Last week, I went to my well-known and trusted source - LinkedIn - and posed a question about the use of Twitter at a show.  Tim Patterson from Interpretive Exhibits was kind enough to direct me to an article in Fortune Magazine - http://money.cnn.com/2008/03/11/technology/fost_conference.fortune/index.htm

The article has valid points which state that if a conference speaker is not relevant enough, a audience can make them quite uncomfortable.  As a speaker, I need to pay attention to meeting and exceeding the demands of an audience.  Also, I should explore other marketing facets of Twitter.

As I am still in my research mode, I would like to find out from you the uses you have seen of Twitter on the show floor and other examples of it used in the conference setting.  So please tell me your story and comment on this blog.

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The communications with your customers and prospects, if it is judged effective, helps move a company towards a solution that is a win-win proposition for everyone.

Keith Resnick from Creative Training Solutions (www.creativetraining.com) and I were discussing this fact recently and took the time to capture our conversation for you.  It is available below.  Keith is an expert in the field of effective communication strategies, especially for staffing a booth on at a trade show.

The personnel who staff the booth must have the correct skills to engage and converse with the attendees as well as knowledge about their company.  In our conversation he goes on to provide excellent pointers on how to initiate the conversation with the attendee.  It is not with a generic opening line like  “can I help you?” but rather one that elicits a thoughtful, informative response.

Keith reminds us that we all like to talk about ourselves.  And in this important booth exchange staffers must draw out the pertinent information that is on the attendees mind by asking “open-ended” questions.  Let the attendee tell you about why they are at the show and what they want to accomplish.  Then you can respond with the offerings your company has that addresses and meets those requirements.

Later in the conversation we talk about how booth staff need to be constantly “ON” - you never know who you will meet and where you will meet them.  It might be the booth, but it might as well be in the aisle, at a breakfast meeting, or cocktail reception.  There are countless stories of chance meetings that have turned into the “biggest fish caught” stories - that million dollar deal.

I would like to hear more stories about such chance meeting at a show that turned into business.   So please share your story with us.

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This White Paper clearly outlines the benefits of each type of event - the private event, and the exhibition at a trade show.  The statistics show the impact each event type has on the sales cycle.  It provides the reader with some thought provoking assessments on how each of type of event could be used to move the customer/prospect along the sales path. 

In his summary, Ian says, “The best take-away here might be the marketing analogy regarding the roles of proprietary versus B2B exhibitions as that of “filling the pipeline, or closing the sale.” EMI puts it well: 

One conclusion to be drawn is the connection between external events geared towards acquiring new business and internal events designed to facilitate and serve that cash pipeline as well as create alignment among the drivers of that business.  

Each has its essential purpose. Each is necessary. “ 

It is refreshing to see the statistics that back up the claims that events work - whether private or an exhibition.   This is a power packed report which I highly recommend you go and download and read. 

After you have read it, let’s discuss it.  Future blog posts and comments on this blog can continue this conversation. 

Until later…

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Let’s learn from those who have missed the mark.  No names will be revealed - the guilty will remain anonymous.

Lesson #1 - The audience at a trade show is not all the same.  There are differences and they should have unique messages directed towards them not just some mass generic message.

Lesson #2 - Make sure the direct mail house get those invitations to see you at your booth out BEFORE the show, not afterwards.  I got home and in the mail AFTER the show were a couple of direct mail pieces.

I will go on and have other lessons to learn in future blog posts.  But for now I want to concentrate on Lesson # 1.  The good news here is they actually sent something out and they need to be applauded for that.  But the message was soooo generic that it was meaningless to me.

So let’s outline the various categories of attendees at a show and then you should consider how you can customize your message to them.  Here are my categories:

Customers

Prospects

Alliances Associates - Affiliates

Press - Bloggers

Industry luminaries - Observers

Each audience should have a unique code assigned to them so when you communicate afterwards you can be right on - rather than way off the mark. 

