Mission accomplished
P.E.I. group makes 70 sales visits in Montreal
The six francophone businesses from P.E.I. that participated in an October sales mission to Montreal have all returned to the Island with big smiles, some of them with signed contracts and others with verbal commitments.
“This was yet again another terrific mission for our businesses,” said Robert Maddix, economic development officer with RDÉE Prince Edward Island who co-ordinated the trip. “As we were heading out on our trip, we had anticipated 64 meetings with potential buyers. We ended up having a final total of 70 meetings for our P.E.I. sellers, including two in the City of Quebec.”
Maddix added that five of the six participating businesses have already expressed an interest in returning to Montreal next April to sign contracts.
What the co-ordinator finds the most impressive is that some Quebec wholesalers as well as other major buyers that were met during the mission want to purchase substantial quantities of the Island products that were pitched to them since they recognize the great quality of the merchandise and the potential for their sale.
Obviously, he added, it is way too early to estimate the value of sales generated by this mission. The businesses will have a better handle on their Montreal sales by next spring.
The participating businesses included Pam and Joe Handcrafted, Kaneshii Vinly Press, Danso Bikes, Gagné Blueberries, Atlantic Safety Wear/RJ Distributxion and Top Feed. Each morning, they had a meeting with Hélène Blat from Clientis, who provided them with a general orientation of the day’s schedule. At the end of the day, the group came back together to review the steps that had been undertaken and the results they generated.