Section 3: Operations / processes

Depending on where you are in your business events journey, you may consider investing in appropriate software. You will find this becomes an integral part of your day-to-day engagement with clients and venues. There are many different software providers available some are designed specifically for Convention Bureaus or DMOs but you may find other more generic software more appropriate for your business. This guide does not endorse or recommend one software provider over another as it depends on your individual circumstances and needs.

When to consider software systems

How are you currently managing your customers? You may have an existing CRM system in your organisation that could be used to also manage your business events clients. This may be a cheap and suitable option if you are not making accommodation bookings or if you are only handling a small number of venue enquiries each year.

You may simply be using an Excel or Google Sheets file or similar however, once the number of enquiries grows or you begin to offer accommodation booking services you will need to think about the best options to manage these bookings which will enable you to track business and also claim (and forecast) commission income if relevant to you.

Software costs

Costs vary enormously depending on requirements. Some systems are based on a fee per user so it will depend on how many members of staff have access to this. Others may have unlimited users but charge a flat fee for a fixed number of bookings per year. All systems will have prices for basic and enhanced functionality. Do shop around and get quotes from at least three suppliers along with demonstrations of how to use it to ensure that it is the right fit for your destination’s needs. 

The income you are generating from commission could be used to fund an annual subscription to relevant software but it’s important to get your forecasting right to establish if this is the best option for you and your organisation. For example, if you are generating 100k in commission income then a cost of 10k for a software system is reasonable. However, if you are generating much less than this then you will have to weigh up whether it is feasible and affordable for you to invest in the software.

Set-up / training & procurement

It can take a long time to set up a software system for managing venue enquiries or accommodation bookings as you (or the supplier) will need to provide a vast range of information for each property including images, capacities and terms and conditions.

Ensure you allow sufficient time to get the system set up and for your staff to be trained. You will also likely need to arrange training for your hotels and venues if they are going to be using the system to respond to the enquiries you send through it. Allow approximately four to six months for uploading information, onboarding, training and implementation of the system. 

Given the time and energy it can take to procure software, you may wish to consider a longer contract e.g. three years with one supplier and include a get-out clause after 12 months in case it does not work for you. 

Essentials to consider when selecting software

These are things to consider and are not intended to be an exhaustive list of everything to include in procurement. Your organisation will have its own rules and regulations and you should undertake your own due diligence as part of the procurement process.

In advance of procuring software:

• What timeline are you working towards?
• What budget do you have?
• Who will be using it? How many licenses?
• What functionality is essential for your work? What is a nice to have?
• Speak to other destinations about what they use get a true picture of what is available.

Questions to ask suppliers:

• How long is the set-up process?
• Does the cost include training and onboarding for internal staff and external suppliers?
• Would there be additional costs for training new staff?
• What happens to the data if you cancel your contract?
• Can you import your existing enquiries / database?
• How does it connect to the wider organisation’s CRM/database system?
• Where and how is the data stored? How is it stored? Who has responsibility for any data breach?

Things to consider before awarding contracts:

• Is it cost-effective, for example, will you make enough commission to cover the cost of the software?
• Allow time for procurement, engagement with your IT department (if relevant) and demonstrations (sometimes this can take months).
• If you can, commit to more than one year (with a get-out clause after 12 months if it’s not working for you) as it will take you a few months to get everything set-up and everyone trained.
• What are the capabilities for the future? Could it incorporate real-time bookings? Connect with venues directly etc.?
• Ensure they run through an example of managing an enquiry from start to finish using the software.

CRM Systems (Customer Relationship Management)

There are two pieces of software that you may need to consider — Venue Enquiry Software and Accommodation Booking Software.

Venue enquiry software

As this kind of software is relatively niche, there are only a few providers of specific software for managing venue enquiries — Simpleview and Venue Directory (Gratis) are two examples. These programmes enable you as a destination to send out an enquiry to multiple venues to check availability and prices on behalf of your client. Some also create proposals automatically based on the information received back from the suppliers. 

You may find that your existing CRM software has this capability but it may not be designed specifically for this purpose and would therefore need upgrading to create this option (if indeed it is possible).

Venue enquiry software is also often used to manage contracted rooms for conferences. This is where the organiser will pay for a fixed number of bedrooms in one transaction. This might be to accommodate the board or speakers for an association conference, or for all the delegates for a corporate conference where the organisers pay for everything.

Accommodation booking software

If you are planning to manage blocks of accommodation for your events, then you will either need to invest in some software to do this or partner with an agency who can do the bookings on your behalf. Examples of such software are Groupmax (Passkey) by CVENT and Hotelplanner — there are others, but these are the two used more often in the UK.

A block of accommodation is when you as the destination hold a set number of rooms at a variety of hotels at a fixed rate. These rates are negotiated by the destination business events team or CVB on behalf of the organiser. The block is then made available for booking via a special link or code on the CVB accommodation booking software. 

For example, you may have the World Congress on Opthalmology for 1,000 people taking place in your destination and you have blocks of 50, 100 or 150 rooms in various hotels. You need to provide a unique booking link, URL to the organisers so that they can share this with the attendees. They would use the link to access the rooms from your allocation and make bookings. Generally, they secure them with credit card (or sometimes select the option to be invoiced) so payment is not taken by you but by the hotel on arrival. The software usually allows the hotels to log in and see how many rooms have been booked so that they can transfer them to their hotel’s own booking system. 

Managing accommodation bookings can be very resource intensive. You will have to decide if you need a dedicated telephone number or email for bookings, changes or cancellations in order to manage these effectively and quickly. You also need to factor in the time it will take after the event to reconcile the final bookings with the hotels so that you can calculate your commission. Once you have determined the amount of commission owed you would invoice the hotel for this. Generally it is between 8% and 10% depending on whether VAT is included or not. You will need to factor in the administration of invoicing sometime a significant number of hotels and also chasing for payments.

An important point to note regarding blocks of accommodation like this is that often the hotels will be selling their rooms cheaper on other booking sites like booking.com. This can be raised as an issue by some organisers and delegates. Usually, there is a difference in the terms and conditions — with rooms offered to the CVB more favourable whereas rooms on booking.com might be non-refundable. Ensure that your hotels are giving you the best rates possible and that your client understands the difference to avoid any difficult situations arising.

You need a mix of skills to be successful when working in business events — sales, marketing, project management are all useful skills. LinkedIn is a useful resource to build your network and advertise any vacancies. If you have budget you may consider advertising through media channels such as Delegate Wranglers or even appoint a headhunter for the right position. 

Recruiting individuals who have an existing network is useful as this enables proactive business development / researching new bid opportunities from the association sector

Salaries vary depending on the job role which can be very different depending on the scale and scope of the destination and the LVEP/CVB set up locally.

Essentials

You may have one person focused on business events either wholly or as part of a wider remit.

Established

You likely have more than one person or a small team looking after proactive sales and reactively managing incoming enquiries. However, you are likely still reliant on other teams to support with marketing and communications.

Advanced

You will have a team or a CVB set up with additional staff looking after ambassador programmes, marketing and comms, bidding and research.