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

For where I stand, life is not random and pitiless.   Life may look chaotic, but God is in control.

However, I follow Mary Lyon‘s principle: “Trust God and do something.”   I seek inspiration, but regardless of a “new vision”, I follow what I have learned.  I work hard while looking for better methods and opportunities.  My goal is to act right, while looking for trails to blaze.

Bob James recently blogged about finding inspiration in seemingly “random events”.  Will you read his post, please?  They, you can share your thoughts  in the blog’s comments section about your own crossroad moments that directed your life.

#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

Today is the 159th anniversary of the closing of the world’s first trade show… well, maybe.

Saying something was “The First” is a dubious undertaking.   For proof, visit a tech venture capitalist’s boardroom, and pitch your “first of its kind website”.   Then, ask for a cushion on which s/he will toss you out!  New products or events almost always have forerunners and competition.

Bazaars like Khan el-Khalili have been around for 600 years, but strictly speaking... it's not a trade show.

So, who are the parents of trade shows? Marketplaces have existed throughout the world for millenia.  Bazaars also have been around for centuries. “Khan el-Khalili (Arabic: خان الخليلي)… in the Old City of Cairo” may be the oldest, dating back to 1382. Istanbul‘s Grand Bazaar (KapalıÇarşı, or Covered Market) also is one of the most prominent predecessors to the modern shopping mall, all the way back in 1461.

However, bazaars and marketplaces were not trade shows.  It’s not a trade show when someone puts a roof over a business district.  To clarify, I will define a trade show and emphasize some of their positive and negative characteristics.

1. All Together — Trade Shows gather artisans, innovators, and manufacturers to present their products.

2. In One Place — Trade Shows take place in a centralized location, usually, but not exclusively, indoors.

3. The Next Big Thing – Attendees come to see new and exciting technologies, products, and services from the exhibitors, some with the focus on buying the new products.

4. Limited Time – Trade Shows are usually temporary events, maybe only for a day,  maybe much longer.

5. See You Next Year – Trade Shows are routine events, happening sometime annually.

6. Time and Money – Trade Shows require huge resources to organize and create.

So, what was “The First Trade Show”?  How can Event Organizers learn from it and thereby create better events? Does it warn us about pitfalls that many trade shows fall into?

I consider “The Great Exhibition” (an event sponsored in part by Queen Victoria of Great Britain and her husband Prince Albert) in Hyde Park of London, England to be “The First Trade Show” (Should it be “The First Trade Fair”? Maybe, since it’s in Europe!). It was the forerunner of World’s Fairs, World Expos, and the Event Industry of the 21st Century.

What made the event so influential as the predecessor to the thousands of industry trade shows and convention centers worldwide?  The design certainly helped!  This event is sometimes called the Crystal Palace Exhibition, for the glass and metal structure created to house it.  Don’t you think it may have inspired some architects of Convention Center lobbies around the world? Maybe the Orange County Convention Center in Orlando? Could be!

It opened May 1, 1859, and it closed on October 15th of the same year. It fits into all of the six characteristics above (even #6 since the Crystal Palace was disassembled and rebuilt in another region of Greater London, three years later).  The event was an incredible spectacle, unlike anything else of its time.

And what can Event Organizers learn from it? In the next couple weeks, follow this blog to see how we can learn from the Crystal Palace Exhibition.

We will use the above list of six main characteristics of trade shows. With the Crystal Palace Exhibition as a reference point, we will see what aspects should be repeated, as well as learn from its mistakes. Starting on Monday, we will look at Characteristic #1: Trade Shows gathered artisans, distributors, and manufacturers to present products to a large audience.

Please keep watching… and have a Truly successful day!

I enjoy basketball. I find it to be fun, fast-paced, and energetic. But I go to see baseball the most, and I follow both baseball and soccer more. Why? I can see paying $40 for my family of four to get nosebleed seats to see the Orioles or Nationals, but it would cost me $100 to go to see the Washington Wizards of the NBA, or even the University of Maryalnd’s men’s basketball team play…

But by the way he is running the Washington Wizards, Ted Leonsis is making the NBA relevant in DC. Trade Show and Conference organizers, take note! You can learn a great deal from him about how to engage your participants.

If you look at  Ted’s Take – The Wisdom of Our Crowds, you will see how Mr. Leonsis genuinely listens to his customers: the fans and attendees for the forty-one games/events which the Wizards play in DC.

All you #EventProfs out there, be like Ted! Trade Show Organizers and Conference Planners need to learn from Mr. Leonsis. He knows his attendees make his team into a Revenue Generator. Without them, ROI is zero, and the events would soon shut down. Isn’t that true of your trade show or conference? You can learn a lot from his methods of engagement and promotion.

Read up, learn, and Mr. Leonsis, if you are listening, remember, we want to like Pro Basketball. Keep listening, and we will pay to enjoy it.

Trade Show Exhibitors Association – http://tsea.org/

TSEA’s mission is to enhance the expertise of professionals in exhibit and event marketing; to be the leader in providing education, information, advocacy, and professional advancement to exhibitors and event planners across all industry sectors; enhance exhibitor’s sense of community; and to educate them so they can develop into more effective and successful users of event marketing.