The Lean, Mean Profit MachineWritten by Susan Freidmann
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Employees who are normally careful with company resources tend to go a little crazy at trade shows. Excessive employee spending is a seldom-discussed problem, but one of most common ways for a company to bleed green at a show. Combating this can be as simple as reserving rooms at a moderately-priced hotel, setting per diem expense allowances, and enforcing employee accountability for expenses. Watch out for ‘entitlement’ mindset – “I’m entitled to a steak and lobster dinner at most expensive restaurant in town because I’m at trade show.” If employees know they’ll have to explain any questionable purchases after fact, they’ll be less likely to splurge on your dime. 4. Find good workout buddies: Spending time in gym can be infinitely more productive if you exercise with a motivated, skilled partner. The same is true for marketing. Here, you are counting on your employees to be skilled, motivated partner. When employee-employer relationship is truly a partnership, both sides will have common goals and ideals. Everyone will be working together to achieve these goals – and what better place to showcase this than trade show floor? Your booth staff represent your internal customer-service team. They act as your company ambassadors, representing entire company with everything that they do. Their attitude, body language, appearance, and knowledge help create a lasting impression that attendees will take away with them. Make sure your employees are prepared by providing excellent training and making sure they clearly understand what is expected of them. Training shows your employees that you value their contributions, and demonstrates to world at large that you care about what image your company is presenting. 5. Keep good workout buddies: We’re a mobile society. People move an average of seven times in their lives, oftentimes great distances. Therefore, companies are often hesitant to spend money on training. What’s sense, they ask, of making this investment when staff are likely to leave, taking their skills with them? Life is full of risks. When you go jogging first time, there’s risk you might stumble and skin your knee. You might wrench an ankle. You might fall into a sudden sinkhole and wind up in traction. But when you weigh rewards of physical fitness – increased sense of well-being, health benefits, and trimmer physique – and relative likeliness of risks – you see it is clearly worth it to go jogging. The same thing holds true with employee training. The benefits of a fully-trained, top-notch staff clearly outweigh chance that one or two may leave. Employees leave for a number of reasons, and it is in your power to minimize some of them. For example, employees may leave because of frustration, stress, or a feeling of being under-valued. Perhaps they don’t feel they have enough authority, growth opportunities, or direction. Providing training can remedy some, if not all, of these reasons, and help you retain quality employees. These five strategies will help you transform your company into a lean, mean profit machine. Keep those marketing muscles working and they’ll be less likely to be trimmed away as “excess fat”.
Written by Susan A. Friedmann,CSP, The Tradeshow Coach, Lake Placid, NY, author: “Meeting & Event Planning for Dummies,” working with companies to improve their meeting and event success through coaching, consulting and training. For a free copy of ExhibitSmart Tips of the Week, e-mail: susan@thetradeshowcoach.com; website: www.thetradeshowcoach.com
| | Every Minute Matters: Discerning Attendee TypesWritten by Susan Freidmann
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They do want to talk to you – about who built your booth, where you got those great graphics, and how much you paid for your sweater. These types are extremely curious and engaging, but unless they want to talk about your products and services, you’ll want to keep them moving. You don’t have time to waste on a discussion of booth construction. Take a little time with … Salespeople. You’ll find people at shows who attend with one goal in mind: selling you their products or services. Publication advertising representatives are notorious for this. Chances are they themselves aren’t likely prospects, but you never know. Additionally, they’ve talked to everyone on floor that day – insights and info they share might lead you to a more likely prospect. If floor traffic is slow, it may be worth asking a few questions, if only to find out who they could refer you to. Nobodies Just because you don’t know who attendees are doesn’t mean their employers don’t. Often times larger firms send underlings in their organization to show to do specific research. Never, ever underestimate these folks. They may be extremely strong influencers – and if they aren’t now, they may be someday, and they’ll remember if you treated them poorly. They may also have some precious knowledge – names and contact info of decision makers in their firm. Time spent with them could be invaluable. Happy, friendly people These types are usually extremely friendly. They smile and their whole body language says, “Please, talk to me! Please! Me, Here! I want to Talk to You!” Questioning will determine whether or not they are prospects worth pursuing, and you’re guaranteed a cheery bit of conversation. Job Seekers The top companies in any industry, gathered all in one place – no wonder job seekers haunt trade shows. It’s an excellent way to network and look for organizations who may have present or future job openings. If you have a spare moment, take time to talk with job seeker. They may be just person you need to help your company become even better. But save most of your time for… Definite Prospects Research has shown that majority of trade show attendees are predisposed to purchase new products and services. These are people who can easily be transformed from casual browsers to definite prospects. Concentrate on them! If you’ve done a thorough job of pre-show marketing, you’ll also have definite prospects and customers seeking you out at show. Don’t drop ball once they’re at booth – give them attention they deserve. Consider having a separate conference area within your exhibit to speak with definite prospects. They appreciate VIP treatment and you’ll be able to have a meaningful conversation with them despite hustle and bustle of a busy trade show.
Written by Susan A. Friedmann,CSP, The Tradeshow Coach, Lake Placid, NY, author: “Meeting & Event Planning for Dummies,” working with companies to improve their meeting and event success through coaching, consulting and training. For a free copy of ExhibitSmart Tips of the Week, e-mail: susan@thetradeshowcoach.com; website: http://www.thetradeshowcoach.com
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