Influence from procurement departments particularly in big companies have increased over the last years – procurement being the more ‘in’ word for purchasing. While this brings about a lot of savings for the company, planning events becomes even more challenging as it allows less room for flexibility for the meeting planner. According to a C&IT survey in 2006, ‘’the power of purchasing officials clearly isn’t going to go away’’

So how does the procurement department of a big corporate company influence event organisation? The procurement department continually looks at ways of lowering costs and in many cases will advise Travel and Event Managers on which suppliers to use. Sometimes this leaves the event planner with limited choices and having to make some hard decisions.

But actual measurement of ROI remains a challenge with conflicting ideas on how to do it….and the frequency of such measurements vary as well.

So with ROI being a difficult one to measure and influence, I think that hoteliers will have to look closer at

1. UNDERSTANDING GROUP CHANNELS BETTER
2. RESPONDING TO GROUP ENQUIRIES BETTER
3. CONVERTING GROUP ENQUIRIES BETTER & IMPROVING CONVERSION
4. IMPROVED MEASUREMENT & ANALYSIS

and address each of these areas to improve their own ROI in sales efforts for the groups segment.

Here is how each of these areas can help you optimise your sales efforts.

1) UNDERSTANDING GROUP CHANNELS

• Identify the channels where group enquiries originate – Regional Sales Offices, Agencies direct, DMC’s, Corporate web site

• Use a targeted approach for different channels

• Understand their specific needs & decision making process

• Identify their preferred methods of working, payment methods, lead times etc

to be continued….