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Powerful Exhibit Marketing - book review Fifteen chapters in 282 pages on exhibit marketing! You probably thought that no one could put that much material together on an element of marketing that most marketing professionals give scant attention to. Well, it was time to make it happen. 26 kB (PDF)

An Overlooked Source of Booth Personnel A Trade Show article by Barry Siskind 26 kB (PDF)

Less is Better How do you get the attention of trade show visitors without overwhelming them with too much information? In this article Barry gives us four specific exhibit planning guidelines to follow in designing your booth. 18 kB (PDF)

How the Internet can Enhance your Trade Show Experience There was a moment in the 90's when the thought of "virtual trade shows" sent shivers up the spines of some show managers and exhibitors who thought the Internet would mark the death of the world's oldest marketing tool. Well a decade and a half later, we know that all that fuss was for naught. Not only have shows continued to thrive, they have done so living side by side with the Internet. 26 kB (PDF)

Are You a Hunter or a Fisher? What is the difference between a Hunter and a Fisher? What does that have to do with how you plan your trade show strategy? Understand how refining your customer profile can help you achieve your exhibiting objectives in Barry's article. 18 kB (PDF)

Communicating Change: Inform... Involve... Ignite! Many organizations are not achieving the results they need. Employees and managers at all levels continue to be disillusioned with change initiatives. Research shows that the primary factor determining change success or failure is communications. In this article, Robert Harris provides five innovative tools to significantly improve your corporate communication results. 33 kB (PDF)

Three Steps to Competitor Information How important is it to the success of your business to have information about your competition? History has shown that companies who fail to look outwards ultimately lose in their markets. Commit to staying ahead of your competition and turn your company into the business that everyone else will be worrying about. 26 kB (PDF)

Evaluating Your Exhibit Performance In a time when corporations and governments are faced with doing more with less marketing resources, knowing that your exhibit program is achieving a positive ROI or ROO is crucial. When you examine your results you want to be sure you have answered the Evaluation question, "How do we know if our exhibit program is doing what it is supposed to do?" 24 kB (PDF)

What is Referral Marketing? "He took my information and then proceeded to ask me for THREE names of people who I think would be interested in a marketing audit." In Part 1 of 5 related to creating a Referral markeitng System, Brenda Mahoney remembers attending a marketing bootcamp after which she was put on the spot to "refer" three people. This was Brenda's scary introduction to what "referral marketing" should never be. http://www.strategico.ca 37 kB (PDF)

No Comment You may think 'No comment' is an easy and quick strategy to deflect and protect your organization from damaging media questions and coverage. But that's when the real trouble often begins. http://www.strategico.ca 19 kB (PDF)

Your Changing Relationship with Show Management Barry Siskind describes the changing relationship between trade show management and exhibitors, and how they can work together to achieve outstanding success from their participation. 21 kB (PDF)

The Power of the Drip In this final article on Referral Marketing, Brenda explains the why immediate revenue may not always be the outcome of your referrals. In this article, Brenda suggests how "drip" marketing and thanking the referral source can have significant payback to your Referral Marketing System. http://www.strategico.ca 18 kB (PDF)

Trade Shows: Meet the Media Tap into valuable media coverage at your next trade show. 13 kB (PDF)

Are You Ready for U.S. Government Business? Would you like to do business with the U.S. Government? Maybe you are already, but they're driving you crazy! Find out more about how ready you are for this market in Judy Bradt's article. 28 kB (PDF)

Dictum Meum Pactum Dictum meum pactum: My word is my bond... but what happens when it's not? My word is my bond. It's a powerful statement that imbues honesty, accountability and integrity. Indeed, some would say it is the very cornerstone of lasting leadership. It's the motto of the London Stock Exchange, and has been the slogan of British traders for centuries. Dictum meum pactum quite literally means "The words that come out of my mouth are my bond." So what happens when as leaders, we don't do what we say we will do? 20 kB (PDF)

Find Profits in Quality Leads The number one obstacle to successfully implementing a follow-up plan is the quality of the leads. Often exhibitors come home with a handful of business cards or a box filled with ballots and diligently begin their follow-up. It doesn't take long to realize that the business cards contain very little useful information. Beyond name, title, and address, there is not much you know about the prospect. Each follow-up conversation now starts from the beginning. It's as if you and the prospect were complete strangers. Find out how to make the most of your leads in this article by Barry Siskind. 21 kB (PDF)

