Box, VIP lounge... even SMEs are getting involved
Thanking your best customers, leading your network, maintaining good relations with local elected representatives are so many good reasons for inviting your business partners through a Hospitality Programme. Even if the issues that SMEs face are substantially the same as those of companies in the CAC 40, might taking a box during the Six Nations Tournament or a VIP lounge for the next Muse concert seem out of proportion? Through this article, we are going to see that more and more SMEs are, however, opting for this strategic choice.
1. Hospitality reserved for large companies: a common preconception!
“I don’t have the budget to invite my customers to a major football final”. “Public relations are reserved for CAC 40 companies”. “Hospitality Programmes: it’s a long-term commitment”. “This is only for celebrating important occasions with VIP customers”. When it involves imagining these types of events, SMEs apply self-censorship.
Common preconceptions are very often a barrier to organising public relations. Yet there many offers accessible to SMEs on the hospitality market. For example, at Stade de France, it is possible to access the VIP spaces from €249 excl. VAT/person. That’s not so far from an invitation to a top restaurant, and yet the experience lived by the guests is much more memorable.
The friendliness created by having a drink in a VIP lounge before a match or the emotion provided by a concert in a front row box easily lets you go beyond the professional relationship by forging strong links, that are so essential when you’re an SME, with your guests.
2. Hospitality at Stade de France adapted to SMEs
At Stade de France, more and more SMEs are going beyond these preconceived ideas. There are firms which organise Public Relations events from time to time, while others have invested in a Hospitality Programme for a box at one particular type of event (football, rugby, concert).
For example, the Chairman of proxIT (a service company specialising in information technology with less than 50 employees) regularly invites his customers to VIP seats at Stade de France.
In this way, he shares his passion for ball games with them while forging strong relationships, the guarantee of longevity in business.
Each SME has different issues and different audiences to invite. That is why Stade de France offers a range of turnkey VIP packages, at different rates, while guaranteeing a premium experience. And all of that while taking up as little of your time as possible.
3. Customised support for a successful Hospitality Programme
We know it: the time that you are going to spend on making your Hospitality Programme a success means time that you won’t have to develop your business. It is bearing this need in mind that Stade de France has developed its VIP packages.
By reserving 4 seats in VIP boxes, you are not just buying premium seats accompanied by services. You are taking advantage of the 20 years of expertise that the teams at Stade de France have in organising Hospitality events.
Therefore, they support you in the choice of the best package given your targets, your goals and your budget. Box or VIP lounge? Sporting event or concert? Our advisers will be delighted to help you find the package that's right for you.
They can even unburden some customers of all the organisational and logistical aspects that are sometimes hard to put in place for an SME. The objective? So that SMEs are able to take advantage of the many benefits of Hospitality, without the constraints.
With this in mind, we regularly publish documents to help SMEs be successful in their Hospitality Programmes. For example, you can download free of charge the following white paper, which summarises the important steps of a public relations event for it to be a success.