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Opinion


kbb Birmingham 2018 Show Special


Left and right: Examples of some successful events hosted by Roundhouse showrooms


holding an event at the same time. Don’t hold it around Christmas or in the summer months (school holidays) and check it’s not a bank holiday. Evenings are good for a trade audience, as they’ll come after work. Always expect a dropout rate on the night. If you are banking on 100, make sure you’ve had 200 RSVPs. You’ll always get about a 40% dropout rate, which is often dependent on weather and transport issues. If you get less than 40% and a huge dropout rate, you will need to analyse why. Was the event format not enticing enough? Was the venue too far for people to travel? In this way, you can ensure, next time round, that you have a better attendance. Tuesdays and Wednesdays midweek are good for working people, whereas the dropout rate on Thursdays is always higher. For canapés, go for 6.30pm to 8.30pm and for dinner 7pm to 9pm. Think about how your showroom/event space will look. Decide where the food will be served. Perhaps order some flowers. It’s always good to have live demonstrations, with chefs preparing and cooking food to create a buzz.


Partner brands Working with a partner is a great way of attracting a new audience, building your database and sharing costs. You could consider working with a trade partner, such as a tap, appliance, surface manufacturer or supplier in order to cross-promote. You can both introduce your brands to each other’s audiences by halving the guest list and agreeing to a 50:50 share of the event costs.


If you’re on a small budget, you might also want to consider working with partner brands for the food and drink, where a champagne brand might sponsor and provide the drinks free of charge. Another way of partnering can be with a magazine for a reader event. This can be a good way of specifically growing your consumer database and marketing to exactly the right audience – those in the market for a new kitchen or bathroom. It’s important to plan ahead if you are refurbishing


your showroom and including new products from third-party suppliers. Deciding factors will include


whether they can work with you on your event programme, commit to a long-term relationship and have the budget and willingness to work with you on your brand marketing initiatives.


It’s all in the detail All elements should be to the highest possible standard, including catering and drinks. To entice people to attend, you’ll need champagne and cocktails and why not use a caterer or chef? If it’s a regional event, choose a local restaurant that offers outside catering or a renowned chef to pull in the numbers. We work with a number of high-end drink brands


and caterers, with whom we’ve fostered a relationship over time. It’s a mutually beneficial partnership, as they too are accessing a new audience. The fact that they are extremely well-known will help attract guests to attend our events.


Make sure you have enough internal staffing and resources for the event – you always need more than you think. For a large event, you’ll need around 10 people, for a small event (16 to 20 guests) four to six staff. Remember they’re all ambassadors for your brand and should be briefed as such. You need people to greet guests, deal with coats and tickets, show and explain products to people throughout the evening, manage back of house, organise a prize draw, hand out goody bags, and so on. Think about how people are greeted at the door.


You’ll need someone (two for larger events) to make a list of who has attended and monitor follow-up sales calls. This is really key, as it dictates the pitch for your sales team when following up. A prize draw is a good way of enriching data and, if working with a partner brand, accessing new data. Have forms for guests to fill out or have trade guests leave their business cards. Always have drinks being served – even if on trays – as guests arrive and have goody bags pre-packed at front of house. Make sure they aren’t too heavy, include a nice product people will want, and your and your partner’s brochures.


Book a professional photographer to come for an


hour to keep it cost-effective. You’ll need about 20 really good photos – some for marketing and select


42 kbbreview kbb Birmingham Special Edition March 2018


a few immediately for social media. Then think about where you’ll use them – blog, website, to give to partners, Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, etc. Also book a cleaner the day before and after.


Post-event analysis Make sure you do a thorough post-event analysis. If you’ve had really good RSVPs but a small attendance – ask yourself why?


The success of an event can be measured by feedback, attendance and sales leads and conversions. Look at what types of leads they are – new, warm or existing. How have these progressed over time from the events your audience has attended? Have they converted to a sale and how long has this taken over how many events? It’s really important how you validate sales leads. Brand building and relationships don’t happen overnight – particularly to a new audience. You might have someone who attends three or four times and eventually this translates into sales after 10 months, maybe even a year.


Follow-up


This is one of the most important parts of your event, leading to that all-important sales conversion. Have a plan and timeline for your follow-up and allocate adequate resources. You will need to follow up with everyone who RSVPd as a start. You could split the leads among the sales team or with one person, if it’s a small event. Follow-up should start one week after and there should always be a reason for the call, such as ‘thank you for attending our event’, leading into setting up an appointment. That could be to drop in the latest sample box and brochure, or to tell them about another event you are organising and ask if they’d like to attend. It’s all about creating touch- points with your customers and your brand over time. Make your sure prize draw data is typed up and matched to your database for duplicates and updates. A key part of staging such events is to validate and enrich your database, which will help with your next event or marketing initiative.


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