Bebedeparis sales director Nicci Erasmus explains what they liked about the event and why they'll be back in 2019.
With over 3,000 attendees, close to 50 exhibitors and numerous knowledge sharing sessions, the inaugural HR Indaba was arguably a resounding success. In this article, we will reflect on what was an amazing event and speak to Bebedeparis sales director Nicci Erasmus about her experience as an exhibitor at the Indaba.
1. What was your overall impression of the inaugural HR Indaba?
BebedeParis found that this was a well-organised conference with a good variety of different stakeholders representing everything HR related. We were really impressed with the number of attendees keeping in mind that this was the first HR Indaba.
2. What was it that convinced you to sign up for next year’s event?
This is a great opportunity for BebedeParis to network a wide and diverse audience with different stakes in the HR field. You don’t often get the opportunity to engage the HR community on such a large scale. The fact that we are given the opportunity to send prospective clients a free invitation to attend the conference already give us the opportunity to engage HR professionals even before the conference, creating interest in BebedeParis’s service and products and giving them an incentive and anticipation to attend the conference and meet us.
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3. How did HR professionals at the Indaba respond to your unique service/product offering and to what extent were you able to generate promising sales leads?
BebedeParis’ unique service was well received by the HR community. We generated many leads and already converted some leads to customers. Most of our current marketing efforts are directed towards companies that we met at the conference thus providing us with the customer footprint we need to engage with customers that already met us at the conference.
4. Provide one example of a conversation you had at the Indaba that stood out.
A vast majority of HR professionals were surprised to find that such a unique service exists in South Africa. As one HR manager indicated, they always give new parents in their company a quick gift like flowers or chocolates with a card signed hastily by everyone in the office. Understandably HR professionals have a lot to do, and thoughtfully congratulating an employee that becomes a new parent is not always their top priority. Instead with much less effort, saving a lot of time and energy they can present a unique, well presented, thoughtful and practical gift, even personalised with the company’s logo to employees, showing them that they are valuable and appreciated by the company.
5. What are your company’s strategic objectives and goals for the coming year i.e., what are your plans for 2019 and what should your existing and potential future clients look forward to seeing from you?
BebdeParis is looking forward to implementing their new website early in 2019 making ordering gifts even easier than before and presenting customers with a great user-friendly experience. We will continue working with companies to realise what a huge impact having a baby have on employees that become new parents. We will assist companies in how they can help new parents by showing them that they are supported during this happy time in their lives by making them feel valued and appreciated by the company.
This year we look forward to extending the already good quality BebedeParis branded gift range with premium baby products from brands like Hugo Boss, Timberland and Hackett. This will give companies who value their employees an opportunity to spoil new parents with premium branded gifts from BebedeParis.
As soon as orders from Cape Town companies give us enough volume, we also plan to extend our unique Bellboy delivery service to Cape Town and surroundings.
