“I’m only happy if the customer is happy”

Claudia Döttinger has led the five-member Sales & Marketing team in the Guest Events division of Messe Stuttgart since 1 January 2016. A graduate in business administration, she is now responsible for all sales and marketing activities, including the most important key accounts, and supports Division Director Stefan Lohnert with the strategic development of the Guest Events division.

Döttinger started her career as a project manager in the events area of a large museum in Düsseldorf. “As well as renting out the event spaces that belonged to the museum, we developed and successfully marketed art-related event concepts for corporate customers. At the time, this was a completely new concept,” says Döttinger. From then on, she was responsible for managing enquiries, advising customers, processing offers and following up cultural events. Even more important for the business administration graduate than the smooth processing of events was the positive feedback received from satisfied customers. “This is of course the best possible affirmation of one’s commitment,” she admits. Customer satisfaction is still her most important motivator.

Born in Reutlingen, Baden-Württemberg, Döttinger moved back to her native region after five years in the Rhineland area. At the time, Messe Stuttgart was just about to move to new exhibition grounds and to open the ICS International Congress Center Stuttgart, which was destined to become an event location on a whole new scale. “The challenge of trying to rent out spaces that were still under construction suited me perfectly. I love tackling new challenges and getting them off the ground,” reflects Döttinger.

In April 2006, she started as Marketing & Sales Manager for the ICS International Congress Center Stuttgart division and, together with colleagues, took charge of national and international sales as well as marketing and publicity work for the ICS International Congress Center Stuttgart. Right from the start, this involved a broad spectrum of topics, which is still the case in the tenth year of operation. “We hold guest fairs and congresses here in almost all areas, from high-tech, medicine, transport and security to corporate events, shareholder meetings, music festivals and concerts.”

At the very top of Claudia Döttinger’s agenda, however, is still the response she gets from the organisers. “For me, the customer is always the main priority. I’m only happy if the customer is happy. The importance of this personal touch is confirmed by the results of our customer surveys. Or repeat booking rate is very high and my team and I intend to do everything in our power to ensure that it remains so. We support our customer’s events 150%,” says the brand new team director.

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