This post is the third of three in a stream.  Click here to see Post 1 of 3, then 2 of 3, then jump back here.

2.      Buffett changes strategies as the Business World changes.

On CNBC, when he announced his investment in IBM, Buffett’s interviewers discussed how he did not usually buy tech stocks.  In Post 1 of this stream, he described his strategy as he quoted Thomas Watson Sr.: “I’m no genius, but I’m smart in spots, and I stay around those spots.””

Warren Buffett had a hard time differentiating between good and great tech companies, one of the few spots he did not trust his research or instincts.   Yet, his prudence made him BILLIONS in other industries as tech bubbles inflated and collapsed.

So, why did Buffett jump into technology? Well, Buffett didn’t jump into tech as much as IBM and technology jumped into everything!  IBM provides technology implementation services in almost every sector worldwide — small, mid-sized, Fortune 500, and government.  Buffett understands customer loyalty and IBM’s new service model.  Buffett isn’t a tech genius, for sure, but he sees IBM as a trustworthy business.  So, in this unfamiliar space, he used his sturdy strategies to get involved for the long-term.

TAKE AWAYS FOR THE EVENTS INDUSTRY –
This article isn’t a “white paper” for “Big Blue”.  On the contrary, Buffett’s reasons for working with IBM point the way to utilizing technology from other providers.  You can propel your company or association ahead of the competition.

You can do so by discovering the most consistent tech experts  –
●     Learn who are technology leaders in your space or your clients’ industries.
-      Writers I trust are Corbin Ball, Maddie Grant and Lindy Dreyer of SocialFish, Jeff Hurt, and Michelle Harman.
-      I use Google Alerts to find new experts and content in news, blogs, and other web pages that relate to keywords that I need to understand better.
-      If you want me to share any more leaders I find with you, connect with me.  See how Events Industry experts use technology to improve sales or internal processes.

●     Don’t have the time to learn? Then create “in-house experts”!  Empower your colleagues to find out what works for other associations or exhibitors your size.  Then have them educate you.

●     One place for learning (for your colleagues and you) is local chapter events for Associations.  Tech discussions are a common focus with these groups.

●     Use Social Media to develop relationships.  Don’t just listen.  Ask questions and respond where you have similar challenges and solutions.  Places in Social Media for significant and appropriate interaction include –
-      Linkedin Groups help you discuss, network, and market: I use IAEE, TSEA,   MeetingTechOnline, Event Technology, and eMarketing Association Network.
-      Twitter (use hashtags like #ExpoChat, #AssnChat, #IAEE, or #EventProfs)

Finally, attend technology webinars (online seminars).   Supplement your knowledge by picking what to learn.  Then, search spots like IAEE.com, Engage365.org and the above Social Media groups for upcoming events.  Don’t know which ones are worth your time? You can call me about which opportunities fit your needs and budget.

To clarify or add to these ideas, please call or write me, or find me on Twitter and Linkedin.

With hope for your True success!
Eric Hatch
Twitter Handle: @HatchEvent
Skype ID: Eric-Hatch
Phone: 240-565-1557
Eric@HatchMarketingLLC.com

Finding and Using Innovations for the Events Industry, with Long-Term Benefits (Part 2)

This post is the second of three posts. To see Post 1 of 3, click here, jump back here, then finish with Post 3 of 3.

2.      Buffett sticks with stable businesses.

Buffett seems “traditional” and “low tech”, but he once was CEO for a technology firm.  It sold punch cards after regulators broke IBM’s monopoly in that niche.  He left that business, however, when he realized IBM still owned the hearts of industry decision-makers.  Buffett remembers his prospects saying, “No one gets fired for choosing IBM.”

Since 2005, after many trials, IBM reclaimed a significant market share, especially in providing services to large institutional firms. Buffett saw how IBM is now “‘a company that helps IT departments do their job better. It is a big deal for a big company to change auditors, change law firms’ or to switch to a new technology vendor”.  IBM clients need consistency, so upstarts don’t usually win in battles with “Big Blue”.

That’s why IBM’s strength fits into Buffett’s investment style.  He buys billions of dollars of a solid business.  Then, Berkshire Hathaway sticks with it.  IBM, after struggling, met 2005-2010 projections.  Now that its executives saved it from bankruptcy, Buffett thinks IBM will meet 2010-2015 projections, too.

