Swipe Right: 7 Secrets to Successful MICE Buyer-Supplier Relationships

For destinations, creating lasting buyer-supplier relationships hinges on so much more than first impressions. It’s a process that—much like dating—takes time and effort.

Don’t bumble your chances at creating the perfect match by following these seven industry secrets to creating successful buyer-supplier relationships.

1. Know Yourself First

Before entering the market, destinations need a compelling value proposition. This requires identifying unique market differentiators and developing sector-specific positioning. Destinations must create compelling destination narratives that include highlighting infrastructure advantages and service excellence before they can begin to convince anyone to buy into their offer.

Buyers need to understand your destination intimately—but a destination needs to know itself, first, through the right research and introspection.

2. Perfect Your Dating Pool

Successful buyer-supplier relationships come from targeting the right decision makers. Our team maintains daily contact with a variety of partners including association executive directors, corporate meeting strategists, and site selection experts to keep on top of the decision makers who will support the right matches.

Other decision makers like incentive house leaders and third-party planning executives often fall to the wayside, but keeping them on your radar is pivotal to making the right match. Don’t cast a wide net. Cast the right net, instead, to ensure the right buyer-supplier relationships.

3. Know Who’s Really Available

Like any dating pool, random matches rarely lead to lasting relationships. Successful destinations leverage established networks to connect with the right buyers. These include associations seeking rotation changes that fit within their budget and corporations looking for destinations with comprehensive airlift.

It also means targeting industries aligned with local strengths—think life sciences or AI technology—while opening yourself up to groups who simply may be outgrowing their current venues. Organizations facing contract renewal are also ripe pickings for any destination looking for a new match.

4. Level Up Your Cvent Game

While Cvent remains a crucial tool—a sort of Tinder for event planners—success requires strategic optimization. Little details like the perfect profile and response protocol are key to ensuring your destination leverages Cvent effectively. 

Qualify matches on the platform and track success stats to learn what works and what doesn’t. Research ways to dominate search rankings to help stand out from the competition. A powerful and deceptively simple way to do that is simply by keeping content fresh. Don’t leave buyers thinking, “Well they didn’t look like their pic at all!”

5. Showcase Your Relationship History

Talking to exes may not work in the dating world, but past relationships provide powerful credibility in the business events world. Destinations can tap into relevant case studies, planner testimonials, and return booking statistics to show how impactful they were in the past.

Leverage industry or sustainability credentials to boost your credibility and announce any infrastructure investments to show how your destination knows it’s worthwhile, but is self-aware enough to accept that it can always better itself. Modesty is attractive, after all.

6. Make the First Move…Properly

Skip the awkward first date by avoiding cold calls and generic emails. They rarely work in today’s marketplace. The best connections come through warm introductions by trusted industry advisors who can facilitate executive-level introductions.

Rely on shared connections to arrange private destination presentations and organize targeted FAM trips. It will help provide a stronger foundation for any buyer-supplier relationship. These deeper connections will allow destinations to create exclusive networking opportunities and generate qualified bid opportunities that will sweeten the deal.

7. Play the Long Game

Converting interest into long-term relationships requires strategic account mapping and proactive opportunity development. Sounds romantic, right?

But it takes time. Regular market engagement and partnership building relies on consistent communication that destinations and their partners need to put in before a swipe goes from a virtual match to a real-life relationship. 

The bottom line is that, in today’s business events marketplace, successful buyer-supplier relationships aren’t about trying to be everyone’s perfect date. It’s about being genuine and showcasing your unique qualities to the right audience at the right time. It’s about building a lasting partnership that grows stronger over time.

Finding your perfect match requires a little help from the experts. At DCI, our business events team maintains close contact with meeting industry professionals, including decision-makers from associations, corporations, and incentive companies. We consistently generate new opportunities for business events for client destinations. Get in touch with Pamela Laite at pamela.laite@aboutdci.com to learn more about working with our business events “matchmakers.”