Jan. 30. 2020

This paid piece is sponsored by the Sioux Falls Convention & Visitors Bureau.

If you’re in the visitor industry, you’ve got to be prepared for fierce competition. It comes from other cities, hotels and convention facilities across the country all trying to attract meetings, conventions and events.

“This battle for hosting rights never stops, so training opportunities are always being sought out,” said Alexandra LeBlanc, director of sales for the Sioux Falls Convention & Visitors Bureau.

In the coming month, the CVB’s sales team is not only venturing out of Sioux Falls to Washington, D.C., for training but also bringing an expert home to Sioux Falls to provide on-site expertise for industry sales personnel.

The Washington trip will include the annual Destinations International Convention Sales & Services Summit.

“This summit will gather CVB sales professionals from across the country, where they will focus on the sales proposition when working with meeting planners,” LeBlanc said. “We will focus on sharpening our skill set to deliver value to planners, study how planners view CVBs as part of their business strategies and how to create destinations that encompass experiential learning while drilling into the key elements of planner relationships.”

Locally, one of the CVB’s roles is to partner with hotels and facilities to persuade organizations and associations to hold their meeting or event in Sioux Falls.

So the learning will continue in Sioux Falls. The CVB has hired Steinhart & Associates, a hotel sales and marketing consulting and training firm, to bring Steve Steinhart to Sioux Falls. Steinhart will provide sales training to the CVB as well as hotel and convention center sales professionals.

“Steve is known as one of the nation’s leading hospitality sales consultants, and his firm has provided training to over 40,000 CVB, hotel and convention center sales professionals,” LeBlanc said.

“Because we know sales are always evolving and require a great amount of research, attention to detail, communication and more, one of our roles is to bring this level of expertise to our industry partners. We think he will offer strong training skills that can lead to wins for our entire visitor industry.”

To see more visitor industry updates from the CVB, click here.