OK, so we're exaggerating. It's notlikely that any telephone salesperson will make quite that many mistakes in a single conversation. Still, unless you're lucky enough to have a show that sells itself, you can't afford to have your salespeople make even one mistake that might jeopardize a sale.Salespeople today need to follow a sophisticated process, says Samuel Smith, Vice President of Sales for National Trade Productions in Alexandria, VA. "There was a time when a sales effort wasn't even required," he says. "You'd just send out a mailing and get back contracts. But those days are gone. Now the level of the sales effort must mirror the growing sophistication of the industry."
That high-level sales effort involves both science and art. The scientific portion is the step-by-step procedure that a salesperson must know in order to sell a booth. That doesn't mean using a script or a "canned" pitch, but it does mean having a structure and a sequence.
Art comes into play when the salesperson uses his or her judgment, sensitivity and intuition to determine when the time is right to move from one step in the process to the next. The salesperson must also be flexible enough to change the sequence of the steps whenever a particular situation makes it appropriate to do so.
But salespeople cannot be flexible and make adjustments until they understand the basic structure. In other words, what typically happens between "Hello" and "Thank you -- I'll mail the contract today"?
Setting objectives
Before making the very first call, the salesperson must have an objective. Is he following up on a mailing? Is it an attempt to qualify a prospect before sending a mailing? Is the salesperson trying to close the sale?
"We should already know who our prospect companies are and what they do," says Paul Mackler, Chief Executive Officer of Conference Management Corporation in Norwalk, CT. CMC salespeople use their first call to follow-up the exhibitor prospectus. After identifying themselves, the salespeople ask if the prospect has received the prospectus and had time to review it. If the answer is yes, says Mackler, the salesperson then gives a quick, focused statement of what he refers to as the USP -- the Unique Selling Proposition of the show. "You have only 15 or 20 seconds to catch your prospect's interest," Mackler insists. "If you don't do it then, you've lost him."
If the prospect wants more time to review the prospectus, or needs to discuss it with others in the office, Mackler recommends that his salespeople take the opportunity to draw out questions and objections, or determine who else is involved in the decision-making process.
Sometimes the initial call is part of the process of qualifying suspects to determine if they are actually prospects. The salesperson can become familiar with a company's products and its market through its ads, its listings in industry directories or articles in trade journals. If anything critical is missing, the purpose of the first call may be to fill in the gaps.
Uncovering the decision-maker can usually be provided by someone in the marketing, sales or communications departments. The caller can ask the switchboard operator for the name of the person responsible for marketing -- and check the spelling of the name. Asking for "his" or "her" direct number makes it easier to reach the person later, and clarifies the gender at a point that won't cause embarrassment.
Vernon Packer, Executive Director of Gralla Expositions in Dallas, and Director of the Imprinted Sportswear Shows, suggests the following approach for the information-gathering call: "I'm doing research and would like to ask you a few questions about your company." The questions cover such things as company size, number of offices, its products and distribution channels. If asked why he wants the information, the salesperson's appropriate response would be, "We're in the media business, and we're trying to determine which manufacturers and suppliers are appropriate for the audience we attract."
"We call this a 'telequalifying' program," says Packer. "It gives us genuine qualified leads." His company occasionally trains people just to handle the telequalifying -- which is done well before the salespeople make their first contact.
The marketing department source who answers these questions should also be able to provide the name of the person who decides how trade show dollars are spent. Again, get the full name, correct spelling and direct number.
Opening the call
There are many effective ways to open a call with the decision-maker. Helen Berman, President of Los Angeles-based Helen Berman & Associates, who specializes in sales training and sales management development, recommends what she calls a "laser beam" opening -- one that positions the show sharply and quickly. "The opening should be customized as much as possible to the show," she stresses. "It should be a statement of what the show can do for the prospect. For example, 'I'd like to talk to you about how plastics manufacturers can increase their sales through the XYZ Show.' You can learn a company's selling strategy from its ads, and use that in your opening."
