• Trade show setup is unnatural combination of union guys and marketers.
• Marketing managers who want large flat-panels in the booth, probably also want flat panels for their house. Coincidence?
• What’s worse: missing your flight, losing your luggage, or you show crate not showing up?
• You pay for multiple power outlets at $250 each and find the junction box with six outlets is right behind your booth.
• Business cards? Yep those are in my desk’s right-hand drawer. Doh!
• No one back home thinks what you are doing is really work.
• That Windows XP log-in chime the whole floor can hear? Congratulations, you AV system is working perfectly.
• Hmm. Why didn’t I ‘need’ a flat panel in my home booth?
• It really saps your enthusiasm for a show when the padding for the carpet costs more than the carpet itself. Really!
• Why am I paying for an hour of labor I don’t need, while everyone else at the show seems happy hiring two union guys for the whole day?
• How much did you budget for the candy in your candy-bowl? Five bucks? Wow, you’re under budget, too? Good job :\
• Cool logo … Cool booth. Now what is it you exactly do?

After three days, I wish I had ordered the carpet padding no matter the cost.

It happened again. Some nutty customer attempts to rip the company off, and suddenly other customers have endure stricter screening and warranty rules. And as news of the revised policy spread, the jokes about the company followed.

See where I’m going with this?

We were looking at a supplier’s quotation today and the length of ‘terms and conditions’ dwarfed the actual product description and offer. Tons of rules about being a customer, whether you are even going to buy yet. But, because of ‘policy’ and past nutty customers, all that red tape is there for the company to CYA. Just like the TSA has you take off your shoes at the airport screening station.

At least at the airport, the ’security theater’ serves a purpose to reassure the regular passengers that they are being protected.

While some official terms with the proposal certainly give an air of formality, I see no reason to cover irrelevant facts and CYA rules that aren’t important at the proposal stage. In this particular case, the footer of every page listed the US and Canadian accounts-payable address. This is in addition to the eighteen itemized paragraphs at the end of the quote. Eighteen!

But as the manager in charge of the process, unfortunately you’re damned either way…

It was interesting that the Secretary of Homeland Security first say the system “worked really very, very smoothly”, then having to retract and clarify that statement. Accurately, the system’s reaction worked well, but that they had someone with explosives on the plane to begin with was an obvious FAIL. Amazingly, some pundits see the ‘very smoothly’ comment as an excuse to chase Janet Napolitano out of office. Now Obama is promising a review of procedures and policies. Yay, more procedures. (Similar situation now in India, too.)

Bad customers are those that sap our time, resources, control, and escalate to high visibility. And, like Ms. Napolitano, they make us look like a fool. So much better to add some CYA text that everyone can ignore. It doesn’t stop the bad customers, it just makes for an easier yardstick to measure them.

In B2B, don’t we hire smart people to be our front lines with the customer? To develop relationships and weed out the bad customers? And we still wimp out and throw all this meaningless red tape into the process. While business via a handshake may be too casual, a handshake says that we will work together and politely observe each other’s process.

To flip that all around, isn’t that one of the main reasons there are flight attendants on flights? To make a human connection to the plane, the company, and the rest of the crew? Oh, and they’re the ones who go thru the useless safety briefing at the beginning of the flight. Nevermind.

1. Browser size visualization tool

Google just released a screen overlay tool that shows you what percentage of average users can see what parts of your website. What’s visible to you may be ‘below the fold’ for half your site’s visitors. Also, it can serve as a handy tool to drag your browser window to the view that 90 or 95% of your customers have.

Me, I’ve got a right-hand side menu to worry about, but luckily the site is flexible-width so 90% of visitors can see the whole thing.

2. Web-form validation technology

Validation choices

What’s more important to a B2B marketer than the web-form that all your leads come from? Well, after looking at this review of web-form validation technology from Smashing Magazine, I feel like my site is only doing the minimum standard. At the end of the article is a number of resources to add form validation tricks to your site. Your visitors are already getting use to these techniques at other sites, and will be expecting similar technology at your site.

Keep on tweaking

We all want to redo our website all the time. But going back and tweaking details can make significant improvements in user experience and response. Don’t believe me? Start following Anne Holland’s new blog Which Test Won? where her A/B test examples can show dramatic gains from tweaking websites.

What are you tweaking?

We marketers of limited means (time and staff, as much as money) love the email tools out there. Fire up SurveyMonkey and/or MailChimp, and bam!–leads and responses.

But we should reconsider our actions based on split-testing reported at B2BMarketingSmarts: Email lead generation — perception vs. reality.

“Primarily using their in-house list… we mailed 100,000 surveys directing the recipient to a pURL (personalized URL)…We also emailed 30,000 surveys with the exact same messages.”

“The result: The postal mail pulled 3.1% (3,100 leads); the email pulled less than .25% (75 leads)… An interesting side note: of the 3,100 responses from the postal mail, 800 sent in the paper survey.”

