Stan Butler first met Christie Hicks 20 years
ago, when she was the newly hired director of sales at the
Hyatt Regency New Orleans and he was the meeting planner for the
Washington, D.C.-based American College of Emergency Physicians. He
had been considering making that hotel the association’s
headquarters property for its annual citywide.
“Christie gave me a sales pitch that first meeting, yes, but
she was straightforward and honest,” says Butler, now the director
of meetings and expositions for the Chicago-based Institute of Food
Technologists. “She went straight to, ‘What do you need to meet
your target?,’ which was unusual. We struck a deal and immediately
became friends.”
Indeed, over the years, both have changed jobs and titles, even
relocated, but the relationship they formed that day remains
intact.
“I think you have to look at a relationship as an annuity, not
as a business transaction,” says Hicks, now senior vice president,
global sales, White Plains, N.Y.-based Starwood Hotels &
Resorts Worldwide. “It has a lifetime value to both sides,
professional and personal. It’s what I pound home to my team every
day.”
Relationships matter
A struggling economy and dwindling corporate spend have made the
competition among suppliers for group business more fierce. At the
same time, withered budgets and downsized meeting departments have
forced planners to do more with less. Yet despite all these
pressures, relationships remain the lifeblood of the meetings
profession, something on which both sides readily agree.
" Follow me. In an industry notorious for its
high turnover rate, long-term relationships with hotel salespeople
are highly valued by meeting planners, more than one of whom admits
to following a salesperson from property to property or chain to
chain, in order to continue to reap the benefits of the bond.
For Stan Butler, Christie Hicks’ move to Starwood was a
definite impetus for change. “I basically followed her,” admits
Butler, who says Starwood now gets a major crack at IFT’s yearly $8
million meeting spend.
Similarly, “I have salespeople at certain properties that I like
dealing with a lot,” says Heather Kreider, a corporate meeting
planner for Englewood, Colo.-based Navigant International, a travel
management firm that handles group business for Fortune 500
companies. “When they have moved on to other properties, I have
followed and brought my business.”
Making It Work
How can planners foster more successful business relationships? M&C asked Andrew Sobel (
www.andrewsobel.com), consultant and author of
Clients for Life: How Great Professionals Develop Breakthrough Relationships (Simon & Schuster/Fireside).
M&C: What are the components of a successful professional relationship?
Sobel: In today’s economy, relationships are built on trust and added value. That means we’re going to stay loyal to suppliers or other people who solve our problems and add value to our relationship.
M&C: What should planners seek in a relationship with a hotelier?
Sobel: First, there’s client orientation. Are they 100-percent focused on your agenda, and how to meet your needs? Do the hotels and resorts you’re dealing with take the time to get to know you, really listen, ask great questions? Look to work with people who are willing to go the extra mile, but who aren’t desperate.
M&C: How can planners foster trust/add value with suppliers?
Sobel: Reciprocate. Pay them back for helping you by sending them some business, giving them a referral. Take time to explain your decisions to them. If someone in your company demands you go with the lowest price provider, tell them what happened. Be honest don’t lead them on. They will respect you for being a straight shooter. Compliment them to their boss if they do a good job for you; that really gets someone’s attention and loyalty. Be nice to everyone. No one likes to do business with someone who is arrogant, brusque or a plain jerk.
M&C: How can planners enhance their in-house relationships?
Sobel: To be taken seriously, you need self-confidence and a sense of independence. That means that as an employee, I’m devoted to your agenda as the CEO of my company, but I also have detachment. I’m going to tell you what’s right for the company, not what I think you want to hear. A good planner will explain to her boss or an attendee why Hotel X, at $75 per night, may be a better deal in the long run than Hotel Y, at $50. The assurance that the meeting will go well, that attendees will have a good room that’s worth a lot. Can you communicate that value to your attendee and your management?
M&C: How does employee turnover impact relationships?
Sobel: In some cases, you can pick up a valued relationship with the same person in his next position, but in this economy, some people haven’t found new jobs. It’s a good idea to have relationships with many people at a hotel or brand, so that when there’s turnover, you don’t have to start from scratch. -- B.M.L.
