Event Tech Companies: 3 Keys to Winning Over Your Ideal Event Planner Client

You’re spending hours giving demos and sending out mass emails, but just not getting the right clients you need. What are you missing? Here are five tips from my experience on how you can have more success winning over your ideal event planning clients. I get inquiries every week from companies looking to share their product with me and through many trials and tribulations, here are five things that I know to be true.

Know your ideal audience
Of course, the first step in winning business from your ideal client is to know who they are. What type of events is your product best for? You need to know the exact market you’re trying to reach. Does your product have a bigger impact in special events or corporate? Festivals, meetings or concerts? What size event is the best fit for your product? What is the ideal team that you work with? I guarantee you there is a lot of competition in the event technology space that you occupy so knowing your ideal audience and the specific aspects of your product that differentiate you from your competitors is critical. If your product is ideal for meetings that have between 50-100 participants, it doesn’t mean that you can’t pitch other categories of events. However, you have to know what the differences are and make sure you were speaking to a planner from the right perspective. If your product isn’t the perfect fit, be prepared to explain why you still think it will work for that particular client. If you have no idea where to start identifying your target market, talk to planners. Learn about the work they do, the solutions they are looking for and the challenges they face. Talk to as many planners as you possibly can so you get a wide perspective on the industry.

Be concise
While I know that your product does a lot for the planner on the other side of the demo, you have to remember that event planners have very busy schedules. I’ve sat through so many demos that were an hour or longer. All of them could have been under 30 minutes. If you were customizing your demo to the planner you’re talking to, cut out all the things that don’t relate. You can always show them additional features and functions at a later time. The goal isn’t to show how massive of your product is and all the problems that it solves – your goal is to make sure that you provide value to the planner. And, that you respect their time.

Support
One of the main reasons why event planners hire event technology companies is because they are not tech experts. They know what they want to achieve with their events and most of the time, they know what type of product will help them get there. But from a technical perspective, they certainly don’t feel like the expert in the room. They count on you to walk them through the set up process, come up with new ways your platform can help their event that they wouldn’t have thought of, and to be there as a support throughout the entire process. Make sure you’re supporting the planners you work with and that you’re clear from the beginning on how much support you will offer.