Know-How Exchange : Just for Fun

As someone heading to Vegas next week for a trade show, I can't ignore union bullies (at least it isn't as bad as last year's show in Chicago), nor the trade show management having you by the b@!!s and continuously making life much harder than it should be given the money they charge.

If it could be done competently and cost effectively, I would delegate everything on your list. But that is the problem - very little of it do I feel could be done competently or cost effectively. Too much risk for just wasting money, or worse yet, the person that you outsourced to leaving some form of bad impression about us. Particularly true of the areas that require intimate knowledge of the products or services offered by the exhibitor.

Jeff - well done! Your question, as usual, hits at the pumping heart of business strategy and reveals our weaknesses!

Here then are my trade show goals, gripes and general pointers:

1. I go to trade shows for sales and leads. Nothing else. Revenue is king. That is my and my company's goal.

2. Nothing else matters but revenue, and the opportunity to provide a great service to new and existing customers. The cost, admin, show promotion, booth design - all of that is secondary to that goal. If something goes wrong it is likely to be my fault - poor briefing or poor arrangements I should have fixed up properly beforehand. The shorter the time between trade shows, the better I get because I remember more. But in the end, all I want is my costs back and as much more as I can get. Remember - each good new client brings in revenue for many years to come..

3. Delegates to trade shows collect material from all kinds of exhibitors with the best of intentions and then leave the whole lot in a plastic carrier bag in either the restaurant, bus, train, airplane or a colleagues car. If we haven't collected that person's business card or address beforehand, that is our fault.

4. Delegates and attendees go to that show meaning to do business, but there is so much to see that they fall into a kind of social sleepwalking. It turns into a day out of the office. So what do you do?? Catch up with them later when you phone the number on their business card. Give them time to forget their guilt.

5. Don't run a hospitality stand unless you can drink delegates into a deal there in the booth. Promises come fast and thick from whoever you are talking to when free drinks are on offer so don't believe a single promise you hear unless you are running a pretty clever 'deal closer' session.

6. Take some time to investigate competitor's stands and do some deals. Get your offers ready and you'll find joint ventures can bring many times more revenue than any number of happy delegates stumbling around your stand and taking up your time. I have arranged some highly lucrative leaflet inserts into package and magazine despatches, and made a small fortune from the results.

Happy exhibiting!

Peter Hobday

Hi Jeff, here are my answers.

Show management (sponsor) -- Give me more information to help me decide if I should have presence at the show. I need to know more than the number of attendees. Give me attendee type (titles), geographic breakdown, what companies attended last year or number of unique companies attending, how many purchases were made... any info that I can get my hands on, in an easy-to-read format. (I like charts).

Managing the exhibit structure / materials? - Automation would be great. I'd like to log into my own client website, see where my booth is and all my inventory, punch in the deadlines, etc. Much easier than following a trail of emails and phone calls. I want my vendors to be proactive -- if they need to tell me about a problem, come prepared with a proposed solution. I also wish the drayage companies were easier to contact.

Pre-show promotion? - I'd like to better target promos. The more info I can get on attendees, the better I can do at that.

Exhibit design, build and set-up? - Automation (see above). "Out of the box" thinking in design. Not just regurgitating what's been done before. Reliable labor, and taking ownership.

Exhibit staff effectiveness? - More emphasis on ROI or ROO, and measuring the effectiveness of each staff person. Clear guidelines on what's expected, support from top management.

Sales / leads? - I need communication. If sales didn't follow up on a lead, what was wrong with it? A good CRM is worth the money here.

Post-show follow up? - Measuring quantitative metrics (# booth visitors, # demos etc.), surveying booth staff on show effectiveness.

Overall exhibiting experience? - Everyone taking ownership, communicating.

Specifically, what parts of trade show exhibiting would you rather delegate, assuming they would do it competently and responsibly? -- Exhibit design and management, parts of pre-show promotion (like graphic design, mailing, telemarketing), some measurement on ROO or ROI.

In your question you have addressed two issues. Here, in this question, you ask about the frustrations of a marketing communications manager which might be sufficient to generate interest in outsourcing. And, in your previous posts, you have an overall perspective of how this frustration can turn into business for a marketing agency.

I would like to suggest that, in addition to the agency and corporate perspective, there is a third perspective, which fits under the umbrella of, "what frustrates you about trade shows" (since we all have attended as potential buyers) - and which can and does produce revenues for forward thinking marketing firms.

Let us consider, for a moment, the perspective of a potential customer of the exhibiting company. Let us assume for the moment that potential customer is not yet qualified: no budget, no timeframe, no clear understanding of his or her needs for the company's offering - but that this potential customer somehow feels the exhibiting company has something of interest.

