Insight
The MICE segment (Meetings, Incentives, Conferences, Events) is one of the most demanding areas of sales in the HoReCa industry. The sales process covers not only the hotel or conference offering but also the design of a comprehensive experience for the business client -- from event logistics to attendee service and quality of delivery.
At the same time, sales in the MICE segment is often conducted reactively. Salespeople respond to enquiries, prepare quotations, and present event organisation proposals, but rarely manage the sales process in a way that enables them to actively influence the client's purchasing decision.
An additional challenge is that purchasing decisions in the MICE segment are made by various types of clients -- from HR and marketing departments, through event agencies, to procurement teams in large corporations. Each of these stakeholders has different evaluation criteria, different expectations, and a different decision-making approach.
In many organisations, MICE sales focuses primarily on preparing an attractive offer and competitive pricing, rather than deliberately managing the sales conversation, diagnosing the client's real needs, and building an advantage in the decision-making process.
Business Consequence
As a result, MICE sales very often comes down to price competition between hotels or conference venues.
Salespeople prepare many proposals, yet only a proportion result in a signed contract. A large volume of enquiries places a burden on sales teams while not always translating into a proportional increase in events delivered.
Additionally, the lack of a clearly defined enquiry qualification process means that sales teams also spend time on projects with a low probability of materializing.
Our Approach
We support hotels, conference venues, and event space operators in building a professional MICE sales model.
The foundation of our projects is the Sandler Selling System, which enables a shift from reactive selling -- based solely on responding to enquiries -- to a consultative sales model in which the salesperson actively guides the client's decision-making process. Sandler techniques allow precise qualification of enquiries as early as the first conversation (the PAIN -- BUDGET -- DECISION model), enabling teams to focus their effort on the highest-potential opportunities.
Our typical advisory projects include:
- Developing MICE salespeople's sales competencies based on the Sandler methodology
- Designing an enquiry qualification process
- Implementing a standard sales conversation with corporate clients
- Developing negotiation competencies in event and conference sales
- MICE sales pipeline management
Team
Head: Andrzej Skowronski
Consultants: Dariusz Milczarek, Lukasz Pawul, Krzysztof Rzepkowski
