The Ripple Effect of Bidding Wars in the Meetings Industry

And 5 Things We Can All Do RIGHT NOW to Change This

I was conversing with a friend who is a freelance meeting planner and I put on my old DMC hat for a conversation with her. We joked halfheartedly about how event planning continues to be one of the top five most stressful jobs year after year in national polls -as we both fall under the event planning umbrella.

We then shifted gears to what we found most stressful about what we do/did and were amazed at the similarities. She as a meeting planner, me as a DMC, you would think she would have all the answers for the DMC to do their job well every time. However things are never as simple as they should be.

As we continued to speak about each other’s challenges, we started to explore the number of hands that touch each proposal. While this wasn’t an epiphany for either of us, we were both quite floored at how much waste there is of good human capital (talent) with each and every request for proposal.

Why?

Because so often the right information isn’t gathered from the get go.

Often, driven from the top, a request is made to host a meeting and from there, the wheels of gathering information begin to turn and the inquiries are sent out – often without drilling down to the core foundation & nature of the request.

What is the nature of the meeting? What are attendees expected outcomes from attending this meeting with? What sort of destination? What time of year? How many guests will be attending? How many days will the meeting be? What is the overall budget? Is there a meeting theme? The questions go on and on and on.

Now let’s go back to the initial requestor – this person is often a CEO or thought leader within the company.  When an executive makes a request, it is met with “I’m on it” without thought to gather the details of what this person truly is trying to accomplish with hosting a meeting before sending out the inquiries.

This isn’t always the case, there are some excellent planners out there that are able to gather the information from the get-go from their leadership team. However as the recipient of many of these requests over my 20+ years as a DMC, the bidding wars create havoc on the same human capital that is needed to make these meetings so successful.

Let’s talk  simple math

One request for a new meeting from a corporation can trigger inquiries to three to five different agencies. We will focus on three for the sake of this equation. Each of these agencies may have anywhere from one to three people working on the request. Let’s use two people here. Now each agency sends out requests to three to five hotels – in 5 different destinations. Let’s use five here because this is more common and middle ground for most. Try to follow this runaway train…..

3 agencies x 2 staff = 6

3 agencies x 5 destinations = 15 x 5 hotels = 45

Do you see where I am going with this? You now have 51 people with hands on an inquiry where there is not enough up front information to accurately propose a destination or hotel. It is basically like shooting arrows at a dart board with a blindfold on – in the dark.

Now let’s complicate things further

They ‘may’ need transfers to/from the airport, a couple of tours, perhaps an off site dinner or some décor & entertainment on site. Now each of these agencies is going to reach out to their DMCs in each of their destinations. Remember, we have 3 agencies each suggesting five different destinations.

3 agencies x 5 destinations = 15 DMCs potentially called with requests for proposals. Each DMC has 2-3 staff working on each proposal. Let’s go light and say two. Remember, DMCs are a special breed and some of them may receive calls from two or more agencies based on many variables. Let’s assume they are all different DMCs for this.

15 DMCs x 2 staff per = 30

We now have 81 – yep, you read that right – EIGHTY ONE hard working, event loving people working on an inquiry that began from the top with ‘let’s have a meeting’. Mind you, this doesn’t include the internal meeting planner who reached out to the 3 agencies to begin with. She is actually the #1 hand in the cookie jar that got this entire ball rolling.

Let’s speak specifically about hand #1 in the cookie jar….the initial requestor of the meeting, the internal meeting planner, admin, marketing or meeting manager working on the project. Here is where you can REALLY begin to curb and cut back on the wasteful use of good human capital in the meetings industry.

Ask Good Questions – and demand thoughtful answers!

From the beginning and from the top, get complete thoughts from the person requesting the meeting as to what their desired outcomes are. Get them to narrow down options FROM THE ONSET as to where you would like the meeting to go, overarching desired outcomes for hosting the meeting and how do they envision the event flows. Considerations from learning to leisure (or does it not?), budget, program inclusions, number of guests, etc. etc. etc. As much visual as possible you can obtain from your meeting stakeholders the more accurate you will be able to convey to your supplier partners what you need.

Put it in writing!

Create a detailed RFP and get the meeting requestors stamp of approval on it before sending it out for bid. The more detail the better. Over the years I have received RFPs that exceeded 10 pages and those detailed RFPs were very specific about what the requestor at the top was looking for. It made it much easier for us to prepare a proposal and accurately quote details. It also allowed for all parties to have more succinct communications all around, reduced stress in the proposal process and boosted confidence all around because there was so much clarity around what the client was looking for.

Limit your choices!

There are lots of great agencies, hotel brands and DMCs out there. If you plan meetings then the use of sourcing agencies, hotels and DMCs is not new to you. You have your preferred and you have your network of planner peers you can ask if you are in an unfamiliar destination. If you are new to planning and don’t have partnerships already then get networking with your peer planners in the world, join the local MPI chapter and reach out to the CVB in the destination you are sourcing.

As a DMC used to receiving multiple calls from different agencies bidding on the same program, I always felt bad that everyone is working SO HARD for the same piece of business – and I would always prepare completely different proposals for each agency – that was a ton of work! Ultimately only one agency, destination, hotel, etc would be awarded the business. Remember the 81 hands in the cookie jar? I finally learned over the years to pass on bidding when there were more than 3 agencies involved. Sadly this happened more often than I liked over the years. I truly feel the process could be way less of a strain on our human capital if from the top, the initial requestor, did a better job of drilling down with their meeting stakeholders what they want, where, when and why. This would be such a help to meeting planners everywhere and ultimately their supplier partners.

Build your partnerships!

The meeting holder does all of us in the meetings industry a dis-service by not being completely clear on what they are looking for and limiting the number of agencies the request is sent to. Build your partnerships as you would your tribe of friends. You only need input from one or two reliable friends to make an informed decision so why would you need more than two agency proposals to make an educated selection?

It takes a massive amount of man-hours and human capital to build a great proposal. Give everyone involved the best opportunity to show you their capabilities by being transparent in what you want.

Work through your problems together!

My final word of advice; There are now five generations working in the meetings industry all with their own work ethics and style. We have our baby boomers who are very savvy and also very tired after nearly 30+ years in the industry all the way down to the millennial’s who are just cutting their teeth. When things go wrong with a partner, sit down and discuss it! Too often I see clients walk away from a talented partner because they did something they didn’t like. It takes way more work, time and effort to build new relationships than to patch one that may just need tweaking to work perfectly again. Be smart and reasonable when deciding to end a partnership and also be clear as to why. A hotel brand, agency or DMC cannot improve if they do not have a clear picture on what you perceive as ‘done wrong’, so be willing to share.

About Rachelle

Rachelle Stone is a 25+ year veteran of the Meetings & Convention Industry who, in 2014 left the industry to transition to full time Consulting & Executive Coaching after her own personal implosion.  She now guides business owners and stressed out executives through the strategic steps needed to breakthrough plateaus and glass ceilings, accelerate their growth trajectory, increase profits, dominate in their market and reach their goals WITHOUT burning out.