Print Solutions July 2006
Cover Story
Experiment No. 2:
At trade shows, Ward/Kraft Inc. avoids the hard sell and qualifies prospects' needs
| In Brief |
A manufacturer advocates using trade shows to maintain relationships with
current customers and qualify prospects' needs rather than treating the events like they were “a cheap sales call.” |
 “Don't try to sell the guy while he's there. Just qualify the account. You generally have a distributor at your
table for about 3 to 8 minutes. We try to look at what their primary interests
are and try to show them what our competitors won't.”
Roger Buck, CDC, national sales mgr. Ward/Kraft Inc. Fort Scott, Kan |
Objective:
Sales reps from Ward/Kraft Inc., Fort Scott, Kan., attend trade shows and
private events sponsored by distributorships to increase sales volume and
dispense information about Ward/Kraft products and programs.
“We do the big DMIA Expo every year, of course,” says Roger Buck, CDC, national sales manager of the forms division. “But we do mostly private shows with distributors. We do about 15 of those
annually. And then there's our on-site program when we fly out and set-up presentations for distributors,
sometimes even at airports. Last year, we did about 430 of those."
Hypothesis:
Ward/Kraft can increase sales by: a) picking the right booth workers and
training them properly; b) offering a professional-looking booth that attracts
prospects; and c) only establishing the needs of prospects at shows and making
the actual sale during follow-up calls.
“Don't try to sell the guy while he's there. Just qualify the account,” Buck says. “You generally have a distributor at your table for about 3 to 8 minutes. We try
to look at what their primary interests are and try to show them what our
competitors won't.”
Procedure:
Pre-show prep:
1) Choose your booth workers wisely. “Unfortunately, a lot of plants make the mistake of not having the right people
out there," Buck says. “Either they send the guys who have been in the industry for years and are bored
stiff or the sales reps who are young and eager but don't know much about the product line. A lot of plants need to take a hard look at
how much they are going to spend on this and who is the best person to send to
the show."
2) Use several marketing outlets to promote your tradeshow appearance. Buck says
that though Ward/Kraft doesn't usually send pre-show mailings for private distributorship events, the
manufacturer does send direct mailings for trade shows, includes a reference to
the show appearance in the company's message-on-hold system and buys magazine ads listing Ward/Kraft's booth number.
3) Don't bring the entire product line with you. “We limit what we take,” Buck says. “We never take everything. That's definitely a rookie mistake.” Instead, focus on products that the distributors would find interesting, for
instance, what products are applicable to a certain region.
“When we go to South Carolina and Georgia, where you have a big furniture
manufacturing market, we take law labels," he says. “But in Chicago, we may take business documents and medical forms instead.”
4) Make a list of possible attendees. “If it's a regional show, we get a list of everyone who is going to attend so the booth
workers know who to look out for," he says.
On the show floor:
1) Keep the entire presentation crisp. “We try to teach our people that your booth has to look professional. The booth
is the first thing the person sees," Buck says. “The marketing department determines how the booth should look and that's how we set it up.” Once the booth is set up, avoid clutter, get rid of all food and make sure
drinks are hidden. Booth workers should have their clothes neatly ironed and
outfits should be coordinated.
2) Perfect your show floor etiquette. “We teach people to make eye contact, to smile,” Buck says. Booth workers should not jump into a sales pitch with each passerby,
but they should not be too casual either.
“Try to stay away from the traditional, ‘This is a nice conference, isn't it?'” he says. “They'll say ‘yes,' and nod their heads as they walk by you.” Instead, try to initiate a conversation and have something in your hand when
you do it.
“But make sure it isn't collateral about the company. Any marketing person will tell you that handing
someone collateral is just a cue for the prospect to leave the booth," Buck says. “Offer them something that requires some type of activity, like a new form you
have to demonstrate to them."
3) Collect notes, business cards and sample request forms. All sample request
forms should include basic information like the person's name, company, phone number, fax number and email as well as the products that
piqued their interest.
The follow up:
1) Get the marketing department and CSRs to work together to make the sale. “Within 24 hours, the marketing department gets the sample request forms,” Buck says. Sometimes, the forms are even emailed to them, making sure that
prospects
“get their samples within 24 to 48 hours of requesting them.” At Ward/Kraft a copy of the shipping document is then given to a CSR and within
4 to 7 days, CSRs will call prospects to confirm that they got the samples. At
private events, distributors may request several different product samples.
“So they may get a call from three different people who specialize in those
areas," he says.
Results:
Buck says the DMIA shows have an ROI of about 10 percent, “meaning that if 100 people come to our booth, we'll probably end up doing business with about 10 of them.” Private events, however, are harder to track “because you are already doing business with those distributors,” Buck says, “though we do get calls afterward.”
Conclusion:
Trade shows, private events and on-site presentations have increased Ward/Kraft
sales.
“Our volume has grown by a fair percentage in the past year when other
manufacturers only grew due to acquisitions and mergers," Buck says. “And we're well over $50 million in sales.”
