Reason to Smile ‘What’s most important is not what went wrong with your meeting, but how the hotel steps up to make it right.’
saw a long, mutually beneficial, happy future together. What could go wrong?
Once a contract is signed and turns defi- nite, we are, of course, handed over to a different department. In my organiza- tion, I do the same thing. And I check up from time to time that things are going as they should, occasionally having to step in and go back to my salesperson to clarify an issue here and there. With this particular meeting, there had been some bumps in the road, but I was not alerted to anything major, and the one time I did have to reach out to sales, it was handled quickly and to my satisfac- tion. It never occurred to me that we would have challenges on site.
T
he co-owner and managing director of the SK Group Inc., a meetings and events firm, talks about getting it right the first time — so there will be a second time.
When I create a short list of venues for a client, they always want to hear which one I would choose and why. Every meeting planner is, in a sense, a deci- sion maker, which is something I wish hotel salespeople would understand when they get caught up asking, “Who is making the final decision?” Other questions I hear: “What are the chal- lenges you are facing?” “What are your goals and objectives?” These are important, valid questions. But it’s what they do with the information that really counts. Here’s what I mean.
When I attended PCMA’s Convening 28 PCMA CONVENE NOVEMBER 2012
Leaders 2012 annual meeting in San Diego this past January, I was introduced through friends to several salespeople who had properties that seemed a good match for some of my clients — one in particular. The follow- ing week, I followed up on the verbal agreement made over Merlot with my salesperson, set up a site visit, and flew out to see if the property was as good a fit as it seemed. I had a beautiful room, a thorough site visit, and a lovely din- ner with my new business associate, as well as the salesperson who would be directly responsible for handling my account going forward. We bonded. I
But we did. Lots and lots of little ones that kept me busy all day long, as my main goal was to shield the client from knowing that there were any issues at all. And even though I would speak to the hotel about it, the same things would happen over and over again. So I was left with two options: Walk away angry, never to return again, or go over everything with my salespeople and give them the chance to make it right.
As I believe that this is a relationship- based business and that I could provide valuable feedback, I chose option two. I went to dinner with sales and lunch with convention services. I reviewed all of my issues that I had experienced on site, and I patiently went through everything with each department while they patiently listened. I tried to get them to understand one basic thing: It is easier to get it right the first time, and it is certainly cheaper. Now they would have to spend more time and money wining and dining me all over again in order to regain my trust and therefore my business, when all I needed was for