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May 1997 Value-added Services
The extra oomph that will lure your customers back time and again
By Robert James
Show organizers who deliver the right mix ofvalue-added services will find themselves facing the ideal win-winsituation because, in simplest terms, "value added" means "customersretained." "Value-added programs typically pay off by adding to theshow manager's stock of customer goodwill," says marketing consultantWayne Jacobs, President of Jacobs, Jenner & Kent, Baltimore, MD. "Thepurpose of these programs is two-fold: to create relationships and tobuild audience loyalty." While producing a well-populated,smooth-running show remains a bottom-line matter of do-or-die, offeringa bundle of supplementary services of real value to both exhibitors andattendees is -- in today's harshly competitive climate -- a matter ofdo-or-decline. Without exaggeration, the value-added services youprovide can dictate whether your show sizzles or fizzles. By becomingadroit at designing and packaging value-added services, show organizersset up a powerful protective shield against not only competing shows,but also the dangers inherent in today's business environment. Industryconsolidations and downsizing, cuts in travel and exhibit marketingbudgets and the emergence of electronic commerce, for example, arewell-known threats to every exposition.
Philosophy of adding value
No matter how winning, value-added services have a nasty habit ofbecoming ho-hum, primarily because they can be easily copied bycompetitors. Worse yet, they can quickly become expected services. Whatwas once new and novel -- an innovative frill designed to surprise anddelight customers, and help distinguish your exposition from its rivals -- overnight seems to turn into the industry standard for basicperformance.
For this reason, show organizers tend to assess value-added servicesonly in terms of their capacity to affect income and expenses. But thatlimited viewpoint overlooks the need to build a steady stream of valueinto your organization's relationship with customers, if only to holdonto the ones you've got.
"Enhancing both the exhibitors' and the attendees' experience ofshows is vitally important. It's what makes a vibrant, market-leadingtrade show," says Paul Mackler, Senior Vice President of Reed ExhibitionCos., Norwalk, CT.
"Our philosophy is to provide customers offerings designed to meettheir objectives," Mackler says. "On the exhibits side, our goal is notjust to give exhibitors an exhibiting experience, but to locate reps forthem, set appointments for them, provide keynote and conferenceopportunities, tie into their Web sites and offer other far-rangingservices. To be effective, we have to do two things: understand whatexhibitors want and then customize our offerings to their individualneeds.
"On the attendee side, we also try to understand what attendees wantand then create an environment in which they can meet their objectivesof finding suppliers, distributors, new products and new-producteducation," he says.
But if the potential for extra income is exclusively motivating ashow organizer's search for new value-added services, that's onlyaddressing half the equation, according to Mackler. "Sure, the sourcesof revenue are quite good on the exhibits side. And conference-drivenevents, those mixing exhibits with education, also offer strongrevenue-enhancing opportunities. But your focus first should be onmeeting your customers' objectives. Do this, and the revenue willfollow."
There are no clear-cut rules for creating the right mix ofvalue-added services for your event. Show organizers must decide forthemselves where the opportunities lie for adding distinctive extras,and when their focus should be on improving the delivery of basicservices. But an overview of what others are doing to add value caninspire you to begin identifying new opportunities for your show.
Exhibitor marketing programs
By packaging and discount pricing a group of related exhibitmarketing opportunities, show organizers measurably add value to theirevents. They not only enrich themselves by selling more services, butmake exhibitors' show participation a richer experience as well.
Suppliers to credit unions earn credit toward sponsorships and otherpromotional opportunities by signing up for the Marketing AdvantageProgram (MAP), offered by the National Association of Federal CreditUnions (NAFCU). "MAP gives exhibitors at our show a total marketingapproach, while it means decent add-on business for us," says PeterTaylor, Exhibits and Advertising Manager for NAFCU, Arlington, VA. "MAPties together subscribing, exhibiting and sponsorships, offering threedifferent levels of participation that translate into additionaldiscounts, bonuses and priority points."
MAP bundles a range of stand-alone promotional services -- includingbooth space, advertising and event sponsorships -- with NAFCUpublication subscriptions, and delivers these services at deep discountsto exhibitors at the association's annual conference and exhibition.
The tiered program allows exhibitors to select from three differentlevels of investment, Bronze Circle, Silver Circle and Gold Circle.Bronze Circle, the basic level of participation, requires a $5,000commitment. Each successive level requires an additional $5,000commitment. The aggregate discounts on the services included in thepackages range from a low of 34 to a high of 47 percent.
As a bonus, MAP participants also receive a host of no-cost extras,including conference registration discounts, advertising discounts,priority points for booth assignment, a diskette mailing list ofconference delegates, ad reprints and a hot link from NAFCU's Web siteto the participant's Web site.
Pre- and post-show support
Most show organizers provide exhibitor support services before andafter the exposition. But enhancements to the usual services can addreal value and solidify customer relationships.
