Author name: Mollie Ring

Exhibitor Tips, Uncategorized

Keeping an Eye on Your Target Market

Knowing your target market is part and parcel to starting a successful business. In the absence of a remote sense of whom your product is aiming to serve, it is practically impossible to develop any sort of viable marketing and sales strategy. With 75+ years of experience in trade shows and in-person events, we’re well aware of the challenges many companies face in remaining focused on the target market that inspired them to start their business in the first place. Specifically when it comes event opportunities, sharing the space with thousands of potential customers causes many companies to develop a syndrome we refer to as FOMO (fear of missing out) and lose sight of their target customers by casting the widest marketing net possible. Drilling down, the specific challenges we witness companies face in keeping an eye on their target market stem from: Poor alignment between modes of marketing and performance outcomes; and Communication that is not localized. Here are our recommendations for how to overcome these challenges and keep an eye on your target market during in-person event and trade show opportunities. Creating Alignment A buyer persona is a semi-fictional representation of your ideal customer. Creating buyer personas for the target of your product or service should be a part of any go-to-market strategy. For more information on the steps to identifying an ideal customer who will be the focus of your buyer persona, check out this post. While it’s certainly possible that you may identify two or three buyer personas, we recommend resisting the temptation to have too many—particularly at an early stage. Your goal is to place this buyer persona at the center of your trade show and in-person marketing strategy such that when these individuals are in the room, they are immediately drawn to your offer. Alternatively, those who do not qualify as ideal customers walk right by. It’s a win-win in that no one’s time is wasted. The key strategy for maximizing ROI at trade shows and in-person events is to identify the buyer persona you’re are aiming to target and make sure it is well-aligned with every aspect of your event selection, association memberships, marketing, and communications tools, lead-nurturing offers and follow-up strategies. Sound difficult? We can help. Localizing Communication Sometimes when we don’t have the correct language to express ourselves, we resort to bad habits—like raising our voices or repeating ourselves. Unfortunately, these tactics do much less to help us achieve our goals, particularly when it comes to sales and marketing. Especially for international firms scaling to the U.S., it is critical not to misinterpret poor traction with the need to speak louder and more frequently. We recommend localizing your communications strategy using audience-centered techniques that relate to people in ways that resonate with them. This goes beyond using the right language—it requires selecting words and phrases that reflect local nuances, and understanding regional customs and culture. For more information, check out our webinar: Localizing Communication: Connect with and Enroll Trade Show Participants.  The most effective way to determine which language will be the most impactful with your target audience is to test your strategy. At every event we participate in, we like to test at least two Call to Actions that can the A/B tested and collect data on the results. Collecting and using the data from these tests to refine your communications strategy will ultimately improve your ROI by helping to inform your buyer persona and enhance your ability to attract high-quality prospects. Alignment and localized communication are two strategies that any company can use to remain focused on their target market. Especially for firms scaling to the U.S., keeping a close eye on your target market and seizing every opportunity to learn about their preferences, will deliver sustained results. About MEET (meetroi.com) helps international B2B growth companies soft land and scale in the U.S. through trade shows and in-person events. MEET’s processes help its clients ramp-up sales quickly and maintain a steady stream of high-quality prospects going forward.  Contact Bill Kenney for a no obligation conversation: bill@meetroi.com or +1 (860) 573-4821.

