Throughout 2017, we spent a large amount of time engaging the business events industry (from leaders to next generation talent) discussing topics that mattered to them. Whether it was worries caused by economic instability to business frustrations, these passionate professionals said that they were prepared to make changes (big and small) so that next year, they would not go through what they went through this year.
There were five most common changes they would make:
1. QUALIFY MORE
Service providers were frustrated with the lack of conversion from the large number of proposals generated. Some sales and administrative teams were losing staff because they were buried with the overwhelming number of proposals despite knowing quite a few were duplications due to different lead sources. Enquirers were not transparent with key information like budgets and crucial event components, and some didn’t even have actual event dates.
Some service providers have started to further qualify business leads as they were no longer willing to invest time and money to pitch for businesses that lack quotable information or do not fit their business culture. One service provider said “knowing the difference between urgent and important tasks really makes the difference in resource allocation. It also helped team members to focus in a ‘noisy’ business environment”.
Some professionals were also further qualifying partnerships and relationships. Companies were setting tougher criteria on collaboration opportunities. They wanted to ensure that collaborations were not one-sided. On the subject of “giving back” to the industry through industry association participations, most were still willing to help. However, many were more vocal about how much time they were willing to give and the conditions around their participation.
2. HONESTY
On the topic of being more vocal, some companies were more transparent with their limitations to avoid overpromising and under-delivering on what’s been sold. Of course, the sales language would not be cluttered or compromised by restrictions so leads will not be lost during the qualifying stage. Some companies were more willing to have conversations with customers on their products and services’ strengths and weaknesses and getting themselves better trained in managing objections.
Customers, especially intermediaries like event and destination agencies, appreciated this “honesty” approach as they felt that they were made aware of potential challenges and were more willing to work with service providers on win-win solutions before any business interest was compromised. The ability to assist in managing risk was preferred over the pursuit of product and service perfection.
3. SPENDING MORE TIME WITH CLIENTS
Many customers rated this as highly important. Service providers who spent more time with customers said that they converted more business. Translational business relationships will lose out in 2018. Customers wanted service providers to spend more time with them instead of hiding behind the desks buried in paperwork, so service providers can understand their customers’ needs and challenges. Buyers were most disappointed when a sales person did not show up to meet and greet on the day of an event or offered to help sort out unforeseen challenges on site.
Some service providers have reinvested their marketing budgets into participating in events and conferences their target audience would be attending. For example, if a service provider was targeting the IT industry, they would attend IT conferences and exhibitions to understand what that industry was going through.
The sales language has started to shift from “our event spaces are the best” to “I understand that your industry is going through a challenging time and we will work with your AV partners to bring you the most cost effective solutions.”
One buyer said “we respect that sellers have to “yield” their revenue. However, if they focused too much on yielding revenue too early in the game, they will only end up pushing out desperate promotions to yield their lack of occupancy.” One thing would remain unchanged though, and that is buyers would prefer to work with sellers who are hungry for their business. Every customer wants and deserves great customer service.
4. INVEST IN PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT
Getting qualified and/or experienced talent to work in the events industry was a major challenge in 2017. Companies, particularly SMEs, struggled to close the gap between the time consumed by business operations pressures and the time required to train new entrants to the industry.
Companies whose main revenue stream depended on international business have invested in attaining internationally recognised certification like CIS (Certified Incentive Specialist) and CMP (Certified Meeting Professional). Besides gaining knowledge and operating at global meeting and incentive standards, some companies aligned their talent development strategies with their industry associations to agenda the need for better business practices and ethics in a competitive market place.
Other companies have started realigning internal training programmes with the ever-changing business landscape so staff members are equipped to compete to get greater market share.
5, GAINING BALANCE BY “SWITCHING OFF”
“Too much information” were the key words used when discussing stress levels and this affected their ability to focus. Some barely coped with the constant pace of change whilst others have accepted that change will be the new norm and changed their business models accordingly. Many had the desire to “switch off” from connectivity to “rest” their minds. Some particularly mentioned reducing time spent on social media or at least limiting the number of channels they manage in 2018. There would be a stronger effort in gaining better work-life balance by spending more time with family and definitely, being away from the office. Focusing on matters that “move the needle” and saying no at the right time might just bring the right balance to these professionals.
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