Industry Briefing Session: Making the most of Meet the Buyer 2024

good morning everyone lovely to have you all with us today my name is Nikki Patterson and I am Business Solutions manager for tourism Northern Ireland uh and welcome so much today to this H introduction and training webinar ahead of Meet the buyer 2024 so I suppose today really is just about helping you to get the most out of the event we're absolutely delighted that this year the event has increased to a day and a half and Julie will take you through that in a bit further detail but I suppose from our point of view we just wanted to highlight really the reason that we're that we're doing this for a day and a half is to meet demand from International tour operators uh we really have they've asked us to to to make that possible and for our industry and really to spend more time with them so we hope that you can all make the most of that and take that up um so we're going to be hearing shortly from Julie O'Brien which most of you will be familiar with and from rinda t and Hospitality Solutions um a real expert with experience right across the uh travel the international travel trade and my sector um working with two operators dmc's inh house and now she is a consultant but Julie will tell you a bit more about herself in a moment but quickly I'm going to give you a very um few few pointers on on this year's meet the buyer so in terms of the event itself it is run by the Business Solutions team H and within our team there is myself we beverage EA Walsh Connor carbury Don cargan who leads out on Meet the Beyer um Morin der who is our business tourism uh ESO and then we've got Heather Gibson and Jillian Hunter who support Dawn and meet the bar as well so really our role uh in Business Solutions is to support our industry to connect uh with International operators across Leisure and mice so we've got three weeks to go and a few points to remember the appointment schedule is currently live you've got 3 days to accept or decline your meeting requests we're expect well at the moment there's 3,500 appointments accepted to date but we are expecting that there's around 5,000 one to one meetings are going to take place by the end of the event which is incredible uh we the cap on the number of meetings will be lifted today and just a reminder to finalize your schedules so on the day we'd ask you to arrive in good time there's a lot of people making their way there so so just um make sure you give yourself plenty of time there'll be tea and coffee whenever you get there so you can have some of that before you kick off the day um meet all of your pre- scheduled appointments and if for some reason you can't please let them know that you'll not be able to make it um ensure your meetings keep the time and don't run over Barry and our team will will help you with that because he'll be be ringing the bell or the buzzer and letting everybody know that it's uh complete and you need to move on to your next appointment and use the break time and lunchtimes to meet with other buyers that you don't have in your appointment schedule finally our Network and dinner is an excellent opportunity for you to expand expand your contact and spend some free time and Leisure Time With The Operators just to give you a Roundup then of some of the stats from Meet the buyer 2023 so 50% said realistically they expected to do um business with six or more operators that they met sorry this is industry feedback uh 92% of the industry rated the event good are very good 92% said participation in the workshop would benefit their business in the recovery process and Beyond and 97% said they would attend the event in 2024 and our operator top three objectives which we don't expect will have changed much this year 92% of them were to meet with existing suppliers um for product and pricing update 92% were to meet with new suppliers and 84% was to extend existing programs or gathering information to help with planning so again Julie I'll touch on some of that a bit further but that gives you really good insights into how to prepare for your meetings so we have prepared some support resources for meet the buyer 2024 so we've got the tourism ni content pool so that's where you can go online to our content pool and access photographs and images that you can use in your presentations uh you've also got the Discover ni YouTube channel where you can gather uh videos and content to run on your presentations you can update your market profiles on tourism ireland.com you can go to research and insights on tour ISM ani.com which gives you some really good uh insights and information really for how you approach your meeting and discuss things with your operators uh links to previous webinars are on tourism ni.com and if you want to stay

up to date with International B2B Market opportunities um just go online as well the tourism ni.com you can go to the Business Solutions page and that will give you all the forthcoming International platforms some of you will already be using our social media asset and we encourage you to do so um there is uh assets for Twitter LinkedIn and your email signature so we've seen a lot of those about to date and I'm now going to hand you over to Julie uh for for the detailed part thanks Julie oh Nikki thank you so much and thank you for everyone who's joined the session this morning so I think uh Nikki made it really clear that there's a massive opportunity available to all of you individually and collectively and across destination Northern Ireland via meet the buyer for 202 before uh so the purpose of uh the next part of the session that I will take you through is to enable you to maximize the opportunity so here we are the topic we're going to look at this morning through this webinar is maximizing opportunities via meet the buyer 2024 and of course this is an industry briefing session I'll be with you for about an hour and as Nikki mentioned earlier we'll be taking some questions at the end um I have worked in tourism and Hospitality uh now for more than 30 years I began my career as a professional travel buyer um and I've also worked in diverse kinds of Tourism businesses so I'm really looking forward to bringing you into the mindset of the buyer this morning uh so that you will more easily navigate this landscape to maximize opportunities um for yourself and destination Northern Ireland so after uh this session you will understand how to research professional travel buyers to maximize opportunities you will understand how to craft a targeted B2B presentation in other words presentation that suits the needs of professional travel buyers and a verbal pitch to maximize opportunities you will understand how to follow up with professional travel buyers to maximize opportunities and you will gain insights into what to watch out for for example when negotiating with professional travel buyers just some pointers there and pricing and Contracting with professional travel buyers so an overview of the content we're going to cover we' have an awful lot to get through over the