Building Relationships for Better Business
By Sarah Daly
An important part of most successful and well-attended
conferences is an exposition floor that includes vendors
from all different service lines. The goals for the typical
business exhibiting at a conference are generally connecting
with existing customers and developing new leads. Seldom
is an exhibitor’s purpose to connect with other vendors.
For Value First member liaisons, Sarah Daly and Denis
Miciletto, connecting with other vendors is a vital part
of their conference exposition experience. They make
connections with exhibitors who are Value First contracted
vendors a part of their purpose at each event.
Value First is a purchasing program that works with more
than 400 contracted vendors from a wide variety of service
lines and categories. Expos provide a unique opportunity to
connect with several Value First contracted vendors in one
setting. These connections result in improved understanding
of services offered and improved business relationships.
Powerful vendor relationships then translate to better
served Value First participants and LeadingAge members
as they seek to make informed purchasing decisions and,
ultimately, save money on their purchases.
The 2017 LeadingAge New York Annual Conference not
only allowed Value First staff to connect with respected
clients and members, it also
served the third goal of
relationship development with
Value First contracted vendors.
This year’s team reconnected
with colleagues at Hillyard,
Sodexo, Forbo Flooring
Systems and others, and made
inroads with new possible
partners, again, with the
purpose of making purchasing
services offered to members
more valuable and members
more informed.
This year, Value
First is hosting a
summer raffle for
an Amazon Echo.
This giveaway
is organized
to thank members for participating in the Value First
program and to stress the importance of staying current
in the world of purchasing and vendor pricing. Conference
attendees could enter to win the Echo and their choices
could influence the number of contest entries they
received. For example, signing up to have a cost study
conducted within specific categories earned an attendee
one entry into the Echo raffle. Scheduling a meeting with a
Value First Liaison earned an attendee three entries. Lastly,
if a member was willing to share some of their current
pricing or past invoices for cost study, they earned five
entries into the raffle.
But it’s not over, the giveaway continues beyond the
conference! The Amazon Echo Summer Giveaway is
accepting entries for the raffle until August 1, 2017. If a Value
First member liaison holds a meeting with a member liaison
or shares purchasing data for a
cost study before Aug. 1, they
will automatically be entered
in the raffle. There is no limit
on entries! For example, if a
member were to participate in
a cost comparison and shared
invoices from three different
spend categories, that member
would receive 15 entries.
The Annual Conference also
provided a venue to roll out
Value First’s Summer
Giveaway!
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Adviser a publication of LeadingAge New York | Summer 2017
The LeadingAge New York
Annual Conference is always
a productive venue for
Value First staff liaisons to
help LeadingAge New York
members make educated
and cost effective purchasing
decisions.