Trade Show Booth Staff Training Expert, Susan Friedmann, CSP, The Tradeshow Coach

A few weeks ago I watched on Twitter as a marketer committed social media suicide.

Within hours after someone tweeted about having a severe, nearly fatal allergic reaction, she received a marketing message from a company that sells non-allergenic products. So far, so good. The marketer had obviously set up a search on the appropriate term and used the information to reach out to a potential customer.

Unfortunately, the marketing message was poorly targeted and offensively presented. Not only was the recipient angry at the clumsy overture, she responded in such a way that everyone reading her tweetstream would become aware of the problem. The marketer garnered some bad publicity for his company.

Then, instead of apologizing, the marketer made a bad situation worse by defending his actions. The potential customer has now publicly vowed never to use the company’s products, and she has told a number of people about the problem. More bad publicity.

Three lessons from this marketing debacle:

1. Search terms are not enough.
If the marketer had actually read the tweet, he would have known enough about the situation to avoid offending a potential customer with mistaken assumptions. If you are selling cat toys, for example, don’t try marketing to someone who has tweeted either “I hate cats” or “My cat just died.” Either one is likely to be unproductive at best.

2. Social media messages are not ads, they are personal conversations.
The strategies that work well in a print or TV ad don’t work in door-to-door selling—and social media are much more akin to direct sales. Always remember that you’re talking to an individual on her own territory. Be respectful, friendly, and aware of her feelings.

3. When you’ve angered the customer, apologize.
Arguing with the customer’s reaction just makes matters worse. It’s okay to explain that you didn’t intend to be insensitive, but apologize sincerely for having caused offense. This leaves the potential customer in a forgiving mood, and you may make a sale anyway.

Are you part of a unique group who can share what you do in ten words or less?

The one-liner, elevator speech, company pitch, call it what you want, nonetheless, it’s a powerful way for you to deliver what your company does in a short, concise, easy-to-understand format that people instantly grasp. This is an essential tool to help maximize your tradeshow exhibiting.

According to tradeshow research (available through CEIR – the Center for Exhibition Industry Research), you have 3-5 seconds to capture someone’s attention on the show floor. Less time than it took for you to read the last sentence.

The people at Sequoia Capital call it the “one-liner” – a concise statement that tells people what you do.

Google’s head honchos, Sergy Brin and Larry Page sold their idea to investors with the one-liner, “We deliver the world’s information in one click.” Cisco Systems’ Sandy Lerner and Len Bosack used the statement, “We network, networks.”
(Source: “Fire Them Up! by Carmine Gallo)

How about you? Do you have a clear, concise, consistent statement that says what you do, so your tradeshow visitors immediately get it? Realize that people will judge you and you company based on this statement. Within seconds they decide (rightly or wrongly) whether they want to explore doing business with you.

From my experience walking hundreds of shows, and training many hundreds more, I very, very, very rarely hear a message that I truly understand first time around. Most often I’m bombarded with a string of meaningless industry or product jargon, which isn’t consistent. Speak to one booth staffer, I get one message, speak to another, and the information changes.

In preparation for your next tradeshow, work on your one-liner using the following four steps:

1. Make three columns – (1)  What you do (2) Who you do it for (3) the benefits you offer, then list essential words.

2. Start mixing and matching the words until you come up with a statement of ten words or less.

3. Test it out on your mom. If you can make her understand it, and want to use it, then you’ve hit the mark!

4. Revisit your statement on a regular basis to refine, and keep it fresh and exciting.

Check out the new online tradeshow training program - “Jump Start Your Exhibiting Success at Tradeshows & Events”

In my tradeshow training programs, I’ve always encouraged my clients’ exhibiting team to be 100% scripted and 100% flexible when it comes to interacting with booth visitors. What I mean by this is, you need to know what questions to ask to get the end result. For example, if your goal for the show is to find out more about how the economy is affecting various projects your prospects or existing customers are working on, you need prepare the right questions to ask, to collect that information. However, I have always advocated that despite how prepared you are, you also extreme flexibility, because the trade show floor is very unpredictable. You can never foresee 100% what’s going to happen, as no two shows are identical.

