Post on 25-Dec-2015
transcript
July 30th – August 1st, 2013McCormick Place, Chicago, IL
The One Percent Solution
Ignore the Masses &Attract Key Attendees
Bob MilamAka Trade Show Bob
About your Instructor
Bob Milam, aka Trade Show Bob
A past winner of Exhibitor Magazine’s All Star Award
Has produced exhibit campaigns for the retail grocery, food ingredients, medical, super-computing, non-profit fund raising, and computer graphics industries
Contributing columnist & blogger for EXHIBITOR magazine
What is the “One Percent Solution”?
A method (not the only one) to help you wade through the masses and find
key buyers
A way to bring your marketing and sales staff together
on the same page
An approach to help you squeeze real results out of
seemingly difficult shows
A plan that really works – I’ll show you
Where is this class going?
Explain the foundation principles
Discuss goals & objectives
Filtering show attendees
Building urgency and focus into the staff
W. I. I. F. M. ??
New method to address these hard-to-solve opportunities
A new tool to help focus your staff at any show
Inspiration to think in new ways
This solution won’t help if …
Your target audience is a large percentage of the overall audience
You do not plan ahead
You’re not willing to invest in some painfully difficult experiences with your stake holders
It’s hard, but it will work.
The Foundation of the Solution
Based on these assumptions:
Only a small % of attendees really matter
You can identify them in some way
There are groups/people in your org. who want to push
agendas with the targets
Success/progress = big $$$
Each target OK to have vastly different needs
You don’t have a big pile of money to spend
Step 1: Define your target
Who do you need to see?
How accurately can you describe them?
Do you already know their names?
Step 1: Define your target
An exact definition of your target is your starting point
Since you’re only after 1% - they should be fairly easy to identify
Actually – the fewer the better
Step 2: Define objectives
You have a list of names (or close to it) – preferably a short one with big potential impact
Now is the time to meet with your primary stake holders (ouch!)
Define objectives individually
Spend as much time as necessary to get specific objectives for each and every target
Be specific
Individual objectives will vary
Buy product x next time
Switch from competitor to
me
Consider upgrading
Have your heard our news?
Let me introduce our new
Exec’s
Please forgive me, don’t
leave!
It’ll be worth it – I promise
Slug your way through this
Most people will resist this level of planning
They’ve never been asked to commit at this level
What you’ll end up with …
Name #1
Name #2
Name #3 UpgradeIntro
Beg forforgiveness
Go to lunch
Buy X Intro Fix problem
Goal 1 Goal 2 Goal 3
Step 3: Assign roles
You have your list of names You have specific actions for
each
Now … decide who should deliver the message
And … who else needs to be present
Assign roles = pick your staff
How do you currently decide who should go to your shows?
Why not bring the right people – put the aces in their places
Everyone who attends will have specific reasons to be there
What you’ll really end up with
…
Name #1
Name #2
Name #3
Buy X
Upgrade
Intro
Beg forforgiveness
Intro
Moe ShempLarry
Go to lunch
Fix problemFix problem
Individual Assignments
Name #1
Name #2
Name #3
Buy X
Upgrade
Intro
Beg forforgiveness
Intro
Moe ShempLarry
Go to lunch
Fix problemFix problem
Individual Assignment Cards
Moe
Customer #1Fix delivery issue
Determine budget and time frame to
implement project X
Customer #2Do lunch – Tuesdaydiscuss Project Z
Customer #3Secure maintenance agreement – extend
thru 12/31
Result: Everyone knows their role
Set it up well in advance
Get sales managers to buy in
Pass out assignments 4-6 weeks ahead of show
Enlist the “hammer” or stake holder to deliver the assignments
Result: Accountability is created
“Moe, your job is to … “
“Here’s your assignment for the BIG Expo”
“Make sure you get these things done”
“We’ll meet again after the show, to see how much progress was made”
This is a BIG IDEA
Implement this – in some form - for your next show
Your people will be focused
They’ll thank you
“At last, I finally knew what I was supposed to do at the trade show”
- Verbatim staff comment Poultry Show 2004, Zoomerang survey
Step 4: Get on their dance card
Don’t leave the pre-show marketing to your now-committed sales group
Find a theme
Tie it all in
Communicate with them so they MUST come see you
Spend some money here
Pre-show marketing
Determine how many visitors you MUST invite
Ask sales managers what these meetings are worth to them
Quality vs. quantity – spend more per name
Find a clever angle – and drive them to action
Step 5: Conduct pre-show training
Review assignments
Adjust as necessary – confirming visits
Set overall goals & daily goals
Teach them how to record the commitments
Set up time to report their results
Step 6: Work the show
Take notes – keep a running total
Record the commitments and promises made
Be the “Objectives Sheriff”
Keep it top of mind for your staff
Adjust during the show as needed
Step 7: Conduct post-show de-briefings
Don’t stop now
De-brief every staff attendee
Record the progress made
Follow-up on promises made
Report results to management
• Exhibit architecture
• Exhibit layout
• Access / Egress
• Furniture & Carpet choices
• The “script” for non-target visitors
Form Follows Function: Architecture
An Actual Example
Poultry Expo
Further processing a small fraction of the poultry industry
Egg laying Egg processing Egg hatching Chicken raising Chicken slaughter Chicken processing Turkey yada yada yada Etc etc etc
An Actual Example
At past year’s shows …..
We sampled products – like chicken nuggets
We had an “open” booth – we talked to everybody
We fed thousands of people
We exhausted our staff
We spent a small fortune preparing and shipping
samples
We had very little to show for it
Step 1: Identify the target
Poultry processors – R&D, marketing and purchasing
Around 50 companies – 150 people
Total show attendance – 20,000
Step 1: Identify the target
Demographics – what do we know about them?
Poultry - mainly Southeast USMostly malesLikely do not belong to PETAProbably not vegansMight belong to the NRAEducation ? Career ?
Hobbies? Likes? Dislikes?
Needed a unifying and resonating theme that told our story
“Beyond Crumbs” – looking past the obvious about bread crumbs – the real story is what you don’t see
To help them “see” we selected binoculars as our premium
The pre-show plan
Prepared 53 mailers – 3D – each with a pair of 79¢ toy binoculars
Tagged w/ message “Bring these to the Kerry booth, trade them for a pair of Bushnells”
Total cost of the mailing $328.45 including postage
The pre-show plan
17 meetings – first four hours
34 meetings overall
40 binoculars redeemed
59 leads for new projects started
$750,000 in sales closed
$60,000 total show budget (w/o T&E)
OK – The Results
July 30th – August 1st, 2013McCormick Place, Chicago, IL
The One Percent Solution
Define your target Set individual objectives Tailor your exhibit to your objectives Get on their dance card Train and re-train your staff Present relevant info to each key visitor