Suppose that the potential customer is minding his or her own business, and sees an ad, written by a person we shall call, "person 1" - describing the company's product. "Person 1" might be an employee of of the selling company, they might be a contractor, but the point is that they are a distinct individual... The potential customer calls in for more info, and speaks with "person 2" (a second distinct individual, who might or might not be in the same hemisphere). The potential customer would like information, and so person two offers to send a letter, which was written by person 3, and signed by person 4, to provide info.

Naturally, the sales person is ready to pounce on any prospect with a pulse, and so when person 5 (the salesperson for our potential customer) gets the lead, person 5 calls and tactfully asks, "Are you ready to buy now, immediately, today?". Our customer is not qualified yet, and so this wastes their time, and person 5 (the salesperson's) time.

Time passes. Our friendly prospective customer sees an advertisement (written by person 6, who like others, is probably not employed by the selling organization) - and when they call in for information, the phone is answered by person 7, who is in a call center (probably on this planet, but you never know) and person 7 is unable to answer our prospective customer's questions. And so our prospective customer gets a phone call from a more technical fellow, who is person 8 from the point of view of our dutiful and persistent potential buyer. Naturally, when the technical fellow finishes the call, he fills the info into a CRM system, which alerts person 5 (the regional sales guy) who once again calls to ask, "are you ready to buy immediatly, right now, today?" Again, this wastes everyone's time.

Time passes. Our friendly prospective customer is now on various mailing lists, of course, and so he receives email after email, as well as a free pass to the trade show which sparked this question. The invitation was written by person 9 (again, not an employee) and signed by person 10 (probably a product marketing manager). And so our friendly fellow signs up for his free pass, getting an anonymous email confirming his attendance by a nameless email robot (let's not call that a person).

At the show, who should our inquisitive potential customer meet at the show than person 11, who is manning the booth, and who can't answer his or her questions... and our friend waits in line to talk with person 12. And what a conversation they have, about the wonderful ways this innovative product and server the customer. A few days after the show, our potential customer is pleased to receive some coorespondence - and hopes it is a friendly note from the knowledeable #12 fellow who was so helpful at the show - but no, it's just a form letter, inviting him to a webinar or something (which person will deliver that?) and signed by some random person (is it one of the above?). It is tough to know who is who, or who to call. The only thing our pleasant customer knows for sure is that he or she he can look forward to another call from person 5, the sales person, who is probably also getting irritated by now, but who will nevertheless call again to ask, "are you ready to buy immediately, right now, today?"

(Statistics show that a very large percentage of folks who attend trade shows buy... within 15 months or so. I will discontinue the example at this point, ignoring for the moment the issue of trade show lead cultivation over time, since your question was about trade shows, and since my fingers are getting tired...)

I call this form of marketing "Frankenstein Marketing". Just as Dr. Frankenstein built a monster from many individuals, so marketing managers today build complex, confusing, impersonal, monstrous processes to "serve" their prospects...

How many folks would a potential buyer have to speak with (in this simple example, it was pretty easy to get to 12) before they figure out that the company doesn't really care too much about them as a person, or their specific needs or situation?

It does not have to be that way. Randall referred to programs which began months and months before a show, to target folks well in advance. I would add that these folks could also send the invitations, that they could man the booth, that they could follow up.

I have personally done these sorts of programs in the past - and I can tell you from experience that when you take the time to get to know prospects, they will take the time to stop by your booth and say hi. You have earned the right to have a conversation with these folks.

A comprensive program by an agency need not be limited to the show itself. It can, and in my opinion, in some cases, it should be combined with personal promotion prior to the event, as well as follow-up after the event.

Such a program can eliminate headaches for the marketing manager, who no longer needs to coordinate letters, scripts, integration, etc. with many different entities. Such an approach can be particularly appropriate when a firm is entering a new market, and interested in making a splash and interested in learning about the market at the same time. A comprehensive and educational program can save the time lost from calls from sales to unqualified prospects - so that they can focus on the hottest leads. And it can be both profitable and fun work, with an agency coordinating marcom, events, and so forth.

Mostly I have not arranged trade shows but my organisation has participated in lots of them.

The struggle is in finding exhibit staff & training them on complex finance products within few hours and have them deliver over the next 10 days. Mostly I struggle with convincing sales guys to lend their best guys on a rotation basis to attend the trade show. But usually at the end of it there is so much of push back, in attendance and loss of business that both Sales & Mktg swear off the trade show. Till the next year.

Leads are usually good in the trade shows that i participate in with good volume of business that happens over the next 1 month.

But since the process of lead closure is a totally different process flow compared to AS IS process, trade show customers tend to suffer.

Jeff,

My biggest frustration with trade shows is the "time wasters" They just want to yak, eat food and take toys. Though you can spot them easily, the challenge is not looking like a jerk when you dismiss them.
TRUE prospects sense your manners or lack thereof.

