A new customer relationship is a beautiful thing. They’re happy. You’re happy. Everybody’s happy. But maintaining customer relations takes hard work.

Even if nothing goes wrong, relationships can still deteriorate. It doesn’t take long for customers to grow bored, lose interest, and move on. And detecting when relationships are going stale is easier said than done. It’s not like anyone’s sending e-mails to give some sort of last chance notice before leaving.

The truth is that most of us are too busy drumming up new business to pay any attention to customer attrition. And therein lies the problem. In our efforts to find more customers we unknowingly create an ongoing churn cycle. We exhaust ourselves trying to win new customers faster than our old customers leave. Addressing symptoms doesn’t resolve the problem.

Focusing on the funnel doesn’t patch the pail.

Luckily, St. Valentine provides us with a great opportunity to get started on the patchwork. It’s the perfect time to reignite the passion that’s missing in our relationships, personal and business alike. Follow these 3 steps to use Valentine’s Day to your advantage and keep customers from breaking up with you.

Give Gifts and Keep on Giving

There’s nothing quite like receiving a gift. What better occasion than Valentine’s Day to send some love in a box of chocolates or a bottle of wine?

Gifts, even of the smallest size, are a powerful demonstration of affection. And I’m not talking about the, “Happy Valentine’s Day, here’s a coupon for our services!” kind of gift. I’m talking about the honest-to-goodness, no-strings-attached kind of gift that leaves an impression and warms the receiver’s heart.

Gifts send one of two messages:

1. I’m lucky to be your friend
   OR
2. I want to be your friend

So if you haven’t received any gifts lately, maybe that should tell you something…

Haha, just kidding.

All joking aside, most businesses don’t even bother sending gifts to their customers. It’s often filed under customer service and seen as an expense rather than an investment. In reality, though, buying something special for customers can be one of the most impactful customer retention strategies. Just remember that it’s an investment in the relationship, not a mutual fund!

Application: Send thoughtful gifts to each of your customers on Valentine’s Day. The key word here being “thoughtful.” A scarf for customers up North, a fruit basket for the healthier crowd, a monthly coffee club subscription for the caffeine addicts, etc. The gifts don’t have to be expensive and they don’t even have to be Valentine’s Day-related, but they absolutely must be personalized to your customers. Just like any other gift, “it’s the thought that counts.”

How do you find out what gifts your customers would like to receive? Read the next tip!

Be Interested and Become Interesting

                                       I’m sure we’ve all come across a Derek Zoolander in our lives; no matter how interesting the person may be, it’s ruined by his narcissism. There’s a big difference between asking questions to learn about someone and listening to that person drone on and on about himself voluntarily. Imagine being in a relationship with someone like that. The horror!

Even scarier: what if that’s how your customers feel about you? Yikes!

Are e-mail newsletters and content marketing just other ways to promote products and services? Are phone calls to “catch up” or “check in” nothing more than attempts to sell something? Or maybe there’s simply no communication at all, and customers assume they must not be worth the trouble. Not exactly the message you want to send, right?

Let’s look through our customers’ eyes.

The very first purchase is a transactional interaction: we offer a service, and our customers compensate us. To “keep in touch” we send information about sales specials, new product releases, and company highlights. But these communiqués only reinforce the original foundation of the relationship: it’s all about the Benjamins.

So when customers find another provider who offers what they need and does it faster or cheaper, is there any wonder why they jump ship? After all, we’ve given them no reason to think of our relationship as anything more than transactional.

The panacea for customer turnover is valuing customers more than their wallets. Make friends, not contacts. Build relationships, not business.

Application: Make a point to take an interest in your customers this Valentine’s Day. Stop talking and start listening. Follow them on Twitter, friend them on Facebook, add them on Google+, and sign up for their newsletters. Pay attention to what they say; take the time to retweet, like, and share their posts. Read their blog and leave comments. Engage with your customers.

Ask your customers for their opinions. What could you be doing better? What kind of solutions would they like to see your company offer? How can you make their lives easier? Take their input to heart. Incorporate it into your service. Offer your help for free!

Discover your customers’ wants and needs. Send an e-mail questionnaire to learn about their biggest fears and aspirations. Act on the information by connecting them to resources that can help them address their concerns and attain their goals.

When your customers see how much interest you take in them, they will take an interest in you. But it requires some effort so don’t expect results overnight. Some customers won’t respond, and that’s okay. For those that do respond, you’ll eventually need to show that you’re serious about a long-term customer relationship. Here’s how.

Set a Date to Date

By now your customers know that you have pure intentions; you care more about what you can do for them than what they can do for you. So they should have no questions about your motives when you take the relationship to the next level and ask them to go on a date.

[notification type=”alert-warning” close=”false”] Gut check: if you’re only pretending to be interested in your customers, you should know that eventually your disingenuous ways will catch up to you. Building lifelong clients requires that you be authentically concerned for their best interests. A selfless attitude cannot be faked. You’ve been warned![/notification]

A business date may not seem like that big of a deal, especially if you’ve already spent time with your customers face-to-face. You’ve probably arranged a number of meetings to help you achieve important business objectives: close the sale, discuss a project, deliver your service, etc. But this time it isn’t about you; it’s about your customers.

Application: Call your customers on Valentine’s Day and say you’d like to go on a “business date” with them. Tell them that you want to hear about how things are going. Have they had any recent news? Any accomplishments to celebrate? Any challenges to overcome? Have they made progress towards the goals that they’ve told you about?

Encourage your customers. Compliment them on what they’re doing well, and tell them why you think they are great companies. Find out what new objectives they have on the horizon, and ask what you can do to support them.

