Meetings Ahoy : Many Companies Find That Oceangoing Events Can Be Quite Profitable

How do you persuade prospective customers to travel hundreds of miles to listen to a sales spiel? For Key Pharmaceuticals, a three-hour dinner party aboard a luxury yacht in Newport Harbor is one way to lure 300 physicians to next week’s sales meeting.

The New Jersey company is pulling out all the stops because it is aiming the sales presentation for its new heart medications at an “antagonist group”--physicians who have rejected using its products in the past.

To businessmen from other parts of the country, a party in one of sunny Southern California’s swankiest small boat harbors is a powerful drawing card, said Dave Vanderbilt, director of sales at the Four Seasons Hotel in Newport Beach who arranged the floating party for Key Pharmaceuticals’ guests who will be staying at the hotel.

“They come to (Southern California) to be outdoors, and the boat is a big deal,” Vanderbilt said.

The call of the sea is also alluring to businesses based in Los Angeles and Orange counties who are looking for a refreshing alternative to hotels, convention halls and conference rooms--and a place where they can’t be interrupted by telephone calls..

On Wednesday night 720 representatives of such diverse Southern California organizations as Southern California Edison, Lucky Stores, Wyle Laboratories and the National Archives attended an elaborate open house hosted by Hornblower Dining Yachts aboard that company’s three boats docked in Newport Harbor.

“Our company does a lot of off-site meetings. We have lots of meetings at the Balboa Bay Club, so this would be a nice change,” said Cherrie Sherman, operations sales manager for Wyle Laboratories’ electronics marketing group in Irvine.

Michael Spitzer, an optometrist, said he was “casing out” the Hornblower yachts for “planning meetings” for members of the board of directors of the Irvine Chamber of Commerce. And Kathy Hunt, executive secretary to the president of Lucky Stores in Buena Park, said she was asked to see if the yachts would be appropriate for social events connected with executive management meetings.

Hornblower, a fast-growing San Francisco-based company owned by Terry MacRae and P. Michael Watson, also runs full-service yacht charter operations in San Francisco and San Diego. Lois Kohl Maxwell, the company’s marketing director, said revenues have grown from $750,000 in 1980 to $13.5 million in 1987 and are projected to reach $15 million this year.

Hornblower officials said that since the company began chartering yachts in Newport Harbor last June, it has built up a big weekend and evening party business. Now it is pushing floating board meetings and other business sessions during the slower weekdays before 4 p.m., when companies can get cut-rate prices of $39 per guest, including a luncheon cruise.

The idea is beginning to catch on, Hornblower officials say. Last week, for instance, Disneyland entertainment officials held a nine-hour brainstorming session on one of the yachts.

Hornblower’s open house was designed to show off its galleys. Munching on international cuisine--featuring Chinese, Italian and American food as well as a sushi bar and a boat devoted to desserts--were chief executive officers, executive secretaries and marketing and personnel officials.

If someone wants proof that a sales presentation on the water can be beneficial to business, he need only assess the results of Hornblower’s open house. During the party, the company offered a one-time special of up to $900 off its boat charters. By Thursday morning, the company reported it had booked 24 events, 20 of which were for corporate purposes. The bookings are expected to generate revenue of more than $150,000--more than 10 times the cost of the party.