Although Berman doesn't believe in using a script for telephone selling, she does advocate preparing and memorizing one or two strong lead ins. "That way, you can concentrate on your delivery, not on what you're saying. Salespeople are nervous at the beginning of a call because they don't know how they'll be received. It's important to be able to stay calm and concentrate on the delivery."
Jason Chudnofsky, President and Chief Operating Officer of The Interface Group in Needham, MA, says, "A show is a magazine come to life. The exhibitors are the advertisers and the attendees are the circulation." Thus he opens with, "Would you like to meet the person who reads your ads in thus-and-such publication?"
Packer believes that the opening statement should build on the information that has already been obtained: "Mr. Jones, I recognize you as the trade show decision-maker and would like to find out more about your company. We know this about your company... We know that our show fits your marketing objectives in these ways..." Or, perhaps, "I'd like to talk to you about how our show can help you meet your marketing objectives."
Not one of those suggestions includes the word buy or sell. For one thing, those words can be intimidating and an immediate turnoff. Also, it's much too early in the process for either side to be able to make such a move. Several more steps must be taken.
Assessing needs
Shifting into the next step -- variously called fact finding, probing, qualifying or needs assessment -- can be difficult. "Salespeople have trouble with transitions," says Berman. "The easiest way to make this one is to ask permission to continue. For example, 'In order to save you time, and to see if our show would be of use to you, do you mind if I ask you a few questions?'
"Most people will say yes," Berman continues. "If you mention saving time, you've given them a benefit. The words 'see if' indicate your willingness to walk away if you determine that this is not a good fit. But don't do this until you've given a major benefit statement," she cautions. "Otherwise, you're in jeopardy."
The transition is built into the opening approach used by Joan Landis, President of The Exposition Specialists, a show management and consulting firm in Stamford, CT. Landis, formerly a vice president with Cahners Exposition Group, suggests a format such as: "This is Joan Landis of the XYZ Show. I'd like to talk to you to get a sense of whether or not there might be a match between what you do and what we do." Or, "Would you mind if I spent five minutes with you to see if there is a match..."
National Trade Productions uses an eight-step sales process, says Smith. "Needs-assessment is 60 to 75 percent of the entire process. It's the most important part of the call -- it's where we find out about the customer."
NTP salespeople are guided through this step by a 15-question work sheet on which they record the prospect's answers. The questions include the following:
- What products do you want to present in this marketplace?
- What markets do you want to reach?
- When does your company budget for shows?
- What is important or would make the perfect show for you? (If a prospect names a show in responding to this question, the salesperson asks why he thinks it's a good show.)
Landis includes the following questions in her probing:
- What shows do you exhibit in?
- What magazines do you advertise in?
- Who do you sell to? Who's your prime customer?
- What part of the country is your major market?
- What kind of sales force do you have? (If the prospect doesn't have one, so much the better, says Landis; that means he really needs to be in the show. If he does have a sales force, the salesperson can make the point that a show can support the sales staff.)
- How much space do you usually need when you exhibit? (Landis cautions that the salesperson doesn't want to risk starting out by suggesting less space than the company usually takes.)
Chudnofsky offers some additional questions:
- What type of direct mail do you do?
- Do you use a telemarketing or a field sales organization? (This indicates how the company will follow up on leads obtained at the show).
- What decision-makers -- by title -- do you want to see at a show?
- What is your reason for participating in a trade show -- sales? public relations? image building?
- Who staffs your booth -- salespeople? marketing executives? engineers? public relations employees?
"To position yourself as the solution," says Berman, "you must find out what the problem is. In the probing stage, they'll give it away." That's what makes the questioning so important.
She continues: "Once you understand enough about the prospect to be able to make a good case for your show, it's time to move into the presentation. The best way to make that move is to summarize. For example, 'As I understand it, you're concerned about A, B and C.' That summary becomes the salesperson's springboard into the presentation."
Making the presentation
Although there can be some flexibility in the sales process, there is one inflexible rule: the presentation comes after the probing, after the salesperson has determined that the prospect has a need for what he is offering. "Presenting before probing is a classic mistake," says Smith.
