Richard Erschik BLOG

Exhibitor Show for the 15th year

2010-03-12T15:17:00.000-08:00

Yours truly is speaking for the 15th year at the Exhibitor Show in Las Vegas this month.

If trade shows are under the umbrella of your responsibility you need to get there and hear the latest best-practices related to trade show exhibiting.

After that, I’ll be speaking at the Texas Library Association Show, the ConExpo Show’s marketing conference and I’ll be conducting webinars for the American Water Works Association, the International Manufacturing Technology Show and a few others.

Sales lead follow-up is a subject that is near and dear to the hearts of most marketers and sellers – and instead of selling the service, I’ll be teaching a do-it-yourself process that will assure 100% lead follow-up after any/all marketing campaign.

Hope to see you in Vegas.

Experiential Webinar scheduled for December 10, 2010

2009-10-21T16:44:00.000-07:00

Since 2003, I have been serving the Texas Library Association with a live, on-site, “Power-Hour” that introduces their exhibitors to some Tips-N-Tricks relating to successful trade show exhibiting.

Pre-Show promotion, During-Show booth staff education, and Post-Show sales lead response management technique have been the focus of attention.

This year, their show organizer asked me to include a mid-year Webinar to the exhibitor education program which I did last month, and WOW… it couldn’t have been better received by their exhibitors.

Since lead “follow-up” is a sore spot with most exhibitors, I ended the Webinar with the details of an industry proven, do-it-yourself process of responding to leads that assures 100% lead follow-up. And I included 30-days of FREE telephone support to help them with implementation of the process.

There is NO hardware or software to buy. NO people to hire. Attendees can implement the process right after the Webinar and immediately get a 100% lead follow-up rate. And the process works with all the popular CRM and contact management systems that are out-there today.

33% of the attendees contacted me after the Webinar for additional information – and based on the HUGE success of that experience, I am scheduling a similar experiential Webinar every other month all through next year 2010.

Everything is included for only $149.00 including 30-days of FREE telephone support.

If you’re sending leads to your sales force faster – where nothing is happening to them sooner – and you want to be included in the Webinar invitation that goes out, simply send me an email at rerschik@richarderschik.com and I’ll be sure you get one.

WHY ISN'T UPPER MANAGEMENT FURIOUS about the 600# Gorilla in their living room named -- sales lead "Follow-up?"

2009-09-04T07:40:00.000-07:00

The older I get, the more obvious it is that most business related decisions are being made in companies today for NON-business related reasons. Keep reading and you will know what I mean.

Let me begin by stating that on my desk is an article from the (then) editor of Control Engineering magazine dating back to 1979. While both the editor and magazine are gone, I look at it every day.

In the article (from 30-years ago, mind you) the editor states that a CARR (Cahner’s Advertising Research Report) identifies that less than 20% of sales leads ever get followed-up.

Today (remember, it is 30-years later) there are countless references being made to that exact same statistic (less than 20% of sales leads ever get followed-up.)

So again I ask… WHY ISN’T UPPER MANAGEMENT FURIOUS that after countless hundreds / thousands / millions of THEIR company’s dollars are spent on print advertising, trade show exhibitions, Internet websites, company events, CRM installations, contact management software programs and other marketing campaigns -- more than 80% of resultant selling opportunities are being missed in the majority of resultant sales leads that don’t get followed up?

To back-up what I’m about to say, I need you to know that back in 1986 I founded a national sales lead response management service organization that American Airlines named “One of the most innovative companies in the country.” And, I developed a process of managing sales leads that they also called a “Best-Practice” in trade show marketing as it related to a company’s selling process. WHY? Because any company that used our service, and its process, was assured of 100% lead follow-up. GUARANTEED!

I should also make clear that over the course of my 2+-decades in the service business, my company processed more than 1,000,000 sales leads, made more than 1,600,000 telephone calls, transmitted more than 127,000 faxes and emails, and shipped more than 370 tons of client literature around the world. And yours truly actually made more than 1,000 personal sales calls trying to sell my company’s service to people that couldn’t care-less about the fact that less than 20% of their company’s leads were being followed up. And I mean COULDN’T CARE LESS. Many even said that their follow-up rate was less.

