Time is the enemy. Even the longest trade shows only last a few days. During these few days you must make meaningful connections with hundreds, if not thousands of attendees. Every minute wasted on the show floor means lost opportunity.
When practicing the Trade Show Samurai Arts, I recommend treating all attendees more or less the same. If it is clearly not someone who will ever be a prospect then you can move right into the Art of Disengagement. Everybody else should be turned into a qualifiable lead.
When we find a prospect that looks like a real hot one there is an overwhelming urge to spend more time with that individual and get to know him or her. Sometimes you will be dying to show people product demos or take them through some kind of in-booth “experience” that will forever leave them with a favorable impression of your company.
Do this at your own peril. The few extra minutes you spend with these individuals can cost you in the long run because you are missing the chance to connect with other attendees that could be just as good, if not better.
However, there is a way to handle these situations. You have to call in a Ninja. A Ninja is a member of the company that has a special area of expertise that can be called on to spend extra time with an attendee if necessary. In some cases the Ninja will be at the show. In some cases they will be in your booth. In other cases they will be someone back at your company. Whenever the conversation starts dragging you should call in a Ninja. Popular Ninjas include:
- Sales Ninjas
- Public Relations Ninjas
- Human Resource Ninjas
- Product Demo Ninjas
- Investment Ninjas
- Marketing Ninjas
- Technology Ninja
Whenever you have an attendee who wants to talk, at length, about any particular subject you can always refer them to a Ninja so you can get back to work generating leads.
For instance, let’s say you are speaking to an attendee who is ready to buy and is asking a lot of questions. You might say something like this: “I can tell you are really interested in learning more, let me set up a meeting with our vp of sales (your Sales Ninja). He is at the show, I have his schedule right here.” Now you can take out your Sales Ninja’s schedule and set up an on-site meeting.
Here is another example. Perhaps there is an attendee who wants to talk, in detail, about your technology and how it works. Even if you know the answers it is best to refer them to a Ninja. You might say, “You are asking a lot of good, technical questions. I’d like to hook you up with our CTO (Technology Ninja) who will give you a call, when should I ask him to get in touch?” You have just brought closure to that line of questioning respectfully and politely. Now the guy is your CTO’s problem. If this is a good lead this is a good problem. If it’s a bad lead you can tell your CTO to play it cool.
Sometimes companies simply can’t bring themselves not to include an onsite product demo. If your company MUST HAVE a product demo make sure it is staffed with Product Demo Ninjas. The Trade Show Samurai can capture the lead. If the lead looks promising they can introduce the individual to the Product Demo Ninja and get back to work. When Trade Show Samurai do demos productivity goes straight to hell.
Ninjas are the Trade Show Samurai equivalent of a punt. It allows you to divert the conversation to someone better suited at handling it so you can get back to the work of capturing leads. There is nothing inherently wrong with spending extra time with attendees with demos, games, sales conferences or other conversations. But, when your priority is lead-generation you must use Ninjas to manage the extra work. Trade Show Samurai have one mission: capturing qualifiable leads.