As the Mid-Autumn Festival approaches, it's time to prepare for order conferences! A well-executed Mid-Autumn order conference can boost sales and reduce second-half worries. This article focuses on on-site order conferences.

Three Purposes and Two Pitfalls of Order Conferences

A successful order conference generally helps distributors achieve the following three purposes:

  1. Increase Sales In a specific region, the distributor organizes the conference with support from company sales staff, inviting secondary wholesalers and large retailers. Through product introductions, policy presentations, and on-site lucky draws, attendees are encouraged to place orders. Typically, each participant orders at least 100 cases, and a single conference can generate several million in sales, completing what would normally take a month in just one day.

  2. Develop New Customers For entrepreneurs interested in becoming secondary wholesalers, order conferences are the best way to enter the circle. Distributors can leverage the conference's positive atmosphere and favorable promotional policies to directly recruit them as secondary wholesalers.

  3. Transfer Financial Pressure and Strengthen Relationships It's common for distributors to face sales constraints due to insufficient funds. Order conferences allow them to collect payments in advance, with delivery scheduled days later. This not only temporarily uses secondary wholesalers' funds to ease cash flow but also gradually fosters a regional alliance sharing capital, networks, and warehousing.

    Additionally, many distributors rarely interact with local secondary wholesalers and retailers beyond occasional business. Such conferences bring together clients with direct or indirect business ties, promoting goodwill and strengthening cooperation.

Two Common Pitfalls

Due to inadequate execution, insufficient funds, or poor attention to detail, distributors often fall into two traps:

  1. Going to Extremes Distributors or sales managers unfamiliar with organizing such events may swing between extremes. On one hand, they might hold a formal meeting with endless speeches, feeling like forced indoctrination. On the other, they might briefly mention promotional policies and turn the entire event into a feast.

  2. Losing Control Some distributors fail to maintain proper boundaries, resorting to unfair competition to push products or failing to honor post-conference policies. In such cases, it's better not to hold the conference at all.

Pre-Conference Research: Finding the Entry Point

After understanding the practical significance and potential pitfalls, distributors should first focus on pre-conference research.

Survey Customer Relationships Customer relationships are critical. Poor relationships can lead to low attendance, failing to meet target numbers. Therefore, assess the distributor's customer relationships beforehand to avoid a situation where "the food is easy to prepare, but guests are hard to invite."

  • Research the market to understand what policies customers are interested in, and propose initial ideas to gauge their willingness to attend.
  • Identify the best times for customers to attend. Different channels have different peak times: e.g., wet market customers are busiest early morning and evening; school-area customers are busiest on Sundays (elementary schools during drop-off/pick-up); township customers are busy on market days; residential area customers are busy during commute hours. Also, consider major customers' important commitments.

Survey Competitor Activities Gather information on competitors: their promotional policies, potential conflicts with your conference, customer complaints about competitors, and how to avoid them. Also, check when other manufacturers and distributors (especially in alcohol, large food, and beverages) hold their conferences to avoid scheduling conflicts.

Set a Compelling Theme A well-chosen theme enhances brand alignment and gives distributors confidence in mutual market success.

Determine Scale Decide on the number of attendees: how many will definitely attend, how many need strong invitations, how many won't attend but will order, and how many might attend only with manufacturer intervention. Confirm feasibility, set time, venue, and number of banquet tables. Budget costs, identifying which expenses the manufacturer can cover directly, indirectly, or share.

Pay attention to cost allocation and adjust sales staff commissions to ensure the conference yields a surplus.

Use Policies to Entice Customers

Crafting the right policies requires significant effort. A novel policy attracts customer participation. Among multiple linked policies, ensure there's a standout highlight to keep excitement high and stimulate ordering.

  • "Come and Get": Give gifts to all attendees, with perceived value. These can be manufacturer-provided gift boxes or self-assembled product bundles.
  • "Order and Win": Policies should be more generous than usual, making customers feel they won't see such support again. Gifts must have value and be relevant to the products they currently handle.
  • "Order More, Win More": Implement tiered rewards to encourage larger orders. Set thresholds based on the order amounts of most customers while considering the enthusiasm of a few large accounts.
  • "Win Again": Include lucky draws, with raffle tickets based on order tiers, increasing chances to win and motivating larger orders.

Emphasize that the conference is cash-only, no credit, to avoid fake orders and prize fraud. If a customer requests credit, require a salesperson to guarantee payment within a specified period.

After finalizing policies, communicate with a few loyal customers first to secure support and prevent a lukewarm response.

On-Site: Control the Atmosphere

Managing the pace is crucial. A smooth flow boosts customers' ordering enthusiasm, and a lively atmosphere can elevate expectations beyond imagination.