The purpose of the meeting is to highlight your customers. The focus is on them.

Spread The Love This Valentine’s Day

Take advantage of the unique opportunity that Valentine’s Day gives you to strengthen your relationships with your customers. Surprise them with a gift, show interest in them, and encourage them in-person. You may find that you’ll have several Valentines this year!

[notification type=”alert-info” close=”false”]What success have you had with using Valentine’s Day to build relationships with your customers? We’d love to hear from you![/notification]

The goal of experiential marketing, or any type of marketing for that matter, is to increase sales. We all want a return on our investment, right? Otherwise marketing would just be a fun way to waste a lot of time and money.

When it comes to experiential marketing, though, it can be especially difficult to measure the sales generated by a campaign. If no clear link ties the marketing event to specific sales, then it’s impossible to attribute success to the program with any certainty.

Sales results are the only way to calculate marketing’s ROI, and incorporating a purchase opportunity directly into the experiential campaign is the best tool to get concrete sales results. But what happens when it doesn’t make sense to sell at a marketing event?

[notification type=”alert-info”]“Thanks for test-driving our car! Would you like to buy it right now?”[/notification]

Good luck with that one. Buying a car is a complex purchasing decision. Except for Oprah, of course.

So companies whose products and services fall closer to the impulse side of the purchase decision spectrum have it easy: simply extend an invitation to buy and evaluate the sales results.

Great for them, but where does that leave the rest of us? No buying opportunity means no sales results. And no sales results means no way to measure ROI, right?

Yes, that’s right, but thankfully, there’s another way to get sales results.

Don’t Reinvent the Shoe

Television, Internet, and social media have undoubtedly changed the advertising game, but don’t be deceived by the vanity metrics that have come along with them to “measure” success. There’s no need to reinvent how to calculate ROI; no metric is a substitution for sales.

Instead of spinning your wheels trying to guestimate the sales results of your experiential marketing efforts with dubious metrics (e.g. impressions, social sharing, etc.), piggyback your campaign with a tried and true method for gathering hard sales figures: outbound marketing.

Outbound Marketing Is Extinct…Sort Of

You don’t have to look far to find skeptics questioning the effectiveness of outbound marketing. Can you blame them, though? I can’t recall a time I actually signed up for a home security system after hearing the robot on the other line tell me about how the FBI reports a break-in every 15 seconds.

Outbound marketing on its own is one thing. Pairing outbound marketing with an experiential campaign, though, makes for a powerful combination. Plus, the outbound efforts provide the sales results needed to measure the experiential campaign’s ROI.

So you might be wondering, “If all I’m doing is funneling my experiential marketing audience into an outbound marketing campaign, why bother with experiential marketing in the first place?”

Well, there are two reasons. First, because you would never have gotten this new audience without experiential marketing. Second, because experiential marketing gives you a more engaged audience.

Think of it this way.

What was the difference between the success of #1 and the failure of #2?

A shared experience.

Without a shared experience, scenario #2 just comes off as creepy. Why? Because there’s no context. Experiential marketing creates the context.

It allows you to break the ice like no other marketing method. It creates a bond between you and your audience. It makes all the difference between a cold call and a warm lead.

Establish context and use outbound marketing to provide the buying opportunity that you weren’t able to offer in the experiential campaign. Then you’ll be able to gather the missing information you need: sales results.

Knowledge is Power

Now it’s time to choose the best outbound marketing tactics to implement. There are a lot of factors to consider when making this decision, but you know your industry and customers best. Where do your customers spend their time? What are their interests? What communication medium best suits your products/services?

The marketing efforts you employ will dictate the goals for your experiential campaign.

• If you plan to use e-mail marketing, then the goal of your experiential campaign is to collect e-mails from your audience.
• If you use direct mail, then the goal of your experiential campaign is to get home addresses from your audience.
• If you use SMS marketing, then the goal of your experiential campaign is to gather cell phone numbers from your audience.

Make sense?

And if you really want to go above and beyond, then you’ll try to gather as much information as possible. This gives you an opportunity to compare different direct marketing tactics to see which one is the most effective. But be careful, people aren’t keen on sharing personal information and if pushed too far they may decline giving any at all.

Some information is always better than none!

After launching the outbound campaign, collect the sales results and compare them to the marketing expenses. Be sure to include the cost of the experiential AND outbound marketing programs.

So, this is what the ratio will look like (drum roll, please):

Sales Results / (Experiential + Outbound Marketing Expenses) = ROI

Pretty straightforward, huh?

Keep It Stupid Simple

If this calculation seems too easy to be true, then you’re making it too complicated. Using sales results to determine ROI not only gives the most accurate picture, but it also throws out the need for confusing formulas.

Tracking your experiential marketing’s ROI doesn’t have to be difficult. Don’t make it any harder than it has to be; follow the methods above and you’ll have a clear understanding of how your marketing is working for you.

[notification type=”alert-info”]Do you have a different take on calculating experiential marketing’s ROI? Want to add your two cents to the conversation? Please do! I’d love for you to share and start a discussion![/notification]

In today’s world it’s safe to say we are all bombarded with a ridiculous number of advertisements from sunrise to sunset. One study claims that the average person encounters up to 5,000 marketing messages per day.

While I do question the accuracy of such a wild declaration, it nonetheless successfully demonstrates an obvious (and yet, not so obvious) reality: more than ever, marketers must find innovative ways to elevate their brands above all of the other distractions competing for our attention.

Enter experiential marketing

Most marketing tactics add another message to the cacophony of advertisements that inevitably becomes indistinguishable from the rest of the noise.

