The Lean, Mean Profit MachineWritten by Susan Freidmann
That’s what every company wants to be, especially now when stock markets worldwide are falling and threats of recession loom large on every horizon. Management is being urged to ‘cut fat’. Many times powers that be interpret this to mean eliminating staff training programs and drastically cutting marketing. But they’re making a mistake. Instead of trimming fat, they’re amputating very muscles a company needs to stay competitive in today’s global marketplace. Now is time to make sure that you’re exercising your marketing muscles efficiently and enough. Regular workouts are important when times are flush and sales brisk, but they become vital during economic downturns. Let’s take a look at five strategies to exercise your marketing muscle, how they relate to your trade show participation, and how all are vital to your company’s physical fitness. 1. Go to Gym: You can do your workout anywhere, but it’s better in gym with proper workout equipment. In same way, you can be a contender in global marketplace without attending trade shows – but how effective will you be if no one sees you in global marketplace? Companies can not buy your goods or services if they don’t know you exist! Trade shows signify an essential marketing strategy when it comes to visibility. Exhibiting demonstrates that you are a serious player in industry. Staying in public eye is imperative if you want that public to remember who you are! Make commitment to keep trade shows one of your major promotional tools. If financial circumstances make this difficult, consider down-sizing your booth – but don’t abandon show completely! Doing so creates public impression that your firm is in financial trouble – kind of bad ‘buzz’ no one wants – and that your competitors will happily spread! 2. Set long-term goals: It takes more than one spin class to shed twenty pounds, and you wouldn’t expect bulging biceps after an hour of free weights. But that’s exactly what many companies expect from their marketing and training routines. Neither will provide a miracle quick fix, but as part of a regular, planned, organized campaign, training and marketing will, in time, produce impressive results. If on other hand, you only concentrate your energies on training and marketing when things are good, and discontinue those exercises during down times, your results are likely to mirror your actions. Developing a consistent marketing and training strategy that you can stick to, no matter what economic circumstances, will help you keep an optimal operational equilibrium. 3. Critique your workout routine: We all get into ruts, in gym and in business. How often do you stop to take time to examine what your companies is doing – and more importantly, why? Upon examination, many of your corporate actions may be done out of habit rather than because they are productive and profitable. This applies to trade shows in two ways. First, take a close look at shows you attend. How do they really fit into your marketing strategy? Ideally, attending a show should attract large amounts of consumers from your target audience. If you’re at a show that doesn’t do this, ask yourself why. Are you there just because “We’ve always gone to ABC show”? Are you attending just because your competitors do? If your target audience is not attending, you and your competitor are both wasting money at that show – let them throw their money away alone! Cut non-producing shows out of your exhibiting schedule. Instead, put all your energy and resources into exhibiting at more profitable events that attract your target audience.
| | Every Minute Matters: Discerning Attendee TypesWritten by Susan Freidmann
Set one foot on trade show floor and instantly you’re surrounded by people. Tall ones, short ones, old ones, young ones. C-level executives are rubbing shoulders with corporate nobodies. Some rush from booth to booth in search of giveaways while others draw your sales staff into long, pointless conversations. The good news is that between 80-90 percent of attendees are often there to purchase new goods and services. The bad news is that other 10-20 percent can eat up lots of valuable floor time. How in world do you identify who are valuable prospects and who are ‘just looking’ in this throng of people? I’ve identified twelve distinct types of trade show attendees. Almost every person at show will fall into one of these categories. Teach your staff to recognize these types. That way they can politely yet quickly handle non-starters and spend their valuable floor time concentrating on promising prospects. Keep them moving if… They come for demo – any demo, every demo. Some people just love to watch a show, whether it’s for newest floor cleaning squeegee mop or a hydraulic drill press that can bore through four feet of concrete. They seem to travel in flocks, congregating around one demonstration after another, with no intention of purchasing products being shown. Asking a few open-ended questions will help your staff know who’s at show to do some shopping and who’s simply looking to be entertained. They say “Gimme, Gimme, Gimme” Any type of giveaway attracts these types. Keychains, pens, can cozies, mouse pads, t-shirts – it doesn’t matter. If it’s free, they want it. They may even want more than one, to give to their family, friends, and colleagues. You can often identify this type by their bulging tote bags and pockets full of unsharpened pencils. Keen questioning will ascertain if this visitor has any potential. They’re a Gambling Man. Winning contests is a passion for some people – they have an almost biological compulsion to drop a business card into a fishbowl for any kind of drawing. They don’t even care what prize is, as long as they might win. Contests that require more than a business card to enter will help deter these types from finding their way onto your follow-up lists. They ask too many questions. Like it or not, trade shows are a prime opportunity for competition to indulge in a little industrial espionage. Snooping can and does occur. These would-be spies often give themselves away by knowing far too much about your industry or asking specific, precise questions. Make sure that you do more questioning than talking to reduce chances of giving away valuable information. They’re snapping up every brochure in sight. Everybody collects something, and believe it or not, some people just love to collect sales literature. They’ll take any piece of paper, no matter what it is. Check to see if they’re researching a particular market for a supervisor – if so, they may be an influencer worth pursuing. They don’t want to talk to you. Some attendees come to a show for a single purpose, and that’s all they want to see, hear, and talk about. These folks simply will not be interested in what your organization is offering. Luckily, they’re not shy about letting you know this. They’ll communicate via body language, by purposely avoiding eye contact with your booth staff, or chatting with a colleague when passing by your exhibit. Waylaying these types will only upset them.
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