 You've received the RFP, you want the meeting planner's business, and perhaps you're perplexed as to why you lost the business. This week's video and post talks about things that you can do in that RFP that may lead to you landing more business with meeting planners. Hey, it's Leanne from LeanneColderwood.com, and when a meeting planner sends you an RFP for their meeting or conference, I don't think they realize how long it takes to craft a proposal for their RFP, especially when that RFP is missing pieces of information. Now, ironically, I did a video recently about impactful questions you can ask of a meeting planner about their RFP, and you can access that video here. But meeting planners are busy people, and so they're hopeful that they've completed the RFP in a way that they won't be bothered with follow-up questions, and they just want to get the proposal on their desk. They're very busy people, and if you need to learn more about how to work with these busy people, you can also check out the video here. But today, we're going to talk about some things you can do with that RFP that'll increase your chances of success the next time you fill it out. Tip number one, decide if it's even a good fit for your hotel. Some pieces of business just don't make sense, and I do know some sales managers that will try and fit anything into their property, and they'll go through that time-consuming process of filling out the RFP, knowing that it just might not even be a great fit. And now you've unfortunately annoyed the meeting planner, trying to make a square peg fit into a round hole, but that's time that you could have spent somewhere else, potentially finding programs that are a better fit. So first and foremost, decide if this is even a good piece of business for your particular property. Tip number two, be timely. Now some research has actually shown that meeting planners take the proposal that they received first, and while I don't condone this particular professional practice, it's probably very true. It doesn't mean you should rush your way through the RFP, but ensure that it's responded to before the deadline as stated on the RFP, so that when the meeting planner looks for it, it is there and ready to go. Tip number three, be clear. And once again, there's a lot of proposals that may go the meeting planner's way that are just a muddle of information, or rather it is so much information, they're having problems wading through it all to try and find the nuggets of goodness. So try to be clear, less is actually more with RFPs for meeting planners who have lots of experience working with hotels, and that way that they can get to the nuggets, the budget items, the things that are important to their goals and objectives. Tip number four, be complete. And once again, I know meeting planners, they often get annoyed when they ask for a piece of information and then have to chase the hotels for that piece of information. So ensure you're reading that RFP through from beginning to end, and ensure you answer all the questions. If there's a question you can't answer, make sure you reach out and let the meeting planner know why. Otherwise, they're going to think it just got skipped over, which is, A, maybe going to make you look bad, but B, now they have to follow up with you to get that information. And that doesn't set the relationship off on the right foot. Number five, be brief. This kind of goes along with number three in the less is more. There's so much information you want to share about your property. And meeting planners, we respect that. We want to hear about all the bells and whistles of your property. But sometimes the RFP isn't the best place to do it. The RFP is really that comparison phase. And when you start to populate your RFP or your proposal, sorry, with all of that extra information about your property, it makes it very hard for meeting planners to find the nuggets of goodness. So be brief as well as clear. Number six, be creative. Now, what I mean by creative is sometimes you may not be able to propose on the preferred or alternate sets of dates for the program. Meeting planners can somewhat be guilty of not including all of the dates that would work for that program. So reaching out and finding out if a particular set of dates or even a pattern switch, that's a welcome question. Because we certainly don't want to miss your hotel if you can propose on something three weeks after the preferred date when the end client is quite flexible if it means they're going to get availability and they're going to get potentially better pricing. So be creative when looking at the RFP, especially when it comes around to the dates and the pattern where you could find some cost savings or some availability for your client. Number seven, showcase the unique. Now, going along with number three and five where you want to be clear and brief, if there is something about your property that makes you stand out against all of the rest, that's what they want to see. They want to see your differentiating factors. What is going to make you stand out against your competition? Number eight, attach references. If you have some people that have just recently had a program on your property and they have a glowing review, attach that to your RFP if that RFP is electronic. Meeting planners love to see that. They want to hear from other people. Remember, this is about crowdsourcing and word of mouth. It's no longer about buying something via a flyer that came in the mail. They want to hear about people's experiences. So attach those references right to your RFP. And finally, as you're reading through your response, put yourself in the planner's shoes. Go through these eight tips as if you were the meeting planner. Does this make sense? Is it clear? Is it brief enough? And if you're long-winded in some areas, then you know that you can shorten those areas up to get to the meat and potatoes of the RFP. So put yourself in the planner's shoes as you're reviewing the response before you hit send. If you are a meeting planner watching this video, I would love to hear from you. I want to hear what some of the things you want to see in that proposal to your RFP that may lead to more success for the hotels and the DMOs. They want to hear that too. So will you please comment below this video with some of the things that you are looking for? And conversely, hotel sales managers, if there are some things that you're comfortable sharing with the community that bring you success with your proposals, also leave a comment below because your community wants to hear from you. Now that you have some more tips on how to complete your proposal, it's my hope that you move the needle in some of those proposals to a short list or even potentially a contract for those meeting planner's programs. If you liked this video, please click the thumbs up and like it and don't forget to subscribe to my YouTube channel. If you go on over to my website over at liankholderwood.com, you can also download my free guide on how to attract a meeting planner's attention. Thanks for watching this week's video and we'll see you next time. Bye for now.