For those of a certain age, you may remember the Prego commercial where the son convinces the father that Prego spaghetti sauce uses the same great ingredients as the old-world family recipe. The father keeps asking about this spice and that, and the line “it’s in there” is repeated.

Calendar Integration and Simple Meeting Booking

In sales, overcoming hurdles and converting prospects to customers quickly and easily is key. Any barriers, such as slow response to inquiries or landing appointments can send your coveted prospect looking elsewhere. Something as simple as booking an appointment directly with a representative may be the difference between getting an at-bat and being put on the bench.

There are many programs, for a fee, that allows scheduling. Calendly and TimeTap for example. For our customers, HubSpot is the default winner. Integration with their calendar is included in HubSpot at no extra fee. Book meetings online or in person. Embed calendars in blogs, emails, and landing pages to allow prospects immediate access to your calendar. You can have multiple meeting schedules (think Zoom, in-person, or just one event, such as the week of a tradeshow). With HubSpot, calendar links can be placed in email signatures, in chatbots, or even live on a website. And, since it is all within HubSpot, the history stays with your contact in one neat central CRM. Why pay for another application, especially when you miss out on all the free integrations? How easy is it? Rob Felber’s Zoom Calendar.

Live, Automated Chat Features

And, speaking of chat, why pay for that service? HubSpot chat allows live answering as well as automated responses. Don’t lose a prospect that has an immediate need or question by not being available. And, with HubSpot, you can start a CRM record with just their email address. Handle inquiries from pricing and material questions to order status and inventory, in seconds – oh, did we mention it does not cost extra?!

Survey Creation and Real-Time Data Collection

Creating surveys just got easier. Many of our manufacturing clients, especially those recertifying their ISO ratings, need to conduct customer satisfaction surveys. While Survey Monkey and Delight work, there are fees for using the premium features. All within HubSpot, we recently created a simple survey, complete with dropdown choices and comment text capture with a landing page – all branded to the client. Oh, and the data, collected for free, is captured on each individual contacts record. Did we mention this did not cost anything to execute?

HubSpot Has it All and is There to Help if You Need it

Calendars, chat, and surveys are just a few of the many features that enhance a modern, robust marketing software such as HubSpot. We use it, our clients use it and you should too. Reduce your tech stack by integrating multiple features and tools into one, easy-to-use platform.

By the way, HubSpot’s support is powerful, 24/7, and above all else, just pleasant, nice people that guide you through technology without making you feel, well, stupid. They know not all of us are tech wizards. They always ask what are you working on today and how they can help. Then they help.

Want to learn more? Here’s my calendar!

Spam emailing journalists, reporters and editors with pitches, news releases, announcements, etc., is ineffective, and it establishes your organization as “one of the bad guys.”

So, what are the best practices for approaching an editor or journalist?

Attract, don’t chase

Contacting publications to pitch stories is only one way to get the media’s attention. Much of a journalist’s or reporter’s job is researching industry trends and finding newsworthy content. You should make sure your website and social media are places where these journalists and reporters might find great stories. 

There are ways to connect with the media other than through one-way spam. Writing and sharing relevant content establishes your company’s credibility and increases your findability within the industry. To make sure reporters will find you on search engines and industry sites, you should prioritize SEO and keyword research. Posting keyword-rich content online will lead potential customers and reporters to find you on search engines. 

Establishing your own blog and posting regular content can help your organization get noticed by other industry bloggers and journalists. Blogging can not only help you be found by reporters but also possibly be looked to again for future stories. The bottom line is: when you create and post valuable content online, you reach people who are looking for what you have to offer, including reporters and the media. Pro tip: make sure the media are on your CRM. Often a simple announcement or news update shared via email to your contacts will pique their interest in a story.

Make it personal

These days, we’re all bombarded by tons of notifications from social media, texts, calls and emails. Journalists are no strangers to this. Think about how you might be able to get them to open and pay attention to your email out of the thousands in their inbox. 

