When I was Assistant Conference and Banqueting Manager in Ashford Kent back in 1990 before the internet came along it was much more time consuming for us and the prospective guests to come to a final decision. I will give you a couple of examples on how decisions were made back then.
For the bride and groom looking for a venue it was only by word of mouth or referral you would ever get their business. Unless you had loads of money to spend on sending out wedding information via Yellow Pages it was tough slugging back then. Brochures and lots of phone calls and follow ups were needed.The goal of all this was simply to get them in the door. Rarely were they pre-qualified.
Today they can get all the information on the internet before they call you. They have a good idea that you have what they want these days when entering your door. All the proprietor has to do is close them on the deal.
Then there were the conferences that we did over the length of time I worked at this position. England being the gateway to the rest of Europe we hosted many people from many countries who spoke many different languages. The competition to hold such events in the pre- internet era in which I worked was daunting enough and time consuming.
First we would call and try to talk to the decision maker. That would take a few days playing phone tag then they would request some information. You would send out a brochure and wait till they got it and follow up with a phone call and hopefully a subsequent appointment.
Show them around then sit down and discuss price. You would quote them something not knowing if they had checked something out earlier and got a lower quote or higher quote. Then they would go back and discuss the offer with their peers.
Both arranging banquets and conferences were all too time consuming in those days. Half the time the person we were dealing with was looking for something we couldn’t offer for whatever reason. We really never could go too far outside of our area of influence without the internet either.
But now a venue can. With the internet there are no boundaries. No language barrier. You can put files on a web site of your conference rooms and ball rooms outlining seating capacities. Menus and wine menus are on the website.
A client can now look and see your entire venue on a website and come to the conclusion that your place is what they want. Sure it is always good to talk on the phone and prospect future guests but now you can direct them to a website instead.
Life is simpler for the owner but not necessarily so for the shopper. Now there is too much choice out there. The shopper would like a site with one stop shopping where every venue can be found. They don’t have time to search one by one a place to contact.
Now there is such a site to do just that.
Click on the link venue hire London to choose from an entire list of locations in London England available to you for your next event. It is your one stop shopping site to help you decide which venue best suits your needs. There is no doubt it will save you time and money.
stevennicolle 