President: Our strategic plan identified the need to increase tradeshow efficiency. How are we doing?
VP Marketing: We have identified a flexible software platform that supports the implementation of an end to end strategic process. We intend to implement the platform as a baseline process to support our drive to higher efficiency.
CIO: Have my people evaluated the software?
VP Marketing: No need. This was another factor in selecting this solution. Everything can be operated outside of our firewall including the e-marketing aspects on the web platform which is executed through their servers including the hosting our graphics. Also the tradeshow laptops managed by our exhibit house are rarely if ever on our network.
President: Given our budget freeze how can you implement this platform – what is the cost?
VP Marketing: Because we attend approximately 30 events, we have been spending $24,000 on tradeshow lead retrieval. This platform saves the company $14,000 in lead retrieval cost and offers substantial software functionality improvements. The Total Cost of Ownership is very close to $0.
President: What is the time to implement?
VP Marketing: We can be up and running within a week for e-Marketing and would look to be fully conversant with the software in 3 months. Support from the company is provided at no cost to us and they have 24x7 tech support.
President: Isn’t the e-Marketing function redundant with our plan for a marketing automation system?
VP Marketing: Strategically, no. We have unlimited e-marketing available to us to support tradeshow activities at no cost at zero cost. We consider it important to partition this aspect in order to collect tradeshow specific metrics to support the ongoing effort to evaluate what shows produce the best results. The system also allows dynamic merging of specifically selected product information to be sent to each attendee. This aspect alone will save on marketing material production, shipping and drayage with the ancillary tactical benefit of supporting of our environmental strategic goals.
Importantly, the platform leverages our marketing automation platform with better data input on potential clients which is one of the objectives of the new Service Level Agreement between Sales and Marketing.
President: This is the first I have heard of this Service Level Agreement. Explain.
VP Marketing: Remember the last Leadership Retreat? We heard from the VP of Marketing from MathMarketing, the consulting firm that presented those statistics about alignment?
President: Right. Yes I remember but refresh the rest of the team.
VP Marketing: If you recall, businesses that achieve alignment between Sales and Marketing are growing 5.4 points faster, closing 38% more proposals and losing 36% fewer customers to competitors. The Sales team and I felt we could do a better job of defining what the sales team needed from our in-booth lead qualification. This platform excels at rapidly collecting qualification information and delivers to our CRM custom imports using a software function they developed for HP. Sales information can be in the CRM and available to the sales team within 24 hours.
President: I am happy to see a collaborative environment developing between Sales and Marketing. What is the company?
VP Marketing: Capture Technologies is a New Jersey based company with a very strong client list. Essentially, they are supporting events for the majority of the Fortune 50 including HP, the largest information technology company in the world and John Deere, the largest agricultural company in the world. And they have worked closely with two of the largest private companies in the world, Maritz Travel and Mars North American Chocolate.
I would like to take this opportunity to publically commend my team and the sales team for identifying this opportunity and bringing it to my attention.
President: Excellent work and please keep us informed on your progress for both Marketing and Sales results.
Our process driven web platform will allow your company to dramatically improve tradeshow performance. Contact me or have one of your team call me. I know we can help you improve your tradeshow ROI.
Steve McWilliams
VP Sales & Marketing
973-890-7600 Ext 117
smcwilliams@captureleads.com
Tuesday, July 19, 2011
Tuesday, July 12, 2011
Why Sales Hates Tradeshow Leads
"Hates" is a harsh word but trust me as a one-time straight commission broker for Shearson Lehman in the Eighties, phone work can be mind numbing. See if the two examples below ring true to you.
First Scenario
This is Chris’ eighth call to Pat over a three week period:
Chris the Sales Person: Hi Pat, this is Chris at Ajax. I am so glad we connected. I want to thank you for giving us your time in the booth at the IBX 2011 Show. How can I help you?
Pat the Attendee: Gosh Chris, I was in so many booths at the show and can you remind me what your company does?
Chris the Sales Person We make the o-ring seals for the NDN series of compressors.
Pat the Attendee: Right, well Chris, we don’t use compressors but I want to thank you for the two multi-colored highlighters. They were a big hit and I gave the other to Gary in Engineering. Take care; hope to see you next year!
Second Scenario
Chris the Sales Person: Bob this is Chris at Ajax. I got a note to call you ASAP. How can I help you?
Bob the Attendee (a little confused): I spent 25 – 30 minutes in your booth with your engineering manager discussing what he thought were the best solutions for the problems I have been having with my NDN series compressors. Didn’t he send his notes?
Chris the Sales Person: No but maybe I can help. How many compressors do you use at your facility? Is your customer base local, regional or national?
Bob the Attendee (a bit peeved): Actually Chris, I have 157 NDN compressors around the world in 27 facilities. Your team needs to communicate better but I think you answered the important question. Good Luck Chris.
***************************************************************************
“B2B marketers who emphasize lead volume over lead quality reduce sales efficiency, increase campaign costs, and fuel the gap between sales and marketing.”
