It can be hard to book an event. The best analogy I can use, is that of a golf course architect. His mind is absolutely filled with artistry of design. He knows exactly how he wants it to look, an absolute work of art…the problem is… the part he spends the most time thinking about is actually a mere 10% of the job. 90% of the job, is figuring out how the hell to get the job. So it really comes down to who is good at that.
An owner of a course, might tell his or her marketing person, “go get some more outings” and the marketing person floods social media with “Book Your Outing Here”. Good luck with that approach. As all of you know in sales… it’s selling. And sales…is tough. The groups you want, you find out you had no chance. The groups that weren’t the right fit, are begging to use you to host. One group decides to leave your place…ironically for the very same reason another group decides to come to your place…and I’ve had this happen on the same day.
You often feel pressure to be everything that the other course wasn’t for a group, but you can also find the group that was treated so poorly, that simply being a decent human through the process is a substantial uptick for them. You have groups that love your prices, groups that hate your prices…even though both groups are charged the same.
Sometimes groups claim the product is too nice for their clients, some say it’s not nice enough. You can tell that some groups would be better off having their event here, some might actually be worse off. That doesn’t even begin to touch the idea on whether the golf course will be better off having that event. I’ll be honest, bar outings are not my thing, I’d rather have a colonoscopy.
In my younger years I wanted every event I spoke too. I took it hard when we didn’t get to host them. Granted, back then, I thought it was always my screw up that costed us. Classic perfectionist mentality. Over time, I found out, I really don’t have any control. Like none! People create thoughts. Thoughts go unquestioned. There is a chain reaction to unquestioned thoughts. Outings come and go over ideas they made up. I never had a chance….and in other cases, I can’t crew it up.
Back to the point… I really enjoy the sales component…you know, the 90% of the job. You have to, it’s the only way to create opportunities. RSPGL has helped so many companies and non-profits over the last 20 years. By being genuine, insightful and hard working, it hasn’t been as hard to book events. And I’m still learning sales, 20 years from now…I’ll still be learning sales.
