The Modern Opportunity Business Opportunity EXPO coming soon to Long Island -- FREE TO THE PUBLIC! Exhibitors:10% discount if your deposit is received by the deadline...
Be the first to reserve your table, on a first come, first serve basis.
For more information or to secure your attendance call NOW! (631) 673-0258 or email
fran@modernopportunity.com
Modern Opportunity hosts a Business Opportunities EXPO in a
centrally located venue on Long Island. The EXPO affords future
entrepreneurs additional exposure to a wide variety of money-making
opportunities; and, it provides businesses with a place to meet and
talk with potential entrepreneurs who may be interested in their business
opportunity, products or services.
SEE Which Exhibitors have already reserved their spot at EXPO'06 Read the EXPO Newsletter Part 1
Read the EXPO Newsletter Part 2
Read the EXPO Newsletter Part 3
Read the EXPO Newsletter Part 4
The EXPO will offer a host of speakers, seminars and workshops offering
information about specific opportunities and/or essential business topics.
Location and date to be announced.
Every visitor to the Modern Opportunity EXPO will have a chance to win
one of the many door prizes(Sponsorship opportunities are still available):
**3 lucky people will win a 30 minute consultation with Dr. Andrew S. Linick, Ph.D.,
renowned marketing expert.
**Gift Baskets
Gift Certificates
NEW SERVICE...Modern Opportunity offers all EXPO supplies,
displays and printed promotional items at discounted prices!
Click here now for more info
Read Fundamental Strategies Drive Trade Show Success...
“Before, during, and after” are all important
By Linda Kazares, Publisher, Editor and Consultant, ConnectedIn Media
Read Developing a Lead Management System
by Keith Reznick, President of Creative Training Solutions
Read What Attendees expect of the exhibit staff
Read
Trade Shows … Where Prospects Come to You!
by Andrew S. Linick, Ph.D.
Read 12 Guidelines to Ensure Your Success at Trade Shows
by Andrew S. Linick, Ph.D.
Click here to read The Purpose and Value of Trade Shows
Click here to read Why Train?
Click here to read
Shows Through the Eyes of a Professional Salespaerson
Click here to read Use promotion
to Improve Lead Quality
Click here to read Measuring and Evaluating Results
Clicke here to read Worksheet for Trade Show and Expo Goals
Click here to read Worksheet for Trade Show Do's and Dont's
Developing a Lead Management System
by Keith Reznick, President of Creative Training Solutions
Lead management requires careful planning and execution prior to, at, and
after a meeting, convention or show. Lead management cannot work unless your
company's marketing and sales departments work synergistically to:
Define the criteria for a "qualified" lead;
Collect leads at the show;
Follow-up after the show or event;
and
Track results.
If the sales organization does not commit, prior to a show, to take action
on the leads after the show, both in terms of follow-up and tracking, don't
bother attending. Successful lead management occurs only when sales and
marketing departments work closely together prior to, at and after a show
to create and implement a strategy and plan that generates mutually beneficial
results. Lead management is a nine-step process:
Step 1: Quantify Your Goal
To quantify your goal, calculate how many hours each person staffing your booth
will work and multiply this number by the number of leads each will probably
generate. (A generic rule of thumb suggests that each person will generate two
or three qualified leads each hour.) If you have worked the meeting or show
before, check your previous results, compare them with the number you just
calculated, and adjust accordingly.
Step 2: Define a Qualified Lead and Create a Lead Form
Marketing and sales often have different definitions of a qualified lead. Marketing
generally describes a lead as qualified of it fits a demographic profile, whether
there is a current sales opportunity or not. Salespeople often define a qualified
lead as one that fits a demographic profile and where there is (or will shortly be)
a viable sales opportunity. The following are among the questions that salespeople
usually ask to qualify the opportunity and determine if there is a viable sales opportunity:
" What are the goals, problems and needs associated with the opportunity?
" What is the size of the opportunity?
" Is there a budget for the project and if so how much?
" What is the timing of the opportunity?
" With whom are we competing?
" What is this person's role (decision maker or decision influencer)?
