 You've spent all this time working and cultivating a relationship with a meeting planner. And then there was just one thing that you may have said that set you back to the beginning. We're going to talk about some things that meeting partners say that can hinder growing a relationship with a meeting planner. Hey, everyone, it's Leanne from LeanneColderwood.com. And we've all been there where we've built relationships with people. And then they said one thing that just kind of rubbed us the wrong way. And we find ourselves questioning the trust that was built in that relationship. Well, the same thing can be said between meeting partners and meeting planners, where sometimes meeting partners say that one thing that give planners pause about how this relationship is being built and how it's progressing. We're going to talk about four things that we see meeting partners say almost all the time that give us planners some pause. Number one, let me check with my revenue manager. This is often said by hotel sales professional when in negotiations with a meeting planner. And when a planner hears the words, let me check with my revenue manager. What we're really hearing you say is that you can no longer advocate for me and now the relationship is being put into the hands of a stranger to do the negotiations for. There are a number of different ways that you can say that you need to check with other team members. But those words, let me check with my revenue manager. That just dissipates the trust relationship that you have built with that planner. Number two, call our AV guy. Here's his number. Now this one is also, again, spoken by a lot of hotel sales professionals. And talking about AV needs with the planner and planners, it is a best practice for you to talk directly to the AV guy. But hotel sales peeps, if you're able to bridge that gap in a way that positions the AV guy as the resident expert and you understand that the relationship is going to grow by giving them this expertise, it'll look less like you're trying to just get them off of your plate. Because right now when we hear call our AV guy, that's all we hear is I can't be bothered with this, so I'm passing you off to someone else. Number three, the good old pass off to another sales associate. Now this happens in hotels that have a number of sales managers handling a number of different markets of varying sizes. And so you call the hotel looking for some meeting space and guest rooms and your trusted friend, the hotel sales manager says, I'm going to pass you along to Sue Smith, who handles our market of 50 rooms or less. Once again, as planners, we respect the role of the hotel to have different professionals in different markets working those different accounts. But again, once you pass us off with no preface as to why we're being passed off, that relationship that you've built with us kind of crumbles again, because we want to work with you. So when bridging that gap, bridge it in a way that creates trust with the new sales manager, it maintains the trust with you as the existing sales manager, and that planner should feel like they're in good hands no matter who it is that they talk to. And finally, number four, I'm passing you along to the CSM who will take care of your program from here on in. This is the ultimate kiss off. And when planners hear that from the sales manager, it's basically the sales manager dusting their hands clean of the program and saying goodbye. Now again, planners are smart people. We understand the CSM is the expert when it comes to the logistical planning. And we do know we're going to work with a CSM. Can you bridge that gap that doesn't disrupt the relationship between you and the planner? We want to hear from you periodically throughout the year. We've now cultivated this relationship with you. We need you to check in with us to see how things are going with the CSM or see how things are going with that new AV guy. So please, when you're bridging that gap with other professionals on your team, make sure the planner knows that you are still a resource for them to tap into. If you go over to my blog post, which I've posted below, you're going to see alternate ways of framing some of the statements that I've mentioned here. So I encourage you to go over there and read the blog post in full and get some ideas on how you can craft those exit statements. While you're over there, you may as well sign up for one of the resources I have on my site. By signing up for a resource, you are automatically added to my weekly newsletter. It doesn't suck. It comes out once a week and has lots of tips and tricks as well as the industry calendar. Thanks for watching today's video. I hope this has helped in you bridging some trust gaps with some of your clients and reframing some of the statements that you use when working with your meeting planners. We'll see you next time. Bye for now.