A NAB Show webinar series
In this webinar you will learn about getting more booth traffic and making the most of it
NAB Show Webinar: Getting More Booth Traffic from Cindy Zuelsdorf | Kokoro on Vimeo.
Hi, welcome. I’m Cindy Zuelsdorf with the NAB Show exhibitor’s webinar, and Kokoro Marketing. Today we are looking at booth traffic, getting more of it, and making the most of it. Welcome, everybody, I’m so glad you’re here. No matter where you’re located, we’re glad you’re here. No matter the size of your company, small, large, if you’re looking to have a great trade show and get more out of it, this is the place for you to be.
Today, I’m so happy to be here with Jesse Foster with Cobalt Digital. Hi Jesse, how you doing?
Jesse Foster:
Hi Cindy, hey everybody. Good to be here.
Cindy Z.:
Awesome. Jesse’s the Director of Product and Business Development at Cobalt Digital. Jesse, you’ve been to a few NABs and have some industry experience, I know, so I’m super glad you’re here.
Jesse Foster:
Great. I’m happy to share what I can.
Cindy Z.:
Let’s get right into it. Let’s talk about getting people into the booth at the show. The NAB show is so big, and I think a lot of our audience is looking for a way to get the attention of people who are walking by at the show. You have a lot of experience, both at Cobalt Digital and other companies. What have you seen that really works? How do you get them into the booth?
Jesse Foster:
Sure, sure. I want to analogize it to the advent of Art Deco design in Los Angeles on the Miracle Mile. With the automobile popularity, the automobile people were flying by storefronts at 35 miles an hour, maybe a little slower. The signage in Art Deco and that whole style of design was meant to allow people to see your message on the fly when they’re driving by. Really, to scale, when you’re walking a trade show aisle, per booth, those are almost like buildings and you’re flying by. The messaging really needs to stand out, grab their eye, and speak to them, all at the same time, because you really only have that glance that they’re going to give you. Unless they specifically would be looking for you already.
With that said, I like to focus on terms that are pertinent to the timeframe. If it’s something the FCC, it might say in broadcast if they’re pushing for a particular requirement, you would definitely want to highlight the fact that you have that. You can really pull something like that off with just a few keys words, like loudness processing. That would stop somebody in their tracks and pull them into your booth, just based on that recognition of that phrase.
Other things that I notice, I was at CES last week, and I see the trend on our side of the business as well as spotlighting. At international trade shows, a lot of them do ambient lighting, where the booths are the only lighting. I see that trend coming where there’s more sedate lighting for booths, but then that allows you to spotlight your highlighted words. And they really stand out, it really looks clean, and it’s a real lower cost way to have your message pop from the aisle and grab people’s eye. I’ve been seeing that trend happening quite a bit.
Cindy Z.:
Gotcha. So you’re talking about keywords, and also spotlighting, as being two really important points in terms of getting that aisle traffic on into the booth.
Jesse Foster:
Uncluttered, so they can see the key message, basically.
Cindy Z.:
That’s perfect. In addition to grabbing the attention of those folks on site, once they’re in the booth, what do you do with them in terms of talking with them? So they’re in the booth, how do you talk to them, and make sure it’s a good conversation and useful for everybody?
Jesse Foster:
Sure, so in our industry, you’re really selling solutions. So if you could get from the customer what they do, and what their pain point is … you know, what their problem is, and how your product can solve their problem, then you have a win right there. You might even get a PO on the floor. That’s ideal. You have all your tools there; you have all your demos there, your support team is there. Ready to dig into how you can help somebody as fast as possible, by asking them what they do and what kind of problems they’re trying to solve, so you can really cut to the chase while you have them there for that short amount of time.
Cindy Z.:
When you and I were chatting last week, and kind of getting ready to do our session today with everybody, I loved what you said about the whole improv thing. Just talk about that piece, I love that.
Jesse Foster:
Sure, so the concept of improv comedy would be to further the joke, and not stop it in its tracks by making any kind of statements to the contrary, right? So you say, “Yes, and,” so you kind of agree with the premise and pull it along, and don’t stop it in its tracks. So the effect of that on the trade show floor is that uncomfortable silence and then they turn and just kind of leave … if you stop it, then it’s like, okay, everybody parts ways. Definitely gotta keep it going, How to Win Friends and Influence People, let that talk, pull it out of them, let them tell you about themselves. Throw a little bit of that in there, too.
