Quick Win + Pro Tip: The Best Way to Get Noticed is to Be Present

Venues regularly are asked for recommendations for vendors, including AV teams, for upcoming events. It goes without saying that venues are most likely to recommend a team that’s at the top of their mind, who they trust, and that they enjoy working with.

Luckily, there are a few ways you can make sure you’re at the top of their list.

First, if there are any venues that you regularly work in or would like to work in more, make a habit of stopping by regularly. You don’t need to have a formal meeting on the calendar to drop by with donuts, coffee, and some business cards. Stop in, say hello, and let them know you’re available to brainstorm on any upcoming events they have. Before you leave, ask if they have any business cards that you could hand out to customers or industry partners who might be looking for a venue.

These spontaneous drop-ins are effective because you’re not being pushy or trying to make an immediate sale. Instead, you’re putting in the ground work to form a relationship and showing that you’re committed to supporting their team and their business, too.

Second, create and offer to present AV workshops to these same venues that you want to grow your partnerships with.

Reach out to any points of contact you have and offer to host an annual AV 101 course for their internal team. Once again, the intention here isn’t selling, but educating so that the folks on their event team understand the AV aspects of live events a little bit better.

Bring refreshments, your top event technicians, and any technology you think would be especially inspiring or relevant for the types of events and clients they typically host events for.

This helps your team in a few major ways.

It gives the venue’s event team a better base understanding of AV. It’ll help them communicate better with their customers (a win for them), while also making it easier for your team to collaborate with them on upcoming events (a win for both of you).

These workshops also help your team and the venue team become more familiar with each other so that you can start to form connections. Most people prefer to work with teams they already know, like, and trust, and these meetings will help facilitate that between your teams.

And, of course, your team will be at the top of their mind when somebody asks for AV vendor recommendations.

Both of these strategies take some time and effort, but they’re easy ways to form and deepen connections that lead to big boosts in business.

Want to learn more? Join our live event peer group or reach out with any ideas or topics you’d like to talk about!