Rather than sending generic emails to a ton of reporters, you should take the time to research industry publications and find specific reporters who are likely to cover your story. Think about what the individual reporters like to write about by researching their previous stories, and then write specific, targeted pitches crafted just for them. It’s up to you to pitch stories to reporters who might actually be interested in writing about your industry or topic. Consider offering an exclusive story, free samples, product demonstrations or interviews with executives to sweeten the deal.

In my opinion, the best way to get coverage is by fostering real relationships with reporters. Connect with media in your industry by commenting on blogs, social media, and communication that doesn’t involve pitching anything. Relationships don’t form overnight but making sure your interactions with the media are personal might just lead to the formation of professional relationships that prove mutually beneficial for years to come.

Nail the pitch

So, you’ve selected a specific media publication and reporter you’d like to pitch to. Now, it’s time to send the email, make the phone call or set up the meeting. There are a few things to keep in mind when developing a pitch strategy. 

As we’ve already established, making your message personal is number one. Next, it’s important to help the journalist or reporter understand the big picture. You’re more than likely not the only pitch they’ll hear today, so make sure they understand the newsworthiness of your story. It is critical to mention their readership and why your story resonates with them. Give the necessary details but keep it simple. Show them that you value their time. Be prepared to give a compelling pitch and have any supporting material ready to send after your initial pitch. 

Don’t forget, it’s a 2-way street – journalists need ideas in order to write stories! Don’t be afraid to reach out, make a connection and get your story covered by the media. Want some help fostering relationships with the media? We can help improve your public relations strategy. Schedule a 15-minute consultation at your convenience, and let’s talk about it. RobFelber@FelberPR.com, (330) 963-3664.

So, you made an effort to capitalize on trade show chatter, before, during and after the show. How do you know you had a successful trade show? After the proper planning, preparation and practice, you met lots of people and started some great conversations. Excellent! 

Now, it’s time to make the most of those new connections.  

Following up three to 7 days after those initial trade show conversations is critical. Also in that first post-show week, your prospects will probably be contacted by a competitor or two – you want to look good in comparison.

It’s time for your CRM system to help you out. 

Managing New Contacts from a Trade Show

You just met a lot of people, and some of them expect to hear from you very soon. In fact, they’re looking forward to it. They’re warm leads. Some will be glad to hear from you IF you have something helpful for them. They’re qualified leads. And while others will barely remember you, you know you have something to offer them. They’re prospects or cold leads, and they’re valuable too. 

The right process will help you address each of them in turn. 

Before the trade show, you probably wrote targeted post-show emails for each type of prospect. You wisely mirrored the graphics and messaging that you used before and during the show. And you automated the process to be automated with triggering events that will keep each type of prospect engaged properly for wherever they are in the buying cycle. 

If this sounds complicated, it’s not! A user-friendly CRM simplifies the process and helps you track each prospect through the sales funnel. 

Want some help? Contact us.

Trade Show Review: How Did You Do? 

➡️It’s worth repeating: reaching out to new trade show contacts in a timely manner is your first priority after the show. ⬅️

Then, after catching your breath, it’s time to review the whole process. 

Trade shows are expensive, and designing a booth, staffing it and providing unique, meaningful promotions adds a lot of time (and more money) to the endeavor. Was it worth the investment? Ten different companies may have 10 different methods for determining the answer to that question.

Evaluating the total number and quality of leads generated is one way; tracking benchmarks to determine how valuable the show was for your organization is another. Most companies judge success based on a variety of factors including new accounts, new product lines introduced into existing accounts, and of course, based simply on sales order volume in the first few months after a show. 

Whew. Now it’s finally time to give yourself a pat on the back and then – get ready for what’s next! Soon, you’ll be having more in-depth conversations and developing new relationships with many of those new prospects. 

Already registered for your next trade show? Download the Trade Shows for Manufacturers Guide here.

