A Test of team

Venue Performance founder Peter Heath indulges in some sports analogies as the sector sees the number of meetings fall, but the size increase

In May we have seen 14% fewer sales - so 14% fewer people committing to a future event  - and 7% fewer events happening during the month, year on year. And on the face of it, that doesn’t give us much to celebrate.

However, delegation sizes are going up. In May, they increased by 15%, which means fewer events, but bigger. And revenue per delegate has gone up by a whopping 28%, which is wild. So fewer events, bigger events, spending more money. And the lead time? Up by 9%.

The overall volume of events is dropping a little. Generally speaking, there are there are fewer events, but those taking place are larger.

This is good news for the sector, but makes it higher stakes for your sales team. To use a sporting analogy; often, the difference between a win or a loss is marginal. The difference in skill can be very small indeed.

And that matters in a sporting final, where the only options are winning or losing. And until recently, when we were seeing a large volume of small events, it didn’t matter so much if your sales team missed out on an event. They could have priced it wrong, or maybe they’re just not very good.

Now, with more big events dominating, one big event could make or break your month, which could, in turn, make or break a quarter. In this case, a miss is as good as a mile and for those Test matches, those Premiership finals, you want your experienced, quality people to stand up and deliver. And if your team, or your product, or your processes are not on the money, you’re going to miss out.

Now the market is changing, how can you adapt? It’s about knowing your customers, actually having a strategy, having a proper team and approach. Process and an application to understand your business, because just banging it out isn't going to work anymore. So what is your strategy? Are your processes good? Are you? Are you quick in responding? Do you have the quality of people that know what they're talking about when they do talk to a customer? Do you have your team that delivers an exceptional event when you do deliver one?

Just like the cricketer at the crease, you have to take every chance, run every run. Keep turning the scoreboard over. And then, when the time is right, you get your boundaries. It only takes one and then the game changes. It's the ability to keep going, even when you're exhausted and you've been out in the middle, all day, in the boiling hot sun, to keep going and then get the breakthrough. And some people can't do that. Some people aren't fit enough. Some people aren't strong enough. Some people aren't good enough. But the ones that are will be your winners.