In 2024 we were hired to sell an events business a capability rather than a service.
Every large event in this region now wants drones in the sky. Almost all of them rent that capability from a handful of specialist show operators, at a specialist price, with the operator flying in.
The proposition was to move the capability inside: the producer buys the software and the drones, trains a team, and stops subcontracting the most visible ten minutes of their own show. It is a good argument and an uncomfortable one, because it asks an events company to become a technology operator.
What we did
Four months into the events industry across the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Kuwait. 50 meetings booked, 34 confirmed held, 41 companies introduced.
Messe Frankfurt Middle East, the Qatar National Convention Centre, Sela, Pacha Kuwait, Red Apple, Topaz, Titan, Pro Events, APEX, Gexpo, Elements Experience, Lead Entertainment and two dozen more production houses and creative agencies. Managing directors and event producers, because in this industry those are frequently the same person.
The questions a rep has to have answered before he can dial
A fortnight into the engagement our rep sent the client a list. Not a status update. A list of things he could not sell without.
If a producer asks us to run the show for them, what does that cost, and what is the smallest swarm worth flying. What does a normal package contain: software, drones, training, or some of each. Is the software a licence or a subscription. If we fly a show for someone, where do the drones travel from, given that Latvia to the Gulf is a long and expensive journey. And what happens to a customer after the training, when something goes wrong at nine at night with a client's audience in the seats.
He finished with the reason: decision makers need to know all of this before they will give any time to a meeting.
That is the least glamorous document we produced all year and one of the most useful. Outbound teams fail quietly when nobody has written down the answers to the five practical questions every buyer asks, and reps improvise instead. The client answered them, and the meetings that followed were with people who already knew roughly what they were getting into.
The pitch that worked in the room was simple enough to put in a sentence. Run your drone shows with your own drones and our software instead of hiring the company that currently does it. One managing director's first question back was how high the drones can fly. Not what it costs.
What it shows
Before a campaign starts, make the client answer the five questions a buyer asks in the first meeting: price shape, minimum viable purchase, what is included, logistics and support. An SDR who has to say "I'll find out" four times has already lost the meeting.