How to Get Sales to Contribute to a Better ROI

Issue: 
Vol 3, No 3
Author: 
Keith Reznick

Among the many challenges trade show/ exhibit managers face, one of the most daunting can be gaining sales support prior to, at, and after a show or event. Here are two key ideas to help you: (1) gain more sales management and sales representative involvement and support; and (2) as a result, incrementally improve the return on your efforts and investments in shows and events.  

Gain Executive Level Sales Support

Creating and implementing a successful show and event strategy and plan requires more than sales and marketing working together. It requires executive level commitment (from both marketing and sales), leadership by example and ongoing executive level involvement and support to run a show and event program integral to all other sales and marketing initiatives. Without executive level involvement and commitment, from both marketing and sales management, running a success show and event program is difficult if not impossible to accomplish.

To gain more executive level support, schedule ‘discovery’ appointments with the highest level sales and marketing managers involved with a show or event. Your goal for this meeting is to develop insight into:

  • Overall sales and marketing goals for the quarter or the rest of the fiscal year;
  • Specific goals for the upcoming show or event you’re planning

During the meeting ask questions about their specific goals in the areas of:

  • Customer acquisition and customer retention (Is one more important than the other?)
  • Creating cross-selling opportunities (With current customers, potential new customers or both?)
  • Updated and accurate marketplace perceptions (Do customers really know what you offer?)
  • Enhancing competitive posture (Which competitors? How do you differentiate your company?)
  • Enhancing existing relationships (With whom? At which companies? At what level of the customer organization or chain of command?)
  • Gaining access to hard-to-reach members of the buying team (i.e., C-Level decision makers; procurement; etc.)
  • Generating qualified leads (How does sales define a qualified lead? What’s the best information to capture? How, when, and by whom will the lead be followed up after the show?)

The more you know about their specific goals, the more value you can provide by aligning your pre-, at-, and post-show activities with their specific business improvement initiatives.

Understand the Sales Mindset

Sales professionals are ‘entrepreneurs’ who rarely care about having a good show. Why? In large part, they’re not measured on having a good show. Their performance is measured in sales revenue and/or account penetration/development every 30, 60, or 90 days. There are primarily two types of sales professionals: hunters and grazers. Hunters excel at new account development. Grazers excel at growing an account once it’s been opened. If your goal for a show is to generate high quality leads, staff with as many hunters as possible. If enhancing existing relationships or create cross-selling opportunities is the primary goal, try to staff with grazers. It’s very rare that a salesperson will be both a hunter and grazer.

If the salespeople in your company perceive that shows waste their time and take them away from what they’re being paid (and expected) to do. Salespeople tend to be very protective of their time – with good reason. If a salesperson’s annual sales goal is $1,000,000, the opportunity cost of their time is $500/hour. If it is $2,000,000, the opportunity cost of their time is $1,000/hour. 

The key to gaining sales support is to help your company’s sales representatives understand how they can leverage shows to accomplish their specific sales goals by, among other things:

  • Filling their sales pipeline by generating high quality leads (more time-efficiently and cost-effectively than any other marketing or sales activity);
  • Pre-arranging executive level appointments to:
    • Enhance relationships and competitive posture
    • Gain access to all members of the buying team
    • Create cross-selling opportunities
  • Accelerate the buying/selling process which reduces the number of sales calls (and time) required to close the sale)
  • Eliminate (or reduce the number of) competitive options a prospect/customer is considering

The more you’re able to help salespeople accomplish their sales goals, the more support you’ll receive.

Executives who fund shows and events need have budgetary choices to make. They can invest in shows and events or they can invest in other elements in the marketing mix. Sales people also have choices to make. They can contribute greatly to the success of a show or they can stand in the booth checking their email or calling their customers. The more you help both groups understand the value they can derive from shows – value related to their goals and how their performance is measured – the more support you’ll get. Aligning your show strategy and plan with your sales and marketing executives’ specific business improvement initiatives will lead to more executive level support for your program. Staffing your exhibit with sales people motivated to accomplish their sales goals will motivate them to provide the experiences attendees want and help you generate the returns your company expects.

About the Author

Keith Reznick is a sales trainer and consultant and president of Creative Training Solutions. He may be reached at 856-784-3466 or keith@creativetraining.com.

Keith and Ed Jones recently created two important training modules titled "The Trade Show Advantage™ Online Exhibit Staff Orientation" and "The Trade Show Advantage™ Pre-Show Meeting in a Box" which were reviewed by Jose Sancen in an article titled Should On-line Training Completely Replace a Pre-Show Briefing? in AboutFace, Vol 1, No 10.