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Three Easy Steps for Gathering Intelligence at Trade Shows
CI professionals onsite + a trained booth staff = the primary data
that produces strategic advantage.
by Anne Barron, ABComm, Ltd.
Most competitive intelligence (CI) professionals understand
the importance of using trade shows to gather primary market intelligence
on key competitors and to measure and evaluate their company’s marketing
presence against that of others.
Despite this understanding, these same CI professionals have major concerns
that need to be addressed. Specifically:
- How can I convince my company I should regularly attend key industry
shows or that, at a minimum, someone at the show should be tasked with
being our "eyes and ears?"
- How do I get senior management to read my reports and act on
the information I provide?
The Center for Exhibition Industry Research (CEIR) provides convincing
evidence that the CI function is vital to any effective exhibit/marketing
activity. CEIR has been studying trade and consumer shows for more than
20 years. Recent CEIR reports (available at www.ceir.org)
reveal why trade and consumer shows are ideal for gathering primary data.
For example:
- The majority of exhibitors use trade shows to announce and
launch new products, mergers & acquisitions, etc. Many
of these announcements don’t get media coverage. By attending, you can
get this information immediately instead of waiting months for an article
to appear in an industry publication—if it appears at all.
- 50% of attendees are looking for NEW solutions and suppliers.
Therefore, they tend to be eager to answer questions and take
part in surveys if they feel it will help your company come up with
a solution that will address their needs.
- 34% of attendees are presidents, owners, or executives who
can make decisions and purchases. These people are usually
quite hard to get access to during office hours. You have an excellent
opportunity to personally meet them at shows and get their perspective.
- 84% of attendees play a role in decision-making.
Almost everyone you meet at a trade show will be knowledgeable.
- 60% of attendees are there for the first time. They
can provide you with new people/organizations to contact.
- Media and analysts attend trade shows. You can develop
a face-to-face relationship with the people who keep tabs on your industry.
Ask management key questions
Not convincing enough? Then ask senior management a few key questions:
- What return on investment are we getting with our trade show
program?
- Are you confident that our booth staff knows how to identify
competitors who stop by? If so,
- How do booth staffers currently deal with competitors at the
booth?
- What bits of information do booth staffers gather from our competitors
who visit our booth?
- How do booth staffers report and document information they learn
from competitors?
- Are you concerned that some of our staff may unwittingly share
corporate intelligence with our competitors?
- What steps have been taken to ensure that the booth design, layout,
and messaging is accessible to prospects, customers, and visitors, yet
inaccessible to competitors?
The three-step process
In most cases, the answers to the above questions should raise enough
serious consideration that you will be asked to have a larger participation
at upcoming shows. But once you’ve got the green light, you will
have to effectively use trade shows in the CI program, and the best way
to do that is to follow three key steps of exhibit marketing.
Step 1. Plan a successful CI program for each trade show:
Often, exhibitors set unrealistic expectations. They try to do too much
with very limited resources. I recommend that you plan to monitor no more
than five key competitors.
You also need to identify up to five key pieces of information you want
to gather, how you will gather it, when you will gather it, and who will
gather it. Be sure to check the exhibitor manual or consult with show
management for rules and regulations to determine what you may and may
not do.
Step 2. Train your staff: CEIR studies indicate that
a whopping 85% of exhibitors do not train their booth staff. Most employees
do not know what’s expected of them. Most don’t know who their key competitors
are.
Your booth staff needs to be trained to identify all visitors before positioning
and presenting your company’s marketing/sales message. Staffers
must be trained to ask the right questions and taught how to control the
conversation. That way, they’ll be listening and, therefore, less likely
to share corporate intelligence with competitors.
If you have limited resources, you will also want to train staff attending
the convention on what, how, when, where, why, and who should be gathering
information. Nothing is more frustrating than to see several people from
the same organization attending the same seminar. They should split up
to cover as many sessions as possible! They should also be enlightened
about ethical practices at trade shows.
Here are a few techniques to use:
- Visit a competitor’s booth during busy times if you want to
gather passive information.
- Visit a competitor’s booth during quiet times (usually
towards the end of day, lunchtime, etc,) if you want to ask direct questions.
- Always identify yourself.
- Control the interview by asking questions.
- Attend conference sessions and networking events.
- Stay in the conference hotel and use conference transit, if provided,
instead of cabs.
Each day, your team should meet to review what it has gathered, what
is left to be gathered, any problems that have been encountered, and any
interesting trends or observations.
Step 3. Gather, analyze, and share: Data are not knowledge. Data
become knowledge through interpretation. Before you arrive at a show,
you must establish simple, consistent techniques to gather information.
This information must then be documented, analyzed, summarized and reported.
What does the information mean? What strengths, weaknesses, opportunities,
and threats (SWOTS) does it identify? What recommendations can you make
based on the SWOTS? Once you’ve analyzed the data, prepare reports
tailored to each audience and share the information and your observations
in a format that your intended audience can use.
When you follow these simple practices, trade shows can provide a wealth
of opportunities to gather current, primary intelligence. They should
be a major component of any CI program.
The Benefits of Trade Show CI
You’ll be amazed at the information and trends you can unearth at
trade shows. Consider the following examples:
Exhibitor A was able to identify that, while a key competitor
had a major presence in the U.S., its international presence was very
poor. “A” was able to take advantage of this intelligence
and gain valuable international market share.
Exhibitor B was able to identify that a key competitor,
by putting an aggressive media campaign in place several months prior
to the show, reaped impressive results delivered by the campaign.
Exhibitor C was able to identify that a key competitor
was getting ready to enter a new market and could be a potential threat
to future market share. Result: “C” had a year to prepare
counter-moves.
Exhibitor D’s trained booth staff were able to identify
that a key competitor sent several people “fishing.” When
D’s booth staffers attempted to “turn” the conversation
to gather their own CI, the competitors quickly left and didn’t
return!
Related Reading
Shaker, Steven M. and George Kardulias (1996) "Scoring at Conferences:
The Quarterback Technique for Gathering Intelligence," Competitive
Intelligence Review, 7(4), Winter, pp 4-10. Online at www.scip.org/news/cireview.asp
(vol. 7, no. 4).
Prior, Vernon (1996) "Trade Shows and Exhibitions: The Intelligence
Gatherer’s Cornucopia," Competitive Intelligence Review,
7(4), Winter, pp.77-78. Online at www.scip.org/news/cireview.asp
vol. 7, no. 4).
About the author:
Anne Barron, President, ABComm Ltd., is a Certified Manager of Exhibits
(CME) and an internationally respected authority on exhibit management
and marketing. Barron is a popular speaker and has published numerous
articles for tradeshow publications and newsletters around the world.
She is the co-author of the exhibit marketing tips book "Still More Secrets
of Successful Exhibiting."
This article first appeared in SCIP’s "Competitive Intelligence Magazine"
For additional information on ABComm, please contact Anne Barron at 1069
Arnot Road, Ottawa ON K2C 0H5. Phone: 613-224-0447. Fax 613-224-3826.
E-mail: abarron@ab-comm.com.
Visit: www.ab-comm.com.
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Three easy steps for gathering intelligence at trade shows, Solutions!, Online Exclusives, July 2003