Experiential marketing, however, creates a unique, engaging interaction between the audience and the brand. What does that mean for marketers? Television commercials, Facebook ads, and direct mail campaigns with feature-benefit statements simply aren’t cutting it.

If you don’t believe me, just look at the marketplace. TiVo customers enjoy the benefits of skipping annoying commercials; AdBlocker allows users to surf Facebook ad-free; and a national “Do Not Mail” list gives us the ability to opt out of receiving the direct mailers that serve no other purpose than to fill our trashcans.

Now don’t get me wrong, I’m not trying to give these marketing channels a bad rap. In fact, television commercials, Facebook ads, and even direct mailers can all be included in an effective experiential marketing strategy. The point I’m trying to make is that these ad protection services have been created because most marketing messages are nothing more than a nuisance.

Why are they a nuisance? Because they’re boring.
Why are they boring? Because they offer the audience facts and figures instead of an experience.

“But the facts and figures about my service are incredible. When people compare my service with others they will surely choose mine. Humans are rational beings after all.”

Well now, if that were true then Starbucks would never have been able to steal customers from its less expensive competitors who offered an equally great-tasting cup of joe. If humans truly are rational, then customers would have scoffed at the idea of paying so much more at Starbucks for relatively similar coffee.

So what’s the deal here? How did Starbucks grow into the behemoth that it is when any logical consumer would avoid the steeper prices altogether? Consider what Dan Ariely, a professor of psychology and behavioral economics at Duke University, had to say about this phenomenon in his book, Predictably Irrational:

“When Howard Shultz created Starbucks, he was as intuitive a businessman as Salvador Assael. He worked diligently to separate Starbucks from other coffee shops, not through price but through ambience…Starbucks did everything in its power…to make the experience feel different – so different that we would not use the prices at Dunkin’ Donuts as an anchor, but instead would be open to the new anchor that Starbucks was preparing for us. And that, to a great extent, is how Starbucks succeeded.”

Starbucks created an experience so powerful that patrons willingly threw logic out of the window in favor of this irrational behavior.

Since humans aren’t as rational as we originally thought, I hope we can agree that marketing messages that try to convince consumers on the basis of logic won’t suffice. So unless you want to sound like Charlie Brown’s teacher, start doing what works and launch an experiential marketing campaign.

Nothing Ever Becomes Real till it is Experienced

In 1819, a wise 23-year-old John Keats wrote a letter to his siblings, and hidden inside was a profound statement that still rings true today: nothing ever becomes real till it is experienced.

This proverb concisely sums up exactly why experiential marketing is so successful. Brands won’t even be a blip on the radar until they create an engaging experience for their target markets. People only take notice when they experience something unforgettable. As Seth Godin says, “you’re either a Purple Cow or you’re not.”

If standing out is the obvious thing to do, why is mundane marketing so prevalent?

It’s safe.

A certain level of comfort accompanies sticking with what’s familiar, especially if the existing marketing efforts have produced good enough results. I mean, being mediocre is better than being bad, right?

Here’s the thing.

Don’t let the fear of making a mistake let you make a mistake. Resolve to make your marketing a memorable and exciting experience that will put your brand on the map.

Experience is the Best Teacher

The following case studies are examples of experiential marketing at its finest, and the results of these campaigns speak for themselves. Let’s examine what each company did to pull off their unbelievable success.

Levi’s Summer Hotline

The Premise: In an effort to regain market share in a crowded Hong Kong jeans market place, Levi’s implemented an experiential campaign to ingratiate itself with its audience. Here’s a look at what Levi’s did:

The Result: As the video mentions, nearly 500,000 people interacted with the booths in a matter of only 3 days! And the beauty of experiential marketing is the added bonus of generating tons of viral and media buzz. No money was spent on marketing the booths, but word spread nonetheless, and Levi’s generated over $250,000 HKD worth of earned media coverage. Plus Levi’s efforts garnered thousands of mentions on social media and blogs. The sweetest ROI of all? Next week’s sales increased by over 30% compared to a typical week!

It’s efforts like these that turn customers into fans. Levi’s obviously wants to be seen as more than just a company that sells jeans. Levi’s wants to be viewed as a fun, exciting organization that connects with their customers. Levi’s wants its customers to pull for the company, to hope for its success.

The Takeaway: Don’t waste your time prying open wallets; invest your time in winning hearts. Win hearts, and you’ll earn business. In the game of Bridge, Diamonds always follows Hearts.

Tropicana Arctic Sun

The Premise: Tropicana’s marketing messages have long associated its brand with brightening mornings. “Your daily ray of sunshine.” “100% squeezed sunshine.” “We put the good in morning.” To show its commitment to this mission, Tropicana brought the sun to a small Canadian community. Literally.

The Results: Initially Tropicana’s Arctic Sun project may not appear to be a very good ROI because of its limitations in reach. After all, the small town of Inuvik, Canada only has 3,500 residents. But Tropicana knew if it could create a commercial of the event the video would resonate with viewers. Tropicana broadcasted the commercial on YouTube and in Television ads, directing viewers to Tropicana’s Facebook page.

What happened? The Facebook page gained 36,000 fans overnight. The story was featured in over 65 media outlets around the world, providing more than 20 million impressions. And the video has over 500,000 views on YouTube alone (who knows how many additional views the video received on other websites?). If all those results weren’t enough, even the Wikipedia page for Inuvik references Tropicana’s Arctic Sun event.

Not too shabby, eh?

The Takeaway: The immediate impact of an experiential marketing campaign is only the beginning of its reach. You don’t have to pull a stunt in the middle of Times Square in front of thousands of passersby to get the attention of the press.