Uncategorized

Entering the U.S. Market? Resist Big Bets

Americans have a reputation for going big—big cars, big houses, big portions…the list goes on. But for firms entering the U.S. market, this inclination to “go big” can actually be counterproductive and destructive. In our recent webinar: SCALE NOW: Entering the U.S. Market through Trade Shows and In-Person Events, we reviewed a number of strategies to help international firms achieve success. Among these is resisting the temptation to go “all in” on major industry events when seeking new prospects. Too often we watch scaling firms deplete their entire budget on massive industry events with the hope of scoring big results. There are a variety of problems with this approach, the first of which is that firms entering the U.S. market are tiny fish in an extremely large pond stocked with competitors. This makes gaining any sort of traction extremely difficult. Additionally, these events only happen once a year, which makes it difficult to drive consistent growth, and exceptionally difficult to learn from and adapt marketing strategies around with only one datapoint a year. Instead of betting big right from the start, here’s what we recommend. Narrow your focus In our recent post How to Solve the 6 Most Common Challenges to Trade Show Success, we talked about the value of thinking like a fisherman in terms of narrowly defining your target and aligning every aspect of your strategy with the needs and preferences of these individuals. It is more normal than not that we see companies exhibiting at trade shows with poorly defined, or missing, buyer personas out of fear that a narrowly defined scope will cause them to miss out on valuable opportunities. This could not be further from the truth. At MEET, we recommend approaching each trade show opportunity with a narrowly defined buyer persona. This buyer persona should detail who the buyer is, their goals, challenges and anything else that might help you understand how to relate to them, as well as which high leverage channels you will use to attract them. Leverage your geography Armed with a narrowly defined buyer persona, your next step is to leverage your geography such that you are taking full advantage of local, regional, and statewide resources, as well as neighboring cities. Within the first 6-12 months of scaling your venture, think of where you’ve landed as your center. One of the benefits of entering the U.S. market is that many high-value organizations run major national and international trade shows and their state and regional-level chapters host a full event schedule as well. Instead of looking at these major annual events, look for smaller opportunities like chapter events that are easy to access from your center and allow you to sleep in your own bed at night. These opportunities require fewer resources, are more sustainable for you and your team to participate in, and deliver far more opportunities to test your hypotheses about the market and refine your strategy to maximize ROI. Test and iterate quickly The key to successfully scaling into an unknown market is to test and iterate quickly. With the goal of gaining early traction, these tests will help to inform your buyer persona and reinforce the efforts of your team to systematically achieve small victories. Want to learn more about the importance of early traction in international scaling ventures? Check out this post. At MEET, we recommend classic A/B testing to test various hypotheses about your buyer persona, your value proposition, and which offer converts these individuals to the next stage in your marketing funnel. Carefully documenting the results from these tests will provide valuable data to directly inform your trade show strategy and build a system for attracting high value customers that is certifiably successful. Curious about how to A/B test your trade show marketing strategy? Contact us today. Americans are prone to the “go big or go home” mentality. But for international firms scaling to the U.S., it’s important to remember that gaining early, sustained traction in a large market requires small wins and smart growth. About MEET (meetroi.com) helps international B2B growth companies soft land and scale in the U.S. through trade shows and in-person events. MEET’s processes help its clients ramp-up sales quickly and maintain a steady stream of high-quality prospects going forward.  Contact Bill Kenney for a no obligation conversation: bill@meetroi.com or +1 (860) 573-4821.

