CHARLOTTETOWN – April 22, 2021 – Encouraged by the fact that RDÉE Prince Edward Island’s virtual sales mission last fall generated more than $1 million in sales for its participants, the nine entrepreneurs on this spring’s mission are eager to begin their sales meetings.
They will be offering products and services such as protective work clothing and footwear, vinyl record pressing, specialty cookies, spice blends, project management consulting, healthy juices and raw foods, event décor, apple cider and lobster to 120 potential buyers from Quebec and Ontario.
« In the past, the Island delegation would physically travel to Quebec, mostly to the Montreal area, to participate in a series of one-on-one meetings to try to sell their PEI products. Due to travel and accommodation costs, this mission was condensed into a very busy week, » explains coordinator Robert Maddix. « Since the pandemic, such trips are not allowed, so the RDÉE suggested virtual meetings for its last mission. While some people doubted the merit of this approach, our results were excellent; sales were comparable or even higher than those from previous in-person missions. »
THE SALES MEETINGS
This second virtual mission (the ninth overall) is spread out over three weeks. Three of the Island businesses will have their meetings the week of April 26-30, three more from May 3-7 and the last three from May 10-14. Each will have the chance to meet with 12 to 15 potential buyers, located mainly in and around the Montreal area, but some as far away as Toronto and Ottawa, Ontario. The vendors will each make a brief online presentation on the products and services they have for sale. Those who have products will be able to send samples to the most interested buyers. Some will proceed immediately with sales negotiations while others will have to follow up to provide more information and negotiate later.
Each of the Island’s vendors will receive individualized training to prepare them for their intense sales week. The idea is to learn how to effectively share their message in a short period of time but in a convincing way. The Quebec firm Clientis delivers the training and does the matchmaking between the Island sellers and potential Quebec and Ontario buyers (often businesses, resellers or distributors).
These missions are funded primarily by the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency and Innovation PEI. Island participants are also required to contribute a portion of the costs. Several of these participants have been on previous missions but want to try to find new customers or finalize or expand sales agreements with existing customers. The new participants, on the other hand, are looking to find their place in these new external markets.
THE PARTICIPANTS
The vendors for the spring 2021 mission are:
• Atlantic Safety Wear (Rouben Edgar), Montague;
• Kaneshii Vinyl Press (Ghislaine Cormier), Charlottetown;
• Yo-Yo Cookies (Wade Little), Murray Harbour;
• Mama B’s Spice Blends (Barbara Pinto), Souris;
• Solutions Eureka (Jacinthe Lemire), Nine Mile Creek;
• Glow Juicery (Mélanie Dufour), Summerside;
• Distinct Magic Decor (Solange Aké), Stratford;
• Double Hill Cidery (Sebastian Manago), Montague;
• Lobster PEI (Charlotte Campbell), Charlottetown.
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PHOTO: Barbara Pinto of Mama B’s Spice Blends is looking forward to her participation in RDÉE PEI’s virtual sales mission. She hopes to sell a good quantity of her spice blends to Quebec buyers.
For more information, please contact
Robert Maddix
Sales Mission Coordinator
RDÉE Prince Edward Island
902 367-8413
robert@rdeeipe.org