Published by: Exhibitor, Best Practices in Trade Shows and Events

Article: Travis Stanton, Editor Exhibitor Magazine

Cost: Free, but it’s worth millions in sales if taken seriously.

Available link: Lead Time Research

Why it’s important:
Billions are spent on exhibits which companies admit are all about sales leads and yet lead handling is dismal, depressing, sad, miserable, and otherwise shameful considering how exhibits can identify qualified leads and shorten most companies sales cycle. The ones who get it right are brutally beating their competitors.

Highlights and Low-lights

The article has lots of statistics and graphics, 90% is an infographic. This 2015 study is comparing stats with 2010. The Exhibitor Group is to be commended for publishing this study which has a few bright spots, but not many.

• 59% do not have a formal lead-scoring or lead ranking process.
• 46% said data collected was moderately to not useful.
• 46% said leads are qualified by staff conversations.
• 63% don’t set a goal for the quantity of leads they hope to collect.

Guest Blogger: Matt Hill, President, The Hill Group

Do you have Millennials as part of your exhibit staff?

They can be great staffers and make your trade shows successful or they can be horrible and drag everyone down and frustrate you to no end. Like any other generation, they have their strengths and weaknesses. So let’s dive right into how to work most effectively with your Millennial Exhibit Staff. And all of this info is from our live training workshop, “Managing Your Millennial Exhibit Staff” that we delivered at the ExhibitorLIVE! conference in March, 2015.

Take Advantage of Their Strengths

Collaboration: Millennials are great collaborators. They like to work in groups and with their friends. Millennials work productively with people they click with. Like their friends and friends of friends. They stay motivated and interested when the work is more social. Set specific goals, objectives, time frames, and boundaries, and their collaborative skills will result in amazing results.

Technology. One of the greatest strengths of the Millennials is their sound knowledge of technology. This can be a serious asset at a trade show because of Social Media, emailing, texting, etc.

Multitasking. Millennials are doing multiple things at the same time; they’re on the phone, texting, and working on a computer. Even though some recent studies have shown that multitasking results in a drop in productivity, Millennials seem very adept. Trade show managers should feel free to give Millennials multiple tasks and concurrent responsibilities - this really fits with the frantic pace of some trade shows.

Challenge them. Millennials thrive on learning opportunities. They want work they can learn from otherwise they are quickly bored. A willingness to try new things is one of their strengths - so challenge them. As the trade show manager you need to explain that not all of the work at a show is going to be new and exciting but it all makes a difference.

Understand and Manage Their Weaknesses

• Casual approach to authority.
• Not understanding seemingly arbitrary rules and regulations.
• Texting and emailing all of the time.
• Expect a constant stream of feedback.
• Use of casual language.
• Rationale or reason for every assignment or request.

Matt Hill is on the SLMA Advisory Board. He can be reached at the Hill Group

All the buzz happening with Meerkat and Meerkasting, Periscope, Twitter, LiveStream, streaming in general, and YouTube Live Events in streams has opened Pandora's box on copyright, trademark, privacy and just bad manners in general.

Visiting with a friend on this topic, Krishna De in Dublin, we reminisced about the time when we used to set up IP based webcams to stream live from our homes and businesses back in the day and

When: January 30, 2022

Where:  San Diego, CA

The Integrated Marketing Summit is pleased to announce our San Diego event set for Jan 30 with optional workshops on the 31, 2014 at the Marriott in DelMar.

We will host a one day event on Jan 30 (Thursday) from 7:30 a.m. - 5:30 p.m.  with  a networking event from 5:30 p.m. - 7 p.m. that's open to the public. On day two, Jan 31 (Friday) we will offer 3 optional hands on workshops from 9 a.m. - 1:00 p.m. for those marketers looking for additional education and support.

Stay tuned for more details as they fill out their agenda. Go here for more details >

We also secured a limited number of discounted hotel rooms at $129.00 a night. Details are posted on the registration page.

Meanwhile, if you are interested in learning more about IMS please make sure to sign up for our newsletter.

Go here for more info on the speakers and agenda. We look forward to seeing you there.

SLMA Members receive a 15% discount!

 If you use our special partner code [IMSAPD3], you can save 15%.

Warm regards,

James Obermayer
CEO Sales Lead Management Association

P.S. This is your best opportunity to learn how to maximize your marketing to increase your sales, revenue and profits. With these savings, you’ll see instant return and more.

What is REVTalks?

The SLMA Management strongly recommends that every CMO should attend this program.  The cost is pocket change, the expected results on attendees is immense.  

Revenue Marketing is the strategy that transforms marketing from a cost center to a revenue center.

 On January 27, 20134, four hundred marketing executives will gather to discuss, listen to and share the innovative, inventive and transformational ideas affecting Revenue Marketing today – all in a Ted Talks style.

Register Now