Also we have clients who insist on using the same material each year and the same show. It's almost like they lose their mind for this show. Results are bad but they keep doing it and make up numbers to make it seem effective. BUT when you talk to the people personing (like that??) the booth, they call it a waste.

Michael

Hi BarQ,

hope you are having a great day and a Wonderful Life. You deserve it...and thanks for your wonderful package. Really impressive.

The most challenging part of Trade Shows I remember having is Pre Show Promotion. It's always the part that has to do with getting people to come to your booth in advance of them not knowing who you are or what you're about. That's not only what appeared to be the problem that the organizations I've worked with had, it also was the problem of many other trade show exhibitors.

How do you get people to take an interest in you before they get to know who you are. We used everything from giving prizes to those who put their cards in the fish bowl to sending people out from our booth into the audience to share who we were. So BarQ that's the numeral ono challenge. Look forward to your response and any suggestions you may have. Thanks. REMEMBER... our only real problem in life is our failure to be "MORE Creative" than we’ve ever been. If you “Invent” your opportunity YOU WILL most definitely create your future. I'm only an email away from you if you need my help. Is there anything else I can do for you?

Your Servant,

Deremiah, *CPE (Customer Passion Evangelist)

*Caring Promotes Exuberance

Regarding your "insight for agency new business developers", per your prior post - I believe that a program to offer, as an option, comprehensive, cradle to grave services related to trade show promotion, trade show exhibiting, and lead follow-up can be a good strategic move because:

1) by focusing on companies who exhibit at shows, you are focusing on companies who are more serious about spending money to get the word out.

2) it is efficient to meet with "companies who exhibit at shows" because you can go to a show, and see 100 or more of them.

3) By stressing an optional "cradle to grave" approach, you bring up a range of provided services, giving you multiple entry points into a company.

4) By stressing an integrated approach to enter a new market, you can avoid the objection, "we have an agency" - since that agency is focused on other markets. Your focus on specific markets (tied to shows) can help your agency develop a strategy become knowledgeable about and well known in a niche market.

5) By offering comprehensive services, you get a chance to promote to multiple groups within a company, each of whom may have their own frustrations or needs.

6) Companies who exhibit at trade shows need collateral, ad specialties, displays, and a variety of services.

7) By stressing the entire promotional lifecycle, you demonstrate your knowledge of the B2B (and, maybe B2C) selling process - and this may differentiate you from other competing agencies.

8) Folks who exhibit at trade shows have deadlines to meet, creating a sense of urgency which helps get the order.

9) Folks spend lots of money on trade shows, as you have observed.

10) An over-riding theme has seemed to be a difficulty in managing the multiple aspects of a trade show - and this is a very natural function for an agency.

11) Trade show programs publish lots of helpful info, including contact names, phone numbers, email addresses...

12) A trade show becomes a natural place to meet a prospective client, to walk around and see the booths, to determine which marketing style and approach fits them best.

As I've thought about this issue, I'm considering about refining my personal focus to look for clients who exhibit at a minimum of 2 shows per year... for many of the above reasons.

Good luck.

BARQ,

I'm so glad life is going so beautifully for you. That's Brilliant! So many people live lives of boring disgust. Mad at the world and others for the things they hate about life. People rarely express anything that resembles they have JOY on the inside of them.

But look to your right and you'll see "JUST FOR FUN" is where I make my mark. My work is FUN and my FUN is Work is my mantra. It amazes some and inspires others. Now when you're part Artist and part Accountant you've found the balance in life that makes living like Leonardo da Vinci worth THINKING about. Monday I'll have the lovely opportunity to finally meet Michael Gelb, the author of " How to Think Like Leonardo da Vinci". He and I have had a wonderful email friendship and now I get to go beyond spirit and meet the flesh and blood that surrounds this amazing thinker.

Now there is no question about you and I meeting. I always create time and I'll always create the MOST TIME in my schedule for YOU. It's not the products, the buildings or the ideas that are the most important things in my world...seriously it's always the incredible, unselfish, caring, hard working, people like YOU...That Really MATTER ---MOST---to me.

Most people let T-I-M-E determine their agenda. I ***USE T-I-M-E*** wisely as a tool for helping me accomplish my Dreams and reach my Destiny so that I can meet with Great people like YOU who are looking for good partnerships. You think that most people would stop trippin' for a minute and put the value back where the major Benefit should be and that's in the RELATIONSHIPS we have with people like you.

So thanks BARQ...I'll see you in mid July and in between now and then I'll be putting some little special gifts in the mail for you. Some centered around these amazing little...

Awe Schucks!

I keep forgeting ---I can't tell you--- what I'm gonna do before I do it...then it won't be a Surprise.

