Your key to trade fair success

Transcription

1 Trade fair training courses Module 5 Fair follow-up After the fair, it's harvest time December 2, 2014 A service of Spielwarenmesse eg for all exhibitors of Spielwarenmesse. Your key to trade fair success 1

2 Presenter Daniel Gundelach Head of Division Marketing & Consulting Meplan GmbH (a partner of Spielwarenmesse eg) Meplan core competencies Trade fair stands Trade fair consulting and project support 2

3 Agenda Agenda Follow-up Monitoring trade fair success You can ask questions through your control panel! 3

4 Follow-up Follow-up 4

5 Follow-up Why is fast & precise follow-up of trade fair participations important? Meeting the visitors expectations: - More than 50% of all visitors expect a reaction to their trade fair visit within two weeks* Achieving competitive advantages: Not even half of all trade fair visitors (48%) are satisfied with the reaction of the exhibitors visited* Satisfactory follow-up sustains the positive impression the visitor got at your stand Requirement: complete and processed meeting data *Source: 5

6 Follow-up Exhibitor Activity Index - Results 77% 23% 1. Response 2. No Response 6

7 Follow-up How do I react to my trade fair contacts? Fast reaction: Thank-you-mailing Best practice: Send out same day of visit Prepare in advance of trade fair Personalized mailings only! Use outlook-alternatives like Jamail ( or Supermailer ( Adjust content to different target groups Optional: include online survey Next steps: Important: Stick to agreed dates Sales department has to reserve enough capacity for follow-up Refer directly to content of the conversation 7

8 Follow-up How do I react to my trade fair contacts? Follow-up the no-shows Send information regarding news, achievements, highlights etc. to no-shows Evaluate reasons for not visiting your trade fair stand Send press information to journalists 8

9 Follow-up Why is it important to involve the employees of your company? Employees have different perspectives of the trade fair participation: Perspective of an employee of the company: Has the trade fair stand fulfilled the expectations? Did the trade fair stand fit to the corporate image? Perspective of the stand staff: Was the trade fair stand functional? How coordinated were the different processes for everyone? Perspective of the visitor: Due to the direct communication with visitors, stand staff members get insight into external points of view 9

10 Follow-up How do I conduct a feedback meeting? Workshop Time saving method: questionnaire by Participants: all departments involved in the trade fair (e.g. project team, sales department, person responsible for press and corporate communication, marketing department) and external service provider (e.g. stand building company, agencies) Critical incidence method: gather positive and negative aspects e.g. stand impression, functionality, organization / processes, communication Follow-up within project team 10

11 Monitoring trade fair success 11

12 Possible reference figures for monitoring trade fair success Your own trade fair objectives defined before the trade fair Define success criteria by using the trade fair benefit check (AUMA) Results and figures of the previous years and trade fairs Continuous evaluation and documentation is important Surveys and evaluations of the trade fair organiser General or sector benchmarks 12

13 What are the relevant key performance indicators for monitoring trade fair success? Contacts Visitor marketing before the trade fair Costs Attention generated Employees 13

14 Contacts Number of active contacts = Visitors with conversations at your stand Method of measurement: evaluation of lead forms Number of all contacts = Visitors with and without conversations at your stand Method of measuring: counting visitors Number of all visitors vs. total number of visitors of the trade fair Number of leads vs. number of stand staff approx. number of contacts: 1-2 contacts per hour Position of the visitor decision-making power Phase of the decision making-process first meeting vs. decision time Response time to visitor requests Visitor survey 14

15 Visitor marketing before the trade fair Effect of the visitor marketing Response rate (response element important!) Number of appointments & adherence to appointments Conversion rate (what percent of the invitations sent out result in a stand visit?) Number of visitors by target group (successful target group-specific visitor marketing?) 15

16 Costs Budget adherence Cost per conversation / per target group (prospects, customers, resellers, press, etc.) Costs of communication time at the trade fair Cost structure of the trade fair budget Total cost of participation vs. turnover generated at the trade fair (???) ROI too technical soft achievements/facts have to be considered as well! 16

17 Generated attention At the trade fair: Quantitative ( Flyer-Index, ) Visitor satisfaction Image perception After the trade fair / from opinion leaders: Press Response (Clippings/reputation analysis) Click-through rates on the company website (before and after the trade fair) 17

18 Employees Employee satisfaction Adherence to corporate behavior guidelines Service quality at the trade fair stand ( mystery visits) 18

19 What are the tools of trade fair market research? Visitor survey Tools of trade fair market research Mystery Visits Stand / Benchmark analysis Count of visitors/ analysis of visitor flow 19

20 How can I conduct online analysis at low costs? Low cost / free online survey software 2ask ( Askallo ( onlineumfragen.com ( Kwik Surveys ( 100% free Survey monkey ( 20

21 What should be considered in a survey? What is important to keep in mind? Short duration max. 3-4 minutes / short and precise questions More closed than open questions Incentives for participants Highlight benefits of participation in survey Point out that the results are evaluated anonymously and all data is treated as confidential 21

