New Leads - Lead Capture on iPad, iPhone, TabletPC

NewLeads is in it to win it!

 
One of our biggest achievements at NewLeads in the past few months has been winning the Buyers Choice Award at EXHIBITOR2011! This award is a direct reflection of our new and innovative iPad leads system. This new technology sparked the judges’ interest as a step toward efficiency and embracing modern technology. Our new development with the iPad facilitates and increases booth rep interaction with prospective clients and helps prevent overcrowding around lead systems. 

I sat down with John Hasbrouck, CEO and founder of NewLeads, to ask him a few questions about the iPad leads system and winning the Buyers Choice Award.  Receiving this award is “significant because NewLeads is clearly delivering the solution that the market demands,” Hasbrouck commented. Yet, why the iPad and not other tablet devices such as the ones offered by Samsung, Motorola or RIM (Blackberry)? Hasbrouck commented that the iPad “has a 95% market share, it is easy to use, and we have tested other tablets and this one is the best. What makes the NewLeads iPad technology so powerful is that it provides every booth staffer with a show-and-tell collateral station and a lead detailing device all combined in the iPad. This makes exhibitor-attendee interaction longer, more in-depth, and produces more sales-ready leads. Since every staffer has an iPad, the number of sales-ready leads can easily triple.” According to analysts, the iPad 2 consumes 80% of the tablet market.

NewLeads seems to be on the right path in utilizing this innovative and easy-to-use technology for their leads system. Winning this award was no easy feat. Five other companies had iPad offerings and many others presented advanced technology as well.  Competing against these other companies and winning the award shows that NewLeads is definitely on target with their market demand. 

 In response to my question concerning NewLeads’ thoughts upon entering the competition, Hasbrouck said, “We knew we had a challenge in communicating to the judges our new approach to ‘lead detailing’ in a booth. The challenge was to help them understand that this was an entirely new business process that takes exhibitor-attendee interaction to the next level. We knew that if we could get people excited about this new process, then we had a good chance of winning the award.”

Here are a few photos of us with the award!

    

 

RFID: Big Brother or Marketing Maven?

Imagine you have the ability to know exactly who comes to your booth, where they congregate, for how long they remain in each area, how many times they come back, and best of all, "they" probably have no idea that you know this!  The description is reality--RFID chips are embedded in name badges at major medical trade shows, known as "congresses" or "meetings" in health care exhibiting parlance. There is no opt out; it's just a part of the registration process. Before RFID, Dr. Jones would visit a dozen companies at the trade show and request information from a few; Dr. Jones had to request it or agree to receive the information. 

Conversely, with RFID, Dr. Jones' information is automatically known to exhibitors using RFID scanners because they detect everywhere the doctor goes through the use of RFID detection scanners. Where his or her information goes after that is largely a topic of secret discussions.  Of course, knowing the traffic patterns in your booth is valuable, if, in fact, you make changes based on your findings.  Knowing how long a doctor stood at a demo station may indicate a long discussion and deeper interest, or it may indicate the doctor was on a phone call or checking email.  How does the data get back to sales, and how is it used?  Should attendee contact information be gathered in a "let the buyer beware" climate or should it be treated like health care records, with absolute privacy?  Do sales increase with this technology or is this more of a marketing tool that automates the recording of attendance in the booth?

We'd love to hear your opinions here - please comment below.

Selling Products or Taking Orders at Trade Shows?

Have you ever felt the joy and agony of having a line of people at your booth waiting to place and order or buy a product?  The joy, of course, is that you are selling product the agony is the "walk-away" factor--you are too busy to handle the crowd that has curiously amassed.  I watched the book buying and ordering process in the booth of a German publisher at a medical congress in Vienna earlier this year.  Everything was hand written on NCR 3 part invoices.  Credit cards were imprinted (that's a big liability exposure issue and #PCIcompliance issue) and each order took about five minutes.  It was like watching a movie where you see someone walking into peril and you have a hard time watching it because you can't help them.  I'm sure the publisher was happy that they were so busy, but they were clueless as to the large numbers of would-be customers who walked away, saying to themselves, "I'll come back when it isn't so busy."  That, of course, rarely comes true. 

Have you ever thought of automating this process with PC's?  We were asked to do this "POS for Trade Shows" solution a few years ago for a US-based publisher, and it has dramatically changed their numbers and their public image while exhibiting and selling at trade shows.  What took ten minutes now takes 90 seconds, so order volume  has increased.  Customers walk away with a clean invoice and a great experience just like they have in a bookstore.  The publisher, though, gets something even better: complete customer contact and profiling data.

If you could create your own system for selling products or taking orders in your booth, what would it do and how would it function--and what benefits would you see it providing in the long run for your company?