TAKE AWAYS FOR THE EVENTS INDUSTRY –
●     Pick technology providers who are experts with a strong track record. Get references and work examples.
●     Tech providers don’t need to equal IBM in size!  You aren’t as rich as Buffett.  Sometimes one small and trusted provider meets your need expertly tailored solutions.
●     IBM’s new service model helps them flourish. Similarly, when they meet stakeholders’ needs, associations and exhibitors succeed.  Make sure your technology does the same!
●     Focus on implementation, not hardware.  IBM now helps their customers utilize “Cloud-based solutions”, which are secure software applications available through the Internet.  Make sure to focus on “usability” — for members, sponsors, and your staff.

See this article’s conclusion in Post 3 of 3.

With hope for your True success!
Eric Hatch
Twitter Handle: @HatchEvent
Skype ID: Eric-Hatch
Phone: 240-565-1557
Eric@HatchMarketingLLC.com

Finding and Using Innovations for the Events Industry, with Long-Term Benefits (Part 1)

By Eric Hatch
Director, Marketing
Hatch Marketing  & Consulting, LLC

“I’m no genius, but I’m smart in spots, and I stay around those spots.””
- Warren Buffett (quoting Thomas Watson Sr.)

Warren Buffet isn’t like you and me… unless Bill Gates is reading this.  He’s the world’s third-richest man, with net assets worth $50 Billion, most of which came only from good investments.

He’s also unlike most investors.  He won’t “buy low, and sell high”, nor will he “day trade”.  You want quick profits?  Look elsewhere.  He and his holding company Berkshire Hathaway provide long term, very secure investments.  And his safe approach produces phenomenal returns, over the decades, especially in comparison to recent failures of now-bankrupt Wall Street firms.

1. Buffett Stays Rich Through Consistent Forethought.
In its modest office in Omaha, Nebraska, Berkshire Hathaway consistently predicts many companies’ future growth and stability.  When Mr. Buffett finds businesses up to his standards, he buys and holds onto that stock, not for months or even years; he keeps a stock and doesn’t let go.  This method keeps the Berkshire stock portfolio largely unchanged.  53% of its $60 Billion market value comes from businesses which Berkshire has neither bought or sold any of their stock last year.

Coca-Cola, the single largest holding at Berkshire Hathaway at 22% of their portfolio, exemplifies this approach.  It attracted Mr. Buffett, not because it’s flashy, but because it is stable and growing.  He also bought it because, unlike tech stocks, he understood the business.  He comprehends the competitive advantage of each company in his portfolio.  Berkshire started buying it back in the 1980’s.  Now it owns 8.7% of Coca-Cola — 200 million shares — valued at $13.9 Billion. It makes up over 22% of Berkshire’s portfolio, it’s a sound, long-term investment, and it will be for the foreseeable future.  So, Mr. Buffett keeps it in his portfolio.

Breaking News! Buffett Buys Tech… with Forethought!
If Warren Buffett’s investment style seems immovable, look at how Berkshire shifted its investments in 2011.  It was back in October that I began to really take notice of Berkshire Hathaway, when they bought 5% of IBM, over $10 Billion worth!  It made headlines because it was the first tech stock Berkshire ever held.

So, why did Buffett invest in this stalwart of technology?  His explanation will help anyone, especially associations and others in the Events Industry, to invest effectively in technology.

Part 2 – How Buffett sticks with stable businesses with takeaways for the Events Industry and beyond.

Part 3 – How Buffett changes  with the Business World with takeaways for the Events Industry and beyond.

With hope for your True success!
Eric Hatch
Twitter Handle: @HatchEvent
Skype ID: Eric-Hatch
Phone: 240-565-1557
Eric@HatchMarketingLLC.com

Michael Hatch’s background with Marketing Automation

As I discussed in Wednesday’s blog entry, the graphic below shows the dilemma for an exhibit manager when looking at leads generated at trade shows.

Problem:

Most trade show leads follow this track:

1. Lead Capture via a card, badge scanning device, or collection of business cards
2. The Exhibit Manager hands over leads to the VP or Director of Sales (using a flash drive or through a lead retrieval provider)
3. Leads get entered into the organization’s database, or CRM.
4. What happens after the hottest “A” leads are followed up?  There’s no system to follow up, nurture, and incubate the other 80% of trade show leads, which won’t buy for a year, two, or sometimes longer.

A Better Solution: Marketing Automation

You can use cloud-based Marketing Automation (MA) systems.  This solution  automatically follows up, nurtures, and develops 100% of all you’re A, B, and C leads until they qualify themselves as ready to buy. Here’s how it works.

You capture trade show leads at the show like usual, but then you do two things at about the same time.