Tradeshows and Counterintelligence Do you and your coworkers know what not to say at a trade show? Booth staff are often so willing to answer potential clients' questions that we end up giving up valuable information to our competitors. How do you use the trade show environment to your advantage, without giving up your own edge? 44 kB (PDF)

Personal Sales Plan - Example Personal Sales Plan, Farming & Hunting - Example 17 kB (PDF)

Building a Value Proposition As a sales and marketing professional for over 30 years, I've come to a very disappointing conclusion. Most organizations and their sales professionals have not clarified what makes them valuable to their clients and unique from the competition. In other words, they cannot definitively state why clients have bought from them versus anyone else nor apply their success to win future business. 30 kB (PDF)

The Right Frame of Mind One pet peeve of visitors at trade shows is pushy booth staff. These are people who think everyone is interested in hearing about their newest product or service. They wait in their booth with the eye of the tiger for an unsuspecting booth visitor to accidentally make eye contact or ask an innocent question. Then they pounce. Learn four easy steps you can take to avoid this at your next trade show event. 22 kB (PDF)

Trade Show Survival Tips Trade shows are the second largest marketing expenditure, second only to salaries. In challenging times, how do you best manage your expenditures? Barry Siskind, trade show marketing guru and member of the Strategico Marketing Group, recently moderated a panel discussion on how to ride out uncertainty. http://www.strategico.ca 21 kB (PDF)

What is referral marketing? - Know Thyself What is referral marketing? In Part 3 of 5 related to creating a Referral Marketing System, Brenda Mahoney confirms the need to educate your referral sources about the criteria for a good referrals. http://www.strategico.ca 23 kB (PDF)

101 Questions Before you consider expanding you market coverage internationally, what are the questions you should ask yourself? This e-book, produced by The York Group, provides the most important questions and answers that guide your successful market expansion. http://www.strategico.ca 617 kB (PDF)

What is referral marketing? - Make Them an Offer Brenda Mahoney, January newsletter, shared her expertise by explaining "What is referral marketing?". Response from readers was so positive that Brenda has committed to four articles that describe details on each of the steps required to establish a referral marketing system. In Part 4 of 5 related to creating a Referral Marketing System, Brenda Mahoney explains the difference between an offer and a reward. Fortunately, Brenda shares multiple ideas on what to ask for from your existing clients and how to communicate it to your referral sources. http://www.strategico.ca 21 kB (PDF)

What is a value proposition? A value proposition, well researched, clearly documented and internalized by staff can make the difference between success and failure in the market place. Sadly it is often incorrect, missing, misunderstood or treated as just another marketing tag line. Read this white paper to learn more about the value of value propositions. 36 kB (PDF)

Why consider an external sales agent? When a company determines that an important element of its marketing plan is contacting its customers face-to-face, it typically has three options: a) Assign sales functions to company executives and managers to sell part-time, b) Hire direct sales employees, c) Appoint a professional, multiple-line field sales firm as a strategic partner Often we jump to option (b) without consideration of the other two! 91 kB (PDF)

Reseller Case Study - Net Report Software resellers typically rely upon one or two products to drive 90% of their total revenues. What's more, if they're unable to close the first deal within 90 days, it's unlikely that significant sales will ever follow. That considered, how do you ensure that your sales channel yields impressive margins? http://www.theyorkgroup.com 87 kB (PDF)

Games in a Trade Show Booth Visitors at a trade show quickly learn that there is simply too much information and too little time to absorb it all. Often what peaks their interest is an exhibitor who moves away from pure information and gives this tired visitor a break by offering them some entertainment. http://www.strategico.ca 25 kB (PDF)

How to Measure Exhibit Staff Training It's an age old problem. Managers intuitively know that providing staff with specialized training makes them more proficient, helps increase confidence and improves the bottom line. So, you might ask, what is the problem? The answer is simply they can't prove it. And, proof is what's needed in order to justify the time and cost of providing training. http://www.strategico.ca 21 kB (PDF)

