2009 Trade Show Super Heroes

Heroes? Not at AIG. Not at Merrill Lynch. Not at GM.

You might want to start looking for business heroes by looking at WEPCO Plastics of Middlefield, Connecticut.

Wally Parmelee, President of WEPCO, not only knows a thing or two about custom plastic injection molding, he knows a lot about business, including how to operate when the going gets tough. When the going gets tough, Wally Parmelee gets going.

When asked if he is reducing his level of trade show participation because of the recession, Wally responded, “I’m increasing the number of trade shows where we exhibit in 2009.” He recounted that after 9-11 he did cut back on WEPCO’s trade show participation, for which he paid dearly. This year WEPCO is exhibiting at seven trade shows, up from five in 2008. Wally explains that he can generally count on picking up one or two new customers at every trade show. In his business, that can mean very significant revenue. He points out that in addition to garnering new business, a trade show is a very efficient means of meeting up with current customers.

When asked for a memorable trade show success story, Wally said, “That’s easy. Following our very first trade show in Marlboro, Massachusetts 27 years ago, we received orders for 47 new molds within four weeks after the show.” To put things in perspective, the plastic injection molds that Wally produces for his customers cost from the low five-figures up into six-figures. Each one is used to produce tens or hundreds of thousands of plastic parts for those same customers.

Speaking of perspective, one more point of interest. The U.S. plastic injection molding business has been battered by Chinese competition, Despite overseas competition and a recession here at home, WEPCO has prospered through face-to-face trade show marketing and providing service that overseas competitors cannot match. Wally Parmelee is an American business hero.

Exhibitors can get the most of trade shows and improve their return on investment by capturing, tracking, and qualifying each potential lead generated on the show floor. Bartizan Lead Retrieval has brought buyers and sellers together for nearly 40 years.

Great Coupons Available for Bartizan Lead Retrieval

Do you like free stuff? We thought so. Well, if you are in charge of planning tradeshows, conferences or expos, you'll want to pay attention to this post. There are three new offers available for tradeshow organizers. You can find the coupons here on Google's coupon page.


These coupons never expire. Here is a breakdown of the offers:

• $50 Amazon Gift Certificate with Trade Show Lead Retrieval
  Get a $50 Amazon Gift Card. Mention offer code 'Amazon' to receive a $50 Amazon Gift Card with Order. Your order refers to selecting Bartizan as the vendor of Lead Retrieval rentals to exhibitors.
  Offer Code: AMAZON
  Never Expires
  
  Free Session Tracking with Lead Retrieval Order
  When you choose Bartizan as your supplier of Lead Retrieval to your exhibitors. Mention Session with order to get free session tracking for your show.
  Offer Code: SESSION
  Never Expires
  
  Free Badge Stock with Lead Retrieval Order
  Mention Code 'Badge' to receive free badge stock at your next event, when Bartizan is chosen as the supplier of Lead Retrieval to exhibitors.
  Offer code: BADGE
  Never Expires

Enjoy these coupons and please feel free, as always, to share your comments and insight into the wonderful world of Lead Retrieval.

Lead Retrieval “Back in the Day”

Lead retrieval and social networking have always existed, in one form or another. What has changed is not their function, but their form.

As president of Bartizan, one of my earliest positive experiences with “lead retrieval” and “social networking” took place over 30 years ago. The success of that experience continues to this day, both financially and socially.

In the late 1970s I was contacted by a gentleman by the name of Graeme McLeod, located in Wellington, New Zealand. Our company, Bartizan, manufactured those once ubiquitous machines used at point of sale to record credit card transactions, the credit card imprinter, also known as the “zip-zap” machine or “knuckle buster”. Five North American companies, including two Fortune 500” organizations, manufactured imprinters. Bartizan was a distant fifth in every category that counted Technology, quality, reputation, years in existence, etc.

Graeme’s company, Hightech New Zealand, had been assigned to procure 5,000 imprinters for a major Australian bank. As I recall, the previous year that would have been a quarter of our annual output. Communications between Graeme and me was limited to telephone and telex. Much to my delight – and surprise – Bartizan got the order.

Some years later, after we had become fast friends, I asked Graeme why he gave us, rather than one of our prominent competitors, his order. Surely, I thought, it must have been price. Graeme’s pithy response: You answered.

None of our competitors bothered to answer Graeme’s inquiry! Bartizan’s “lead retrieval” process won the day. Our “social media” initially consisted of those telephone and telex communications, but over the years frequent in-person visits resulted in a bond that endures to this day. Oh, by the way, the relationship has generated revenues well into eight figures for Bartizan.

Lead retrieval and social networking may have morphed into something new, but the basics remain the same, no matter the form.

Why Buying Lead Retrieval Equipment Is Not a Viable Solution

Do you think renting Lead Retrieval Equipment is a waste of money? At Bartizan Connects, I am often asked by exhibitors if they can purchase lead retrieval equipment from us to use at all their shows, rather than constantly renting lead retrieval equipment for every show they attend as an exhibitor.

Though I can understand their desire to save money, this is not something that an exhibitor can do at this time. There are two reasons.

The first reason is that each show encodes its badges differently. For example, one show may encode the name first, followed by company, address and e-mail. Another show may choose to encode company first, followed by name, phone number and e-mail, and so on. Every show seems to encode their badges slightly differently.