These types of qualifying questions, in combination with other questions that might be
appropriate, should be part of your lead form. A suggestion is to meet with and discuss
the form with the salespeople who will get the leads after the event. Ask them which of
the questions meets their definition of a qualified lead and which are the most important
qualifying questions to ask? What would they like to know about new prospects? Most
importantly, what would motivate them to follow up? Their input before the show will
help you get their support after the show.
Step 3: Pre-Show Promotion
Use pre-show promotions to attract pre-qualified (those that fit your demographic profile)
prospects and existing customers to your booth. Ask your salespeople to provide you with
a list of existing customers, prospects with whom they are in dialogue and targeted
prospects. If they give you the names and these customers and prospects attend the meeting
or show, there are two benefits. First, it will create sales opportunities and second, it
will improve the attitudes of your booth staffers who personally derive greater value from
the time they have invested in the booth.
Step 4: Train Your Booth Staff
Prior to the show, teach your booth staff how to use the lead form. Make sure they know how
to ask the qualifying questions, record the required information, and process the lead form
after it's been completed. Role-play to ensure that your staff is comfortable with the process.
Also, make sure they know what your plan is for post-show follow up so that they can set the
appropriate expectations for how your company will follow up after the event is over.
Step 5: Measure and Motivate
Reward the people who are putting the most energy and effort into the show. A complementary
letter to the staffer's manager or a small financial reward can be very motivational. Create
a contest (incentive) that everyone can win by reaching graduated productivity levels.
Competition for a single prize, such as one awarded to the person with the most leads, can
create friction in the booth and detract from the team spirit.
Step 6: Collect All Leads
Collect all the leads as they are generated. If people keep some leads and turn in others,
you won't be able to follow up consistently, nor calculate the true return on your investment.
(A contest (incentive), as was mentioned in Step 5, insures that most, if not all leads will be
turned in.) Put into place a methodology that allows people to follow up directly if they choose
to do so, as long as you can track what occurs after the show (a duplicate lead form, one for
you and one for the salesperson will facilitate this). Also, explain to your staff how the leads
will be processed, what each prospect can expect after the meeting, and how and when you will
distribute the leads after the event's completion.
Step 7: Follow-Up
Distribute the leads immediately after the show. The faster you distribute the leads, the more
motivated your staff will be to follow-up. The follow-up activity should be consistent with your
prospects' expectations. If you promised to send literature, send it. If you promised to call for
an appointment, call. You will leave a lasting (negative) impression if you do not meet (or exceed)
your prospects' expectations.
Step 8: Track Results
Track the results of your follow-up efforts in specific time increments (e.g., one month, three
months, six months, one year), keeping in mind the length of your selling cycle for your products,
services or solutions. Tracking the results will enable you to determine what worked (and why),
what didn't work (and why), and ultimately calculate the return on your investment.
Step 9: Calculate Return
Calculating the return actually begins with goal setting. At appropriate time intervals, compare
your results with your goals. Keep what worked and change what didn't. At predetermined intervals,
track which leads turned into customers and the amount of business generated. Project total
business from these accounts and others that will close or order within a certain period of
time (one-year minimum). Compare these revenues with your costs to calculate your return on investment.
Lead management doesn't have to be a challenge. To implement this system will take time - build
from show to show. The best way to get started is to work with your sales department. Their input
and support prior to the show, and involvement at and after the show, ensures the success of your
lead management system.
This article was written by Keith Reznick (keith@creativetraining.com),
President of Creative Training Solutions .
His company delivers training programs for exhibit workers as well as a curriculum of workshops
for professional salespeople. Creative Training Solutions recently introduced an online version
of The Trade Show Advantage® as a compliment to the live version of the workshop, one of the
most well attended (over 30,000 people have participated) and successful courses in the world
for teaching event workers how to interact with prospects and customers more effectively on the show floor.