Uncategorized

Solving the Six Most Common Challenges to Trade Show Success

  We know—you’re thinking there can’t be one solution to solving the six most common challenges to trade show success. In fact, there are many different strategies one can use to improve ROI at trade shows and in-person events. But they all boil down to one mindset. Mastering this mindset will not only help you solve your greatest challenges, it will fundamentally change the way you approach marketing. That mindset—thinking like a fisherman. Don’t worry, we’ll explain. But first, let’s review these challenges. The six most common challenges to trade show success With 75+ years of experience in trade shows and in-person events, we’re well aware of the barriers to maximizing trade show ROI. In fact, we see these same challenges across a wide variety of marketing efforts. Here they are, in order of when they typically take place: 1. Lack of a clear target focus
 Many companies select and attend trade shows without a clear picture of precisely whom they’re aiming to target with their marketing efforts. They have not developed clear and accurate buyer personas. 2. Misguided or missing strategy 
 While everyone hopes for big wins at trade shows, this isn’t Monte Carlo. Too many companies push all their resources into one big event and hope for success instead of investing time and resources into a solid annual strategy. 3. Poor alignment Large investments in marketing resources are wasted when companies fail to align these modes with each other and with specific outcomes in the target market. 4. Communication and methodologies that are not localized
 Small differences in language, culture and time zone can make a big difference when trying to connect with prospects in a foreign market. 5. Placing salespeople in the booth 
 Though seemingly counterintuitive, we’ve got strong evidence to prove that salespeople have a higher purpose at trade shows and in-person events and can deliver much better results when placed outside the booth. Also, the booth will be much more productive, when salespeople are removed. 6. Poor follow-up
 Too much potential energy is squandered by no or a poorly executed follow-up strategy. Unfortunately, a companies lack of professional post-event communication leaves many high-quality opportunities on the sidelines. For more details on each of these challenges and tips for achieving trade show success, check out our Special Report: How to Maximize ROI with a Trade Show Strategy Plan. What can we learn from fishermen? When a fisherman decides to go fishing, there are three basic decisions he/she makes: Which fish is he/she going to catch Where is he/she going to find them What bait is he/she going to use to attract them With 34,000 species of fish in all the lakes, rivers and oceans in the world, it is no small feat to make these decisions. In fact, many fishermen will determine not only the species but the sub-species they’re aiming to catch. The takeaway: fishermen are highly specific when setting goals. The mindset that anyone aiming to scale through trade shows and in-person events can learn from fishermen is how to target their efforts towards one very specific goal—reeling in clearly defined, high-quality prospects. The trick to employing this mindset is learning how to eliminate the 33,999 fish (or trade show attendees) you don’t want to catch and aligning every aspect of your strategy with the target species (or buyer persona). Effective alignment requires testing In fishing terms, deciding on the species you want to catch leads to a set of hypotheses about which body of water you suspect this fish inhabits, at which depth, and using which bait. Effectively aligning your strategy for reeling in prospects starts with a similar set of hypotheses, each of which must be tested. That means testing different booth offers, different messaging and different shows. You’ll know you’ve achieved ultimate alignment when only high-quality prospects self-identify to engage with your team. This level of alignment, achieved through rapid A/B testing, will help you create more measurable, and ultimately, more successful and repeatable results. And for companies endeavoring to scale to the U.S. market, creating replicable systems can go a long way. Curious about how to implement A/B testing in your trade show strategy? Email us today. Looking for better results from trade shows and in-person events? Thinking like a fisherman can get you there. For more tips and resources on MEET’s approach to effectively entering the U.S. market, check out our latest webinar: SCALE NOW: Entering the U.S. Market through Trade Shows and In-Person Events. About MEET (meetroi.com) helps international B2B growth companies soft land and scale in the U.S. through trade shows and in-person events. MEET’s processes help its clients ramp-up sales quickly and maintain a steady stream of high-quality prospects going forward.  Contact Bill Kenney for a no obligation conversation: bill@meetroi.com or +1 (860) 573-4821

Exhibitor Tips, Return on Investment, Uncategorized

Are Trade Shows Still Relevant for Scaling Businesses?

In these times of rapidly evolving technology, we often get the question “Are trade shows, trade fairs, and in-person events still relevant in today’s marketplace?” With the growth of online marketing and global remote services companies, it’s a fair question. Here’s our answer. Particularly in the B2B and B2G (business to government) space, the vast majority of marketing dollars are spent with the hope of someday getting face-to-face with a target prospect. At MEET, we define target prospects as those with a NEED, the RESOURCES to fulfill that need, and URGENCY for a solution. Think NEED, MONEY, NOW! One of the unique things that *carefully selected* events, trade shows and trade fairs offer is a large number of target prospects within arm’s reach. With the right strategy, these attendees can be filtered so they’ll be easy to find—they’ll even self-identify. *For more on how we recommend selecting trade shows and forming an annual trade show strategy plan, check out our Special Report: How to Maximize ROI with a Trade Show Strategy Plan. The goal of any marketing strategy is to build trust The number of meetings with prospects created is the first metric of success in B2B marketing. In order for a prospect to get the point where they feel comfortable agreeing to a meeting, they must go through several stages to build trust. The first of these stages is the awareness stage—your prospect needs to know you exist. Once they have become aware, the second stage is to build a level of intimacy. Building intimacy can be achieved by simply helping your prospect understand the link between the problem they are aiming to solve and your skill and capacity to solve that problem. In other words, helping prospects make a connection between your company’s services and their needs. At MEET, we recommend devising an offer that speaks directly to the needs of your buyer persona. Similar to selecting the precise bait for the species of fish you are aiming to catch, this offer should match perfectly with the needs and desires of your target prospect. Looking for ideas of how to devise the right offer to reel in more high quality prospects? Contact us today. Ultimately, the goal of all these marketing activities is to facilitate enough intimacy for prospects to trust that a meeting is worth their time. How trade shows accomplish this Trade shows and in-person events are a high-effective way of moving prospects through the marketing funnel stages: Awareness Intimacy Trust In terms of building awareness, trade shows provide the best mode for publicly displaying your company to a variety of mass targets. The beauty of building this awareness in person as opposed to electronically is that it allows companies to easily transition from the awareness phase to the intimacy-building phase. This transition occurs through targeted offers and face-to-face interactions with transaction professionals in the booth and the rest of the team at the various other social and professional development sub-events. Seeing your company in-person, knowing that you are real and invested in solving their urgent problem will generally progress the prospect relationship further down the marketing funnel more quickly. Utilizing targeted offers to attract these prospects will help to guarantee that those who are entering your marketing funnel are in fact high-quality prospects. Despite our rapidly evolving technological world, the power of relationships in securing new business transactions reigns supreme. And in the B2B and B2G world, trade shows and in-person events offer the most effective way to build trust and establish these relationships. Are trade shows, trade fairs, and in-person events still relevant in today’s marketplace? The answer is yes, now more than ever. For more tips and resources on MEET’s approach to effectively entering the U.S. market, check out our latest webinar: SCALE NOW: Entering the U.S. Market through Trade Shows and In-Person Events. About MEET (meetroi.com) helps international B2B growth companies soft land and scale in the U.S. through trade shows and in-person events. MEET’s processes help its clients ramp-up sales quickly and maintain a steady stream of high-quality prospects going forward.  Contact Bill Kenney for a no obligation conversation: bill@meetroi.com or +1 (860) 573-4821

