If you’re a supplier of wedding products or services, chances are that a lot of your activity comes from venues, in one form or another.
Some facilities hand out a Preferred Vendor list. Others act an Agency capacity and book your services, marking them up to the client. That may also include asking you to discount your fee for service, as well.
These kind of relationships have become more prevalent with larger properties, but they are not uncommon with country clubs or restaurant banquet facilities, either.
Often, you may be asked to donate product or services for a venue’s event (employee, corporate clients or members) as a spoken or unspoken part of ‘getting their referrals.’
Now, months have gone by. Your phone isn’t ringing with referred prospects. Your email isn’t dinging with new prospects. Just what’s happening?
In plain language… you may well be getting jerked around by your contact at the venue.
You may have to employ some ‘guerilla tactics’ to ascertain this. At a minimum, you might set up a phony email account, and pose as a bride. Requesting banquet information and a list of preferred vendors will show whether or not you are ‘on the list.’
Worst case, you may have to hire a ‘shopper’ to pose as a bride for one or more appointments to ascertain the same information. Some venues will not give out a preferred vendor list until they have been contracted as the reception site. So, it’s not a perfect situation.
Why are you being jerked around?: Often, it involves kickbacks (as opposed to commissions). A commission is an above-board agency fee, paid to the facility through the mark-up of your services. The venue may redistribute some of that money to its catering sales staff as compensation for reselling outside services.
A kickback is a straight-up bribe. For example, a vendor putting a $100 bill, directly in the hands of catering sales manager. This would be an under-the-table transaction (upper management out of the loop).
If found out by some hotels, a catering sales manager will be terminated, and walked off property that day.
Should you find out unethical behavior is taking place, although you’ll be very angry, you need to act slowly. It’s always wise to try and find out why you are not being referred, directly, and see if you can remedy the situation. It could be that it’s a performance failure, on your part.
That’s fine, but you should not be told ‘yes, you’re on the list,’ and be misled. That’s bogus.
I wouldn’t suggest going over the head of a catering sales manager, without attempting to square it with them, first. That can create an all-out war.
If you’re a catering sales manager, reading this piece, you need to think long and hard about the importance of quality and ethical referrals. One doesn’t want to risk the reputation of your property or your job, for that matter, by overreaching.
Your Las Vegas Wedding Concierge does not accept nor pay any kind of commissions or kickbacks.
When it comes to commissions or kickbacks, I refuse but have politely asked those who offered them if they would consider passing the commission on to my clients instead. Many are happy to do this and though some have been surprised at first, it has worked well. My couples see a perceived value in hiring me as they are usually getting not only great service from my fellow professionals but may also receive some added value service because of it.
As for paying a venue or a vendor to be referred, I have also stayed away from this as again, it should be the quality of work and the successful events I am producing at their venues that make them look good and not the money I am paying them.
And as you said Andy, it is an expensive and often one-sided venture to participate in commission or kick back programs and often filled with legal ramifications that are just not worth it.