Blog

The Corinthian Events Guide to a Successful Site Visit

March 22, 2024

By: Courtney Church

Year over year, our largest influx of RFPs comes to us in Q1, which is subsequently followed by numerous site visits. After 24 years as Destination Management experts, we hope we have the art of site visits down pat.

We recently took some clients on a whirlwind day – 15 venues, over 7 hours, ending with a 2-hour tasting. Before we hit the road, the client commented how “ambitious” our site schedule was, but they were up for the challenge.

Below are some of our Corinthian Events tried-and-true practices for an awesome site visit.

  • Get a sense from your client what type they are: are they good to pop in for 5-10 mins to get the vibe or do they like to touch drapes, and walk every inch?
  • Confirm the client’s travel plans and arrange a pick-up time/place
  • Reserve transportation – hand-pick your driver if you can!
  • Call all venues and check availability for time preference (asking for a 20-minute window for arrival). Arrange a meeting place at the venue and obtain the contact’s cell phone (or the best number to be reached)
  • Reconfirm appointment times with venues or vendors the day before the site
  • Have plenty of waters and snacks in the vehicle and build-in bio breaks for all!
  • Print hard copies of all materials including the site inspection schedule (include a copy for your driver!) and proposal for the client
  • Bring iPad with the proposal or PPT presentation with additional photos of each venue
  • If available, provide blank copies of the venue’s floor plan
  • Throughout the site visit, one staff should call all contacts when pulling up to venue so that client does not have to wait
  • Make lunch reservations if necessary or provide gourmet boxed lunches along the way
  • Keep track of time and keep group on schedule; look ahead for further tweaks throughout the day
  • Open car doors, open doors to venue, be hospitable at every turn
  • Take really good notes; listen carefully for small hot buttons and “must haves” – this is the time and these are invaluable
  • Provide follow up information or revised proposal to client and release any holds that are no longer needed

That recent site visit I mentioned ended up being a huge success despite the tight time schedule, and the client joined in on the fun of trying to beat our own schedule, which we did. We had a lot of fun along the way and had a super productive day!

Header Image: John Kreis Photography

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