1
00:00:02,460 --> 00:00:06,090
Ian Altman: Welcome to the Same
Side Selling podcast. I am your

2
00:00:06,090 --> 00:00:14,040
host, Ian Altman. One of the
common questions I get asked,

3
00:00:14,160 --> 00:00:18,090
right about this time of the
year, almost every year is, what

4
00:00:18,090 --> 00:00:21,750
do we do when it comes to trade
shows, we invest money, we show

5
00:00:21,750 --> 00:00:24,150
up at these trade shows, but we
don't always get the best

6
00:00:24,150 --> 00:00:26,700
results out of them. And
invariably, what happens is we

7
00:00:26,700 --> 00:00:30,000
get a few people come to us and
say, Wow, I'm really interested

8
00:00:30,000 --> 00:00:32,910
in what you do. They captivate
our time, we spend a lot of

9
00:00:32,910 --> 00:00:36,900
quality time with them, we may
miss other opportunities. So

10
00:00:36,930 --> 00:00:40,590
what are some strategies that
you can employ in trade shows to

11
00:00:40,590 --> 00:00:43,890
make sure you get the best
results? For starters, what we

12
00:00:43,890 --> 00:00:47,100
want to do is want to make sure
we're focused on specific

13
00:00:47,100 --> 00:00:50,580
objectives and goals. If there
are attendees who we know we

14
00:00:50,580 --> 00:00:53,940
want to connect with, before the
event even happens, we want to

15
00:00:53,940 --> 00:00:56,460
meet with while we're there, we
want to reach out to those

16
00:00:56,460 --> 00:00:59,040
people in advance. Now, we can't
just say, Hey, I'm going to be

17
00:00:59,040 --> 00:01:02,220
the show, I want to show you our
stuff, because then we sound

18
00:01:02,220 --> 00:01:05,400
like someone who's just a
stereotypical salesperson. And

19
00:01:05,400 --> 00:01:09,600
when that happens, what happens
is that prospect thinks, oh, I

20
00:01:09,600 --> 00:01:11,640
don't need to spend time with
them just so they can try and

21
00:01:11,640 --> 00:01:14,940
sell me something. So your first
outreach should be something

22
00:01:14,940 --> 00:01:17,940
along the lines of here's some
trends that we've been seeing

23
00:01:17,940 --> 00:01:21,870
lately in our industry. And I'd
love to talk to you about those

24
00:01:21,870 --> 00:01:24,570
and see if you're facing those,
you might be facing different

25
00:01:24,570 --> 00:01:27,150
ones, something along those
lines, you get someone to say,

26
00:01:27,150 --> 00:01:30,060
wow, they have their finger on
the pulse of trends in our

27
00:01:30,060 --> 00:01:33,930
industry, they might be helpful,
then at that point, once you

28
00:01:33,930 --> 00:01:37,590
engage in that level of
conversation, it's a matter of

29
00:01:37,620 --> 00:01:39,720
look, let's connect here and I
want to learn more about what it

30
00:01:39,720 --> 00:01:42,060
is you're doing. I don't even
know if we have anything that

31
00:01:42,060 --> 00:01:45,120
would be helpful for you. But we
work with a lot of people in

32
00:01:45,120 --> 00:01:48,810
this industry. And I'm happy to
talk about different trends,

33
00:01:48,810 --> 00:01:51,570
different initiatives that we're
seeing, to see if those line up

34
00:01:51,570 --> 00:01:54,720
with yours. We might not do
anything together for years,

35
00:01:54,810 --> 00:01:58,200
which has the added benefit of
being true because you may in

36
00:01:58,200 --> 00:02:01,110
fact, not do anything with them
for years, because at this

37
00:02:01,110 --> 00:02:04,590
point, you don't know enough
about their situation, to know

38
00:02:04,590 --> 00:02:08,580
if you can help. Now, what about
at the tradeshow? Well, for a

39
00:02:08,580 --> 00:02:11,370
lot of organizations, the goal
is how do I capture as many

40
00:02:11,370 --> 00:02:14,700
business cards as many contacts
as possible. And I don't think

41
00:02:14,700 --> 00:02:18,480
that's a great strategy. Because
if people are not a good fit for

42
00:02:18,480 --> 00:02:21,720
what you do, then you're just
collecting names of people who

43
00:02:21,960 --> 00:02:24,690
you're going to be breeding with
information that isn't relevant

44
00:02:24,690 --> 00:02:28,650
to them. If you want to get top
results for your team, take a

45
00:02:28,650 --> 00:02:32,190
look at the Same Side Selling
Academy. Just visit same side

46
00:02:32,190 --> 00:02:36,480
selling.com to learn more. So
when someone comes up to your