Laura Edwards, Marketing Director for Exton, PA-based A/E/C SYSTEMSInternational, a division of Penton Publishing, Cleveland, mails Show Preview magazine to all preregistered attendees shortly in advance ofA/E/C SYSTEMS events, which serve the building and design industry.Exhibitors are encouraged to submit brief news releases and full-colorproduct photos for inclusion in the publication, at no charge. Paidadvertising is also solicited, which helps defray a portion of the costof producing and distributing the magazine.
Unlike the pre-event piece, A/E/C SYSTEM's post-show publication isless publicity-oriented. Instead, it presents news about exhibitors'products gathered at the shows and reported in a straightforward manner."The wrap-up newsletter is intended to inform the industry aboutnewsworthy products. Its main purpose is to put our shows in theforefront of the industry," Edwards says. The post-show publication alsocontains exhibitors' advertisements.
Because they are custom-built advertising media, Show Preview andthe post-show newsletter have the potential not only to generate extrasales for exhibitors, but extra income for A/E/C SYSTEMS. "As theybecome more popular vehicles, Show Preview and the wrap-up newslettercould become profit centers for us," Edwards says.
Bob Linke, Director of Marketing and Promotions, ProfessionalExposition Management Corporation (PEMCO), Carol Stream, IL, givesexhibitors at nine of his organization's 11 shows a comprehensivepre-show marketing kit that includes advice and information they need tomaximize traffic at their booths. As a side-benefit to providingexhibitors this value-added service, PEMCO has strengthened itsrelationship with customers.
"Our direct interaction with exhibitors has increased significantlyas a result of distributing the marketing kits," Linke says. "When wepulled this information out of the exhibitor service manual and put itunder the title 'Marketing,' it really jumped out at people and grabbedtheir attention. Now we find we're able to raise the comfort level ofexhibitors, many of whom are very small companies and first-timeexhibitors in a trade show."
Sam Lippman, Vice President, Graphic Arts Show Co. (GASC), Reston,VA, adds value for his exhibitors by providing free, pre-showeducational sessions in better boothmanship. The all-day workshops andseminars, led by professional trainers in exhibit marketing, helpexhibitors sharpen their direct-selling skills in a formalized settingthat would cost them thousands of dollars to replicate on their own.
Delivering high-quality educational opportunities to exhibitors notonly helps guarantee they'll use the organization's shows moreeffectively, but also builds exhibitors' confidence in GASC, sending aclear signal to participants that GASC puts the best interests of itscustomers first.
Co-op sponsorships
It was a narrowcast that added value for attendees and exhibitors atthe annual exposition of the Satellite Broadcasting and CommunicationsAssociation (SBCA). Paige Prindle, Manager, Marketing and BusinessDevelopment, for SBCA, Alexandria, VA, this year made an agreement withan audiovisual supplier to set up and operate at no charge to SBCA amassive video wall outside the show's entrance.
In trade, the supplier received company exposure to both exhibitors(prospective video-rental customers at this and other expositions) andattendees (retail dealers of satellite dishes and TVs who are alsoprospective video-rental customers).
Next, Prindle lined up several exhibitors as sponsors of the videowall's programming, which blended new product and service announcementswith pre-recorded commercial spots, corporate videos, educational shortsand news coverage of exposition- and association-related special events.
As they lined up in the registration area, attendees got a colorful,informative and fast-paced overview of the exposition's highlights.Sponsoring exhibitors, of course, enjoyed the heightened visibility fortheir products and services. The same video programming was alsoavailable in hotel rooms throughout the event.
"We presented the video wall programming as an 'SBCA production,'"Prindle says. "Attendees got the impression that all of these corporatevideos had been produced especially for them, when in reality the costto show management was minimal. As a result of this idea, our incomefrom exhibitor sponsorships doubled in one year."
Live demos
Homebuilders are people who love to work with their hands, so whobetter to offer a "hands-on" demonstration? By initiating the hands-on"Steel Home Demo" at the metal building industry's annual show METALCON,Claire Kilcoyne, Vice President of Trade Shows for Practice ManagementAssociates Ltd. in Newton, MA, has increased both attendance andexhibits by 40 percent in just three years.
"The show was running the strictly commercial-building path, but wesaw that the residential building market is up and coming," Kilcoynesays. "We asked ourselves, 'Why isn't the nation's only steel showbuilding a home?'"
Using her own organization's seed money, Kilcoyne arranged forseveral cosponsorships to help make the metallic dream house a reality.The demo features the construction of a full-scale residential homeright on the show floor. "The actual, life-size house gives attendeesthe whole 360-degree learning experience of building a home with steel,"she says.
The "Steel Home Demo" has created such a buzz in the industry thatit opened a veritable floodgate of new attendees and exhibitingcompanies hot to cash in on the newly emerging residential market forsteel. "It's driven the show," Kilcoyne says.