Venue Setup: Find the Highlight, Atmosphere Matters

  • The theme must be prominent, visible to all attendees, along with the host's speaking area.
  • Product displays should be novel and eye-catching. Product brochures, company profiles, and clear price tags (cost and selling) are essential.
  • Decorate with hanging flags, posters, banners, roll-ups, X-stands, and players. Use a projector if possible for clearer product and policy visibility. Outside, hang banners to guide attendees; consider arches, balloons, and product inflatables.
  • Pre-assign seats to avoid seating conflicting customers together or near each other, and to prevent problem customers from leaking unfavorable information or privileged policies.
  • Prepare the cashier area with sufficient receipts, invoicing supplies, and counterfeit detectors. If card payments are accepted, have POS terminals ready and ensure cash security. Remind customers to keep their receipts and raffle tickets.

Combine Pre-Conference and On-Site Invoicing Nowadays, fewer brands actually issue large orders on-site. Typically, payments are collected beforehand, especially from major distributors. On-site orders come from smaller customers and impulsive buyers influenced by the atmosphere. Pre-collecting payments also helps control costs, avoiding overruns due to unexpected attendance and preventing a sparse turnout if brand influence is weak.

Create a Lively Atmosphere The more vibrant the atmosphere, the more enthusiastic distributors are to order, influencing small and hesitant customers. For instance, pre-arrange with loyal distributors to increase their on-site order amounts, prompting others to compete. Offer incentives like overall top order prizes and highest on-site cash order awards to encourage immediate ordering.

If budget allows, extend the atmosphere beyond the venue to main streets, which is particularly effective for township customers and county-level conferences.

Include Raffles and Gifts If gifts are distributed beforehand or no gifts are offered, attendance will drop. Make customers feel they must attend to receive gifts and participate in raffles, discouraging no-shows and ensuring accurate headcounts and high energy.

Boost Attendance On the day, check all preparations early. Front desk staff should handle reception, registration, and gift distribution, ensuring one gift per household to avoid duplicates.

Sales staff should warmly greet customers, stay alert, explain policies, and handle orders without neglecting anyone. Monitor attendance and call absent customers to encourage their presence. Arrange orders efficiently, especially for key customers who can lead by example (some can order beforehand to avoid congestion and missed orders).

Control the pace to avoid dragging on. Product introductions should be concise, under half an hour, interspersed with order updates to build momentum. Include manufacturer speeches to show support.

When introducing products, emphasize how they will sell through, addressing concerns about slow sales and returns. Pay attention to customers who haven't ordered. During meals, sales staff should work hard, leveraging the awkwardness of not ordering to secure commitments, and use existing orders to encourage others.

Post-Conference Follow-Up: Execute Thoroughly

After the conference, distributors should quickly summarize. Apologize to any neglected or dissatisfied customers, perhaps with small gifts as compensation. Thank active orderers to strengthen relationships.

  • Quickly coordinate with the manufacturer for stocking and deliver orders. Offer modest support to customers who didn't attend.
  • Monitor customer sales and adjust promptly to avoid overstocking and dampening enthusiasm, which could lead to returns.
  • For customers with unusually large orders (over five times their usual), consider staggering deliveries to prevent warehouse congestion and negative impressions.
  • Communicate with the manufacturer to finalize expense reimbursements and express gratitude for their support.

In response to requests from distributor friends, our platform's fourth B2B e-commerce study tour will visit Nanjing and Hangzhou from August 15-18 to inspect Qianmi.com and Alibaba Retail Link. Distributors interested in transformation are welcome to join us:

Activity Schedule:

  • August 15: Check in at designated hotel in Nanjing.
  • August 16: Visit Qianmi.com; take high-speed rail to Hangzhou in the afternoon.
  • August 17: Attend the "FMCG Distributor B2B Transformation Exchange Summit."
  • August 18: Visit Alibaba Retail Link in Hangzhou.

Distributors interested in transformation are welcome to join us for understanding and on-site inspection.

Organization Format:

  1. Company visits
  2. Real market case visits
  3. On-site explanations
  4. One-on-one exchanges

Participants only need to pay a registration fee of 200 yuan; other expenses are self-covered.

Note: This tour is limited to distributors.

Interested distributors can register by long-pressing the QR code below.

When adding, please note: "Fourth Tour Registration."

Non-participants, please do not disturb.

Photos from Previous Tours:

  • Third Tour: Yunbao Shangmeng, Weicheng Distribution, Wanshang Yizhan (top to bottom).
  • Second Tour: Jinhuobao, Caiba, Yishang (top to bottom).
  • First Tour: Piduoduo, Beiquan, Yishang (top to bottom).

-END-

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