47
00:02:36,480 --> 00:02:39,270
booth, there's a couple things
you want to do first, in terms

48
00:02:39,270 --> 00:02:42,540
of booth design, you want to
focus your design and messaging

49
00:02:42,570 --> 00:02:45,570
around the problems that you
solve, instead of describing

50
00:02:45,570 --> 00:02:48,870
what it is that you do. research
I've done across over 10,000

51
00:02:48,870 --> 00:02:51,990
executives says that the first
thing people care about is what

52
00:02:51,990 --> 00:02:55,740
problem might you be solving for
them? Why is that problem worth

53
00:02:55,740 --> 00:02:58,950
solving, and then what's the
likely outcome or result if they

54
00:02:58,950 --> 00:03:03,060
actually implemented whatever it
is you're offering. So describe

55
00:03:03,060 --> 00:03:06,270
the kinds of problems that you
solve. And ideally, you want to

56
00:03:06,270 --> 00:03:09,750
pick the top two or three things
most likely to resonate with the

57
00:03:09,750 --> 00:03:13,050
attendees at that event. And
here's a little trick, if you're

58
00:03:13,050 --> 00:03:15,330
showing up at an event, and you
don't know the three biggest

59
00:03:15,330 --> 00:03:18,510
problems that you're solving for
people, you probably should not

60
00:03:18,510 --> 00:03:20,910
be going to that event. In fact,
you want to make sure you're

61
00:03:20,910 --> 00:03:23,550
showing up in a place where most
of the people there are a

62
00:03:23,550 --> 00:03:26,730
significant portion of them have
the kind of problems you're good

63
00:03:26,730 --> 00:03:28,740
at solving, or at least you
know, that's where those people

64
00:03:28,740 --> 00:03:31,830
go to hang out. What that allows
you to do is if your messaging

65
00:03:31,830 --> 00:03:35,640
on your on your booth is
centered around, what kind of

66
00:03:35,640 --> 00:03:38,250
problems? Are you good at
solving them? When someone comes

67
00:03:38,250 --> 00:03:40,680
up to your booth? The first
question you can ask is, oh,

68
00:03:40,680 --> 00:03:43,770
what inspired you to stop by
today? And usually, they will

69
00:03:43,770 --> 00:03:48,420
say, Oh, that second bullet on
that backdrop, really caught my

70
00:03:48,420 --> 00:03:51,150
attention, you just say really
why that one. And now we're

71
00:03:51,150 --> 00:03:54,240
talking about what they're
looking for, not what it is that

72
00:03:54,240 --> 00:03:57,960
you're selling. As soon as you
start showing a demo, showing

73
00:03:57,960 --> 00:04:00,000
some sort of capabilities, you
look and act like a

74
00:04:00,000 --> 00:04:03,150
stereotypical salesperson. And
think about what happens when

75
00:04:03,150 --> 00:04:06,210
you walk into a store. And the
salesperson says May I help you?

76
00:04:06,480 --> 00:04:09,810
You probably like the rest of us
say no thanks. Just looking

77
00:04:09,840 --> 00:04:13,050
because we've been trained to
believe that we don't want to be

78
00:04:13,050 --> 00:04:15,900
sold to we don't want someone
else trying to sell us

79
00:04:15,900 --> 00:04:20,310
something. And so it gets that
knee jerk reaction that says,

80
00:04:20,520 --> 00:04:23,730
Look, get away from me, which is
a totally reasonable reaction I

81
00:04:23,730 --> 00:04:26,640
have. So instead, we want to
make sure that we're focusing on

82
00:04:26,640 --> 00:04:30,120
their issues. Now, some people
will say, wow, this person is

83
00:04:30,120 --> 00:04:32,910
really interested. I'm going to
focus my time on them. But I

84
00:04:32,910 --> 00:04:36,060
often ask is, so you spent a
half hour with that person,

85
00:04:36,060 --> 00:04:39,330
right? Oh, yeah, they were
really interested. Okay. How was

86
00:04:39,330 --> 00:04:42,030
their level of interest? And how
good of a fit are they compared

87
00:04:42,030 --> 00:04:46,140
to the three people who were
behind them? Who lost patience,

88
00:04:46,140 --> 00:04:49,140
lost interest, and went on to
the next booth? And the answer

89
00:04:49,140 --> 00:04:52,530
is we have no idea because we
didn't talk to those other

90
00:04:52,530 --> 00:04:57,240
people. So the idea is to have a
specific game plan at a trade

91
00:04:57,240 --> 00:05:00,630
show that says look, my goal is
kind of a kid Catch and release

92
00:05:00,630 --> 00:05:04,050
program like fishing, I want to
attract the interest of my ideal