So of course it depends on how much this was a survey, and how much it was a marketing piece. It always depends on details like that. But the differences in response rates are pretty definitive, that should influence your strategic choice.

I don’t usually blog about direct marketing, but I want us to know that if you are embarking in slamming out an email looking for response, “you’re doin’ it wrong”.

Of course we are humbled–or more likely irate–when we find out that they aren’t even reading the emails.

I thought making friendly sales-info videos was a way to make sure salespeople were paying attention, but if they were just setting-aside my emails, they never even knew about the video.

This column, When too much information harms the office, from Lucy Kellaway helps explain this behavior:

“She has noticed that her staff are responding to the information overload not by digesting too much of it, but by stopping to digest anything at all. She tells me that, in her company, the written word has lost almost all its power. No one reads e-mails any more – with the exception of those from the boss. Messages from anyone else are either deleted unread or given a cursory glance and then ignored.”

Sure, that makes sense. The emails that we require actual reading get set aside until the recipient has time and is mentally prepared. And, unfortunately gets buried.

Lucy goes on to opine that this is potentially a good thing:

“The trouble with the information age is that there are so many people talking simultaneously. Leaders surely need to do not more listening but more ignoring. More than ever, the good leader surely needs to learn how to become selectively deaf.”

There is a lot written about being better managers of our inboxes, and a lot about breaking thru the inbox as a direct marketer, but how do we as communicators of important information make sure our emails are opened, read, and comprehended regularly?

The easiest strategy based on the first quote is to be the boss. But marketers are not the boss of the salespeople. And sometimes even the sales manager isn’t listening.

Personally, I think what needs to occur is more personal (phone or in-person) talking to salespeople to make them aware of the value of what we are sending. Sounds stupid to call people and ask them ‘did you get my email’, but that may be what you need to do.  Not everyone every time, but just on a regular basis of some sort.

What ideas do you have? What has worked for you?

Tom Pick at WebMarketCentral Blog asks rhetorically Will Content Marketing Kill Trade Publications?:

“The challenges faced by trade publications go far beyond the current economic slowdown. Trade pubs traditionally flourished due to five conditions which simply no longer exist.”

1. Audience
2. Authority and independence
3. Expertise
4. Advertising
5. Aggregation

For each of these bullets, he basically explains how we can do it (or are doing it) ourselves, without the trade publication’s help. So please go read Tom’s post for the detail.

Wow, he just made my job harder. Now I need to be a writer and publisher of content, bypassing the trade publications.

In truth, my niche marketplace moved me away from trade publications as soon as the web became viable for lead generation. But I haven’t worked the content part as a strategic approach to attracting my own audience.

• Embedment
• Aggregation
• Good Enough
• Curation
• Platforms
• Humans

At the end of that list was this zinger:

“There are other keywords that came out of DC09, but, surprisingly, one keyword was barely heard at all:

Google.

While anything but irrelevant, Google has ceased to be an existential threat to the industry. Data publishers have largely made their peace with Google, and it doesn’t dominate their thoughts the way it once did. Google is a tool that can be profitably leveraged, and Google is no longer the enemy. This is likely due in no small part to Google maturing as a business enterprise, and its recent focus on opportunities far less threatening to those of us in the data business.”

It’s been four years since I was at InfoCommerce’s event as a speaker, with the talk Google Rules, Directories Drool. So the data/content world has adjusted to the scary monster that Google was then. Now, the relationship is more symbiotic.

What does this mean to B2B marketers?
Now we, as clients of data/content/directory services, should be looking beyond the threat to these services posed by Google, and be looking on how they might be delivering on those new key words I started this post with:

• Embedment-are they a part of our way of doing business.
• Aggregation- how deep is their info, how specialized?
• Good Enough- data is hard to keep current, how well are they doing?
• Curation- are they avoiding overloading their audience?
• Platforms- are they leveraging popular platforms (google, salesforce, facebook, etc.)
• Humans- are they using people to ensure quality content?

It’s a new ruler for the database people. How well are your suppliers doing?

And nothing can be as scary for a marketing manager as pulling into an show site and NOT having to wait to park.

But it was a great event to be at. I told several people that if this was my first time at the show, despite the very weak automotive industry, I would re-sign for 2010 in a heart-beat.

Here are some random observations:

• I brought out our box of Bic pens for give-aways. And my guess was right … on an off year, even those would be popular for visitors to grab. We were cleaned out by 2pm the second day. (And for you nay-sayers, it also encouraged them to stop and talk … awesome results for 58 cents.)
• Certain automotive companies were at the event in force. These are companies I’d bet are going to recover from the recession stronger. And we need to be prepared to market to them.
• A lot of attendees were asking about solutions for testing the up-and-coming technologies. Now I have a better gauge of how strong certain needs are.

But mostly, the human element was the most powerful at the event. Customers dropped by the booth. Salespeople were actively engaged. Relationships between ‘players’ in our industry were strengthened. Sure there were slow points, but it never felt ‘dead’. Some would say we had too many people at the show, but it only added to the value of the event, and the buzz for our company.