next 50 minutes or so uh first of all we'll start uh taking a look at some tips and insights to help you maximize opport unities note I keep repeating maximize opportunities because when you attend meet the buyer you'll be giving up your time and of course we want to make sure that you get the best return for that time so that's really important number two we'll move on to the jargon so if you understand the jargon connected with this world uh this is really uh helpful to help you clarify the opportunity number three we'll look at how to craft your B2B presentation number four how to craft your B2B verbal pitch number five how to follow up number six negotiation just uh little insight there on what you need to be aware of and similarly for pricing and Contracting what you need to be aware of we'll wrap up with some questions so please make sure to send those in so that's it my friends we're going to get going now through that content uh over the next uh 45 minutes or so as I said there earlier our first topic that we said we'd look at this morning is an overview of tips and insights to help you maximize opportunities now you're all uh aware of the logistics for meet the buyer and Nikki highlighted some of those this morning and of course you've received some uh support information as well to help you in that regard I would strongly suggest that you carefully read that information because uh what you want to do is arrive at meet the buyer feeling comfortable so you're not flapping about any logistical uh details you already know these day one of Meet the buyer which takes place on Tuesday the 9th of April will uh appointments will start at 9:00 a.m. and end at 4:30 p.m. day two would begin at 9:00 a.m. and to 12:00 noon and you will have 15 minutes for each appointment so these are really important things to know and within this time frame that we will construct our B2B presentation and our verbal pit it is really important so step one be really aware of the logistics know the practicalities that you need to be aware of through the day so that you arrive comfortable uh you know and uh with your house in order I would say your next step is is that you do really strong research so really interesting to say hear Nikki say this morning that already over three and a half thousand uh appointments have been established via the appointment booking system for meet the buyer um so when we're in this system our success depends on strong research we're talking about maximizing opportunities here so when we're in uh the appointment booking system so con Verve we can see that there are lots of different buyer profiles and our job is to go through those profiles and find out the buyers who are the best match for our uh business um I love this functionality that I've highlighted here on the screen before you called show only my match um so this will bring up profiles that read as a direct match for my own business profile so that can be a good way of Fielding through the leads to uh reduce the number of buyers that perhaps you should be researching when you go into the system of course there are lots of different buyers and all of these buyers are different each one is unique they have different kind of customer types and different kind of markets so it's your job to really research those buyers and ultimately it's like a game of snap we're trying to figure out you know what does your business offer what does the buyer need and is there a Meeting of Minds is there an opportunity for a mutually beneficial partnership it is really important when you're doing your research that you carefully read the buyer's profile to establish what their interested in and if the buyer's profile isn't so well done or doesn't give you a lot of information within the system then take a look elsewhere maybe ask colleagues in the industry or take a look online uh to see if you can find out more information about the buyer we're really trying to establish if they're a match for what you offer so it's really important to reiterate that point that each professional travel buyer is unique um each one can offer uh its own set of opportunities for example they could engage in Ledger Andor business tourism they could engage in individuals and or ad hoc groups Tour series for example each one will engage in diverse markets diverse Global markets and each one uh will offer you a diverse opportunity so what you're looking for as a Synergy is there an opportunity here for a mutually beneficial partnership and that is the purpose of the research so ultimately as I said a moment ago it's a bit like a game of snap it's all about matching we're looking to match your business offering to what the professional travel buyer who ultimately would become your partner if there is a match requires and therefore you need to know something about that buyer before you even begin to engage in conversation with them so I would urge you number one wrap your head around the logistics you know so that you can arrive calm and to meet the buyer ready to maximize opportunities number two please do your research so you understand firstly based on what you've read that the buyer is a match for your requirements and also you're ready then to have a meaningful conversation uh with a professional travel buyer once you meet them success depends on strong preparation this is really important so when we prepare for meet the buyer the Urgent pieces the first priority pieces that we need to prepare are number one our presentation number two our verbal pitch what are we going to say and number three our followup we need to think about how we're going to manage this these are our top three items that we need to prepare to maximize opportunities our second priority items uh that we will need to think about afterwards are nurturing skills I've met someone for example and there's a good opportunity for a partnership here now how do I nurture this relationship so that I can bring you know the person I've met that lead if you like to a conversion to a booking how do I nurture the relationship I may also depending on how the partnership evolved need to master negotiation skills and pricing and Contracting note how I've said for meet the buyer mastering your verbal pitch your presentation and your follow-up are the key priorities once we have this in order we then think about afterwards how we could nurture those relationships so that ultimately the buyer ends up me making a booking if there's an opportunity and also I may need to think about negotiation skills pricing and Contracting so be aware of our priorities I'll be showing you in a little while how to uh some tips for building your presentation in your verbal pitch but before we go there I want to make sure that everyone listening today is aware of the jargon that relates to the world of B2B so professional travel buyers this is really important so that you can uh conduct yourself with confidence and clarify the opportunity that is available to you so really importantly meet the buyer is primarily a Leisure tourism uh trade event in other