Speaking of pulling stunts in a square…

TNT Drama Button

The Premise: TNT was launching for the first time in Belgium and wanted to make a splash in this new market. The marketing message focused on the high quality drama TNT has in its TV series, something in which the company apparently finds much pride. Heck, TNT’s slogan is “We know drama,” and even its URL is drama filled: www.tntdrama.com. But talk is cheap. If TNT really wants to get its point across, it needs to walk the walk.

That’s exactly what TNT did.

The Results: TNT’s Drama Button has two things in common with Tropicana’s Arctic Sun. First is the strategy to create a unique experience for a small audience and distribute the footage of the event to a much broader audience.

Second is success.

In less than 24 hours the video had over 10 million views on YouTube and 1 million shares on Facebook! But the viral video didn’t stop there. To date the video has over 48 million views and comments still roll in each day. All major Belgian media ran stories on the publicity stunt. But what really surprised TNT was that prominent international outlets also picked up the story and created buzz for the company in other countries as well. This generated millions of dollars worth of media coverage across the globe!

The Takeaway: The prerequisite for a successful experiential marketing campaign is not to create an experience. It’s to create an extraordinary experience.

Unforgettable marketing brings unremitting results.

Spanair Unexpected Luggage

The Premise: 190 people were flying on a Spanair flight on December 24^th from Barcelona to Las Palmas. Knowing that their customers would much rather be home on Christmas Eve than flying on an airplane, Spanair took the opportunity to create a very special moment that their passengers will always remember.

The Results: Once again, the power of recorded live events pays PR dividends. Within 48 hours of posting the video, the campaign racked up 100,000 views. In two weeks that number jumped up to 700,000! Viewers who were moved by the video made over 30,000 congratulatory messages and comments on YouTube, Twitter, and Facebook.

Unbelievable results for such a simple campaign.

The gifts that Spanair bought were really just a drop in the bucket, but the heartfelt intent was tremendous. In fact, if Spanair had taken the money spent on the gifts and instead given a credit to each passenger of the same amount, the effect would have been completely lost. Giving credits is what companies do for customers. Giving gifts is what friends do for friends.

The Takeaway: Customers are waiting for brands to lay aside the transactional company-customer relationship and start treating them like friends.

Eichborn Flyvertising

The Premise: German boutique publisher Eichborn wanted to distinguish itself as brave and unconventional at the Frankfurt International Book Fair, the biggest book and media fair in the world. Eichborn implemented a truly unique marketing stunt that incorporated the brand’s logo: the housefly.

The Results: It probably goes without saying, but the flies brought tons of traffic to the Eichborn booth. And that was only the beginning.

The YouTube video for the Eichborn flies attracted 800,000 viewers within its first month of being posted. Media sources and blogs across the globe covered the story. Perhaps the biggest victory was the 5,000 more clicks per month on Eichborn’s homepage.

With all those results you’d never guess how much was spent on the campaign.

A measly 500 Euros!

The Takeaway: Experiential marketing campaigns don’t have to break the bank. Go small on expenses and still get big ROI.

Is There Anyone So Wise As To Learn By The Experience Of Others? – Voltaire

These examples serve as great sources of inspiration. Even more, you can take the lessons learned from these successful campaigns and apply them to your own projects. Whatever the scale and budget, experiential marketing can help you reach your audience in a unique and memorable way.

[notification type=”alert-info” close=”false”]Have an experiential marketing success story of your own? Or know of other campaigns worthy of sharing? Take a moment to add your input to the conversation; we’d love to hear from you![/notification]

In the first article of this two-part series I explored some of the common trade show booth missteps exhibitors make that prevent them from winning new customers. Ending bad behavior is an important and necessary step in successfully courting business conference attendees but that alone doesn’t cut it. Not making mistakes only serves to keep the door open for the chance to connect with prospects. The key is the next step: executing good behavior.

So what does “good behavior” look like? The short answer: laying the groundwork for building relationships with prospects that will bud into life-long customers. The long (and more helpful) answer is found in the following set of principles that is applicable to any business in any industry, whether you sell Hawaii Chairs:

Or Solafeet units:

Or any other kind of product or service. Before jumping in entirely, though, take a second to consider an important preface that sets expectations for implementing this “how-to” guide.

The Big Picture

Winning customers with your trade show booth essentially comes down to incorporating a sales system into your presentation. Not very groundbreaking? Keep reading.

Most exhibitors simply copy the same sales process they use elsewhere and paste it into their trade show booths. Unfortunately, the strategies that may work in other settings don’t fly at business conferences. Changes must be made to get customers; a new process is needed.

Sticking to these adapted sales steps will yield the results you’re looking for: more customers. But there’s something else you need to keep in mind before diving into this new sales process.

Sales is a Science AND an Art +

The verdict is in, and it turns out both schools of thought are wrong (er, kind of). The age-old debate of science vs. art in the world of sales really isn’t a debate at all; it’s a collaboration. And the same applies to following the procedures below for winning customers with your trade show booth.

Science without art results in forcing prospects (against their will) into a specific sales cycle, awkward conversations that lead to nowhere, and failing to think outside of the box to solve prospects’ problems. On the other hand, art without science yields languishing sales cycles, inconsistent sales activity, and poor follow-up protocols. Combining the science and art of sales means harnessing the power of a disciplined process with the finesse of situational awareness. “Okay enough already! What’s this got to do with this article?”

The steps I’ve outlined are the science piece of the puzzle; the art needs to be supplied by you. Adhering to the prescriptions in this guide will only give you the theory as a foundation for your trade show booth. Determining the best ways to implement these principles comes from your knowledge of the industry, business conference event, and prospects in attendance.

