B2B Lead Generation Advice
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Step I: Pre-Show Marketing- You gotta’ have a ‘hook’
The battle for attendee’s attention starts long before the trade show doors open. It all starts with getting them to come to your booth. This should be your first and foremost purpose. The name of the game is making sure you get quality time with the most amount of prospects.
The first step is to get a good list of attendees. While none of these lists are perfect due to last minute changes, the best list source is typically from the show producer. They typically sell their list of attendees who have pre-registered.
If you haven’t yet negotiated your booth space, make sure that an electronic list is made available to you at little or no additional charge. Depending upon how much time you have before the show, I like sending an invitation to attendees via direct mail. If time is short you can also accomplish this quickly by fax or email.
The key is not just an invitation, but creating a reason to come to your booth. Save the money you’d spend on fancy invitations and invest in a fun, practical item that you can tempt attendees with. You can do this one of two ways.
STRATEGY ONE:
One strategy is to offer a FREE GIFT if the attendee comes to your booth. This gives the attendee a special reason to stop at your booth above and beyond a desire to see all of the booths. If your gift is compelling, the attendee will no doubt make a note of your booth location and make sure that she gets there even if she runs out of time to visit the rest of the booths.
STRATEGY TWO:
The second strategy is to actually send ‘part’ of the gift in the pre-show mailing. Example; your mailing includes the cap of a very nice pen. You tell them that when they come to your booth with the cap, they will be presented with the rest of the pen.
Or send a key tag.
Explain in your letter than when they arrive at your booth they will receive the other end of this special key separator. We have quite a few products when it comes to two-part gifts so give us a call and we’ll show you what is possible.
In either case I suggest creating some type of urgency to coming to your booth like a limited quantity or time that these will be available. Make it an offer to the ‘first 100 attendees to your booth’ or ‘only while supplies last’. This many times helps jump start an otherwise slow starting trade show.
At the Show
If you are offering a gift for coming to your booth, make sure not only the gifts are ready, but that your staff is ready as well.
With what?
Remember our purpose at this show is to ‘acquire prospects’. To properly acquire the prospect, you must have a system for collecting their information.
Just asking for a business card is not the best answer.
Titles, phone numbers and especially email addresses have a way of changing faster these days than the business card printer can keep up. Also many people forget their cards or run out. You want to collect all of the current contact information as quickly and painlessly as possible, so have a simple system.
The simplest manual method is to have pads of registration forms in the pockets of all trade show personnel that ask all of the pertinent information. If they want to attach a business card instead, that’s fine. Just make sure that your personnel verify the information on the business card.
Make sure that everyone working your booth understands that the purpose of this show is to collect accurate information on all prospects. Explain the costs in acquiring these prospects information (i.e. If your booth personnel understands that cost per contact is $106.70, they will be more likely to handle their information accordingly).
One of the most important things in post show follow up is accuracy of the visitor’s information and speed of follow up, so make sure you have someone already assigned to inputting the information into a database (daily if a multi-day show).
Waiting until after the show to draft a follow up letter or have a data entry plan will delay your post show plan terribly and in many cases kill it completely. That is why hardly anyone does any type of post show follow up. Chances are you will be one of the few if any following up with prospects, which is a wonderful place to be.
In Your Booth
Okay you have maximized your pre-show efforts by luring registered attendees to your booth, but as we know there are many more attendees that are at the show that didn’t register early or see your offer.
How do we get these people into our booth/sales funnel?
In one word; Participation.
People love getting involved with contests, tests of skill, games, you name it. It is however, important that whatever ‘fun’ you create to get people into your booth meet the following requirements.
1) Be highly visible (as to attract people from a distance)
2) Be simple and fun to play (for both sexes and all ages)
3) Be short in duration (long lines discourage people from coming into booth)
4) Encourage conversation (you want prospects focusing on your company not just your ‘fun’)
A Great Booth Idea
One of my all time favorites and one I continue to use successfully year after year is a black jack game. While all party supply companies can furnish tables and dealers it is also easy to do yourself.
Here is how it works;
You set up a standard “Vegas-style” black jack table in the middle of your booth. Since they are about 6 feet wide, they fit very well even into the smallest 10′ by 10′ size booth space and leave plenty of room for product and service display.
(PM-Maybe show a black jack table? Did we ever get any photos of booth Andrea did last year or one Tina did a few weeks ago? If not, generic OK)
You don’t need or want chairs.