______________________________________________________________________________________________________
What Attendees expect of the exhibit staff
1-Make visitors feel welcome in the booth
2-Show interest in being in the booth and in each visitor
3-Ask questions and listen carefully to each person's specific needs before responding
4-Be knowledgeable about the products and services
5-Provide specific steps to follow up after the event
What does the staff do that turns attendees off
1-Talks on the phone or stands in a group talking while a visitor approaches the booth
2-Launches into a sales pitch or a demo before finding out about the visitor's interests
3-Doesn't listen
4-Stays on their own agenda instead of focusing on the visitor's concerns
5-Uses aggressive sales tactics
______________________________________________________________________________________________________
Fundamental Strategies Drive Trade Show Success...“Before, during, and after” are all important
By Linda Kazares, Publisher, Editor and Consultant, ConnectedIn Media
Many exhibitors make a common mistake—they spend more time and effort on booth design
and location than on pre- and post–show strategy. By following certain fundamentals before,
during and after the show, exhibitors ensure their success—more qualified leads, higher
sales, lower overall costs, and shorter selling cycles.
Fundamentals for Success:
Vision with achievable goals
An outstanding pre-show plan
Trained personnel
Enthusiasm during the show
Excellent show follow-up
Vision with achievable goals
A successful trade show event begins with a vision. Your vision needs to be
endorsed by an executive sponsor—a high level executive who will actively support
the teams charged with turning goals into operational realities before, during,
and after the trade show. Whether you are the sponsor or need to select an executive
in your organization to be the sponsor, crafting and communicating the vision is
the first step toward successful implementation of your event.
Without a vision that everyone involved can internalize, the rest of the trade show
activity is just an exercise in financial and resource consumption.
Goals can range from increasing sales leads to the number of post show articles written
about your company. Establish objectives by asking these two questions:
Why are we exhibiting?
Who are the best people to participate?
Set guidelines for what the company expects to get out of the show and define your
measurement criteria. It may not always be measurable in specific sales volume. Trade
shows, unless the product has been pre-sold, are not the place companies with complex
sales cycles go to find and close new business on the spot. Exceptions include many
retail products and impulse products at consumer-oriented trade shows.
Qualify your objectives by answering the following:
Why is exhibiting important at this stage of the company’s development?
What do we expect to accomplish?
Branding?
New leads?
Affirming our size and presence in the industry?
Entertain clients?
Meet other exhibitors?
Press attention?
Other?
Is the time spent on the trade show—from planning to taking sales personnel out
of the field—the best use of this time and resources? If not, what’s the option?
The goals established drive everything else. Setting them down on paper and integrating
operations, marketing, and sales with the process improve the chances you’ll reach your target.
Prepare a vision statement as if it were a company mission. Then develop the trade show
plan to fulfill that vision.
After defining your reasons for exhibiting, it’s easier to develop measurement criteria.
Use that information to evaluate your success after the event. And remember, it may take
months and months to really measure success.
An outstanding pre-show plan
Core to pre-show strategy is the plan for conditioning prospects to want more from your
company, and to find it at the trade show. That can be done in a variety of ways including
monthly e-newsletters, regularly scheduled webinars, your web site, and, with more generous
budgets, direct mail and print advertising.
E-newsletters and webinars are extremely effective at placing your company in the right place
at the right time. They’re typically more cost effective than print. Plus, both tools can be
interactive, allowing your company to develop a dialog that predisposes prospects to want to
learn more about doing business with your company.
Direct mail is effective if your company has in-house lists or the trade show’s registration
list for RSVP booth meeting invitations and a related webinar series. Generally, print
advertising is only good for the show if the company has a new product or an important
announcement, but it doesn’t work to drive visitors to the show.
Trained personnel
Who should be on the exhibit floor? Let your star performers shine. In fact, make booth duty
a privilege. Only the best are allowed to participate. If your goals are sales, make sure you
have sales people on the floor. Then give them the leads they generate, or a cut of the deal when it closes.
If the event is a branding tour or product launch, key executives are requisite along with the
PR specialists who can handle the press, field questions appropriately, and direct inquiries
to the right people on the spot. This is no time to swipe a card and get back to them later!
When do you do training? Constantly and early is best. Pre-script your booth language, visitor
qualification techniques, and problem handling. Start imbedding your scripting with teleconference
calls that set the tone a few weeks out. Then ‘invite’ the booth staff to attend pre-event meetings
at the show site. Bring in a professional from outside the company who has experience in booth
strategy, lead qualification, motivation, and refreshing sales techniques.
The truth is that really good people will know that supporting the company by participating at the
right events (right events being key) is the right thing to do. They’ll shine for you. And you need
to make sure they’re treated well. Give them the impression you understand the importance of their
role in the company.