In fact, when the 20% follow-up statistic was brought up during most of my sales calls, marketing people reacted as though they were happy to be within the “norm,” rather than motivated to fix the problem. When I quoted that statistic to sales people, they naturally came up with excuses and got defensive. And when I quoted it to upper management they took the position of… “That isn’t happening in my company. And if it is… you need to talk to so and so.” (Who couldn’t care less.)

I could write pages about other push-backs I got during sales calls, for the obvious threats I made to the status-quo over the course of the 1,000+ sales calls. But instead, I’ll fast-forward to today and simply state, here, that based on a lot of my own personal experience (some might call it street cred) I found that clearly… VERY FEW people really want to take ownership of the poor lead follow-up problem, or even consider taking the initiative to fix it. And here is what this writer suspects are reasons why.

Upper management people seldom wanted to look into the problem of poor lead follow-up. Especially if it meant they would eventually have to get involved in fixing it. Or worse, they wouldn’t be able to visit their company’s trade show location where the leads are being generated. Especially when the trade shows are located in the 3 biggest playgrounds in the country… Orlando… Chicago… and Las Vegas.

BTW - If you have experienced upper management from your company visiting your company’s trade show… how long were they in the booth? Usually only long enough to make their presence known, then they disappeared, right? And maybe it was just a coincidence that they had their grandkids with them in Orlando, their wife in Chicago, and/or who-knows-who in Las Vegas with them. I’m just sayin…

I recently saw attendance figures from a significant trade show stating that 24% of the show’s overall attendance was made up of Senior Management. I challenged the show organizer to verify how many of the (Senior Management) names appeared in exhibitor sales lead counts. They didn’t want to do that, and I’m not at all surprised as to why. Because I doubt that the Senior Management walked the show floor and/or expressed interest in buying anything. They just wanted everyone to know they were there.

Further… I found that sales people and/or their sales managers that certainly didn’t want anyone to “rock their boat” with the reality of poor lead follow-up. Because they already had their budgets in place, lifestyle built around their income, and favorite dealers, distributors and reps to fish, play golf, and party with. Are you beginning to see the Gorilla?

And lastly, I found marketing people that certainly didn‘t want to take ownership in fixing the poor lead follow-up problem, because they are measured by the “numbers” of leads generated. And any process changes would have to involve their personal interaction with the sales force over in that “other silo”, who would throw marketing under-the-bus in a heartbeat for muddying their waters of status-quo.

So marketing just throws the leads over the fence to the sales department and hopes for the best. And there’s the 600# Gorilla just sitting there.

If you have awareness of this situation, today, you well know that in most companies today, sales rules and marketing drools as the all too familiar blame-game marches on. Hup, two three, four.

Marketing has been blaming sales for poor lead follow-up, and sales has been blaming marketing for poor quality leads for more than 3-decades that this writer has actually experienced. And it will no-doubt continue. All while companies continue to invest jillions of dollars in CRM and marketing programs that get more leads to their sales force faster, so they can do nothing with them sooner.

Due to barriers of communication technology, today, sales people can’t even reach anyone. So they are forced to live with their existing customers and ignore their prospects, all while pipelines, hoppers, sales funnels, CRM and contact management are all nothing but buzzwords, fluff and distractions from the Gorilla that’s getting bigger and bigger.

The fact of the matter is that VERY FEW people want to fix the problem of poor lead follow-up, because God forbid someone might have to do something different, make a sales call, or actually talk to someone they don’t already know.

The answer to the pervasive problem of poor lead follow-up and sales “prevention” is deeply in rooted in “people” and the difference between sellers and order takers. Leads simply have to be processed differently in the marketing department to make it easier for sales people to follow-up. So… WTF?

