Attention, Manufacturers!

By Lisa Ashcraft and Barney Stacher -- Gifts & Decorative Accessories, 1/1/2001

Are you really getting everything you can out of those trade shows? As veterans of more trade shows than we care to count, we definitely know what you deal with each time you commit to a convention. Every show is a push: You push your creative team for prototypes, your shipping department for samples, your travel agent for good rates, your reps for help in the booth, and your freight company for timely delivery. And that's all before you leave your office!

So, for one (optimistic) moment, let's assume that all goes off without a hitch. You and your sales manager are comfortably ensconced in your booth, waiting for the hordes of customers to swarm your stand with huge open-to-buys and blank purchase orders (see "optimistic," above). No matter how great the show is, there will always be moments when you'll have nothing to do. (Industry gossip, while interesting, doesn't count!) This downtime can be a great opportunity for you. Find out what's selling. Get a feel for what trends are hot. Learn which booths are really busy, and why. Check out your competition. Figure out what your customers are looking for and how you can help them. Learn what you can do to help your reps sell more.or your customers buy more. And (here's the sweet part) do it all without leaving your booth.

Following are several tried and true ways to gather the information you need, get a leg up on the competition, and make yourself look really, really smart.

Pick a question and ask it of every retailer you speak to. Try: "I rarely have time to leave my booth. Is there one booth or product I should check out when I do get a chance to walk around?" Or, "Is there one category or product that you're spending a lot of money on?" Or, "What are your customers asking for when they're in your store?" Simple questions like these not only garner valuable information; they create rapport between you and the retailer. And these questions are a lot more interesting to a retailer than, "Hi, can I help you?"

Ask reps or retailers to vote on or critique something (preferably not your hair or your new suit). Most folks like to have their opinions heard. And our guess is that your creative department would love some feedback on a new line, design, or product. Check with your creative people before you leave (asking a month before, rather than an hour before, will ensure that they have time to prepare and that you don't get wounded with an X-Acto knife), and find out what sort of information they need. Be sure to take samples, designs, or mock-ups to the convention for show and tell.

Use the time to get valuable information from your sales reps. Are you considering a promotion, spiff, contest, or annual meeting? Trade shows are the perfect place to get feedback, opinion, and buy-in from your reps. What have their other manufacturers done in the past? What motivates them? What programs do their accounts like? What spiffs have been really successful? Were the best ones geared toward the reps or the accounts? Take advantage of the chance to meet face to face with your reps, whether you ask the questions above, or get more information about key accounts, territory growth, or reaction to your line. Reps are one of the primary reasons that your bottom line grows (or shrinks) each year. The best product in the world won't end up in retail stores without salespeople to support it, schlep it, show it, and sell it. Don't forget that.

Move beyond sales meetings. Yeah, yeah ... you hold a 20-minute sales meeting before the show starts and figure that you've done your job, right? Well, here's the truth: Unless you hand out $100 bills or lead the meeting in the buff, the chances that your reps will remember the meeting are slim (and even if you do, what they'll remember is the $100 and the nakedness). Remember, these hard-working reps have probably been setting up booths for the past couple of days, and they have just heard ten or 15 presentations that are very similar to yours. Your job is to take time during the show to follow up with them.

Ask the rep principal for an opinion on which reps need a jump start, additional training, some undivided attention, or a total walk-through of the line, and then schedule some time with those reps.

Spend some quality time with your best reps from the region-whether that means asking them to join you for a $15 hot dog in your booth, or taking them out for a fancy dinner-and find out what techniques they use to sell so much. Then share that information with other reps.

Spend some quality time with the reps who don't seem to write much business for you. Maybe it's their territory, maybe it's their training, maybe it's your line.or maybe it's you. Regardless of the reason, this information is valuable, and it will help you understand your line in a new way.

Check out the competition. Take it from us: Casually walking by the booth of your competitor with your badge turned over, acting like you're really not looking at his booth, is not considered good show etiquette. But you can still find out what's going on.

Ask your customers. Our feeling is that if you know a customer well enough to have a personal conversation with her, you have earned the right to ask her about your competition. You can be general: "I haven't heard much about XYZ lately. Is the line still performing well?" Or be specific: "I've heard that XYZ is offering a new frequent buyer program. How does it compare with our program?"

Ask your reps. Good reps should subscribe to the philosophy "forewarned is forearmed." They're a great resource for information on what's new with your competition, what products competitors have discontinued, and what retailers are saying. If the reps don't know these things at the time of the show, you can assign a little research and get an update later.

Play a role in increasing attendance. (Show management will love you!) Before the show season, you and your employees should phone the accounts you regularly write business with at the shows. Tell them how excited you are about the prospect of seeing them at the upcoming market. Tell them that you welcome and respect their feedback and would like them to take a look at your new introductions and give you their thoughts. If you really don't want to hear what they think, perhaps another approach would be better (e.g.: "Stop by our booth for M & Ms."). At any rate, these people will be more likely to stop by if they've previously spoken to you or a staff member.

Offer a cash prize to the rep who makes the most appointments for customers to visit your booth. The reps don't have to be there to write the orders themselves; they just have to book the appointments in advance, and the appointments must result in orders if they are to qualify.

These are just a few ideas that can help you make the most of the time, energy, and money that you spend on trade shows. We're certain that there are more, and we'd love to hear your strategies. (We already know the one that involves Superglue and a quarter.) Here's to a successful show season!

Industry veteran Lisa Ashcraft is a consultant to reps, manufacturers, and artists. Barney Stacher is a partner in Stacher & Stacher, a strategic planning and sales facilitation firm. Address this guest column or other manufacturer and rep issues by contacting Eliza Gallo at (212) 519-7358 or egallo@cahners.com.