“Why are you giving up too early?” She was surprised because I told her we would not send a proposal for team building. This after she said that they are looking for team building packages.
Earlier in the conversation, she mentioned the kind of proposals they’ve already received. And she suggested that we present the way they did.
Politely, I told her that it was not possible. Though we can all be called team-building providers, we are apples, oranges, and bananas. And based on her requirement, I recommend that she look for what she needs because we are not the right “provider.”
Let me explain.
She could not explain the purpose and objectives of the team building. It’s something that they have yet to talk about.
What she wants now is a package.
She wants a team-building package for a beach, a function room, or a resort with a pool. A few providers give here a ‘default” program of activities in three different venues. And another one gave her sample activities in one place, a farm.
When talking to prospects, we don’t sell ourselves like snake-oil salesmen. Our first job is to find out if we could help here. Of course, we can. But she’s shopping for something else. She wants providers who can do all the legwork.
Briefly, I explained to her the three kinds of providers, and I recommended that she look for one kind.
The first kind is a team-building event organizer. They operate like travel and tours. They have contact venues and freelance facilitators. They get commissions from the events place, buses, and facilitators. It is typical for them to get the cheapest facilitators; all they have to do is make people play sack race, tug o war, spider web, and other parlor games.
Team building organizers deserve to earn more because they do all the coordination. This is why many of them consider fees per head. They make more when you have 100 or more participants.
The second kind is a team-building venue that offers packages. They earn from the function rooms, overnight accommodations, food, and team-building games. The fees for team-building facilitators is included in the team-building packages.
Since you will have to pay for the use of the venue whether what you do is team building or not, this package looks cheaper than the first one.
You can get packages from event organizers and team-building venues. They don’t need to know your objectives for team building since all the games they’ll offer you are for every team. You will have fun. You will have your team building.
So, I recommended that she look for venues that provide team-building packages for two reasons:
(1) Because they are less than 50, she does not need an event organizer.
(2) Since this is their first team building, any venue can provide facilitators to make them play games for the first time.
Of course, I explained to her also the kind of facilitators we are. We are not giving up at all. But, since we cannot serve everyone, we work with those who want results.
We consider team building as an intervention. When your team is underachieving, we help you find ways to support them. We can help you turn your objectives into goals and results.
A team-building game can help your team learn team mindsets and behavior. And if you want to do that, we will help you.
What we offer is a process, not a package. We will help your team find solutions and opportunities.
But if you are not ready for us, that’s okay. We are not giving up on you. You’ll get us one day or hire someone like us.
Do you want team building that works?
