Venue Sales: The art of telling a story.

One of my favourite parts of my job is the site visit or show round.  And I don’t mean the perfunctory operational aspects of venue sales: how your event will flow or the best places to put a flower arrangement, or where to put the band, or where to put the bar or any other functional event needs.  This stuff is important of course.  You want your client to be able to visualise their event in your venue and know how you and your venue operate. 

Venue sales is about engagement

More fun was seeing my clients arrive at the venue for the first time, their first impression, their sense of arrival, their experience of the location and the atmosphere.   Giving them a warm welcome before beginning my show! Venue sales is about engagement and how successfully you can immerse your client into the opportunity you are providing them.  Giving them an emotive experience is gold.  When they get a shiver down their spine as something sparks an emotion: joy, love, wonder, awe, intrigue; then you have them hooked. 

Enthuse your clients

I have always had a fascination for history (I even got a BA in it!) and I am very fortunate to have been able to combine my passion for the past with my passion for parties and events.  Having the opportunity to walk in the footsteps of our ancestors, imagine what their experience would have been like and hear stories of their lives.  These stories became a large part of my venue sales patter.  Reeling off names and dates, stories, anecdotes, mysteries and intrigue helped me enthuse my clients and compel them to fall in love with my venues as much as I did.  By taking the time to share my excitement and enthusiasm for the venue, telling the story, the history, how it came to be and perhaps sparking their imagination of how their event can become part of the story of the venue I would win my clients hearts and minds and bookings!

Express the uniqueness of your venue

Sadly we haven’t been able to do much face-to-face interaction lately and have had to find more remote ways to engage our clients and share the wonder of our venues virtually.  Our words are more important than ever for expressing the uniqueness of our venues.  Because no two venues are the same.  Each has a unique location, a singular view, an aspect that sets it apart from the rest, a history and an experience that nowhere else can provide.  Each has humanity: the people who built and designed it, the people who lived and worked there, the people who have partied and dined there and the people who poured their heart and soul into transforming it into a wedding and events venue.  Learn their stories and your venue ceases to become just a beautiful shell but a place with a past purpose and a future legacy.         

Every venue has a story

Even the most modern and industrial of buildings can tell a tale.  One of my favourite venues is Cockatoo Island.  It has a chequered history. Originally as a convict penitentiary for repeat offenders, then a quarry, a shipyard and finally a naval dockyard.  It is now one of the most important cultural sites in Sydney hosting the Biennale, art and music festivals and various Hollywood film crews.  It’s ugly, grubby, dilapidated, utilitarian and difficult to get to (you need a boat!) but it has an amazing $MILLION Sydney Harbour view and 100s of storys! 

It doesn’t matter if you’re selling a palace or a barn or a factory.  Everywhere has a story to tell. Find that unique quality that only your venue possesses, share your passion, tell your story, weave magic, intrigue and instil a little humour.  How you articulate that story can help you engage with your clients and leave a lasting memory in their hearts and minds.  

(And, as my husband often likes to say to me, never let the truth get in the way of a good story!)

If you need help weaving your stories into your sales patter or any other venue sales advice, then please do get in touch.  More information about my experience and expertise can be found here.