September 30

Sales 2.0 Trade Shows

 

I recently saw a posting on the LinkedIn Business group, starting a discussion about Trade Shows. The person who started the discussion was interested in the effectiveness of trade shows as a marketing vehicle. In this Blog I will talk about trade shows as one element of the Sales 2.0 process.

 

What is a trade show? 

 

Trade shows are meetings held in most major cities around the world. They are usually held in large venues like convention centers and auditoriums, where exhibitors set up displays showing their products, demonstrating their services. Over the last 28 years I have attended or exhibited in hundreds of shows across the world. I have been to shows that have focused on many diverse industries and fields. Some of the shows I have attended have focused on:

 

Industrial Automation	Robotics
Material Handling	Packaging
Industrial Sensors	Motors and Controls
Surgery and Orthopedics	Ergonomics
Embedded Computers	Vision and Inspection
Boston Local Businesses	Cell Phones
Computers

 

As you can see from the list, the shows focus on many diverse topics.  How do you select a specific show and why should your company attend one?

 

The Primary goal of any trade show is to meet people.

 

I will repeat that again. The goal of the show is to meet people. Anyone who thinks that the goal of exhibiting at trade show is to make sales either does not know what they are doing, or is that Sham Wow guy.

 

The Secondary goal is to give people your 30 second commercial.

 

You do have a 30 second commercial don’t you?

 

This is one of the secrets to trade shows.

 

You need to think of a trade show as a way of delivering a very small message to a targeted population. It can either be the people that are attending the show and walking around, or the people exhibiting the show when they take a break.  An example 30 second commercial may go like this:

 

Good Morning! Do you use controls?
My company, Brand U, sells Programmable Logic Controllers with an integrated color touch screen and 32 Inputs and Outputs all for less than $1200. And we give you the programming software for free! But wait there's more!  It can even handle analog inputs and outputs and be expanded up to 156 Inputs and Outputs.

What brand of PLC do you use now?

 

Notice that I start off with a friendly greeting, and then ask an open general question. I determine if this person is a potential customer based on their response. If they are a potential customer I continue with the 30 second commercial. If they are not a potential customer and are just walking around the show, I wish them a nice day. 

 

Take a look at the 30 second commercial again, and notice that I have only said the basic minimum amount of information with the key marketing messages I want to convey. I am not trying to teach Surgery to the person walking by, just tell them enough to get their attention. (Yes, I have been to surgery shows. Yes, they do have teaching displays with real body parts. Yes, it was gross.)  If you try to tell someone more information than they want to hear, they will lose interest in you and your message, and then just walk away.

 

Prepare your message when you are selecting the trade show at the beginning of the process, not while you are standing on the trade show floor shaking hands. 

 

OK, so you have said your 30 second commercial, now what?

 

I ended the commercial with a question. How did the person answer? Based on that answer, you can now take the next set to follow up on your quick discussion. Ask another question:

 

Can I send you more information?

 

This is really a lead in question.

 

Does this person standing in front of you have a need for your product?
Is this person the decision maker who will approve the spending of money to purchase your product?
When do they need your product?  Immediately or are they thinking of the future?
Do they seem to have a grasp of reality or are they in Dream Land?

 

I ask these questions as I am walking the person over to the lead collection machine. Always rent the lead collection machine. Always get the option to download the leads as a CSV file. Always back up the leads in multiple locations.  Swipe the person’s bar code or mag card badge, and enter the answers to the questions you just asked. Save the data.

 

What I have been doing very subtly is prequalifying this person as a lead into my Sales 2.0 system.

 

Remember back to my last Blog about Sales 2.0 where my best rep Dominic followed up on a lead within a few minutes of the person looking at the web site?

 

In this Blog I am at a trade show, and talking to a new potential customer for the Rosie Robotic Work Cell who is in Dominic’s territory. The potential customer mentions that he is at the show to select a robotic cell to dispense sealant on a mirror that will be used in the 2010 Cadillac CTS. He just had his budget approved for $50,000 to automate the process and would like to have two work stations delivered within 4 weeks. Wow!

I

swipe the person’s card, into the lead collection machine, and thank him for stopping at the booth. At the first opportunity I have, I make a backup copy of the CSV data file from the lead collection machine and import that file into my Sales Force Automation system, and synchronize my local data with my main database. My good friend Dominic checks his system regularly, and since he knows that I am exhibiting at a trade show, he does a search of the “Source of Lead” field for the name of show I am attending. Up pops the prospect information and Dominic calls him the next day to set up a face to face meeting, where he closes the sale if the two Rosie systems. 

