Growing Group sales

Selling to Groups

Group sales have proven to be one of the most stable channels to drive revenue at experienced-based operations. These types of reservations are so valuable because they typically fall outside the normal variability we face like weather, consumer demand and behaviors, and more.

There are several ways you can approach groups and bundled packages. In some cases, you might be looking at pricing vs. a low demand day like a weekday or shoulder season day. In other cases, you might charge near retail value if it’s important for that group to come on a weekend when you’d typically be busy anyway. And some are in the middle. A birthday party or school group, for example, might be looked at as a loss leader.

The driving philosophy is that these are ripe for new customers. The data shows the average birthday party has 10 kids, about half of which have never been with you before. This is representing a reach of five NEW families. If we show them a fantastic time and great experience, they’ll come back.

These group sales strategies can be so much smarter and more profitable than relying on a 3rd party to fill up in your downtimes.

At The Flybook, we see businesses deploy some creative strategies when it comes to group sales. We’ve boiled it down here to help give some actionable steps to boost your group sales.

In a nutshell, the group sales opportunity a big one. Making it someone’s part time job or tacking it on your own long list of “to-dos’” is not the answer. People are more productive and efficient when they can focus.

Put into your terms: if you deliver a great experience at your watersports operation, it’s really easy to be distracted by a phone that is often ringing. Or your “inbound” leads that may or may not be your best (possible) leads. Or those clients that need help with coordinating all the details after the deal has already been closed. They are forced to constantly switch context, multi-task and are distracted, in turn losing out on NEW priority business.

What we have seen over and over again is that those businesses with dedicated group sales people — solely focused on creative ways to attract and close new businesses and organizations to host events at your location — are the most successful. These reps should be incentivized to actively recruit and build strategies for bringing in large parties and repeat groups.

A CRM system is the central hub for your sales information. It allows you to maximize your customer relationships and make smart sales decisions based on data — group sales included. Having up-to-date, reliable and insightful information that’s accessible to your group sales team will massively increase your business. Be sure to nurture new leads, follow up with existing or repeat customers, and track conversations to ensure you’re are exploring every opportunity.

Schools, churches, government organizations, corporations, birthday parties, and bachelor weekends are just a few examples of group sales opportunities that exist in your market. The key is to approach each group with a unique value proposition to maximize the success of your bookings.

When you become approved “vendors” with businesses or local governments, offer a tailored experience that meets a need of the group, or show you have a proven track record, you can secure each segment of your market successfully.

Bundling, or packaging, is when you sell a package or set of services for a lower price than they would charge if the customer bought all of them separately. By focusing on a package deal, the customer is likely to focus on the total experiential value and try features that they may not have otherwise — the same goes for group sales.

Many of our watersports clients use Flybook's package feature to group together a series of lessons for people to purchase. A kayak tour and rental company, for example, might put together an introduction to whitewater kayaking weekend package that could be targeted to one of your small group segments. So, rather than just a single lesson, you can sell a weekend lesson package that involves a Friday evening, Saturday and Sunday that might be a fun offsite or excursion for an organization. The same could be done but a weekly lesson package for the summer. Making it easy for people to spend more with you and book their recurring times with you will increase your sales and decrease the amount of time you have to spend managing them.
 

With so many consumers using the internet to find information, read reviews, and buy something, it is vital for businesses to use the advertising tools at their fingertips to find their future customers with this data. Is your operation the perfect spot for a fun bachelorette outing? Find the potential customers who are planning a wedding. Use this data to help segment your promotional tactics and plan your approach to group sales. Not only will it help promote business in existing market segments, it will secure new inbound customers and markets as well.

With The Flybook, attractions can offload simple packages like birthday and bachelorette parties from group sales reps by selling them online and automating that entire process. Your marketing can utilize broad reaching digital marketing and advertising to reach these audiences and make the call to action a “book now” rather than a “call us for info.”

Added bonus: you allow your reps to focus on recruitment of larger and more profitable groups!

It’s also important to automate the “management” of groups and empower your clients to manage their group without you. Let them see who has signed waivers. Who has paid (if applicable). With The Flybook client terminals, it’s easy for a group leader to manage their off-site or special event. They can share and track who has signed waivers, collect payments and profile information. This affords your group sales reps with more time to find new business and sell more tickets.

Incorporating these simple yet creative marketing strategies into your business plan will help increase overall group sales and fill in your downtimes. By utilizing lead nurturing and keeping track of new leads, growing group sales has never been easier. These tips can also be easily adapted into your everyday sales process and reconfigured every year to match your growing business.

Ready to take advantage of group sales? Schedule a demo with The Flybook to find out how easy it can be!