For every show that Bartizan does, Bartizan must configure its units to read the specific encoded badge for that show. If an exhibitor were to purchase lead retrieval equipment from us, the exhibitor would need to get sample copies of the encoded badge for that show weeks before the show begins, run a diagnostic on the sample badges (to see how the badge is encoded) and then program the lead retrieval unit to read the sample badges. Even if this were possible, it may not be allowed by the show organizer.

This leads us to reason number two. Show Organizers do not want exhibitors to bring their own lead retrieval equipment to a show. In fact, it may be forbidden to do so as per the exhibitor agreement for that show. Even if a show organizer allows it, they will likely charge a fee equal to the fee for the lead retrieval rental for the show. In this case, the unhappy exhibitor will need to pay for both the purchase of the lead retrieval equipment and the "rental fee" to get access to the encoded badges and use their purchased lead retrieval at the show.

So though it may seem like a good idea at first blush, purchasing lead retrieval equipment is not a feasible plan for an exhibitor at this time. In addition, with constantly changing technologies, who knows if the scanner you purchase today will be obsolete tomorrow?

Let me know your thoughts...What would be a good solution to this industry issue?

Chris Eisenberg , Vice President Bartizan Connects

Small companies have the most to gain from exhibiting at trade shows. How much emphasis do organizers place on selling to small businesses as compared to the effort in recruiting their larger brethren?

I know from first-hand experience that trade show participation can be the most important aspect in a small company’s marketing arsenal. Back in the early 70’s, Bartizan introduced its first product, the device used to record a credit card transaction at point-of-sale known as a credit card imprinter. We were competing against four much larger companies, two of which were Fortune 500 companies. Our “factory” was my studio apartment. To make matters worse, our product was not really all that good, certainly not as good as those of our competitors. To say that we had two strikes against us was an understatement.

What we did have was a lot of elbow grease, an awful lot of good luck and the perspicacity to put nearly all of our meager marketing budget into trade shows. And did those trade shows ever produce results! We came face-to-face with buyers. We met “older” people who get a kick out of helping young people out, we became friends with other exhibitors who referred us to prospects, and we got to scope out the competition and decided, “Hey, we can do that!” Those Fortune 500 companies weren’t so intimidating when you saw them up close. Trade shows played a huge part in boosting our sales from zero in 1972 when we shipped our first product to $14 million in 1991 (adjusted for inflation).

According to Brand Strategist Bill Nissam:

Nothing compares to face-to-face interaction and is the one medium (in your
marketing mix) that’s measureable (ROI). Whether you are a small or large firm,
attracting the RIGHT audience to your booth is critical. This means designing
messages and images that create the “light-bulb” moment when someone walks by
your booth. The attendee needs to clearly understand your value proposition in
seconds and compell them towards your booth.
If you are not attaining the right ROI in trade exhibitions, its possible you are at the wrong show or your booth presentation is sending the wrong message. (For more, visit Bill’s blog at http://www.ibranz.com/blog/)

My advice to show organizers - not that anybody asked - is to make a real push to sign up small exhibitors. Your show can have an out-sized influence on their fortunes. And if it does, you will likely have a customer for life.

“Being successful involves working hard and luck,” says Lew Hoff , president of Bartizan Connects, designer and producer of groundbreaking data collection devices for the credit card and exhibition industries, and executive chairman of Addressograph Bartizan, the world’s leading manufacturer of credit card imprinters. “Everyday you meet smart people who haven’t achieved success. But it’s rare to meet a success who hasn’t worked hard and been lucky.”

The B*Printer is Bartizan's Wireless Mini-Printer for Lead Retrieval

Did you know that exhibitors prefer having a print out of the leads they scan at Tradeshows? Due to overwhelming demand, now exhibitors can enjoy the mobility and freedom from electrical installation requirements that Bartizan's Leads2Go™ and RealTimer™ lead retrieval handhelds provide, yet still be able to print hard copy records.

Bartizan's B*Mobile Lead Retrieval Printer

• Print wirelessly within a 30 foot radius
• Wear the B*Printer using its belt clip or station
• Eliminate the need for electrical hook-up
• The B*Printer is easy to use, fast, compact and very light.

By offering these printers, trade show organizers can realize additional printer revenue from the add on rentals, but from what we have observed, more exhibitors will rent Leads2Go, because of the added feature. In other words, offering the B Printer has a multiplier effect.

Trade Show Leads – You Have to Follow Through

The ability to follow-up on tradeshow leads is dictated by the manner in which the leads are collected.

If your “system” is to ask for a business card and make notes on the back – you will have to work on assumptions that may not be accurate. What assumptions? You will not have the demographic information that is typical encoded on a tradeshow attendee’s badge. You will have to ask for or do without key qualifiers, such as:

1. Type of business
   
2. Number of locations


3. Annual Sales


4. Number of Employees


5. Level of decision-making authority


6. Purpose for attending the show

Yes, you have to do a good job at the show. But few tradeshow attendees place orders on the spot. You need to plan ahead, set qualifiers and follow up on those leads after the show. Most attendees make their buying decisions in the days, weeks and months following a trade show.

Do you want to leave your prospects buying decisions to chance? Effective follow-up is required if you are going to meet ambitious goals.