What a great trade show!

 

Seth’s Trade Show Trips and Tricks

 

Know your target population. If you have not exhibited at a specific show, attend the show and walk around to get a feel for that show. Then exhibit the following year or at a different venue.  Notice the people walking around. Who are they? How are they dressed? Where are they stopping? What is attracting them to a booth?

 

I watch the people's eyes as they walk past my display. You only have 5 seconds to catch someone’s attention. People are overwhelmed with information and tend to filter things in their brain. Displays that try to put all the technical specs about their product in size 3 font do not convey any information.  Only put key points that will get people's attention, and stop them. Then the human can do the 30 second commercial.

 

Think again about the target population. What problem do you solve for that target population? What is your key point?

 

You are not that Sham Wow guy. Don’t overwhelm people as they walk by.

 

The majority of people that attend trade shows that focus on industrial products are male engineers, and they are generally introverted. They tend to focus on tech stuff or give away items as they walk around. Pens, flashlights, or squishy balls with your company’s logo may sound like a great way to get your brand out there, but they all cost money.

 

The goal of a show is to meet people.

 

I bring bags of high end individually wrapped chocolates to shows. Everyone that walks by my display, I greet, I offer them a chocolate, and then I ask the leading question. I talk to more people than the booth next to mine who is giving out flashlights and pens. I engage in conversations with more people than my neighbors, and I finish the show with a lot more qualified leads to send to my sales channel. (Sorry for seeming self-centered.)

 

Wear comfortable shoes. Your feet and back will hurt at the end of the day.

 

Take breaks and walk around the show. 

 

Drink water.

 

Eat lunch.

 

Summary of Seth’s Guide to Trade Shows 2.0

 

1. Chocolate
2. Meet and greet everyone
3. Ask your leading question
a. If they answer yes, then 30 second commercial
b. If they answer no, thank you for stopping by enjoy the chocolate
4. Ask follow up qualifying questions
5. Capture leads
6. Backup leads
7. Send lead to the field sales team for follow up
8. CLOSE SALES
9. Have fun

 

Do you need help with your trade shows?

Sales Management Consulting can help you develop a 30 second strategy or manage the complete show for you. Call us to talk about how we can help your company grow.  www.salesrepusa.net 

 

9:28 AM GMT  |  Read comments(0)

September 24

Comparing Sales 1.0 to Sales 2.0

Traditional sales channel development has been based around the company hiring a Sales Pro to set up the company’s sales team. The typical structure for a manufacturing company would be to have a VP of Sales, then Regional Sales Managers, and then either direct or independent sales agents selling products in a defined territory. There usually is a Marketing Manager who would place advertisements and set up trade shows. These advertisements would generate leads into the company which the sales team followed up. This concept seems to have worked for a long time, but its effectiveness has dropped off dramatically in the last few years.

Some of the trends that I will be talking about in this article have dramatically changed the focus of the selling process. Companies that are able to adapt to the change will survive. The companies that can not adapt will perish. I call this concept “Seth’s Theory of Business Evolution”. Just as Darwin postulated that Natural Selection caused animals to adapt to their environment or perish, business must also adapt to changes in the business environment or perish.

One of the problems with the old sales model, is the disconnect between a customer seeing your marketing message in a print advertisement, and the sales person making a face-to -face presentation. During the 1980’s the company I worked for would run advertisements in magazines showing their latest Servo Motors and Controls. When a potential customer, Bob the Engineer, saw the ad, he would circle a Bingo card and mail it back to the magazine publisher. At the end of the month, the publisher would compile a mailing list of all the people that were interested in my company’s motors, and mail them to us. We would take that list and type up letters to add to a printed catalogue, which was mailed out to the prospect. At the end of the second month we would send a pile of papers to independent sales reps across the country, with the names of the people who received the catalogues. When the sales reps actually called to follow up on the literature request, most often Bob the Engineer, who originally requested the information, had forgotten why he requested it! This system had a two to three month time delay between initial inquiry and the follow up by a local sales agent with a customer.

As time progressed the concept of mailing out printed literature in response to a request had been replaced with the Internet. It has become the Infinitely Big Catalog of Everything. Unfortunately there are a lot of companies that still have sales teams and management concepts that are based on the old outdated Sales 1.0 model.

