MONTREAL – Oct. 30, 2017 – The six francophone businesses from PEI that participated in a sales mission to Montreal last week have all returned to the Island with big smiles, some of them with signed sales contracts in hand and others with verbal sales commitments to be finalized in the near future.
“This was yet again another terrific mission for our businesses,” said Robert Maddix, economic development officer with RDÉE Prince Edward Island who coordinated 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 PEI 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 coordinator 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 this time around were 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.
This mission was organized in collaboration with Innovation PEI and the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency.
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CUTLINE: During a morning orientation session of the Montreal sales mission, are, seated, from left, Ghislaine Cormier from Kaneshii Vinyl Press and the coordinator of the sales meetings, Hélène Blat from Clientis. Standing are, from left, Sylvain Gagné from Gagné Blueberries, along with Joe and Pam Arora from Pam & Joe Handcrafted.
For more information:
Robert Maddix
Coordinator of the Montreal sales mission
RDÉE Prince Edward Island
902-370-7333, Ext. 403
Robert@rdeeipe.org