Uncategorized

Scaling to the U.S. Market: the Importance of Early Traction

If scaling to the U.S. market is something you’ve considered, you’re probably aware of the potential risks and rewards. At MEET, our goal is to help companies entering the U.S. market employ techniques to optimize this process by minimizing the risks and leveraging all the unique rewards that this large and competitive market has to offer. Our strategy boils down to quickly and efficiently building traction to maximize the probability of success. Our particular focus for achieving this traction is trade shows and in-person events. In this post, we’d like to take a moment to explain why we see early traction as the most important criteria to successfully scaling to the U.S. market. But first, here’s how we characterize the risks and rewards of U.S. market entry. The potential risks and rewards of U.S. market entry The general risks to U.S. market entry include everything from: Diluting your management team’s focus; Diverting resources from your current and successful markets; and Degrading your reputation, whether in your own market, with current or future investors, partners, or your team. On the flip side, the rewards—what inspired you to take these risks in the first place—are pretty straightforward. The scale of the U.S. market consumer, B2B, and B2G (business to government) segments are exceptional. And because we are a consumer culture, there’s no mistaking that the revenue and profit potentials are strong. The competitive nature of the U.S. market can be thought of as another potential risk or challenge, but also a potential reward. Companies that make it in the U.S. market gain added credibility for surviving the competition. The experience may also help them to build systems for future global expansion. Time is the greatest risk of all At MEET, we find ourselves in a wide variety of venues for our clients. And yet despite this diversity, we rarely if ever hear people talking about one of the greatest risks to scaling to the U.S. market: TIME. What happens if after 12 or 18 months of scaling to the U.S. market you haven’t established good traction? In other words, you haven’t seen at least some wins, victories, and successes. In our experience, this is when the assets of your organization begin to erode and the downward spiral begins. What are these assets? Assets include team members, investors, customers, and any type of channel partner. In the absence of signs that you are gaining traction, e.g. business closed, commissions paid, and customer results delivered it will be very hard to keep these assets and resources committed to your mission. A competitive staffing environment requires early engagement The U.S. is a uniquely competitive staffing marketplace which makes holding on to your investment in high-quality staff especially important. In the event that you are not able to show traction, your best staff will inevitably begin to look elsewhere for what they consider to be better opportunities. While we encourage all our clients to scale at their own pace, we like to emphasize the risks that slower market entry poses to keeping your team engaged, in addition to the various other assets and resources you rely on. The best way to hold on to your most valued resources while scaling to the U.S. market is by demonstrating early success and traction. Just as sports team with strong winning records attract the best players, the more victories small and large you are able to harness in the U.S. market, the better you’ll be able to retain and actually improve your most valuable assets and resources. For more tips and resources on how to effectively enter the U.S. market, check out our latest webinar: SCALE NOW: Entering the U.S. Market through Trade Shows and In-Person Events. About MEET (meetroi.com) helps international B2B growth companies soft land and scale in the U.S. through trade shows and in-person events. MEET’s processes help its clients ramp-up sales quickly and maintain a steady stream of high-quality prospects going forward.  Contact Bill Kenney for a no obligation conversation: bill@meetroi.com or +1 (860) 573-4821.

