A Buyer Suggests
How Suppliers Should Request Appointments!
Note: Here are
some suggestions from an experienced Buyer who has been participating at
“pre-scheduled appointments events” for almost 30 years. This Buyer
submitted these ideas confidentially, but we will share his/her identity
with you if you e mail:
sales@whcoleman.com.
BACKGROUND
Most, if not all
of you, have attended various travel trade events in the past. Many of
you will, therefore, be familiar with the issues of how to make these
events as productive and successful as possible. Here are some
suggestions you might wish to consider to help you prepare for this
pre-scheduled appointment event.
A HARD FACT OF TRADESHOW LIFE
Although you are a
registered supplier, it does not mean that you automatically get all the
appointments you want. Our shows are ‘Buyer driven’ and that means
someone– for whatever reason – might not wish to see you. The reason
could be that your company does not offer the kind of product a
particular Buyer is looking for.
NO TRADE SHOW
WITHOUT HOMEWORK
To successfully
ensure that Buyer companies will request an appointment with you – the
key to getting such an appointment – requires that you do some homework.
A general e-mail, fax or letter that simply asks for a meeting is not
good enough in today’s competitive environment.
Any communication
with a Buyer company you wish to meet – unless you already know or
conduct business with them – should be personalized and highlight the
reasons why your company would be a perfect partner.
This means you
absolutely need to know what the Buyer’s company offers in their
program.
KNOW YOUR BUYERS
You have a profile
for each attending Buyer company from which you can select your
appointment requests.
What you really
want to do, however, is check out the relevant websites to see the full
program details, as well as getting an understanding of how these
companies market themselves.
Buyers are usually
impressed to receive a message that makes a reference to one of their
programs. If you now add a suggestion explaining why YOU can offer
something that will complement their program, be a much better fit or
offers a better price point, you should get the attention you want.
If there are
companies that do not offer you "destination" at this stage, you have a superb
opportunity to not only obtain a new client but also increase the
exposure for the destination.
USE THE PHONE
It is always good to have a small number
of companies that you absolutely want to see. Those are the ones that
you should approach with a phone call right away. This is not to say
that you should not call all of the companies with whom you want to
meet.
PREPARE A SPECIFIC
SALES MESSAGE
E-mail will obviously be a key tool when
you are approaching Buyers. Ideally, you should develop a document along
the lines of an e-newsletter that includes colour photos to create a
strong image, but primarily highlights why YOU have the great program,
the infrastructure and maybe one or two exclusive products that are not
available through anyone else.
CREATE A PROFILE
ON EACH COMPANY
Develop a brief summary of what you have
found on the websites that you researched and compile it into a folder.
Bring that information along to your appointments. Show the Buyer that
you came prepared. This folder will also be useful to approach companies
with which you could not get an appointment.
NETWORKING NEVER
STOPS
Once you have
received your appointment schedule, you will also see the appointments
you were unable to get. This is the time to follow up with the relevant
Buyers and say “we were unable to get an appointment with you but
hope that you can still try and see us at some stage during the show…..”.
Remind them once more of the key reasons to see you.
CREATE A PROPOSAL
FOR EACH APPOINTMENT/FOLLOW UP
You might not want to leave a printed copy
of your net rates with each of your appointments, but you need to show
and discuss them. If the Buyer indicated interest, email them
immediately after the show. In any case, you should have a personalized
proposal for each meeting. After the event is over – FOLLOW-UP,
FOLLOW-UP, AND FOLLOW-UP.
