Selling anything can be difficult. Selling booth space, especially in newer and smaller shows, can be nearly impossible. But there is a way to make the sales process easier for both you and your client: consultative event selling. Sounds trendy, but it really isn't. Consultative event selling quite simply is: a) working with your client to determine their specific marketing goals and objectives, b) matching these goals to your event's offerings, and c) customizing your presentation to show the client how their needs match what you are offering. If done correctly, you won't be just selling booth space any more, you will be selling total event marketing.
Trade shows are much more than just booths, but as show managers we have for years focused on just one or two revenue streams: exhibit booths and attendee fees (conference and show admissions). Event marketing takes what you are selling beyond booth space to all of the opportunities that bring buyers and sellers of products and services together. Sellers want to make sure attendees see them at the show, they want to make sure the press knows about their products and, ultimately, they want to convince prospects to buy. To accomplish these goals, they need exposure, and they need people to think about their message. You can package your entire event -- all of the venue, all of the attendees, all of the exhibitors and all of the hours in a day -- as opportunities to capture mind share.
What is event marketing?
Think of all the interactions between the attendees, the exhibitors and show management. Any time information changes hands, think of how a marketing message can ride along. If it's your attendance brochure, can an exhibitor's insert go out with the mailing? If it's the entryway to the show, can an advertisement be positioned on the unit? From hanging signs and banners, to coffee cups at break time, to television ads on the hotel cable system, there are unlimited message opportunities for exhibitors. They want to get their name or logo in front of attendees in as many ways as possible during the attendees' visit. Capturing mind share beyond the booth is the key.
Through consultative event selling, you can determine what mind share needs your client has and develop ways to serve those needs. Begin the sales process through a number of probing questions, all designed to determine why the client is exhibiting or interested in exhibiting at your show. What are their goals for the event -- to get prospect names, close sales, talk to the press, launch a new product or hand out demos? Next, brainstorm ideas about all the ways your show can help them meet these goals. Write down every possibility, regardless of how crazy or off the wall. Think of how you can package a marketing opportunity around each idea, whether it's an advertisement, an information kiosk, a rented shuttle bus or a hosted reception. Then turn your ideas into a marketing proposal that shows how the total event, booth space and all, helps the client achieve their goals.
Research your prospects
Your clients look to you to provide them with a complete package of marketing opportunities. They know their own business and their own industry, but they look to show management for event marketing expertise. The more professional we come across with our recommendations, the more likely we are to sign up the client and ultimately close the sale.
The more you know about your client's buying habits, the better your proposal for event marketing will be received. Get to know their current marketing programs. Check out what they do at other industry events, what their direct marketing programs look like, and how and where they advertise. Each and every data point gathered is key to structuring your event marketing proposal to the client's needs.
The more you know about their buying patterns, the more you also know about how deep their budgets are. What are the opportunity costs for clients to shift from their current marketing programs to your event marketing program? Clients will use total costs as an objection to buy more from you, but knowing what their current programs achieve will ultimately help you win. You can estimate the cost of exposure your client gets at other shows, through direct mail or advertising, and use this data to help support your case. When you estimate the number of exposures your client will get for each marketing opportunity in your proposal and compare the cost with that of other programs, you will have a winning presentation.
Work with operations
Before you can compare the cost of your program, you need to know your actual production costs and set pricing accordingly. What does it really take to hang a banner from the side of the convention center? How much will the shuttle bus company charge to paste posters to the sides of the vehicles? What's actually involved in blowing a flyer into every program guide? Putting a price tag on these marketing opportunities requires input from your operations and production people, and possibly some of your contractors.
The service contractor who will ultimately hang the banner on a building is a good place to start. Let them identify what it takes in terms of people and labor, equipment, permits and permissions (from the building and/or the city government), and timing. As a rule of thumb, double the contractor's cost estimate, then add in your profit margin. If you want to net 10 percent, add it in. If you want to net more, price accordingly. Bundling and packaging product offerings will eventually eat into these margins, and unless they are set high enough to begin with, you may find yourself barely breaking even after actual costs, labor and staff time are added in.
Once your client has signed up for the program, take your sales person out of the loop. Assign the account to an operations person and limit the continued involvement of the sales person. Sales should focus on selling, operations on implementation. Operations can combine work orders and installation plans from many sales to achieve greater cost efficiencies. This separation also helps provide an additional layer for problem resolution -- you can bring sales back in, should the need arise.
Make a strong start
Develop a strong sales agreement and contract, using the same defined terms you currently have in your booth contract. If you believe exhibit space is a perishable inventory, then so are wall space and advertising pages, even though the program guide has not yet been printed. If the space is on hold, it has value and therefore needs strong penalties for dropping or canceling orders. Don't shy away from a strong policy -- you can always make an exception to solve a problem, but making a program more strict in subsequent years is more difficult.
There never is a better time than now to sell event marketing as a revenue enhancement to your shows. If you don't have any sponsored programs, include a few paid advertisements in your next program guide. If you have the guide program working, add some billboards or banners. Try selling mailing lists, program guide bookmarks or flyer distribution to every seat in the conference as follow-on opportunities. These ideas are just the start. Once your program gets rolling, expand it yearly.