WTF = What’s The Future in lead generation, handling, and conversion to sales when individual self-interest is being put before company prosperity in every company but yours - right?

DRINK this... SIGN here!

2009-07-30T16:00:00.000-07:00

If you remember the good-ole-days of 4-hour, 6-martini lunches, publication sponsored golf-outings, 12x 12-page ad schedule releases to your ad rep, and telling your exhibit house to “bury” another $50k in your exhibit program (so you don’t lose your budget) FAAA GETTT AAABOUT IT! Because not only are those good-ole-days gone, they are never coming back.

The way it is today is the norm. And it’s only going to get worse as publications lose advertisers, trade shows lose exhibitors, and the ripple effect of change affects all of us.

That’s the BAD news!

The GOOD news is that with change comes opportunity. So rather than drink alone and order another martini while you pout about yesterday, look at what YOU can learn to do today to better YOUR tomorrow and insure YOUR future value and personal contribution to your company and its bottom line.

And if THEY don’t like it… you can always add the education to your resume and take it with you.

EDUCATION is the key differentiator in business today. And the more you KNOW. They more you GROW.

Reply here, or contact this writer at 630-642-6500 and request a copy of "TRENDING to help you reduce SPENDING" and learn about 4 critical areas in which you can make SMALL changes with BIG results.

Or, simply DRINK that and go here www.monster.com

Today, Ethel Merman (RIP) would need to change the words of her song to... There's WOE business... like show business... Like NO business I KNEW.

2009-06-11T05:07:00.000-07:00

Yesterday, a friend of mine told that me he visited a manufacturing show - and it looked more like a "furniture" show. Why? Because since there were soooo many exhibitor no-shows, the show manager simply filled the empty exhibit spaces with furniture as rest areas for the attendees. (Whose numbers BTW are also diminishing.)

HOW BAD IS THAT?

What is it that show managers are NOT seeing? Are they NOT seeing that ROI no longer means Regular Old Invoice? Are they NOT seeing that exhibitors can't measure anything or prove the real ROI requirement = Return On Investment.

Show organizers need to face the fact that THEY have to consider providing the education their exhibitors need to succeed, because exhibitors certainly are NOT being taught by anyone in their companies.

Education is clearly the differentiating factor in business today – and those show organizers that take on the responsibility of educating their existing customers (for retention), and prospective exhibitors (for acquisition) will survive the death spiral that plagued trade publications over the past decade.

Call me at 630-642-6500 for a copy of the recent artice "Are trade shows going where trade publications went?" And you will see what I mean.

Getting a NEW job is second today to keeping the one you already HAVE

2009-04-08T04:58:00.000-07:00

If the word “marketing” is in your title today, and you’re thinking about getting a NEW job… fa-gett-abouuu-dit!

WHY? Because marketing titles are in the cross-hairs of those looking to benefit themselves by cutting COST in companies today. And like it or not… marketing is considered a cost.

Not an investment. Not a necessity. Not even a requirement or consideration. Just a cost.

You know WHO you are if you’re spending like a drunken sailor, fighting to maintain budgets… keep your staff… or even your own job.

You see publications so thin today they could be mailed in Number 10 envelopes.

You’re listening to ad space sales reps’ deal-of-the-day.

You’ve probably even sat down in trade show floor rest areas, where the show’s biggest exhibitors used to be.

You see it happening ALL around you, so it should be crystal clear that to survive today… YOU TOO need to be beating the drum about the following 3 things to your boss.

1) Cost reduction
2) Efficiency improvement
3) Ways to increase sales

In the real world that we are all faced with today… SALES rules while MARKETING drools, like never before.

Therefore, you should learn your salesforce's problems with prospecting, lead generation, appointment setting and sales closure and work TOGETHER to solve them.

The choice to do so or not is yours. And so is this one... www.monster.com OR www.richarderschik.com

Take a LQQK in the mirror...

2009-03-11T05:40:00.000-07:00

Even 5 years ago I would have never made this statement. But experience and recent exposure to the real-world has enlightened me as to this current reality.

