Sales Strategies: Selling Relationships, Not Space

By Margo McCall -- Tradeshow Week, 8/16/2004

The old "dialing for dollars" approach to selling exhibit space just won't cut it anymore. In today's post-boom environment, a new approach has taken hold as competition from other marketing mediums remains fierce and exhibitors are insistent about being able to demonstrate ROI.

The new strategy is all about understanding clients' goals and objectives, cultivating long-term relationships and being intimately familiar with your show and the markets it serves. In short, salespeople are increasingly taking a consultative approach.

Recognizing this, show management companies have stepped up to bat to re-energize and reorganize exhibit sales teams, the backbone of their organizations. The assistance may range from a state-of-the-art database management system or new compensation plan, to fresh goals or more time for face-to-face sales calls.

"In general, it's become a much more relationship-based association that our customers are looking for," said Phil Robinson, senior vice president for George Little Management, whose gift-show-heavy portfolio includes more than 50 events each year in the United States and Canada. "You're not just selling a 10¡ä¡Á10¡ä space. You're selling knowledge and access to a marketplace."

Robinson said today's exhibit salespeople need to be much more informed about their shows and the markets they serve. For order-writing shows, they also need to find out what types of products are selling or not selling. And although knowing what you're selling has always been a critical component of this line of work, it's even more important in order to succeed in today's environment.

"It places an onus on salespeople to know more about demographics ¡ª for us in the gift industry, the type of stores, and whether it's a specialty store or a museum store ¡ª not just knowing that you have X-thousand attendees coming to a show, but who those people are," Robinson said.

David Korse said when he became president of IDG World Expo, reorganizing the sales team wasn't his top priority. But eventually he realized that the company's sales organization could benefit from a new database management system, in addition to a fresh approach.

Korse obtained board permission to invest in new technology last August, and hired consultant GMD Resources to build a customized system that would unite the company's disparate databases. In October, the company began a series of brainstorming sessions. The new system, called Javelin, went live April 1.

But in addition to new technology, Korse said it was also important to make sure that his staff was clear on what the organization was attempting to accomplish. "We knew we wanted a more collaborative and qualitative relationship," said Korse. "It isn't just about, 'Do you want to rent a booth?' We're striving for that deeper relationship."

MediaLive Intl. now offers post-show attendance audits and research to help exhibitors determine the event's value. Those tools enable MediaLive sales staff to more effectively discuss a show's results with customers. "Our salespeople are able to become truly consultative, and say 'Here's what worked and here's what didn't,'" said Eric Faurot, vice president and general manager of COMDEX.

Salespeople at MediaLive, like at other show management companies, have been working to get to know exhibitors better. "I think what exhibitors want is salespeople who understand what they're trying to achieve and trying to build specific programs," said Faurot, adding that, "We don't try to sell people who we don't believe will fundamentally benefit from our event."

Exhibitors have sometimes taken a dim view of exhibit salespeople. At the recent annual meeting of the Computer Event Marketing Assn., one exhibit manager remarked that most exhibit salespeople seem intent only on getting space contracts signed. "The salespeople you sic on us don't care about anything," the exhibit manager said.

While Robinson said GLM's sales team has been stable over the past few years, Faurot said MediaLive ¡ª which last year went through bankruptcy reorganization ¡ª has a relatively new team staffed by seasoned sales personnel.

Julie Ichiba, group show director for VNU Expositions' ASD/AMD Merchandise Group, said her company is trying to employ higher-quality sales staff. On the fast-growing ASD/AMD tradeshows, the challenge for sales staff is to keep up with the volume of six regional and two national shows per year.

And with exhibitors expecting higher levels of customer service, just keeping up with the day-to-day service questions takes time. "It's extremely busy, and it's all year round," she said.

Robinson said GLM is investing extra time in basic sales training, covering such issues as overcoming exhibitor objections that serve as barriers to sales. It has asked show managers to become more active in overseeing each event's sales organization. At the same time that technology is being viewed as a solution for boosting sales, so are old-fashioned face-to-face sales calls.

Such approaches are necessary, Robinson said, because "everybody's looking closely at sales and marketing budgets and wants better ROI."