Cindy Z.:
I am glad you mentioned that, How to Win Friends and Influence People. You guys on the call here, who’s read that book or listened to the audio? I know there’s an updated audio version of it. I’m just curious. Shout on in if you’ve heard of it, read it, what do you think? It’s good, because it’s nice to share great resources like that, How to Win Friends and Influence People’s awesome. Good call on that one.
Alright, we’ve got people who’ve read it, somebody did the course.
Jesse Foster:
Yeah, Chris did the course. I listened to it on Audible.
Cindy Z.:
Hey, let’s pick up. And we’re back. Thank you, everybody, for that break there. Question for you Jesse.
Jesse Foster:
Yes.
Cindy Z.:
Question for you Jesse. You had said that you have some set questions that you use. Share with us what those are that you like, these are my go to; I don’t know what to say, I just feel confident when I ask these questions. Tell me about that.
Jesse Foster:
Yeah, it’s kind of a call back to the interaction I was just referring to where you want to validate, qualify, any interaction you’re going to have with them right off the bat, right? So really asking who they work with, what they do, is really over the years I’ve kind of moved … that’s my go to right there. Like I said earlier, it lets them talk about themselves right away. Most of these people are proud of what they do, and they’ll tell you, I got a cool project, and I need your help. That’s what I’ve learned, is try to just ask them about themselves and what they do. If you don’t make stuff that they use, you can all just move on. Kind of vet it out right away, with those questions.
Cindy Z.:
Are there any no-nos? Any, like, be sure you don’t ask this, you want to avoid this type of question kind of deal? What do you think about that?
Jesse Foster:
Yeah. Any kind of questions that can be answered with a no, or any kind of curt answer, that stops a conversation in its tracks, even makes it uncomfortable. Sometimes customers aren’t even the most personable people as well. You should make it easy for them to be nice and open up. But you want not to give them an easy way to get out of there with a no, and they just shuffle on, you know?
Cindy Z.:
Totally. What is your thought about booking appointments? Is it cool to just show up and NAB show and be like, I’m going to get some booth traffic, or is booking appointments a big deal? What’s your philosophy on that, Jesse?
Jesse Foster:
I think to ensure your investment comes back to you as best as possible, you need to book appointments. You need to make the best use of time as possible. You have this extremely expensive real estate, time to get your company out there and everything. Not booking appointments in advance is almost negligent, really. You need to have a calendar set up with some meetings, at a minimum. And all of that could fall apart. Customers try their best to keep their calendar on their side, so it’s a two-way street.
So meetings, anchor meetings, key meetings, but don’t overdo it to the point where you can’t be flexible, I would say. Because throughout the day, people will be late, key people will show up that you weren’t expecting, so having some flexibility in your schedule with the ability for some key individuals to go from meeting to meeting helps a lot as well when you get overbooked.
Cindy Z.:
Yeah, that totally makes sense. I like to go to a show thinking, if I see these 20 people, I’m stoked. And of course, everybody after that is just gravy. Or if I see these hundred people, or whatever the number is, and really have that list of people. And even share it with some of the booth staff. Like if you see somebody from this company in here, be active about it. So not only calling up front and getting those appointments, just alerting the booth staff as to who those key folks are that you want to connect with.
How many people on the call, by the way, I’m super curious, do people on the call go ahead and make appointments at trade shows like NAB Show, or do you just wing it? No judgment, everybody’s got their own thoughts on that, so I’m super curious about that.
So I’m seeing here, we’ve got folks who do make appointments for the sales team, and it’s pretty important. Other folks who say they’re making heavy appointments ahead of time, it’s required. So that’s good to know. We have a couple people weighing in saying, yes, absolutely making appointments. Jesse, for you and for your company, who does that responsibility go to in terms of deciding who that hit list is, if you will, and making those appointments. How does that work for you?
