Winston's e-Newsletter - 17 February 2009

Thinking outside the square
Make sure you don't miss this
Making Trade Shows work
Books you should read
Another commercial

 

Thinking outside the square

Once times like these started to emerge some resourceful people went to amazing lengths to sell their homes. For example, an unemployed Spaniard took it up a notch by selling raffle tickets in an effort to get rid of his $520,000 Spanish apartment as he can't sell it or keep on top of the mortgage payments. The former real estate agent, who lost his job when Spain's real estate market took a dive, aims to ease his worried mind and raise the value of his mortgage by selling 64,000 raffle tickets at 5 euros (A$10) each. (Sourced from epro Newsletter from L.J. Hooker Evans Head evanshead@ljh.com.au)

 

Make sure you don't miss this

My upcoming TeleSeminar is a special one. I'm going to spend the hour giving some down-to-earth, plain and simple, nitty gritty ideas that you can use to keep the business and money rolling in during times like these. They are ideas that you can use immediately and won't break the bank (in fact most of them will cost you nothing but a little time and some elbow grease). So, if you're ready to roll up your sleeves and get serious about ensuring that your business prospers make sure you register for it here. When you register, I want you to tell me about your business so I can make sure you get ideas specifically for you.

 

Making Trade Shows Work

Recently a friend invested big money in a stand at one of those Trade Shows that are put on when a posse of American speakers hit town for a day or two to spread their messages. Because my friend didn't really make a great fist of it, it prompted me to jot down some thoughts on how to make a trade show stand work.

He had the opportunity to set up a stand where people were going to have coffee and lunch. So, he really only had a few minutes in the whole day to take advantage of the situation. Now, was he right in paying that money for a stand? Yes, because the sort of people that were going to be there were the sort of people he wanted for his product. They were exactly right. So, it was very, very good from that view point. He had the right target market there. But if you don't get the message across in the right way, you're going to waste your time.

So, most importantly, you have to make sure that where your stand is to be sited is where the people are going to be. You've only got a very short time to have a crack at them, so you need to be amongst them. You've got to find out from the organizers exactly and precisely where they're going to serve coffee, where they're going to serve lunch and then work out where the people will be. And, by the way, one of the best selling opportunities you get is after people are registered and whilst they're hanging about waiting to get into the auditorium. You want to ask yourself, "What are they going to do then and where are they going to be?" Because they don't know anybody, they're standing around; they're looking for something to do. That's where I'd get my stand.

Next, you've got to decide what you want to do, what you want to achieve, and have a singular focus on that. Do you want to sell them something, do you want to get their names and addresses, do you want to just say hello to people? What is it you want to do? And my tip is always to get contact details and their permission to follow them up, by offering to send them some exciting information. I don't like trying to sell from the stand because you sell to somebody who turns out to be a tyre kicker and, meantime, you miss the opportunity to talk to lots of other people who would have bought. So, what are you going to do with the stand you've got?

Next question? Although you might be in a good traffic area, how do you attract them to your stand? What are you going to do that makes them come across and want to talk to you? Are you going to use action, information or exhibits that will seize their attention and have them come to you? You might have a juggler juggling, you might have a piece of machinery running, or attractive people demonstrating products, or lights and bells and whistles, or a spinning wheel to give away prizes, or giveaways that they lust for, but make sure you think about what it is that will get them to your stand.

Now, the next question to ask is "What do you want them to do?" My suggestion is that you want them to give you a business card so that you can do that follow-up, but you don't want them to give you the business card unless they are really interested in your product or service. If they give it to you just in the chance that they win a prize, then when you follow them up there won't be any interest. So, whatever you're doing at your stand must qualify them and have only those people that have some interest in what you've got give you a business card.

So next, ask yourself "How will we get those people to do that?" And, of course, if we've made the attraction sufficient, they'll willingly give us their business card, but if not, we've got to go to our next point which is "Script what you want your people to say". Never, ever let any team member on the stand just saying whatever comes into their head. What you've got to do is write the script, from the approach to the person right through to when they depart the stand. Everything must be carefully scripted to give you the best possible result.

That, of course, leads to an important issue… PRD, that's practise, rehearse and drill. Don't wait until people get to the stand to try out what you're going to say - you've only got limited time. So, get the team together and role play until the presentations are perfect. Perfect practice makes for perfect delivery.

What's next? Well, assuming you've been successful and got the information you need, follow up pronto. I reckon if you get their business card today, it would be great to have the information on their desk the very next day because people are going to say, "Wow, look at that. These people are really on the ball." And, of course, if you leave it too long, by the time they get the information, they've forgotten who you are, where they met you and why they wanted the information. So, follow up pronto.

And finally, don't expect them to buy immediately. After all, you were in their face, you invaded their thought space, their head space. Stay in touch. It may take a little time, but you need to carefully build and nurture the relationship by staying in touch, those six to eleven times a year. Ultimately, those people will do business with you. And when they do business as a result of your stand at an event when a posse of speakers came to town, you'll reap rich rewards.

 

Books you should read

My great mate, the retail whiz Jurek Leon from the sandgroper state reckons that he is often asked "What business books would you recommend to help me think more clearly about my business and get ahead of the competition?" So in a recent edition of his newsletter he took the time and trouble to list his top 10. You'll find them here Can I suggest you aim to read at least one of them every month so that you'll be through the list by Christmas; of course that's in addition to the normal quota of books you read. Remember, the late Charlie "Tremendous" Jones said "The only difference between the person you are today and the person you'll be in 5 years time is the books you read and the people you meet."

 

Another commercial

Every edition of this e-zine I include a television or cyberspace commercial that's caught my eye. Sometimes they are just great and sometimes I reckon they're ones where the client or the agency is having a lend of themselves. This one's a bit of fun but I wonder whether people actually bought a ticket after they'd had a laugh.

 

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