Testimony - LENÔTRE
A PR PROGRAM CREATING A BOND AND SHARING
The Lenôtre box is a great way to meet our customers!
"In our business, perhaps even more than in others, learning to know your customers better and anticipating their needs already means driving their loyalty".
The main objective is to consolidate the relationship with each of our guests, be they customers, prospects or partners, to bring them into the world of Lenôtre and making them want to be loyal.
An event at Stade de France thus lets you spend a special moment with a customer, to have quality time for exchanging, which is, what’s more, during an event that the guest appreciates.
An invitation to the box is, above all, about giving pleasure and making an impression to then facilitate relations at events.
The customer challenge is, above all, to succeed in welcoming them and the Lenôtre teams always guarantee this success. The relationship and good understanding between the host and our staff are extremely important; inviting one of our customers is part of building a real partnership and a relationship of trust.
The box lets you find yourself in a different setting, in a festive atmosphere around exciting events. The notion of pleasure here is fundamental: that is why we also pay particular attention to gathering and uniting guests who will enjoy knowing each other and being together.
THE STADE DE FRANCE HOSPITALITY PROGRAMME,A REAL COMMERCIAL ASSET
Being welcomed by Guy Krenzer, or by a winner of the prestigious Meilleur Ouvrier de France award, is always a highlight of the experience! And this is how customers understand the opportunity that is offered to them. "This undeniably allows us to attract customers that we might not have had the opportunity to meet so easily”. Our main influencers such as event or PR agencies greatly appreciate these get-togethers; some come with their end customers.
It is a process that delights all the participants: Maison Lenôtre and its teams have the opportunity to let them discover the Lenôtre experience and the brand in the exceptional world that is Stade de France: but it is also the promise of living an exceptional and unique moment for each guest.
INVITATIONS: TARGET THE RIGHT PERSON AT THE RIGHT TIME
Over time and through use of the box, Ségolène Saltel has refined her invitation method. She noticed how important it was to target people and invite them to the event they like. It is a rigorous job, which takes time beforehand and requires knowing your customers well, but this preparation is essential for a successful activity.
"The development of qualifying the guests remains the essential guarantor of the quality of the shared moment. Inviting a football fan to a match is 100% successful".
The wide and varied programme around cultural, musical and sporting events, allows this to be tailor-made for each invitation, which is the real key factor for success of these get-togethers.
A HOMOGENEOUS BOX THE ART OF WELCOMING 'AS IF AT HOME’
After determining who the invited people are, you still have to identify their common ground!
The get-together in a box is a special moment of intimacy, where everyone must be able to interact with the Lenôtre teams, as well as with the other guests, be they companies, venues or customers. The box acts as an incubator, a facilitator of encounters.
To share highlights, enthusiasm, and excitement, it is necessary to ensure that everyone feels at ease, in a relaxed, friendly and pleasant atmosphere. A good atmosphere necessarily encourages interactions of quality, and therefore reinforces customers’ desire and interest in coming to the box.
"At first, we were less attentive to this aspect and we noticed that if the guests had no common ground, the atmosphere was not the same”.
Finding the right balance ensures that the guests leave very satisfied.
A FLUID AND EFFICIENT INVITATION PROCESS
One of the great assets of Stade de France is the ease of managing the invitations: the whole process is managed by email. Guests receive their parking spaces beforehand in the form of e-tickets and then on D-Day, guests pick up their tickets on site in order to gain entry.
It is also important to emphasise the considerable attentiveness of all players throughout the guests’ time in Stade de France.
Here is the process set up by the Lenôtre teams to manage their invitations.
1 – QUALIFICATION OF THE LIST
The very first action is to broadcast Stade de France’s programme to the Lenôtre business directors. This allows everyone to anticipate their needs and reserve places for the selected days and then invite according to business needs, ongoing discussions, thanks, interests etc.
In general, for 20 guests, 4 to 5 Lenôtre employees are present: the business directors naturally, but also project managers and development teams. Sometimes the marketing teams join us to better live and understand the experience offered to our customers.
The challenge is to receive and welcome with kindness, simplicity and goodwill in order to allow each guest to feel at ease.
The objective? To spend an amazing moment together, in a mythical place, around an exclusive event. To give pleasure, to offer the exceptional...
2 - THE INVITATION PROCESS
► Each person inviting sends their guests a personalised invitation and one from Lenôtre
► The replies are then consolidated in order to adjust availability.
3 - GOOD TIMING
► D-1 month: consolidation of the global guest list.
► D-3 weeks: customised mailing of invitations.
► D-1 week: consolidation of the attendance list and adjustment of available places.
And when we ask Ségolène if she puts a process in place in case of a no-show, she replies: "We don’t have any no-shows. Since we’ve had the box, we must have had 2!”
HOW TO MEASURE THE RETURN ON INVESTMENT
It is difficult to establish a direct correlation between the turnover generated by an account, and the hospitality programme. The benefit of the programme is primarily a qualitative one; the quantitative measurement is, of course, more difficult to understand and is built on the medium and long term.
For Lenôtre, different indicators help to measure success following an event:
► 1/ The perceived value of the brand experience, which is expressed in customer feedback after the event.
► 2/ Word of mouth: a fundamental vector of awareness, a real recommendation lever for the Maison./p>
► 3/ The quality of the relationship bond developed:
- Business challenges: improving awareness that encourages consulting Lenôtre for customer events.
- Relational issues: the development of a true relationship with our direct partners or our partner venues.
CONCLUSION
Successful hospitality programmes involve the implementation of a subtle balance: gathering well-chosen guests around the right event and knowing how to create the necessary bond in order to build loyalty and unity around a climate of trust.
The essentials
- a varied and quality programme
- efficient management of the invitations, from the invitation to the parking space
- a facilitated and pleasant customer journey as far as the box door
- well-chosen guests
- a top-of-the-range gastronomic service, served in a friendly way
- a nicely arranged box, in the style of a lifestyle cookery course, bearing witness to the brand image and gastronomy of Maison Lenôtre
- the desire to share exclusive moments
- available and considerate contact people.
LENOTRE AND STADE DE FRANCE: AN IMPORTANT COLLABORATION
Maison Lenôtre has been providing catering services in Stade de France’s boxes since 1998 and has been welcoming its customers in private boxes for the past 2 years, and it is its main public relations programme.
"We are pleased to be able to demonstrate our know-how in this field. Stade de France is a great stage to showcase our ability and our experience around major events”.
Lenôtre, Caterer & Event Creator
Large events, private receptions, prestigious events, cocktail parties or gala dinners: in France or internationally, Lenôtre organizes more than 6,500 events each year. To the culinary emotions of haute-couture gastronomy is added the experience of a decor, a staging and a service: this passion of Lenôtre for the art of hospitality which transforms each reception into a unique and exclusive party.
