|
|||||||||||||||||
|
|||||||||||||||||
|
September Exhibitor Tips Managing give-aways at trade shows by Matt Hill with the Hill Group (Booth training expert for NAILBA) First of all, this is marketing, so there is no one right answer (if only math had been like this!) You need to take a step back and look at your objectives for giving those T-shirts away. Once you do that, you’ll have fewer, and better, choices. This one could be easy; if you are giving away T-shirts, one objective could be to have people walking around the show and around town wearing your company’s logo. It’s advertising. My advice for giving away T-shirts (or hats or anything else considered of high value by show visitors, like liquor) is that giveaways should be managed to get the most impact possible. Specifically, you want to get the visitors to wear or display your logo or product name. If you’re giving away T-shirts, ask visitors to put them on. I’ve seen them go on over suits. Makes the visitor look a little odd, but it’s great for you. Your classic “win-loser” situation. Make visitors wear the hat, which should be no big deal, unless, of course, you went with the neon orange and purple model with the propeller top -- then it’s your own fault if no one wants to put it on. Just don’t be too aggressive about it. If they stick the giveaway in their bag, oh well. (Of course, you could arrange for a “wandering pack of hooligans” --or salespeople, they’re virtually the same-- to jump people who refuse to wear your stuff and steal it back.But, on the advice of our attorneys, you didn’t hear that here.) Now, for the first day of the show--say it’s a three day show--have about 40% of your shirts ready to give out to the first 400 visitors who walk up, qualified or not. Ask them to put it on - remember, it’s advertising. Don’t waste your staff’s time doling out shirts. Just do it at the information counter, quick and easy. For the 401st visitor, and every visitor thereafter during the balance of the first day, who ask for a T-shirt, simply say, “I’m sorry. We’re all out, but we’ll have some more tomorrow morning. Come on by and get one then.” For the second day of the show, give away another 40% of the shirts, and leave the balance for the last day. With this give-away strategy, you’ve got your company logo or product name out there at the beginning of the show. Plus, you’ll have enough shirts to last all three days, and you’ve got a very reasonable response for those visitors who get there too late to get a shirt. You might also want to hold out about 50 shirts for those “special” customers or prospects. And, you may want to hold onto enough to give one each to your staff. If you announce this before the show, then they’ll be less likely to take things into their own grubby, shoplifting hands. A final word of warning: A true story, from a trade show at Moscone Convention Center in San Francisco. There were two competing companies, archrivals, exhibiting at the show. Someone from company “A” (okay it was SyQuest) got a hold of about 20 T-shirts from their competitor, company “B” (all right, all right, it was Iomega). Here was their attempt at Guerilla Marketing:They gave those 20 T-shirts to all of the homeless people right outside of the convention center. So when everyone left for the day, all of these homeless people were wearing Iomega shirts. Not exactly the impact they were going for with their T-shirts. So if a visitor asks for three shirts, because they’ve got three kids, ask for pictures. Promotional Item Suggestions Looking for some unique suggestions for Promotions items? Listed below are some unique ideas that were sent in by fellow exhibitors, seen by the NAILBA staff at various events and observed by other attendees as being unique and unusual.
Debbie Rossi - 2025 Alturas Road - Atascadero, CA 93422 - 805-460-9015 or sunpromo@aol.com - www.sunshinepromotions.com for unique items, fast service, competitive pricing and unbeatable service. Pros/Cons of Promotional Items 1. If you are a new exhibitor, new company, have a new product and just want traffic, promo items can generate interest and fun. 2. If you're going to use promotional items here are some guidelines: Don't waste the staff's time administering the promo items. If you want to give the staff a couple of promo items to put in their pockets (like flash drives) then have them give out to visitors when their conversations are finished, that will probably work. You just have to trust your staff to give them out judiciously; not give 12 to their friends, etc. 3. I don't really like making a visitor see a demo or some other time-consuming hoop you ask them to jump through to get a promo item. Having said that, I do believe that anyone receiving a promo item should know what company gave it to them (always a fun quiz question to ask a pure booth beggar - they rarely know what company's booth they are standing in front of as their eyes are just scanning counters looking for free stuff), they should also hear a 30-second elevator answer about your company and it's key products at the show. Even if they are not interested, maybe they know someone who is and they might repeat what you told them: word-of-mouth marketing. 4. My favorite couple of questions to ask for from someone who asks for a promo item is, "I'd be happy to give you a pen. Tell me what company are you with? And what are you looking for here at the show?" My point here is; hold the item over their heads (figuratively) to get some information out of them. If they say, "I just want a pen." Then say, "That's fine, just tell me what company you're at right now and I'll give you a pen". 5. If a visitor asks for three promo items because they have three kids, ask to see pictures. Kidding. It's up to you, but here's what I'd say: "You know we are trying to get our pens into as many different hands as possible because to us, it's advertising; our name is on each pen. But I'll tell you what I'll do. Right now let me give you one pen. I don't want to end up having to ship any back to my office, so come back at the end of the show, and if I have any extras, I'd be happy to give you a couple more. How's that sound?" What you're doing is trying to get the visitor to understand your marketing strategy for the promo item. And it usually works. 6. Lastly, tell your staff you have set aside enough promo items for each of them to have one at the end of the show so please don't steal any. 5 MAIN SUGGESTIONS FOR BOOTH STAFFERS 1. Have empathy for your prospects, and be fully prepared by understanding what key urgent issues your prospects are facing, and how your product solves those issues. That sounds obvious, but too many sales people Brian has encountered instead launch into a big feature dump. 2. Don’t try to scan a prospects badge when you first meet them, it shows disrespect. Instead, first talk with them and see if there is a viable match for the next step in a dialog, and only then ask to scan their badge. 3. Don’t give a generic giveaway; make some effort to give something tied to your own brand. 4. Greet attendees warmly, then follow a short presentation outline that covers what 3 top business problems your product solves, how big those problems are for other companies, and (very concisely) three differentiators for your product/solution. 5. Finally, close the interaction with grace, and allow your booth visitors some control over the next step of the sales process. Trade shows are unique in that it’s marketing whereyou can talk directly with another person. FOLLOW UP! By Keith Ferrazzi Do you want to stand out from the crowd? Then follow up. The fact is, most people don’t follow up very well, if at all. Good follow-up alone elevates you above 95 percent of your peers. The follow-up is the hammer and nails of your networking tool kit. In fact, FOLLOW-UP IS THE KEY TO SUCCESS IN ANY FIELD. Making sure a new acquaintance retains your name (and the favorable impression you’ve created) is a process you should set in motion right after you’ve met someone. Why go to all the trouble of meeting new people if you’re not going to work on making them a part of your life? Give yourself between twelve and twenty-four hours after you meet someone to follow up. If you meet somebody on a plane, send them an e-mail later that day. If you meet somebody over cocktails, send them an e-mail the next morning.
Make follow-up a habit. Make it automatic. When you do, the days of struggling to remember people’s names - and of other people struggling to remember yours - will be a thing of the past.
|
|||||||||||||||||
|
 |
©2009, National Association of Independent Life Brokerage Agencies, All rights reserved |