If you have the word "Marketing" anywhere in your title, today, you need to focus on 2 things, and 2 things only in this greed driven, upside down business world.

1. Reducing Company Cost
2. Increasing Company Sales

Why? Because "Nothing Else" matters to those that are deciding on YOUR fate in their minds, in a meeting, or on the phone - RIGHT NOW!

A very famous person said something similar to the following that puts things in perspective, today, like it or not.

"Ask not what your COMPANY can do for YOU... ask what YOU can do for your COMPANY" -- to reduce cost and increase sales.

I totally understand that the only WIIFM (What's In It For Me) in that statement is that it just MIGHT keep you in your present job, which may or may not be important to you.

If YOU are not saving your company at least as much as they are paying you, than YOU are considered to be expendable.

Forget about running more ads, going to another trade show, or creating that next brochure that is only going to generate more sales leads that YOU KNOW won't get followed up. That is unless YOU are actually ready to DO SOMETHING about the lead follow-up problem -- that the sales force is actually blaming YOU for and winning that blame-game with your management.

Think about it. Who's REALLY more important in your company right now? Marketing or Sales?

LQQK around at what should be important to you today and STOP when you're looking in the mirror. Do something to make sure you don't get 3rd prize in the CLIP below.

Copy and paste the link below into your browser.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0WCcKIkMp8Y

Consider the VIRTUAL world as an alternative -- for the SELL of it.

2009-02-14T04:29:00.000-08:00

And I certainly don't mean a VIRTUAL trade show.

At least not one that's orchestrated by traditional trade show management organizations that are trying to replace their exhorbitant profits from words like "drayage" and "I&D", with unreasonable pricing for Virtual words like "second-life."

Attention Exhibit Managers ... Don't Be The Next American IDLE! (Forgive me Simon.)

Considering an all time high unemployment rate, today, from companies cutting back on non-profitable people and activities... YOU have to SAVE your company MORE than it's paying you to survive today. And a good way to do it is to LQQK into Virtual World Platforms in which meetings, marketing and selling sessions can be conducted without the traditional costs related to trade shows and their services, and travel.

Where you can get such a platform is directly related to how close you are to your phone right now to be able to dial 630-642-6500 and ask for (Avatar) Richard Erschik

OK... I didn't vote for him, BUT...

2009-01-21T05:09:00.000-08:00

...YOU certainly can't disagree with part of Obama's speech where he said...

"Our workers (YOU and ME) are no less productive than when this crisis began. Our minds (YOURS and MINE) are no less inventive, our goods and services (OURS) no less needed than they were last week or last month or last year. Our capacity remains undiminished, but our (YOUR) time of standing pat, protecting narrow interests and putting off unpleasant decisions -- that time has surely passed. Starting today, we must pick ourselves up, dust ourselves off, and begin again the work of remaking America."

To put this into marketer's and seller's perspective... it's time to get off you asses and STOP blaming each other.

Marketing blames sales for poor lead follow-up, and sales blames marketing for poor quality leads.

Sound familiar? If so... DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT... even if it's wrong. That way, at least you will have learned something from which to improve upon.

It's time to STOP waiting for someone else to fix the problem, when the fix is up to YOU.

If you know how to fix the problem, and can do it YOURself... then by all means don't ever call me.

But if you don't know how to fix the probelm, and want to learn what other companies JUST LIKE YOURS do to convert their leads to sales... call 630-642-6500. and ask for Rich

Shhhhhhhhhhh... Kaaaaaa BOOM!

2009-01-01T09:42:00.001-08:00

Did you ever hear a sales person say "I can hear a pin drop in my territory" (meaning they know everything that's going on and where all the sales opportunities are) when in fact they couldn't hear an explosion today?

Why do you think sales people say that? Simple. It's human nature. And despite what MARKETING people may think, SALES people are human.

Sales people basically say that, so no one finds out what they are not doing in their territory. Let me explain...

