Comments on: Trade Exhibitions like ITCN Asia – Pro’s vs Con’s http://greenwhite.org/blog/2009/07/14/trade-exhibitions-like-itcn-asia-pros-vs-cons/ Coffee Sessions for the Industry! Thu, 09 Feb 2012 06:06:11 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3 By: www.homequran.com http://greenwhite.org/blog/2009/07/14/trade-exhibitions-like-itcn-asia-pros-vs-cons/comment-page-1/#comment-139764 www.homequran.com Thu, 20 Aug 2009 04:37:57 +0000 http://greenwhite.org/2009/07/14/trade-exhibitions-like-itcn-asia-pros-vs-cons/#comment-139764 Learn quran at home is an excellent program that enable kids, adults and new muslims to Learn quran. Homequran.com have 24-7 classes. We have students in USA, Canada, UK, France, Australia, Spain, Belgium, Ireland and all over the world. We teach 24 hours a day. You can try three FREE no obligation trial lessons to evaluate our online quran learning service. After that you can decide to continue or discontinue Quran learning with us. We have both male and female tutors. ...... 3 DAYS FREE TRIAL FOR ALL ........ Learn quran at home is an excellent program that enable kids, adults and new muslims to Learn quran. Homequran.com have 24-7 classes. We have students in USA, Canada, UK, France, Australia, Spain, Belgium, Ireland and all over the world. We teach 24 hours a day. You can try three FREE no obligation trial lessons to evaluate our online quran learning service. After that you can decide to continue or discontinue Quran learning with us. We have both male and female tutors.

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]]> By: mansoor http://greenwhite.org/blog/2009/07/14/trade-exhibitions-like-itcn-asia-pros-vs-cons/comment-page-1/#comment-134587 mansoor Thu, 16 Jul 2009 12:05:12 +0000 http://greenwhite.org/2009/07/14/trade-exhibitions-like-itcn-asia-pros-vs-cons/#comment-134587 anthony: nice put! the part about managing contacts is something i had not thought of before and something i realize i need to optimize before we head off into ITCN ourselves :) thanks for the tip anthony: nice put! the part about managing contacts is something i had not thought of before and something i realize i need to optimize before we head off into ITCN ourselves :) thanks for the tip

]]> By: Anthony Mitchell http://greenwhite.org/blog/2009/07/14/trade-exhibitions-like-itcn-asia-pros-vs-cons/comment-page-1/#comment-134274 Anthony Mitchell Wed, 15 Jul 2009 03:08:37 +0000 http://greenwhite.org/2009/07/14/trade-exhibitions-like-itcn-asia-pros-vs-cons/#comment-134274 The pros and cons of trade shows are well presented above. Trade shows provide rare opportunities to physically get in front of potential clients and to speak face-to-face. Two weeks at trade shows can be more productive than two years of cold calling. Quicker too. Three challenges associated with trade shows are: 1. Picking the right trade shows. 2. Maintaining personal contacts when follow up calls are made. 3. Managing information collected at trade shows. Each challenge is addressed below. Picking the right trade shows can be difficult for companies that adopt the herd mentality. Too often at BPO or call centre conferences there will be dozens of service providers, lined up in adjacent booths, all pitching to a small number of potential clients. It is easy for service providers to overshoot the optimal market entry point and find themselves pitching to competitors or equipment and software vendors who are not potential clients. An outsourcing service provider with a specialty in accounting services could be better served by picking out trade shows where their potential clients can be found, but where competitors will not. For example, at trade shows for operators of retail stores, law offices and other businesses with a need for accounting services, there may be no other accounting services vendor present. The outsourcing vendor who participates can find that they have all the potential clients to themselves. A call centre seeking to undertake soft collections work may be better served by sending their people to a trade show for electrical utilities than to a collections conference. All electrical utilities need to arrange for assistance calling customers with delinquent bills. There will be less sales pressure for the call centre’s representatives in this setting because competitors will not be milling about, distracting and diverting potential customers. A problem that sales people have at trade shows is recognizing and recording the contact preferences of people they meet. For example, if someone is not actively looking to buy, they may appreciate a call once every 6-12 months to see how their business is going. But if they receive aggressive sales calls on a weekly or daily basis, they may speak badly about such a vendor. If callbacks are made by someone the potential client has never met, the benefits from making a personal contact at a trade show will be lost. The head marketing person at a trade show may not engage in routine callbacks. But if that person introduces (directly or indirectly) a junior colleague to the potential client on a trade show floor, then the personal connection may be maintained and follow up calls can be more productive. Follow up calls can be placed by the junior, with the senior being brought into the call (supported by a screen pop of the prospect’s information) once the prospect begins to be engaged on the telephone. IT/ITeS companies can resemble cobblers whose children run barefoot in that they often lack sales force management software or CRM software. In B2B sales, numerous calls usually need to be made in order for a sale to occur. Without the ability to track callbacks and prompt follow up calls, sales will be lost and marketing efforts wasted. The pros and cons of trade shows are well presented above. Trade shows provide rare opportunities to physically get in front of potential clients and to speak face-to-face. Two weeks at trade shows can be more productive than two years of cold calling. Quicker too.

Three challenges associated with trade shows are:

1. Picking the right trade shows.
2. Maintaining personal contacts when follow up calls are made.
3. Managing information collected at trade shows.

Each challenge is addressed below.

Picking the right trade shows can be difficult for companies that adopt the herd mentality. Too often at BPO or call centre conferences there will be dozens of service providers, lined up in adjacent booths, all pitching to a small number of potential clients.

It is easy for service providers to overshoot the optimal market entry point and find themselves pitching to competitors or equipment and software vendors who are not potential clients.

An outsourcing service provider with a specialty in accounting services could be better served by picking out trade shows where their potential clients can be found, but where competitors will not. For example, at trade shows for operators of retail stores, law offices and other businesses with a need for accounting services, there may be no other accounting services vendor present. The outsourcing vendor who participates can find that they have all the potential clients to themselves.

A call centre seeking to undertake soft collections work may be better served by sending their people to a trade show for electrical utilities than to a collections conference. All electrical utilities need to arrange for assistance calling customers with delinquent bills. There will be less sales pressure for the call centre’s representatives in this setting because competitors will not be milling about, distracting and diverting potential customers.

A problem that sales people have at trade shows is recognizing and recording the contact preferences of people they meet. For example, if someone is not actively looking to buy, they may appreciate a call once every 6-12 months to see how their business is going. But if they receive aggressive sales calls on a weekly or daily basis, they may speak badly about such a vendor.

If callbacks are made by someone the potential client has never met, the benefits from making a personal contact at a trade show will be lost.

The head marketing person at a trade show may not engage in routine callbacks. But if that person introduces (directly or indirectly) a junior colleague to the potential client on a trade show floor, then the personal connection may be maintained and follow up calls can be more productive. Follow up calls can be placed by the junior, with the senior being brought into the call (supported by a screen pop of the prospect’s information) once the prospect begins to be engaged on the telephone.

IT/ITeS companies can resemble cobblers whose children run barefoot in that they often lack sales force management software or CRM software. In B2B sales, numerous calls usually need to be made in order for a sale to occur. Without the ability to track callbacks and prompt follow up calls, sales will be lost and marketing efforts wasted.

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