" The trust factor. Gaining a meeting
planner’s trust amid today’s fare wars takes time and commitment,
says Alan Ferris, conference service manager for the Fairmont Hotel
Vancouver (B.C.) in Canada. But once gained, he adds, the reward is
repeat business.
“You get to know planners’ likes and dislikes and those of
their president,” notes Ferris. “The client knows they don’t have
to worry about the service you’ll provide; they know what they can
expect.”
One such Ferris client is Kim Freeman, executive assistant at
Vancouver-based Business Objects, a software company. Last year,
Freeman found herself swamped before the firm’s annual sales
program and traded on her six-year relationship with Ferris to get
assistance. “I called him up, gave him the budget and he ran with
it,” says Freeman.
Independent planner Jennie Jacobson, president and founder of
Agora Hills, Calif.-based Unique Events, echoes Freeman. “Because
of the relationship I have built with hotels such as Ritz-Carlton,
they trust I will bring them business that makes sense for them and
that I won’t waste their time. They, in turn, bend over backwards
to be flexible and help me with my clients.”
The trust factor goes both ways, Starwood’s Christie Hicks
agrees. She recounts a scenario she faced years ago while still
with Hyatt, where trust in a meeting planner with whom she had a
good relationship weighed heavily in the hotel’s decision to book
the business.
“The planner came to me and said, ‘We want to do a meeting, but
we have no idea how many people will come. It could be 400 or
1,200. Can we get in bed with one of your properties? If it falls
through, we’ll make it up to you ten-fold,’” recalls Hicks.
She took the chance and blocked 800 rooms at the Hyatt Chicago,
then kept her fingers crossed. The three-day event proved to be a
tremendous success for the association and the hotel’s trust was
repaid with the group’s business throughout the next 10 years.
Which brings us to...
" The loyalty reward. Hotels that honor
long-term client relationships reap the rewards in lean times, say
hoteliers.
“When times were good, hotels were turning away business,” says
Mike Fegley, vice president, global sales, for Atlanta-based
InterContinental Hotels Group. “But those hotels or chains that
accepted such business in lieu of more desirable business are
reaping the benefits of customer loyalty during these challenging
times, when everyone is vying for the same piece of pie.”
" Honesty works. The planner proposes
business, the hotel pitches a rate. Then comes the second round of
meetings, and the back-and-forth gives way to new rates and more
demands. With a good relationship, say savvy planners and
suppliers, the negotiating dance is blessedly shortened.
“If I don’t think a hotel is a good fit, I will tell the
meeting planner,” says Glen Parnel, regional director for the
Houston office of HelmsBriscoe, the well-known site-selection firm
based in Scottsdale, Ariz. “They appreciate that I won’t waste
their time with a site inspection.”
And, Parnel adds, he is just as honest with suppliers. “When a
hotel quotes me a rate $20 higher than a competitor, I tell them,
‘Look. Do you want to be in the playing field or not?’” he says.
“When they lose the business, they know why.”
Jennifer Lindsey, CMP, conference manager with Tulsa,
Okla.-based PennWell Corp.’s Global Energy Group, agrees that
straight talk goes a long way in creating a lasting supplier
relationship.
“I want the hotel to tell me if they can’t meet my budget, and
I want them to tell me when my business is bad for them and then
recommend another property that might fit,” says Lindsey. “Don’t
waste my time that’s what I value most.”
" Jobs well done. Of course, one of the main
foundations to any business relationship is efficiency. Case in
point: A few years back, Kathy Smith was in the midst of
orchestrating her first event involving a large number of
international attendees, in her job as director of meetings for the
Rochester, Minn.-based American Association of Electrodiagnostic
Medicine. Late in the process, she had to change hotels.
“The Hilton San Francisco stepped up to the plate,” Smith
recalls. “They understood the meeting was a first for me and that
there were a lot of issues, like whose name had the biggest font in
the program. They were helpful and gracious with the group. They
always came to me and asked, ‘Do you approve?’”
And it was at the Hilton that Smith met Chris Manack, the
hotel’s senior meetings and conventions manager, a job he came to
after years working as an association planner. “I think Hilton
hired me because I have a certain empathy built in for the meeting
planner,” he notes.
