Lean Exhibiting

There are always exceptions

It just goes to show you there are always exceptions to the rule.

I'm firmly against having "booth babes " -- scantily clad women in your exhibit -- simpy there to attract male traffic. But at the recent IMTS 2006 in Chicago, Allied Machine showed me a new approach to having a booth babe that I can actually support.

Rather than just announce GEN3SYS as the latest, greatest innovation for the hole making industry, it was decided to launch this very unique tool on an equally unique platform, thus converting the traditionally conservative AMEC 40’ trade show exhibit into the Garden of Eden, complete with Eve, the apples and of course a few life-like serpents to round out the overall Eden setting. Marketing’s objective was to make certain that as many of the nearly 100,000 visitors to IMTS as possible, did not leave the show without first hearing, to some degree, about Allied’s presence and new offering of GEN3SYS (pronounced "Genesis," get it?), generated by the buzz of this stand-out booth exhibit. And stand out it did. Over the past several IMTS shows, AMEC averaged approximately 100 leads per day, despite every effort to draw attention and more people to the booth. After eight days of getting the constant flow of prospective customers to notice Allied’s booth and more importantly, Allied’s message of GEN3SYS (certainly along with Thread Mills, AccuPort and EcoCut) a record 2000+ visitors requested literature on AMEC products, almost tripling the number of leads received in earlier years at the more conservative booth presented at the show.

I asked Don Giammo, Marketing Coordinator for Allied Machine, about the decision to use Eve and the Garden of Eden theme:

"When the idea of a booth babe began to come into focus, I cringed at the thought of the shallowness plus the negative comments for 'pimping our ride...' but the gal, who's a Chicagoland model, turned out to come with personality, and interacted well with our booth visitors. Our objective was to be the buzz of the show, and from what we picked up on, it worked. Our follow-up, (the mailing of the literature & letters of acknowledgement) took place Sep 25-27, to over two-thousand leads... almost triple that of the '04 IMTS."

IMHO, what worked for Allied was this:

• The theme was congruent with the name of the product
• The "fun" theme didn't stop there. Allied staff worked hard to connect the dots between attracting attendees and meaningful interactions. You can watch an IMTS newscast and see for yourself.
• Eve may have visually attracted attendees, but she also was integral in helping start the business conversation and then handing off to an Allied staffer.

The bottom line is, it all worked because everything connected back to the overall objectives  and purpose for the show.

Keep Expectations Realistic

I'm always amazed at how so many exhibitors today are stuck in the past. Twenty years ago they may have used trade shows as strictly selling opportunities. They'd go to the big annual industry event with a pile of order forms and spend every show hour writing business.

Today they go to the same trade shows and have the exact same expectations. But when they don't get the same big orders they used to, they loudly complain. The problem with that expectation is it isn't realistic anymore because of two huge paradigm shifts.

Shift #1 -- The Explosion of Sales & Marketing Tools
Twenty years ago our marketing tools pretty much consisted of the telephone, the Post Office, and direct sales. Fax machines were just getting started as hot, new tools. Marc Andreeson was still in high school -- seven years away from producing the Mosaic browser for the  World Wide Web. Email? What's that? And cell phones were still bigger and heavier than bricks.

Trade shows were the best game in town -- the Efficient Marketplace. They were the best and most cost-efficient place for an whole industry to get together, introduce new products, and write orders! Those were the good old days. Today we're swimming in sales and marketing tools. Care to make a list?

Shift #2 -- The Shift of Information Power
Twenty years ago, customers didn't have access to information like they do today. They had to rely on the manufacturers for sharing information. Trade shows allowed them the one true competitive comparison opportunity. But because trade shows were temporary, they had to make decisions on the spot. Today they can research, compare, and analyze products and services on a daily basis. They don't have the sense of urgency to make a buying decision like they used to.

None of this means trade shows are bad marketing tools. Far from it. All it means is they are now a different tool. Buyers still come to trade shows to see what's new, for the competitive comparison opportunity, and to hang with the gang. The difference is now they're looking to Collect information, not make an immediate buying decision. They're looking to study the People in your company to decide whether they want to do business with you. And they're looking to see if your company gives a crap about them, too.

The purpose of business is to create and maintain long-term customer relationships. Whether the attendee buys from you today, or next week, or next month, or next year is not relevant. What's relevant is whether you used the trade show to get them on the relationship-building conveyor belt so they would eventually buy from you next week, or next month, or next year.

That's what your expectations should be.

The Reality of Trade Shows

Let's start this blog out with some cold water in the face regarding trade shows:

• Trade shows are EXPENSIVE in both time and money.


• Trade shows are a HASSLE.


• Today's trade show is NOT your father's trade show.


• You probably WON'T meet the big gun buyers listed in the marketing materials.


• If you do trade show marketing correctly, you most likely WON'T get thousands of leads.


• Trade shows are now just ONE of a myriad of sales and marketing tools available to you today.


• Anybody who loves working trade shows is a VERY sick person!

If you agree with me on these points, then you'll enjoy reading this blog. Trade shows can truly be great sales and marketing tools for most (not all) corporations -- small and big. But, and this is a big but, you need to know what you're doing. You need to know how to stand out from the crowd. You need to be able to create an Attraction Strategy for your specific target market. You need to be able to separate yourself from every other exhibitor at the show, because you are competing for the TIME of the attendee.

Lean Exhibiting is about getting the biggest BANG for your very significant investment in both time and money.

Let's get started.