Social Networking and Face-to-Face Marketing Twitter, Facebook, Web 2.0, SecondLife, LinkedIn, Flickr, LibraryThing, Ning, Jaiku, EventPeeps, are here to stay. There is nothing we can do about it nor should we for fear of being labeled Luddites. Social networking is quickly finding its place in the face-to-face marketing world. When you combine the power of your interpersonal skills to build your network and then integrate technology to record the experience and maintain contact you have a winning combination. Barry Siskind, event marketing specialist in Strategico weighs in on how to make the new world work with the old. http://www.strategico.ca 25 kB (PDF)

Watch the Masters and Improve If you want to improve your golf game, watch and learn from Tiger Wood as he drives, pitches and putts. While the chances of you or I ever being as good as the master is next to zero, the chances of improving our game, even a little bit, is pretty good. Barry Siskind, trade show marketing guru, in Watch the Masters and Improve, shares his insight on how you can apply the same principal to trade show marketing. 24 kB (PDF)

Creating a Toxic Shield As we enter another decade, the pressure on organizations to survive, sustain growth and boost profits within new economic realities has resulted in increased stress on leaders and employees. Mergers, globalization and declining returns have launched waves of job cuts creating leaner companies. Surviving employees are left with far greater workloads. And the need for leadership is just as great! 21 kB (PDF)

Why resellers don't sell There are many dynamics at play in building a successful channel – the needs of the channel partner, the needs of the end user, and last, and perhaps least, the needs of the vendor. All of these have to be balanced properly in order for a channel program to succeed. The purpose of this white paper is to explain some of the fundamental reasons why channels don’t work. Armed with that understanding you will be in a much better position to build a channel program that does work. http://www.theyorkgroup.com 65 kB (PDF)

Sales Meetings - Agendas Consider your agenda carefully. There are few things worse than taking your sales force away from their duties, without making sure every single sales rep comes away from your meeting more motivated, with improved selling skills, a clearer understanding of organizational goals and better selling tools. http://www.strategico.ca 32 kB (PDF)

Five Lessons in Leadership In his recent article "Five(5) Lessons in Leadership" written after the Recent US Election, Rob Harris provides us all great questions we can ask ourselves to test and improve our own leadership attributes. http://www.strategico.ca 40 kB (PDF)

Trade Show Experience Why do we consistently see exhibitors fill their booths with product information and encourage booth representatives to pitch product information to visitors who are unreceptive? http://wwww.strategico.ca 25 kB (PDF)

The Good News about Bad Times While the current recession will affect us all, some will feel it more than others. There are challenges and opportunities for those forced to relook at their exhibiting practices because of shrinking budgets. For those who are still doing well and spending without regard to a return, this economy is a reminder that your good times may not always be there. http://www.siskindtraining.com/company_training.php#C16 25 kB (PDF)

Marketing Optics Can Cloak Reality Trade show expenditures are sometimes cut because they appear to not have produced the desired outcomes. A bad optic! Yet, simple statistics can prove the clear value of maintaining an exhibit program and leveraging the benefits of face-to-face marketing in challenging times. http://www.strategico.ca 21 kB (PDF)

What is referral marketing? - Anybody is Not Your Somebody What is referral marketing? In Part 2 of 5 related to creating a Referral Marketing System, Brenda Mahoney describes how to execute the first step in establishing a powerful referral marketing system for your business. http://www.strategico.ca 20 kB (PDF)

Retention is Today's Sales Strategy A sad, but all-too-common, scenario: businesses knock themselves out trying to gain new customers, while practically ignoring their current customers. How short-sighted is this? We all know it costs six to ten times more to bring in new customers than it does to serve existing ones. Yet businesses continually incent their sales teams to bring in the shiny, new customers, while serving the tried and true customers often gets taken for granted http://www.strategico.ca 28 kB (PDF)

Debunking LinkedIn: Part 1 Social networking continues to rage on as a hot topic. Everyone it seems is trying to understand what it means to them and their organization. To help quell this rage in a practical way, this is the first in a series of articles to help readers like you better understand how to use LinkedIn effectively. http://www.strategico.ca 43 kB (PDF)

A New Brand of Selling In the February 2010 edition of Business in Calgary, a feature article by Derek Sankey captured the changes occurring in sales training. Brian Pleet, was interviewed for his insight, as was Jeff Hayter, President of BerryWorx, one of Stratetgico's long-term clients. http://www.strategico.ca 541 kB (PDF)

