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

What’s your situation ?

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

Consult with your stakeholders

Find out who they need to see

Name names Be specific Make a list

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

Important: Exempt no one

If they go – they must have a reason

Even the CEO

Even yourself

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?

Form Follows Function

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

Some pictures

From the actualInternational Poultry & Egg Expo

Some pictures

Some pictures

Some pictures

Some pictures

Some pictures

Some pictures

Some pictures

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

July 30th – August 1st, 2013McCormick Place, Chicago, IL

Thanks for coming!

Questions:tradeshowbob@gmail.com

The One Percent Solution