5 Problems You Can Solve

4. Dwindling trade show effectiveness. Many organizations exhibit at business-to-business or business-to-consumer trade shows. These face-to-face sales opportunities can be extremely effective as they bring buyers and sellers together in an environment where the buyer can experience the product and the people behind it. They are also very expensive. The cost per impression of this medium may be the highest of the available options. The cost of customer contact, however, is extremely low when compared to individual sales calls. The trade show exhibitor has the expenses of the booth space, the booth cost, shipping, personnel, travel, hotels and entertainment. How can they maximize their return on investment? They can get the most bang for their buck if they can make sure they see the right people and spend quality time with them, can tell them their story, and make sure they remember them after the show. You can help them by structuring the right invitations to the right people to get them to attend the show and actually talk to the exhibitor. You can help them achieve this by recommending ideas that will make their theme memorable, that will turn their exhibit time into an experience and by providing lasting reminders of that experience. (Commit to learn about trade show marketing.)

5. Turning strangers into friends and friends into customers and customers into raving fans. The new definition of marketing describes the number one problem for any organization: How do you make your offering likable and approachable? How do you earn the trust and business of your new friends? How do you deliver an experience and results that make them want to tell their friends? If you frame your presentations around these three objectives, you will become not just a swag salesperson, but a professional marketer. We make friends by caring about others, by being authentic, by showing interest in the needs and aspirations of others. It is exactly the same for any business or organization. By recommending products that are relevant to the needs of the target end-users, you help your clients be likable, approachable and friend-worthy. Recommend purchase incentives that help make your customers' prospects comfortable and eager to do business with them. These would be items that are desirable and that take away some of the risk of that initial transaction. Ask your customers what they are doing to make every customer interaction a memorable experience and make suggestions for what they can do to make their customers want to recommend them to their friends. (Commit to learn about marketing and advertising.)