THE CORE OF OUR BUSINESS IS HIGHLY MANAGED BUYER & SUPPLIER DATA, RELATIONSHIPS AND INDUSTRY KNOWLEDGE

Vanessa McNair

Roger Oakley

About Global Connect UK Limited:

Global Connect UK operates specifically within two target markets in the UK, MICE and Leisure. They offer a modular approach to sales and marketing services, from full representation to a broad selection of individual and ad-hoc tactical actions built around specific requirements and budgets. All of their services are designed to supplement and enhance existing Action Plans, to help clients achieve elevated brand awareness, exposure and increased market share in the UK.

Q: Why do you believe your trade shows are THE BEST trade shows in the world?

We operate our MICE events on a smaller scale where we offer a cost-effective solution for Suppliers to meet directly with qualified Buyers without the need for huge budgets. We offer cost-share opportunities and add-on programmes for Suppliers attending our events.

Our database of UK Buyers is second to none, it’s managed by our CRM system providing us with the ability to store and extract “contact specific” information. In 6 years we have forged lasting business relationships with the Buyer community resulting in well attended events. Typical attendance is 12 global Suppliers networking with 30 pre-qualified Buyers.

Some UK agencies operate “preferred supplier” schemes, any Supplier not “preferred” will find it difficult to gain access and present to these Buyers. Our events have proved that we attract participation from a number of these agencies which provides opportunities for Suppliers that wouldn’t normally be achieved.

Q: Do you plan to stay a boutique event organizer or are you looking to expand?

Our business is growing steadily, one area that we are developing is our Masterclass Training Programme which is attracting interest globally.

“Our database is really our life blood and has taken us many years to build up and develop into what we now have”

CASE STUDY

Caribbean Tourism Organization – London
Commissioned by the Head of the CTO to present a Training Programme to their Members on how to sell their MICE services to the UK buyers followed through with the initial launch of Destination Caribbean to the MICE market, and a series of fam trips. Outbound business is now starting to convert.

Q: How do you market and promote the host destination and what do you believe is the real reach of such events?

We use London for our networking events because it has a catchment area offering the greatest number of buyers and as the UK is often the second most important market to overseas Suppliers, London is natural fit. We work with our highly managed CRM system and a combined additional platform for our on-line marketing activity resulting in an increasingly world-wide reach.

Q: What are the conversion statistics for your shows (conversion rate)?

Difficult to say because we put Buyers in direct contact with Suppliers. In some instances, we are aware of the conversions but we can’t give specific figures. When we analyze the number of Suppliers attending more than one of our events, and the number of Suppliers who work with us on a regular basis, it becomes evident that our concept does reap rewards.

Q: What is the biggest challenge you are facing right now and how do you plan to tackle it?

Staying ahead of the game, keeping our brand awareness alive, changing and adapting our concept as the market demands, are all hugely important for us to continue to be successful. The core of our business is highly managed Buyer and Supplier data, relationships and industry knowledge and we work daily in keeping this information forefront.

Q: Can you share with us one of your client’s success stories?

Destination Swedish Lapland. Skelleftea CVB invited us to present our Portfolio after an initial presentation to Destination Sweden. We won the business and were tasked with raising and developing the profile of the destination in the UK MICE market and increasing inbound group business throughout the area. We launched the destination with a grand showcase in London and have organized 2 additional bespoke networking events, a series of fully qualified sales calls, 4 destination fam trips with qualified buyers and a host of on-line marketing activity. As a result of these actions business is converting to the region and we’re now in the process of finalizing activity for 2017.

Q: Do you offer any post-show activities like sharing the data base, further marketing in scope of the event, etc?

Our database is really our life blood and has taken us many years to build up and develop into what we now have. Suppliers can make use of it in many ways additional to, or combined with, our events. We offer bespoke mailings and on-line marketing activities, database cleansing, buyer qualification, fam trips and training sessions. One of the more popular activities for Suppliers is to combine event participation with MICE sales calls in order to maximize their time in London.

Q: Last but not least. To which event in the meetings industry do you look up to and why?

Ibtm world Barcelona offers a 3-day snapshot of the Global MICE industry. Participating year on year enables us to meet new global Buyers and allows us to catch up in person and further develop our global Supplier network.

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