Remember, your goal is to get people into your booth, not keep them there all day. Without signs or words, an open space at a black jack table says; “Come in” to anyone that has ever been in a casino. The table will comfortably accommodate 6-8 people which can keep pace with even the busiest of shows.
At the same time, even during a slow period an attendee is normally OK with being the only player. The openness of the game and positioning of your sales staff behind the table (where a dealer would be) is much more inviting to an attendee than a lone sales person hovering inside a bare booth.
Since the common attire of most pit bosses is suit and tie, formal business attire works just fine in this environment as does business-casual. If you want to spice things up, have the dealer wear a visor or dealers apron. If at all possible, have your booth personnel do the dealing.
The game is easy to teach and learn and nearly anyone that has played for more than 30 minutes is qualified to deal. Since most interaction is with the dealer, this opens up dialogue between your personnel and prospects very naturally. Since your salesperson/dealer controls the game, they can control the pace of it based upon the player’s questions, comments and body language.
The end result is quite remarkable. You have prospects drawn to your booth, comfortable, relaxed and having fun. Let’s now talk about doing business in this environment.
Well, as we’ve discussed, on of the primary objectives of the show is to acquire prospects. This is easily done in the black jack environment. Have one of your booth personnel play pit boss and be soley in charge of chip distribution and lead acquisition.
When attendees approach the table, the most common question is “How Do I Play?” or “Where Do I Get Chips?” Have your dealer direct them AWAY from the table to your pit boss who in a side bar exchanges their full contact information for a predetermined quantity of chips.
With this important exchange done, the prospects are now free to play their chips at the table. Even if they are distracted or leave the booth, the important business is done.
The value and quantity of chips issued can be customized to fit your show. (Believe it or not; the chips can be customized with your company information as well.) I normally will issue 3-5 $5 chips (no real value). This gives the player $15 to $25 to play with. The game ends when the player either loses all of the chips or doubles them in value.
This normally takes one to five minutes based upon how the player does. The nice thing is the player controls the time they want to spend at your booth. If they want to hang out and talk they certainly can by betting conservatively. If they want to try their luck and move on, this can be done rather quickly as well. Either way the player has fun and appreciates the little break.
You’re the Winner!
If a player doubles their original chips, we give them a promotional product. Once again, this is something tastefully decorated with our logo and/or message and offer.
The awards should be practical, fun and appeal to both sexes and all ages. Things that can be worn, such as sunglasses, fanny packs, necklaces or hats are all great gifts that not only are well appreciated, but continue to promote your booth, products and services.
Every attendee loves to be part of an exclusive club, so to add pizzazz to your promo items, have us imprint the product with “I played black jack at…” or “I beat the dealer at …” Before you know it, your booth will be the place to visit, confirmed by all of the positive word of mouth you are getting from people who visited and played.
(PM- Maybe an ESP or Sage research can produce some dice and/or deck of cards for some graphics…)
Losers? No such thing.
Show your prospects you care by giving them a less prominent, yet fun gift “just for playing”. How about giving them the custom printed chips as a souvenir? Imagine a deck of cards customized with your company information? How about a real pair of dice? Or a fuzzy pair of giant dice with your offer? Or a dealers’ visor?
Have fun with the imprint on these conciliation gifts by having us imprint them with; “I lost it all at…” or “I lost my shirt at…”
The black jack theme also lends itself to so many fun themes that can be tied directly to your company and promotions. Imprint your gifts and awards with “Don’t gamble with (your product or service)” or “When it comes to… You can bet on…”
Other ideas are; putting contests, dart throwing, magic tricks, slot machines, bingo, roulette and almost any other games of skill.
Just remember the four requirements and above all your focused show goals.
Nye. O.
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This bulletin was about having the best trade show ever. Next postwill be about turning those attendees and prospects into business. See you then… If in the meantime, we can help bring fun and excitement to your next show, event, promotion or offer, click the link below and fill out the form. We’ve got some great ideas we’d love to show you!
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Related posts
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"Smart Trade Show Exhibiting Part II"
Yesteryears trade shows ran something like this;
Spend big bucks on attractive booth. Send personnel to schmooze. Spend lots of money on entertainment. Give away lots of ‘goodies’ with the company logo. Overall goal? Staying around the budget of previous year and ‘making a presence’ (talk about a goal hard to measure….)
Let talk about those giveaway goodies…
Why do we use them at trade shows?
What is their purpose?
Can their effectiveness be measured?
Or are they just a sunk cost that is part of the whole trade show budget blur?