To ensure it stays in the driver's seat, the demo will be given anew theme at the next METALCON. Past years' demonstrations were tiedinto the volunteer public-interest group, Habitat for Humanity, andhighlighted the affordability of building with steel. But to keep theconcept fresh, Kilcoyne now plans to give the demo an environmentalfocus.
Extended education
As management theorist Peter Drucker says, we live in a world whereprofessionals must re-learn everything they know every five years.Sporting goods retailers are no exception. "The continuingprofessionalization of retailers in sports products and apparel" is theaim of The Super Show University, according to Tracy Amara, BuyerPrograms Director for The Super Show¨, managed by Communications & ShowManagement Inc., North Miami, FL.
For years, the organizer of The Super Show has provided attendeeswith on-site, retail-oriented workshops during the run of theexposition, but the new program expands the concept to a year-longeducational opportunity. The Super Show University offers 18 hours oflectures, nine months of correspondence coursework, final exams, agraduation ceremony and, of course, attendance at The Super Show.
Classes are conducted by faculty of Georgia State University andfeature guest instructors from leading-edge retail companies. Thecourses cover such topics as time management, inventory control, vendornegotiations, profit-margin improvement, marketing and merchandising.Provided the participant stays on schedule, graduation from the programtakes one year.
"The courses aren't for students," Amara says. "The Super ShowUniversity is for adults who already have several years in the retailbusiness. The curriculum is essentially targeted to junior- andassistant-level retail buyers and merchandisers, although severalseasoned buyers and even some senior executives have participated todate."
Plans are on the drawing board to expand The Super Show Universityto reach other levels of retailing professionals in the future.
Pre-scheduled appointments
One of the surest value-added strategies for increasing customerloyalty is through customer recognition. For a recognition program tosucceed, its components must be both practical and highly personal.Feel-good or mass-market techniques have little chance of being wellreceived or valued by customers.
The School and Home Office Products Association (SHOPA), Dayton, OH,adds value to the SHOPA Show through a qualified lead program calledSHOPA's Targeted Expocard Program, or "STEP Saver." "The Program wasdesigned to service exhibitors and retailers by providing integratedinformation which has the power to ultimately facilitate businessopportunities," says Kelly Echevarria, Show Service Manager.
Based on specific product category interests, captured through thepre-show registration process, each participating attendee receives acustomized advance show planner that itemizes exhibitors displayingproducts matching his or her interests. Following the show, participantswho used the Expocard will also receive a detailed list of booth visitsthat includes company and contact information for reference.
Likewise, to assist in pre-show promotional efforts, exhibitorsreceive an advance listing of attendees who have purchasingresponsibility for the products they will be displaying, based oninformation gleaned from a pre-show survey. After the show, eachparticipating exhibitor receives a detailed list of qualified salesleads that includes, for each booth visitor, the company and contactinformation captured by the Expocard Reader.
STEP Saver illustrates how the imaginative use of computertechnology lets show organizers develop customer recognition programsthat are both highly personal and extremely useful to attendees andexhibitors. According to Bob Lucke, Chief Operating Officer, GalaxyExpocard Registration Inc., Frederick, MD, who handled programimplementation, "The Expocard technology combined with the STEP Saverconcept allows SHOPA to make a pre-show connection between attendees andexhibitors through personalized pre-show itineraries. This is the kindof marketing program that is not possible without technology."
Rhonda Durrett, Sales Director for The Super Show, operates anothersophisticated recognition program. The Super Show team assembles, trainsand supervises a 50-person telemarketing team that, before each show,places more than 100,000 outbound calls to the buyers whose names areprovided by the exhibitors.
"Every buyer on our exhibitors' lists is personally invited toattend The Super Show," Durrett says. "It's an expensive but valuableprogram in the eyes of our exhibitors. They know better than anyone thatreaching buyers one-to-one is a much more effective technique thanrelying on direct mail alone."
Communication centers
John Katz, CEM, Manager, Expositions, American Chemical Society(ACS), Washington, DC, creates good chemistry with his customers byoffering them free access to the Internet during his two yearly shows.Labeled the "Internet Corral," a bullpen encircling 45 computerterminals allows attendees to communicate with colleagues back at theoffice without having to leave the exhibition hall. While the service ispartly funded by ACS, all of the hardware required is donated by avendor in exchange for exclusive sponsorship.
"Everyone who uses the free service is required to fill out asatisfaction survey," Katz says. "They all say, 'This is great.' We havemore than 1,000 daily users, and there's not been a time during theentire show when all terminals were not in use. The surveys also showthe primary use is for sending and receiving e-mail."
