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This part addresses the new DMC with his/her next biggest challenge, turning requests into confirmed reservations. Remember: All requests are important however large or small.
It is of extreme importance that requests are treated with utmost efficiency and project the same quality and expertise image which the Destination Management Company established during its promotion efforts.
An excellent SITE seminar treating practical aspects of this subject and which is strongly recommend to all DMC’s to follow is: CREATING PROPOSALS THAT SELL.
Distribution of Requests
Depending on the size of the DMC and its international market target, the staff should be divided in general areas of operations or specific markets. For example, you could assign one person to reply to requests coming only from Scandinavia. The areas of responsibilities will depend on your size, available staff, market share and languages spoken.
Another way of dividing areas of responsibilities is the specificity of the business: Incentives, Meetings, Conventions, and Special Interest Tours.
Centralised control of all incoming requests is a most effective way of handling offers. Requests are evaluated, recorded and distributed to staff for handling according to urgency, work load, experience, importance and so on.
The choice is yours and depends on your company policy and the size of your operation. In any case it is very important (whenever possible) that the same person follows through and handles the file from sales to delivery. Clients do not want to be handed over to someone else unless there is an emergency or a very serious reason to do so.
Whatever the chosen distribution system it is recommended that each request is registered immediately in the computer system and categorised accordingly, as this will form the basis for your ongoing database. Some of the field elements which could be included in a registration form and which can be of great help later for “Contact Management” are the following:
- Date request was received
- Date request was replied
- Status of request i.e.
- REQ= Request not replied yet
- OFF= Offer made waiting client’s response
- CFM= Confirmed file
- FIN= File deposited, in operations stage or finalised
- XLD= Cancelled
- GEN= General request, no established value.
- Type of programme: Incentive, Meeting, Conference etc.
- Option for client expires on…..
- Date of next follow-up
- Estimated value
- Estimated revenue
- File handled by……
- Lead coming from……..
The above elements together with the company and programme name will permit a DMC consultant to follow at any moment the evolution of the file and make statistical studies which can help him/her to better plan in the future. Some examples of information which could be retrieved from the above fields:
- Minimal-maximal time for response.
- Number or volume of requests treated in a given period and by whom.
- Number of requests confirmed or finalised “year to date”
- Number of materialised files or cancelled, per client or staff.
- Established from where your leads come from, so you can recognise your collaborators better.(Representative, National Office, etc.)
- Projected peak seasons
These are only some recommendations, and the registration structure or use of it depends on the particular organisation of each DMC. Here is a sample of what a “request record” can look like.
Click image to enlarge
At the next issue: Handling of the Request
© Tasso Pappas CITE 
Tasso Pappas is President of the SITE Greek Chapter and served as President of SITE Intl. in 2000. This article is an extract from his book “To be or not to be a DMC” which he wrote in 1996 as his thesis for the certification CITE (Certified Incentive Travel Executive). More information about Tasso Pappas you can find at http://sites.google.com/site/tassopappasconsultancy/
Theodore is the Co-Founder and Managing Editor of TravelDailyNews Media Network; his responsibilities include business development and planning for TravelDailyNews long-term opportunities.
