January brings us more than the start of the promise that comes with each New Year. It’s also chock-full of events for industry practitioners to sell around – given our role as Bill Petrie has been known to say as “the industry of things you get at a trade show”.
Some of the client-facing events end-buyers produce each Q1 include:
- Trade shows
- National Sales Kick Off Meetings
- Annual Sales Training Initiatives
- Sales Recognition Events
It’s important to understand the buying cycles attached to the buying decisions that correspond with each of the Q1 events mentioned above. There are often many organizational stakeholders, as most of these events are the responsibility of a combined effort across multiple organizational disciplines, and it requires successful Distributors to find ways to make those events better in some tangible way, instead of merely doing product ideation within the established budget parameters given to them by the end buyer.
Being mediocre as a Distributor at leading this process with your customers creates landfill. There’s no escaping it, there’s no need hiding it.
If being bad salespeople has created a vacuum of creativity in the vertical market of “trade-show giveaways” It stands to reason sheer capitalism would create a Distributor laser focused on elegantly and creatively solving this problem, but if there is, that name or names is not instantly recognizable to me, and suggests a potential market leadership opportunity.
During my time as a Distributor, for instance, we built a personalizer program so each employee receiving a new garment was given an opportunity to add personalization to their new gear. This separated us from our competitors for Sales Kickoff Meetings – we simply did it better and brought more value to the Event in the eyes of the attendees (many of whom purchase product from us thru the course of the year themselves), and, consequently, our credibility with the organization skyrocketed. Consequently, we launched the personalizer into their apparel program via the Company store, and Co-Op buying also boomed, as word of the program spread at the field level as Salespeople with their newly personalized product returned to their offices.
If you look at the Q1 events outlined at the top of the page, it’s important to recognize that while there have been nuanced changes in each of those event categories, the events themselves have stood like redwoods in their spot as place-holders on the calendar for 50 years. Your job Is to develop as many clever, relevant and noteworthy pitches as possible, all built around adding value thru the use of your idea (and products).
Given the years these events have been going on, would it not stand to reason that considerable sales attention be invested in developing ways to enhance those events for end buyers? It will be a bullet point on the checklist of things the emerging generation of Buyers will be looking for when considering a vendor once it’ their turn to buy. Given the relative lack of attention paid to Promotional Products the decision making for these purchases will be the responsibility of that generation faster than other, more important buying responsibilities.
While you’re most likely behind the 8-ball when it comes to earning this kind of business for Q1 2018, it’s never too late to begin the conversation with those in your tribe about their successes and failures around Q1 events, the pressures they feel during the course of the year with respect to event production, and the upcoming events they may yet need guidance on later in the year.
Roger has spent 20+ years making complex concepts more understandable for both buyers and sellers alike, and has devoted the majority of his recent career to writing and executing sales and marketing plans for early and mid-stage businesses. He is a student of organizational behavior and the disciplines successful selling organizations use to achieve the greatest reach, even in instances of scarce resources. He loves the outdoors and seeks memorable experiences whenever possible. Contact Roger at roger@branded-logistics.com or 810-986-5369