New! Improved Sales 2.0! With extra power!

Let’s think about Bob the Engineer again, but now he is interacting with a company that is using the Sales 2.0 business model. Bob has a problem he needs to solve for his company who manufactures gears. He needs to increase the rate of his gear deburring, while lowering his cost per part. Let’s break down the sales process into a series of steps, that are focused on Bob the Engineer’s problem. I have included references to my prior Blog entries to highlight prior discussions.

1. Bob gets called into his boss Mr.. Spacely’s office. The boss wants to reduce the cost of each gear and asks Bob for ideas.

2. Bob returns to his office, sites in front of his trusted computer, and types some keywords into Google: Gear, Deburring, Automation, Increase Production, Reduce Cost. Notice that Bob’s keywords describe his problem and are not the buzz words most manufacturers think of. This is the SEO, and Keyword Selection which I wrote about in a prior Blog.

3. Google then searches its index of web sites which have these keywords and comes up with some recommendations. At the top of the list are some highlighted listings. These are really paid advertisements using the Pay per Click technique I outlined in a prior Blog.

4. Bob sees a listing for a Robotic Deburring Cell and clicks on the link. It is really a very cleverly placed Pay per Click advertisement. Good job with that Google Ad placement!

5. Bob’s Firefox web browser opens up a new tab showing George Jetson’s Robotic Deburring Cells. He looks over the different sized cells and thinks the larger model, Rosie, will meet his goal of reducing costs and increasing throughput.

6. Bob clicks a contact request box at the bottom of the Rosie Robotic Work Cell page, fills in his contact information, and presses the enter key. This relates to discussions on Web Site Design in a few of my Blogs.

7. Immediately George Jetson receives an email with Bob the Engineer’s contact information. George also has set up a link which imports the data from his web site into his Sales Force Automation System.

8. Dominic the Rep, George Jetson’s best sales agent, who also happens to be in the same city as Bob the Engineer, logs into his web based Sales Force Automation system four times per day. When he logs in, he sees that there is a new inquiry for the Rosie Robotic Work Cell from a Mr. Bob the Engineer. Dominic calls Bob right away to set up a face to face meeting, and visits Bob later that day.

9. Dominic reviews Bob’s needs and goals, and then confirms that Rosie Robotic Work Cell will solve Bob’s problems. Bob and Dominic present Rosie to Bob’s boss, Mr. Spacely.

10. Mr. Spacely likes Bob the Engineer’s idea to use the Rosie Robotic Work Cell and is so impressed with Dominic’s presentation, that he approves the capitol expenditure while Dominic is in his office. The sale is made, and the order is booked using Dominic’s laptop on the spot!

11. Everyone goes home happy at how much that have accomplished that day.

Reviewing this story, we have seen how our efforts using Search Engine Optimization techniques, Web site design with customer data collection, and the integration of a Sales Force Automation system have dramatically shortened the sales cycle. Compare the immediate solution to Mr. Spacely’s problem and Dominic’s presentation that same day to the Sales 1.0 Company. These techniques have also boosted the perception by the customer and his boss about our Robotic Company. We have also improved the perception of our company by our sales agent Dominic. He happily follows up every inquiry he receives from George Jetson’s Robotic Company, because he knows that they are all hot leads. The sales leads he receives are from his other principals, who still are following the outdated Sales 1.0 business model, and are usually 2 to 3 months old by the time he receives them. Even with all of Dominic’s efforts, the Sales 1.0 Company has a low closure rate and often complains about how bad the economy is. The typical Sales 1.0 Company response is to cut their advertising budget to save money for their company, rather than look at ways to improve their operation, shorten response times, and close more sales.

I hope that this story has given you some ideas of how Sales 2.0 techniques can provide your company with measurable improvements in the sales process which will lead to increased sales of your products.

Sales Management Consulting is available to partner with you to grow your sales. Please call or email.

12:32 PM GMT  |  Read comments(0)

September 23

International Manufacturers Expanding into the US Marketplace

Many companies have expressed an interest to me, to expand into the US marketplace. In this update of my Blog, I will review some if the factors that are keys to successfully entering and growing in the United State. I want to point out that my experience is in the industrial sector, which is the focus of this Blog. Even though these ideas may be applicable to a consumer product company, I will focus on growth of companies that target other companies.

The United States is not Europe.