Enthusiasm during the show
Paint happy faces on the booth personnel if you have to, but make sure they all appear to be
enthusiastic about being there and meeting the attendees. Better yet, make sure they want to be
there. Burned out booth personnel who would rather be someplace else just aren’t going to do the
best job for the company—no matter how much you wish they would!
Linda’s Seven Rules for Great Booth Enthusiasm
Only the best sales reps are allowed to participate (and get the resulting payoff)
Differentiate your company, put suits on these people
Remove anything a sales person can sit on
Train, coach, train, motivate, train, respect
Job share booth duty
Give them something to shoot for—rewards, goals, recognition
Put some fun into the experience
If you have a heavy exhibit schedule, rotate personnel. And if you don’t have enough personnel,
consider reducing your trade show participation. You might even find that by being more selective,
you produce a better return on your investments.
Excellent show follow-up: Go after those leads now!
After 15 years of attending Comdex and, more recently, working for the company that produced the
show, it was astounding for me to see how many companies simply left their leads on the floor—like
garbage. Develop a serious, measurable follow-up campaign.
If you’ve developed a webinar and an e-news strategy, you’re already halfway there. These are
superb tools that can sit at the heart of a post-event marketing campaign because they are
measurable, impactful, and cost effective. They are also communications vehicles that are easy
to align with your event messaging. For instance, your next e-newsletter can feature products
unveiled at the tradeshow. The newsletter is also a perfect platform to take the prospects to the
next stage of sales interaction. Invite readers (segmented by tradeshow attendees and newsletter
only readers) to attend your webinar where they will have an opportunity to have in-depth
discussions with product mangers or subject matter experts on any topic you deem important
to move the sales cycle along.
Of course, live sales follow-up should happen immediately with ‘A’ leads. Don’t allow the CRM
department to sequester leads while they analyze them. Get the leads to the sales producers
and follow up—just do it.
Turn key strategies into fundamentals
Success during trade shows isn’t rocket science. It takes vision, planning, strategic
integration, and follow through. If you can’t incorporate every suggestion in this article
immediately, make it a goal to add one new tool each time you exhibit, or at a pace that
allows the company to integrate it well.
Consider when to introduce follow-up tools into your marketing mix as well. Start with a
webinar, then an e-newsletter for regular prospect contact. Once you’ve merged them into
your marketing and sales model, you’ll wonder why you didn’t do it sooner.
As you add new tools, keep assessing the strategy. Drop those that don’t work and give new
tools a chance to work.
It’s just an opinion but … your company’s success depends on many factors. Make sure the
sales and marketing factors measure up to an outstanding standard before you enter the
exhibit hall and that your ongoing strategy builds on each success. Enjoy the process!
Linda Kazares is publisher, editor and consultant for ConnectedIn Media. She has hosted
and produced hundreds of sales and marketing conferences, seminars, and roundtables on
topics ranging from home automation to reseller and retail channel development. She
currently publishes a number of B2B and B2C newsletters including Face-to-Face Connect,
which helps hospitality, event and trade show management professionals. Linda can be
reached at 415.309.6536 or lkazares@f2fconnect.com.
Subscribe to her e-newsletters at www.f2fconnect.com.
____________________________________________________________________________________________
**Janice Dacanay, Independent CoffeeFair Marketer, offering CoffeeFair business opportunity
Email Janice or call:703-798-2604
**Jodi Serken offering Discovery Toys/Big Yellow Box business opportunity
Email Jodi or call: 516 783 1779
**Gloria Schifter, Time Management Expert and Lecturer, call: 631-499-8781
**Andrew Linick, Ph.D., copyologist and webologist, marketing specialist, Email Andrew or call: 631-924-3888
**Lyle Seales, Independent Associate Travel Agent, www.sail.globaltravel.com email: seales1951@yahoo.com or call: 212-340-1113
**Lisa Kelty, Independent Sales Director, email: luvmybusiness97@optonline.net or
visit her website: www.marykay.com/lkelty or call: (516)579-3067
_________________________________________________________________________________________
Modern Opportunity offers all EXPO supplies, displays and printed promotional items
all at discounted prices! Click here NOW for more info
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