Capitalize on Your Time

Making the most of the time you have at the event requires a proactive approach and a great deal of preparation – and excellent execution.

As soon as you are proceeding with attendance at an event you should be checking contacts against the exhibitor and attendee listings the event management ought to be providing – make sure you get these lists and the updates and check for your clients, prospects and classify those you are targeting.

At the show, make sure you are qualifying attendees from the get-go!

Dividing your attendees into A’s – those with a desire to do business, place an order or write a check – they get special treatment and your time; B’s – they may need a follow-up because they cannot make a commitment there and then and require you to convert them – follow-up professionally and be prompt, there is business in this group, and finally; C’s – maybe they are interested and maybe not; if you get the feeling they are going to be dropping your brochure in the trash 5 minutes after leaving the event, get rid of them!

How the event is staged will also affect how you use your time. Make use of down-time so you schedule meetings with those people you want to be talking to – use break-out sessions to your maximum advantage to make contacts with your targets that are more than simply an exchange of business cards – make these meetings well in advance of attending and that means getting on the telephone with your prospects before the show.

Use the 3-Day Rule when you are following up.

Most business is concluded after the event and not in the show arena – you must follow-up when you say you are going to and that means being prompt. Never leave prospects for more than 3 days after the show to contact them with whatever follow-up action is required. Attendees will have been contacted by other exhibitors and may have concluded the business or made a decision to place the order with your competition; very often, attendees make the buying decision and place the order with the first exhibitor who places the sales call.

Economic Road Blocks Causing Trade Show Cancellations

I keep picking up stories of trade shows being canceled because of the “current economic conditions” and frankly, while this is causing severe pain for everyone involved it is really something to be viewed as a set of incredible opportunities.

Weaker companies will always go to the wall and especially in trying economic times such as these but, for the savvy businessman recessions provide fantastic opportunities to seize more market share and emerge larger and more profitable when recovery starts.

Weak trade shows are shutting their doors which is making the decision for which ones you should be spending your budget on that much easier – only the good shows are surviving, the ones where business is done and the exhibitors are making sales. Carefully selecting those shows which provide a strong track record and a history of high business levels will ensure you get the best ROI from your investment attending them.

Before you commit to exhibiting at a trade show make sure the management have provided you with the demographics and statistics from their previous shows plus who has already signed up for attending the proposed venue and not just the exhibitors but the attendees as well. The big corporates have already been pulling out of so many shows this year but when you do see them, you can take this as a fairly good sign that the show is worthwhile but you also have to temper this with big companies hitting the road because if they don’t, it looks really bad for their reputation.

There is still a lot of business out there; you are just going to have work a little harder and smarter for it but blaming everything on the economy is a bad move!

As sales and marketing people, we must constantly question ourselves and the tactics we are using to bring home business and successful sales people are the ones who have moved on from blaming someone or something else to, “I did not make that sale – what did I do wrong and how will I make sure I don’t do it again next time!”

It’s not always the economy!

Trade Show Leads Strategy: Catch and Don’t Release!

I read somewhere last year a piece called “Where Good Leads Go To Die” or something along those lines (sorry I can’t attribute it but it left an impression on me).

I will say it once and I’ll say it every time – you must ensure you manage the contacts and leads you generate from your trade show activity; more business is lost as a consequence of sloppy follow up after the show than is generated during the event itself.

It goes beyond making simple follow up calls and visits too; you must put in place a good system to collect the prospect information and also impose a scoring or ranking system so you grade the quality of the prospect information you have gathered.

Customer A has met you at the show and but wants nothing from you though they tell you they have a project commencing within 6 months.

Customer B meets you at the show, has a project commencing in 18 months time and has downloaded your web based marketing collateral and asked for a meeting a week after the show.

What do you do?

A needs to be engaged as a priority because they have business taking place within 6 months – so they haven’t asked for any information – who cares! This is what your sales and pre-sales people are for and they need to be brought to bear on the account urgently.