Benefits of Strategic Planning Entrepreneurs and business managers are often so preoccupied with immediate issues that they lose sight of their ultimate objectives. That's why a strategic plan is a virtual necessity. Simply put, strategic planning determines where your organization is going, what you should do to get there, and how to know if you got there or not. Read this concise article for an overview of how you can benefit from strategic planning. 90 kB (PDF)

Value Propositions That Hook At Small Business Week, Lisa Dennis, Senior Partner at Strategico and President of Knowledgence Associates, explained how any company can draw more customers by connecting with their values. 1 MB (PDF)

Sales Meetings - Friend or Foe Sales meetings appear to be either loved or hated, often the latter for avoidable reasons. When you consider how a sales meeting can help you improve your sales effectiveness, perhaps you should consider planning one sooner than later. 85 kB (PDF)

Selling to VITO Book Review 19 kB (PDF)

Andrew's Notes - The Art of Sales On September 26, 2008, five published authors with expertise related to sales effectiveness delivered "The Art of Sales" event in Calgary, Alberta to an assembled group of over 1,200 sales professionals. Andrew Crysdale was one of those attendees who captured in an action-oriented and concise way the things he learn't that day. http://www.strategico.ca 26 kB (PDF)

Product/Market Grid 22 kB (PDF)

Improve Your Organization by Knowing Your People One of the primary goals for business is staying a step ahead of unpredictability. To maximize certainty and reduce expenses, the key strategic advantage for most companies is maintaining the performance of their employees. Employees who are well matched to their position have higher attendance records, less turnover, higher job satisfaction, and superior job performance. Both the employee and the employer share the benefits of enhanced job matching and the company is better prepared for changes in the business world. http://www.strategico.ca 22 kB (PDF)

Selling in a Recession Recently, Lisa Dennis moderated a panel discussion for the Boston Chapter of Sales & Marketing Executives International. We had three panelists: a sales executive from One Communications, a Partner from Customer Centric Selling, and a Vice President from Forbes Consulting talking about the impact of the recession on the selling process. As a marketer and seller myself, the topic is a hot one both personally and with all of my clients. http://www.strategico.ca 20 kB (PDF)

Are you answering the so what? In our age of short attention spans, answering "so what" is a critical test of influential communications. Take the time to think about your audience first and craft the message for them instead of creating your message first and hoping it fits. http://www.strategico.ca 27 kB (PDF)

Positioning: Saving you time and money A positioning statement is a short but incredibly powerful statement that documents, validates and aligns three most critical elements of marketing; segmentation, targeting and positioning. Learn how you can use this tool to save your organization money, effort and time. 51 kB (PDF)

Trade Show Intelligence Often considered the bane of the sales rep, trade shows are for most a necessary evil. Yet behind the hours of standing, too many hors d'oeuvres and attendees who never buy, lurks the potential to make a trade show into a strategy changing opportunity. 46 kB (PDF)

All Marketers are Liars Book Review 34 kB (PDF)

Opportunity Measurement Worksheet 18 kB (PDF)

Untapped Potential of Your Trade Show Network Over the last few years we have seen a significant drop in the number of people who attend shows while the quality of those who do come has risen. This is important news for an exhibitor or a visitor who wants to meet and greet those often inaccessible industry people. 43 kB (PDF)

There's a New Tool in the Promotions Tool Box Regardless of the current economic climate, prudent business owners understand the importance of making purchasing decisions based on facts. When it comes to investing in advertising and marketing campaigns, however, some make decisions based on blind faith. http://www.strategico.ca 16 kB (PDF)

The Best Way to Contact Leads After exhibiting at a trade show you come back to the office with lots of leads. You know you should tend to them quickly but are not sure of the best method. http://www.strategico.ca 19 kB (PDF)

Selling in an Economic Downturn Recessions are opportunities! Not that I’m insensitive to job losses, economic hardships, social malaise, bankruptcies or financial losses - however when you understand how the old maxim “a silver lining in every cloud” plays out in the cloud of a recession, life is still good. This article identifies five truths about selling with value, and how in challenging times, sales just gets going! http://www.strategico.ca 27 kB (PDF)

Marketing Strategy Marketing within a services organization can be a critical element to determining the firm's success or failure. Firstly, the organization's business strategy must be clear for every employee, but even more so for the leadership team. Business strategy, and the decision making that it forces, should then drive strategy in all facets of the organization, including marketing. Read this paper to learn more about creating and implementing a marketing strategy. 59 kB (PDF)