To draw traffic onto the floor, Katz strategically locates theInternet Corral at the rear of his exhibit hall. "For pulling throughmore traffic, it's worked about as well as placing the meat and dairysection in the back of the supermarket," Katz says. "Not only has itbeen wildly successful among visitors, exhibitors' perceptions are thatthe aisles are busy all day long. It's just been a winner all around."
What do customers want?
While some service extras meet important audience needs and arelikely to add real value to your exposition in the eyes of exhibitorsand attendees, others are just niceties and will go largelyunappreciated. How can you know the difference, before you make a largeinvestment of your organization's time and money?
"Value-added services can be defined as a series of amenities thatpeople really want," says consultant Francis Friedman, President of Time& Place Strategies, New York. For certain types of shows, he says, youcan add real value for attendees by allowing them to bring babystrollers to your show and by providing on-site daycare; or forexhibitors by giving them access to shielded exhibitors-only restaurantsthat are located immediately off the show floor, so they don't have toleave their booths for long periods of time. But how can you determinewhether your audiences actually care about such amenities, and how muchthey care?
"We've tended as an industry not to spend much on the marketingresearch required to reach a deeper understanding of our exhibitors andattendees," Friedman says. "Research gives you the proper direction asto where and how to spend your money. Unless a show manager isextraordinarily intuitive, well advised and well connected to trends inhis or her industry, mistakes are likely to be made ... mistakes thatcan't be corrected for a whole year. Worse yet, you'll never know whereyou went wrong. Did your value-added service miss the mark? Or did youmake an executional error? Were there intervening negative factorsbeyond your control? Did you have the wrong target in the first place?"
Some value-added services are better than others because theyfulfill important primary needs, providing real solutions to realproblems. To understand the real problems of their audiences, Friedmansays show organizers need to become better attuned to changing businessclimates that are affecting exhibitors' and attendees' work lives andattitudes toward shows: corporate consolidations, emerging and changingchannels of trade, new buyer/seller relationships, and the new dynamicsbrought about by American corporations going global.
"All of these structural changes need to be understood if we'regoing to adapt to the new world order or do any strategic planning,"Friedman says.
But too often, show organizers substitute a reactive,seat-of-the-pants approach for solid marketing research and strategicplanning. "Show teams get distracted in doing the day-to-day job, andare unable to anticipate and manage structural change and their ultimateconsequences; or they misjudge the speed of change or are simply blindto it," Friedman says.
Time and convenience
The universal lack of time has transformed the way both businessesand consumers feel about the services they use. Saving people increasedamounts of time is one of the primary value-added features showorganizers cannot afford to overlook.
In their recent book, Enterprise One to One, marketing gurus DonPeppers and Martha Rogers describe how today's time-starved customerswill remain loyal to you if your organization finds creative new ways toprovide them with greater convenience. This builds "an important barrierto competition" by making it virtually impossible for customers toconsider not remaining loyal users of the service, because the hassle ofgoing elsewhere to have their needs met is intolerable.
At the heart of convenience lies simple interaction, auser-friendly, highly personalized relationship between the serviceorganization and its customers. "What ought to be clear to everyone isthat product marketing will soon be nearly entirely supplanted byrelationship marketing," Peppers and Rogers predict.
Show organizers looking for ways to add value, and thereby lock intheir exhibitors and attendees, could take their cue from Enterprise Oneto One. When all is said and done, the key to adding value to shows liesin furthering and enhancing the commercial relationship that existsbetween the show organizer, the exhibitors and the attendees, making iteasier for them to reap the rewards of participation. The focus of theforward-thinking organization should be, as Pepper and Rogers say, "notto find more customers for its products, but to find more products forits customers."
The word "value" derives from the French word for "strength" andimplies "worthiness," "esteem" and "power." The word's derivationsuggests that, if you want to add true value to your customers'experience, you need to add extra services that in some sense "empower"them.
Examples of successful value-added programs indicate that addingvalue means:
- Fulfilling real, not imagined,customer needs;
- Responding to important customer needs;
- Providing something of relative permanence, "doing what lasts";
- Meeting customers' ever-increasing demand for convenience;
- Selecting the right tool for the job, exploiting new, computer-driventechnology; and
- Building customers' confidence in your organization.
Best of all, value-added services not only improve exhibitor andattendee retention levels, but also can create new revenue streams. Keyamong the opportunities for added income are direct sales, commissions,sponsorships, licensing royalties, tuition and membership fees.
Besides building goodwill with current customers, value-addedservices frequently provide show organizers exceptional publicityopenings, including increased media coverage, new photo opportunitiesand political points with public-interest groups and elected officials.
Here's an idea-starter kit for show organizers in search of provenvalue-added service offerings. The list, in part, is courtesy of JackPitzer, Career Show Manager, National Future Farmers of America,Alexandria, VA; and Mara Yachnin, Deputy Director, USA NationalPavilion, Paris Air Show, U.S. Department of Commerce, Washington, DC.
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