22 What are the tools of trade fair market research? Visitor survey Tools of trade fair market research Mystery Visits Stand- / Benchmarkanalysis Counting of visitors/ anaysis of customers flow 22

23 Image / Benchmark visitor survey What can be evaluated? Recognition / Corporate image Product interests and trade fair objectives of the visitors Subjective assessment of product presentation, stand design, service quality etc. 23

24 What criteria should I use to evaluate the stand / analyse benchmarks Criteria for evaluation Stand design: concept (trade fair message, motto, goals etc.), consistency (corporate/product image, target group etc.), coordination with corporate design, inclusion of style elements (lighting, materials, color ) etc. Stand size: relationship to competitors stands as well as your own corporate image, utilisation of the stand space etc. Positioning: location of the stand within the hall, visibility, relationship to adjacent stands, entrances, etc. Guiding visitors on the stand: partitions, overview, location and contents of the information desk etc. Use of media: type, contents, staging, quality, positioning, etc. 24

25 What criteria should I use to evaluate the stand / analyse benchmarks? Criteria for evaluation Product presentation: structure of the presentation, labeling, staging / efficacy of the products, type of presentation, etc. Design of the communication area: partitions, differentiation, atmosphere, noise level, temperature, catering, service, etc. Activities: location, divisions to other stands / communication area, consistency with stand concept, relationship between information and entertainment Communicating your trade fair participation: Pointers throughout the trade fair grounds, documents in the press centre, promotion etc. 25

26 What are the tools of trade fair market research? Visitor survey Tools of trade fair market research Mystery Visits Stand- / Benchmarkanalysis Counting of visitors/ anaysis of customer flow 26

27 Service quality evaluation - Mystery Visits What can be evaluated? Service quality at the trade fair stand Communication aspects (Communication of trade fair message, corporate wording etc.) Corporate behaviour Which method is used? Observation and objective assessment of behaviour Test conversations with stand employees What is the benefit of this kind of evaluation? Approaches to optimise the communication skills of the stand employees Identification of potential to optimise soft skills and professional skills 27

28 Criteria for the evaluation of mystery visits Behaviour of the stand staff without visitor contact Starting a conversation with visitors Service quality Structure of conversation (dialogue vs. monologue) Knowledge of company products and trade fair message Handling of objections and complaints Organisation of processes at the stand (e.g. handing over visitors to colleagues, documentation of contacts) Reaction to stand visit 28

29 Contact value calculation (Alternative 1) Contacts Potential sales volume x probability of sales volume = Categorisation 1. Cold contact 2. Warm contact 3. Offer Probability of sales volume* 10% 20% 40% * Figures from sales controlling 29

30 Contact value calculation (Alternative 2) A B C Contacts Category Quantity Contact points (Value) Contact value A ,000/4,000 B ,000/1,600 C ,000/800 Costs/Contactpoint: 200,000/500= Total costs 200,000 30

31 Checklists Checklists 31

32 Checklists Where can I find guidance? Checklists for your Trade Fair Appearance Fair Guide 2014/2015 RedPaper: How to Exhibit Successfully Exhibitor Services: 32

33 Source of information Source of information AUMA AUMA, the Association of the German Trade Fair Industry, represents the interests of exhibitors, organisers and visitors to trade fairs. This is where you can find out about the products and services at trade fairs in Germany and abroad, tips to assist with your trade fair preparations and useful information on the industry ( FAMAB Verband Direkte Wirtschaftskommunikation e.v. FAMAB Verband Direkte Wirtschaftskommunikation e.v. is a German professional association. It organises and represents service providers in the fields related to direct business communications. These are: exhibition stand design and architecture, stand construction, events and live marketing, event catering, technical services and system providers ( Publications: M&A Report m+a report, the bilingual magazine (German/English) presents what practical business requires - tips, reports on experiences, market analysis, new business. Everything to help make tradeshows and exhibitions, conventions and all kinds of professional events more successful ( Trade Fairs International (TFI) TFI informs trade exhibitors and visitors as well as stand constructers and their suppliers of the dynamic developments in the fair industry ( 33

34 Onlinetraining Webinar Series for Maximum Success at the Fair To ensure the best possible preparation of your presentation, a free webinar series with all the relevant contents for fair preparation, organization and follow-up work is available. You can review the webinar recording online! Module 1: Strategic fair planning Good planning is half the battle Module 2: Stand design Convince with the right idea Module 3: Visitor Marketing Generate more qualified business contacts Module 4: Communication & behaviour at the stand Conversations as a success factor Module 5: Fair follow-up After the fair, it's harvest time 34

35 Contact Meplan GmbH Daniel Gundelach Tel. +49 (0) Fax +49 (0) Copyright: Any draft documents, plans, drawings, production and assembly documents as well as the design and concept description all remain our intellectual property. The customer is not entitled without our consent to copy the documents generated as a result, use them for his or her own purposes or pass them on to third parties. Nor is he or she entitled to build structures subsequently on the basis of them in the absence of any agreement to the contrary. 35