words uh the vast majority probably all of the buyers who attend will be looking after the needs of customers who come uh to this part of the world for holidays in this land Cape we have diverse kinds of uh Leisure tourism professional travel buyers for example we can have a tour operator a tour operator means a professional travel buyer manages the needs of holiday makers from the global marketplace coming to Ireland so these in these holiday makers of course could be traveling for lots of different reasons they could be individuals or groups the other word we need to be aware of is DMC it stands for Destination management company a professional travel by that calls themselves a DMC could equally be looking after the needs of international customers uh looking to come here on their holidays a wholesaler is another word for a professional travel buyer and like a wholesaler in any other industry this tends to be a buyer who buys in in a lot of quantity in other words maybe they sell a lot of rooms in Ireland they have customers who are particularly interested in Ireland um so they will be looking for a lot of quantity and that is something that you need to be aware of of an OTA is short for online travel agent and you'll be aware of these we have the likes of booking.com and

Expedia of course specifically for activities and experiences we have for example via tour tickets get your guide particularly across a tour operator GMC and wholesaler these customers these uh professional travel buyers tend to look after the following customers the first customer type is called an fit fully independent traveler this tends to refer to the individual customer it doesn't necessarily mean that there's just one customer it could mean that there are two or three there could even be little family groups that have come together to create almost like a little group of 12 or 16 but it tends to focus on the individual so one or small groups very small groups of people or maybe family groups then we have the ad hoc group so an adoc group is exactly like that we're currently in March maybe I ask you for an inquiry for May for 20 people so it's just an ad talk request for somebody coming on their holidays I could have a special interest group for example maybe I'm in storian and I do beautiful um you know experiences that relate to that and therefore I'm particularly interested in buyers and c and visitors that have an interest in history and of course uh uh the likes of tour operators might also look after Tour series so these are repeated uh groups over multiple dates so again if we look at the different professional travel buyers you'll be able to think I know who they are and I can start to understand which ones are a match for me I also understand the diverse kind of customers they have have I can begin to figure out you know you know if any particular one of these customer types is a match for me each one of these professional uh travel buyers deals with customers from the international marketplace and these customers can have diverse needs they could for example want a package experience something like a tour series or a beast spook experience something that's handwritten to meet their exact needs they could have diverse budgets from low to medium to high to really high luxury their customers could have diverse interests and they will have diverse needs and nuances so of course we know this if we come from the international marketplace there could be just some uh traits that Define uh you know the kind of things we like or maybe the time of day that we like to have our meals when we come from these marketplaces so this is all the stuff that's going around in the buyer's head and they're trying to figure out if what you offer is meeting their needs so we'll just do a quick look now at uh business tourism because some of the buyers that you meet could potentially also be engaging in business tourism so clearly in business tourism we're talking about uh the corporate uh the corporate traveler so in this case the professional travel buyer looks after the needs of for example a corporate company or a corporate delegate again if you hear the word DMC this could potentially mean destination management company that the professional travel buyer engages in business tourism PCO stands for professional conference organizer professional conference organizer and venue finder is a a a a professional travel buyer that looks for venues or accommodation or experiences that match the needs of their customers in this case uh the kind of opportunities you can get are different so described as mice and you'll notice that Nikki referred to that earlier uh meetings conferences incentives and events so incentives are motivational travel inspirational experiences these buyers uh look after a lot of the needs of international customers occasionally they may also look after domestic customers and they listening for experiences that are inspirational also practical needs are required for example if I have a space that can welcome a dinner or a conference that can welcome a conference room that can welcome a meeting I need to be able to tell them the capacity of those spaces and again they will be looking after customers who diverse interests needs and nuances and this is what you need to be aware of so step one in your research then you might think does the buyer solely look after ledure tourism or is there a business tourism opportunity as well do I understand who the buyer is what kind of customer types that they look after and therefore what kind of opportunities are available to my business and really importantly am I a match for those opportunities I don't go after something that I'm not a match for and with that in mind then I would like to draw your attention to understanding the opportunity and the context so it's really important that we do our research so that we say the right things so for example if I were to find myself at the meet the buyer and I'm sitting across the table from a buyer and I say something like I'd love if we could laugh look after your tourist series and this particular travel buyer is thinking what I don't even do Tour series then the buyer is unlikely to say anything but that will totally disrupt an opportunity for you to do business you really need to have self-awareness and have done the research so that you can conduct a meaningful conversation similarly you could for example with a particular uh a professional travel buyer emphasize I don't know for example a self-guided tour but maybe this buyer looks for something that's really rare or something that's really unique and they're thinking but they're talking about something that's not a match for my needs we only book for example I don't know high-end luxury experiences so we've made the case now that diverse buyers have diverse needs diverse expectations and through research you need to field through the information to figure out what uh the kind of things that they're looking for is there a match for you and then to present the offerings to them that are