Savvy venues are realising that they need to take a leaf out of the hotel industry’s book and offer a greater choice for online bookings.
With staff shortages in the industry and an audience of digitally conversant event bookers, venues are realising that they need to improve efficiencies while offering a great digital experience.
Let’s explore three great ways that venue operators can improve productivity, generate revenue online and close more business thanks to integration with the Rendezvous event space booking software.
Online bookings for smaller space
Thanks to integration between the venue’s website and solutions such as the Rendezvous event space booking software venues can now offer their smaller room inventory to be booked immediately.
The integration offers a number of benefits:
- Saves admin time – no need to enter bookings into the bookings diary – it’s all automated!
- Enquiries don’t fall through the cracks – event bookers get an immediate answer and don’t have to wait for an email or phone call
- It’s instant – event bookers can see what space is available and pay for it there and them
- You can sell space 24/7 365 days a year
- It enables bookers to make simple bookings easily and quickly
- A great digital experience – easy-to-use widgets make it a fast and efficient process for your clients
- Frees up your sales staff – the system takes care of small bookings so your sales staff can concentrate their time on chasing RFPs and larger scale enquiries.
Leverage third-party booking sites
These are an important channel for driving leads and now, thanks to integration with Rendezvous event space booking software, sites such as Venue Directory offer a tremendous immediate revenue opportunity too.
Thanks to the integration:
- Event bookers can book in seconds thanks to Venue Directory’s Instant Book feature
- You can rest easy knowing that all the client details and bookings are captured automatically in Rendezvous
- You will be leveraging their digital marketing expertise while being exposed to the largest online database available to the MICE industry
- You have full control of which rooms you want to make available for booking – there is no risk of losing larger events – you choose which days to block out
- Staff are freed up to reply to RFPs generated through the system
Utilise a powerful CRM
Of course, not all enquiries are going to be for small meeting rooms. For those events with longer lead times or more complexity, such as weddings, then a solution is required for longer-term lead nurturing, client engagement and sales management.
A CRM solution such as Microsoft Dynamics offers venue businesses the tools they need:
- Easy creation of lead nurture email marketing campaigns
- Marketing automation – campaigns can be triggered immediately to, for example, returning visitors to your site
- Lead scoring and sales automation – sales approach are notified of motivated leads for follow up at just the right time in the sales process
- All client communications easily accessible from one place – your team will always create a great and professional impression
- Industry-leading reporting – sales managers can quickly evaluate which opportunities need special attention
While Dynamics is a great solution in its own right, integration with the Rendezvous event space booking software offers some powerful additional features:
Full visibility of the booking diary – ideal for client show rounds
A wealth of historical booking data – great for driving customer retention programs
More productivity – once a booking is signed off in Dynamics all the details are immediately updated in Rendezvous – no need to rekey in data ever!
Further integrations such as between e-signature software, such as Signable, ensure a total frictionless, paperless and efficient sales process both for you and your clients.
Conclusion
The events industry is ripe for digital transformation. Offering a best of breed and integrated approach is one that NFS has long advocated for. Picking the right tools for the job is key for venues who want to succeed as is selecting the right online channels.
Tools that can manage online engagement while driving efficiency in your sales teams are the order of the day.
Watch the case study and Microsoft Dynamics videos below to discover how Rendezvous can revolutionise your operation.
