Successful Negotiating Techniques for Meeting Planners

Attrition, food and beverage, and even room cancellation clauses are all items that can be negotiated out of contracts — if you have the confidence and expertise to do so. How to acquire that confidence and expertise, and other potential bargaining chips to shore up your group’s bottom line, were covered in a recent Webinar given by Nancy Norman of Boston’s The Norman Group.

Norman, a longtime industry professional, is the author of several helpful books, such as “Contract Addendums with Negotiation Techniques that Work” and “Negotiating Success.” Here are her eight tips for successful negotiations:

(1) Be Straightforward and Honest, Yet Creative

Don’t look to manipulate, conceal, exaggerate or use special “tactics” to spring on the other side when negotiating, said Norman. It undermines the caliber of your professionalism and wards off trust. Instead, look at negotiations as “an honest, straightforward and fair plan of action, with the stress on saving and maximizing value with minimal risk for all involved… Be assertive, not aggressive, reasonable and astute… strive to be creative, innovative and exceed all expectations,” she said.

(2) Be Knowledgeable and Well-Networked

Knowing what you’re talking about is critical, said Norman. She advised planners to subscribe to industry newsletters to elevate their acumen to the highest possible level. In particular, reading up on contracting and the inner workings of a hotel will help planners understand what operational items might be most negotiable. In addition, she urged planners to constantly cultivate their relationships with hoteliers, staying in touch over the phone, joining industry groups and the committees in those groups, as well as getting “face time” with them at luncheons and industry events.

(3) Do Your Homework

Read every contract carefully, flagging any pitfalls you find. Then do comprehensive preparation upfront, strategizing your method of how to handle the risks and liabilities contained within it, said Norman. “Take note of any requests you have that the hotel may not accept easily and then decide how you’ll specifically surmount any of their objections. Use exacting persuasion of the merits of your position on each matter,” she said. “If you emphasize the mutual benefits for each party, the other party will be quicker to agree with you.” Be sure to prepare a “Plan B” with backup for any objections you feel you might face, she added. If necessary, prepare your own addendum to deal with the clauses that pose risk and liability for your company, and fight to keep the wording of your addendum in place, striking out the hotel’s clauses to avoid duplication.

(4) Consider the Strengths and Weaknesses of Each Party’s Position

Each party has strengths and weaknesses; use your strengths as leverage, said Norman. For example, you might be a frequent user of a particular hotel or chain, have a group that brings in profitable business year after year, have participants who bring in additional revenue to the hotel in the form of golf and spa usage, on-site meals or room service. They may even bring their families with them, combining business and pleasure — that translates into additional revenue to the property. What matters most to the hotel is profit, she said. A hotel’s strengths might be a location with good airlift or an experienced and friendly staff; its weaknesses might be lack of a complimentary airport shuttle, decreased room service hours or a temporarily closed fitness center. Be open and flexible to earn trust and understand that there will be tradeoffs, she said.

(5) Keep Certain Facts Under Wraps at First

Never divulge your meeting budget to anyone for any reason, said Norman, because if the hotel knows how much you have to spend, they’ll help you spend it. Also be sure to keep your group room rate request to yourself upfront, leaving it until a time when it might help with negotiations as a concession. “Room rates are important but not the most important part of the contract and are easily negotiated later,” she said.

(6) Be an Active Listener

Being savvy on contracting is important but it’s putting that knowledge into action that will make you a successful negotiator, said Norman. “Listen for nuances. Determine early if the person on the other side has the contracting ability and authority that’s necessary for your negotiations. If you feel it’s not adequate, explain that without criticism and ask to speak to the Director of Sales.

(7) Be Aware of What Might Be Negotiable

Norman said that removal of the attrition clause is attainable because it’s not the meeting planner’s job to be an expert guesser of who’s going to attend, and is also not their job to “make the hotel whole again” in the case of empty rooms. She also said that savvy planners can get the food and beverage attrition clause waived, explaining “how can you really know who’s going to eat what? Past history is often irrelevant… If the weather’s good, some people always skip the meal to go outside… the hotel knows what to do with leftover food. They might refrigerate it, save it for another group.”  Norman has also had success waiving the room cancellation clause, especially after 9/11, and also asking for the very lowest guest rate, taking into account that there are many rates to consider, ranging from government rates to aircrew rates, corporate rates to housing bureau rates. Other negotiable items:

o Daily Complimentary Breakfast
o Complimentary Audio/Visual Equipment
o 30% Discount on All Staff/Speaker Rooms
o Complimentary Utilities/Maintenance for Exhibit Area (or at least 50% off)
o 10% Credit off Master Account
o 20% Off Room Service
o 1 Complimentary Room for every 25 Picked Up (make sure any rooms earned are credited to the master account)
o Complimentary Airport Shuttle Transfers
o 2 Complimentary Breaks Per Day with Your Input for the Menu
o 1 Free Meal for Every 50 Served (monitor this carefully!)

(8) Use Negotiation Skills All the Time

Concessions aren’t just in vogue during a bad economy, said Norman. The more practice and experience you get, the more adept and savvy a negotiator you will become.