With that in mind, let’s explore the best practices for winning customers.

HOOK ‘EM!

You may remember from the first article that using gimmicks unrelated to your value proposition, like Booth Babes and raffles, should be scraped because they inadvertently steal the attention away from your company and service. Even though these efforts ultimately backfire their sincere intention to attract attendees is spot on. It’s important to be sincere, but not sincerely wrong.

Keep the sincere intention; change the execution.

Evaluate what you do and consider how you can embellish it in an eye-catching way. After all, the purpose of your booth is to create opportunities to sell your product or service, right? So the value you offer needs to become the attention-grabbing focal point of your entire exhibit. Your hook needs to highlight your product or service. Pretty novel idea, huh?

Let me paint the picture for you.

As attendees roam the trade show floor they look out over all of the booths and one in particular sticks out above the rest, “Wow, what is that? Let’s go see!” Onlookers see a throng of people forming and can’t help but investigate (no one wants to miss the best booth!). Before you know it your company has become the talk of the town: not your Booth Babes; not your free iPad; your company. Need a little inspiration? Check out these exhibitors who hooked visitors by making their products and services the main feature of their booths in a creative and appealing fashion.

Get Up Close and Personal

What does Nelson’s Wildlife Safari do to stick out? Easy. Bring a poisonous reticulated Gila monster and watch joyfully as visitors stop by to Instagram, Tweet, and Facebook about their experiences. Check out the curiosity stirred up in the lady in the red suit jacket; she’s so enthralled by the spectacle that she’s paying no attention to her friend’s chatter! And the key takeaway here is that Nelson’s hook is, in fact, his service.

If Nelson’s company sold The Back Up or The Boyfriend Body Pillow then breaking out a venomous lizard would be nothing more than a ploy to draw a crowd. Lucky for Nelson, his service is naturally (no pun intended) entertaining.

Now you may be saying, “That’s not fair! What Nelson does is inherently more exciting than what my company does!” I’d say you’re probably right, but consider how different the results would have been if he just perpetuated the trade show booth status quo and took the easy (boring) route. Nelson could have simply brought a retractable company banner; brochures and rack cards with plenty of information about his service; a monitor with scrolling images of happy customers; and a raffle for a free giveaway.

How would that have turned out?

He would have had streams of passersby who feigned interest in his service, a fishbowl of business cards of unqualified leads who only wanted the raffle prize, and a moderately happy (but still unqualified) contact who won a Best Buy gift card (better use it quick!).

Instead Nelson inspires genuine interest in his service because he makes it the highlight of the attraction. As a result, visitors experience the value of his service first hand and become legitimate prospective customers. Both versions of the booth represent the same company, but the difference is that the successful one has a hook that showcases the service in an engaging way.

If your products and services lean closer to the mundane end of the spectrum don’t let that be an excuse; all it takes is a little extra creativity. Take a hint from NRG.

Make a Power Play

When it comes to energy companies, NRG is the largest independent electricity producer in the U.S. So how does a corporate juggernaut like NRG break down barriers to connect with prospective customers? Why, offer up a human-sized hamster wheel, of course!

“How does this relate to NRG,” you ask? Initially the contraption seems unrelated, but in reality it is an exceptional demonstration of one of NRG’s products: renewable energy. As guests stop by they are invited to take a spin (no pun intended) in this giant wheel to help generate the energy needed to power the very same booth they’ve come to see! Or if the idea of being NRG’s guinea pig seems a little too much, stationary bikes that also generate electricity are an alternative option.

NRG uses its booth as an opportunity to interact with attendees in a fun way, educate them about how electricity is generated, and showcase NRG’s innovations in the realm of renewable energy. These combine to form a winning recipe for building relationships with prospective customers. And it never would have happened if NRG forewent building the human-sized hamster wheel.

An effective booth always starts with a hook.

SHOOT FIRST, ASK QUESTIONS LATER

As your hook attracts visitors to your booth it’s tempting to go into sales mode and start qualifying them with questions. Resist the urge! Even though the ultimate goal is to sell your product or service, it’s important that the transition into the “sales process” be natural rather than forced. Before you start with all the sales questions, you have to shoot first.

Shooting first means creating a unique and enjoyable experience for all attendees (not just the qualified ones!) to interact with your brand before talking business. The hook reels them in; now you have to keep them there. Think of it this way: fun first, work later. Don’t scare them away with a sales pitch!

The point is to establish rapport with your visitors; help them see that you’re a human just like them and not some sales robot. When guests understand that you aren’t out for blood they will be much more amenable to sticking around for a conversation.

Some of you may scoff at this approach. “I’m supposed to help all of my guests engage with my brand without knowing whether or not they are qualified. But isn’t that ineffective?” Prima facie: yes. De facto: no.

Remember that if you come out swinging (selling) you’ll get knocked out (turned down). Showing that you care about everyone having a good experience speaks volumes about your authenticity. And people can detect when someone is being genuine or not. This trustworthiness is what reassures your guests that it’s safe to drop their defenses and open up to you.

So your efforts must center on creating a relationship with every single visitor, and the quickest way to build a relationship is through shared experiences. Whatever activity you use, be sure to make it fun, entertaining, educational, and, most of all, related to what you do. Nelson’s Wildlife Safari and NRG are great examples of double dipping by using a hook as an engaging experience, but this doesn’t always have to be the case. Check out a couple more exhibitors who nailed creating interactive booths.

No Guts, No Glory

Alde International Systems AB is a Swedish company that produces heating systems for recreational vehicles. In 2012 Alde expanded into the United States and needed to put its best foot forward when building its brand at industry trade shows.

