Conference Centers Can Create Exceptional Experiences!

It’s All in the Experience
By Angela Nichols, Unique Venues

If you’re looking to increase sales this year, one commonly overlooked opportunity is repeat business from your existing customer base. The key to bringing clients back to your conference centers in the future is ensuring that they have an exceptional experience today. Orchestrating a positive customer experience is known as experiential marketing. Two unique conference centers, Garret Creek Ranch, in Paradise, TX and The Harrison Conference Center at Lake Bluff have shared some of their experiential marketing techniques to help illustrate the basic concepts.

Every Customer Has an Experience
Every customer has an experience, good bad or indifferent. This fact can work to your advantage or disadvantage. A positive experience can influence a customer’s memory of your venue in a positive way. A negative experience is the most difficult sales obstacle to overcome, and what’s worse, an unhappy customer will relate their bad experience to an average of ten people.

While you can’t create a specific customer experience, you can influence it with thousands of consistent cues from a smile and a handshake, to the décor and layout of a room, to aromas, background music, and even the temperature of the facilities.

“Meeting at Garrett Creek Ranch is an outdoor experience,” explains Sales Manager, Debra Williams. “The space is designed so that you can’t get to a meeting without breathing fresh air. We encourage lots of outdoor time and recreational activities. Even our technology is completely wireless so that meeting sessions can be held outside and people can check their email while sitting on their front porch or balcony.”

Experience is Formed Through Mechanics and Humanics
There are two broad categories of factors that influence customer experience. The first is the mechanics of the environment. This includes all the sensory stimuli present including sounds, smells, textures and visual elements. Most venues put a lot of thought into their décor, but the visual message can be magnified with elements such as scented candles or potpourri, background music or natural sounds, and lighting.

Amber Johnson is Director of Sales and Marketing at the Harrison Conference Center, a turn of the century estate on Chicago’s North Shore. “Our guests tell us they feel at home at Harrison,” says Johnson, “Which isn’t surprising because they are in a home! We have beautifully landscaped grounds with trees and a pool and wild deer. All of our meeting rooms have a lot of windows to let in the view and the natural daylight. It sets people at ease and helps them to think out of the box.”

The second category is called humanics. Humanics are the interactions that guests have with staff members at every level of your organization, from housekeeping, to wait staff, to the front desk. Think of the quality a skilled waiter or waitress can bring to an otherwise ordinary meal, or how a rude one can ruin the experience even when the food is outstanding.

“The service our staff provides really sets us apart,” says Debra Williams. “Guests have written us letters telling us about their experiences, and we post them on our ‘wall of fame.’ Many guests have said that our staff anticipated their needs before they were even aware of them.”

Think Beyond the Event
The customer’s experience begins long before they set foot on your property and lasts long after they leave. You should be thinking about how to set the stage for a positive experience from the very first customer contact. Experiential cues should be embedded in your web site, advertisements, and registration process. These cues create an expectation about the type of experience the guest is likely to have. “Garrett Creek Ranch is within an hour of the airport, “says Williams, “But we take advantage of the drive as unwind time. As they leave office life and take in the big open skies, you can actually see people begin to unwind.”

After a guest leaves your facility, you want to reinforce the memory of their experience. Take home mementos from your conference center and post-event correspondences are two good ways to accomplish this.

Experience is Strongly Influenced by Emotion
When a person describes a memorable experience, notice how they use words related to their feelings. Fun, exciting, relaxing, pampering, tranquil, and invigorating; theses are the types of words you will hear. Emotion is highly influenced by sensory stimuli. Basing an environment around a specific emotional response is a highly effective experiential marketing technique. It is most effective when the emotion evoked is one that the customer wants to experience. “The library is our most requested meeting room,” explains Amber Johnson. “There is something about the mahogany walls and rows of bookshelves that evoke a feeling of serious business. It makes people feel that what they are doing is important.”

“Our casual atmosphere really helps to break down barriers,” says Debra Williams. “Some people have never seen their executive management in jeans before. It puts everyone on a level playing field and facilitates communication.”

Make it Memorable
Once an experience is over, it continues on in the customer’s mind as a memory. The more pleasant and distinct the memory, the more lasting its effect will be. People remember what is interesting, personally relevant, unique or surprising. Look for ways to make the memory of your venue outlast those of all the other conferences your guests attend.

“Each of our cabins is named after a historical figure critical to the development of this area,” explains Williams. “The figure’s story is posted in the room and the décor reflects his or her personality. Each room is unique. Guests love visiting each other’s rooms just to read all the stories and see the variations.”

“Our grounds were designed by a prominent landscape architect,” says Amber Johnson. “We use them for outdoor parties, cookouts, and clambakes. We even offer a bonfire package complete with s’mores and hot cider. Groups are looking for anything that is different or unique. They are tired of the same old meetings.”

Unique conference centers like Garrett Creek Ranch, and the Harrison Conference Center have a head start toward creating a memorable experience for their clients, but any venue can apply the concepts of experiential marketing to their advantage. Take a good look around your facility and notice what naturally draws attention, evokes an emotion, or is unique and interesting. Use it as a starting point to create a memorable experience that will live on long after the event has ended.

Written by Angela Nichols, Unique Venues, a sales and marketing support firm specializing in non-traditional venues.

Article Source: http://content.all-seo.com

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