The Hot Seat
What Have We Done For You Lately?
by Melissa Stock
We recently received an e-mail from Dean Ingram of Pecos Valley Foods
asking what Sunbelt Shows is doing to promote our Reno and Florida Fiery Foods
& Barbecue Show venues. Dean’s question is certainly an important one -
so
important, in fact, that I thought I’d share my answer with everyone through
this column. In the spirit of keeping our most important business partners
(you) informed of the benefits of working with our company, here are the
highlights of what we have done for you lately.
- We have designated an employee whose sole function is to cultivate buyer
relationships. Five days a week, fifty-two weeks a year, she is calling
new buyers, as well as updating our current lists with the current buyer
information. Our expectations are very high for Denice, as we expect to
add a minimum of 7500 new buyers to our lists by September of 1999and we
won’t stop there.
- In this issue of Fiery Foods & Barbecue Business Magazine, we
have included a form for you to fill out, which we hope will help us
accomplish two things: first, to find out more about all of you and your
needs, and second, to ensure that your top buyers, or anyone else whom you
think should be receiving our materials, gets an invitation to our shows -
courtesy of YOU.
- We are making strategic alliances, and working as smartly as possible.
For example, we have spent a considerable amount of time and resources
identifying where and to what industries our magazines (and other
materials) should go. Our priorities include health and natural foods
market buyers, institutional food buyers (schools, prisons, hospitals,
hotels), ethnic stores, specific grocery store buyers, restaurants
(research tells us that the private labeling segment is really growing),
lawn and garden stores, mail-order folks, e-trade sources, and much more.
Plus, we have spent much time and money registering our show on Internet
sites such as Trade Show Central, the Thomas Food Industry Register, and
more, which are established and recognized resources for buyers.
- We see big opportunities for new, high-quality buyers at our venues in
Florida and Reno. Tampa is the perfect destination (economical and fun),
and our goal is to contact and cultivate relationships with a minimum of
5000 new East Coast buyers to attend this show. Likewise, we believe that
California, like Texas, is a whole other country, and that our change of
venue to Reno offers what we believe is a HUGE opportunity to grow the
California and West Coast-based trade attendance of the show. One of the
things we are doing to attract both buyers and consumers to this venue is
to fund a public relations campaign with our agency Shiroma Southwest.
This includes pitching stories to every sort of newspaper, magazine, and
food show in the California-Northern Nevada area. They are also working on
a deal with Food TV to do a live show segment featuring the exhibitors
from our show. Although that is not firmed up yet, it looks good.
Of course, these are just a few of the things we are doing to be THE place
for buyers and sellers to meet. Please take a minute to fill out the survey
and send us the names of your buyers - as Dean said in his letter, our objectives
are the same, to bring in a large number of people to the show to maximize all
of our returns.
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