Each prospect (include current customers too) can receive email or direct mail on a pre- scheduled basis.  It would have the all-important “unsubscribe” button at the bottom, but more purposeful are its links to your website that offers something of value to your potential and present clients, like:

- helping prospects to do their job better

- improving their knowledge and skill sets

- reinforcing your value propositions

- helping them save their organizations money….you get the idea.

As prospects click on links in these emails, here is some of what an MA System does beyond any basic email program like Constant Contact, or Vertical Response.

- Track exactly who opens your email (not just how many).

- Document the pages visitors view and the length of their views, thereby quantifying visitors’ interest.

- Define which metrics best identify if your prospects are in a buying mode.

Examples of these metrics include:

+ They clicked through to your site 5 times this quarter.

+ They requested 2 subject-specific white papers.

+ They spent 5+ minutes 3 times on a specific product page.

Your MA system would automatically alert the Sales VP, Director or Manager, and/or the account executive, each with a note that “Now is the right time to contact this prospect.”

So, while your sales team concentrates on closing the usual 15-20% of “A” leads, your MA system automatically (what a great word for a small or mid-size business owner!) nurtures the relationship with the other 80% (B & C leads) until they qualify themselves and graduate to “A” leads.

The Results from Marketing Automation

1. What MA Systems Do:

* Change marketing from hit-or-miss experimentation into a deliberate method of finding and growing leads.

* Increase sales cheaply, more effectively, and dependably than hiring and training sales staff.

* Remind the other 80% of your hard earned prospects of what you do.

* Guard your prospects so your competitors don’t sell them 12 to 24 months from now.

* Connect to your leads without annoying them.

* Insure your sales team doesn’t wrongly disqualify or neglect them.

2. When you launch an MA System,

* 2x to 3x more qualified “A” leads convert into 2x to 3x more sales revenue for you.

* your company lowers sales costs and your marketing spend.

* your profit margins will increase.

What an unbeatable combination!

In my next blog, we will take a look at a variety of MA programs, and how to create and launch effective campaigns with them.

– Michael Hatch

Michael Hatch’s background with Marketing Automation

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“Research has shown that 80% of the leads dis-qualified by sales, go on to buy a competitor’s product, or service within 24 months.”
Source: SiriusDecisions

Michael Hatch’s background with Marketing Automation

Maybe you’re like me — I was an Event Professional before most #EventProfs were even born!  During those 30+ years in the meetings and events business, I heard some variation of thses common laments from Exhibit Managers year after year.

1. Lack of control over show leads - After shows and events, Exhibit Managers have little or no control or influence over the leads they generate at shows and events. They spend hours, and weeks preparing for each show, in meetings and coordinating with vendors, the sales and marketing departments, managing logistics, executing pre-show marketing campaigns, and much more. Then once the show is over, they hand over 200 or 300 leads to the VP of Sales, and promptly lose all contact, control or influence over them.

2. Most leads are never followed up - Exhibit Managers know from industry surveys, and anecdotal reports from their sales team and marketing department that 60% to 80% of the leads she works so hard to generate, are not followed up. How demoralizing!

3. Real ROI is impossible in this model – At the end of the year, management calls an Exhibit Manager into the office to detail her new budget requests, or she sits down for an annual performance review.  Her director asks, “What is the ROI of all these shows you/we do?”  More often than not, she has no way to give them hard data and numbers, because she has no connection with the leads, and “no control” over the follow-up or sales process. Consequently, her budget, future promotion, and even her job can be in jeopardy, because she has few if any answers.

Why 80% ?

Why are 80% of trade show leads not followed up?  Here’s a natural sales dynamic, which destroys follow-up on most leads.  Each month, sales people live and die by their quota. So when trade show leads come to them, they naturally contact the hottest “A” leads first, and after those, the “B” leads, if they have time. The “C” leads are really low down on the totem pole, getting disqualified almost immediately.

Also, on average, only 15% to 20 % of trade show leads are “A” caliber – ready to buy, with both a budget and a deadline. Then, if the marketing department is doing their job, by the first of the month a fresh batch of leads comes in, and the cycle continues. The “A” leads (15 to 20%) always get followed up first, and the other 80% (B and C leads) get pushed down, aside, and too often and forgotten.

The Problem: Losing (your) sales to your competition

In this scenario, trade show leads 12 to 24 months after a show (from the B & C leads) actually provide more business (maybe even more) than leads in the first 12 months (A leads). This happens because attendees see new products at this year’s show.  Then, they put budget requests in for them at the end of the year.  So, then they come back the next year – informed, funded, and ready to buy.

