TEAM SAN JOSE DEVELOPS NEW STRATEGY FOR WASHINGTON, DC MARKET
TEAM SAN JOSE DEVELOPS NEW STRATEGY FOR WASHINGTON, DC MARKET
New, Expanded D.C. Team Bullish on the Market
San Jose, CA (Sept. 7, 2010) – As part of a new sales, marketing and branding strategy in the important Washington, D.C. market, Team San Jose’s new and expanded in-market team is raising the organization’s profile and market penetration, said Team San Jose CEO Dan Fenton.
“Although 97 percent of surveyed planners who’ve met in San Jose say they’d return because of our great, one-of-a-kind service and easy to manage destination, many meeting professionals are still unaware of all San Jose has to offer,” said Fenton. “Our customers are surprised to learn that San Jose is the nation’s 10th largest city, with all the amenities you’d expect, such as major hotel and chic boutique brands, a tech-savvy convention center, a dynamic arts community, convention-friendly labor partners and lots of entertainment within walking distance of meeting venues. We’re depending on the new Washington team to be very visible in the marketplace, educate the customers, and create awareness about an exciting ‘new’ California destination alternative to the usual suspects.”
Team San Jose’s new strategy, according to Fenton, is to take building awareness of San Jose’s product in the all-important Washington DC association, government, and corporate community to a “whole new level. He says Team San Jose will do this, by significantly expanding their presence in the marketplace and delivering on the recently unveiled new brand strategy, “Innovation Starts Here.” With more than 3,500 national associations headquartered in the Metropolitan Washington area, as well as several Fortune 500 companies and a significant number of defense contract corporations, the organization decided it was important to develop a larger dedicated sales presence, from one to three professionals.
The new three-person Washington-based team, comprised of industry veteran Sandi Talley, CMP, serving as director of national business development, and national sales managers Angela Smart and Tamela Blalock, CMP, will provide full-service account management, allowing broader market penetration and delivery of service to the customer. Smart’s client base will be larger groups using 500+ sleeping rooms on peak nights and citywides; Tamela will focus on groups using under 500 rooms on peak night, as well as the union, government and multi-cultural markets.
Team San Jose kicked off its new Washington presence with a customer focus group in late July, where advice and insights were welcomed from 15 planners on such topics as delivering on the “Innovation” brand promise, communicating the benefits of the Team San Jose model to the planner, and the new Team San Jose web site.
When asked about Team San Jose’s new brand and website at the focus group event, planner Gregg Talley of Talley Management Group said, “Team San Jose is working to fulfill a vision that will truly change the way we as clients interact with a destination. It's a whole paradigm shift - in a direction that benefits all parties. Innovation will continue to drive us all forward - as destinations, events, an industry and a country.”
It was that very concept of innovation that created the idea of Team San Jose. Five years ago, Team San Jose was incorporated -- a unique partnership unifying the San Jose Convention & Visitors Bureau, area hotels, the arts community, labor and facilities -- to deliver streamlined, complete destination services to the meeting professional, and an exceptional visitor experience. Team San Jose’s one-of-a-kind approach to the destination works as a single hotel-one bill, one contract, one team for all event needs including convention center use, food and beverage services, event planning and marketing. In addition to the traditional sales responsibilities practiced by other destination marketing organizations, Team San Jose’s sales and event managers step in to handle everything from booking the convention center and other city facilities, to logistics and customized menus, to attendance building and strategic planning for groups. San Jose can handle everything from sales and strategic planning to logistics, green services and entertainment. More and more planners are discovering some of the additional advantages of meeting in San Jose, including the city’s walkable downtown, five-minute drive from the state-of-the-art and eco-friendly airport, tech-centric Silicon Valley location, family friendly attractions and proximity to other popular Northern California destinations such as Monterey and San Francisco for attendance building and side trips.
NOTE TO EDITORS: High resolution images of team available upon request.
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