training meetings • Crisis meetings (continued)

24. Corporate Meetings—Repeat Business and Multibooking Potential (continued) Multibooking Potential • Same meeting program may be repeated in several locations • Good for • chains, • hotels with cooperative agreements with hotels in other cities, and • hotels that use independent hotel representatives • More difficult for independent hotels to attract corporations that repeat meetings

28. Techniques for Selling Corporate Meetings • Sell the decision-maker, not a go-between. • Start at the top of the organization chart. • Pay attention to tomorrow’s decision-maker. Courtesy of Loews Hotels and Resorts

29. Corporate Meeting Decision-Makers • Full-time meeting planner • Company president • Marketing and sales executives • Advertising and sales promotion managers • Other corporate executives: corporate relations; public relations; industrial relations; communications • Passenger traffic/corporate travel managers • Procurement (purchasing) managers • Training director • Meeting specialists/third-party planners

32. Tools for Finding Corporate Meeting Planners Special Meetings Publications • These publications offer advertisement space, sales-lead services, and rental lists for direct mail • Successful Meetings • Meetings & Conventions • Meeting News Business Publications • Reach some important prospects • Readership is much broader than target market(s) (continued)

34. Tools for Finding Corporate Meeting Planners (continued) Trade Directories and Publications • Research the industries of past clients • Dun & Bradstreet’s Million Dollar Directory • Standard and Poor’s Net Advantage • Meeting Professionals International Membership Directory • Best Insurance Reports • Corporate Meeting and Event Planners Directory (continued)

35. Tools for Finding Corporate Meeting Planners (continued) Trade Associations • Their executive directors can give you important leads Internet Sites Convention and Visitors Bureaus Lateral Referral and Penetration • Local suppliers could recommend the property • Large companies have many divisions to penetrate • Hotel employees may have leads for meetings business