Most important, we were acting as a market leader and being treated as such. That’s a vibe you can’t get on a Google search results, or even in a normal sales situation. The right show is truly a marketplace!

One of my regular readers, Adam Oakley, was recently downsized out of his B2B marketing position. As much as I was concerned for him, I was also curious as to his experience looking for a new job. Now he has a new job marketing software, a big jump from nuts & bolts (really!). Like you, as a reader of B2Blog, he has demonstrated his smarts and savvy and bridged the gap from job to job and landed on his feet. I’ll let him introduce himself:

I recently found myself without regular employment. In response to economic pressures the company I was working for cut marketing efforts and my position was eliminated. It was good company with a great group of people and I enjoy the seven years I worked there. Even though the decision was a shock it did not put our family in any tragic financial position. In fact it has given us a chance to look at our future and decide the best direction. Here are five steps you can take right now if you are or suspect you might be job hunting soon.

Five Things to do While Looking for a Job

Talk

It’s clear that the most effective way to find new employment is through personal relationships. Ask for introductions to other individuals who might be of assistance to find new work. It is important to be clear how your network can help. Build a list of possible contacts and start getting in touch. Have coffee or go out lunch. Do whatever it takes to get in front of people.

Evaluate

One common theme I have noticed while going through the process of finding a new job, there are very few “exact fits” when it comes to new job opportunities. This is especially true for marketing professionals. It is unlikely you will take a role at a new company doing the same as your previous employer. This may sound obvious, but it creates unique challenges to address while exploring possible jobs. It is crucial to clearly identify the specific skills you excel in, back them up with past accomplishments, and find the best way to communicate it. Are you a traditional marketer, digital strategist, or a SEO expert? Do you enjoy sales, analysis, or creative thinking? All these factor into what type of job to target and how you pitch yourself to prospective employers.

Update

One habit that helped me tremendously was keeping a list of achievements or completed projects that I would update weekly. I was able to review this list to quickly identify accomplishments while updating my resume. It is also important to keep LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, and other social networks updated with the most current version of your career path.

Learn

As marketers, you most likely have a tendency to desire to be up to date on latest trends, best practices, and emerging platforms. If you’re like me then you’ve probably focused on the day-to-day tasks of your specific role. It’s easy to get into a routine and forget the importance of learning. This time of transition is a great chance to brush up on Photoshop, become an AdWords professional, or sign-up for a writing class at your local community college. Be careful though, it’s easy to use continuing education as a crutch and ignore your search.

Perspective

Searching for a new job can be hard. It can take its toll mentally and physically. A healthy balance of work and relaxation is necessary. Take it seriously, but don’t try to put a square peg into a circular hole. That’s a good way to find the wrong job and be back at this process sooner than you want. Have fun, go to the gym, try to get some fresh air. There are only so many job postings, networking groups, or emails you can send in a day. Set goals and stick to them, but don’t obsess over the process.

Resources

The amount of information on the web regarding the best way to find a job is daunting. I would certainly recommend talking to people in your area and see what they’ve found helpful. In some places, Craigslist might have the best postings, others it could be the (gasp!) newspaper. In the end, I’ve found the best resource – is your personal network. Trusted friends, have the best insight and knowledge to help guide you the along.

Social

• Twitter – Update your followers on yourcurrent status, connect, and get help. Some of my most productive connections have come from DMs on Twitter.
• LinkedIn – Be sure to use this to highlight accomplishments, tap your connections, and look for opportunities.
• Facebook – I’ve this is the best place to communicate with my personal group friends.

Job Search Engines

• Indeed – This site allows you toset wide keyword parameters and apply to all job sites.
• The Ladders- Billed as place to find $100k+ jobs, it really is a paid (~$25/month) job site with good information, resume editing, and filtered lists of jobs and recruiters for positions $75,000 and up.

Bonus Tip:
One last reminder. Don’t wait to create your network, be fostering those relationships today–it will be the best investment you can make in your future.

“I just went through the hassle of trying to get some B2B firms the details needed to give me an informed quote on a project.

I visited eight sites. Six of them hide their email address. They use forms of one sort of another. …

Email contact is like a first date. If you show up with a clipboard and a questionnaire, it’s not going to go well, I’m afraid. The object is to earn permission to respond.”

Sure, we B2B companies hide behind registration forms instead of a very public email address. And as a guru, Seth has a right to question why.

The most direct response is that it IS a lot like a first date. (I’ve actually blogged on that before.) But if I act like a slut, and let any prospect contact me nilly-willy, it only lowers expectations and makes for poor starting relationship. And a risk of wasting my salespeople’s time trying to clarify the prospects requirements (and figuring out who they really are).

In the end, B2B marketing is about the niches. There is a higher loss-factor in putting up a form to fill out. But that is a necessary filter to help keep you within that niche.

I’ve made it very easy for my site’s visitors to find what they want. That helps qualify them. And by that time they are willing to fill out the form. More than willing. They even call us, which is even better than an email or form-filling.