93
00:05:04,050 --> 00:05:06,690
client, I want to find out
what's important to them. And is

94
00:05:06,690 --> 00:05:10,110
it important for them to try and
solve. And then once I gauge

95
00:05:10,110 --> 00:05:14,100
that interest, I either want to
set up a specific time, when

96
00:05:14,100 --> 00:05:17,370
it's not the typical show hours
to meet with them and in depth,

97
00:05:17,640 --> 00:05:20,430
or I want to schedule the time I
take out my phone or something

98
00:05:20,430 --> 00:05:24,000
like that and say, Hey, why
don't we schedule a time for the

99
00:05:24,000 --> 00:05:27,660
second day after you return from
this event. And we can talk

100
00:05:27,660 --> 00:05:30,390
about in greater detail to see
whether or not we can help. I

101
00:05:30,390 --> 00:05:33,090
don't want to monopolize your
time, I'm sure you want to see a

102
00:05:33,090 --> 00:05:35,880
lot of other people here. And
I'd be happy to talk to you next

103
00:05:35,880 --> 00:05:38,520
week to see whether or not we
might be able to help. What that

104
00:05:38,520 --> 00:05:41,310
does is it allows you to pique
their interest and you don't

105
00:05:41,310 --> 00:05:44,880
seem desperate. Instead, what
people do is they spend all this

106
00:05:44,880 --> 00:05:47,820
time with that individual and
they they totally overlook the

107
00:05:47,820 --> 00:05:51,930
people behind them who might be
even a better fit. The idea is

108
00:05:51,930 --> 00:05:56,250
to come out of the show, saying,
here are the subset of people

109
00:05:56,370 --> 00:05:59,310
who had a genuine interest who
impressed upon us that that

110
00:05:59,310 --> 00:06:02,430
problem was costing them enough
to make it worth finding a

111
00:06:02,430 --> 00:06:05,520
solution. And we've already
scheduled a time next week for

112
00:06:05,520 --> 00:06:08,460
us to follow up with them and
find out whether or not we can

113
00:06:08,460 --> 00:06:12,510
help. See, the idea is that we
want to come away with a list of

114
00:06:12,510 --> 00:06:15,930
people who have interest in what
we do. And we're still not quite

115
00:06:15,930 --> 00:06:20,430
sure where the fit is, rather
than have 1/10 A number of

116
00:06:20,430 --> 00:06:23,100
people who we think are
interested, but we may have

117
00:06:23,100 --> 00:06:26,910
missed some of the better
opportunities. So as you're

118
00:06:26,910 --> 00:06:30,750
looking at trade shows, just to
recap where we're at. First,

119
00:06:30,750 --> 00:06:33,750
make sure that your messaging on
the trade show is focused on the

120
00:06:33,750 --> 00:06:36,180
problems that you solve, not
what it is that you're selling.

121
00:06:36,390 --> 00:06:40,110
Then, if there are people who
you know, are attending the show

122
00:06:40,110 --> 00:06:43,320
you want to meet with, reach out
to them in advance, talk about

123
00:06:43,320 --> 00:06:45,810
the trends you're seeing in the
industry, not just you want to

124
00:06:45,810 --> 00:06:49,200
show them a demo. In fact, we
want to avoid demos in these

125
00:06:49,200 --> 00:06:52,080
trade shows wherever possible,
because once you're doing that

126
00:06:52,080 --> 00:06:55,140
you look and act like a
stereotypical salesperson. Once

127
00:06:55,140 --> 00:06:57,630
they come to the booth, we ask
questions like What inspired you

128
00:06:57,630 --> 00:07:00,480
to stop by today? And they'll
usually talk down about

129
00:07:00,480 --> 00:07:03,360
something they saw. That's a
problem. You say? Why that one,

130
00:07:03,360 --> 00:07:06,330
now they're talking about their
problem, then we want to gauge

131
00:07:06,330 --> 00:07:09,480
how important that problem is
for them and set up a follow up

132
00:07:09,480 --> 00:07:13,110
time to take a deeper dive. If
you follow that approach, you'll

133
00:07:13,110 --> 00:07:16,080
get a much higher conversion
rate than you might otherwise

134
00:07:16,260 --> 00:07:18,240
and you're not going to come
across like that pushy

135
00:07:18,240 --> 00:07:21,360
salesperson. If there are topics
you'd like me to address, just

136
00:07:21,360 --> 00:07:25,350
drop me a note to Ian at Ian
altman.com Of course visit same

137
00:07:25,350 --> 00:07:30,120
side selling.com And I will see
you next time on the Same Side

138
00:07:30,120 --> 00:07:31,740
Selling podcast so long