likely to be of the greatest interest to them we're going to do this we're going to do this through a really nice conversation so now we've done our research we understand the opportunity that's available to us if it were me I would be carefully going through each buyer profile and I would be noting the markets or the particular customers that they look After figuring out if I've got the whole piece of information I need to have a really good conversation with with them and I would take those summary notes with me to meet the buyer so that every time uh you know a new buyer arrives for a new appointment I'm ready to have that conversation with them and I'm not relying upon my memory because on the day there's already a lot going on so now my friends we're going to look at how to craft craft your B2B presentation when you're at meet the buyer 2024 I want you to be aware that you will be seated and the buyer will be coming towards you so you'll be able to have everything you need at your table because meet the buyer is a face-to-face presentation format you can choose the kind of presentation that best suits your needs whatever makes you feel more comfortable so some businesses do choose to use a PowerPoint presentation which they may use through a laptop for example or an iPad and lots of people feel comfortable with that other people don't so some people choose to maybe print really good physical images and they'll walk the buyer through those images um and that can work perfectly fine too I've also seen businesses create a beautiful album or a story book not too long but with brilliantly done pictures and they'll almost walk the buyer through a story walk them through the offering um and that can work really well too so I suppose when you're making the decision about what format to use it's good to think about how comfortable do you feel with technology and with moving the information through as you're liing with the buyer it's a bit like driving a car I would suggest that you practice that figure out you know the presentation model that you want to use and then literally work with it uh so that you can uh decide what makes you feel more comfortable ultimately the buyer will not mind whether it's a PowerPoint or for example a story book or images once you connect with them and Enlighten them about your offering for all presentations I would suggest that you need to prepare at least 8 to 10 really strong images please make sure that they present your business offering and what you do in the best possible light and please make sure that they're of the best possible quality IE that they're not pixelated if you're using a video please use it with care and please do Source a really good map so I'll walk you through those points now so I said there earlier ideally select about 8 to 10 images and when we use these images bear in mind I'll be speaking verbally drawing the buyer in by looking at the visuals make sure that through the visuals uh they are the buyer feels enlightened engaged they're connecting with the buyer delighted this is making them feel this is amazing um and and connected that it connects with you so drawing them into the story so for example if I'm a guide and I do guiding experiences in stunning landscape by all means include uh uh images of those landscape but please also show an image of you in the landscape engaging with customers so they get the sense of uh what the experience is about so choosing imagery for your presentation is really key these are just some other examples this is Tracy Jeffrey here the one I showed you a moment ago uh was from ner nog's chocolate and again we want to make sure that we Enlighten engage delight and connect I'll show you one final example look at this uh fisherman there's literally a story etched on his face this is the kind of image that would really draw the buyer in it's it's visually very uh impactful so imagine if that were the size of my whole screen and you're literally drawn into the face of that fisherman again all the time we're choosing imageries to imagery to Enlighten engage delight and connect so I would suggest that you go through all of your imagery and you Whittle it down to the eight or 10 images that are absolutely the best and of course deciding on your presentation format and how you're going to integrate those in then important to say that you can rely upon your own images but if you need to sub lement these images and Nikki again mentioned this earlier with additional images you should definitely sign up for this free service Northern irelands content pool where you can download images in jpeg or PNG format which you can integrate into your presentation so a really really useful tool and you can search under uh diverse names and locations there really important when we prepare a video so of course if we're using maybe a PowerPoint presentation we have the opportunity to include a video it's not obligatory it totally depends on whether it's adding value to your presentation or otherwise I would suggest that if you're using a video try and keep it short no more than 30 minutes please when you're doing a video do not press play and then suddenly turn the back of your head to the buyer because you will be breaking the connection so if you are using the video use it as an opportunity to talk the buyer through the context so do you see when we walk through here and you're literally showing them the visuals and making them understand the experience via the video rather than pring pre play and leaving the video do all of the work you are at the center of everything it is your responsibility to maintain that connection and as I said there make sure you maintain a close Connection in terms of what you're saying and in terms of your eye contact with the buyer please ensure as I said earlier that the video adds value and please make sure that the technology Works uh so that the video is working for you and if it doesn't don't worry about it just talk the buyer through and move on to the next part of your presentation but ideally you just make sure it's in working order it's really important in your presentation that you include a map so I would suggest that you get a map of Ireland and then you can pinpoint exactly where you're located in Northern Ireland on that map so we get a map of Ireland so that they there's an understanding of where you're located and then you might get a closeup map showing exactly where you're located so for example we might choose a map like this and I might be explaining to the the buyer in the middle of the presentation that I am located for example in uh Bal goly in cler Valley in mider and immediately now the buyer has a sense of where I'm located in Ireland and they'll feel grounded that's a really important thing the map plays a really important function so please make sure and and and do a really strong job on that point in your presentation you need to include contact details and branding so business and destination branding here is an example here from uh Glen Shain Country Farm so I've just taken a