To which Smith can only agree. “If I could take him wherever I
go, I would,” she enthuses. “I need someone who is fast on their
feet, who is very organized and who has the respect of their peers
at the facility to get things done. If anyone ever made me look
good, it was Chris.”
“Well, if every meeting planner I worked with were that good,
I’d be happy,” says Manack upon hearing of Smith’s rave. “For that
first event, Kathy and I maintained a close working relationship
right up until the attendees left. She was easy to communicate
with, and she understood the hotel’s perspective.”
Since then, Smith has been happy to bring her meeting back to
the Hilton San Francisco and the capable hands of Chris Manack.
Challenged by change
Across the hospitality industry, phone conversations,
business lunches and one-on-one face time have always been the
bricks of relationship building. That model, however, is facing new
challenges.
" Cybercommunications. Technology has become a
real time-saver for planners and suppliers. It has also made
forming relationships, once done in person and with a handshake,
much more complicated.
“When I got into this business seven years ago, there was no
such thing as an electronic request for proposal,” says Navigant’s
Heather Kreider. “Yes, they make things easier, but they also make
it harder to develop a face-to-face relationship. No one seems to
have time any more.”
“My sales team repeatedly says that because communication is so
electronic, it is difficult to get a really good understanding of
what customers need and want,” says Debbie Castillo, director of
sales and marketing for Loews Miami Beach. “It makes fostering new
relationships very difficult.”
Mike Beardsley, senior vice president of global sales for
Bethesda, Md.-based Marriott International, says sales people must
learn new ways of dealing with planners who prefer to communicate
electronically. “It is really about how the customer wants to do
business,” he says. “With RFPs, there is no discussion taking
place, which makes for a very different relationship than if you
picked up the phone and talked to the sales person.”
Beardsley and other suppliers believe one way to bridge the
high-tech divide lies in...
" Reaching out. Savvy suppliers go the extra
mile often literally to foster better relationships with planners.
This past spring, for instance, 14 general managers from Hyatt
Hotels and Resorts, representing properties in cities as diverse as
Houston, San Francisco and Vancouver, gathered in Philadelphia to
express thanks to local association and corporate clients for their
group business.
As Dallas GM Steve Vissotzky told the planners, “The last three
years have been an eye-opener for all of us. But we understand the
issues you’re dealing with. We hope to get some dialogue going
here. We want to make sure this relationship makes sense moving
forward.”
In turn, association planners told the GMs exactly what was on
their minds.
“The bottom line is, if you guys give me a rate that nobody
else can beat, you get the business,” said Pamela Ballinger, CMP,
vice president of meetings and exhibits for Association
Headquarters Inc., a Mt. Laurel, N.J.-based association management
company.
Vissotzky addressed this and other concerns and said Hyatt had
taken steps to offer best rate guarantees, kinder attrition clauses
and softer mattresses. If good will was Hyatt’s aim, the chain
largely succeeded.
“This is something we’ve never experienced before,” said Robert
B. Waller, Jr., founder, president and COO of Association
Headquarters. “So many GMs showing up here means a real
commitment.”
Convention Services Planning, an Orlando-based destination
management company, likewise believes in going out of the way to
hold face-to-face meetings with clients. According to Mike Day,
vice president, sales and marketing, CSP invests heavily in travel
spend to meet clients on their own turf at least once a year.
“We go to them and bring information on the destination,” says
Day. “It saves them time doing research, and they really appreciate
it.”
Similarly, Loews encourages its sales teams to hit the road.
“Once they know we are coming, we find that planners take the time
to meet with us, because interaction is so important,” says
Castillo.
" The procurement wrinkle. With procurement
departments playing a greater role in the decision-making process,
planners and suppliers are finding their relationships getting a
bit crowded. But they also are learning to adjust and make
room.
“Salespeople have to learn to broaden their influence within
the company to include both procurement and management,” says
Hicks. “You don’t want just one person to own the relationship
exclusively, because when they leave, the relationship ends.”
