Maximizing Your Experience As An ISPCON Exhibitor

With many startups showing up at ISPCON's Launchpad, in addition to other new exhibitors who are tech industry veterans, a pair of ISPCON veterans, regulars since 1997, offer tips on how to get noticed.

by Mike Cassidy and Tom McCafferty Managing Partners, ISP-Market [May 4, 2006]

As attendees of every single ISPCON show since its inception and consultants for over 20 exhibiting vendors throughout the course of those shows, we have gained what we consider to be some significant insight into how exhibitors can best use their time, booth space, and ISPCON tools to ensure that they are getting the most out of the show.

As with any marketing exercise, there are some strategic and tactical requirements for getting the most out of the experience.

Staff your booth wisely
One of the most common mistakes we've seen is overpopulating a booth with marketing personnel who know enough to spout the company line, but are unable to communicate beyond that. Most of the attendees at these shows are technical personnel. More often than not the CEO of an ISP spends the day building and managing the network as well, and even if they have graduated beyond that, they want to know the real ins-and-outs of your product, not just the brief overview of what it is and what it does.

Our recommendation is to always have a CTO at the show and to staff a booth with sales engineers and technical marketing folks who have hands on experience using your product or service in a service provider environment.

If you must have other employees on hand to man your booth, spend some time with them prior to show honing their pitch. Not only should they know the basics of your product or service, but they should be able to clearly articulate your value proposition to the ISP industry.

Another useful pre-show exercise is to have the team that will be attending prepare a series of simple questions that can help you identify prospective customers.

Key ISP attendees
Because your company is spending good money on booth space and travel, take the time to do your homework before you arrive. Any well manned booth will have a detailed agenda of who will be in it and when, as well as detailed wish list of attendees and exhibitors that the company would like to spend some time with while at the show.

Requesting and planning meetings is easier than ever this year. With the new ISPConnect tool, exhibitors can search a database of attendees and other exhibitors and contact them online to request meetings. Our experience is that exhibitors who really gain from their time at this show go one step further and prepare a full meeting schedule with time slots that can be marked ahead of time or on the show floor as well as a building a database based on their "wish list" including the key contacts at those companies.

Doing so prepares you to initiate conversations at will during any of the mixers, lunches, at the bar, in the elevator, or any of the other places that you are likely to run into that key customer you are hoping to land.

Building partnerships
Taking the time to understand the core technologies of other exhibitors before the show will allow you to better communicate your value proposition in terms of creating synergistic partnerships. Identifying complementary technologies and business models will allow exhibitors to prepare ideas before attending and to present complete ideas even in a short conversation on the show floor.

As with key ISP prospects, it is our feeling that exhibitors should arrive with a list of potential partners (and press) that they would like to meet with and have some knowledge of who the key contact is and a basic understanding of what their offering is.

Invitations
Any time you travel to a show, it makes sense to spend some time with any local or regional partners or customers. Make the most of your travel dollars by inviting them to attend and meeting with them face-to-face while you are in their neck of the woods.

Know your competition
It is important to know which of your competitors will be attending, exhibiting or speaking at the show. If your competitors will have a presence there, be sure to prepare a strong competitive analysis and educate your booth personnel on their products and services and how to sell against them.

If your competition is speaking, be sure to attend! The information gathered from the audience feedback is practically unattainable otherwise. Take notes on their presentation and every question asked and use it to your advantage while you are at the show and in future marketing.

Content and collateral
As important as deciding who should man your booth, you need to decide what collateral or information to arm them with. It is our experience at tradeshows and running lead generation campaigns, that number one piece of collateral is a good whitepaper. If someone is interested in your offering, provide them with a single source document where they can get all the marketing and technical detail required to understand how it will affect their business. If your offering has appeal across multiple markets, it would be best to create a document that is specific to the ISP industry.

Other important documents to prepare are:

• Technical datasheets for all products
• A single page document that explains your value proposition to the ISP community
• Demos that can be run in your booth
• Demo software on CD (if applicable)
• Presentations
1. one that is simple, high-level and covers key points
2. one that delivers more technical detail and can be used in a meeting environment
• NDAs if required
• Any recent, pertinent, press releases

Booth Duty
Not only is it important to have the proper people and tools in your booth, there are things that exhibitors can do in the booth to ensure a good ISPCON experience as well.

It should go without saying that no one wants to go to a booth where all of the exhibitor employees are talking to each other. No matter how exciting or groundbreaking your product is, booth attendants will need to make an effort to engage people who are walking by. A simple, "What can I tell you about (insert company name)?" will usually do the trick.

These shows tend to be viral in that when booths are full, more people are drawn to them to find out what that vendor does.

Also, once a prospect is in your booth, make sure to exchange business cards (I know that sounds basic but it's been my experience that not every exhibitor does this) and make sure that anyone that shows the slightest bit of interest leaves with some collateral.

When someone has left your booth, use the back side of their business card to note any details about that person, their business or their interest/need that will aid in following up with them and turning them in to a customer.

[Ed. note: And don't forget to have business cards for your PR person, for when the press drops by!]

Follow up
The most important part of a tradeshow is the follow up. Since little business is closed in exhibit halls and you've had conversations with hundreds of prospects over the course of a few days, it is imperative that you devise a solid follow-up plan. If you've followed the advise in this article, you've gathered a good deal of information from every prospect and properly educated them on your offering.

Ideally every person you've gotten a business card from would get a phone call during the week following the show. Understanding that this is not always possible, we have provided a basic follow-up plan below.

1. Sort prospects by level of interest and any other key information collected
2. Identify top tier of interested prospects (hot prospects)
3. Call "hot" prospects during the first week following the show, preferably within 2-3 days
4. Call or send a personalized e-mail to all other prospects within two weeks(people know if they are getting a scripted follow-up, personalize it by using the data you collected while talking with them)
5. E-mail all prospects an invitation to subscribe to your company newsletter(this is a great tool to keep prospects engaged and the take rate is normally quite high)

Conclusion
Armed with the right people, sales tools, and a little pre-show planning, any exhibitor can maximize their time at the ISPCON show.

Exhibitors who put thought and time into the who, how, and why of the tradeshow experience will benefit by properly engaging and educating prospective customers and partners.

—End