Event managers can appreciate how difficult successfully completing an event is. Event management is no easy task, and planners can often get overwhelmed by the multitude of tasks they have to handle at once. But planning and preparation are key to successfully hosting an event.
With all the tasks that event planners have to tackle, they often overlook the importance of increasing event sales. Operational elements in event management are necessary but developing the sales pipeline is not something that should be casually delegated or overlooked as it can easily make or break an event.
You can ensure that the setting of the event is finished elegantly, the ushers are ready to guide the guests, and everything is done perfectly, but none of that will matter if no guests turn up. You should strategically ensure beforehand that registration for the event is high and people do not end up not coming.
In order to ensure event sales are high, you need to make the right decisions while planning for the event. Here are five ways through which you can increase your event sales:
DO YOUR RESEARCH
In the current day and age, it is very easy to conduct research. The internet has made our job easier for us. We no longer have to visit or call offices to get information. The internet and social media provide us as many sources to find out about our customers and get their contact information.
It is important to know about your buyers’ personas. Company websites provide data on the culture and aims of the company and also often have sections on the people working in the company and information regarding them. One can utilize their resources to their advantage by gaining an understanding of their customers through prior research.
IDENTIFY YOUR TARGET AUDIENCE
In order to effectively increase your sales numbers, you need to know who to market your event for. Planning is key to a successful event, and an integral part of this planning process is to identify your target customers.
You need to take into consideration the nature of your business and the content of our event and align the two to decide who will be most attracted to your event. Studying the relevant demographics and people will allow you to decide who to focus. This will prevent you from wasting your time and resources by not publicizing to people who will not be attending the event.
By strategically directing your marketing efforts towards your target audience you are more likely to increase sales and the overall turnover at the event.
BUILD A STRONG DATABASE TO REFER TO
Once having decided who your target audience is and gathered all the relevant information via research, you should organize the information and create a database. This will provide you a valuable store of information and also allow you to effectively manage your customers and ensure customer satisfaction.
Various Customer Relationship Management (CRM) applications are now available for use, even free of cost, which allows you to monitor your relationship with your customers. HubSpot provides a great platform that event planners can use to market their events better to their customers.
Your database should contain all the necessary information about your customers. This includes their contact information, such as name, contact number, email address, their work information, job title and role, and also their preferences and prior customer history.
APPROACH SALES PITCHES CAREFULLY
When making a sale it often takes many meetings and negotiations before the deal is closed. In order to make sure you make all your sales pitches count, you should approach the task carefully. Many professionals do not appreciate being bombarded with messages. So if a potential customer is not in regular contact with you then you should be aware of when you need to pause communication.
A good way to approach the matter is by making the sales pitch in steps of communication. You should use a few communication channels initially, such as email or call, and send your message across to the client and try to arrange a one to one meeting. If you do not get a response then do not try to contact them again immediately, but rather wait a few weeks before you do so again.
After giving the client time to get free from their busy schedule, you should contact them again. If they continue to not respond then you should give them more time still and then decide if you should move on to other prospective clients.
CONNECT WITH YOUR CLIENTS
It is important for you to not simply sell your event and brand to your clients but also be engaged with them to develop a personal working relationship. This would include listening to what your clients need and what problems they face that you can solve for them.
Providing sales consulting services to your clients will improve your relationship with the client. It will also allow you to better understand what your clients need so you can adapt to that whereas you can help navigate your clients through the decision making process.
Emotions play a great role in decision making. Information is, of course, necessary in making any decision, especially a sales decision, but the emotions and aspirations of people may be the defining factor in whether they close the deal or not. So a successful event planner should know how to emotionally sell to their clients and develop relationships to increase sales for their event.
Planning how to increase the sales for your event should be part of your pre-event planning stage. You should strategically prepare how to target your customers and increase the outcome at your event. Building good relationships with your customers will build their trust in you and increase your reputation as an effective event management business. The tips provided above will help you to improve the sales process in your event management in the future.
Do you have any other suggestions on how event sales can be increased? Sound off in the comments below!