He teaches his salespeople to base their presentations on specific needs mentioned by the prospect. "If the prospect said it's important for the company to be in a show that's well attended by quality decision-makers, the salesperson might refer back to that and say, 'We use Exhibit Surveys to do an independent audience survey of all our programs.'
"The presentation is given in the form of fact and benefit," Smith continues. "The fact is that we use an outside firm. The benefit is that the exhibitor can be sure that the people who visit his booth are interested in his product. We teach our salespeople that 'facts tell, benefits sell.' When they give a fact, they should imagine a sign on the prospect's forehead that says 'So what?' They can then be prepared to respond with a benefit. They present as many facts and benefits as are pertinent."
After each fact/benefit presentation, says Smith, the salesperson seeks agreement with a comment such as, "Isn't that important to you?"
Packer sees the presentation as a separate call, made after the research has been completed -- which itself may take two or three calls. "You have the answers to 15 important questions. You let the person know that you've looked at those answers, and now want to tell him about your show: 'Your company fits the profile of exhibitors that we'd like to have in our show. I'd like to give you some information about it. ' Then you give your presentation, adjusting it to the receptiveness of the client." The salesperson must also be sensitive to the level of the prospect's knowledge, Packer stresses. "Otherwise you may repeat information they already know, and you begin to sound like a salesperson, " he says, giving the word a pejorative, not a professional, sound.
The perfect close
When does the professional salesperson move from the presentation to the close? The only hard-and-fast rule is that it all depends. Whenever the prospect has agreed with two or three major points, and thus seems to be ready to make a decision, the salesperson should test the waters with a trial close. That can happen early or late in the process -- on the second call or the seventh. Landis points out that the salesperson can ask for the order as soon as he has a clear understanding of who the prospect sells to, and how. "If you do it before that, you don't know what you're selling."
There are several different ways to close a sale. One approach is the wrap-up close, which reviews several benefits that have already been presented. Smith suggests such a close: "We've talked about a lot of things. Let's see if we can summarize..." After reminding the prospect of the many ways he will benefit from participating in the show, Smith follows with, "Let's get you squared away on the floorplan."
There is also the major-benefit close, which focuses on the benefit that is most important to this prospect. The salesperson should have identified that during the probing stage, and can now ask one of the questions suggested by Packer: "Is this something you're interested in?" or "Is this something you'd like to do for your company?"
"Major benefit" is the focus of the entire presentation for Mackler's salespeople. "We don't sell real estate," he says. "We sell a marketing opportunity -- the ability to reach prospects cost effectively, to close sales, to introduce products, to create an impact in your industry." Any one of those can be reprised and used as the close.
The urgency close, in which the salesperson stresses the reason to buy now, can be very effective in selling trade show space, says Berman. Positioning on the show floor is important, and the prospect who doesn't decide now can lose a desired space to someone else. This approach won't work, however, if the prospect isn't already convinced that he should be there.
In the assumptive choice close, the salesperson assumes that the prospect has decided to participate, and asks him to make a choice: "Would booth 115 or booth 128 be better for you?" But watch out, warns Berman: "Those closes will kill you if you had no right to make that assumption. People feel manipulated, and you lose them."
Packer advises against another common approach. "I don't like the idea of selling a company into a show because a competitor is there," he says. "An exhibitor doesn't want to be sold by a threat. You should sell on the merits of the event."
Where do objections fit into this picture? Often, they crop up during the close, for the obvious reason that the prospect will resist the close if any questions remain in his mind. However, they can appear at any time -- which means that salespeople must be ready to handle them at any time. This requires thorough pre-call preparation. "The salesperson must know who the competition is, what they promise and what they charge," says Landis. "And the competition isn't just shows, but any other media the prospect uses to market his products. For example, if the prospect says he advertises in a certain publication, the salesperson must know what those ads cost."
Although some salespeople fear objections, Smith says, "You want to solicit objections, so you can answer them. The salesperson should ask, 'Is there anything else you're concerned about that I can help with today?' If you answer all the prospect's objections, and his needs are met, you have a deal."