Jesse Foster:
In all the companies I’ve been with, it’s always on the sales manager’s plate to propose a list of key contacts that they want to have at the show, whether it’s a special event or just for meetings. They would submit that to management, so management has a full oversight of what the goals are in regards to who’s coming in, what we should be focusing on. But it always does fall to the individual sales person’s … they need to set up the calendar, maintain their portion of the calendar, we have a shared resource calendar that everybody maintains, as one point of reference.
Cindy Z.:
Do you use any kind of appointment reminder software or some automated thing that pings the person, hey, you have an appointment with Jesse in 30 minutes. Any stuff like that, or not so much?
Jesse Foster:
Not yet, no. Any of that kind of stuff is just for internal use, to remind ourselves and whatnot, but we haven’t embraced any of these tools, marketing tools, to preemptively reach out and let people know. No. Those are powerful, though, I’m noticing.
Cindy Z.:
I use a couple of them, and I use them with my clients and actually put them into place for some of them. Some people don’t like them, they’re like, nope, we have our Google calendar, and the sales people are taking care of it. And then some people we do automated email reminder, and then some people I work with, I actually set up automated text, SMS reminders. And it just is really to everybody’s personal taste, I think, at this point.
Jesse Foster:
Yeah. I think they’re helpful, though. Just working with you I’ve seen them, and … a 15-minute reminder from Outlook is too long, ’cause within 15 minutes I could forget what I’m doing. So I appreciate that last minute email.
Cindy Z.:
That’s awesome. I like it. You and I talked a lot about demo stations, which is one of my favorite topics. Can you jump into that topic? ‘Cause demo stations, deciding, there’s a couple schools of thought on, should I have everything in my demo station or should it be problem-solution specific, all that. Talk to us about that.
Jesse Foster:
Sure, sure. I’m that boat right now, figuring out what I’m going to do. We have so many different stories to tell and so many different … one size doesn’t fit all, with what we do. It’s a system made of multiple pieces, or it’s one thing. The demos range from a mousetrap type of, push this button and watch all this stuff happen, see the result, a classic real demo … or, virtual demonstration.
I’m more of a fan of the virtual demonstration side of it, just based on the amount of content you can bring. When you have somebody standing there and you have, say, what I use is PowerPoint in the kiosk mode, and you can browse multiple virtual demos from a top level menu, and see what they’re interested in. As opposed to saying, well, this is what we brought, this is what we hope that you’re interested in to watch right now, and I hope that I can pull it off as a sales guy in Vegas. Monday morning, hopefully, it works. I feel those are disastrous, and you’re missing an opportunity to really show them a menu of graphics that represent different workflows or whatever, and really go in and dig.
Get little animation showing the signal traverse, the process, and then boom, they get it, the light goes off, and you’ve made it further with that virtual engagement than I think you would in a lot of cases with an actual, old-fashioned, physical demo. But it really does depend on what you’re trying to do, and tell. But that’s a key there, is the virtual side I’m pushing to and then having a specialist. Somebody who’s very knowledgeable to be there and take it to that next level.
If you really do get a nibble, and this end user, this person’s a professional, over your head. And they go, oh, yeah, I need that, tell me about it. It’s just really key to capitalize on that demo with a specialist, so I always try to have a specialist at each location to put a fine point on the discussion. So when somebody walks away, they feel educated, not like they’re talking to a salesperson or a rep who’s looking over their shoulder for somebody that really knows the answers. It’s good to have somebody local to each area, is what I’ve learned.
Cindy Z.:
What I’m hearing from you is that you’ve got a kind of problem-solution diagram, a way to get in and show different solutions to people, and then having that pro-environment, so they feel right at home, and then having your genius guru on hand to hit all the super deep questions as needed.
Jesse Foster:
Exactly. Basically close it, right on the spot.
Cindy Z.:
That’s nice. How much coordinating do you need to do with that genius guru person in advance, or do you wing it? How do you do that piece?
Jesse Foster:
I’ve always been fortunate in my career to have access to the engineers and high-level product managers who worked on the product, so that’s pretty straightforward. Nobody’s more knowledgeable than they are, so you don’t need to tell them anything. The salespeople are there, then, to take notes, capture any sales opportunities that are coming up, and also learn as a byproduct of hearing the specialist give their spiel at the level that they can.
