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what meeting planners hear

What Meeting Planners Hear When You Put Them Off

Are you wondering why meeting planners don’t trust you?  It may be because you’ve used one of the below phrases at some point in the negotiations process with them.  Meeting partners can often use phrases that make meeting planners pause and wonder where the trust-build transparent relationship went between the two of you.  Are you saying things to clients that erode the trust-built relationship you’re building?

When meeting partners use some commonly used phrases, what is it that meeting planners hear when you say these things to them?

Here’s what you say, and here’s what meeting planners hear:

“Let me check with my revenue manager” – here’s what meeting planners hear – “our relationship is now out of my hands and into a stranger’s.”

“Call our AV guys, here’s his number.” – here’s what meeting planners hear – “I can’t be bothered to connect the two of you.”

“I’m passing you along to Sue Smith who handles our market of 50 rooms or under” – here’s what meeting planners hear – “I’m handing you over to a stranger even though I want you to have a trust relationship with our hotel and brand.”

‘I’m introducing you to our Conference Services Manager.  He will help you the rest of the way with your program.” – here’s what meeting planners hear – “now that the contract is signed, I don’t need to connect with you anymore.”

Some of these phrases may seem unavoidable, but with some forethought we can turn these statement around into a trust-building exercise.

Instead of…. Try this:

Instead of “Let me check with my revenue manager”, try “I know this is important to you and I’m going to see if I can make this work for you.  Let me take this to my team and explain your position in a way that may help us get you what you need.”

Instead of “Call our AV guys”, try “Let me introduce you via email to our AV team.  I’m always on hand for your AV questions, but Peter is really is the expert on this.  He’s amazing and has worked on programs very similar to yours in the past.”

Instead of “I’m passing you along to Sue who handles 50 rooms and under.”, try “I have a colleague who is fantastic with ensuring smaller groups feel comfortable in our larger spaces.   It would be great if she could learn about your group as well!  You’ll love working with her (almost as much as you love working with me :))

And finally, instead of “I’m introducing you to your CSM, see you later.” try “I’m introducing you to your CSM, but I’ll also be checking in regularly to see how you’re doing.  I really enjoyed working on this program with you, I’m excited to see it become a reality very soon!”

And friends, meeting planners also have the tendency to say some pretty funny/nasty  stuff too – check out one of my favourite YouTube videos about Sh*t Meeting Planners Say – soooo true 🙂

Are there things you catch yourself saying, that you fear may be harming your relationship with meeting planners?  How can we help turn them around into trust-building statements?

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