COLUMN: SALES TALK
Never again!
Simon Naudi, CEO of Answers Training, on the
challenge of winning back lost exhibitors
W
hat can you do to re-book an
exhibitor if the relationship has
soured in the past?
We accept an amount of churn as part of
our lives and most targets are adjusted to
reflect an element of lapsed exhibitors and
consequently a new business quota added
on top. This is sound for business planning
and business continuity, but from an
effort vs reward basis not always the most
effective way to manage your sales.
A new piece of business requires a lot
of research and planning, a relationship
to build, objections to overcome and an
element of risk mitigation especially if the
prospect has never exhibited or at best
never exhibited at your event. Statistics
abound about the cost of acquiring a new
piece versus a repeat or existing customer.
It is estimated at between seven and 12
times the cost.
So financially it makes sense to see what
can be done to work on a dissatisfied or
lapsed exhibitor rather than just chalk it
up to a fact of life and move on to new
business.
Clearly the starting point in winning
back any lapsed exhibitor is to truly
understand the reason or reasons that they
are no longer willing to participate in your
event. The most common reasons are:
1. A bad experience at either your or a rival
event,
2. They didn’t see, meet or do business
with the right visitors
3. A shift in business focus or target
markets
Clearly if they no longer targeting the
audience you
attract there is
little that can be
done to progress
the relationship
but, from
experience, the
“Financially it makes
sense to see what can
be done to work on a
dissatisfied or lapsed
exhibitor rather than
just chalk it up to a
fact of life”
majority of reasons for quitting an event
are (1) and (2).
Whilst a ‘bad experience’ at your event
or a rival event sounds similar, the way of
addressing them should be very separate.
In the case of a bad experience at your
event, ask what happened and SHUT
UP! Don’t agree, empathise, interject or
even make listening noises – allow them
to unload completely and vent and detail
what it was that happened that was so
fundamental that they no longer wish to
be part of your event. You will know when
they have finished because they will stop
talking.
At that point empathise and reveal that
if in fact those things had happened to you
at an event, you would have felt the same
way. Presumably then what you would
have to do to attract them again is correct
them and ensure they do not happen
again. The fact that you fully get it, and
are taking extra precautions to ensure
that doesn’t happen again, will neutralise
the negatives and pave the way for you to
both have a positive conversation about the
possibility of moving forward.
In the case of a bad experience at a rival
event, really poke about and comment
as they describe the terrible things that
happened at the rival event. “Water?
Actually dripping from the ceiling? All
over your stock? Exploding plasma screen?
OMG! Presumably you got a full refund?
No? That’s terrible! No wonder you feel
as you do. Let me tell you why that sort of
thing cannot and will never happen at our
event”. In this way you have effectively (in
their mind) associated the bad experience
with the rival event and not with exhibiting
in general.
In scenario (2) – i.e. they didn’t see, meet
or do business with the right visitors – you
need to understand the true objection,
namely some sort of ROI (Return On
Investment) issue. You need to explain the
reasons why this happened rather than be
defensive. It may be they exhibited badly,
had insufficient staff or the wrong type of
people on their stand. Rather than criticise
or deliver a post mortem, ask about their
original intentions to exhibit – what did
they hope to do and specifically who did
they want to see? Then summarise and
clarify their answer, “So what you are
saying is you wanted to meet AB1 Bishops
from Transylvania – is that right?” In this
way you can introduce facts rather than
opinions. “The interesting thing is that
we had over 970 AB1 Bishops at our event
and 575 were in fact from Transylvania.
What I am hearing you tell me is that while
they attended our event they didn’t, for
whatever reason, interact with your staff –
is that right?” In this way they will realise
the target audience did in fact attend, but
they (for whatever reason) didn’t meet or
sell to them. Now you have something to
work with and you can introduce pre-show
marketing, stand staff training and other
on-site activities they can utilise in order to
meet and so business with people that are
known to attend your event.
My advice is don’t shy away from
hearing negatives from the client and
remember if they are bothered enough to
unload they care enough to want to be
heard.
If they genuinely don’t want anything
to do with you they would probably not
even take your call. So, recognise that
as a positive and use your creativity to
possibly split their budget so that, rather
than spending it all on floral displays,
fancy graphics or expensive furniture and
literature racks, they invest in attracting
and then interacting with the people you
now both know attend your event!
exhibitionnews.co.uk | January 2019
45