Who Are You Talking To?

I have just finished three days on the floor of an expo for a client.  I continue to be amazed at behaviour of exhibitors. 

Let me back track.  It's easy to be an ORDINARY exhibitor.  All you need is cash and a product or service to sell and you can exhibit.  To be aGOOD exhibitor, you just have to do the basics right.  With a little extra effort and focus, you can be an EXCELLENT exhibitor.

At this stage, I just want to focus on being a GOOD exhibitor.  It is just about the basics.  The important thing is, who are you talking to?  So many exhibitors at the recent show were not talking to anyone.  Some were standing there with their arms crossed, some were sitting (I still can't believe people do that) and some were just waiting for others to talk to them.  Some even seem shy and unable to approach the visitors.

My theory is that if you are not talking to anyone, you talk to everyone.  

Nothing attracts attention like attention.  If you are not talking to anyone it makes you less approachable.  By speaking to someone, it is less intimidating for others to come and join in the conversation or look at your wares.  Talking to people also allows you to qualify them.  If they are not interested, politely move them on and if they are interested take them to the next level.

It you are not talking to anyone, talk to everyone.

Who are you talking to?

PS If you want to see how I exhibit, drop into see me at booth 48 at Meetings Mart.  It's free, on tomorrow at Crown Promenade in Melbourne and I promise I will talk to you!

How Sticky Are You?

I don't mean that in the brown and wooden stick kind of way, I mean do you stick to it?  Do you commit to a strategy and give it every chance to succeed? Or at the first (or maybe second) sign that it is struggling do you stop working on it?

Don't get me wrong, sometimes we try things and they don't work.  It makes sense to change the strategy or approach but too often people don't give it enough of a change.  Imagine if we did that in all aspects of life.

Maybe your parents were trying to get you to walk and after three times you kept falling over so much that they said, "They will never walk, it's crawling for them!"  Think of how much that would hold you back!  My friend's mother (now in her 90's) had a mild accident on her fourth driving lesson when she was 20 and then decided she couldn't drive and never did again. I still struggle with that.

So what is your strategy and as part of it, when are the check points and how will you know when to change strategy?  This is particularly relevant when exhibiting at shows.  In a previous business, my partner and I decided that we should exhibit our $900 product in the exhibitions at the International Coaching Federation (ICF) conferences globally.  We knew that the first one would not cover costs.  Two airfares, accommodation let alone exhibiting costs were significant.

A couple of shows with no sales was tough but we stuck to the strategy.  After three years (nine shows) it started to pay off financially, but the payoff in reputation and awareness happened far sooner and was more strategic.  My partner went on to be Australasian President of the ICF as developing a significant database of prospects for future work for us.

So what is your strategy?  Where is the payoff? How will you measure your success or lack thereof?  Most importantly, how sticky are you?

Enjoy!!



PS If you are in Melbourne next Tuesday 26th, come and visit me at the Meetings Mart Expo at Crown Promenade. I will be giving away copies of my new CD 7 Secrets of Successful Sessions as well as creating solutions for business wanting to Get More from their next Conference or Training Session.  Come as a guest of the Get More Guy and you even get free parking!


Image: Oaklara Nutgrabber

Do You Feel Special?

More importantly than do you feel special, do you make your customers, your prospects or your team feel special?

The research has shown what many of us knew instinctively. Customer loyalty and purchase decisions are more based on how your customer/prospects feel than a logical decision. So do you make them feel special?  Look at any exhibitor, leader, company or sales person who you think is "Extraordinary".  The reality is that they are not extraordinary, they are simply ordinary people doing extraordinary things.  They do a little bit more than your average person or company does and this makes them stand out.

For example, wifey and I went to dinner last night with friends to Borsh, Vodka and Tears.  Knowing it is popular I made sure that I had booked for 4 at 7:30pm.  So far all was proceeding as usual.  I got the phone call from them earlier in the day to confirm my booking (as has become standard with many restaurants now) and wifey and I headed in at the designated time.  Most places will just have "reserved" on the table, typically with a credit card logo as they will sponsor the sign and pay for them, but not here.  I was quite excited to find that their reservation system was.....My Name!!  Check it out. 

Now they didn't spell it correctly, but I didn't care because it was close enough.  To help them manage all of their bookings, it was also systemised.  Noticed the table number, the number of people and time of the booking is also on the card.  While I know it is only a little thing, it made me feel special.  Not just "another booking" but "Warwick's" booking.

In what you do, do you make your customers and colleagues feel special?  Do you just do that little bit extra to make it extraordinary?  You could be an exhibitor, a sales person or simply part of a larger organisation.  What will you do TODAY to make those around you feel special?

Enjoy!!

Warwick

PS I got plenty of feedback from last week's Get More Goer.  For those of you who really wanted to know, yes Mum did lick the spoon.
Also, demand for the Frangelico and Brownies recipe was high.  For those of you who missed it, you can download it here.