The test of time
Those lucky to be in one say the hallmarks of a good
business relationship include being able to work through challenges
and change over the long haul, during which time these partnerships
often mellow and come to represent something more than just
“work.”
Perhaps because Philadelphia-based Fernley & Fernley is
this country’s oldest professional association management company
(founded in 1886), its employees strongly value the benefit of
time-tested ties with suppliers. Indeed, many veteran F&F
planners point to the firm’s longstanding dealings with printers
George H. Buchanan Co. as the epitome of a successful business
relationship in the meetings industry.
Charlie Barton, manager of member services, joined F&F in
1959. He has worked with Buchanan employees for nearly a
half-century. “But the relationship predates me,” Barton notes.
In fact, the two companies began working together after a
former owner of Buchanan took refuge in the doorway of F&F to
escape a rainstorm. That was around 1950.
“He was invited in by one of our executives, and they started
talking business. We’ve been dealing with them for most of our
print work ever since,” says Barton. “We have evolved together. I
know about half the people there as friends, just by working with
them. I have their home phone numbers. If there was a mistake, I
could call them at any time; we know somebody there will always
back us up. I even have the number of the owner’s vacation house in
Florida.”
Not long ago, Buchanan printers relocated from Philadelphia to
southern New Jersey. But the distance has neither weakened the bond
nor ended at least one longtime tradition between the two
companies.
“Every Friday morning, they would drop off a box of hot, soft
pretzels at our office,” says Sue Pine, executive vice president at
F&F. “Now, every week, we still get a delivery of that box of
soft pretzels. It’s just like you’re family with them.”
Since his days with the American College of Emergency
Physicians, Stan Butler has changed associations, moved to Chicago,
married and become the father of twin girls. Still, he and
Starwood’s Christie Hicks remain business colleagues and fast
friends.
“When he and Mary got married, I was invited to the wedding,”
says Hicks. “I flew from Chicago to New Orleans to be there and I
was even able to escort his mother to the ceremony.”
When Hicks recently asked Butler to sit on Starwood’s meeting
planner advisory board, he jumped at the chance to share his
experience with her team.
“These days. I don’t interact with Christie near as much,
because of her move up the ladder,” says Butler. “But we have
always maintained a real, ongoing friendship that I value very
much.”
Hicks agrees. “When you come across relationships that span
multiple years, company changes and career changes, and the
relationship doesn’t change,” she says, “it’s special.”
PLANNERS RATE THEIR RELATIONSHIPS
How do planners feel
about their friendly business relationships, and what impact do
these bonds have on their work? To find out, M&C last
month conducted a poll of 488 meeting professionals, along with 66
suppliers (including hotel GMs and salespersons, convention
services managers and third-party vendors). The results show that
amicable teamwork with supplier partners is the foundation of much
of the meetings industry.
To
begin with, planners were asked how long their longest professional
relationships with suppliers have lasted, and the most-checked
category (for 30 percent of respondents) was more than 10 years,
followed by 6-10 years (24 percent) and 1-2 years (13 percent). On
the supplier side, 42 percent of those polled cited relationships
of more than 10 years, followed by 6-10 years (30 percent) and 3-5
years (23 percent).
More to the point, 43 percent of planners said their
relationships with hotel salespersons “frequently” influence where
they place their business, and 39 percent of planners have followed
salespersons from one hotel company to another to keep reaping the
benefits of the bond.
And the benefits were real: A majority of hotel
suppliers (73 percent) said they are more likely to give a better
rate to a planner with whom they have a longstanding relationship;
another 59 percent said they are more likely to be candid about a
problem with such a planner (34 percent said it doesn’t make a
difference).
Friendly though the relationships might be, they are firmly
work-oriented. Nearly all planner respondents (99 percent) agree or
strongly agree that the relationships help make them more effective
in doing their jobs, while much fewer (22 percent) agree and only 4
percent strongly agree that such associations provide the planners
with social benefits.
Finally, 40 percent of planners said electronic RFPs, e-mail
and online travel sites make it “somewhat more” difficult to
establish one-on-one relationships with suppliers, 7 percent said
“a lot more” difficult and 53 percent said no, such high-tech
offerings do not make it more difficult to forge relationships.