Exhibitor Tips

Nailing the Follow-up

Devising a follow-up plan before you leave for an event is the best way to maximize ROI, plain and simple. At MEET, we specialize in devising strategies to get the most out of every event for our clients. Here’s a peek at how we do it. Prioritizing contacts At high-value events like SelectUSA, almost every interaction will be worth remembering. We find card marking a helpful way of immediately prioritizing each interaction for follow-up. There is neither time nor space to write extensive notes about a conversation on a business card. The three most relevant pieces of information are: who on the team should follow up, what is their relevance to your company, and where do they fall in terms of priority. We use the following code: Initials for team member responsible for follow-up
 Relevance
 P = prospect R = resource T = potential team member Speed of Follow-up
 1 = hot, same day 2 = moderate, 2-3 days 3 = not critical For those deemed not critical to follow-up with, you may decide to enroll them in your relationship or lead nurturing system. This will enable them to receive your communication and be in contact should an urgent need arise. Whether you have a card scanner back at the office or use a Google Docs system, it’s important to have a plan in place that allows you and your team to execute on these valuable and perishable opportunities in a timely way. Set follow-up dates in person There’s no time like the present to schedule a follow-up meeting with a high priority contact. With smart devices allowing us to carry our calendars at all times, don’t be shy to set a time to speak again before leaving the interaction. Asking someone in person to continue the conversation at a later time during the event or in the days following is an efficient way to guarantee effective follow-up with high priority contacts. For everyone else, don’t wait Whenever we go to trade shows we hear people say they’re going to wait a few days to follow-up, give the person a chance to catch up, recover from traveling, etc. With 75+ years of event participation and management experience, we have never heard anyone complain about somebody following up too quickly. Most marketing dollars are spent with the hopes of someday getting face-to-face with target prospects. Prospects are defined as those with a NEED, the RESOURCES to fulfill that need, and URGENCY for a solution. Think NEED, MONEY, NOW! If someone is urgent for a solution, then the longer you wait to follow up with them the more likely it is that they’re going to find someone else to solve their problem. Like a piece of fruit, true prospects have a short shelf-life—one or two days before rotting. Make sure that your follow-up speed corresponds to the importance of the lead. The longer you wait, the worse that fruit is going to taste. Nurture the relationship Once you have followed up with someone, they should be entered into some kind of lead nurturing system that serves as a mechanism for communicating to your community. In some cases, you may have different types of communication that you use depending on whether someone is a prospect, investor, mentor, partner, etc. The relevance of this person to your company should dictate the type of communication they receive. Nurturing your relationships through an ongoing communication loop helps to build awareness and stay connected should future opportunities arise. Looking for ideas on content to share with your contacts? We can help. We hope you’ve enjoyed our webinar series on how to leverage your time and resources at SelectUSA. For those who are not planning to attend this year, we believe these are great tips for any high-value opportunity. For those who are attending, we can’t wait to see you there!   About MEET (meetroi.com) helps international B2B growth companies soft land and scale in the U.S. through trade shows and in-person events. MEET’s processes help its clients ramp-up sales quickly and maintain a steady stream of high-quality prospects going forward.  Contact Bill Kenney for a no obligation conversation bill@meetroi.com or +1 (860) 573-4821.

