Ok, so basically I could copy and paste the majority of this month’s – Tips of the Trade for DPMs… but I’ll just let you scroll up and check it out.
However, there are obviously differences in what kinds of ways podiatric suppliers like you are going to work on your business in comparison to a physician practice – duh.
The principles are the same, though. We need to commit ourselves to allocate the time to strategize a growth/improvement plan and then allocate more time to implement that plan.
But the same question comes up as it does in the article above… Sarah, what does this have to do with meetings?
Well, I’m simply going to challenge you to work ON your conference strategy, booth, materials, etc. vs. just showing up to another show…. unpacking all your potentially stale materials, and going through the motions. Copying/pasting is so easy to do, but we all know there are elements of our exhibiting strategy that need improvement.
But where do we start? Whether you’re a business owner who represents yourself at shows, or you are a sales representative taking on your territory, let’s start with a shortlist of tasks you can complete to improve your conference process.
  • Review our meeting calendar and pick 5-10 events that you feel you want to explore for the upcoming months.
  • Review your conference budget.
  • Set up your booth in your office and review every piece; what’s outdated? What needs to be replaced sooner than later? Is it too cluttered? How can you better feature a SHOWCASE product or service?
  • Download Clover Conferences’ planning checklist and packing checklist and add it to your standard tradeshow process.
  • Review your pre-meeting marketing plan (do you even have one?)
  • Review your on-site sales process; what’s working and what’s not? Explore options to improve the “what’s not.”
  • Review your post-meeting sales process and determine what’s working and what’s not.
  • Set goals for meetings other than sales (i.e. networking for distributors and/or sales reps; DPM focus groups/brainstorming sessions).
There are a TON of more items we can add to this list; but let’s start here and you will probably start adding some of your own.
It’s easy to let meeting sneak up on you and then just do the same thing you’ve always done, so mark your calendar NOW for a time this week that you are going to commit to working on a few of these bullets.
Happy Strategizing!
– SARAH