Even Simple Event Mistakes Can Cost You Thousands
June 20th, 2012 by Diane Conklin under Event Planning & Marketing. No Comments.
Event promoters, and event planners, sometimes make mistakes without thinking about it.
Have you ever been to an event where the doors get locked at lunchtime every day? You might think that’s okay, because from a security perspective, you are keeping everything in the room safe while everyone is gone. But here’s the problem. There are a lot of sales going on at events in the back sales area, there are speakers, event promoters, and sometimes outside speakers the attendees would like a chance to talk to, ask questions of and maybe even take a picture with.
- What happens when you lock the doors to your meeting room during the lunch break?
- What happens when they are locked in the morning until the last minute before you officially start?
- What happens when everybody has just enough time to come in and sit down, and you literally start 5 minutes later?
- What happens when your attendees leave at lunch and can’t get back in the room?
- What’s the problem, anyway?
Here’s the issue. If you open the doors even as little as 30 minutes before your event starts in the morning, it gives your attendees a chance to network and it gives them a chance to go to the back sales area and ask your staff, your event promoter or event planner, or whoever is working the back area, questions about things that have been sold, and questions about your products and services. If they’re asking questions, it usually means there’s a very good chance they’re going to invest in something you have to offer.
If they’re asking questions and are showing interest in things, they’re probably going to invest more money.
You want to teach people to go to that back sales table. Even if they’re just asking a basic question like where’s the restroom, they’ve gone to that back sales table. The back table now becomes the area of focus in your room, which is exactly what you want.
The same thing happens as people come back from lunch. When they come back from lunch early, and the doors are open, they can walk to the back and look at the things in your bookstore, they can look at your products, and they might pick up an order form. They have a chance to ask questions about the speaker who was there before lunch.
Everybody has to eat, but a good philosophy when you’re running your own events is, you can eat and sleep later, the first priority is to take care of your attendees, be available to answer questions and to help them in any way possible.
A good rule of thumb is that somebody from your staff or your team has to be in the room at all times.
So, during the lunch breaks, there are people at the back sales table. The back sales area should never be empty. There should always be somebody there that can answer questions and who can make a sale. Because not having your back table properly staffed costs you, the event promoter, money in the long run – and usually it costs you a lot of money.
It may seem like a little thing, but it could make a big, big difference.
So, at lunchtime, have somebody back there, leave the doors open. Tell people they can leave their belongings if you’re comfortable with that.
You always want to lock the meeting room doors at night, always double check and you and your staff as well as hotel security will want to go to great lengths to secure the room when you’re done for the day with the event.
The point is, you want to do everything you can to maximize sales, and that means you want to give people a chance to visit the sales area, and network with the speakers.
Not everybody is a quick decision maker that jumps up and runs to the back, invests their money and they’re done. Some people have to weigh things over, they want to think about things a little bit. They have questions that come up about the product and whether or not it’s the right investment for their business.
Attendees have questions and you want to make that sales area as available as possible to maximize your investment, and get your marketing money, and all of the effort back that you’ve already put into that amazing live event you’re putting on.
