Dear Colleague,
Companies spend thousands of dollars attending trade shows and are often disappointed. When asked why they continue to attend, they say, "if we don't attend our customers will think we're in trouble" and "our competitors are there, so we need to be." Hardly an offensive strategy. If you're wondering why the results are so poor, part of the answer lies in this story.
The Problem:
A friend attended a high-tech trade show recently. He was there primarily because he wanted to see what the latest and greatest technology was. He reported the following:
"I was apprehensive about attending this show since I'm not technically oriented. After the first booth, my worst fears were realized. I asked what the company did and a salesperson immediately took me to a PC and launched into a demo of their software. He continued to show me feature after feature. Finally, he asked me if I had any questions. All I asked was whether or not he had a brochure. It was the only way I could think of to get out of there!"
"Later, it occurred to me that he had never asked me any questions until the end of his presentation. I was not a prospect for him, but he had invested considerable time with me. How many real prospects must have walked by the booth without stopping because they were busy talking to non-prospects like myself?"
This kind of behavior seemed to be the norm. Nobody asked questions, preferring instead to provide comprehensive technical demonstrations of their products and services.
The Novation Selling Solution:
No wonder so many of these high tech companies are in trouble. Their "salespeople" are confused about what selling really is. A demo to anybody before you've qualified them is not selling, it could be self-sabotage. Qualify first.
Try asking these simple questions at your next trade show before you get the urge to do a demo:
- "What do you do?"
- "What prompted you to stop by our booth?"
- "What challenges are you looking to resolve at this show?"
These three questions should give you enough information to decide whether or not to spend more time with the suspect and what questions to ask next to qualify more extensively.
Good Selling!
Ron Silver
For more information, check out our website at http://www.NovationSelling.com/ or call us at 910.795.0664.
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