Would you like to talk to key customers and prospects for over three-hours?
Events are an excellent chance to create an opportunity like this. I’m not talking about going to industry events. The events that provide the best opportunities are the ones that you organize yourself. I call them customer events.
Why are customer events important?
When you start running events that are truly focused on customers, they will see you as more than just a commodity supplier. They will see you as a partner. A partner who has a vested interest in them. By doing this, you will have created a much stronger relationship. You will be in control of more opportunities to create new business opportunities. You will have a better chance of achieving your sales goals with these types of customers.
However, in order to achieve these results, it’s important to run customer events in the right way. Here are three ways to help you create a good customer event.
Theme your event around a specific sector
It is difficult to create an event that will engage everyone. If you have a very general theme you risk failing to attract the people that you want to attend. Therefore, it’s much better to focus on a few customers and prospects from a single market sector.
Most customers will be more attracted by content that is not directly associated with print. Let’s discuss a way you can underline this.
Hold your event away from the factory
There are two reasons for doing this. Firstly, it may well be easier for your guests to travel to a city location. Or you may wish to invite them to a luxury hotel.
Secondly, holding your event away from the factory underlines that this event is about them, not you. Naturally, it’s important to support this with content that addresses their key industry issues rather than being all about print. Here’s a way to help with this.
Consider using an outside speaker 
If you have someone from your customers’ industry attending, it gives your guests an extremely good reason to make the time to attend the event. These days it is not difficult to find a suitable speaker via social media.
Remember also that if you have an event planned for a specific market sector, there will be an extra advantage for guests.
Networking is also a valuable opportunity for attendees
Many people will decide to attend in order to speak to other people in their sector. One event I attended had a very high attendance rate. This was simply because the organization sent out a list of the people they had invited. It included a lot of high profile industry people. It made a very compelling reason to attend.
However, some people have an issue with this type of event. Why? Let’s discuss.
Aren’t events too expensive?
Consider the time taken to book meetings with prospects and customers. Consider also your travel time and cost. You may well find that getting all of your customers and prospects together in a room for an event is actually a very reasonably priced way of getting to speak to customers.
Here are three action points to help you create a great customer event
- Decide which customer sector you will focus on
- Create an agenda focused around the customers’ market challenges
- Research outside speakers
This will give you the best opportunity of getting those three-hour interactions with prospects and clients.
*Editor’s Note: This post is part of a larger series on organizing customer events*
- Have you Considered Customer Events to Promote your Business?
- Three Key Issues to Consider Prior to a Customer Event
- How to Maximize the Success of your Customer Event
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PS If you would like to improve your performance in print sales, download this free checklist “Eight Essential Print Sales Activities” right now at http://profitableprintrelationships.com/eight-essential-print-sales-activities/ You’ll also receive my regular “Views from the print buyer” bulletin, full of ideas on how to sell print effectively.
