Pre-Arrange Appointments to Maximize Results
To improve your company’s results from any of your major shows or events, pre-arrange as many meetings and booth tours as possible with existing customers and pre-qualified prospects. Here's why:
Reduce Your Cost of Sales
Executives can meet with at least twice as many customers at a show or event than they could in the same amount of time in the field. An executive on the road will meet with, on average, two or three customers a day. At a show, the same executive can meet with several customers a day. Because the cost of sales for executive-level meetings varies greatly (estimates range from $1,000 to $5,000), it’s hard to say exactly how much your company will save. Our suggestion is to ask a few executives from your company:
-
"If you travel to a given city for a day of executive-level meetings, what’s the cost of
sales?” , and -
“How many meetings will you have?”
Averaging their responses will enable you to determine your company’s cost of sales for executive-level meetings. Use the chart below to project how much your company will save by pre-arranging four (or more) executive-level meetings per executive / per day at your next major show or event.
|
In-Field |
Cost of Sales |
||||
|
1 Executive – 2 executive-level meetings (1 day) |
$1,000 |
$2,000 |
$3,000 |
$4,000 |
$5,000 |
|
At a Show or Event |
Savings in Cost of Sales |
||||
|
1 Executive – 4 executive-level meetings (1 day) |
$2,000 |
$4,000 |
$6,000 |
$8,000 |
$10,000 |
|
1 Executive – 8 executive-level meetings (2 days) |
$4,000 |
$8,000 |
$12,000 |
$16,000 |
$20,000 |
|
1 Executive – 12 executive-level meetings (3 days) |
$6,000 |
$12,000 |
$18,000 |
$24,000 |
$30,000 |
The more executives that attend the show, the more meetings you schedule, the more you will quantifiably reduce your company’s cost of sales.
Accelerate the Buying Process
Another way to reduce your company’s cost of sales is to (1) plan and stage meetings with prospects and customers who have received and are reviewing competitive proposals; and (2) leverage these meetings to accelerate the buying/selling process several steps or, when appropriate, to closure. Accelerating the buying/selling process saves money and is one of the most effective and successful strategies sales professionals use to eliminate competitive proposals from serious consideration.
Leverage At-Show Resources and Personnel
Demonstrations of equipment that may be extremely difficult or impossible to provide in the field can often be conducted more easily in your exhibit. This also provides your customers and prospects with the opportunity to meet with your technical staff and get R&D updates and training on the use of the equipment.
Create Cross-Selling Opportunities
The longer you have a relationship with a customer, the greater the probability the customer:
Pre-arranged meetings with current customers is among the most time-efficient and cost-effective ways to (1) ensure customers’ perceptions about your company’s products, services, and overall capabilities are updated and accurate; (2) create cross-selling opportunities; and (3) generate incremental revenue that might have gone to one of your competitors. Quantifiably improved returns are available to exhibitors who pre-arrange as many meetings as possible with existing customers and pre-qualified prospects. |
About the Author
Keith Reznick’s company, Creative Training Solutions, develops and delivers live and online training programs. Since 1989 he and his associates have conducted more than 2,000 workshops and trained more than 40,000 people how to:
Contact Keith with questions via e-mail at keith@creativetraining.com or by phone at 856-784-3466. |