Electronic RFP’s are a standard in the event planning
industry. Meeting planners can contact several potential properties with the
click of a button, resulting in overloaded in boxes in the sales department. As
a result, the vast majority of sales offices fall short on response times, even
when it is a hot lead for low demand dates.
More often than not, those who inquire about dates that are
sold out, or those that have needs that cannot be met at this time by the
property, fail to receive any response. This leaves the meeting planners
hanging and leads to frustration and complaints, not to mention a loss of any
future business from that client. It seems that at most booking properties, no
one responds anymore to say, “We are fully committed for your requested dates,
but if your plans are flexible we would welcome a chance to look at other
options.” Few if any respond to say “Since your meeting space cannot
accommodate a group of this size, we do hope you will keep us in mind when you
are planning smaller meetings.”
Here are a few tips
to help get more mileage from RFP’s – even if your property is not available:
1. Respond promptly to all inquiries, even those
for which you have no inventory or otherwise cannot meet their specifications.
Plans change as meeting details are finalized, and many planners are involved
with multiple meetings. A well worded response indicating those dates are not
available that provides the planner with alternate dates and a description of
what you can offer may make the difference for another meeting date. Utilize
your word processing software or brand resource tools to develop templates to
streamline the process so every planner receives a response, whether you can
accommodate the proposed dates or not.
2. Never assume that your property isn't right for
a prospective client or that your rates will be too high. Limiting yourself to
this mindset could result in missing out on potential future business if the
planner coordinates multiple events with different requirements.
3. Even if you have hosted an event or group in the
past, don’t assume they will choose your facility without receiving a response
from you. Perhaps the planner’s objectives for the event have changed or they
are not aware of a recent upgrade to your property. Taking the time to send an
appropriate response such as “since your last event we now offer (new item) and
look forward to continuing to serve you needs.”
4. Just because you did not win the bid for an
event in the past does not mean you shouldn’t respond to future bids. Consider
that although you may not have gotten business in the past, you don't know that
organization didn't recently have a problem at the hotel that did get the
business. So, always respond.
Need more ideas? Contact the Kankakee County CVB for more information on responding to RFP’s.
