What's in a Name?...Brand Identity

Tradeshow Success!

A winning effort begins with preparation -Joe Gibbs

 Planning Another Trade Show This Year? STOP!! Don't Waste Your Money Unless You Have a Well Thought Out Plan.

*** 98 percent of exhibitors collect sales leads at trade shows, but less than 70 percent have any formalized plan or process in place for how those leads are followed up after the show.

Trade Show Success: Not just another pretty booth!

Can you believe it?..... It's SPRING!! The flowers are blooming, the weather is warmer ( actually it's already quite hot here in Texas) and everything seems bright and new.

Trade Show season is also here and to ensure that you have a successful experience and positive ROI, there must be proper planning, organization and execution. Planning what you will do before, during and after the trade show can make your tradeshow efforts a huge success...and the reverse is also true!

Before the Show

 Here are a few tips to help make your trade show exhibit and experience a true success!

1-Pre-show Mailings and Press Releases:

Make sure to have a a copy of the attendee list or last year’s list and send pre-show mailers and press releases about your new products/services. Don’t forget to mention the show, date, place, booth number and include pictures of your products and your logo. Make your focus to build brand recognition of your company logo memorable and to stay on your prospects mind.

2- Trade Show Apparel:

Whether you are the owner or an employee you are the company brand when you are at the show. Wearing the company logo and colors gives a professional look and makes you recognizable. Attendees are more likely to remember your company when you wear the appropriate apparel.

A Knowledgeable Staff is Extremely Important to the Success of a Trade Show!

3-Train Your Staff:

This is probably the single most important task and probably the least done. Don't let your leads slip away! Engaging tradeshow attendees takes more effort than an average sales call. You have to engage an attendee very quickly and in a way that compels them into conversation.

1. Your staff should not be huddled in the corner of the booth chatting as your prospects walk by.

2. Stand outside the booth looking to answer questions and READ the ID tags!

3. Have someone in the booth that can talk intelligently about your product and that can answer questions and listen.

During the Tradeshow

 4-Attract the Crowd:

You don't have to do a song and dance, but you do need to give the attendees a reason to walk over to your booth by having a prominent physical structure and an engaging host.

5-Engage the Crowd:

Providing a learning experience at the show, such as a quick seminar in the booth or a demo of a new product, will make a greater impact on your trade show booth visitors. This can make you more memorable and thus, more likely to close a deal later on.

 So Now That They Are in Front of Your Booth, How Do You Keep Them There?

 6-Capture Leads:

Don't be just another booth--create excitement by having giveaways or create a fun game that allows you to collect business cards. Games can also draw further interest from passersby. The first step in increasing trade show sales productivity is to establish a disciplined lead qualification process. The most effective process starts with capturing information about each potential prospect at the show, then building upon that customer knowledge in the initial contact. The punch line is simple – if you don’t waste time on unqualified prospects, you can focus more time on your best prospects.

After the Show

7-Yes! Follow up:

Engaging attendees in a quick and productive conversation can be more effective then delivering a pitch. Listening and gathering details about their needs can help sales reps reconnect with prospects on a follow-up call. According to the 2010 Sales Lead Survey conducted by Exhibitor Media Group:

• The study found that only 47% of companies track leads generated at trade shows and events throughout the sales cycle, and only 28% percent measure and report the number of leads that ultimately convert to sales as part of their exhibit program's ROI.

We ALL Know Timing Is Everything in Life!

 

8-Make the Best Use of It!

It's important to make sure that all lead follow-up occurs in a timely manner. If you identify a hot prospect at the show, make sure to ask when you should call them and set-up opportunities to contact them right after the show in a way that will set up the sale.

For other leads, make sure that you contact them while the excitement of the show is still fresh in their minds. For most businesses, 2 to 4 business days after the show arrange to have follow-up material delivered to their office. Within 5 to 7 days follow-up with a phone call.

9-Measure your Results:

Keeping all those leads organized after the show will really pay off when you are doing the follow up. Know who your A leads are and which sales rep were assigned to them. Ask your reps to give a 1, 3, or 6 month follow up report so you know where they are at in the sales cycle. At that point, you can begin to examine your ROI and the effectiveness of your sales and marketing plan.

For more information:

Give us a call 214-520-8577 or email info@donnaco.com and let us know how we can help you with all your trade show needs.

iPhone Tips and Tricks

Tips and Tricks For Your iPhone/iPad That Your Mother Never Told You!

I KNOW, I KNOW... not everyone has one. Not everyone likes them,  and I surely don’t want to insult any Android and Blackberry users. Read on for some interesting stats.

Never Say Never!

Reuters reported that they polled buyers during the first 72 hours after the iPhone 4S went on sale and found that 22% of them were converting from other platforms, especially BlackBerry and Nokia, but also Android.

Let’s face it, iPhones and iPads are here to stay!

In Apple’s press release from July, 2011, Apple announced financial results for its fiscal 2011 third quarter  that ended June 25, 2011. The Company sold 20.34 million iPhones in the quarter, representing 142 percent unit growth over the year-ago quarter. Apple sold 9.25 million iPads during the quarter, a 183 percent unit increase over the year-ago quarter.  So we get the picture! 

I know this ezine will never be circulated to the millions of iPad and iPhone users out there, but I thought if I could pass on some helpful tips to all of you, (through the power of numbers) we can hopefully come close to that goal.   ;)

Here are some useful tips, (though not in any particular order of importance), to help make typing easier on your iPhone and your iPad. ( if you already know some of these, pass it on. Remember: “It's what you learn after you know it all that counts.”