Suggest to that same sales person, that based on statistics relating to the number of telephone dialing attemps to reach people today to set appointments, the cost of sales calls, the number of sales calls it takes to close a sale, the number of reps seen in a week by customers, and all the other things they have to do besides follow-up sales leads, you know that it's IMPOSSIBLE for sales people to call on prospects and know everything that's going on in their territory -- and guess what? They will agree with you.

FACT: Less than 20% of sales leads ever get followed-up.

There is good reason for poor follow-up. And guess what else? From having qualified more than 1,000,000 sales leads for more than 150 companies over the past 2-decades, we found that in the leads that DID get followed up by the sales department... 87% of them were from EXISTING customers.

So what does all that tell you? It should tell you that sales people are being forced to LIVE with their EXISTING customers today, and IGNORE their PROSPECTS. And that you will get a lot more from your sales team with EMPATHY for their lead follow-up problems, than you will with BLAME for not following up.

Empathize with your sales force's problems and make it easier for them to follow-up leads, then listen to the PINS DROP TOGETHER.

Trade shows are seemingly GOING... where trade publications WENT.

2008-12-23T08:54:00.000-08:00

Is there anyone other than me that's old enough to compare what's happening to trade shows today, with what happened to trade publications in the past decade?

It's even spooky to look at the comparisons.

Trade Show = Publication
Show organizer = Publisher
Booths = Pages
Unions = Ad Agencies
Exhibit Manager = Ad Manager

Consider what happened to trade publications during the past decade. As readers began to find other ways to communicate with advertisers besides circling a reader service card (RSC) and waiting weeks to be contacted by the advertiser's sales force (if they ever were), they began using the Internet to ACQUIRE information about the advertised product, long before they picked up the phone to INQUIRE. Then, advertisers did a poor job measuring where the phone calls (leads) were coming from and lost track of any way to measure advertising ROI. The result? Look at the thickness of trade publications today.

LQQK what's happening today in the trade show world.

Show organizers are wayyy too focused on square-footage sales, general contractor's service costs are skyrocketing, exhibit houses are increasing pricing within their "bundles" and exhibitors (that can't prove ROI) are being forced to find other ways to SHOW their products and services. The result? Look down the aisles at the next trade show you attend.

Enter 2009... and the INTERACTIVE VIRTUAL WORLD for exhibiting and individual company events, and check back here soon for a "peek" at what this writer has found to be an upcoming trend to turn yesterday's SHOW n TELL into... SHOW n SELL.

Show management says "The show must go on." Exhibitor management says "The show must go." WTF? (What's The Formula - for success)

2008-12-19T03:34:00.000-08:00

The Forumla for success is Education. Exhibitors need education.

Exhibitors + Education = ROI

Last week at the IAEE conference, in Miami, everything but smoke signals, a blimp, sky writing and air-raid sirens were SCREAMING that exhibitors need "Measurement Metrics" to prove the ROI from shows to their management.

Yesterday, I was a guest speaker at Steve Miller's telesummit Webinar, and after my presentation on an industry proven way to get 100% lead follow-up after a show, I displayed my e-mail address in my Power Point presentation and got 17 e-mails from listeners/attendees asking for more information. HELLO!!! ??? Is anyone listening or connecting the dots in that action?

FACT - Less than 20% of leads get follow-ed up after a show. Everybody's heard that. Everybody knows it. But it's the 800# Gorilla in the living room that no one wants to admit is there, while exhibitors simply want to LEARN how to get rid of it without their management knowing. And they can by getting all of their leads followed-up after the show.

In my worldwide business travel, educating exhibitors, I see the disconnect between exhibitor companies' marketing department lead "generation", and their sales department's lack of lead "follow-up." (Which BTW is for good reason.)

Having recently joined the IAEE, I now see a similar disconnect between show management's focus on trade show "activity" and exhibitors focus on need for measurable "results." WTF?