Uncategorized

Help Your Event Team Help You

Event teams may be the most under-utilized resource at important trade show events. For opportunities like the upcoming SelectUSA Summit, where and how your team members present themselves will be a major predictor of ROI. Train to divide and conquer It happens quite often that we see events teams huddled together—whether it’s behind the booth, around a workshop table, or during a networking event. At a high-value opportunity like SelectUSA, your goal is to leverage every minute. Step one is to spread out your event team. The tendency to huddle is typically a sign of feeling shy and lacking confidence. You want to build your team’s confidence to deliver your value proposition and your (or their) self-introduction. They should also be able to deliver your opportunity one-sheet and articulate your call-to-action. Achieving these results requires training. As a manager, you can’t be everywhere at once. You also can’t achieve great results if everyone isn’t pulling their weight. As a leader, you need to make sure that your event team is prepared to expand their comfort zone, fly the coop and create value and connections on their own. Delivering clear assignments The trick to implementing an effective divide and conquer strategy is to give each of your team members a clear assignment—who they’re aiming to connect with, how and why. Whether it’s through attending workshops, visiting other booths or walking the floor, every team member should have a clear picture of the outcome they’re aiming to achieve and how they will be accountable. Holding your event team accountable through regular check-ins not only provides a more complete picture of our event ROI, it establishes a mechanism for acknowledging effective work and improving your team’s results over time. At a minimum, we recommend convening your team for 10-minutes first thing in the morning, and again at lunchtime to rally, assess and edit where necessary. The importance of a first impression Anyone you meet at a high-value event like SelectUSA, whether it’s an investor or a potential partner, will leave with an impression of your company. That impression will 100% be influenced by the competence and confidence of the team members they come into contact with. Demonstrating that your event team is well trained, independent, and high achieving sends a message to future investors and partners that their resources will be used effectively and that your company as a whole is methodical and goal-oriented. Practice makes perfect Anyone who is an athlete knows that there’s more time spent practicing than competing if one wants to be successful in any sport. The same is true with any professional endeavor. The best way to guarantee that you are representing yourself and your organization as intended is to practice well and frequently. And remember, it’s not just what you say, but how you say it. Behave how you want to be perceived. We recommend role-playing as a training tool. Training yourself and your event team to deliver with confidence and clarity is critically important anywhere and anytime you leave the office. Help your event team help you by utilizing their skills and their capacity to the fullest. About MEET (meetroi.com) helps international B2B growth companies soft land and scale in the U.S. through trade shows and in-person events. MEET’s processes help its clients ramp-up sales quickly and maintain a steady stream of high-quality prospects going forward.  Contact Bill Kenney for a no obligation conversation bill@meetroi.com or +1 (860) 573-4821.

Return on Investment

Maximize your ROI at SelectUSA with an Opportunity One-Sheet

When heading to a high-value event like SelectUSA, it’s important that you are equipped with the right tools to make the best first impression. In our last post, we talked about the importance of fine-tuning your value proposition and self-introduction to ensure that every interaction is congruent with how you want to be perceived. Another tool that is critical to maximizing ROI through every interaction is the opportunity one-sheet. Purpose #1 of an opportunity one-sheet The primary purpose of an opportunity one-sheet is to inform, excite, and remind your audience to take action. For example, you are attending SelectUSA and you’ve just finished a matchmaking session, met someone at a cocktail reception, or workshop. During that conversation, you shared your value proposition and the goals you’re aiming to achieve at the event. In addition to your business card, you want to be able to hand this person a one-sheet that serves as a reminder of your conversation and provides more detail into who you are and what you’re looking for. As these individuals go through the event or once they return to their marketplace, you remain with them and your information is easily shareable. Thanks to your one-sheet, they can now help you make connections within their network or provide a product or service to help you achieve your goals. The opportunity one-sheet is a tangible way to spread your words further faster. Opportunity one-sheets give the people you’re meeting the tools to propagate your message further, remember you longer, and make connections for you in the days, weeks and months ahead. Purpose #2 of an opportunity one-sheet If the first purpose of a one-sheet is to help people spread your opportunity throughout their network, the second purpose is to share your opportunity with their own team. Whether it’s with the individuals they’ve brought with them to SelectUSA or colleagues back in their home market, something tangible that can be distributed and even copied will help them remember your goals and distinguish you from the sea of interactions after a large event. The components of an opportunity one-sheet Though everyone will choose to format their one-sheets differently, we’ve identified nine components that we recommend including. Whether you choose a two-sided document, a postcard or a trifold, remember that portability, clean formatting, and clear images are important. Recommended components of an opportunity one-sheet: • Logo and one line pitch • Brief business history and summary • Management team profile • Target market • Reference customers • Competitive advantages • Resources/support needed (these should be aligned with event-specific goals) • Call to action with a deadline • Contact information and company URL Have questions about how to apply this format to your business? We’re happy to help. Who should receive your opportunity one-sheet and when? When thinking about who to deliver your opportunity one-sheet to, put the event hosts on the top your list. Having vetted every participant, they are your best bet for high-quality references. And because they rarely get asked for this type of information, they’re often happy to help. Here’s a complete list of who we recommend targeting with your opportunity one-sheet: • Hosts • Investors • Economic Development Officers (EDOs) • Exhibitors • Speakers • Other attendees As far as when to share your one-sheet for an event like SelectUSA, the simple answer is TODAY. The SelectUSA online portal and app are available now and each allows participants to upload their one-sheets. There are a million good reasons to introduce yourself to fellow participants before the event has begun. Perhaps the best reason is that pre-event meetings create space for higher-value second and third-level conversations during the event. Having a good supply of one-sheets during the event will also be important, as well as using them as a tool in your follow-up strategy or with those you did not have a chance to meet in person. For those interested in MEET’s entire SelectUSA toolkit and strategy resources for maximizing ROI, check out our 2-part SelectUSA webinar series available on our YouTube channel. About MEET (meetroi.com) helps international B2B growth companies soft land and scale in the U.S. through trade shows and in-person events. MEET’s processes help its clients ramp-up sales quickly and maintain a steady stream of high-quality prospects going forward.  Contact Bill Kenney for a no obligation conversation bill@meetroi.com or +1 (860) 573-4821.

