In a lot of press releases, many international 4 and 5-star hotels are emphasising that they will be going big on MICE, which stands for Meetings, Incentives, Conventions (or Conferences) and Exhibitions (or Events), in the immediate future. In fact, most of their advertisements are promoting their MICE packages. In an even bigger picture, almost all experts are saying that the future of the hospitality business lie in MICE.
Being an event organiser myself, here are some tips for the MICE sales person to optimise MICE sales revenue and profits, especially if the sales person has been selling rooms all this while:
1. MICE need NOT be big events. In fact most meetings held in hotels are for 30 pax or less. The mistake that a lot of hospitality sales people make is to assume all MICE are large events that will at the same time fill up their 400 rooms. In the same vein, the problem with a lot of hospitality sales people when serving MICE customers is to also focus more on selling the rooms, rather than how to help the customer organise a successful event.
2. Small events can lead to bigger ones, especially when the event organiser would like to test a hotel or resort on a smaller scale before organising a big one at that hotel or resort.
3. Event organisers are NOT architects or interior designers. They don't have a clue how large is 1,000 m2 or 500 m2. What they need is to know how many people can fit into the room under what kinds of seating arrangements.
4. If you have a showroom for your rooms, you can also have a showroom for your meeting rooms where the tables are set and the room is lit. Better still, show your customer some video clips of your past successful events that were held at your hotel or resort.
5. While the hardware is important, MICE delegates and participants are more concerned about the "experience" from the time they arrive to the time they leave the hotel or resort. Similarly, events organisers will definitely appreciate the efforts of any hospitality sales people who can make the arrangements such that the organiser can have a peace of mind for their events.
6. While MICE sales people are usually not required to be present, event organisers expect every detail to go according to what has transpired with the sales person. The excuse that every event organiser HATES to hear is the sales person saying, "But I have informed F&B to ... ..." Event organisers, just like any customer, will hold the MICE sales person accountable for ALL results, good and bad.
7. Event organisers sometimes have to switch to a different hotel in a different city for their next event, even though they are very appreciative of the hotel or resort staff doing all they could to help create a great event. When that happens, be gracious and pro-active to refer one of your sister properties to your customer. When you do that frequent enough, your sister properties will return the favour too.
If you can ensure success for your Event Organiser customer, chances are the event organiser will be back for their future events. Your job is NEVER to just "peddle" the meeting rooms, nor even the F&B or the related facilities.
Your goal is to help the organiser organise successful events.