picture here and you can see that Glen chain country farms business brand is here we can see the Northern Ireland Embrace a giant Spirit brand here I've got a telephone number email and website which I can include in my first and my last slide really importantly we're dealing in the global Marketplace here so when including a telephone number please make sure you've included the international prefix okay you can make sure to have that across all your slides but I would suggest that even if it's on the first and the last one uh that that will be sufficient for the buyer to know how to contact you so at the very least put at the first and the last slide notice how there's no other wording here we're not making this slide heavy with text we're allowing the imagery to do the talking along with what we're going to say verbally Pitfall to watch out for when we're creating our verbal pit our presentations we want to make sure that we avoid Tech heavy presentations they are visibly difficult to read of course we don't want to have badly formatted presentations so please spell check make sure everything is in order uh we want everything to create a positive reflection on you and on destination Northern irland and on your local community another Pitfall to avoid is not researching and knowing how to adapt so maybe you know a buyer sits in front of me and tells me they're interested in something else something I hadn't foreseen that means I might need to adapt my presentation or adapt what I'm saying verbally to meet that need really important that we align what we say verbally with what we show visually and that requires practice and I'm going to show you how to do that practice now so remember what we've taken you through this morning we've looked at Logistics we looked at research you know all have a handle on the jargon to understand the opportunity we've looked at how to contract uh to construct your B2B presentation and now we're going to look at how to craft our B2B verbal pitch and clearly this needs to align with the presentation so let's take a look at this now before I give you any tips at all I really want you to understand that you are key when you're at meet the buyer when you're engaging with the professional travel buyer you are at the center of everything and that's a really good thing to know because the power is literally in your hands when the buyer is listening to you you need to know that you are the key to your own success the buyer will view that you reflect everything so everything you say how you behave how you engage will reflect you and your team if there is one and your community and destination Northern Ireland so please be aware of this and I would suggest that the tone you need to achieve thereby is professional and friendly no need to be anxious you're just engaging in a conversation so professional and friendly is the ideal tone that we should all aspire to all of course marked with our own unique identity our own unique personality so as you deliver your presentation be mindful that without even realizing it the buyer is is mentally assessing are you easy to work with are you reliable is what you have to offer for example your experience or your bedrooms are are can I see them can I see them really importantly and are they a match for the customers and markets I look after so this is what they're mentally assessing and this is ultimately the Judgment call that the buyer is making and of course both of you are making a judgment call because you're also trying to assess is a buyer a match for what I do so when we're delivering our our pitch both in terms of the presentation and what we say uh verbally we need to be aware of the importance of harmonization so verbally what I say all the words I choose the need these need to Enlighten the buyer so I don't just say any old words I carefully think about them so that the buyer is fully aware of what I offer and they feel delighted and connected with this and they can clearly see whether it's a match for their customers and markets and otherwise I'm also going to be aware of nonverbal Communications how am I presenting myself physically tone of voice is very important so can they understand what I'm saying is it easy to understand what I'm saying is it compelling am I bringing them into the story and my body language of course is key I shouldn't be sitting there hunched up or with my arms folded I'm trying to have a professional friendly conversation here so in my uh in how I'm presenting myself physically that should be clear and of course we also have our visual so referring back to the presentation we just showed there a moment ago so our images or video or any marketing material or maybe props maybe I'm a jewelry maker and therefore I'm showing the buyer some of the tools and some of the outcomes of my work that they can physically touch these um so what are the visual cues I'm giving that the buyer understands so the verbal non-verbal and visual these all work together so that uh the buyer is enlightened and uh delighted and understands if what we offer is a match for their needs so I need to put it back to you that it's all about the power of you you deliver strong Communications and that's more likely to lead you to conversion uh and when I say a conversion I mean a booking so every buyer you meet it's like a lead it's an opportunity and you're trying to maximize those leads you know to see how many of those you can achieve a booking from in the near future or potentially depending on how things evolve in the distant future via that travel buyer if you turn up to meet the buyer I'm asking you please to maximize the opportunity because you'll have given up your time and a lot of organization goes into this event so when you show up make sure and try and get the best uh aim and prepare to get the best return for it so now I'm going to take you through some steps to help you prepare your verbal pitch so you've seen it rehearse rehearse rehearse I've been doing this a really long time and I wouldn't show up at meet the buyer unless I had prepared earlier even after all the years you know I've been doing this and working in the industry as I said there earlier you're going to get 15 minutes for an appointment I would suggest that you uh construct your pit so it lasts around maybe eight minutes uh and that way you'll have lots of time for conversation and backwards and forward uh you know and anything you should clarify any questions that the buyer may have I would also suggest this is just me I like to practice aloud so i' literally be sitting there you know in the comfort of my home or my office I'd work on my presentation and I'd listen to myself saying the words to make sure it's fluid I'd also make sure that the language I'm using is comfortable for me in other words I'm not using words that somebody else might use but just language that I feel comfortable with and I would constantly refine that wording uh until I have it really in order so I'm going to arrive really comfortable then at meet the buyer I will also be aware of the