What makes Alde so special? The superior technology and performance of its heating products is one of a kind; information that is communicated much more powerfully when shown rather than told. So Alde did just that by creating a booth that reveals the guts of its products and showcases the innovation at work inside.

The exposed recreational vehicle on display at the Alde booth is enough to lure in visitors, and the insider’s view of how the heating system works holds guests’ interest. All the while as attendees marvel at the technology and ask questions to learn more, they are unknowingly becoming fans of Alde. And suddenly the engaging experience Alde offers at conferences helps the company gain market share in a new territory.

Go Out On a Limb

In 2013 Hurricane Safety Systems launched its company and product line in a very crowded hunting industry. Facing competitors with a tight hold on the market because of their strong customer bases and rich histories, Hurricane Safety Systems opted to introduce its proprietary tree stand locking technology directly to consumers at trade shows. But stealing customers from competitors is no easy task; especially when you’re the new guy on the block.

So how do you make prospects fall in love with your brand and kick those past lovers to the curb? Give them a test run of your product and show them that the grass really is greener on your side.

Hurricane Safety Systems’ booth gives conference visitors the opportunity to see for themselves exactly how the tree stand works and how it measures up to the rest. There’s risk in putting your product out there. What if it fails? What if it isn’t as good as the competition? What if it’s a flop? Don’t let the “what if’s” scare you; the reward makes it worth the risk.

The booth for Hurricane Safety Systems gives the fledgling company the unique opportunity to demonstrate the value of its products through a memorable and hands-on experience that wins over new customers.

Don’t forget to get down to business.

As your guests are interacting with your booth ask them questions and get to know them. The more you learn about each visitor, the better equipped you’ll be to tailor your approach to each prospect.

Don’t be too nosey, though: investigation without agitation. Ask open-ended questions that allow the visitor to share plenty of information about themselves and their companies. The ultimate goal is to qualify them as a true prospect.

Above all else, be natural. Canned scripts can be spotted from a mile away. The easiest solution is simply to be genuinely interested in each and every person who stops at your booth. Look at it this way: even if visitors don’t become customers, they could become friends (and, you never know, they may even refer their friends!).

Be sure to pay attention, too. You’ll be using this new knowledge you’ve gathered about your prospects in the very near future (more on this coming up).

DON’T BEAT AROUND THE BUSH: TELL ‘EM WHAT THEY WANNA HEAR…

…BUT ACTUALLY DO IT

At this point those who have taken the time to pay you a visit, experience your booth, and entertain your questions are naturally expecting some kind of sales pitch for your product or service. Here’s a little secret: just because they expect it, doesn’t mean they want it.

In fact, you should do just the opposite.

Don’t sell to them!

That’s right; don’t sell to them. Instead, make arrangements to follow-up with them. Now before you go all Barret Jackman on me, allow me to explain.

It may seem counter-intuitive to “back down from the sale,” but in reality it’s the best strategy for truly developing lifetime customers. In fact, scheduling a time to follow-up is music to your prospects’ ears; it’s exactly what they want to hear.

“I thought time kills all deals?”

Yes, but the truth is that very few prospects are ready to pull the trigger after a 5-minute encounter with a stranger. The real maxim is “selling too fast kills all deals.” Let me frame it another way (indulge me, here!).

Imagine you’re at a speed-dating event (trade show) and you finally find someone that strikes your fancy (prospect). You don’t stop the whole event and try to make a pass at them (sell), do you? If you do, you end up getting rejected for being too forward (selling too fast). The best approach is to exchange contact information and plan to go out on a date (schedule a follow-up appointment). This helps your newfound interest (prospect) see that you are looking for a long-term commitment (mutually beneficial relationship) and not just some one-night stand (sales commission). Make sense?

As far as follow-up is concerned, it’s important to know that the prospects you encounter at your booth will land in different places along the sales cycle. Therefore, you must adjust your follow-up protocol accordingly:

1. E-mail if the prospect expresses interest in the service
2. Phone if the prospect shows a desire for the service
3. Face-to-face meeting if the prospect exhibits buying signals

Clearly state how and when you will follow-up with prospects so they know what to expect. Once they leave your booth, immediately record the information you learned about them on the back of their business cards, on a voice memo on your phone, or whatever method works best for you. Note: accurate information is vital!

Closing the Loop

When it comes time to reach out to these contacts, be sure to give it a personal touch by referencing the conversations you had at your booth. This goes a long way towards developing relationships because it shows your prospects that you care enough to remember them. If you aren’t able to recall the details of the people you meet, then you won’t be able to turn qualified prospects into customers. Keep in mind that it’s a marathon, not a race, and this guideline will kick start your journey.

Following this procedure will give you an effective system at continuing the conversations you have with prospects and creating opportunities to win customers through your business conference exhibit.

Don’t let your trade show booth be the first and only time that you interact with your prospects; use it as a launching pad for building strong relationships with life-long customers.

[notification type=”alert-info” close=”false”]Now it’s your turn to share!

• What was your favorite trade show booth you’ve visited? What made it so awesome?
• What trade show booth tactics have you implemented that have helped you get new customers? Have you adapted your sales process specifically for trade shows? If so, what changes have you made and why?

Take a moment to share your insights![/notification]

Ah yes, the classic business conference. Depending on how you view this all too common event, the thought of having a booth at a business conference will likely elicit two distinct sets of feelings:

One of these attitudes is more strongly associated with success in turning conference attendees into legitimate prospects for your service – the other, not so much.

