news newsDM DMC UPDATE
DMCs ...
defining the value proposition
By Padraic Gilligan, Managing Director,
Ovation Global DMC
At an industry function recently, I found myself
seated between two agency executives. I
spent a fascinating and frightening evening
listening to war stories about their experiences with
DMCs around the world. In roughly half the stories,
the war in question was won as a result of incredible
acts of heroism and valour on the part of the DMC.
In the other half, the war was lost as a result of crass
profiteering, gross stupidity and blatant incompetence
on the part of the DMC. Worryingly, in more than one
example, the same DMC was villain for Agent #1 and
hero for Agent #2.
Clearly, the DMC sector has not been successful in
articulating its value proposition. We have effectively
allowed anyone providing destination specific services
to call themselves a DMC when we all know there’s
a sea of difference between incoming tour operators
and ground agents who provide destination services
to the FIT and leisure market, and a DMC whose
focus is unquestionably on business tourism from the
meetings and events sector.
The fact that incoming tour operators and DMCs
both provide ground transportation services and
excursions, albeit with radically different objectives in
mind, undoubtedly adds to a blurring of the lines. It
also explains the curious contradiction above where
the same DMC can be viewed as hero for one client
and villain for the other.
It’s all to do with how expectations are
managed in the context of a clearly understood
value proposition. The agent who requires basic,
commodity services in a destination and hires an
established and experienced DMC may feel he
has been radically over-serviced and, then, by
extension, over-charged: DMC as villain. Likewise,
the client who expects a simple airport shuttle
service and finds a full infrastructure including
customised signage, meet and greet staff,
human arrows and spotlessly clean equipment
will certainly feel very positive about the
experience: DMC as hero.
So what is the unique value proposition of
the DMC? I believe it’s inextricably linked with
business results. DMCs create destination
experiences that, ultimately, provide a return
on objectives and deliver business results. For
the DMC the destination becomes the raw
material out of which he or she manufactures
a tangible business solution.
Thus, a good DMC adds value in two
38 incentiveworld.com Vol. 9 No. 4 2009
ways – she knows her destination and she knows
business. Then the infinite ways in which these two
realities can be combined, packaged and presented is,
in fact, the very kernel of the DMC value proposition.
It’s also the potent elixir that good DMCs are addicted
to and that provides the twisted inspiration for the
amazing things we do for clients. When passion for a
destination and love for business meet, good DMCs
are born!
This fact alone explains why the apex of DMC
delivery will inevitably be the motivational experience
or the “incentive”. Motivational experiences staged in
inspirational destinations have been used for decades to
improve and enhance business performance. Individuals
push themselves to new heights in pursuit of the ultimate
prize – dinner at the palace of Versailles, an overnight
on the Orient Express, a night under the stars at a game
reserve in Southern Africa, etc. DMCs work with agencies
in the creation and articulation of the prize and then,
more importantly, on its seamless, flawless delivery.
They understand the intimacies of the destination but,
crucially, they also get the whole business context which
gives rise to the reward in the first instance. They know
that “flawless delivery” is inextricably bound up with
business results and is not a mere random expression of
the anal retentiveness of the client.
But DMCs don’t only work with clients who are
staging motivational experiences. They also work on
strategic meeting management programmes where the
creative input may be less complex, but the business
context and results is no less so. Equally, DMCs work
with associations who are organising conventions
and meetings in destinations and require support in
relation to shuttle services or tour programmes. But,
even here the DMC is operating in a business context
where her services are offered in support of very
tangible business results.
So the value proposition of the professional DMC
pivots on the combination of local knowledge of
the destination and global immersion in the world
of business, so the destination experience is always
connected to business results. �
For more information circle 24 on reader enquiry
coupon.
Ovation Global DMC offers agent and corporate clients
fully aligned destination management services at 18 wholly
owned offices in Europe, Arabia and Asia. DMC services
are offered elsewhere through our Strategic Alliances with
AMSTAR DMC in Mexico and The DMC Network in North
America and our Strategic Partnerships in Hungary, Greece,
Turkey, Malta, Morrocco, Russia, Poland and Finland. See
www.ovationdmc.com
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