With this in mind, companies into this continuous cycle lose 2x to 3x of their potential sales revenue if  they don’t follow up and stay in contact with all trade show and event leads until they mature. Indeed, let me re-emphasize the alarming quotation from the Sirius Research Organization at the top of the message: “80% of the leads ignored or dis-qualified by sales, go on to buy a competitor’s product, or service within 24 months.”

So, here’s the dilemma.

Do you want the solution? I will share it tomorrow in my next blog entry.

- Mike Hatch

Michael Hatch’s background with Marketing Automation

How to Insure Missionaries and Donors Communicate and Partner Effectively

- Fundraising diverts missionaries from loving people and spreading the Gospel of Jesus Christ, maybe more than any earthly concern.  It’s also one reason why I am not an appointed missionary with the Assemblies of God.

Yet, God was sovereign as He sent me into the Business World.

Marketing and Donor Prospecting

The Hard Way

The Better Way

Contact me for a free, personalized hour of consulting.

I have just read the Washington Post’s article on what some ambitious Logistics Manager must see as THE BEST weekend ever.  “Los Angeles’s unprecedented weekend of sports” describes how, over just eighty (80) hours starting last night, each of the tenants of AEG’s Staples Center in Los Angeles – the NBA’s Lakers, Clippers, and the NHL’s Kings – will play… in six separate games!  That means five (5) arena floor transitions, cleanup, restock, crowd control… WOW!

How would YOU make this happen?  How do a GSC and work crews/unions coordinate and perfect this kind of intense schedule?  Regardless, I’ll pray for success and send big props to Lee Zeidman, Christy Castillo Butcher, and all the AEG Worldwide team at Staples, L.A. Live, and beyond.

#EventProfs, if you sell Marketing Technology or organize events of  a #TradeShow, and you missed the Meetings Technology Expo, this week in New York City, you lost a great opportunity for learning and sales.  The power-packed one day provided just enough exhibitors with opportunities for break-out demo sessions.  And tables for networking and one-on-one appointments in the exhibit hall made it more like an alumni event at #Meetings Tech University.

Speakers included Tom Wong, the VP of Marketing with Salesforce.com: if you don’t know this guy, you should.  He talks a mile a minute, and he gave me some great ideas I will implement on how Event Organizers and attendees of all sizes should use Social Media and live events to grow and sustain growth.

I also saw Erik Mintz, Constant Contact‘s Event Marketing Director, who gave us some purpose-driven ideas on better email marketing.  Even Rich Stone, President of ExpoCAD, cogently showed attendees “How to Select and Purchase Meeting Technology Successfully“.  Yes, I am praising ExpoCAD’s founder, though I still appreciate my former colleagues at A2Z. I thank all the ladies and gentlemen who spoke, exhibited, and attended the event, but especially Paul Paone (faceless here, not at the expo) and his MTE team.  Each group made the event into an event I can confidently say will exceed all of my Learning, ROI, and Lead Generation expectations.

The proof of high ROI  won’t come with the number of business cards I took home, as you know.  It will be in the follow-up, which I have already begun.

Yet, even a fantastic opportunity like MTE won’t help a sales person follow-up, nurture, and market to hundreds of leads, especially the “B” and “C” Leads.  Your sales team will contact your “A” Leads, maybe in one afternoon.  But how can your sales people market consistently and appropriately to every qualified prospect?  Like SiriusDecisions says,

“Research has shown that 80% of the leads dis-qualified by sales, go on to buy a competitor’s product, or service within 24 months.”

That’s why Mike and I started HATCH Marketing.  We make sure that incredible technology fits your budget, allowing you to find your leads (using live events, webinars, email marketing, social media… I could go on).  Then the technology will successfully incubate the leads and almost completely insure ROI, not just now but for years to come.  The offerings include

• The newest Marketing Automation tools like Pardot and Marketo;

• Customer Relationship Management programs (CRM’s) like Salesforce.com that become your overall sales, marketing, and customer service solution;
• Easy-to-use, yet powerful websites that integrate with your CRM and Marketing Automation solutions!

Click on the links above to learn more about these tools.

Thanks for your consideration! Keep watching for our messages.  We will earn the opportunity to help you... when you are ready.
Eric Hatch
Twitter ID: @HATCHevent

“I hope it helps you to receive a little background on my past concerning Lead Follow-Up and Trade Shows.