I get so excited some of the times about the things that I'm gonna do for people that...that I almost take away the thrill of making people wait to EXPERIENCE the Gifts of JOY I love to send good friends. That's as much fun as doing the good deed for others.

BARQ have I told you that I like you alot and I truly appreciate the dignity and the honor you bring to our forum? Well BARQ I'm gonna tell you...I LIKE YOU ALOT AND I TRULY APPRECIATE THE DIGNITY AND THE HONOR YOU BRING TO MARKETINGPROFS!!! Is there anything I can do for? Even something small and insignificant would be an honor for an *MOV...Man of Valor.

Your Servant,

Deremiah *CPE (Customer Passion Evangelist)

Caring Promotes Exuberance

PS
BARQ if you get some time do some research on Knighthood, orders of Knighthood, vows of loyalty, Badges of Honor and then ---AND THEN---bring this kind of ancient culture to your contemporary work force and before you know it you'll be a FORCE in Motion...protecting your customers like the knights of old use to protect the villages with the women and children inside. It's a rich culture where we get the words Sir, Dame, and Lady from. And remember the Greatest in the Kingdom is... the SERVANT of all.

Dear BARQ

Sorry to be late with this contribution, but as it’s not offering the kind of information you were seeking, perhaps its better that I stick it in after you’ve closed the question.

The theme is, “Why bother?” and if you do, do so for the right reasons

Like Marcus, I too have attended dozens of exhibitions. Unlike Marcus I’ve had to exhibit at quite a few as well and through from being a salesman to being the sales director, I’d always pondered the philosophical point, “For whose benefit is this bash?” I discovered the answer to this question when I got to meet a conference organiser whose orders I’d been signing for years and got to know him better. I have no objections to entrepreneurs making money and no one forced me to go to his events, but his Rolls Royce he kept tucked behind the hotel (Conference car, a ford!) at least showed me how much dosh can be made at events like these. So I started to quantify what the real costs were,

The point I always came back to was that the opportunity cost of attending always seemed to outweigh the measurable benefits. Maybe there’s a way to reverse that and we’ll all find it thanks to your posting! Here’s to hoping.

To make sense, on a measurable level, the opportunity cost needs to be covered. If you accept that a sales person’s role is to bring home business and hit target then each day is worth the Target divided by the Number of Selling Days Available. Once you’ve accounted for national holidays, vacation, planning days and team meetings, there is often a frighteningly small number of selling days left to the sales person. 160 is typical. So if their target is £640,000 (For the sake or found numbers!!) then they are expected to pull in £4,000 a day.

A manager might have a key account responsibility of twice that. So the opportunity cost for a sales team of three and one manager for a three day exhibition is likely to be around five days (I day to get there and set up, three days exhibition, one day to get back and unpack) plus an extra couple of various management days to do the preparation and analysis (The latter is assuming that they don’t use our software!) That comes to £60,000 for the sales team, £40,000 for the manager and another £20,000 in general management time.

Then you need to add on the stand costs and other expenses such as the sales person’s salary. Before very long, the total cost is through £200,000 for a 3 day event, so to my mind, that is what the exhibition needs to win in bookings just in order to break even. You might think this a little harsh, being asked to account for everything against such stiff numbers, but targets are also stiff numbers and a salesman failing to achieve his or her sales target is likely to become an unemployed sales person.

To cover these costs and just break even, you need to show that the exhibition produced sales equal to the opportunity costs and it needs to produce Margin equal to the exhibition costs.

To achieve this, I think that my colleagues have provided you with some very useful insights. I’ll add only three.
1. Track all the leads and enquiries you take at the exhibition through to their conclusion as a sale or their consignment to the waste bin of sales. To do this you will need to attune your CRM system to become a PRM system (Prospect Relationship Management)

2. Be brave and forecast the prospective sales you see in the searing white heat of the exhibition. Do it there and then. Then repeat the exercise monthly or at whatever interval is appropriate and compare your ongoing forecasts. Who knows, they might actually go up! Finally check with the booked reality and the waste bin. That will give you an accurate indicator for future events.

3. Try to find a strategy which stops your entire stand sales team from getting utterly blotto every night and the rest of your sales team from turning up for “Market Research” and getting equally pissed.


Good luck with your endeavours and remember, if the exhibition is a dog and the visitors are really just your competitor’s sales staff, you can always go and sell to your fellow exhibitors. Well, we can. The sales management on other stands are usually so bored out of their wits that the opportunity to have a free half hour “consultancy” session on CRM and Forecasting is usually seized with open arms.

Best wishes


Steve Alker
Unimax Solutions and SalesVision

Thank you BARQ,
I have had a busy week. Hence the frustration. Thanks and anytime you need insight from a client's point of view, I would be happy to help. You know how to reach me.

Thanks,
Promo Chic