Interesting to note:
According to a study done by Louisiana State University, the use of promotional products at trade shows during 2002 increased by 12%. A 12% increase is especially remarkable considering the same study showed an overall decrease in general promotional product sales (for all uses) by 5.6% (not bad either when most advertising is down 20-40% in today’s economy).
This also comes during a year when many trade shows were down in attendance by as much as 50% thereby drastically reducing the need for any trade show support materials altogether.
Let’s do the Math
The average industrial sales call costs $229.70 and takes an average of 5.5 sales calls to close an order, bringing the cost to $1,263.35.
Compare this to the average cost per contact of $106.70 at a trade show with 0.8 follow-up calls. Bringing the average cost per sale to $209.46.
According to Exhibit Surveys, Inc., 4 out of 5 trade show attendees have the final say, specify or recommend the purchase of products and services being exhibited.
Yes, there are many reasons that trade show marketing is highly effective, but let’s not exhibit at a trade show just to ‘make a presence’ or ’show up and be seen’. Let’s do the research and planning necessary to make money from these shows. Isn’t that really the bottom line?
Holding Your Trade Show Budget ACCOUNTABLE
Even if you have multiple reasons for exhibiting at a trade show, focus on one specific purpose and hold that purpose accountable. What do I mean?
Let’s say that in previous years rationalization of why you are exhibiting at a trade show was; meeting prospects, cultivating relationships with existing customers, key meetings with clients and vendors, industry goodwill and new products exposure.
On the surface this would appear to be a mountain of evidence to show up and do your thing. But in this economy, my recommendation is really focusing in on one just one primary purpose for the show. Something that can be tracked and held accountable.
My favorite; Acquire Prospects!
That’s right, “acquire”.
Not schmoozing, not handing out cards, not passing out catalogs, not throwing stuff out there and see what sticks. That may all be part of the mix, but at the end of the day (literally) how many quality prospects you have collected (in effect acquired) and what you will do with them is most important.
Any marketing that we do should have some form of accountability in terms of how many qualified prospects are acquired and at what cost. Trade shows are no exception.
Trade Shows Offer Great Positioning
Trade Shows are a great place to acquire prospects for one simple reason; unlike so many other forms of media, like direct mail, telemarketing or radio, you are not taking people by surprise.
You are not entering the busy life of a potential prospect who is doing something else and have to get them to drop that and listen to you.
In a trade show environment the attendees have left their day job and many times traveled and paid to attend this trade show. At minimum they have paid with their time to attend.
They aren’t at their desk and don’t have a telephone and email sitting next to them (excluding of course cell phones which should be confiscated at the entrance anyway….).
Your prospects are at the show to DO BUSINESS.
They have taken a positive step towards you by registering for the show and walking those aisles. So, in reality, with them away from distractions and paying to be at the show, they are highly probable to not only visit you, but listen to what you have to say.
The biggest competition you face is not usually your competition or the other booths.
It is time.
The Problem
Once at a trade show event, most attendees are the victims of missed aisles, shortened itineraries and lack of focus.
You see if it was just the trade show we all might have better success, but most trade shows are a concoction of business and extracurricular activities all jammed into a time period that is usually too short and too demanding. The trade show may be the reason they came, but once they arrive there are happy hours, golf games, dinners and extended meetings all competing for attendees time.
Bottom line?
Sometimes I’m amazed anything gets done on a trade show floor. Add to this the attendance drop due to the war on terrorism, the housing slump, the economy slump and the pending election and things can look pretty bleak.
BUT YOU can THRIVE in this environment.
With many of your competitors cutting back, you may even be able to be more effective. The simple solution would seem to be ’stand out from the crowd’ and be more enthusiastic and inviting than the other exhibitors. These are good ideas, but the battle for your prospects attention starts long before the trade show doors open.
Next Step: Pre-Show Marketing- You gotta’ have a ‘hook’
Stay tuned for the next Post on how to develop and use the ultimate killer hook! Make sure to Subscribe to our thread to get updates.
Nye. O.
————————————————————-
This bulletin was about having the best trade show ever. Next post will be about turning those attendees and prospects into business. See you then… If in the meantime, we can help bring fun and excitement to your next show, event, promotion or offer, click the link below and fill out the form. We’ve got some great ideas we’d love to show you!
————————————————————-
To get Lead Generation Advice Articles in your Inbox when I post, make sure to subscribe to LeadGenerationAdvice.com!
Related posts
Click Here to request more information on:
"Smart Trade Show Exhibiting Part I"
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