Cindy Z.:
Jesse, talk to us about how you decide who can go to the show. Can everybody just go to the show, or do you do any booth training with people? Do you have any rules about what people can and can’t do in the booth, or it is just like, hey everybody, just go for it? What’s your take?
Jesse Foster:
I think I come from a more militaristic background on that, just how expensive the show is, and how much work goes into it. Everybody that’s going needs to be required. Training, we try to do a sales training for the staff, ’cause they’re all regional, so they come in to do a sales training, and then before the show actually starts every day, we try to convene an hour and a half or so before the show starts, and go through each station. So progressively through the week, the sales people get more and more knowledgeable through that process.
That, and then another rule of thumb, as far as at the show, is cleanliness. Everybody be as presentable as possible. No eating in the booth, no coffee in the booth. Just treating the booth with the respect that it deserves with the amount of money and effort that went into putting it together. Everybody that comes out is of the same mind; it’s that core team every year. So it’s really, the key personnel that come out. Engineers that need to have deeper conversations with partners and/or look at other technologies, those are the kind of things that dictate who comes out.
Cindy Z.:
It’s interesting that you say no food or no coffee in the booth, because I know that there are people who have varying opinions about that, and so you’ll see a water bottle stashed behind something or a coffee-
Jesse Foster:
Drives me crazy.
Cindy Z.:
Breath mints sitting on the counter or not, I don’t know.
Jesse Foster:
I analogize it to the Apple Store, right. It’s a pretty sterile environment, you’re in there and it’s designed to be as it is. If somebody put their cup behind the iMac that you’re looking at, if an employee did that, it would totally bump you, right? So that’s the way I look at the booth. It should be as nice as it can be for the 4 days that you’re there, and treat it with the respect that it deserves. I think the customers appreciate that.
Cindy Z.:
What do you do if you’re on a demo and it just starts going sideways? I have to say that a lot of demos I’ve done have gone great, and I’ve also been in some where things just aren’t going how I was hoping. What do you do with that?
Jesse Foster:
I usually start tap dancing, making jokes. That’s what I do, and a little self-deprecating humor. But yeah, basically, depending on what the failure was, if it was pilot error I would explain that it was my fault, get somebody to take over that knows what they’re doing and just eat it, not a problem. Or, have a conversation with the customer, say, this is not quite ready, that’s why they’re running around. Just honesty. I’m very transparent, so I would not hesitate to tell them what went wrong.
Cindy Z.:
That’s a great thing about you, is you’ve got that genuine personality and you’re super open about it. When we started talking about working in the booth and who has a successful demo and booth experience, that’s why I thought of you. I think the genuine piece comes out, it’s like, we don’t have to hide and become automatons and not tell them what’s going on. Just that genuine interaction is huge, of course.
Jesse Foster:
Right, and you should have that guy there, too. Some people don’t appreciate the personality, right, so always have a range of personality types in your booth is good as well, so you can match up. Some engineers are totally dry, they don’t want any jokes, they just want pure information… so have your VP of Engineering for that guy, if you can. Match ’em up.
Cindy Z.:
I’m so glad you mentioned that, Jesse. I think it’s really valuable to think about that booth personnel in terms of having different personalities. You can look at it in a lot of different ways. You can look at, who’s your favorite band? You can see that the people in the band all have different personalities. What’s your favorite TV show? If you look at the top four or six characters on that show, you can see that they’re all different personality types. Or you can go into the DISC personality that we sometimes use in sales and marketing stuff when we’re doing that type of profiling, in terms of our personas. It’s the same thing with working in a booth, that’s exactly what you’re talking about. That’s really nice.
Jesse Foster:
Yeah, it’s like a team, a baseball team analogy, too.
Cindy Z.:
A baseball team, sports. Yeah.
Jesse Foster:
The pitcher, catcher, everybody’s got their part to play, and they have their strengths. Exactly.
Cindy Z.:
Do you have anything, somebody just messaged in and said, well what about texting in the booth? That doesn’t seem like a good thing, and that whole clustering in there. What other no-nos can we, if you had a little quick list of other things that we’d want to avoid, what-
Jesse Foster:
Sure. I would say employees shouldn’t congregate and have a clique … it’s intimidating to break up the conversation as a customer, that’s a non-starter right there, I would say. That’s a key one, there.