kind of words I want the buyer to understand uh of the kind of things I want them to be aware of and I'll make sure to plan those words uh so that I drip feed these into conversation with the buyer you'll notice my next point there check positioning so am I you know engaging directly with the buyer is there eye contact am i m mindful of that of how I'm engaging now think about that you know as I say within the comfort of my home and office so by the time I've arrived these are not things I even have to think about all I am really well prepared if I am using technology I'll make sure that that's in order and all working and I feel comfortable with it if I'm using props for example like you know tools to show jewelry making again I'll make sure I'm comfortable I'll move through how I might sh the show these to the buyer so that I can you know feel comfortable on the day and maximize the opportunity if I've prepared in this way then something is going to happen at meet the buyer someone's going to ask you a question or someone's going to ask for something or ask for an Insight that you literally haven't thought about and that's totally fine but if you've prepared these points that we're showing you this morning you will be more easily able to deal with those curve balls I would like you to remember this little equation and that's Clarity plus connection equals conversion if I'm really clear on what my business is about and I'm expressing that clearly I establish a connection with the buyer through a professional and friendly conversation this is more likely to lead me to a conversion I.E to a booking or a request opportun Unity so let's look now at how you might uh build your verbal pit and you'll see that I've got some tips here so I really like to think about this a bit like a dance so I'm I'm thinking about it like a wal this morning and you need to be aware the power is your hands you take the lead so number one Take the Lead number two know that it's your job to Enlighten and Delight you establish uh you know you ignite that connection with the buyer you and lighten and Delight them you need to determine if there's a match remember our game of snaps snap earlier you need to clarify the opportunity and do you need to establish a mechanism for follow up I'm going to walk you through this in a moment so think about it like a dance when you're planning your presentation the words you're going to align with this think about the steps that you're going to use so I'm going to suggest some of these steps now and we're going to walk through them the first one is that you begin with a warm welcome the second one is that you demonstrate your research the third one is that you root the buyer so this is where the map comes in the fourth one you set out your stall I.E the buyer is clearly aware of the product or the experiences or the services that you're selling remember you're there to promote and sell the buyer is there to purchase so you must do that you must be aware of what the opportunity is is it yes no or maybe is there potential for a partner to appear or otherwise you must to establish the opportunity to follow up so let's walk through those six steps now in the walls that I've constructed I'm aware and you're aware now that at meet the buyer you'll be seated therefore think about the buyer walking to you how are you going to make them start this on a really positive note uh by making them feel comfortable from the outset so for me I'd be standing up ready with a smile to welcome them to my little home which is at my table and I've put in some suggested word here so maybe you could follow this m ad off you're old I might say something like hello my name is I represent whatever my business is I've been so looking forward to meeting you today listen to the tone can I just ask are you familiar with what we do are you familiar with our business that's a really good opening question because you're bringing the buyer into conversation and you can also gauge their level of knowledge of what they do so they might say oh no I don't know it at all oh or I heard about it from someone else and then that will start everything it'll settle everyone and you're just going to have a nice conversation and then you might provide an insight into what you offer step two demonstrate your research so again I've just put an example here for example I was reading up about your company and learned that you work a lot with the French Market I was very interested to see that as we have a lot of French customers in fact we recently had a group from Leon and they loved our experience because you see so immediately you're showing the buyer that you know how to look after their Market Marketplace and you're kind of establishing a little connection a point of understanding I just dropped in uh in the bottom maybe in terms of your research you want to show that you are a sustainable or a business that champion sustainability or regenerative tourism practices so again I'll ask you to read that in your own time but maybe you'll have read the profile and understand that this is integral to how the buyer does business too so it would be really important for you to show that this is integral to your offering as well and I would suggest that you raise your sustainability and your sustainable and regenerative uh tourism ethos and approaches in all conversations with Buyers whether that's expressed in their profile or otherwise step three root the buyer so we mentioned there earlier that you need a really good map and then you would be showing the buyer your map and remember we said you might have a main map that shows your location uh in Ireland and then a pinpointed map that shows exactly where you're located in Ireland so you might in you might Begin by let me show you uh where we're located we're in a small rural Village on the northeastern Coast it's a really special place with a Clos nit you know a really friendly community and I'm so lucky to look to live in a beautiful place overlooking whatever River so you'll be able to refine this for your own needs then maybe I might say something like we're located just about a 40-minute drive from Belfast airport and we are so proud to be part of Northern Ireland's uh Embrace a giant Spirit brand so just be aware that if you are presenting yourself positively and with a passion that you will ignite that within the buyer too so you're representing not just yourself but your a local community your wider destination and the whole of destination Northern irland so of course we want the buyers to feel uh engaged with that and Please be aware of your role in that regard again for you to explore later I've just popped in a local Insight here it can be a really nice idea uh to give the buyer an insight into something local maybe some place a Hidden Gem that you like or a place that you like to visit or a place you like to have a picnic and maybe a little insight that might benefit the buyer and their customers and it shows them how you Champion local and your local community so you might consider a little