Save the Dates:  
Wednesday, February 11, 2009
I will be giving a presentation on Trade Show Marketing at the Middle Country Library – check here for time and location www.mcpl.lib.ny.us

February 17, 2009
from 9:00AM to Noon/ Check in at 8:30AM John Mangione, Owner and Marketing Expert of the PR Store and John Hill, President & Trade Show Coach of John A. Hill & Associates, Inc. will be giving a Seminar at the Courtyard by Marriott at Republic Airport located at 2 Marriott Plaza Farmingdale, New York 11735 
Tel 631-847-0010
“Trade Show Marketing”
“How to make your trade show experience work for you”
For more information and discounts contact John Hill at jhill@johnahillandassociates.com 
or John Mangione at jmangione@prstore.com

Friday, February 20, 2009
at the ExecuLeaders breakfast at Carlyle On The Green at Bethpage State Park Jeff Goldberg, Sale Pro & Author www.jgsalespro.com along with yours truly will be presenting "Direct and Trade Show Selling in a Challenging Economy"

Jeff Goldberg, Professional Speaker, Sales Trainer, Author, Teacher and President of Jeff Goldberg & Associates is co-author of “How To Be your Own Coach – six simple questions for achieving your goals” Jeff was kind enough to send me a copy. It is a fantastic read, and certainly will stimulate your thinking when it comes to achieving your goals in business as well as life. Contact Jeff at www.jgsalespro.com 516-608-4136. Don’t forget that Jeff and I will be giving a presentation at the ExecuLeaders Breakfast on Friday. Feb. 20, 2009 

In “The Right Way to Travel” from the travel writers’ life web site the Dec 25th 2008 they list the healthy things to eat on a plane. Since many of us travel for the holidays, as well as for business I thought you would appreciate this information www.thetravelwriterslife.com

Federation of International Trade Professionals (FITA) the December 24th Issue 203 Need Company info? