Know-How Exchange : Advertising/PR

Ok-- first why the delay in the follow up? Don't let a warm lead go cool!

No matter the reason, let me help you move forward.

The "I don't remember" may not be a true objection-- just a stall. Sending literature will create another stall. You'll say, "did you get my literature", and they say no-- and there you go again.

Next- -you aren't selling a $35 display. You are selling a profit center for the company. And they are paying you for their valuable showroom real estate.

Don't explain or remind-- sell. Mr. Wilson-- in March you attended the xyz expo. At that time you were very interested in the product and asked me to contact you when the displays were finished. They are ready to ship. The cost is $35 and includes.... I just need to confirm you mailing and shipping address to get it on it's way. Better yet, deliver and set it up.

So he says, "oh things have changed and I don't have room". And you come back with, "I know things can change and others have told me that. but once I tell them the $35 display takes up a x SF footprint and will generate $$, they agree it's a good investment and find a good location for it." And again, trial close.

Then just whittle thru the objections,

If they dont' truly remember, then sell a face to face. Sell the appointment and the appointment only. Bring a display-- and start showing on their floor a great locale. Move a few things around to get them going. Remember you're the expert-- you should know where the display works.

When I sold items with displays we'd never just ship it and hope. It'll stay in the warehouse. It was the salesperson's responsibility to set it up, (sometimes delivering it) negotiate the location (no I'm not going in the back room corner) and maintain it. And do the PK so the salespeople knew how to sell it. These were massive pieces of furniture and I hated that part of my job-- I'm not handy like that- and my nails are jewels not tools -- until those little pieces of paper with my name on it started coming in!

one more thing under "lessons learned"-- next show- have order pads for the display. Get them signed up while they're hot!

As said above, the focus is not the $35 for a display, but the focus should be what that display would do for them.

When you say a display, I assume that means they are picking up a,line that they will be selling (and the display is an up front cost for them to show the line to their customers). So the focus is on the line and the profitability of it for them.

Minor change to what Carol had for her wording would be that you may need to remind people what your company was, particularly if the show was large. Keep the reminder short - a few word description of who you are and why they were interested in your product enough to stop at the booth and fill in the card.

On the whole, retailers aren't really worried about a $35 display cost. The paperwork for them to set you up as a vendor will cost them much more. So really ignore that as an issue for now, and focus on what the product you have does for them.

it sounds to me as though you have a very small number of prospects at this point. Since you have a small number of prospects, each aspect is very valuable, and you need to put your best foot forward.

If this were me, I would set these prospects aside for the moment. I would make telephone calls to other companies, and I would practice making these calls and answering objections until I felt more confident.

The way that I look at it is, if I am going to make a mistake and say something stupid, I would rather make that mistake (and hopefully learn from the mistakes) on a cold call. After you have made a few dozen cold calls, you will find it much easier to call these warm leads from the tradeshow. Good luck.

You need to somehow continue the conversation you had with each one of them. Why did they stop by the booth? Why drop off a card? Why talk with you? What did they see in your display that interested them? Treat the call less as an immediate sales call and more of a continued investigation in what specifically is of interest. Once you better understand what they need, the better you can sell. As others have mentioned, treat the experience as a learning one - a single $35 sale shouldn't take so much effort (unless this is the first product that you want to build awareness with or they'll be buying lots of $35 products).