This is one of those questions that has a multitude of answers but based on my own experience, Conference and Exhibition companies can specifically start with 6 areas of focus in order to make a step change in their top line performance: I’ve been out talking to bosses of small and medium size conference companies lately about their most pressing challenges and, if I was to distil things down to the one most common question, it is, in essence “how do we sell more stuff?”! 

1. Don’t believe your own hype about your product

Not everyone can have the best yet the majority believe they do. They also tell everyone within earshot that they do but customers actions don’t always support this claim. Far more qualified prospects are continuing to say “no” than “yes”. Sometimes this misconception is due to assumption and lack of recent attention.  In other cases it’s because senior people’s view on “great product” has diverged over time from the customer’s view. How are you thoroughly reviewing product relevance (perhaps different from your current measures of “quality”), communicating the answers and making the necessary changes? Are you approaching your annual events with the degree of unswerving rigour that you applied to the events on which you launched your business?  A number of companies are clearly shifting the amount of time their senior people spend client facing and this is showing in their revenues. Is it worth you rebalancing your own time / that of your most senior people to allocate more towards understanding the customer and less towards building products?

2. If customers aren’t spending a lot with you it’s because they don’t see a lot of value

How good is your feedback loop from the “lost sale” column and the low spenders to those who can make a difference (who could, by the way, be in any department)? Is this worth a review and an upgrade? It is notable that many of the innovative and responsive start up companies are being led by front line individuals from larger companies who really do know what their customers want and don’t believe their former employers are willing or able to deliver it

3. Prospects don’t see value because you never truly uncovered what they need 

How does your prospect react when seeing your product? Do you know? Really? Do you see a look of delight and a rush to share with colleagues or an expression of disengaged disappointment and a hasty “delete”? Could it be worth allocating the time to be with prospects more often when they first view your product?

4. Prospects don’t see value because no one shows them the value in terms they can translate

Are you sure the right person has actually assessed your offering? Are you happy that your materials/your “shop front”/your sales presentation moved you towards a sale rather than away from one? It may be worth a review of one or all of these in the presence of customers / prospects

5. Do you have the right people in the right seats in your team? 

Are you vigorously polishing the doorknob of sales process / lead generation / sales KPI’s again when in fact the door itself would blow away in a gentle breeze? Where you are currently getting under performance are you testing the door first? Test you have high calibre people doing jobs to which they’re well suited and in which they are fully engaged.

6. Have you identified the major fracture / opportunity within the sales function?

You’re convinced you have industry beating people but is the cause of sub optimal performance their product belief, their confidence, the environment, their skill level, the validity of the process you train ( assuming there is one), their prioritisation, their preparation, their commercial awareness or their own self- imposed limiting beliefs? Do they actively dislike / get nothing of value from working for their current boss? Do they feel disengaged / disconnected from the purpose of the business? By conducting a review and considering the options you have a far greater chance of making an impactful change. Conversely, if you don’t, but keep banging your favourite drum of KPI’s / lack of commitment / “they don’t have the grit we had when we started out” then, not only will you achieve zero to negative change but you’ll also be spending longer on expensive recruitment and inductions than you might like.

The good news is that, with both the appetite for change and the commitment to do what it takes to generate a different result, there are plenty of levers to pull that can make a significant and cost free increase in sales.

Have you recently asked yourself  “how do we increase sales?” In most cases it is a matter of being able to stand back, assess rather than leap in and identify, then act on, a major opportunity to make a difference.

What are your views?

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This is a guest blog by Tim Mann who has been operating within the Conference / Events industry for the best part of 20 years. Having started in Sales, Tim has led businesses engaged in many different delivery models – topical conferences, large scale annual conference / confexs, training, Summits, digital platforms. Tim has worked for 3 significant industry players where he has led new business launches, turnarounds and fast growth operations. He has had the opportunity to trial and learn from many different approaches within both a Sales and a business context. He has also had the opportunity to work with some outstanding people, many of whom continue to make valuable contributions to the industry.
Connect with Tim on LinkedIn or drop him an email.

Photo credit: chrisrehm