This weekend I attended a very special program conducted by Eric Lofholm, sales trainer and script writing guru.  Eric advocates the opposite philosophy. He believes that, with thought and pre-planning, you can anticipate almost all the situations and questions surrounding your prospects and customers.  Eric teaches that script writing is the key to help get you through any good, bad, or ugly situation.

Until this weekend, scripts, for me, conjured up visions of those telemarketers, who love to call during dinner time, and robotically spew out their script, which, in your mind, you can see them reading.  In other words, it was a totally negative exercise, which I’ve resisted like the plague.  How wrong could I be? The Eric Lofholm system prescribes script preparation for every possible scenario. Then, when written, internalizing your words to the point where they become a totally natural part of your conversation.  When you listen to the master exercising his skill, it’s totally mesmerizing and utterly believable. On the flight home from San Diego, my pen was flying across pages in my exercise book working on the numerous scripts I need.

Now, I realize that for many sales professionals, this concept isn’t new.  They use scripts in their field selling all the time.  However, does your exhibit team prepare scripts for the time on the show floor, or do they wing it? Because visitor interaction time is extremely limited, often 3-5 minutes, according to tradeshow research, sales reps need different scripts from the ones they use day-to-day.  The question is, do they have them? If not, I highly recommend they do, especially if you want to maximize prospect time in the booth.

Oh, I forgot to mention that once your scripts are written, they’re done for life. Editing and adding to your script book (another of Eric’s recommendations), is always allowable.

Back in a couple of days.  In the meantime, I’m busy writing my scripts.

WII-fm plays everywhere all the time, but on the tradeshow floor listenership is at its peak. WII-fm, better known as “What’s In It for me,” resonates loud and clear among tradeshow attendees as they walk up and down the aisles, attend educational sessions, and networking events.

The Problem:

Most exhibitors only tune into their own WII-fm channel, which means they just think about themselves, their products/services. How do I know this? It’s blatantly obvious. Nine times out of ten, when I hear an exhibitor presentation, they can’t wait to shake hands, introduce themselves (that’s already a good exhibitor), and then launch into their verbal barrage (static) of what they have to offer, giving little, or no heed to whether or not a need exists.
The Solution:

The solution, like many things, is simple, but not easy.  Here are three steps to follow to help get rid of the static and pump up the success volume:
Step 1: Lower the volume on your WII-fm channel and tune into your prospect’s WII-fm channel. 
Step 2: Ask questions to uncover needs, and discover what’s most important to your prospect.
Step 3: Listen to the answers (this is tough), then take this valuable information, and tailor it to fit your product/service presentation or demonstration.
To make sure this three-step volume pumping process works successfully, use some tradeshow booth staff training prior to the show as and integral part of your pre-show planning, and preparation. Your team, like actors on a stage, need preparation, and practice (learning how to listen), which means knowing what to do, and how to do it, to help guarantee successful results. Don’t assume they know!

What’s ahead for trade shows and other marketing efforts in 2010?

Last week, I referred you to the StrongMail “2010 Marketing Trends” survey which polled more than 1,000 business leaders across a wide range of industries about their marketing plans for the upcoming year. This week I’ll continue reviewing the trends.

Trend: Everybody is jumping on the social media bandwagon. A whopping 59% of surveyed companies will be increasing their social-media budgets. How many will be spending less? A mere 3%.

Social media has become the new essential tool for marketing.

3 things this means to you:

1.  Choose the right social networks. Twitter covers almost every audience. Facebook and Myspace pages work best for products with consumer appeal. LinkedIn groups are most appropriate for BtoB marketing.

2. Stay on message. The speed and flexibility of social media can be a huge advantage, but it can also be a pitfall. Set clear guidelines for all communications, and review the messages and results regularly.

3. Use social media to support trade show exhibits. Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn can allow you to increase the effectiveness of your trade show appearances. You’ll reap great benefits when you integrate social media into your overall marketing strategy.