How to Meet 100 Clients in Three Days

When Jim Evans of Imperial Sugar Company needs to meet with his 200-plus foodservice distributor customers, he has a choice to make. Does he rack up the expenses and travel days that are needed to crisscross the country to visit each customer? Or, does he find a way to see as many as he can when he travels to major markets?

Evans, who is a business development manager for Imperial Sugar Company, actually has a third option. And that’s to attend a UniPro Foodservice buyer’s conference, where customers are brought to him.

“My territory covers three-fourths of the U.S., so it’s not practical to personally visit every customer,” said Evans. “UniPro brings the customers to me.”

Imperial Sugar depends on hundreds of foodservice distributors to supply its products to restaurants, health care facilities, schools and military bases, for example. In contrast to large, corporately-owned foodservice distributors, such as Sysco and U.S. Foodservice, there are thousands of small independent companies with only a single distribution center. These, as well as regional distributors with multiple ship points, attend these conferences, where they can leverage the buying power of the UniPro Foodservice cooperative.

“We will literally see 100 customers in a three-day period,” said Evans. “Every 15 minutes, existing and prospective customers – many being top management – come by the Imperial booth to talk business.”

According to Evans, many of the conference attendees are already doing business with Imperial. With these customers, he has the opportunity to discuss how things are going and look for ways to provide better service.

The conference also gives Evans the opportunity to begin relationships with prospective customers and follow up later to develop formal sugar programs for them. “It’s a great lead generation opportunity. It’s a great source for qualifying new customers.”

UniPro Foodservice, Inc. is the largest foodservice distribution cooperative in the United States, with 652 independent distributor members. UniPro’s $58 billion in collective sales volume enables its members to leverage their buying power and benefit from other services more commonly available to larger food distributors.

“UniPro provides a business building platform, a forum to bring both members and suppliers together,” said Gail Hollis, departmental vice president of procurement – grocery for UniPro. “Our conferences help members identify strategic directions and open doors to new business opportunities, while providing a much needed service to suppliers like Imperial.”

Hollis went on to say that UniPro provides a comprehensive marketing program for members to build supplier relationships, a weekly market trend publication and access to the UniPro Website.

Evans pointed out that the conferences have enabled Imperial to maintain vital relationships with many of the customers it was unable to service after losing production at its refinery in Port Wentworth, Ga., near Savannah, two years ago. “As the Port Wentworth refinery reaches full capacity, these shows will be instrumental to getting new business back,” Evans said.

UniPro hosts two foodservice conferences a year, with up to 400 member companies and 275 suppliers in attendance. The next conference is scheduled for March in Las Vegas.