There’s nothing more important, especially when selling bigger ticket items, than face to face interactions. Marketing and outreach are important, but where the rubber meets the road is in face-to-face interactions. This builds the know/like/trust variables, which is what brings opportunities and ROI. Events do not require a large budget. It’s all about connectivity and collaboration and the event is best designed to connect and provide an opportunity for like-minded people to get to know each other. The format of an event is extremely important. A happy hour type environment lets the barriers down and feels informal and inviting. If you can integrate something as simple as music that people will enjoy as a conversation starter, people will come out of their shell. Networking and collaborative events sometimes seem uncomfortable, and some will shy away from it, but in sales and business development, it’s vital to success. People that are decision makers have trouble interacting during the day because they’re working in their business, not on their business. Approaching these people outside of their normal environment allows for more organic and beneficial conversations.