I was chatting the other day to a friend who runs a training business. He was talking about how he was nearly tempted to book one of the "meet the buyer" type days aimed at senior HR executives.

When I asked what it would cost he said, "oh, I think it was about five thousand or so".

OK, so who will you see?

He really didn't have the answer but, based on my experiences of these type of arrangements you'll usually get a slot with about 8 people. Typically, you fill out a wish list to start with, they agree to meet you and it's all set up beforehand.

Think of it as speed dating for buyers & vendors.

These companies all follow the same process: find an exclusive venue, lock up your executives and don't let them out, and parade them in front of a long line of eager vendors. One such company holds their events on a ship just to make sure the executives can't escape.

So, whilst this might seem a cleaner approach than old fashioned appointment setting it has a few disadvantages:

1) They don't want to see you - OK, let's be honest, they're seeing you because they have to see you (or rather they are paid to see a # of vendors). Some might dress it up as keeping an open view on the market, etc but basically they are investing time to see you without any real idea of what value you can add.

2) Vendor fatigue: these are long days for the attending executives. After a while, I guess, everyone blurs into each other. If you're the first person they see how much will they remember at the end of 2 days?

3) You still need to book an appointment - here's the real kicker: even after you've paid your money and sat in front of the executive you will still need to book an appointment to see that. Your pitch will be short and, as I've said, you'll need to work hard to cut through the fog of all the other vendors. Even if they're interested they'll usually tell you to contact them/their PA after the event and set up a meeting. You can guess what happens next...

I call this a "holiday romance". It seemed good while you were all away together but once you've got back to work other things take a priority.

From speaking with many clients who have been down this route a predictable pattern emerges. Everyone leaves on a high, lots of quality meetings, etc. Often you'll book next year's event because it's been such a success.

Then, days and weeks after, you find out that those executives are just not returning your calls. Or are bouncing your meetings as they struggle to remember who you are or why they agreed to see you.

Now, of course, not every one is like that but sadly it's a common experience.

If you compared this with a sales appointment that's been set up by a specialist appointment setting firm you'll find a few differences.

Firstly, they are seeing you because they are interested. They know what you do and your value proposition up-front and have agreed to see you.

Secondly, you'll get more of their time and undivided attention, plus you'll not be competing with a string of vendors on the same day. Effectively, you get more of their mind-space.

Finally, you control more of the game. When you're at these events you're working to someone else's schedule (which is all about getting bums on seats and coordinating all those face-to-face meetings). When you're at a prospect's office you have the opportunity to set some of the agenda and they can check diaries, etc for next-step meetings.

Plus, you'll often have the opportunity to meet with additional key influencers and decision makers.

To me, the "meet the buyer" approach can work well when you're more interested in developing relationships rather than closing business. Often it facilitates an introduction that you can build on... but it takes time.

Appointment setting is all about getting you in front of interested decision makers.

Labels: appointment setting