“Early in my career, I managed corporate trade shows and events for both AT&T and Holiday Inns Worldwide. AT&T’s program included 65 shows and corporate events annually.  Holiday Inns was a unique corporate program; I was tasked to generate sales leads for 1700 franchise properties worldwide.  However, I received no budget from corporate to run the program; it was totally self-funded. I learned how to generate finely targeted, qualified leads because I had dozens of franchisees worldwide who cared for nothing except leads for their five or ten properties in Dallas, California, or Germany.

“After AT&T and Holiday Inns, I started and ran my own exhibit and graphics design and production business in Washington, D.C. for 17 years. Over those years, we served over 5,000 corporate, association, and government exhibitors. The core component of our marketing program was trade show marketing seminars for exhibitors, and I presented an average of two dozen of those for hundreds of exhibitors each year. From both servicing all those 5,000 exhibitors and educating many others, I learned a lot about their challenges and what works, and does not work.

“During this time, I also became involved in the Trade Show Exhibitors Association (TSEA), founded the Washington, D.C. chapter, and served on the Board of Directors.

“Then, I sold the exhibit business and invested in a start-up technology company called a2z, Inc., which developed event management and marketing software for trade show organizers. During the next ten years, we went from zero customers to servicing over 1,000 associations and independent show organizers including nearly 100 of the top-200 shows in the U.S.

“This background, I hope, lets you understand where I come from, as well as the progression of the ideas, concepts, technology, and marketing tools in this blog entry.”
- Mike Hatch, President of HATCH Marketing & Consulting

Hello all…

I thought that you might like to know that hashtags help people like me to navigate the sea of information in Social Media. “Hashtags” may cause a thought like, “Eric, I like hash browns… got any of those?” If, like me, your stomach is growling now, I apologize.

Kidding aside, what in the world is a hashtag? It is a marker on Twitter messages (sometimes called “tweets”).  It helps people to release the prejudice (like I had) that only narcissistic semi-stars create tweets.  Actually, hashtags help me know what people think about almost anything… quickly and easily. You simply proceed a word with a number sign (“#”), or as the Britons say, a “hash”.

Some fantastic hashtags that I use now include #ExpoChat, #EventProfs, #Tradeshow, and #AssnChat.

If you have ideas about how to use hashtags, or you’re in need of ideas, look to the comments section below.

Hope for True success!

Eric

Once, I thought I would teach High School English. Then, I realized that I loved kids, I loved helping them learn, but I do not enjoy paper work.  So, I went back into the family business of trade shows and conferences.  What I learned, I mean really implemented, is that logistics and methods are at least 50% of the education process.

So, when I read the blog of Jeff Hurt (Director of Engagement with Velvet Chainsaw) today, I thought, “YES! Jeff understands what it takes to help conference attendees learn!”

Here is my overview of what Jeff said.  Don’t take my word for it, though! Go see his blog entry, “Information Dump Or Learning Facilitator?” at JeffHurtBlog.com

A student learns nothing until s/he can do what s/he has been taught.

After you read Jeff’s blog, please read my example of how Conference Organizers can spur better implementation of what they are learning. It’s simple, and all events – from a meeting of nine board members to a humongous Annual – should use it.  This is the big idea: during a session at a conference, attendees must teach concepts to other attendees.

How do students and teachers do that?
1. Give students a short and focused overview… and don’t try to teach everything about your topic!
2. Split the learners into small group sessions, and each group has one of three or four topics to discuss.
3. After each group discusses their topic, the groups split up.
4. Each small group member should huddle up with two or more people, each from other groups.
5. In the “huddle”, each person takes a few minutes to explain what s/he discussed in the first small group.  All of the people in the “huddle” learn about the topics of the small groups they did not previously discuss.

This method causes each student to teach AND learn.  Why? 90% of what someone must teach is retained. Less than 10% of what one hears will be utilized. This begs the question: why do we still have these gaudy, stadium-style general sessions at conferences? I don’t think it is because we learn.  It’s for flashy fun… which is good, but not usually helpful. What do you think? You tell me in your comments.

So that I practice what I preach, follow the example… or call me so you and I can both learn from each other!

Until further notified, “The First Trade Show” blog is on hiatus.  Many of you have expressed interest in those blog entries.  However, I find that sharing data from the past century or so may be more applicable.

If you are still interested in learning about “The First International Trade Show”, I would love to do more entries.  I just need a few people to do their best impression of rock concert fan after the second encore.  Scream “WE WANT MORE!” on the comments pages, and more you will receive.