You have a lot to do before a trade show! While promoting your trade show presence ahead of time by having a killer booth design with engaging displays, maybe offering some swag, and setting up meetings with media connections who will be in attendance are all critical to having a successful show, there are other behind-the-scenes tasks you’ll want to handle before you leave.

5 Tips to engage visitors before and during a trade show

 

What to Do ASAP before the Trade Show

Huddle with your team. Make sure everyone inside your organization knows that your company is attending! Let your vendors know, too. Pre-show chatter with your employees and vendors isn’t just good “internal PR,” it helps your sales and customer service reps hone their presentation. And of course, no one knows your company and its products better than the people who make them. Their suggestions will make your trade show presentation better and post-show lead follow-up more productive.

Develop and practice talking points for in-person interactions. You don’t want to sound like a well-rehearsed actor, but you should practice some natural talking points around features and competitive advantages, and be prepared to answer all of the questions you expect to be asked at the show.

 

Trade Show Prep, Two Weeks Before the Show

Warm up the crowd with pre-show messaging: make sure your pre-show “chatter” includes all the pertinent hashtags and that your social media posts include @mentions of other attendees and exhibitors as appropriate. Try to engage your audience with questions and polls, and remember to share your booth number and images of your booth graphics in those posts. 

Review the attendee and exhibitor list. Data collection begins NOW!  

Review and update your lead generation form to ensure that it reflects your most current offerings. Also ask yourself, will it resonate with the prospects you’re most likely to see at the show? 

It should go without saying, but we’ll say it: test the lead gen form and your automated responses.

Not sure how to do that? We can help.

 

The Week Before the Trade Show: Ready to Go? 

Update your live chat popup box with a teaser like, “Want to chat at the show? Let us know when you’ll be there!” And we’ll say it again: test that updated chat window. 

Schedule a designated person (or two) who will be available for live chats both during the show and for three- to 10 days after it’s over. 

• Give them a script or bullet list of answers to the FAQs you anticipate (based on show reps’ experience at the booth) and try to end all responses with a question, like “can we prepare a quote for you?” or the generic but effective, “is there anything else you have questions about?” 
• Commit to responding to all chat requests and inquiries within 12 hours. Twenty-four hours is long enough for a “hot” lead to cool off (or reach a competitor). 
• Why should you prepare for trade show leads to respond up to 10 days after a show? Because like you, trade show attendees will have a lot to unpack – literally and figuratively. And because different trade show leads will enter your funnel at different points in the sales process. 

We’ll discuss what to do with those leads in a future post. Can’t wait? Contact us!

 

Game Day: During the Trade Show 

Collect intel, both on other companies in your space and from your prospects. Not sure how to effectively collect info from leads? We help our clients pre-qualify leads and categorize prospects efficiently so you can maximize those face-to-face interactions and be ready to follow up as soon as you return from the show. 

Keep communication channels open. Just as important as connecting with potential buyers on a personal level, communicating back to your team at the plant is also vital to getting the greatest return for the time and financial investment you put into the show. 

What are you learning that might help engineering, manufacturing, or that could help customer service do their jobs better? What questions could the team back home answer for you, so you can pass along relevant information to a prospect you spoke with earlier at the show? If you respond to a prospect’s inquiry during the show, you’ll leave a great impression that will go a long way toward establishing a relationship after the show. 

 

More Trade Show Tips 

This isn’t a comprehensive list of all you have to do before a trade show, but we’ve covered some of the most important items to maximize your trade show investment. We help companies prepare before, during and after trade shows, from scheduling media interviews before the show to engaging their audience with creative displays and memorable promotional items during the show to following up on each lead in a timely, helpful manner.  The goal is to build great customer relationships! How can we help you?

 

While Trade Shows are primarily marketing events, there are plenty of PR opportunities in every show. We help our clients make the most of those opportunities and build long-term business relations. Want to discuss the possibilities? Get in touch.