Growing your group sales

Group revenues are absolutely critical to the success of any type FEC or LBE. In fact, with very rare exception, group revenues make the difference between financial profit or loss. In many centers, group are 30% or more of revenues.

Groups include many other categories beside the old standby birthday parties. They can be end-of-season sport team celebrations, homeschool playgroups, corporate celebrations, school field trips, the list goes on and on.

To get groups, you need more than a good website. You need humans to find the groups and sell them. It could be you if you have a small center. It will be a dedicated group sales staff for a larger center.

But you or your staff need a clear strategy and roadmap of how to reach your potential of group revenues. Luckily, Sheryl Bindelglass, an industry veteran on marketing and sales, has just published her book, The PROs Guide to Group Sales. It's a great guide to organizing and implementing an effective group sales program.

You might think it's a little pricy at $50. But not really when you think about it. If as a result of following Sheryl’s advise in the book, you only sell to one more group for $500 in revenue, the book just paid for itself.

You can order the book at http://www.groupsalesbook.com.