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Delivering Success through Goal Setting

Let's get real about this industry of ours. Although we refer to CVBs as "Destination Marketing Organizations" not enough CVBs actually monitor, report and deliver broad based market performance success through goal-setting.

In my opinion, there's only one appropriate, business oriented process for making that happen. Here's how it should work for you and everyone else in your organization.

As "destination marketing organizations" (DMOs), most convention and visitor bureaus now subscribe to the definition of the marketing function, which, simply stated is: determining customer needs and then filling them.

But you can't effectively accomplish that without first quantifying your performance results. And you can't accurately forecast future success if your DMO is unwilling to plan its marketing efforts while announcing predetermined goal-based results for the future. Yet, sad to say, that is not what's happening in many DMOs.

According to the latest 2007 DMO Profile from the Destination Marketing Association International:

Why, we should ask, is there not a consistent, performance based program in place with most CVBs?

One can only speculate that it's because, as some have told me:

Accountability is risky--Measuring can set oneself up for failure (and success, too, right?)

Some believe CVBs are just business brokers—that they can't really deliver results due to so many market variables (an old carryover belief from the past when just sales lead were valued and not actual performance).

My own conviction is that performance success requires a DMO to deliver:

A research based, customer focused, market-driven, and brand- oriented business model that delivers quantifiable results for its community.

Without this business process, the CVB is little more than a throwback to the promotional organization of decades ago.

When the New York CVB first established goal based programming twenty years ago, it was quite a difficult learning and growing experience for many.

“Why do we want to measure all these annual bookings for conventions and tours, media coverage generated, member support and the like?”, staffers would grouse.  And the response would be, “Well, what results would you like to achieve next year…and the year after that?”

Establishing Benchmarking

The first step in the goal-setting process is always benchmarking—clarifying results for the past year and applying them as a foundation for future efforts. Of course there will also be many other variables, including competitive destinations and other competing factors, other market conditions, your manpower and financial resources, current tactical efforts of your staff, and potential business that is now "in the pipeline", so to speak.

Who sets goals?

The first question is: who actually sets goals for the organization? The answer should always start with the person(s) charged with actually accomplishing them. After all, who knows more than the sales/marketing executive about what it takes to be successful? So initially, the sales/marketing exec evaluates the market, his arsenal of tactical marketing support that is deployed on his behalf by the CVB, and then clarifies the goals to be achieved. Team goals are developed this way, too.

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Raising the bar

Next, the oversight manager reviews the anticipated results for the year, helps support the sales exec in his ongoing work, and seeks to remove obstacles to future success. He may also raise the bar if there are realistic business opportunities and reasons for doing so. The next step is usually a review with the President/CEO who follows this general course of oversight, guidance and support.

Dysfunction at work

Unfortunately, I have seen boards or executive committees who didn't approve of the progress being made, so they stepped in and arbitrarily set the annual goals for delivery of conventions to appease the community and motivate the staff—or directed the CEO to do so. Resultantly, it's not at all surprising that the CVB's goals weren't met year after year.

In this case, the board failed to grasp and follow its own job description, which should call for them to tacitly approve the annual goals that should be produced by the staff. I'm not making this up, and I hope you never have to deal with this aberrant, inappropriate process.

Modifying goals

Next, understand that even when productivity goals are established, they should never be considered sacrosanct or set in stone.

If market conditions warrant, goals should be flexibly revisited and revised anytime during the annual reporting period. (For this reason, I always recommend that goals for community contracts be stated in an addendum rather than in the actual body of the document). 

For example, let's say that you experience significant community business drops due to increased budgets, programming or product development from your competition. Then you may need to reduce your goals for the year.  Inclement weather, natural disasters, spikes in gas prices can also cause you to reevaluate your projection. 

On the other hand, if you are way ahead of goal during the first or second quarter of the year, you should readjust and raise the bar for goal delivery while commending and compensating the staff accordingly.

Community reporting

These days we hear a lot about "delivering transparency." In this case, that means publicly reporting annual results to the community as part of an annual report or marketing plan—and then following up  with performance based projectable goals for the new year ahead.

The good news today is that as the industry matures, the DMO industry is continuously assuming more responsibility for reporting and delivering market performance, and the goal setting process that it requires.

With that comes incentive based pay--a much deserved and appropriate way of compensating valued employees. 

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