by Jim Pemberton

In the past decade, leading distributors of cleaning and restoration products have prepared "Customer Appreciation Days" as a means of showing their products, introducing new products or vendors, and educating and/or entertaining their clients, who are primarily carpet cleaners and restoration specialists.

These events can be anything from a large picnic or "cookout" type of event to a small trade show. The success of such an event, from both a direct monetary aspect, as well as in customer relations, may vary greatly as well.

To appreciate the value of such events, and to determine if one would work well for you (or if the way you are doing it could use some improvement), it might help to start with a brief history of how education and products have been presented to our industry over the past few decades.

Through the late 1970s through the early 1990s, regional trade associations were the primary sponsors of training classes and trade shows. During the earlier part of that era, there were few distributors who specialized in serving the cleaning and restoration industry, and most of those only offered one or two lines of cleaning products and equipment.

As the years passed, and more and more distribution outlets opened, two major changes occurred:

In any event, with the trend of equipment and chemical manufacturers to only support two or three large shows per year, small, local, distributor sponsored events became the only way for many cleaners to see equipment and products and meet with manufacturer’s representatives.

TIME OF YEAR: We used to do these events during the late spring to early autumn. Here in the mid-Atlantic states, that makes for comfortable weather for outside exhibits, a "picnic" atmosphere, and outside entertainment. However, it also coincided with either vacations or a time of high business demand for our clients.

After several modestly attended (to put it kindly) events, we changed our program to late January. January is definitely a bad time to be outside in our region, but a great time for cleaners to be able to spend a day away from business. While it forced us to find a local facility to bring everything indoors, it greatly increased attendance.

CONTENT: While every region and client base is different, we find that our clients want more educational content and less entertainment. That was not our original intention, but when the program was moved indoors at a "slow time of year" we found that presenting brief (1/2 hour or less) presentations on a variety of technical and management subjects was very well received.

PREPARATION: Programs such as these must be planned well in advance. As I write this article, it is the beginning of July, and I have begun planning our January 2007 event. Over the next few months I will contact vendors and speakers, negotiate the purchase of a valuable grand prize drawing, and put together the educational agenda. We will advertise the event by direct mail and phone contact beginning 90 days prior to the event.

Due to the fact that we cater breakfast and lunch, we do all that we can to get confirmations on who intends to come to the program. This also assists us in preparing handouts that include order forms, speaker notes, discount coupons, etc.

EXECUTION: Programs of this size (300-400 attendees) require a complete team commitment from all staff. Every employee has a specific role to play, and has that job description in writing. Critical tasks include obvious things such as registration and order entry. Less apparent, but just as important, are the need to have individuals that take care of the vendors needs, food service, empty trash, direct parking, etc. In many cases, your client’s level of satisfaction from your event is often dictated by "the little things".

FOLLOW UP: Although your next event is a year away, always follow up with "Thank you" notes to vendors and speakers, and always thank your customers for coming. We usually extend our "show only specials" for one week after the show to give employees time to discuss the purchase with their boss (if they didn’t attend), and owners to discuss potential purchases with spouses. This concession to the usual "Today Only" pricing has greatly increased our sales from our program.

Ultimately, the work and expense of such programs are only worth it if the function produces both increased sales and better customer relations and customer loyalty.

To achieve these equally important goals, you must be willing to invest, plan, execute and have a total commitment to your program.

Make your customer appreciation day a success