Cindy Z.:
How do decide if it’s a good show? You come back from NAB show, or still at the show, how do you determine it? Is it something you set up in advance, or … talk to us about that.
Jesse Foster:
Yeah, I’d say the wrap up dinner, that’s part of our tradition, is where we capture the overall take on the show by having each salesperson give a story of a potential opportunity, exciting story, cross-pollinate between. And then throughout that process management, seeing the overall picture, seeing which regions had the most activity, and where the most excitement’s coming from, what products need the most attention, so forth. That’s the quickest, almost real-time way to get a feel before everybody heads home, is that wrap up dinner, I’d say.
Cindy Z.:
Do you have a story where you went, we know that was successful because of X, or … not to put you on the spot, but how would you really go, that was awesome? Do you have something like that you could share?
Jesse Foster:
There’s plenty, really. If you’re in a conversation, you got the key decision makers from the station group and you hit on something that solves their problem and they all start looking at each other and nodding at each other in silence, and they get excited, those kind of situations where you’re like, oh man, we got this. This is awesome. And those happen throughout the week, honestly. Those moments where you know you just got it, and it has large implications across the station group or something like that. Those are the best.
Cindy Z.:
I love those. Those are definitely the best, where you have somebody come in, they go, oh, you know, I’m looking to solve this problem. And you go, really? Can I share this little info with you? And they go, oh, that’s really cool. Can I tell you one more thing? And they go, oh my gosh, I have to have that.
Jesse Foster:
Exactly. I need 400 of them.
Cindy Z.:
I love that. So for the people who are really digging in to getting more traffic, and making the most of what they have going, do you have maybe one thing you can share with us that’s a surefire, this always works, I love to use this at every show … do you have that secret weapon that you would be willing to share with our audience today?
Jesse Foster:
Sure. I think about that question, it makes me think of a lesson I’ve learned from my boss, Bob McAlpine. It’s a tried and true method of throwing a cocktail reception at the beginning of the show, with the intent of bringing in key resellers, dealers, partners, right up front, at the beginning of the show, in a disarming atmosphere over beers and wine, where everybody can meet and network in your booth, under your banner. Then all week, they have you in mind. You’ve already broken the ice with them, just in case, they’re like, oh, yeah, my Cobalt guy. That kind of thing. Right up at the beginning of the week, and then those dealers, those reps, will bring their customers to you throughout the week as a residual effect from you throwing that party the first day. First or second day. That’s always done really well for us, and it also makes you look very popular when there’s people spilling out of your booth into the hallways. And it’s by invite only, so it’s pretty exclusive type of event, too. That always goes very well.
Cindy Z.:
I love that, Jesse, that’s great. Has anybody tried that, doing a cocktail party or some kind of party early in the show? I’m interested in that, that’s a great one. I actually worked with a client at IBC and we did that. We had a couple consecutive nights of a party, and you’re right. It’s true, people came back the next night and they would bring prospects, or other clients and stuff like that with, and that was really good.
So we’ve got some other folks here saying yeah, they do a kick-off the day before the show, with dealers and customers. That’s awesome.
Alright, I’m going to summarize a little bit about what we looked at today, and then we’re going to stay on, Jesse and I are going to stay on for Q & A with everybody.
Some of the things that you hit on today, Jesse, that I thought were just brilliant were, gotta get the graphics in line of sight, keywords that people care about is so important. Looking at your hit list and really making those meetings, for sure, no matter what. Gotta have the meetings. Your demo stations, choosing which path you’re going to take in terms of, I’m going to do everything or I’m going to hit these solution-based things. Be sure you’ve got that genius on hand, and that there’s a way to hit the solutions that people need there. And then of course, your million dollar idea there, having that cocktail party early in the show and getting together with people then.
That’s great, thank you so much, Jesse. I appreciate it. We do have some questions. Someone chatted in and wondered if you ever have tried using the guest passes and do you use those to promote the show upfront?
Jesse Foster:
Definitely. Standardly, in the past, I would actually proactively go out, tell people early on when not everyone has them as a commodity, and use that as an icebreaker to call people and give them that pass. Also, I make it part of my signature, and then everybody in the company standardizes their email signature, just to get that free pass, we call it a VIP pass.
