The difference between “participant” and “buyer”

Dear Reader,

Welcome to issue 32 of #SupplierPost (s) ?? - the biweekly newsletter with information and thoughts for MICE marketing and sales in a changed market. Yours Peter

Two messages from two supplier sales people, who participated in our event - same event - same city.

First message:

"Hello, we are not participating in your MICE by melody event this year. We were not satisfied with the quality of the buyers last year."

Second message:

"We will definitely be back, we had good conversations that led to business and also got enquiries via the MICEboard website."

Same event, two views. Normal? Certainly, but let's take a closer look. One supplier was satisfied with his participation in every respect. Both with the face-to-face conversations at the event and with the response to the online presentation of his brand, products, services and offers.?

Why is it then that another supplier was so dissatisfied with the same event? To answer this question, you have to take a closer look at the whole situation. And especially the concept of the event.

The "MICE by melody" concept provides for all suppliers participating in the event to be presented in detail in advance (!) via the MICEboard online media and also in relevant online communities, pages and groups with their brand, products, services and offers. In addition, such a presentation will be made in the weekly MICEboard newsletter - several times! And - last but not least - the suppliers participating in a MICEboard event are presented with extensive social media measures and introduced to the intended target groups (event planners who also organize events abroad).

Because only in this way, and with such information in advance of a registration, can a serious event planner make a decision whether he or she wants to participate in the event or not. He or she only wants to participate if he or she recognizes concrete business potential for him or herself. And this is precisely the fine line between a "buyer" and a "participant" in such and similar sales events.

If the information about the participating exhibitors is not available to the event planners at the time of registration. If event planners have no knowledge of who will be attending the sales event as a supplier, they can only register as "participants" who, in the most positive case, hope to meet suppliers on site who have actual business potential for them.

Based on the principle of hope, suppliers register as exhibitors for such sales events. Seriously? Unfortunately YES!?

Why? Because at these events everything is done to attract as many "participants" as possible. This is achieved by holding such events in attractive destinations, attractive hotels and with attractive social programmes and free of charge for the participants. This attracts numerous "participants", which in turn creates an image of "success" for the exhibitors (suppliers).?

In addition, there are two very practical aspects:

1. the superior in MICE Sales wants it that way (because it has always been done that way, since many years) and
2. participation in such events is also a happening for the suppliers - they have as much fun on site as the participants.

Without criticizing the supplier fun factor, the question must be allowed: what do such sales events actually bring in terms of business??

Let's return to the dissatisfied supplier mentioned and quoted at the beginning of this article. What is the true reason for his dissatisfaction?

The presentation - including his own - of all participating suppliers at the event undoubtedly encouraged event planners who were actually interested in the supplier to participate. So true "buyers" and not simply some "participants"!

The majority of "buyers" who attend are prepared. Based on the online publications about each supplier, they have researched and created a list of suppliers they definitely want to talk to. This is their motivation for attending: to speak face-to-face at the event with the suppliers they are considering for new business.?

Can "buyers" really be divided into "bad" and "good"? No, because it is always the supplier's offer that determines the demand (buyers). The problem is foremost not the event, it is the products, services and offers of each supplier.?

Why did they not perform so well in the run-up - despite comprehensive presentations? Why didn't they - like many other suppliers participating in the event - attract interested parties? These are uncomfortable questions that a supplier has to ask himself, so it is easier to blame the organizers and the event.

But what does an organizer of sales events have to do with the sales success or failure of the participating suppliers? He merely provides a "marketplace" where the suppliers present themselves with their offers. If it is a good sales event, the organizer does everything to ensure that no "participants" register for his event but actual "buyers". However, in 9 out of 10 sales events this is not the case. Also, because the organizers lack the necessary communities, but mainly because MICE Sales does not require this.?

This fact raises questions.

How does MICE Sales justify to its stakeholders investments in the form of exhibitor fees in sales events where the target group are not informed about the participating suppliers at the time of their registration? And so that only "participants" but no real "buyers" from the event industry take part in this kind of sales events.?

What should MICE sales look for when selecting sales events to attend??

Three tips:

• Are "participants" or "buyers" taking part? The second one is only possible if the target groups (event planners) are comprehensively informed about the participating suppliers by the organizers in advance. Because only then can event planners participate who have a genuine interest in the suppliers. And thus are really "buyers" who register.
• How much media coverage does the organizer of a sales event give me for the participation fee? The fact is that probably 99 out of 100 sales people wouldn't even think of asking themselves this question. Yet today, this is the most important decision criterion for or against participation in a MICE sales event! Because the decisions on the part of the event planners as to which suppliers (destinations, hotels, locations) are made on the basis of online research and recommendations. And only when the decision-making process enters the final phase is there a need and time for a face-to-face meeting with MICE Sales. An appropriately comprehensive presentation online and offline generates a high level of awareness among event planners. This optimised perception results in interest and also generates business enquiries.?
• Is the sales event really aimed at my target group? If the target group are event planners from Germany and the suppliers from both Germany AND other countries, the group of participants will consist of event planners who either only organize events in Germany AND who organize events BOTH in Germany and abroad. For international suppliers, however, only the last group is of interest, because event planners from Germany who only organize events in Germany are completely worthless for international suppliers. Therefore, make sure that only the target group that is relevant actually takes part in the sales event!

#SupplierPost (s) ??

This newsletter is aimed at suppliers from the MICE industry. It aims to stimulate, criticise and confront. It does not want to embarrass anyone, but to encourage out-of-the-box thinking. To have the courage to critically question the existing and to question methods of MICE marketing and sales.

It is not about right or wrong. It's about securing the future of an industry. If you are a MICE supplier, we would be very happy to hear your opinion on the topics.

The newsletter is published every 14 days and aims to stimulate thought with an article. Thank you for your time, we wish you a successful week!