Why use a Venue Finding Agent:

A good agent will have in depth knowledge of many venues - it's the job of the agency to keep up to date with venues and the staff within those venues. In these days of branding and re-branding, its hard to keep up with who owns which property - and an agent will save the client time in researching venues and performance standards.
There can be nothing as misleading as a venue brochure or web site, and a good agency will have staff who have visited the venue in question recently and have up to date knowledge of its physical condition and how the staff perform.
Using a trusted agent is a good way of saving both time and costs. The agent undertakes all the time consuming work in locating availability, negotiating on rates, organising site visits - saving on phone/fax bills and leaving the client's staff free to carry on with their normal activities.
A good agency will frequently save the client money by using its own negotiating power to reduce rates on the client's behalf.
A good agency will not be swayed by incentives from the venue eg higher commission rates - but will ensure the client is offered the appropriate venue for the particular booking regardless of commission base.
A good agency will counsel a client regarding contract terms, cancellation fees etc. This is a mine field and requires some knowledge of contract law in order to provide appropriate advice.
How to Identify a Quality Agent
The key challenge facing a client is how to establish the credentials of any agency. The meetings industry is not regulated (unlike the travel industry) and anyone can set up as a venue finding agent at will.
A good starter is to check whether the agent is a member of the Meetings Industry Association - the professional trade body for the industry. Formed thirteen years ago, the MIA has a membership of over 650 venues and agents all of whom have signed a professional code of conduct committing them to working to an ethical standard on behalf of the client.
A good agent will have good, and recent, product knowledge of the venues on offer. Ask some in-depth questions about the venue, and see if the agent can respond appropriately. If the product knowledge is not recent, the agent should own up and be honest.
A good agent will not mark up venue rates to the client.
A good agent will divulge the commission base received from the venues on offer if asked by the client.
 
How to Make Best Use of a Venue Finding Agency
In order to work most efficiently on the client's behalf, the Agent will need to know the following:
The budget allocated to the event.
The dates (or choice of dates)
Where geographically the venue should be located.
The type of venue eg hotel, dedicated conference centre.
The approx. number of delegates.
The required conference room layout
Whether syndicate rooms are required.
Audio visual requirements
Specific catering requirements ie whether a private dinner is required.
It is also advisable to brief only one agent with a booking. Having more than one agency working on a brief can cause only confusion with venues, - and both client and agency appear unprofessional. There are, after all, only a finite number of venues out there!
An agency will normally hold provisional bookings at venues on offer to the client. But in these days of "yield management" venues will not hold on to provisional bookings for long. So the client needs to be pretty organised and decisive, ready to visit venues, if appropriate, and make decisions as to suitability fairly soon after the initial brief has been communicated to the agent.
In an ideal situation, a strong relationship and trust should exist between client and agent and the more the agent understands the client's needs the better the job that can be done.