insight in that regard too step four please step out your St set out your stall in other words make the buyers aware of what you are there to promote and sell so you could say something like let me tell you a little bit more about our experiences we have three in total the first is you give a succinct Insight the second is a succinct notice the emphasis on succinct insight and the third is a succinct Insight I know you are specifically interested in unique experiences from having read your profile so let me give you a deeper insight into whatever it is experience 3 so in some cases we will not be explaining all of our experiences it may be useful just to give an overview and to drill down into one that you know specifically meets the needs of that of that professional travel bu and you could ask them listen we've got three experiences here or look we've got 10 experiences here you know this is an overview of these experiences I'm aware I don't have the time to go through all of these today can I suggest that I should go this one through this one and this one and ask the buyer would you like to hear about another one you're bringing them into the conversation you'll notice and again I'll ask you to read this in your own time for my uh fictional business here I've also mentioned that there's an elevator uh that's fully accessible that allows all customers maybe to reach a high level or for example here our menus are available in large print Braille French German and Italian so I'm so showing the buyer how my business is accessible to people who may have diverse needs and again I would suggest that you uh uh should bring this into conversation where relevant so like I said there earlier you may be uh a business that has lots of different experience um so be aware that you may not be able to uh speak about each one of those so you'll need to create an overview and a drill down you do not have to say everything that's really important it is about enlightening connecting with and delighting that buyer and once you do that you will prompt them to explore more you know maybe at a later stage and at a time after meet the buyer step five and six establish if there's an opportunity so before that buyer Le leaves your table you know maybe you'll be able to read it through how they're engaging with you you should say something like listen thank you so much for listening to what i' I've had to say today can I just ask do you feel there will be an opportunity for us to work together I would love that and I'll have my little notebook beside me and each time I'll know for the appointment whether that was a yes no or a maybe uh opportunity in other words I'm going to establish the opportunity to get a future booking and then my followup which I'll take you through in a moment will be dependent upon that reply whether it's a yes no or maybe opportunity but I would always ask the buyer listen can I just ask when I send you followup information when would be a convenient time for you because perhaps they're traveling onto another destination after meet the buyer and they might tell you listen mid April would be great for me because I'd be trying to find a date where um my information arrives into the inbox of that buyer perhaps via uh email at a time that's convenient for them so key considerations when in all of our conversations with the buyers is that we must create trust we must be concise and do not overwhelm we should give live examples make it really immersive for them we should remember local we should listen to the buyer please don't speak at them have a meaningful conversation with them we should paint a picture with words and images we should uh show our sustainable and regenerative tourism uh ethos in all buyer appointments and if there's any information that's relevant for accessibility or social inclusion that enables the buyer to make an informed decision that it's really important that you would Enlighten the buyer in that regard too we've shown you some examples of how you might do that earlier really importantly you need to align your verbal pitch with your presentation so I gave you tips there earlier about how to create your presentation uh and I would suggest then that at your uh uh your computer you might take a chart using the template that I've shown you here and for each slide or image number that you're using that you might you know note the number note the purpose of that particular uh slide or image and then bullet point out the content like I've shown you here you can use this little tool to prepare then your verbal pitch for meet the buyer and then afterwards practice aligning what you're going to say with what you're showing in your visible in your uh visual uh presentation now we'll take a quick uh look at how to follow up we've already established during the verbal pit during that lovely professional and friendly conversation with the buyer you're going to have established what the opportunity is because you're going to have asked the question so you will know if it's a no opportunity with low potential and maybe opportunity with medium potential or yes opportunity with high potential how we follow up is dependent on uh the response to that question I would suggest you follow up with all buyers whether it's a low medium or high opportunity again I'm going to ask you to read this in your own time but I've given you a suggested text uh in the case of a no opportunity so I'd say the reply needs to be professional and reply polite something like dear Johan it was lovely to me to have meet the buyer it's a Pity there doesn't seem to be an opportunity to work together at present however let's keep in contact and perhaps an opportunity might arise at sometime in the future if I can ever assist you please do not hesitate to let me know professional and friendly if we look at a medium opportunity um you can you know again address that I know you mentioned that you uncertain about how and when we will get to work together in the future however I am really hoping that an opportunity will arise I'm thereby enclosing our information as agreed if you need anything further please do not hesitate to let me know I'm here to help if you ever need uh anything so in this case we want to keep it professional polite and upbeat and again for uh yes opportunity definitely professional plight and upbeat something like dear Johan it was lovely to me to have meet the buyer and I was delighted to hear that you feel we will soon have an opportunity to work together I enclose our information is agreed if you need anything further please do not hesitate to let me know I'll call you in a couple of days to make sure you have everything you require so they're just some suggested texts there for followup and you can adapt those based on how you would use language yourself but keep the same Essence professional and friendly in terms of what you would use for followup you need Communications that summarize what your business does and what you offer that's the first thing please only send information with retail pricing please