In my fact based opinion, the formula for success and solution to both problems is relatively simple and goes wayyy beyond emerging social media, or the proliferation of sophisticated and expensive CRM software. Because social media or software doesn't "follow-up" leads after a show... people do! And the easier show management and exhibitors can make it to improve lead follow-up, the easier it will be for exhibitors to measure and prove show ROI based on "results" and not "activity."

Some more dots to connect... It's the "activity" of trade shows that costs money. It's the "results" that make money.

One show organizer in the IAEE conference last week stated... "We advertise exhibitor education and no one signs up." Again in my opinion, there is a "perfectly" logical reason why they don't, but unfortunately I have to catch a plane now and can't elaborate. But if you follow this blog, or contact me, I'll be glad to tell you, if you agree to stop feeding that damn Gorilla.

Therrrrrrre's no business like show business..........

TRENDS reduce SPENDS for TRADE SHOWS

2008-12-16T22:59:00.000-08:00

Did you know... that "labor" for Installation and Dismantling (I&D) of your exhibit DOES NOT have to come from the show's General Contractor goon-pool, or your exhibit house that simply buys it from a 3rd party, marks up the cost an average of 29% (Per Exhibitor Magazine), and passes the markup on to you?

That's right! Now you can go-direct and "un-bundle" these services from traditional suppliers and save as much as 40-60% on your trade show services cost.

The key is to know HOW to get it done, WHEN to order it, and WHO the experts are that do it the best.

Give me a call at 630-642-6500 if you need the name of an I&D company that can save your company a fortune -- and make you a hero. Or, I'll manage the entire process for you, so all you have to do is SHOW up.

Exhibitor Show in Las Vegas -- BET on it!

2008-12-16T22:29:00.000-08:00

If you have never heard of it, the Exhibitor Show is the trade show... for trade shows. Whoda thunk it?

Held again this year in Las Vegas, it's a MUST ATTEND if your responsibility has ANYthing to do with trade show exhibiting. Check it out at www.exhibitoronline.com

I'll be moderating a panel on the subject of trade show leads, and speaking again at their conference for the 14th year. The title of my presentation this year is "Trade show leads... STOP counting... START closing" in which I will be sharing "secrets" of an industry proven process of post-show lead responce management that assures 100% lead follow-up and positive trade show ROI.

In fact, American Airlines named the process I will be demonstrating a "Best Practice" in trade show marketing as it relates to post-show lead management.

I'm ON from 10:00am - 11:30am Thursday March 26, 2009. So get to Vegas. Don't GAMBLE with your trade show profession. STACK your DECK with the knowledge of an industry proven process you can BET will advance your profession.

Texas Library Association - BOOK it!

2008-12-16T22:23:00.000-08:00

On March 31st, 2009 I'll again be conducting my Power-Hour exhibitor educational session at the Texas Library Association (TLA) conference in Houston.

If you're exhibiting in the show, be sure to stop by the exhibitor's lounge at 12:00 noon for some pre-show, during-show, and post-show tips-N-tricks aimed at generating a measureable ROI.

I also write articles for their exhibitors and provide an afternoon of FREE one-on-one consulting to those that want to maximize their exhibiting presence and BOOK biz.

To win the race to SALES, today, MARKETING needs to get in the LEAD

2008-12-12T07:07:00.000-08:00

ROI. Trade show ROI. Exhibiting ROI is all I heard about this past week at the IAEE conference in Miami. Everyone seems to be missing the point that the ONLY place ROI can come from, after a trade show, is from the "leads" that are generated at the show, that everyone seems to agree are NOT being properly followed up.

Therefore, nipping the problem of poor lead follow-up in the bud (at the lead fulfillment stage) is where the solution to the problem lies, and that's what marketers and exhibitors are taught in an exclusive workshop at www.richarderschik.com that is conducted inside of companies and teaches a DIY (Do It Yourself) solution to the pervasive problem of poor lead follow-up.

What's YOUR biggest problem related to delivering ROI from trade shows, to prove ROI to YOUR management and protect your budget and trade show lifestyle?