B has business but not for 18 months though they are receptive to contact and being engaged. They will have a lower priority than A but you will need to keep that prospect alive until they are ready to commit to doing business with you. A lower priority should be assigned but they still must be contacted and engaged when you say you will or they are going to acquire a poor perception of you from the start.

You will come across Customer Do Nothing Wants Nothing – again, you must engage these prospects if you are to stand any chance of uncovering a need you can sell into, but it is practical and realistic to assign a low or general scoring to such prospects who will earn a sales call as part of your cycle of contacting prospects and trying to make a connection with them which will lead into something productive.

Fundamentally the strategy is to catch information but not to release the prospect unless they really are a waste of time – to find that out you will need to invest some of your own.

Happy Christmas and Have a Prosperous New Year in 2009

Well the Christmas dinner has just about been digested and my darling wife has not managed to kill me off with the leftovers; the kids are happy with their swag from Santa and now I get some time to myself at a quiet office with just my thoughts and plans for the year ahead.

Now is quite because so many people are doing the same as pretty much everyone else – ducking and diving work because it’s the holidays and looking forward to the imminent New Years parties – I always view the holidays as being Christmas for the kids and New Years for the big kids

Now I’m looking at where I’m spending my budget for the kit I need for the trade show itinerary I’ve planned. One thing is certain, everything is a lot cheaper this time compared to last year and my budget has been unchanged in respect of sales and marketing at trade shows.

I’ve maintained trade show spend generally because it works – it produces orders from customers new and old and for me, it represents a fantastic ROI.

Cutting dollar spend on making profits is crazy!

One reason I work for myself is because I wanted the rewards falling into my own pockets but I know plenty of successful people who work for others. One thing that we have in common is our approach to work – there is more than just a work ethic going on here, it is our attitude to work and what we do with that work ethic that makes us different.

If you’re reading this and thinking what a lame brain I am for getting some work done while you are still full of stuffing then fine with me because I will be working on taking your market share if you are one of my competitors and I’m plotting that right now.

2009 will be prosperous and successful – I’ve seen two recessions in the past and come through both smiling and this will be no different – work hard, think smart, do the unexpected and serve customers well.

This is no different but I will add – take advantage of the great reductions in the pricing of virtually everything to further improve your profitability in 2009.

Have a great holidays, enjoy the parties and family and don’t drink and drive.

See you next year

Just for Fun

I’m sitting in my office at home after getting back from my show in Toronto and getting ready for tomorrow (for me writing this it is the 15th December); tomorrow is my little girl’s Christmas play at school and I’ll be going there to say “Ooooh” and “Aaaaah” at the right times just as I’ve done with the other four kids; excuse me for being a little jaded but I’ve earned the right

As I sit here, my little darling has come in and asked me if I’ll be taking her to see Santa this year – of course I will, I always do – so what has prompted this question now?

Santa for the small town where I live, is an elderly gentleman who has performed this good deed service for as long as we’ve been here. He is the epitome of the Santa Claus you’ve seen a million times on TV, at the movies, on Coke ads and in your dreams as a kid – he has the look down just right!

So good is he, that he rents himself out as a Santa and even does a couple of trade shows that run at this time of year and I’ve hired him myself as well but that is all besides the point.

I ask my little one why she is asking if I’m going to take her to see Santa this year?

She looks at me in all seriousness and tells me in the most deadpan and pragmatic way that he’s Bad Santa and she doesn’t want anything to do with him because he drinks!

Now I’m puzzled so I ask what her source is for this information – the guilty culprits are her two oldest brothers who made her sit and watch Bad Santa with Billy Bob Thornton earlier this evening and apparently she has the wrong idea completely.

Maybe this will save me having to break the news, in time, that there is no Santa Claus but then who gets my presents because it certainly isn’t my bunch

Trade Show Fallout

As I’m writing this (on the 15th December) I have just finished reading a press release which dropped through into my email inbox from an industry bulletin I subscribe.