[notification class=”alert-warning” close=”false”]Don’t think your outlook has anything to do with successful performance? Take a gander at some of the research of Sigal G. Barsade, a professor out of Wharton. And if you’re still not convinced then you just have a bad attitude and there’s nothing else I can do about that [/notification]

To be fair, it isn’t difficult to find yourself in the “Business As Usual” camp, especially when event marketing booths have become old hat. For someone who presents these exhibits on a regular basis, the standard signage, handouts, and freebies can quickly become crutches that carry the same booth from one location to another, time after time. The problem is that the presentation is being carried instead of being lifted up.

The formula for turning attendees into customers is creating a memorable booth experience, and the prerequisite for creating a memorable booth experience is viewing business conference events in a positive light – as opportunities to stick out.

It all starts with your perspective. And only when you have the right perspective can you start taking strides toward using your booth to win customers at business conference events.

Now’s your chance to take a moment for a reality check and candidly examine how you view business conference exhibits. Work on re-framing your perspective so you can see opportunity rather than monotony. Even if you aren’t quite there yet, keep reading; perhaps your excitement will grow after reading more about ways to ditch the drab of the business conference booth.

“But what’s the big deal, my booth looks like everyone else’s?” Exactly. That’s the big deal. When the conference attendees leave, they don’t remember your booth because they all looked the same. Vanilla.

Let’s take a look at common booth tactics that should be abandoned. And in a later article, we will explore successful strategies to adopt for winning over your visitors.

1. Don’t be Vanilla

Don’t model yourself after what others are doing. It’s better to be original and take risks than to be typical and play it safe. Plus, no matter what kind of momentary fame you may get, your chameleon ways will soon be found out.

If you realize that this applies to you, don’t start beating yourself up. Instead, make a resolution to never again default to the easy way out of having a boring booth! Become a part of the “A Chance to Stick Out” club.

Stick out to bring crowds to your booth and provide a unique experience!

2. Eliminate What’s Dragging Your Booth Down

Before you start adding new things to your presentation, you first have to remove the components that are taking away from its success. There are a number of practices and philosophies that have become very common among business conference exhibitors, and the key to making a lasting impression is discarding the status quo.

Woody Allen Was Wrong.

Sorry Woody, but in this case, 80 percent of success is NOT just showing up. The worst mistake you can make with event marketing is simply showing up. Otherwise you’ll end up with a booth that looks like this:

It is easy to think, “Well as long as I put my brand out there and get exposure, then that is better than nothing!” Unfortunately, that line of thinking can lead to trouble. Exposure, in and of itself, is not the end goal for a brand. Organizations with the best reputations understand this.

Not all branding is good branding. Your booth should speak for itself. Salespeople can get tied up with other buyers at a busy trade show and the information your booth supplies should be sufficient to answer all the central questions a browser may have.

Video and photo imagery can speak volumes to your prospects even when you’re not able to. Test thoroughly to make sure any and all display electronics are working properly ahead of time.

If a buyer can’t tell what your name is and what you sell in one glance, you’re in trouble.

Simply showing up simply doesn’t cut it. Here’s why:

It communicates that you don’t care

A customer of ours was planning to order a gift for attendees at an event as a show of appreciation. The original thought was to give various golf accessories customized with the company’s logo, that is, until our sales rep asked the customer if any of the attendees played golf. If the sales rep hadn’t asked this obvious question, then the customer would have made the mistake of ordering a gift that would have left the attendees feeling not so appreciated after all.

“But the company gave the attendees a gift and put its brand out there for additional exposure!” True, but the exposure sucked! In fact, it wouldn’t be unreasonable to say people are more put off by a thoughtless gift than by no gift at all.

Likewise, the audience at conferences and events can easily become disenfranchised with a company because of how poorly the event marketing is executed.

It raises doubt about the quality of your service

When passersby see a mediocre booth they can’t help but wonder, “Is their service mediocre, too?” This may be your first and only impression that you leave with attendees; you can’t afford to instantly turn off potential clients on the basis that your exhibit was boring.

You may want to think twice the next time you consider “whipping up” a booth at the last minute for a business conference; it could be more harmful to your brand than helpful.

3. Just Say No to Booth Babes

You’d think that in our current day and age the Booth Babe would have gone the way of the dodo bird, but alas this stunt continues to find itself in the repertoire of more exhibitors than it should. You might be thinking, “But wait you told me to stick out, and now you say I can’t use Booth Babes to achieve this?”

There are only two ways you can stick out. One way attracts crowds because the exhibit is used as a medium to display your company’s value in an exciting and unforgettable fashion. The other way utilizes surface-level stunts to grab attention to the booth but not to the company.

So how exactly is the Booth Babes gimmick bad? First of all it’s offensive.

Having women dress in scanty outfits simply to attract a crowd is degrading to the women hired to play the part and offensive to many of the onlookers (women and men alike!).

Think about the type of brand image you are projecting when you use Booth Babes: “We are shallow and sexist. We condescendingly relegate your interest to that of a caveman (no offense Geico!).” Is that the kind of message you want to communicate?

Secondly, It’s a crutch. Relying on Booth Babes to bring traffic to your exhibit is a crutch that grants you a free pass from having to conjure up any creative and original marketing ideas on your own. What could have otherwise been a very unique and engaging approach has now become a tired tactic.

It’s also a distraction from your business. The visitors who do stop by an exhibit with Booth Babes are either coming because of them or in spite of them. Regardless of their reason for visiting, all attendees leave the presentation with only one memory: Booth Babes. No one remembers the conversation, the product, or the presentation.

“But people are taking photos with the product and the Booth Babes to show their friends! That’s free exposure!” First, no one is taking a picture to be seen with your product. Second, no one is looking at your product when they see their friends’ photos with the Booth Babes. Remember, not all branding is good branding.

