Six Steps to Coordinating Effective Customer Events

With today’s technology, face-to-face connections are oftentimes very rare. Events allow an organization to focus on connecting with customers on a more personal level.  Having these interpersonal relationships with your customers can have a huge impact on their loyalty to your organization.  Below are six steps to follow to execute a successful customer event.

• Target Audience. Determine who you are trying to target.  Do you want to build relationships with prospective customers, strengthen relationships with existing customers, or show appreciation to vendors that are vital to your businesses success? Define your audience and create your invite list.

• Budget.  Determine how much you can spend on your event.  It’s best to work line item by line item and take every expense into consideration.  Setting a budget and estimating your expenses will keep you on track and deliver the best ROI.

• Timeline.  Develop a timeline of what needs to get done in order to keep your team on track. Create standard operating procedures (SOP) so that you can make sure all the details are thought through and planned accordingly.

• Marketing. In order to have a successful event, you need people to show up.  Have fun with your communication and promotions by creating a brand around your event.  Create unique and high quality invitations that promote the brand, make your company standout and give a good lasting impression on your customers.

• Execute. The day has finally arrived for your event! Follow your plan, be prepared and execute a successful event.  Most importantly, have fun!

• Debrief. After the event is over, plan a time to meet with all involved and go over what went well and what didn’t.  Now is the time to be honest with yourself to ensure you have another successful event next year.  It’s equally important to also survey those who attended the event as it is to debrief with those involved in planning and execution.

Events are vital to building lasting relationships with your customers. A successful event can lead to client retention, customer satisfaction and even new business.  

Is Your Supply Chain FSMA Compliant?

The Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA), a ruling built off of the 2005 Sanitary Food Transportation Act, went into effect on April 6, 2017. The act shifts the focus from responding to food contamination to preventing it by prohibiting the distribution of “adulterated food” or food that has been held under unsanitary conditions. FSMA affects all parties within the supply chain. This includes shippers/brokers, receivers, loaders, and carriers.

The act specifically addresses safety, not spoilage or quality issues for all human foods, animal foods, additives, and dietary supplements. It requires all parties within the supply chain to be aware of things like material failure of temperature controls, or other conditions which could cause the food to become unsafe – thus requiring all parties within the supply chain to work together and communicate more than ever before. Below are a few ways to ensure your supply chain is compliant.

Online training. Communicate the availability of the FDAs online training to your carrier base.

Communication with shippers. Shippers should provide the carriers and receivers with key information for transport such as temperature requirements, product descriptions, and special trailer cleaning requirements to ensure food product is safely transported.

Standardized communications.  Carriers should receive all of the shipper’s product specifications on their carrier tender to avoid miscommunications.

Updated contracts. Your company’s contracts with its carriers should include language on FSMA, as well as the cleanliness and condition of the trailers and seals.

Detailed records. Shipper orders, carrier tenders, and any other load specific information should be stored by all parties indefinitely for future reference.

Food safety requirements are changing, and it’s important to make sure not only your company, but also your logistics partners are compliant to ensure a safe and efficient supply chain.