Do you Do the Numbers?

Not just the simple "How much money did we make?"  I mean really do the numbers.

• Do you consider the total costs? (not just booth cost but labour, pre show marketing, post show followup, accomodation etc)
• Do you know how many people stopped at your booth? (you could measure people for 6 mins each hour and multiply by 10 for an hourly average)
• Do you know how to measure your brand impact?
• Do you know how many people bought from you after the show because they met you at the show? (maybe using a special code from the show)
• Do you know whether the numbers add up to make exhibiting worthwhile?

Use these ideas to make sure you do the numbers for your next show!


Lovin' your work!


Warwick

Would your Hard Drive survive?

At any show, it is hard to stand out above the crowd.  Thousands of people coming in the doors, hundreds of exhibitors, loads of press, blogging and tweeting, how can you bee seen???

Here is how ioSafe did it. 

• They invited reporters to leave the show and go on a field trip
• They arrived at a typical suburban house
• Photos were taken of the reporters and loaded on the hard drive in the ioSafe
• The ioSafe was tossed into the backyard pool
• It was retrieved about 5 mins later
• The ioSafe was then placed in a pottery furnace and baked
• It was removed from the oven and hosed down until it was cool enough to handle
• The drive was then taken from the safe and the photos were loaded on a handy computer

For the full story, check out Corporate Event Magazine's write up (full credit to them for the photo too).  It is worth the read as it also talks about how they handled the press releases to their advantage.

While this sounds like a cool thing to do, I am sure most of you don't have data safes to drown, burn or explode.  But some principals can still be used for your next expo.

• Can you do something specifically for the press (it would need to be special and not just "let me tell you about my product")?
• Can you arrange an offsite meeting?  It could be for hot prospects, press, existing customers, influential industry members - get them away from the cacophony of the show and you are more likely to have their attention.
• How can you demonstrate your product in action? Telling people about it is never as good as showing them.
• What can you do that is different from the others, and in particular, different from your competitors?

Now you can take action!

What's New?

Happy Easter!

I hope you had a fun long weekend - with or without chocolate!!

This time of year is a celebration of new life.  I recommend you do the same. Stay with me, I am not going to be preachy.

What I mean is how will you celebrate what's new?  New ideas, new starts, new careers, new relationships, new business, new niche's, new employee's, new team members, new hobbies, new approaches, new booth, new engagement technique, new resources, new business coach, anything that is new.

You may also want to consider is it time for something new? New ideas, new start, new career.... (see list above)

You may not need anything new but it is a good question to ask.

So what's new?

What is Most Important?

I have just come back from three days hosting an Expo/Trade Show. There was a great array of brands, products and services all displayed and promoted in different ways.  It struck me that the most important thing was most over looked.

It wasn't the booth set up, some of the simplest booths were extremely busy.
It wasn't the give aways, samples or bowl of lollies on the table.
It wasn't the price of the product or service as items of all prices were selling.

It was the "Engagement" process, how the exhibitor captured the attention of the visitor.  Many of the expensive corporate booths had people walk past because the people on the booth were not focussed on attracting the people.  Some smaller business owners were a bit shy and waited until people came to them. Yet there were some star performers who ALWAYS had someone at their booth, and nothing attracts a crowd like a crowd.

The same can be said no matter what you sell.  The first step is to get the prospect's attention, to get them engaged with you so they can discover what you are selling.

So no matter what you are selling, it could be a new idea to colleagues or a the idea of taking a holiday to your partner or selling the concept of staying off drugs to your kids or selling an actual product to your prospects, how will you engage with them? How can you put yourself aside and appeal to what is important or interesting to them?

That's what is most important!

What does Johnny Cash Know?

This week's Blog comes from Johnny Cash.


I was listening to his American III album which has covers of other songs and the first song is "Won't Back Down" written by Tom Petty.  I checked the lyrics and discovered that there are not many.  It is essentially repeating the phrase "I won't back down" and every now and again it's 


"Well I know what's right, I got just one life 
 in a world that keeps on pushin' me around 
 but I'll stand my ground 
 ...and I won't back down"


It is the simplicity of the song and the lyrics that amplify its message.  


When things get tough do you back down?  
Do you stand up for your beliefs? 
Do you avoid the difficult conversations, the challenging situations, the draining and demanding actions, the very things that will make you stronger? 


Don't back down!


Persistence and commitment will pay off - don't quit before the miracle happens.


Thanks Johnny!! 





Photo: www.cbc.ca 

Get More Sales

There is a very simple formula for sales:
More Connections = More Sales


But this doesn't mean you have to go out and find a truck load of more connections yourself, sometimes you only need to work with you existing connections to increase your sales. Selling more to an existing client or selling them additional products or services is so much more cost effective than trying to find a whole lot of new customers.


They already know you, they already like you and they already trust you. It is simply a matter of finding out what their needs are and then satisfying them with a product or service (it doesn't even have to be yours!! Could be a joint venture or affiliate!)


Find out more on this video I did for Broker News TV - while the picture below looks like I am in pain, trust me there really is some good stuff in it!! 

What Inspires your Booth?

In talking with many exhibitors, one of the things that comes up frequently as an issue is "How should my booth look?"

Now you don't have to have a person bungy jumping through the floor or hanging from the cross beam like these guys did, but what can you do to stand out and still reflect the values of your business?


A common suggestion I make to my clients is look at the big players in your category.  If you are selling a low to medium priced product, check out the department stores.  Department stores spend millions of dollars on their visual merchandising and store layout.  Get inspiration on what you think appeals to your customer and what can be adapted to your product.  Maybe they have a certain rack or shelving system or types of posters or backdrops that would work well for you.  Be open to anything.


If you sell higher priced items, make sure the quality and presence of your booth reflects your product.  If you are selling high end, high quality products, you can't afford to have a cheap, dodgy or low quality looking booth.  Again, inspiration can come from your own product.  Like our bungy friends above, maybe you product shown in action is what your clients would like.  Or a large replica that your prospects can interact with how they never could before.  For example, if you sell high end data storage, imagine a hard disk device about 10 times normal size that a prospect can touch the insides of.


Inspiration can also come from other displays in a completely different industry.  As an example, if you are selling custom made clothes, you could display your range of fabrics and accessories like a Lexus dealer displays their car colour charts.


You will be amazed at where your ideas come from.  The secret is that you have to go out looking for them.  You are far more likely to get the burst of brilliance when you are submersing your senses in possibility rather than sitting at your desk willing the ideas to come!


So what inspires you?