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Introducing yourself at SelectUSA

With 75 years of trade show and in-person event experience under our belts, we’re not exaggerating when we say that SelectUSA is 10x better than any trade event that we go to annually. With every U.S. state represented plus a full array of resources and organizations that support U.S. market entry, it’s an extremely effective three days. To ensure you are maximizing ROI at an event like SelectUSA, you’ll need a finely tuned strategy. Part 1 of our recent SelectUSA webinar series: Creating Your SelectUSA Success Plan, focuses on how to develop a unique pre, during, and post-event strategy through each of the Event’s core components. The second step, which we cover in Part 2 of our series, is to prepare a set of tools to help you execute on that strategy, the first of which is developing your value proposition and self-introduction. There are two types of interactions that happen at an event like SelectUSA—those that are preplanned and those that happen spontaneously on the trade show floor, in a reception, event, or workshop. Being prepared and able to take advantage of every interaction is critical to maximizing ROI. Key Elements of a Value Proposition and Self-Introduction The ability to articulate a clear and concise value proposition and self-introduction is something we see founders and executives struggle with all the time. Good first impressions are critical and highly impacted by how we dress, what we say, and how we interact physically. At MEET, we like to compare constructing a good value proposition and self-introduction to baby food. Baby food is easily digestible, portable, highly nutritious (impactful), and overall easy for the recipient to action. Now imagine the thousands of messages that people are bombarded with throughout the day at SelectUSA. You want to think of your message as having the same qualities as baby food. You want it to be interesting (i.e. impactful), simple, and easy to digest—and ideally easy for the receiver to repeat to others. Developing your Value Proposition Simply put, value propositions are the value that the customer receives through a specific product or service from the customer’s perspective. It’s important to note that a value proposition should not reflect what you think your customer gains from your product or service. Rather, it is how the customer feels your product or service makes their life better from their perspective. What has it solved for them? Need some help translating your company’s value proposition to the U.S. market? Contact us today. Whatever you assume your value proposition is, think of it as a hypothesis. At MEET, we suggest that you approach every event, every interaction as an opportunity to test your value proposition’s effectiveness. Does it resonate? How do people respond? This type of data will inform and refine your value proposition(s) based on the customer or market segment you are targeting. Not sure where to begin? Think of the top three things your customer gains from your product or service. Choose one, use it to lead your conversation, and test the reactions you receive. Keep track of your opt-in rate and continue to evolve to optimize results. Developing your Self-Introduction A self-introduction is a very clear statement of the value you provide and for whom. In the event setting, it’s important not to think of this as the 30 or 60-second introduction. This is your five or ten-second opportunity to say exactly what you do in a very simple way. The goal of a well-crafted self-introduction is to start a conversation. If once you’ve completed your introduction the person you’re speaking with doesn’t follow up with a question or express interest in learning more, then: a) you didn’t effectively articulate what you do, or b) what you do is not something of interest to them—which is fine. When networking, your biggest job is not to speak but to listen, learn, and figure out where the person that’s across from you fits within your world.  Are they a resource? Are they a potential connection for people you know? Ultimately, the best referrals come from current or former customers. Finding resources that somehow improve your customers’ experience is a great way to create more referrals. Making sure that you represent yourself and your company in a way that is congruent with how you want to be perceived is critical at a high stakes event like SelectUSA. It’s never too late to test and retest your value proposition and your self-introduction to ensure you’re always putting your best foot forward. About MEET (meetroi.com) helps international B2B growth companies soft land and scale in the U.S. through trade shows and in-person events. MEET’s processes help its clients ramp-up sales quickly and maintain a steady stream of high-quality prospects going forward.  Contact Bill Kenney for a no obligation conversation bill@meetroi.com or +1 (860) 573-4821.

Exhibitor Tips, Return on Investment

What’s your strategy for SelectUSA?

