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

1. Competencies for Selling 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.

2. 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

4. 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
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5. What Corporate Meeting Planners Look For
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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

7. 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

9. 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
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10. Sales and New Product Introduction/Dealer Meetings
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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

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

13. 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
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14. Training and Stockholder/Public Meetings
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Stockholder/Public Meetings
Meetings for nonemployees
Public relations and industrial relations hold exhibits and meetings

15. 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

16. Statistics on Group Incentive Trips

17. 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
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18. Characteristics of Corporate Meetings
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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

20. Corporate Meetings—Cycle/Pattern and Lead Time
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

21. Corporate Meetings—Geography and Kinds of Sites
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

22. Corporate Meetings—Repeat Business and Multibooking Potential
Training meetings
Crisis meetings
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23. Corporate Meetings—Repeat Business and Multibooking Potential
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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

27. 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

28. 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

31. 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)
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33. Tools for Finding Corporate Meeting Planners
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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
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34. Tools for Finding Corporate Meeting Planners
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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