Lean Exhibiting

I don't care how you start the conversation

In recent months I've read a number of trade show staffer "advice" pieces about how to open a conversation with a stranger. Every one of these stresses the importance of asking "open-ended" questions," not "closed-ended."

A close-ended question is one that can be answered with a "yes," or a "no." So, for example, the questions, "Is there something I can help you find?" and "Can I help you?" An example of an open-ended question might be, "So tell me about how you're Multivariate Regressing Frammajammit handles the the negative outflow of neural photons when temperatures exceed stated parameters?"

The argument is that an attendee will simply answer "No" to a close-ended question, look at you like you're an idiot, and that's the end of a potentially multi-million dollar sale.

C'mon, let's get real. First, the hardest thing to do at a trade show or fair is open your mouth and talk to a stranger. And we can blame Mom for that. Don't talk to strangers! But the fact is, that's exactly what we have to do at a trade show.

Look, don't sweat whether you ask an open-ended or closed-ended question. Just get the conversation started! I heard a troubling statistic this week from a study done at a top 40 trade show in the U.S. It seems that on average FOUR out FIVE attendees who walked into a booth were NOT engaged by staffers! This is astounding and, if true, a colossal waste of opportunity by exhibitors.

My advice? Just get the conversation started! I don't care if you ask an open-ended or closed-ended question. Just get the conversation started. Once we open our mouth and say something, we're okay.

Another Exhibitor Who Did It Right

Bob Erdmann is a publishing consultant who handles the foreign rights to most of my books. Each year he has a stand at the Frankfurt Book Fair and he is an exhibitor who does it right. Here is his report following the recent fair:

"Although some have lamented that attendance at the Fair was down, aisles were empty and told other tales of woe, from our vantage point we were completely swamped each day, each hour.  We didn’t have time to complain because we were busy with our prescheduled appointments meeting with foreign publishers and agents in our booth every minute of each day.  We never have to rely on “walk up” traffic so attendance numbers aren’t really issue to us. If attendance was down we certainly offset that alleged problem with our pre-planning efforts.  Prior to the Fair we asked that the foreign publishers and agents with whom we had appointments “do their homework” before our meetings.  They did and came prepared to discuss specific titles with us.  We met with publishers and agents from The Netherlands, Taiwan, Spain, Korea, Mexico, Russia, Romania, India, Israel, Japan, Slovenia, China, Germany, Poland, Portugal, Latvia, Lithuania, Turkey, Thailand, Brazil, England, Belarus, Estonia, Denmark, Slovakia, Indonesia, Malaysia, Egypt, Ukraine, Croatia, Czech Republic, Hungary, Bulgaria, Italy, Saudi Arabia, Lebanon, France, Singapore, Serbia, and others."

What can we learn from Bob's experience?

• Crowded aisles were irrelevant. As with many events where exhibitors rate the value of a show by bodies in the aisle, Bob knew there would be more than enough good prospects. This is true with a lot of today's events.
• Bob took 100% responsibility for his results by setting up appointments ahead of time. As he says, "We never had to rely on 'walk up' traffic."
• He asked the publishers to 'do their homework' before meeting! How amazing is that? And very, very smart.

And finally, the biggest lesson is -- despite what the "trade shows are dead" naysayers think, exhibitions are alive and well.

I'm Still Waiting

Back in July, I attended the annual National Speakers Association annual convention in Orlando. Can you imagine? 2000 professional speakers and no listeners.

They do have a small trade show (less than 100 exhibitors) -- printers, presentation software and hardware, photographers, and others.

A couple of weeks before the convention I received a preshow mailer from one company promoting long-term care insurance. This was something I was interested in, so I made sure to stop by their booth.

I expressed strong interest in getting this insurance as an additional way to help protect my family from incurring a suffocating financial burden should I require long-term care. They were delighted to talk and after providing me with a computerized proposal, I asked them to follow-up immediately after the convention.

OK, so let's look at what we have here:

• I'm clearly a qualified prospect
• I asked for the information
• I have the ability to pay for this
• I expressed an urgency to my interest
• I asked they follow-up right away

The convention ended on July 25 (10 weeks ago today).

I'm still waiting for them to follow-up.

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.