It’s the Most Beautiful Time of the Year
Here’s a Fun Plan to Get the Most Out of the Holiday Season
By Beth Standlee, CEO, TrainerTainment
Don’t you love the holidays? Tis the season to party! For those of us responsible for event sales what could be better? Oh wait! It’s hectic and stressful, too. There’s too much to do and not enough time to do it all. Maybe you didn’t match last year’s sales and you find yourself scrambling for last-minute bookings. And what about the weather? It can be so unpredictable and can put a kink in the success of the season. With that in mind, let’s create our own 12 days of winter fun to spread joy and make this holiday season something to celebrate.
Day 1 –– Plan for fun. Use a checklist for every event. Check it early and often. Distribute it to each team –– operations, food and beverage, and sales, of course.
Day 2 –– Have a weekly BEO (Banquet and Events Order) meeting with the teams mentioned above. A short daily huddle to review the details of the day’s events is also a good idea.
Day 3 –– Keep up with your outbound sales effort. It’s super easy at this time of year to lose sight of the day to day activities that keep the phone ringing. You don’t want to get to the end of December and wonder where all the bookings have gone. Stay consistent. Find the time to continue to build new business.
Day 4 –– Create a new customer from each event or party that you have during December. Remember, guests at each celebration may have a spouse who works for another company, may coach a sports team, be a member of a charitable organization, teach a Sunday school class and more. New opportunity is easily within your grasp with all the people you’ll see this month!
Day 5 –– Call every January birthday that you’ve held in the last three years. Be the first to wish them happy birthday, find out where they are planning to party this year, and of course invite them to celebrate at your center!
Day 6 –– Check with retail locations. Find out if they take time to celebrate after their busy holiday season. The most successful centers have giant January group sales because they host all of those department stores and many hospitality locations who can’t party during December.
Day 7 –– Strengthen your sales muscle. It’s easy to lapse into “reservationist mode” during this time. Everyone wants to party during the holidays so booking is easy. However this is a great time to make sure you are using a strong sales process like Connecting, Qualifying, Proposing and Closing (CQPC). When you follow this sales process you can shorten the sales cycle and garner a higher price per event.
Day 8 –– Decorate a little. Add a small festive touch to your office, your blouse/shirt, party room or front desk and encourage others to do the same. Make it a surprise. I’ve never seen the kind of energy that comes from trying to surprise someone with something little. It truly is the little things that mean a lot.
Day 9 –– Sponsor a toy or food drive. Many children might not have the means or the family support to have fun in your entertainment center. With a toy and/or food drive you can spread some goodness outside your four walls. Get your staff committed to this campaign and deliver some happiness to those who struggle.
Day 10 –– Say “Happy Holidays” out loud to everyone. You’ll smile when you say it. Look people in the eye and say it from your heart. Wishing others a happy time reinforces that you mean for this to be a beautiful time of year for you and them.
Day 11 –– Have a Santa Selfie Station. Make it easy for people to brag about spending some of their party time at your facility. A real Santa is super fun and a cut-out Santa could be available all the time. Santa Selfies will create “social” success for your center!
Day 12 –– Express gratitude every day in every way to everyone. I always try to focus on thanking others. At this time of the year, I practice intently by writing down the things I’m most thankful for each day. I also encourage you to take the time to hand write thank you notes on a daily basis. Everyone moves so fast during this time of year and when you slow down to thank someone, it will not only be good for them, but it will bring you joy to take grateful action.
I hope you’ve had a great year. My wish is that this holiday season is full of joy and thanksgiving for you, your team, your guests, and your family.
Beth is the CEO of TrainerTainment LLC, a training company devoted to the family entertainment and hospitality industries. Beth and her team are focused on helping the companies they serve make more money through sales, guest service, leadership and social media marketing training. Training products and services are delivered in person, through books and DVDs, and virtually with e-learning courses, webinar development and 24/7 online access. Visit her company’s website at www.trainertainment.com.