Buying 4 Star Hotel Rooms in Europe CHEAPLY!

Hotel rooms are expensive and the Euro is clobbering the dollar, so how do I go to Europe and get cheap rooms? Since I just got back from several cities in Germany and a final day in Amsterdam, I'll tell you my great room/cheap price secrets.  My business trip (in search of a new service center for NewLeads in Europe) included two nights in Munich in the midst of Oktoberfest, so rooms we expensive and scarce. My secret for getting cheap rooms everywhere? Captain Kirk!, AKA Name Your Own Price on Priceline.com. With the exception of one lousy room in Vienna, Austria a year ago, I have had incredible success using this method for the past four years. I have stayed at the JW Marriott/Union Square in San Francisco for $100 a night, the Hilton in Times Square for $100, the Marriott in North Munich (by the Englisher Garten) for $60, a five star hotel in Frankfurt for $125, and several 4 star hotels by the San Diego Convention Center for $85 to $100. Most of my friends are afraid to do try this method, with excuses like "I need to know the name of the hotel before I buy my room" or "What if I change my mind?" 

Warning: Lock It Down at Javits!

Security tip: Do not use personal employee laptops in your booth for any reason. Lead management systems or even a CRM are vital at trade shows for effectively communicating with attendees. However, don’t risk what may be very sensitive data that is typically stored on an employee’s laptop at the show. The Ponemon study estimates the loss of a laptop to cost as much as $50,000. The units used in your booth should be clean and contain no corporate data and no unencrypted show data (leads). If the system does get lost or stolen, the only thing you lose is the cost of the laptop.

Remember the Jacob Javits trade show swag motto for attendees: Anything that is not nailed down is considered free! And anything that can be easily pried up simply is not considered nailed down.

The Power of a Champion

We are all well aware that trade shows are one of the best vehicles to impress the top brass in the world’s leading companies. However, there are often unseen underutilized benefits to trade show marketing: the power of meeting your new CHAMPION. We have been trained for so many years to not waste time on the “unqualified” buyer. Although this is a valid point, we must be careful of the slippery slope from not taking the time to WOW a junior “buyer” who possesses the full confidence of his or her boss or team. Spend time qualifying, educating and inspiring these CHAMPIONS as they will not only be your best salesmen, but they will eventually become that elusive top brass we are searching for.

P.S. To my traveling friends, no, I am not referring to CHAMPIONS in the Marriott where we all have spent so much time after the show.

 

Are Show Leads The Best Leads?

I guess it all depends on who you’re listening to.  The Trade Show Bureau said that it takes only 3.6 touches to make an average B2B sale from a trade show lead rather than the 6.7 touches required of other leads.  Trade show visitors, unless pulled into a booth by borrowed interest, usually only enter the hallowed space if there is a reason.  Jim Obermayer of the Sales Lead Management Association says that people who step across the line into the booth and fill out a lead form will close at 45% or greater.   

Is there something better than BANT to qualify show leads?

Give salespeople enough leads and they will complain about quality. The surest path to quality enhancement is getting answers to questions salespeople require to separate immediate, long term buyers or visitors that just want a free t-shirt. I think the answers most sought after are: budget, timeframe to buy, authority to buy, and need (usually thought of as product or product application). Sometimes called BANT.

Trade show leads are thought of by most marketers and salespeople as the most qualified because of the answers to these questions are possible from sophisticated show lead acquisition systems.

NewLeads Introduces Use of iPads as Trade Show Lead Capture Devices

iPad connectivity allows managers and salespeople worldwide to view leads and reports within 60 seconds of information capture

VENTURA, Calif., Aug. 17 /PRNewswire/ -- NewLeads announced today the use of iPads as wireless capture devices for new business leads within trade show exhibits.  The use of iPads allows this newly-captured sales lead information to be wirelessly transmitted to a server.  In turn, the server distributes the leads to a worldwide sales channel while simultaneously updating show reports.  Both the lead information and the reports can then be viewed on any computer or handheld PDA within seconds.

John Hasbrouck, CEO of NewLeads said, "While we use many types of capture devices on the show floor, this is the fastest and most convenient method for our customers, who rent this equipment."  Almost any trade show badge type can be read, regardless of the acquisition device (handheld scanner, 2D bar code reader, etc.) used with the iPad system.

"The uniqueness of the NewLeads system is that it answers senior management's question, 'How is the show going?'" said NewLeads COO Karl Becker.  "Once the salesperson acquires the prospect's contact information, and taps in 8-10 qualifying answers on the iPad screen (for example addressing prospect need, desire, product interest, budget etc.), he or she closes the lead form and all information is added to the database.   Reports are immediately updated, and the answers are there for all to see.  Within minutes, salespeople worldwide can receive the inquiry, often before the prospect has even left the booth."