• To have a frank, honest and open discussion between senior executives.
• To provide direct contact with decision makers, to discuss policies not normally handled by sales personnel and/or buyers.
• To focus on issues relating directly to the participant’s heavy duty aftermarket business relationship, HDAW seeks to offer productive, decision-making private meetings, so make sure your One-on-One delegates have that authority within your company.

IMPORTANT NOTE FOR SUPPLIERS:  The Canadian warehouse distributors expect you to bring your Canadian reps to HDAW for the One-on-One Meetings so they are not talking to someone from your company who does not know the Canadian customer.

This year there are 20 Total Meeting Slots:

• 8 meetings on Wednesday, January 29
• 12 meetings on Thursday, January 30

Each meeting is 35 minutes in length.

Please note: Instead of hotel guest suites, this year suppliers will be hosting the One-on-One meetings in conference rooms conveniently located in the Gaylord Texan Convention Center.

HDAW 2020 will be utilizing the MeetMax Online Scheduling Software. MeetMax is a user-friendly interface that allows you to select your preferred companies and rank them according to your interest level. Schedules will be based on mutual selections and created before you arrive in Dallas, resulting in quality, preferred appointments for both distributors and suppliers.

For each team your company is bringing you would select and rank at least 30 companies to meet with.

New for 2020 HDAW:

Company Opt-Outs: Opportunity to anonymously “opt-out” of meeting with a certain company and prevent a meeting being scheduled between the two of you.

Self-Scheduling: Once schedules are created, there is now an opportunity to manually request a meeting to fill any remaining available time slots.

There is a maximum of 3 teams any one company may bring.
For each team your company is bringing you would select and rank at least 30 companies to meet with.

If bringing multiple generic teams (i.e. Team 1, Team 2, or Team 3), simply indicate that number in the HDAW registration process when prompted.

If bringing multiple teams with either a specific business function or from a certain region, please be sure that those teams have a unique log-in to the MeetMax online scheduling system. They will be treated as a separate company to ensure that companies are specifically selecting and ranking them. These teams will receive their own specific schedule.

The MeetMax system will allow you to choose which time slots, out of the total 20, you would be available to hold a meeting.

Suggestions on how to effectively pre-plan HDAW One-on-One Meetings:

• Reviewing the manufacturer’s programs with staff personnel so you will be in a position to knowledgeably discuss their merchandise program and sales policy.
• Reviewing any special problems with any of your lines.
• Analyzing the sales increase or decrease of each line.
• Comparing the previous year’s sales on each line.
• Reviewing your marketing promotions, with a written report on each promotion noted.
• Formulating future ideas for new merchandising plans.
• Reviewing advertising or merchandising allowances and analyzing them in terms of what is needed to accomplish given sales objectives.
• Making competitive price comparisons of your lines in relation to the principal competitive product lines.
• Reviewing beforehand the quality and quantity of local sales assistance available to you.
• Analyzing the distribution policies of the manufacturers you plan to meet.
• Having information on the order fill rate, lead time and stock adjustment policies of each of your suppliers.
• Evaluating and discussing marketing issues including competition, dealer programs/promotions (implementation), counter person incentives, selling features and benefits, electronic/Web site marketing, cataloging/new product introductions and sales force feedback.
• Discussing training issues to increase manager business skills, counter person selling skills, installer/technician training and product knowledge for all levels.
• Reviewing inventory management issues regarding warranty guidelines (change-overs, updates, etc.), labor claim policies, special order programs, parts proliferation/duplication obsolescence (mfr. direct), EDI, drop shipments and managing customer returns.

Choose the suppliers with whom you wish to meet on the basis of:

1. Importance of issues you wish to discuss with particular suppliers.
2. The lack of opportunity you might have to see certain suppliers elsewhere during the year.
3. Opportunity to review product lines and/or new suppliers
4. Consider a balance in meetings between large and small suppliers, hard parts and accessories, etc.
5. Other items:
   • Your investment in a supplier's line
   • Your sales growth or lack thereof in a line
   • Your relative profitability of the line
   • The relative importance to you of the line

Don't Be a No Show!! Please keep the private meeting appointments scheduled for you by MeetMax. If you are scheduled a meeting with a manufacturer you did not request, you are encouraged to use this time to meet with customers or potential customers to learn about lines or products you may not currently carry or utilize to their fullest potential. They did request a meeting with your company.

If you can't keep the private meeting appointments scheduled for you, the MeetMax system will allow you to go in and cancel a meeting. If you must cancel, please notify the manufacturer as soon as possible or make the change in the system so the supplier is alerted. This will allow the manufacturer time to schedule another company in that time slot.

After you complete your meeting, your efforts in effective follow-up work will determine the value you receive from your One-on-One Business Meetings and HDAW.

Review with your personnel the results of each meeting. (You may even want to write a brief report of what was said and what action you and/or the manufacturer expect.) And, don’t forget to do the same with those suppliers you made contact with during the trade show.

Set up an action and follow-up plan for getting the most out of the information gathered.

Remember...

There will be 20 35-minute meetings per team. The new MeetMax scheduling program will allow you to rank your selections in order of importance.

Don’t forget to request a minimum of 20 (and maximum of 30) manufacturers for each team. Even though you will only be scheduled with 20 meetings, this will help ensure your meetings are scheduled with the manufacturers you want to meet.

Make sure you adhere strictly to all the deadlines set out in the program to ensure that the final schedules come out in mid-December.