EventUp Drives Qualified Leads Directly To Venues
EventUp is the leading global venue directory with more than 15,000 restaurants, hotels, and unique venues. The power of our venue directory drives awareness of your brand and delivers qualified leads to your inbox.
The majority of venues that list their venue with EventUp, often end their relationship with other venue directories simply because we do not generate nor sell generalized event leads.
We are a lead aggregator. We connect buyers with the desired product - we connect social, corporate, and wedding planners with their ideal venue. A specific venue.
We will never re-sell leads or share leads that your venue generates. Any event lead generated on your venue’s listing is specific to you and you alone. Each venue will work directly with the event planner to collect and finalize event RFPs, as well as event revenue. We will never step in during the planning or execution process for any reason.
How EventUp Connects Planners With Venues
More than 50% of planners say that they source new venues online. The EventUp directory offers your venue direct access to a new pool of event planners. On EventUp, we can support any event type, and any venue type, in both small and large markets. Therefore, more planners use us.
Our directory gets more than 1 million page views every single month from social, corporate, and wedding planners browsing for the perfect venue for their next event or party.
With our advanced filters, we can narrow down our extensive inventory of venues to show only those venues that can support the exact event each planner is actively planning. Each search result is as unique as every event being planned.
From the search results, the planners can then review each individual listing to find the perfect venue for them. Once a planner has found the venue of their dreams, the planners will then submit a Request Quote form. This information is sent to you via email as well as stored in your portal.
How To Convert Your Leads Into Booked Events
Every lead that is generated on the EventUp directory and delivered to you is an opportunity. However, we know that not all leads will convert. Once a lead is in your hands, it is your time to shine and showcase how your event is the right fit for their party or event and close the business.
The hospitality industry's average conversion rate is only around 5% - 10% of leads actually converting into booked business. On EventUp, we see an average booking rate of 20%.
If you are not seeing see a 20% conversion from leads to booked business, here are four tips to help you convert more leads.
1. Follow-Up With Prospects Within 48 Hours
Prospects are expecting a follow-up to their event inquiry rather quickly. The sooner you can connect with each planner, the more probability you will close that lead.
At times, planners will submit an event request to two or three venues that are similar in offerings and budgets - and will choose to book with the venue that responds the fastest and is the easiest to work with. Simply to feel confident that the task is complete. Securing a venue is a huge weight lifted.
We recommended always responding to each event inquiry within 48 hours of their quote submission. Any longer, the planner will move on to other venues that they find easier to communicate with.
2. Use Custom Messaging When Following Up
If you send the same message for every request, you could be missing the mark on planners' expectations of what information they are looking for. Messages should at least be customized to the event type they are looking to plan.
In your follow-up messages, include details from the event request, such as their name, event type, and desired event day.
Instead of all messages saying:
Follow-up messages should be custom and personalized to each specific event.
When a planner receives an email or voicemail that has been personalized to them, they feel delighted and taken care of. When we delight our customers, they become repeat customers and advocates of our business.
3. Offer Additional Resources In Your Messaging
When you are reaching out to planners through email, you don’t want the event planning process to stall. Continue to help move the planner through the phases from awareness to consideration of customer by including additional resources in each email.
The type of event the planner is looking to book will ultimately help determine which resources are best suited to send, but here are some ideas:
- Events packet
- Menus
- Floor plans
- Preferred Vendors
- Pricing
- Customer testimonials
- Frequently asked questions and answers
4. Follow-Up More Than Once
Yes, we are all busy, but about half of the planners that use EventUp, are not professional planners and are trying to plan a social event on top of everything else going on in their lives, or they are planning an event for their company even though that is not their full-time job.
You have to respond to event inquiries quickly, and you may need to reach out more than once to connect with the planner. Plan on at least three touchers per inquiry.
First touch - should be an automatic email that is sent immediately
Thank you for your interest in the venue name. Event manager name will get in touch with you within 48 hours to discuss your event details.
Second touch - should be a custom email that is sent within 48 hours of the initial event request.
See the example email above.
Third touch - should be a follow-up email to the original custom email that you already sent. Send this email two to three days later.
Fourth touch - if you want to follow up again, and you have the planner's phone number, give them a call and leave a voicemail with a similar message that you shared in the custom email. We recommend that you leave a voicemail on the same day as the third email.
If you don’t hear back from the planner after this recommended follow-up plan, no more outreach is needed unless the planner gets back in touch with the venue.
By including these four recommendations in your follow-up plan with new event inquiries, you will see your booked event conversion rate increase significantly. The process of getting a planner to see that your venue is the best one to host their event or party at your venue doesn’t stop once they submit an inquiry. You have to delight your prospects at each step of the process.
With the power of the EventUp venue directory, restaurants, hotels, and unique venues see an increase in event leads both in quality and quantity. On EventUp, you never pay a commission for leads to booked events. Let EventUp help you grow your events business. Schedule a quick call with a growth manager to hear all the benefits of becoming an EventUp venue. It’s time to EventUp!
