Seminars: large attendance, low cost
Two affiliate Dutch distributors, Interdata BV and Mensys BV, had been selling professional software for a number of years. Although they were seen by existing enterprise customers as knowledgeable, too much of their sales process was taken up by repeat sales to existing customers either via the website or telephone, which did not add to them being perceived as a knowledgeable, high-end partner.
One of the remedies was to put in place a series of seminars which would serve both as a sales platform and to put the companies on the map as a software partner for system administration.
As the companies were small-sized, it was necessary to create seminars that would appeal both in content and in setting, yet would still be budget-neutral. Two factors worked in their advantage: their target customers were system administrators, thus easily reached via e-mail, and secondly, they had a large database of potential customers.
The content of the seminars consisted of four different vendor slots, centered around a single theme. It was rather technical and the demonstrations were to be strictly hands-on, thus creating an appealing mix for this target audience. Furthermore, we chose a number of venues that had the fun factor, such as a theme park, an aviation museum, a casino, etc.
As for this target audience it was not necessary to produce printed matter, we were able to set up a sequence of announcement, invitation, on-line registration and confirmation at low cost and a very fast turnaround time.
Every attendee was requested to fill in a questionnaire with their opinion on each individual speakers as well as the organisation of the seminar itself. Invariably, 95% or higher stated that the seminar met their expectations and 75% thought the organisation good to excellent.
What with vendors buying a speaker slot, the seminars were budget neutral, while a good time was had by between 75 and 100 attendees per seminar.