no buyer pricing needed here just your retail pricing number two uh you could send a copy of your presentation for example if it was a PowerPoint send it in a PDF version so that the buyer has that and of course your contact details will be on that and make sure your contact details are clear so I would write an email like that and attach the relevant content it is really important to say that the function of Meet the buyer is to establish if there's an opportunity to engage in a partnership so it is really unlikely that straight after our first meeting at meet the buyer we would need to engage in rates are in uh terms and conditions but of course if you're going to engage in a future partnership with a professional travel buyer for Which special trade rates and terms and conditions are required you would need to have the knowhow to engage in that car regard so if you've joined us here this morning and that's really new to you don't worry about it because at meet the buyer the focus as I said is on the presentation the verbal pitch and the follow-up if you feel you're not skilled in the pricing element just Lea with your colleagues in tourism Northern Ireland and let them know that you need support in that regard in terms of followup uh it's really important to understand the following the international travel buyer that you meet at meet the buyer may work in partnership with another tour operator or DMC for example in Ireland or in Great Britain in this case uh we would send uh our uh content our Communications about what we offer with retail pricing to the international travel partner we would also ask them during our conversation at meet the buyer so can I just ask do you work uh directly with companies like ours or do you work with another travel partner they may say that they work for example with a tour operator in Ireland if they say that I would I would ask them the name of that tour operator and I would also follow up with that tour operator after the meet the buyer event so to be clear to avoid any errors the only information that we ever sent if there's pricing on it is retail pricing if you asked the question of the international travel buyer can I ask do you work directly so the buyer has said they interest in your experiences do you work directly with businesses like ours or do you happen to work with another travel partner so if they say they work with another travel partner you need to get to know the name of that partner and ultimately the bookings would come through that partner that's a really important thing to understand so I may be an Ireland based or Great Britain based for example tour operator and my clients may actually be those international travel companies and I will look after their uh customer needs in in other words for everything that international travel buyer needs they might come to me so in which case all the bookings will be done with the Ireland or the Great Britain based uh tour operator they could come from somewhere else too when you ask the question uh so the buyer is interested can I ask do you work uh directly with companies like mine or do you work with another travel buyer the international travel partner may very well say no actually we just work directly with businesses like yours in which case all of the content I would just send them and if there was ever a need to engage in uh buyer pricing or Contracting in the future I would do that directly with them this a really important piece to understand this is why we' recommend it meet the buyer that you lean on your retail price pointing uh price points to give an indication of your pricing so finally just uh two last points before we wrap up today's session uh so we said the purpose of Meet the buyer the key things are presentation veriable pitch follow up tier two is nurturing the lead maybe in the future if there's a partnership opportunity engaging in trade rates what we call B2B rates and trade Contracting so tier two you don't have to worry about that for now if it's something you're not fully you don't fully understand you'll have time to wrap your head around that after meet the buyer for now focus on winning the opportunity with that international travel partner just if we were to think down the line in terms of negotiation a little tip that you may need to be aware of so the the reality is that in all negotiations just say the buyer comes back and ask do you offer a trade price you need to stay uh just all the time you have a another conversation professional and friendly you understand your price point and why it's charged at that price point and the objective of that negotiation would be to reach a conclusion I do need to really emphasize that uh in some cases the professional travel buyer may not ask for a trade price at all and thereby we always say that the golden rule is never just volunteer a discount so just present your retail pricing and what that pricing includes that's just a tip maybe if we look forward to the future based on second tier priorities which might be negotiation and again for those of you joining this morning again second tier priority pricing and Contracting what you need to be aware of the golden rule as I said there a moment ago never volunteer a discount you may need to be aware if you engage in a partnership with a professional travel buyer of how to engage in net or uh uh trade uh pricing B2B or B2B commissionable pricing so again if this is something that you do not understand I would suggest you need further support in that regard and you could begin maybe after meet the buyer by taking a look at the supports that are on tourism Northern Ireland's website and I've given an example of this here this morning and so my friends that's it we're coming up to the end of today's session I'm going to ask my friends from tourism Northern irland to rejoin me now and just to ask if there are any questions before we wrap up this morning hi Patricia you thank you so much jelly and also to Nikki for kicking us off this morning um lots and lots of really useful information to absorb there so I think hopefully something for for everyone who's joining us here this morning um I'm Patricia Kingston I'm the corporate events officer at tourism ni so I'll be facilitating our Q&A session today um and shortly um we'll be posing all your questions to Julie and Nikki and um Don from The Business Solutions team as well so if you do have a question and you haven't yet shared it in the chat box um go ahead and pop it in there now and we will pick up as many as we can um this morning so just before we get stuck into your questions um we'll do a couple of very quick polls um just to get a feel for how you find the session so far anyone that's been on our webinars before will be used to these by now so the first one is hi would at today's session in terms of overall satisfaction so that's with five being extremely satisfied so on a scale of one to five I'll just give you a moment to complete that okay our second one this

2024-03-30 17:39

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