We do some things differently here in the US compared to other countries. One fundamental difference is that in the US, business is conducted using credit. A product is purchased by a company using agreed payment terms. For example, when a distributor purchases a product from a manufacturer, the distributor pays for the product 30 days later. Most companies do not pay at the time of order for inventory, or pay but wire transfer which are common with European customers.

A second difference is that our standard size of literature is 8 ½ inches by 11 inches, and not the European format of A4. People here do not know what to do with a piece of literature that is A4 size. Since this size does not fit into a file drawer, people do not know where to store the literature. What is the message that a non US company is trying to give to an American potential customer? By using A4 sized literature, the message is that the manufacture does not care about the American customer. This is not a good place to way to build new relationships.

The United States is really big! 

Even though the US is one big county, we can look at it like a lot of smaller countries. Each state or region has a different culture. To develop and grow business here in the US, you must be aware of this uniqueness, and work with the local culture. Again companies should not try to force a sales plan that works in New England onto a distributor in Arkansas. You need to find out his local needs, and the needs of his local customers in order for the plan to be successful.

People grow business, not web sites.

Web sites, blogs, social networks, and Twitter, are all tools to connect people with other people. It is the person that is looking into your eyes, and shakes your hand that makes a decision for his or her company. To grow a company you must get a message across to that person.

Are you able to present your company’s product or service and answers these questions:
Does your product or service have a value to the person sitting across from you?
Does your product save them money compared to their other chooses?
Can you improve their life? Will selecting your product or service, give this person more free time? 
Does the customer know the local sales person?
Does the customer know your company?

By presenting your company in a way that addresses these questions, you are relating to the needs of that local customer, rather then shouting at him the features of your product.

Business is grown one person at a time

If you are not helping someone do something, then what is the goal of your company? I highly recommend Jeffrey Gitomer’s books including his “Little Red Book of Selling”. Look on page 7 for the reason “Why People Buy”.  Please post your comments if you have read this book to share with the other Blog readers.

I have a wonderful product or service. Will you sell it in America?

I receive about three emails every day from very nice people around the world that ask me this question. I always answer them back the same way, by asking them if their company is ready, and if they have the funding to expand into the US.

Sales of products or services do not just happen, in the industrial or business to business sector. Companies must invest in their future by advertising, marketing, setting up and then training field sales people. I have looked at the sales of many companies over my career. I have tracked the results of specific activities to the overall sales of the company looking for success factors.  One great example was the sales agent training programs I presented annually for one of my clients. Within 30 days of every training class I would see a spike in the monthly sales. There was always one sales person who attended my class, and then used the sales tools I taught him to close a new major account.  Since ending my training classes, sales at this former client have fallen off dramatically.

The economy in many sectors is not doing very well. In my opinion we all need to increase our level of investment, and activity to get things moving again. I welcome your comments and would be glad to help you in any way.

10:58 AM GMT  |  Read comments(0)

The 60 Mile Comfort Zone

In talking to small companies across the country about ways to expand their business, I noticed that there were some common factors. They almost all had an established set of customers with whom they worked, located with in a radius of about 60 miles. This seems to be the Comfort Zone of the owner of a small company. The sales of the company’s product or services are based on the personal relationship between the owner and the customer within The Zone.

It is great to have a group of friendly customers who you work with on a regular basis, but how do you take the company to the next level? If you are dependent on one group of customers then you are subject to the same economic cycles as they are.

Jumping out of The Zone

To grow a business past this initial stage requires a Sales and Marketing Plan. Some of the topics which should be addressed in the plan are:

Who is the new target market?
What are there needs of this new market?
Where are they located? Are there test locations or are you looking to expand nationally?
How do you find the clients in the new locations?

This seems fairly simple but I am surprised how many small businesses struggle with these few basis questions.

At this point in the Blog I will make an offer to any company who would like advice about taking the next step to grow. I will talk to you for 23 minutes about ways to expand your company into the larger US marketplace. I only ask that you jump to my web site and fill in the contact information. I will send you back an email with a time for you to contact me. You pay the phone call and I will talk to you for 23 minutes.

www.salesrepusa.net

Who is the new target market and where are they located?