SelectUSA is an unrivaled opportunity for international firms looking to scale to the U.S. market. We believe the knowledge gained from Economic Development Organizations, investors, service providers, and network resources, coupled with the maturity of the companies in attendance, makes SelectUSA a hard event to beat. At MEET, we help international B2B growth companies soft land and scale in the U.S. through trade shows and in-person events. We look forward to SelectUSA all year for the unique opportunity to connect with companies that are seriously looking to grow in the U.S. market. A large portion of what we do with clients is to develop strategies to maximize client ROI. In-person events are a major focus of our work because for companies looking to expand to the U.S. market, trade shows represent a vital opportunity to get face-to-face with target customers, test value propositions and offers. Here’s a look at how, from a strategy perspective, we recommend scaling firms approach SelectUSA. Like all our trade show strategy plans, we’ve broken down our approach into three sections: pre, during, and post event. Pre-event Strategy Determine a set of top priorities Do the work ahead of time to set clear goals for what you need to accomplish at the event. Second-tier priorities can be listed here as well. Set meetings aligned with your top priorities If there are preliminary meetings you are able to set before the event via Skype or Google hangout, do it! Positioning yourself to be having second and third-level conversations at the event will create more value than trying to follow-up remotely from your home market. Use the hosts and people you know as resources Don’t be afraid to reach out to the event hosts, Economic Development Organizations, exhibitors, speakers, and other attendees to help you navigate the process and make the best and most effective connections for you. Think of MEET in that group—you’ll find us at Booth 224 in the main exhibition hall. Use the matchmaking platform SelectUSA has designed a variety of tools and opportunities to help event participants be as successful as possible in reaching their goals. The matchmaking tool offers a great pre-event opportunity to set up meetings, engage in messaging and develop your own customized schedule of workshops and events. Event Strategy Build in a daily refresh Check in with your top priorities at least once a day during the event. Check off what you’ve accomplished and where you need to focus your attention for the remainder of your time there. Above all, keep your eye on the ball and moving it downfield to ensure your efforts are aligned with your outcomes. Network to your benefit Utilizing your networking skills and techniques are important, but perhaps even more important is that you are able to clearly articulate your top priorities during every interaction. Stating your priorities will help others understand how they can support you—either themselves or through their own networks. Set meetings before you separate Meet someone great? Exchange business cards? Don’t leave the event without setting a meeting. Today everyone travels with their calendars and there’s no reason why you can’t set a time to talk (even if it’s tentative). Setting a meeting in person eliminates the inefficiency and insecurity associated with phone or email follow-up. Nothing is lost by putting something on the calendar. Close when appropriate If you know you’re ready, and you feel that all the information is available to both parties, there’s no reason to wait to close a deal. While every instance is unique, the more you can check off in-person, the more effective you’ll be at achieving your goals. Post-event Strategy Remain clear on those top priorities Make sure you’re still checking off those objectives and keeping track of what remains to accomplish. Follow-up Regardless of how well you’ve executed your game plan or how many key introductions you made at SelectUSA, it’s all potential energy until you’ve followed up after the event. To the extent that your strategy is queued-up before the event, implementing immediate and efficient follow-up is critical. Close when appropriate Once you’ve arrived at a place where both parties have the information they need, it may be time for that very simple question: is it time to formalize this relationship and move forward? Priorities = Success At MEET, we love the “big rocks first” analogy inspired by Stephen Covey when thinking about how to develop an action plan for a unique opportunity like SelectUSA. [In case you’re not familiar, here’s a video to get you up to speed.] The point is to start your SelectUSA strategy plan by focusing on your top priorities—your big rocks—and what it will take to accomplish them. For example, things like: Making great connections by leveraging pre-event tools and a clear, concise articulation of your priorities. Achieving learning goals, whether it’s regulatory, legal, financial, competitive or market-entry intelligence—what can you learn from attending SelectUSA. Meeting people one-on-one, recognizing that time at the event is limited and doing your best to schedule these prior to the event. Have you developed a strategy for SelectUSA yet? The time to start is now. About MEET (meetroi.com) helps international B2B growth companies soft land and scale in the U.S. through trade shows and in-person events. MEET’s processes help its clients ramp-up sales quickly and maintain a steady stream of high-quality prospects going forward. Contact Bill Kenney for a no obligation conversation bill@meetroi.com or +1 (860) 573-4821.

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