Acronym

-664 miles (one way)
-4 cheeseburgers
-3 snickers bars
-1 rains storm
-1 giant locust stuck to my leg
-1 construction delay
-Got lost in the middle-of-nowhere

Meeting 1: Meeting with one of our core exhibitor/sponsor companies, this company has been with the association basically from Day 1. Overall, the relationship is strong, but in the recent past, a program we were putting on created an unforeseen, non-favorable situation for this company. I know they aren’t happy with the circumstance, but I also know that had a great experience overall at our recent annual symposium.

Good Things: The meeting was very comfortable and relaxed, the relationship is in good shape, allowing us to move past the negative issue –addressing it directly, then moving on --- and maintaining the level of sponsorship and exhibiting for the next year.

Things Learned: I found out that this company is going through a fairly significant business-model change, and are investing in some equipment to diversify their business. Unsure of how this will apply to us/our industry, in some ways it is a divergence from the industry, but I know there must be a way to align their new model with some marketing concepts through us and our magazine.

Meeting 2: Hooked up with another staff member and drove to a meeting that is about 2 years in the making. This particular set of contacts used to be involved and supportive of the association, until several years ago some actions were taken by the association, and specifically a member of the board, that pushed this company away. The past 2 years have been a ‘toe in the water’ atmosphere as we feel each other out again; it was helpful that I was not in a leadership position during the time the incident occurred, and all involved parties on our side are not on the board/staff rosters anymore. Giving these folks plenty of space the last few years helped I think.

Things Learned: This contact, the decision-maker, is a very interesting and sharp entrepreneur. My sense is that he makes many decisions based on trust, and by us traveling many miles to go see him and his colleague, it has really helped re-establish a trust that was damaged years ago. We didn’t ask for the sale, we didn’t present any numbers, we just talked to them and set the next meeting...that’s the point of a sales meeting, to either close the deal, or set the next meeting, right?

Overall, these two meetings simply reinforce the philosophy that the basic foundation of strong, sustained sales is the quality of the relationship...not just in the good times, but in the bad times too.

Please feel free to share any experiences you’ve had where major sponsors/fundraising supporters were upset, and how you handled it!