Category: Trade Shows

I’m just back from one of the trade shows we do every year. It’s a great opportunity for our salespeople to see their existing contacts and customers, but as marketing manager, I don’t have ‘existing contacts’. What I enjoy most is talking to people new to our company, or even our type of product.

You know the type … they blindly grab a piece of literature, usually a specialized piece that only the rarest of booth visitors may need. They stare for a full minute at your company’s logo on the booth. Some will look your demo unit up and down, others will be oblivious to its presence. They don’t make eye contact at all, and may even look right thru you.

What’s happening is the non-verbal part of their brain is working, trying to fit together a small puzzle:

• Brand
• Product
• Purpose
• Need
• Importance

When they appear ready, I’ll ask something as basic as ‘any questions?’ Then they can start to verbalize about the part of the puzzle they need help with.

For the extrovert (i.e. salesperson), this can be an awkward point. They want to start asking the ‘mark’ questions about his company, his need, if he knows so-and-so, etc. Or they’ll try to impress the visitor by answering his inquiry with a story or a spiel.

Our guys are pretty-well disciplined, and don’t do this right away, but they may be itching to flip the control of the conversation … to move the visitor from a ‘mark’ to a ‘lead’ quickly. I’ll attribute their behavior to the fact that they are in unfamiliar territory. Their usual leads the rest of the year are already qualified, and are a bit rusty in engaging a complete n00b.

It seems a bit odd at first, but the puzzling booth visitor fully wants to talk about you, your company, and your products. But he also fully wants you to listen to his questions and body language. They are in control, even if they are meekly asking questions. The best thing you can do is ask clarifying questions, so they know you are listening, and that you’ll cooperate with them. They still haven’t decided if you are the right person or company to talk to and need some time and info to do so.

One of the even odder moments at a trade show booth is when a conversation gets passed from one booth-person to the other. But that is a good sign that the discussion is probably shifting from ‘puzzling’ to ‘familiar’.

It all starts when you meet the prospect at their level and pace. Websites are awesome for this because a visitor can linger until they decide to engage us. And it shields us from these awkward moments. But, done right, these awkward moments can be awesome opportunities to make new relationships, and hopefully, customers.

 

We just did our last show for the year. This one is always a great show because our customers are there, and nearly everyone else is a prospect (or knows the person at their company who should be). And all our competitors are there, too.

This year, our main competitor was kitty-corner across the aisle from us. Intimidating to be sure. We’ve got to do better then them somehow, right? We’ve got to bring our A-game. Well, duh, we need to bring our A-game to a show regardless.

And what happened after a little while, is that we worked the show like we normally would, and so did they. Its hard to put on pretenses when you have visitors to interact with…they suddenly are our number-one focus.

So what did I get out of the experience?

• Our salespeople working the booth are now a little more aware of the dynamics between our companies.
• An opportunity to see how prospects behave differently when talking to us versus them.
• We learned a bit more about our competitor’s sales-style based on their behavior in the show booth (showing vs. listening).
• A chance to see what they know about our company, products, and people.

We had a couple mid-aisle conversations about the show, players in the industry, and other small talk. We see each other once a year, and I did learn I am pretty invisible to them (“are you from the home-office?”).

It was interesting when Peter, a former sales rep of ours, walked one of the competitors over to our booth and proceeded to point out the differences in our products. Then they walked back across the aisle. I kept silent.

Interesting, but who cares? He’s not going to copy what we do. If he didn’t know the details of our product by now, obviously he doesn’t care about it too much. Or, more likely, he doesn’t realize his own weaknesses.

Okay, I will admit wanting to do a close walk-around his product. But I had no reason to, either. We compete so directly, the biggest differences are not the products. Its the branding … and the people who represent the brand. And I think those differences came in to clearer focus for me after this show.

I read a lot of marketing blogs every day (and I really need to contribute to the blogosphere more myself). One post I saw recently attempted to justify ‘virtual’ trade shows as an acceptable alternative to the real thing, given the much lower cost. The ROI is higher, apparently.

I was suspicious … virtual trade shows are right up there with webinars in my do-not-like. Are they worthwhile? Are they a worthy substitute?

After being at a major trade show all last week, I feel justified in my reaction: Virtual/online events may be good to get some fresh sales leads … but that’s about it.

There is no engagement. There is no socialization. There is no serendipity. There is no communal experience.

Take the number of leads (so easy to count online) and divide by the cost (one fixed number to a vendor) and the CPA (cost per acquisition) does look good, I’ll agree.  However …

The real thing is better …

At the show I was at (as a first-time exhibitor in a growing industry), I really felt like we solidified our position in the market, and opened opportunities for the future.

Sure, I can count up the leads on the thumb-drive from the badge reader (that alone cost me $299). But how do you count these activities and results:

• We partnered with one of our top customers to promote both of our businesses (and now they are more than just a customer).
• Our independent sales rep found some potential clients for another line he reps. (Line synergy, isn’t that why we have these guys, instead of direct sales staff?)
• We had a huge belly-laugh with a customer meeting her salesperson IRL for the first time.
• Another customer slapped our salesperson’s shoulder in front of others from his company and said “Yoshi is awesome!”
• I talked to a complementary vendor about a potential joint product. And maybe a targeted marketing event, too.
• Walked into several booths and found people very interested in the products we sell, and also found a major decision maker on a larger project.

I could go on, but you get the point. The salespeople and I were able to take our business somewhere it couldn’t go without being at this event. Forget ROI … it’s value is priceless.

Not all trade shows are like this, but this is the way they are supposed to be. If all you get out of a trade show is leads, you’ve missed the point of being there. And that would be more than a virtual waste.