Hotels, Conferences & Exhibitions
Standing out in a crowded market
Sally Walder (pictured), is general manager at Amplify, the NEC Group’s premium live events hospitality business and the official hospitality provider for Resorts World Arena and Arena Birmingham.
led to more people are wanting to try Amplify than ever before. With a waiting list for their most premium membership offer, Air, and a new debenture-style membership soon to be introduced to meet the high demand, times of prosperity are only set to continue for this Birmingham business. Here, Sally offers her advice and experience on how to make your business stand out from the rest when you’re faced with a crowded market.
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Unrivalled customer service We know that customer service should be at the heart of every business, but this is especially important when you have a premium offering to deliver. Our clients put their trust in us to provide a first-
class experience for the personal and business guests they bring to our venues, so my team are encouraged to build a strong relationship with each client and get to know their needs inside out. This means we can offer a bespoke premium
experience every time and when the client calls us for a recommendation for their next event, we know we can suggest something we know that they’ll love. Just last month we received a letter from a client
who wanted to thank her account manager, Solomon, for going the extra mile and thinking outside the box on numerous occasions when she was entertaining guests. When recently holding a birthday celebration for her
parents at a show at Resorts World Arena, Solomon made sure she had an accessible table that met the needs of her disabled guests, and even kept the restaurant open after the show so that they could continue the party and miss the traffic coming out of the venue. What can seem like a small consideration at the time
can have the ability to make a huge difference to a customer’s experience. The client also said that because she talked to Solomon so regularly and had the opportunity to meet him face-to-face, she felt like he was an extended part of her business. All of my team are encouraged to spend one-on-one
time with their clients in person and become the face of Amplify to that individual. If your client knows that they have their own dedicated friendly face to turn to when they need something, it not only makes them feel like they are in safe hands, it will also leave them feeling valued as your customer.
‘What can seem like a small consideration at the time can have the ability to make a huge difference to a customer’s experience’
espite a crowded hospitality market in the region, Amplify’s reputation for delivering unrivalled live entertainment experiences has
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Listen to customer feedback – and act on it When customers submit feedback, the best way to show them how important their suggestions are to your business is to act on them. After every event we send a feedback email and each of our members are given a quarterly feedback survey, which are all regularly reviewed by the team and are used to generate new ideas we can implement going forwards. For example, when some of our members told us
that card payments can be inconvenient, we implemented technology that means we can generate automated invoices at the touch of a button. In just 12 months we generated 1,211 invoices, which proves how listening to the voices of a small number of customers can prompt significant changes that improve your service for many more customers too.
Differentiate your offering Sport has always dominated the hospitality sector, but music and live events are becoming ever more popular as an alternative that appeals to a wider range of guests. Hundreds of world-class events visit Arena Birmingham and Resorts World Arena every year, which has given us the opportunity to flex our offer to suit different audiences who might not have thought about trying hospitality before. Over the last year we’ve looked at how we can adapt our packages to suit families, from offering a buffet rather than a sit down two-course meal to giving each child a piece of merchandise from the show they’ve come to watch. These have proved incredibly popular, with last year’s Elf pantomime and Marvel Universe Live! family hospitality packages selling out, and more set to sell out this year too. Don’t be afraid to try adapting your product or
service to suit a new audience – you may find yourself with a totally new set of customers who you hadn’t previously considered.
April 2019 CHAMBERLINK 65
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