Cindy Z.:
So you put it right in your signature on your email?
Jesse Foster:
Yeah, with a link to the registration page.
Cindy Z.:
Do you have a standard signature for everybody in the whole company, so everybody’s doing that, or some people are kind of unique, and … how do you do that?
Jesse Foster:
This past couple years, we’ve homogenized it, yeah. I do the graphic based off the NAB vector file that they give out, and then everybody standardizes on it. I think it helps.
Cindy Z.:
We have a question here that says, which NAB show app, or the features, do you recommend to use that will help, that make the exhibition most successful? I think they might be talking about the NAB Show portal? Feel free to chat back in with a little more clarification on that. Do you use the NAB Show portal, the My NAB Show?
Jesse Foster:
I do, yeah. Every year I do it more and more, but yeah. It’s like a little microsite that you can have for yourself, from what I recall, in regards to product images and information, and then you can also make it easy for people to add you to their experience app, the My NAB Show app, I believe. Automatically throw you on to their schedule. So there’s a lot of value add to that app. I haven’t looked at it this year yet, haven’t gone back into it, so I don’t have any fresh statements on it, but it is powerful. A lot of tools in there for marketing.
Cindy Z.:
Something I’ve had really good experience with the My NAB Show portal is, in addition to putting in info about the company, change the language a little bit so it’s more customer facing, if you will. If you’re looking for this, we have this, and click here to download this e-book right now, so that it’s not just shooting them back to the website, but actually giving them some more value and hitting them up with some extra info right there. I like to do that, as well.
I’d like to know Jesse’s experience. How many years has he exhibited at NAB? You can answer that if you want to.
Jesse Foster:
Yeah, I think I’ve done 16 NABs now.
Cindy Z.:
Nice. Nice.
Jesse Foster:
They’re stacking up, yeah.
Cindy Z.:
That’s awesome.
Nick from NAB Show just chatted in and said that he’s available to take any questions as well, so Fallon, if you wouldn’t mind putting his email address into the chat box here. Everybody just keep an eye out for that, and we’ll post that here in just a moment.
What other questions do people have? And what topics would you guys like to see in the shows coming up? We are talking about tracking trade show ROI next week. The following week GDRP, which is regulations around data and that includes getting people’s names at trade shows, the booth. And then we have some slots coming up, just a couple more this year, that are already scheduled, and really want to serve the exhibitors here, and makes sure that we have covered the topics that you want. Please chat that in or hit us up afterward as well.
Scrubbing through the chat here to see what other questions we have, Jesse. And if you have anything that came up as we’re talking, too.
Jesse Foster:
I’m thinking a show topic that might be helpful is just dealing with the union, how to navigate the actual physicalities of the show, you know?
Cindy Z.:
Like logistics and stuff.
Jesse Foster:
Logistics … it can be pretty intimidating, and there’s a learning curve. People might assume you’re born with the knowledge or something, but it’s acquired over years, and then they change it up on you. But maybe rules and regulations, in regards to … it might get too technical, but just the rigging and changes on rigging and stuff.
Cindy Z.:
Yeah, and one of the clients I get to work with from Canada actually, they had a challenge shipping their crates in a couple of times, into Vegas. I helped them navigate that, because you can get your stuff stuck and not have a show.
Jesse Foster:
Especially the forklifts. They’ll drive a forklift right through.
Cindy Z.:
Yeah, it was we couldn’t get it out of Customs, something like that, so we ended up working together to try to do that. So logistics is a fair point. What other questions or topics would you guys like to see? Feel free to chat that in.
Well, it sounds like with all that info that you shared with us, you’re going to have an awesome show, as always.
Jesse Foster:
Exciting.
Cindy Z.:
If you guys have questions for Jesse, he generously said you can email him, so his email is in the chat box here.
Well thank you, Jesse.
Jesse Foster:
Thank you.
Cindy Z.:
Great to see you again, and have a beautiful day.
Jesse Foster:
Looking forward to NAB. Thank you, everybody.
Cindy Z.:
See you in Vegas.
Jesse Foster:
Thanks for joining. Bye.
Cindy Z.:
Bye.
