Industry or Bespoke Events?

I am not sure about your business but I am still getting a large and increasing volume of cold calls from event organisers and even very well known research companies that promise to connect my clients to for example, 25 senior IT decision makers that are ready to purchase for a simple one off fee. There seems to be a marked increase of players in this form of the face to face meeting or event sector, and they all promise guaranteed meetings with an excellent level of decision makers. So how are companies supposed to make the decision of which company to trust and which company to give their £20K? Bearing in mind that 2010 is the year of budget justification (just listen to the news on a daily basis). So the budget holder will need to create a business and ROI justification that is attached to the purchase request before it gets agreed and hopefully signed off.   

Painful yes, but when businesses want to attract new customers or even protect their existing customers face to face still is extremely valuable medium given that people still buy from people. Here I must ask the question instead of spending £20K getting 25 meetings with senior IT decision makers would it be easier just to set up simple 10 – 15 customer or prospect events? Hire a local hotel room or sporting venue. In this environment you then can control every aspect of the event from invitations to registration to presentations and even the trash & trinkets (freebies). On another tact is it just easier to invite your customers to the Rugby, Grand Prix or even the races?

The advice I would give businesses of any size is that you need to decide what is right for your business and the perception that will be created by the customer or prospect when they are invited and accept and invitation to your event. Obviously there is a business element attached and they understand this but I feel it is very important to mention because some people may think it is an excuse just to get a little merry on the house.

When planning a bespoke event the invitation list is the most crucial element, this needs to be correct, accurate and the recipient really should be aware of your company to get a positive reaction and registration. The message needs to be crisp and to the point and the backend process might be amazing but if your message does hit the right audience all that other hard work has been wasted. Refine the message to suit the target market, select the method of communication i.e. Email or Direct Mail and then have the appropriate call to action with the addition of quick follow up like outbound telemarketing for confirmations. The key to success is to have a seamless flow when you get a response as this is the area where most business fail to capitalise on the enquiry, otherwise no-one will turn up to your event.  

Finally re confirm your attendees the day before the event as the dropout rate in the UK can be as high as 50% depending upon weather, location or lack of confirmation. Happy entertaining!

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