Here it is:

MGM Mirage Sells Treasure Island
MGM Mirage sold Treasure Island Las Vegas to Ruffin Acquisition, owned by Phil Ruffin, for $775 million. Treasure Island completed a renovation in August and has 18,000 square feet of meeting and convention space, as well as 2,885 rooms and suites.

Now if MGM is suffering and selling out a major new trade show venue like this then I guess we all know what state the economy has sunk to!

Again and again, I am going to keep banging on about how this is a time of opportunity – everyone is suffering or claims to be, and yet I still keep getting the same old objections from prospects and customers when I call, “Can’t talk just now, we’re too busy!”.

Right now is a busy time and not just because of the holidays – it is busy because so many companies are involved in their year end activities which also means finalizing orders for the new year and the next business cycle. It is also busy simply because there is a lot of business still going on out there!

If anything, I am finding it easier to negotiate my rates for attending trade shows and the logistics behind it; everything is cheaper now for me than it was a year ago and so much so, I am upgrading much of my trade show display.

My supplier has already come in with several quotes for a new modular display to work alongside the one I use now – “NO!”, I’m not replacing the existing one, I’m doubling up my marketing team and we intend hitting more shows in 2009 than this year.

More than this, the accessories I wanted but couldn’t shoot for last year are being included for both the displays; I have not increased my budget, I’m just finding lighting, trade displays and flooring far, far cheaper than I had originally banked on when I sat down 9 months ago and agreed the spend.

If there is trade show fallout it is simply to my favor and yours; be aggressive in your negotiating as this is a buyer’s market, if you have the drive and determination to go for market share in 2009 and get yourself in a great business position for the recovery, then you are going to be getting some fantastic deals on space, logistics and the kit to make an extraordinary impression.

Wall Street Gloom

Frankly I am sick and tired of hearing all of the doom and gloom that is being parroted all over the media and all over the place; the economy is in a bad state at the moment BUT we all seem to be forgetting a few things.

Our economy is the strongest in the world – not one of the strongest but THE strongest; as a British friend of mine says, “When America sneezes the rest of the world catches a cold!”

There is plenty of business still going on and in large part, the reason why the US economy is so strong is simply because of the very large and industrious small business base we have here in America.  America is the land of free enterprise and opportunity and unlike elsewhere, a man (or woman) can make their own luck!

It’s a constant wonder to me that some come up to me and tell me how “lucky” I am; it is a wonder because I discovered a long time ago that the harder I work the luckier I get!

This is what I’m doing; and I did this in the last recession and the one before that; I’m sticking to what I know works – I know trade shows work and I always make good money and create new business opportunities but I have to play it right.

I do not go overboard and fall for trade show and exhibition management hype – I talk to businesses who have attended at shows before if it is a new one to me.

I do not look at attending a brand new event – if it is a new event it is untried, untested and uninteresting to me.

I improve my marketing and sales efforts; if anything I will increase my dollar spend on these activities in order to extract as much business as I am able to do – now is a time when my competition is struggling and they are cutting back on customer contact and service precisely because they have cut their spend; this leaves their market share vulnerable and I aim to take it from them.  Big company clients are especially vulnerable and I am more likely to get business out of them now than at any other time.

I’m planning for recovery – that other “R” word which people keep forgetting about.  Recessions are bad news but not for everybody – Carnegie built an entire steel empire and conglomerate on the basis of steel he bought during recession and then sold on to railroad builders at massive profits when the recovery followed; I’m not Carnegie but I apply his principles, buy low and sell high and now is a time when I will be able to buy new business cheaply.

Trade Show Timing

The year is winding down but for many, this is the most profitable time of the year as sales go through the roof and particularly for retailers, Mr & Mrs Consumer seriously start to max out their credit cards on purchases for the season with the post-Thanksgiving sales and again after the Christmas holidays as stock gets cleared.

Retailers know the cyclic nature of their trade, and successful ones understand every nuance of consumer buying trends like the back of their hands.