“I am looking for the manufactures that use precision machined parts made out of Titanium any where in the US”

“I am looking for Chief Learning Officers, of Fortune 1000 companies, located in the Metro Boston or Metro Providence area”

“I am looking for builders of large rotating machines that have require extreme life and reliability”

“I am looking for OEM builders of Automation Machines with between 16 and 128 inputs and outputs, anywhere in the US”

“I am looking for CEO’s of small to medium sized companies that recognize there own need for a coach to help them”

By specifically analyzing your target customers, you break up the overwhelming large potential market of the United States, into a specific target that you can point your finger at. Be detailed and specific to define the target. You can always define more then one target market, and establish a plan to target each one.

I like to do this as an exercise in my Sales Rep Training Classes. I go around the room and ask professional sales people, who their target customers are. Usually it takes one or two them to start talking before the others student’s brains turn on and they come up with ideas. I like to use the old fashioned method of writing on a flip chart in front of the class, and freely share the ideas with everyone in the class.

I had one independent sales rep based in Chicago, who thought his customers were anyone breathing in the northern hemisphere of the planet…… He went out of business.

What are there needs of this new market?

The sales strategy must address the needs of the customers. If you are selling a low cost commodity product, then set up a low cost method to sell the product to the customer. Apple is a great example of a paradigm shift in the selling of software. Software was sold to customers in colorful boxes on shelves of stores, like CompUSA and Egghead. As the internet developed, there was a shift to downloading of the product from the developer’s web site. Apple changed that model with the App Store for the iPhone and iPod. Now you can just touch the desired software and it is automatically be delivered and installed in your device. Apple now has total control over the distribution of all the software products for this niche market, and collects a fee on each App sold.

On the other extreme are custom designed automatic assembly machines, designed to increase production and lower the cost of manufacturing products. Each machine is designed to meet the needs of that one specific customer exactly. Since each customer is different each machine is also unique.

In the case of Apple there are no sales people involved in the purchase of the App software. In the case of the custom machine, the Sales Engineer works closely with the customer throughout the entire design process. The custom machine builder’s sales process is entirely based on building up a long term relationship between the sales person and the customer.

In both of these examples the structure of the sales team should be selected based on the needs of the customer.

More about how do you find the clients in the new locations, in the next entry.

10:52 AM GMT  |  Read comments(0)

September 11

SEO, Web site tools and Blogs, are they working to drive traffic to my site?

In this week’s article, I will review the effectiveness of the tools that I have been Blogging about for the last 4 weeks. I outlined some of steps that I am following in the prior Blog. My goal is to drive traffic to my web site, www.salesrepusa.net, connect with new prospective clients for my Outsourced Sales Management Company, and grow my company.

I used Microsoft Office Live to set up my web site last year. I selected Microsoft Live based on the low cost of entry and the easy development tools that Microsoft provided. At this time I feel that I need a more complex web site with embedded HTML codes. When I embedded Google’s tracking code into my site last week, Internet Explorer could not open the site and crashed. I am sorry to any readers that had a problem. When I tried to contact Microsoft for support, I found that the toll free phone number was no longer available. I am planning to switch to a different host next month that supports embedded HTML codes for tracking. If anyone has suggestions, please post them in the comment section.

When I set up my site, I filled in the Keyword section with every possible key word I could think of. As I started to monitor my site, I noticed that only a few of the Keyword were driving traffic to my site. Website Grader also recommended that I reduce the quantity of key words. I also set up Google Adwords with an advertisement for “Outsourced Sales Management”, as a test to look at which keywords are effective, and to drive traffic to my site. Based on a very short test I was able to review which Keywords were generating traffic for me. I then went back to my site and modified the Keywords. Following these changes I have noticed an increase in the daily web traffic.

It has been about 4 weeks since I added Google Ads to my Blog at the Blogger site, frielich.blogspot.com Google Ads provides me with daily information showing how many people have read my Blog. In the last 4 weeks, over 1200 people have read the blog at Blogspot. I also look at the Microsoft Office Live Reports. So far in about one week, almost 200 people have read the Blog on the web site.

I mentioned last week www.websitegrader.com . It is a tool to review your web site which recommends improvements to increase your ranking. I have used this tool for a few potential clients who were unhappy with the effectiveness of their web sites. I very quickly was able to suggest modifications to the potential clients which should improve traffic to their sites.

Overall I have found that these simple SEO techniques have been very successful expanding my brand, increasing web traffic on my site, and driving client to my consulting company. I welcome any questions or comments your may have.

Thank you for reading my Blog!  Seth

10:55 AM GMT  |  Read comments(0)