CITY OF VIRGINIA BEACH
Standard Operating Procedures LOST Bulletin Management Sally Noona/August 2012 August 1, 2012
This overview is intended for all Managers and their Assistants within the Convention Sales, Sports Marketing & Services Unit of the VBCVB and offers SOPs in the development and management of Lost Bulletins within the sales process.
Standard Operating Procedures LOST Bulletin Management Sally Noona/August 2012
1. Purpose _______________________________________________________________________ A Lost Bulletin for the City of Virginia Beach represents a piece of group room night business lost to a competitor. Understanding why we lost a piece of business offers an insight into how our product competes within the industry – are we lacking in development, quality of product or infrastructure to support group business… Because future reporting and/or development will be derived from the recording of this data, careful management, accountability and consistency within the lost bulletin process are a MUST within the sales process.
2. Scope _______________________________________________________________________ The following SOPs are intended for the all Managers and Sales Assistants of the Convention Sales, Sports Marketing Unit. Lost Bulletin preparation, management and execution are a managed through careful collaboration between all parties involved in the sales process.
3. Prerequisites _______________________________________________________________________ All Managers and assistants should have access to and knowledge of the following: A computer and a telephone Access to USI/EBMS and have knowledge in use of this CRM Access to and commitment from Virginia Beach partners Knowledge and use of Excel, Word
4. Responsibilities _______________________________________________________________________ The development and execution of Lost Bulletins is a collaborative effort between the Managers and the Assistants. Total lost business room night figures are important measurements of the sales’ team’s attempts of booking business – the reasons for lost are equally important and have the potential of driving new developments, processes and insights. Therefore, the successful management of this data is crucial to our Department’s overall perceived worth as an organization.
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Procedure- SOP
_______________________________________________________________________ Once a planner verbally shares that Virginia Beach has lost a specific meeting/event, a detailed process (SOP) must take place based on the TYPE of Meeting wishing to be turned lost. Therefore, the following procedures must be adhered to for a lost piece of business to be processed within the sales process at the VBCVB:
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Standard Operating Procedures LOST Bulletin Management Sally Noona/August 2012
5.1 Steps for Processing a LOST Bulletin 1. Before creating a lost bulletin, the SM must include a LOST REASON EXPLANATION in the diary of the meeting detailing WHY VA BEACH lost this piece of business so that our City and its partners can better compete in the next round – try and get client to place in writing whenever possible - listing the most important reason first. 2. Non Responsive Clients: Before creating a lost bulletin for a nonresponsive client especially if the lead involves venues and more than 2 hotels – exhaustive attempts need to have been made on trying to reach client and the organization. I need to see the following diary entries:
Calls and email attempts along with the requests to set up an appointment to discuss Calls to an additional contact in file re: activity of opportunity Adjustment of Close Date A Release of Space letter with a specific deadline date for a response
Special Note: if you have a non-responsive client and the meeting uses a venue/VBCC and/or is citywide, be sure to exhaust all efforts before putting through as a loss. Once you process a loss, you cannot reopen or change status without creating a new meeting opportunity which sends the wrong message to our partners…So please consult the DOS/SMC to review with you before processing a lost bulletin for this reason. 3. The SM creates a LOST Bulletin with the MAIN reason for losing the business as their first reason under the lost business drop down fields – NOTE: if one of the reasons for lost has anything to do with lack of HQ Hotel, that should be the first reason entered for loss 4. Notes must be entered into the meeting diary and placed onto the bulletin 5. Distribute to all hotels/venues on the distribution list 6. Trace file to see if and when we can re-bid for business and what we have learned from this experience 7. Once we have a lost bulletin in the system it should never be changed or altered. As time passes and history is to be collected for the year we lost, a new meeting with the status of History would need to be added to this opportunity with an historical status. All historical information would be placed here (not on the lost meeting status).
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Standard Operating Procedures LOST Bulletin Management Sally Noona/August 2012 8. Send a personal letter thanking client for the opportunity to bid and that we hope to have the chance in the near future once again (where it makes sense/sample in template file) Note: If this is a multi-year opportunity, know that the same process must be followed for all years that leads were generated… Special Note: Because future development is based not only on Booked Business but also on LOST BUSINESS Opportunities, the file management of these two bulletin types is extremely critical – Random Audits will be run as well as inception reports to make sure that the following areas were done accurately: o Type of Bulletin is accurate o Was this a NEW VBCC opportunity o Single or Multi-Year Bid o History was intact o Competition VA Beach lost to is complete if possible
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References _______________________________________________________________________
USI Training Manual – Modification Project 2012 o Diary Entry Types Section o Folder Section o Distribution Section o Bulletin Section o General Meeting Tab Sales Tool Kit – X driver/Convention Sales/Sales Tool Kit/Forms/Thank you for the opportunity
7 Definitions _______________________________________________________________________ Meeting Types: In-House (one hotel/no other venue): Definition: Meeting/Sports group business that meets in a self-contained Virginia Beach Hotel Product.
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Standard Operating Procedures LOST Bulletin Management Sally Noona/August 2012 In-House with Overflow: Definition: Meeting/sports group business that meets in one hotel and overflows to an additional product and may or may not use an additional City venue that is NOT the VA Beach Convention Center Convention Center Business (up to 2 hotels + VBCC): Definition: Meeting/Sports Marketing Business that uses the Virginia Beach Convention Center as its main venue and uses up to two hotels to complete its room night block
Convention Center/Citywide (3 or more hotels using the VBCC) Definition: Meeting/Sports Marketing Business that uses the Virginia Beach Convention Center as its main venue and uses 3 or more hotels to complete its room night block Citywide (3 or more hotels/NO Venue other than a Primary Hotel) Definition: Meeting/Sports Marketing Business that 3 or more hotels and NO other alternative venue other than the hotels to complete its room night block Alternative Venue/Citywide (3 or more hotels using a City Venue that is NOT the VBCC) Definition: Meeting/Sports Marketing Business that uses a City venue (NOT the VBCC) as its main venue and uses 3 or more hotels to complete its room night block
Alternative Venue & 1-2 Hotels: Definition: Meeting/Sports Marketing Business that uses an alternative venue (NOT the VBCC) and up to 2 hotels to complete its room night block
Multi-Year RFP/Booking: Definition: A multi-year RFP is an opportunity with more than one host year to be awarded (or lost) in the sales process; therefore it is not an either/or proposition, it is an all or nothing deal.
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