The same principles apply when you act as a consumer and buy trade show display space – you must learn and understand the buying habits and trends of the attendees who are visiting trade shows so you can tap into the corporate and personal check books that are available.

Part of your due diligence when it comes to selecting a trade show is to avoid calendar clashes with holidays, religious festivals, the BIG GAME!, and in fact, anything that will detract from people attending a trade show you will be at or deter them from placing an order with you.

Look for what the industry or market ordering cycle is for your target market and maximize your trade show exhibiting when your potential customers are most likely to place orders; this will increase your exposure to the maximum number of selling opportunities with prospects who are more likely to be in a buying frame of mind.

You can research who will be attending by looking at the demographics and attendance history of prior events as well. Trade show managers are only too eager to part with big name and general attendance information to help prospective exhibitors and armed with this information you can start making realistic and reasonable assumptions as to who is likely to be attending at the next event prior to you booking yourself into it.

Just consider what the attendance is going to be like at a trade show when the Superbowl is on in January 2009 and ask yourself whether you really should be booking in for an event the same weekend?

Are you really going to be selling Christmas cards at Easter?

It’s not rocket science just common sense like so many other things, however you need to get your calendar out and plot out when you should be exhibiting and when you should be back at base and servicing your existing customer base.

Winning Market Share in a Recession with Trade Shows

I came across this from Wayne Hurlbert on his Blog Business World way back in 2007 and it should give everyone pause for consideration:

“Should there be an economic downturn, the prudent course of action is to see an opportunity where everyone else sees a crisis. One of those expansion opportunities is through increased market share.

While other business owners and managers enter into a contraction and retrenchment mode during a recession, the contrarian business person thinks in terms of expansion. When other businesses cut back on marketing and advertising, they are surrendering potential market share. There is no better opportunity to pick up new customers and increase your company’s profile in the marketplace. When other organizations are cutting back, it’s time to claim their abandoned market share.”

When recession starts to bite, companies that tend to navigate the hard business climate through to the recovery successfully are good at several things. They focus on what they do well and keep doing it while at the same time they perceive an opportunity in hard business times when the competition is seeing shrinking margins and implementing cutback after cutback.

The knee jerk reaction of your competitors frequently leaves large areas of the market unattended and though the overall economic situation may be bad, you will find isolated opportunities where the withdrawal of your competitors has left potential customers ripe for the picking.

Professor John Quelch of Harvard Business School also had this to say last week in a post on September 24, 2008 - “How to Market in a Recession”:

“3. Maintain marketing spending. This is not the time to cut advertising. It is well documented that brands that increase advertising during a recession, when competitors are cutting back, can improve market share and return on investment at lower cost than during good economic times….”

Review your marketing strategy but this

5 Top Tips to Recession Proof your Business?

No-one likes the “R” word but there is no getting away from it; business is very hard right now as financial markets collapse, the Wall Street credit woes have hit Main Street and everyone is looking for ways to save money, make more and keep their bottom line intact.

The big question is how we keep our businesses safe and go forward through to the recovery that will inevitably follow?

Take a look at these business tips for recession proofing your company.

Tip #1 – See the people!

One seasoned salesman explained that there are only three rules to selling:

1. See the people;
2. See the people; and
3. See the People!!!!!!!!!!

You get the point I’m sure; sending out your message again and again is not business spamming, it is a good business sense. On average it takes someone at least a dozen instances of your name or message being put before them before it reaches high level consciousness. Take every opportunity to get you name and message before people you do business with or intend doing business with; there is no mileage in hiding your light under a bush here so get the blow horn out and start spreading the word.

Regular mailings, emails, newsletters, marketing and promotional campaigns, business events, networking, trade shows and seminars, sponsorship, press releases, business awards, public service…whatever it takes to get yourself known and kept in the mind’s eye of your business community and customer base is essential.

Never stop broadcasting what you do and who you are.

Tip #2 – Free Trials

This was picked up in at a sales seminar for a car dealer in