Graphic Formats for MarCom Dummies You're only as good as the image you present. We know that image plays a role in how we market our products and services, and as marketing managers, we take great pride in shaping the perception of our brand. But there is one aspect of that image shaping that continues to stump the majority of marketing managers I deal with on a regular basis - graphic formats. Get ready for your aha moment. http://www.strategico.ca 59 kB (PDF)

Effective Phone Intelligence Google recently reported an estimate of one trillion (1,000,000,000,000) web pages with unique URLs. Clearly, we have fingertip access to more information than is possible to fathom! Even with billions of web pages, smart researchers know that great market insights do not come from the computer alone. Alli Marshall, President of Strix Insights shares her insight on effective telephone intelligence gathering techniques. http://www.strategico.ca ()

Positioning Statement Worksheet 18 kB (PDF)

Value Proposition Worksheet 19 kB (PDF)

eLearning's Time to Shine In a recent case study, Bruce Nagy, Creative Director of CVC Communications Agency, describes how they applied some of the most sophisticated new multi-media technology to help companies with an age old problem, how to learn. Bruce shares the approach taken by a lease-to-own electronics and furniture retailer facing the need to improve their customer experience. http://www.strategico.ca 23 kB (PDF)

What are your customers thinking? When new sales generation is harder, knowing what your existing customers are thinking about your organization and your offerings is more important than ever! Some essential questions about current customer satisfaction may be just the right thing to do in a sluggish economy. http://www.strategico.ca 25 kB (PDF)

Questions That Bother Exhibitors I’m lucky in many ways. Each year I get to meet thousands of people live or on the internet. What they all have in common is their desire to get more from their exhibit investment. When I’m asked questions I keep them in a file and every once an awhile I get a chance to clean the file out and start over again. So, here are four recurring questions I’ve been asked many times during the past year. I hope some of these answers are helpful. http://www.strategico.ca 20 kB (PDF)

Crazy or Brave? - Steadyhand So how does a new mutual fund company attract the attention of Canadian investors without using traditional marketing methods? Tom Bradley is using his rock solid reputation to start a new mutual fund company - in the middle of a bear market. http://www.strategico.ca 79 kB (PDF)

Marketing vs. Sales: The Great Divide Notes There exists no absolute definition of the difference between marketing sales, but there is clarity about what happens when they don't work together...Chaos! Getting the two functions to work together requires tools shared between marketing and sales. Two of these tools are Value Propositions and Product/Market Grids These notes explain how to complete these two tools. http://www.strategico.ca 78 kB (PDF)

101 Questions every company should ask before going international International markets represent an exciting growth opportunity for technology companies. Many organizations already have an international presence, and have experienced some of the joys as well as the challenges of taking your business overseas. The reader will recognize many of the situations described in the book, which also presents ideas and recommendations to help them overcome challenges. For other companies, their only exposure to overseas sales opportunities might be the international hits your website is generating, or direct inquiries that you are receiving from outside the country. You know that the demand is there; now the question becomes, "How do you go about growing and satisfying that demand without huge investments?". This book will provide you some of the answers. http://www.theyorkgroup.com 617 kB (PDF)

Effective as a Whisper Have you noticed when the conversation changes to a whisper, a child oblivious to specific requests suddenly hears every word? Kids magically tune in to our body language as we turn down the volume. 23 kB (PDF)

Deal-Blindness As year-end looms and next year's quota is just a dream (but sure to be even bigger), sales reps are caught in the vice of big territories, big numbers, and little time. As a result, most reps are forced to be entirely opportunistic, preventing them from ever deeply penetrating their territory or major accounts. The focus on quick wins leaves millions of dollars on the table. Yet, many organizations get caught in "deal-blindness" - an affliction that hits every three months no matter how many vitamins you take! 26 kB (PDF)

Smart Sales Recruitment Business leaders understand the need to plan in every area of an organization, and should do the same in order to recruit the best sales representatives. Many employers make common, predictable and expensive mistakes when recruiting sales professionals. 93 kB (PDF)

What motivates sales people? When you’re asked, “What are the top motivators for sales people?", what do you reply? If you automatically thought, money, nice try, but fortunately not true! Several studies of sales rep motivation, over many years, have consistently shown that money is not the top motivator...not even the second top motivator. Compensation ranks only the third highest motivator! 89 kB (PDF)

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