Corporate Events: 6 Strategies to Meet Growing Demand and Drive Bookings

In-person corporate events are surging. Corporations are emerging from pandemic doldrums and entering a new period of company growth and team development. Corporations are ramping up their product kick-off meetings, conferences, team-building events, and other company-focused face-to-face gatherings. 

As a restaurant, hotel, caterer, or unique venue, you should take advantage of the growing demand for corporate events. Are you ready or not quite sure? Here are some tips to get you ready for the influx.

Are organizations committed to in-person corporate events?

Before we get into steps to take, you may be wondering if companies are planning events. Despite talks of a difficult economic climate, companies remain driven to invest in their companies and workforce through corporate gatherings. They place a high value on live events and correlate them to profitability, workforce retention, and overall success. Budgets are going up in 2022, and live events are happening.

How to build a corporate event business

Certainly, the biggest challenge in managing upcoming corporate events will be effectively managing the demand. Preparation is key to building your corporate event business. Here are the best practices to help you drive more bookings.

1. Identify your target customer for corporate events

By understanding your customers, their goals, and anticipated attendee count, you will be best equipped to market your corporate events and attract new and perhaps repeat corporate events.  Begin by leveraging any past corporate event details if you have hosted these events in the past. Next, look at local companies and find out what their needs are for events. Are they booking small shareholder meetings or larger-scale celebrations? What food and beverage items are they looking for? What amenities would help? Research online to determine how your business can provide real value in the corporate event space.

2. Create an excellent customer journey

Now that you better understand the corporate event space and your potential customers, it’s a great opportunity to take a fresh look at your entire customer journey. Explore what it is like to be a prospective corporate event customer today and how they might discover your venue. Put in place ways to improve the customer experience from the first interaction online or otherwise. Continue to look at your response methods to questions and the booking process. Next, look at the individual components of your events and how you continue building customer loyalty. Last, solicit feedback from team members and customers so that you can put in place a defined improvement plan.

3. Build an effective event team 

While staffing may be challenging, it is best to prepare by building your events team. First, understand event expectations to determine your staffing needs. Consider the ROI of your corporate event business and adjust staffing shifts to accommodate what brings in the most profit. If you require more staff, write a clear and captivating job posting to attract great candidates. Once you have your team in place, take the opportunity to improve how you communicate and work together. These efforts in your team will create a better work environment, retain key workers, and ultimately make your corporate events succeed.

4. Seek out new tech tools

Consider all parts of your business, including back-of-house, front-of-house, and guest-facing. What technology would help improve things? First, consider the workflow efficiencies tech could provide and the data insights the platform could provide. If you don’t know already, Tripleseat is a leader in delivering a better way to capture and manage corporate event leads. Our platform also provides great intel that you can use to grow bookings.

5. Diversify your corporate event offerings

Think about ways to effectively create corporate event sales that fit all budgets. While many corporations have funding for events, other ones are more limited. Be able to accommodate a variety of event styles and sizes as well as various menu offerings. In addition to in-house private events, you may want to fulfill a need for catering and delivery to many corporations. Tripleseat+ Direct is a self-service product that allows your corporate event planners to place catering orders directly. This is extremely cost-effective and can complement your event business.

6. Market corporate event brand 

Make sure that you get the word out about your corporate events. You may consider highlighting promotions, event packages, and any amenities to appeal to corporate planners. Also, make some calls to target companies to share your event menus and a few promotional gift cards. Here are some examples of amenities to market:

• Amazing food and beverage menu
• Complimentary and reliable internet 
• Audiovisual equipment
• Electric outlet accessibility
• Branding space and opportunities
• Flexible event space (size and layout)
• Parking
• Excellent customer service 
• Contract flexibility

In addition to marketing and using CTAs on your website and social media, promote through EventUp, the leading venue directory. Included as part of Tripleseat, EventUp is a searchable database of amazing venues that corporate event planners use. You can showcase your corporate event space with photos, videos, floor plans, amenities, and more.

Are you ready for the upcoming corporate event demand?

If you’re not a Tripleseat customer and you’re interested in learning more about Tripleseat’s event management tools and CRM features, schedule a demo at your convenience to take a closer look.