How to put on a successful launch event

Thursday, August 27, 2009 | Posted by: Fiona Cullinan
Categories: Retail sector | Tags: entrepreneur, Ros Simmons, women in business, VIE at home, Virgin, teamwork, Christmas, direct sales, presentations, event management, motivation, organisation, recognition

Ros Simmons, CEO, VIE at home: The room was electric, the stage looked beautiful in gold and black sparkles, the speakers were fantastic. What could possibly go wrong?

Fortunately, very little.

This week’s VIE at home Christmas 2009 event was the best event we have ever done – although this wasn’t always the case, but more on that shortly.

Take That 2 – one of the UK’s top tribute bands – opened the proceedings in style. And with 850 women in the audience, the girls were up and dancing immediately. They looked wonderful in their regional colours and themes, ranging from blue feather boas to gold cowboy hats, with a lot of sparkle thrown in for good measure.

We like to have our regions in colours and themes as it really bonds the teams – there are always a lot of people at their first event, so it helps them feel that they fit in. All we tell them is the colour for their region and that it’s Sparkle and Shine as the event theme – then we let them get creative! I loved the Cotswolds and South Wales team’s oversized pink diamanté sunglasses – very Elton John! Also, the 80s are back and we are loving the big hair, shoulder pads and Dallas make-up. Perfect for a cosmetics company!

We must have had more than 300 people up on stage for recognition.

We presented the top consultants with free Christmas kits, and the Top 10 sales people and recruiters with a goody bag of new products and a signed certificate. We know how important recognition is and for these girls to have their moment on stage in front of their teams, so we never skimp on the time or the accolades we can instil on them. Unbelievably, we overran by only 10 minutes, as we were able to work with the hotel and back office staff on delivering a very speedy three-course lunch.

The feedback has been positive and there are now smaller, regional meetings running up and down the country, replicating our messages to a wider audience.

One of the key aims for this event was to increase activity among our consultant network. By inviting them to these events they can see what’s new, what promotions are running and also to inspire them on how they can earn extra money.

We also invite a lot of guests, as they are our best potential new Consultants. They can then see for themselves that it is not that scary, and that they could do this type of job easily once they see the support and training they receive. Our big launch events tend to create a bumper week for new consultants into the business, which is great news for a direct sales business.

Occasionally things do go wrong, though…

Timing is always an issue. I’ve run events before that have gone on far too long, or where the motivational speaker just talks way beyond the allotted time, throwing out all the timings. It’s not good to have your audience leave to catch coaches, trains and planes before the event has finished!

We have solved this by ensuring we do proper rehearsals and time every presentation.

Also, how many events have you been to and been entertained at, only to realise there was no real message?

As chief executive, something I spend a lot of time on is ensuring we set out our objectives clearly, and have a vision and a goal on what we want to happen from these events. We also invest a lot of money to ensure we keep the magic and the passion going well beyond that meeting.

In 2009, all new products have launched on time, and all our business tools and promotions went live on Friday. This is mainly thanks to our brilliant Ops team, who have ensured the deliveries come in on time, are checked by Quality Control, are in the right pick faces in the warehouse, with the correct sku, and so on.

Now the fun starts – making sure we keep in stock!

Finally, I am going to sign off by stealing a Winston Churchill quote used by my Sales Director in her weekly sales update:

‘We make a living by what we get, we make a life by what we give.’

Events like this certainly give a lot of people a real kick-start and motivation to succeed – and I, for one, hope our girls have a very successful Christmas and beyond.

You can catch up on Ros’s previous posts from our Entrepreneur’s Diary series, in which we follow a male and a female CEO to discover what life is like behind the scenes of their business.