Lastly, it’s ineffective. The culmination of the above results in an ineffective strategy for winning customers at business conferences. Even if you’re able to draw a crowd with Booth Babes, your audience is still there for the wrong, and completely unrelated, reason. And if you’re selling to unqualified leads you might as well be selling to no one at all.

Okay enough with the Booth Babes; I think you get the point. Let’s move on to the third practice to remove from your business conference booth strategy.

4. Don’t Make it a Crap Shoot

What’s better than winning while gambling? Winning for free!

Raffles and giveaways run amok at business conferences, and attendees often make the most of the occasion to enjoy the adult’s version of Trick-or-Treat. Unfortunately, the treat is only on the receiving end and the trick is on the giver.

Raffles are very deceiving because they always initially appear to be successful. The crowds at your booth drew a ton of attention. Your booth was the talk of the town.

“Wow, can you believe they’re giving away an iPad?” Now you could fill an entire Rolodex (do people still use those?) with all the contact information you’ve gathered from the raffle sign-up.

It looks like you’ve knocked it out of the park, right? But once you start following-up with those contacts you’re disappointed to find that no one is interested in your service.

“Well, I must need to work on my sales approach.” Wrong. The problem started back at the business conference; the problem is that you have a list of unqualified prospects.

Unqualified Prospect: “Sorry, I’m not interested.”

The reason your prospects are unqualified is because you’ve tried to create a relationship based on the value of your giveaways rather than your service. No lasting relationship can be founded on the prizes won at a business conference. It’s the equivalent of paying for friends; once the gifts stop, so does the relationship.

Giveaways are something people can get excited about. In fact, your booth visitors are way more excited about what they might win than what your service is about. They’ve been misled (by you!) to pay more attention to the raffle than the company offering the prize.

All the attendees who don’t win the drawing go home saying, “How awesome would it have been to have won an iPad?” The attendees who do win go home saying, “I can’t believe I won an iPad!”

You’ve succeeded in creating buzz, but the buzz is all about winning the free giveaway instead of the exciting things your service offers. You’ve helped them create a lasting memory: they’ll never forget that they won an iPad from “some company.”

Giveaways tend to be on two ends of a spectrum. On one end they are very useful and desirable gifts but unrelated to your service (Ex: a free iPad, assuming you don’t work for Apple).

At the other side of the continuum are drawings for “prizes” that are less useful and more salesy (Ex: a free packet of marketing collateral, exclusive advertorial pieces, coupons for your service, and a free ticket to an upcoming seminar your company is putting on).

In reality, both gifts suffer from the same problem but for different reasons. A free iPad doesn’t help the prizewinner connect with your company, and a free marketing packet isn’t appealing in the least. The problem is that neither of these gifts adds value to the overall experience the lucky winners have with your brand.

A giveaway must not only be valuable on its own, but it must also provide the recipient with an exciting way to engage with your brand.

5. Cut the Chit-Chat

When folks come visit you at your booth do you talk their ears off? Do you start ranting about your company and all the great services you offer? It’s easy to fall into the trap of talking too much and overselling the attendees who stop by your booth.

via GIPHY

Unfortunately, this approach never results in forming strong connections with the potential prospects at the business conference. And without those strong connections you can kiss your chances of finding new customers goodbye.

It may seem counterintuitive, but attendees don’t stop by your booth to hear you talk about you and your company. They visit so you can help them understand what all of them are wondering but none will say: WIFFM (What’s In It For Me?). People don’t want you to talk at them; they want you to ask about and listen to them. As you show interest in prospects and spend time with them, they will realize that your service is customer-centered and not self-centered.

People at business conferences want to be impressed by exhibitors and their booths, but the sad truth is that this rarely happens. Why? Because exhibitors are simply using content from their other marketing channels and applying them at conferences. “But the content we use is really good!” That may be true, but different channels warrant different messages.

The quickest way to a boring booth is saying and offering visitors information straight from your e-newsletter, direct mail campaign, and website. They might as well be a thousand miles away reading your e-mail, opening your letter, and browsing your site.

Instead create a new way to present your information that capitalizes on the single biggest benefit of having a booth at a business conference: face-to-face communication. Make your booth exciting by giving attendees something they can taste, touch, smell, see, hear, and take home that they wouldn’t be able to do otherwise.

When visitors hear you give the same sales spiel to every person who walks by your booth your statements feel a lot less caring and a lot more indifferent. It’s the difference between getting a personalized letter and a stock letter with your name inserted at the top.

Rather than jumping right into your pitch, start with genuine questions to understand your audience and what they care about. Armed with this information you can now tailor your message specifically to each prospect’s particular needs and circumstances.

Your conversations will be much longer, and you will be developing much stronger relationships that have the potential to blossom into new clients.

Final Words

As an exhibitor at a business conference you have a unique opportunity to interact with your target audience in a much more intimate setting than you would have in any other marketing channel. This is your chance to provide a new and memorable way for prospects to experience your brand – don’t waste it!

But just avoiding certain approaches won’t be enough to convert prospects to customers. So be sure to read the second article of this two-part series for a look into business conference booth best practices. These combined will serve as the one-two punch needed to win over your visitors. Click here to learn how to turn your trade show booth into a customer conversion machine.

[notification type=”alert-warning” close=”false”]Know of some tradeshow booth practices that need to be nixed? Let us know! Do you have firsthand experience of an exhibitor’s (or your own!) approach that didn’t work out quite as planned? Save us all the same heartache and share. Or perhaps you disagree with the points I’ve made above. If so, we’d love to hear your take on the matter below in the comments section![/notification]