1.  Avoid draining your battery-Double click the home button to display all your open applications. Tap and hold you finger on an app and they start to wiggle and jiggle. You can then click X to delete them.   Swipe to the left and you can control your iTunes as well as lock the rotation.

2. Typing a url in Safari-Hold down the .com key and you will also be able to select whether the address is a .net, .org, .us, or .edu.

3. Typing in your mail program-Hold down the period key and you will be able to select whether the address is a .com, .net, .org, .us, or .edu.

Does This Sound Foreign?

 4. Type in a foreign language-Tap and hold a key on a vowel, and you'll get additional options for that letter. (a e i o u and "sometimes y" ) . Quite helpful if you want to type in a foreign language or insert a word that has diacritic mark.  It's called an \"acute accent\": é  This works for symbols too.

5. Using Tap and Slide-In order to avoid extra steps while you are on your letter keyboard and want to insert only ONE  number, tap the number keyboard and without lifting your finger slide it to the number you want. When you release your finger you will be back on the letter keyboard automatically. It's still 2 taps but easier than 3. (don’t let anyone call you lazy, it’s an effective use of time management !)

Have Any Questions?

6. Question marks and exclamation points-use a similar slide action. To avoid toggling from the letter keyboard to the numbers keyboard and then tap back again, tap the number key and just slide your finger to the ? and release.  You are back again to your letter keyboard.

7. Tap and Hold Existing Text-To edit an existing word, tap and hold inside the word you want and you'll get a magnifying glass to move the cursor around.

8. Tap and Hold to Copy-Whether a link, a photo or a phone number. Tap and hold on things to get a chance to copy it to the clipboard.

9. Deleting Apps- It’s the same technique you use to avoid draining your battery: tap and hold an app so that they start to wiggle and jiggle. You can then click X to delete them.

10. Activate Siri
And for those of you who ran out to buy the iPhone 4s, but cannot figure out how to activate your virtual wife, press and hold your home button to activate Siri. Enter your description.

For more information:

Give us a call 214-520-8577 or email info@donnaco.com and let us know how we can help!

Generation C

Change is the law of life. And those who look only to the past or present are certain to miss the future.  John F Kennedy

Meet Your Future Client- Generation C

 I recently returned from two Industry Trade shows, (and it's only the beginning of February), and I was amazed at how much emphasis was given to new technology products:  Headphones, speakers, ear buds, power packs, hand held projectors, styli, the thinnest business card size USB drives, iPad cases, cell phone holders... ANYTHING that had to do with a cellphone/smart phone, iPad, Kindle, Nook, etc was the "IT" item.   And here is why...

Just when you thought you understood the whole generational thing in the workplace…here come the new kids on the block...

WELCOME GENERATION C

Generation C- connected, communicating, content-centric, computerized, community-oriented, always clicking!

Generation C are "digital natives,” born after 1990 and just beginning to enter the workforce, (at least hopefully as I am a parent of a 21 year old) and they will transform the world as we know it. Their interests will help drive massive change in how people around the world socialize, work, and live their passions—and in the information and communication technologies they use to do so.  According to Booze and Company, here are some characteristics of a typical Gen C:

They have owned digital devices all their lives; they are intimately familiar with them and use them as much as six hours a day. They all have mobile phones and constantly send text messages. More than 95 percent of them have computers, and more than half use instant messaging to communicate, have Facebook pages, and watch videos on YouTube.

Generation C is a member of a New Generation that will be coming into its own over the next decade. Its members are typically realists and materialists. They are culturally liberal, though not necessarily politically progressive. They are upwardly mobile, yet they live with their parents longer than earlier generations ever did. Many of their social interactions take place on the Internet, where they feel free to express their opinions and attitudes. They’ve grown up under the influence of Harry Potter, Barack Obama, and iEverything — iPods, iTunes, iPhones. Technology is so intimately woven into their lives that the baby boom–era concept of “early adopters” is essentially meaningless.

According to a the Youth Strategy Company, DDB in Sydney, there is a definite need for companies to understand and engage Generation C, a group which they believe to be the most highly influential in the world due to their need to share their lives via social media platforms.

They Are Used to Being Connected 24/7

•This is the first generation that has never known any reality other than that defined and enabled by the Internet, mobile devices and social networking
• They're used to being connected 24/7... as long as connected doesn't mean schlepping a laptop. By 2020 there will be 6 billion mobile phone users and most of them will have Internet connection that way.
• Their concerns about privacy and sharing information are very different from ours. One trend that will have long-reaching impact on IT security and corporate transparency is the fact that this generation doesn't seem to have a problem sharing personal information with the world.

By 2014, 50% of the world's workforce will be "flexible". Booz calls them "Working Nomads", but it means they'll be part-time, contractors, remote workers or some combination of all of the above. Their relationship to their employers will be very different than ours was when we came out of college.

For those of us who are parents of digitally connected, computerized and “clicking” children born after 1990 (and who are fortunate enough to actually have jobs in the work force),  as our new clients and customers…. think about this…. Will you be judged in the office  as well as someone who is just not technologically savvy enough? Will you now be forced to keep up with all the technology that is changing around you? or will you say, “nah…. let’s hire a Gen C to take care of all that!”   One thing for sure...  we will ALL definitely need more Patience…it is a Virtue you know!

For more information:

Give us a call 214-520-8577 or email info@donnaco.com and let us know how we can help!