I spent a decade selling in tech before I started FFG, so I've done my share of partner events. Expo halls, breakfast briefings, a stand with a bowl of mints and four minutes of someone's attention before they drift off to the coffee.
Meanwhile, plenty of distributors and vendors are sitting on MDF and other marketing funds that need spending somewhere, usually before the quarter ends. There's a better home for that money than another stand.
The trouble with most partner events
- Vendors pay to be there and get minutes, not relationships
- Partners turn up out of duty, or don't turn up at all
- Someone at the distributor has to organise it on top of the day job
- Afterwards, nobody can say what it achieved
How a vendor-funded golf day works
The distributor hosts. The vendors fund it. Partners bring their teams. We run it.
Each vendor takes a hole. With a shotgun start, every team plays every hole, so every vendor gets time with every partner: their branding, their people, and a reason for each group to stop and chat. That's a whole hole with your partners instead of four minutes at a stand.
Partners enter teams of their own colleagues, so it's a day out for their people as well as a chance to spend time with the distributor and vendors away from a meeting room.
What each side gets
Distributors
A flagship partner event that people want to come to, with none of the organising. Your team spends the day with partners instead of running around behind the scenes.
Vendors
Real time with partners in a relaxed setting, your brand on show all day, and something to show for the funding beyond a lead scanner full of half-remembered names.
Partners
A great day out for their team, nobody selling at them from behind a pop-up banner, and plenty of chances to talk to the people they actually work with.
A cause behind it
Every FFG day has a charitable donation built in. Plenty of vendors and partners have their own social value goals, and this gives everyone something real to point to. It also gives people a reason to dig deep at the auction.
What we need from you
A date, your vendors and your guest list. That's it. We handle the venue, the format, the branding, the scoring, the activities, the prizes, the auction and the photos.
If you look after partner marketing at a distributor or vendor, I'd love to show you how this could work for you. And if that's someone else in your business, a point in the right direction would be much appreciated.