I would consider myself to be an industry observer or a blogger.  But I receive many messages as if I were a prospect.  Here is an email example:

“It was a pleasure meeting you at TS² and thank you for taking the time to speak with us in regards to your upcoming exhibit plans.  I’ll be calling you shortly but until then, please take a moment to visit…”

Well I was NOT looking for help with “exhibit plans”.  At this booth I was just meeting and greeting as an industry supplier.

Here is what I want you to do with this information - before the next show talk to the appropriate internal people and figure out who your audiences are and start crafting messages that show you know them. Then determine what you want them to do as a results of this communication piece.

Being off target is a great waste of time, money and effort.  And it sends the prospect a message - you do not know me, therefore why should I do business with you?!

Until later…

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Ed Jones was one of the presenters at TS2 last week (www.constellationcc.com) and I attended his session.  One point that stood out for me from his presentation was the importance of all of those scheduled meetings.  Normally at a show there are high level executives and technical people that a sales person can leverage. These resources are not always in the field to assist in the daily sales process.  But at a show they can be used to demonstrate, explain and converse with customers and prospects and move these companies further along the sales pipeline.

Ed talks in our podcast about the cost savings a company can realize by using the trade show function to host these meetings.  And I quiz him on other dynamics of this tool like the attrition rate of scheduled vistors.

Please listen in to our conversation (12:27) and if you have a story on how you too have used meetings at an event, please share that with us.

Until later…

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Opportunities abound for these meetings at the speaker’s lounge, educational sessions, the trade show floor, cocktail receptions, meals, and even traveling to and from the airport.  One never knows when one or more of these meetings will turn into the next big client activity.

My session on Web 2.0, being interviewed by Michael Hart, was well attended.  I thought Michael did a great job of interviewing me and fielding the questions from the audience.  My only regret - I wish I had recorded it.

For those of you who are interested in the secondary research I conducted beforehand - you can download the 33 page document at: www.letstalktradeshows.com/ts2

One of my new business friends is Ed Jones.  He said some wonderful things on his blog - http://constellationcc.blogspot.com/   I attended his session and he imparted much expert knowledge, which I will blog about later this week.  His client from Raytheon was there during the presentation providing insight as to how the company used Ed’s services to measure results that were meaningful from their trade show activities.

Trade shows can be a powerful tool for filling the pipeline full of leads - if they are done correctly.  If there is a trade show on your fall calendar and you need help getting ready for it - check out the Member’s site of Let’s Talk Trade Shows.  Click on the video in the right hand top corner or go to the About Page and see what folks are saying about the education on the site.

Until later…

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For the past week or so I have been collecting as much verifiable information as I can as back-up for this presentation. While doing so, the social media tool “Twitter” keeps coming up. It is a social networking and micro blogging service utilizing instant messaging, SMS or a web interface.

To Twitter or Not?

Presently I am not an active Twitter participant, but there are 1.2 million users and it is growing. As with any new technology tool, I need to ask myself how important is this new trend? There are webinars on the topic of Twitter which I am attending to gain first hand knowledge on this topic. Then I am getting some recent information of the impact this can have on conferences and other events. All of this will go into my assessment of “To Twitter Or Not To Twitter.”

One essential question I want to ask myself is - are my customers and prospects using it?

If they are then I better get on board and learn the ropes of how to Twitter and Tweet. If not, I may be able to put the decision off for a while

Now this is a question which should be paramount to all Web 2.0 discussions. If your customers and prospects are using a particular web service then why shouldn’t you be as well?

If you are there what does your presence say about your company and service, what does your presence look like, feel like, tell newcomers about you?

Web 2.0 is all about conversation, not only starting conversation but staying with the flow of it over time. It seems to me that there are presently as many abandoned as active blogs (a statistic I don’t currently have but I’m working on it.) So if you embark along this path make sure you will follow through and deliver the promise you are making to keep the conversation updated and flowing.

If you have a Web 2.0 success story I would love to hear about it!! Let me define what I mean by success story - how someone found your company, established a dialogue that them turned them into a customer.

For those of you who would like to receive my TS 2 secondary research preparation document - check back on July 29^th and I will share where you can download it.

Until later…

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