Laura Ramos, Forrester Research
If you go to 25 tradeshows a year and you scan on average 125 badges per show, you are delivering 3125 unique names to the sales organization. Of that 3125, there is a good chance that the majority came in the booth (possibly shanghaied from the aisle) and handed your latest’s promotional item during a badge scan (no doubt the person who shanghaied the most got an American Express $50 gift certificate). Unfortunately, the sales team has to follow up on 2,000 badge scans (you can’t really call them leads) that are dead ends. Considering it takes on average 5 calls to reach a person at their desk, this equates to 10,000 wasted phone calls. Is it any wonder sales has little respect for tradeshow leads?
What really hurts is the “Bob’s” of the world that got away.
We are experiencing a paradigm shift in tradeshow and event industry. The LeadWare™ software platform offers the comprehensive functionality needed to reverse the negative effects of the conventional wisdom for data collection at tradeshows.
I am reaching out to you because you represent the strategic thinkers in your company and understand that alignment to a new and valid paradigm is important to achieving your tradeshow and event strategic objectives.
Capture Technologies is a software development company in its tenth year. We have supported the largest IT hardware provider in the world and the largest agricultural company in the world for many years with LeadWare™. Other LeadWare™ clients include: Canon, Fujitsu, Maritz Travel, HSM Group, Lincoln Financial Group and McGraw-Hill; we support events worldwide for the majority of the Fortune 50 and the thousands of companies using our software each year. We have saved two of the above companies over $300,000 in two years just in tradeshow lead retrieval costs alone.
The Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) of LeadWare™ is admirably low. Even for the smallest company, the TCO of our software services cost less than what they normally budget for inferior tradeshow provided lead retrieval. LeadWare™ can reduce pressure on your tradeshow budget and have a significant positive effect on your tradeshow investment return.
Our process driven web platform will allow your company to dramatically improve tradeshow performance. Contact me or have one of your team call me. I know we can help you improve your tradeshow ROI.
First Scenario
This is Chris’ eighth call to Pat over a three week period:
Chris the Sales Person: Hi Pat, this is Chris at Ajax. I am so glad we connected. I want to thank you for giving us your time in the booth at the IBX 2011 Show. How can I help you?
Pat the Attendee: Gosh Chris, I was in so many booths at the show and can you remind me what your company does?
Chris the Sales Person We make the o-ring seals for the NDN series of compressors.
Pat the Attendee: Right, well Chris, we don’t use compressors but I want to thank you for the two multi-colored highlighters. They were a big hit and I gave the other to Gary in Engineering. Take care; hope to see you next year!
Second Scenario
Chris the Sales Person: Bob this is Chris at Ajax. I got a note to call you ASAP. How can I help you?
Bob the Attendee (a little confused): I spent 25 – 30 minutes in your booth with your engineering manager discussing what he thought were the best solutions for the problems I have been having with my NDN series compressors. Didn’t he send his notes?
Chris the Sales Person: No but maybe I can help. How many compressors do you use at your facility? Is your customer base local, regional or national?
Bob the Attendee (a bit peeved): Actually Chris, I have 157 NDN compressors around the world in 27 facilities. Your team needs to communicate better but I think you answered the important question. Good Luck Chris.
***************************************************************************
“B2B marketers who emphasize lead volume over lead quality reduce sales efficiency, increase campaign costs, and fuel the gap between sales and marketing.”
Laura Ramos, Forrester Research
If you go to 25 tradeshows a year and you scan on average 125 badges per show, you are delivering 3125 unique names to the sales organization. Of that 3125, there is a good chance that the majority came in the booth (possibly shanghaied from the aisle) and handed your latest’s promotional item during a badge scan (no doubt the person who shanghaied the most got an American Express $50 gift certificate). Unfortunately, the sales team has to follow up on 2,000 badge scans (you can’t really call them leads) that are dead ends. Considering it takes on average 5 calls to reach a person at their desk, this equates to 10,000 wasted phone calls. Is it any wonder sales has little respect for tradeshow leads?
What really hurts is the “Bob’s” of the world that got away.
We are experiencing a paradigm shift in tradeshow and event industry. The LeadWare™ software platform offers the comprehensive functionality needed to reverse the negative effects of the conventional wisdom for data collection at tradeshows.
I am reaching out to you because you represent the strategic thinkers in your company and understand that alignment to a new and valid paradigm is important to achieving your tradeshow and event strategic objectives.
Capture Technologies is a software development company in its tenth year. We have supported the largest IT hardware provider in the world and the largest agricultural company in the world for many years with LeadWare™. Other LeadWare™ clients include: Canon, Fujitsu, Maritz Travel, HSM Group, Lincoln Financial Group and McGraw-Hill; we support events worldwide for the majority of the Fortune 50 and the thousands of companies using our software each year. We have saved two of the above companies over $300,000 in two years just in tradeshow lead retrieval costs alone.
The Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) of LeadWare™ is admirably low. Even for the smallest company, the TCO of our software services cost less than what they normally budget for inferior tradeshow provided lead retrieval. LeadWare™ can reduce pressure on your tradeshow budget and have a significant positive effect on your tradeshow investment return.
Our process driven web platform will allow your company to dramatically improve tradeshow performance. Contact me or have one of your team call me. I know we can help you improve your tradeshow ROI.
When Tradeshows Can Be a Massive Waste of Money and Resources
Take a minute to see if this scenario sounds familiar.
Step 1: You invest $30,000 in a booth that can do double duty as an Island and Inline booth – very smart and efficient.
Step 2: You spend $6,000 per event for four booth staff members. Booth space cost, shipping & drayage and ancillary costs will move you into $20,000 to $25,000 range. Over five shows perhaps an aggregate of $125,000 plus some portion of booth cost amortized across the schedule. Let’s agree on $150,000 to cover the five major events plus the smaller events.
The primary purpose of attending the event is expanding market share through identifying and converting booth attendees to new clients.
Step 3: You make a common mistake of enticing attendees into the booth with the de rigueur Barnum and Bailey tricks and promotional items. Let’s say over ten shows you average 150 badge scans. Reality Check: 50% or more of the attendees have no real interest in purchasing your product and often promotional items are pushed onto attendees with the concomitant badge scan to avoid the hassle and cost of back shipping.
Step 4: The end product is 750 poorly qualified attendees leaving the booth. The leads are poorly qualified because badge data is inaccurate; there is no ability to electronically edit the information in the booth or collect specific information that Sales has identified as important to the sales process. Unfortunately, Sales will still have to follow up with all 1500 attendees to determine that, after thousands of wasted calls, the attendees merely wanted a promotional item or to enter a raffle for a Kindle or iPad.
Historically, Marketing has used badge scans as a Key Performance Indicator (KPI) to validate show success. Following this path will actually reduce sales efficiency, increase campaign costs, and fuel the gap between sales and marketing.
Step 5: Debrief: You have invested $150,000 and Sales had to wade through 1500 names to arrive at the unfortunate conclusion that only 5% of the attendees might potentially be a new client and, given your historic close rate, you might garner 10-15 new clients. You just spent $1,000 to $1,500 per new client and clogged your marketing automation system with bad information. The booth, based on your current process, is too big and overstaffed to meet your real attendee interaction needs.
You could achieve better results with half the investment and the use of consistent strategic processes to improve the number of qualified attendees to your booth, gather pertinent information for Sales, deliver specific product information to attendees and provide valid reports to management.
If this resonates with you, to help I only need verification of one aspect of your program: Your team wants to improve their performance and, if that is the case, I am sure we can help.
Step 1: You invest $30,000 in a booth that can do double duty as an Island and Inline booth – very smart and efficient.
Step 2: You spend $6,000 per event for four booth staff members. Booth space cost, shipping & drayage and ancillary costs will move you into $20,000 to $25,000 range. Over five shows perhaps an aggregate of $125,000 plus some portion of booth cost amortized across the schedule. Let’s agree on $150,000 to cover the five major events plus the smaller events.
The primary purpose of attending the event is expanding market share through identifying and converting booth attendees to new clients.
Step 3: You make a common mistake of enticing attendees into the booth with the de rigueur Barnum and Bailey tricks and promotional items. Let’s say over ten shows you average 150 badge scans. Reality Check: 50% or more of the attendees have no real interest in purchasing your product and often promotional items are pushed onto attendees with the concomitant badge scan to avoid the hassle and cost of back shipping.
Step 4: The end product is 750 poorly qualified attendees leaving the booth. The leads are poorly qualified because badge data is inaccurate; there is no ability to electronically edit the information in the booth or collect specific information that Sales has identified as important to the sales process. Unfortunately, Sales will still have to follow up with all 1500 attendees to determine that, after thousands of wasted calls, the attendees merely wanted a promotional item or to enter a raffle for a Kindle or iPad.
Historically, Marketing has used badge scans as a Key Performance Indicator (KPI) to validate show success. Following this path will actually reduce sales efficiency, increase campaign costs, and fuel the gap between sales and marketing.
Step 5: Debrief: You have invested $150,000 and Sales had to wade through 1500 names to arrive at the unfortunate conclusion that only 5% of the attendees might potentially be a new client and, given your historic close rate, you might garner 10-15 new clients. You just spent $1,000 to $1,500 per new client and clogged your marketing automation system with bad information. The booth, based on your current process, is too big and overstaffed to meet your real attendee interaction needs.
You could achieve better results with half the investment and the use of consistent strategic processes to improve the number of qualified attendees to your booth, gather pertinent information for Sales, deliver specific product information to attendees and provide valid reports to management.
If this resonates with you, to help I only need verification of one aspect of your program: Your team wants to improve their performance and, if that is the case, I am sure we can help.
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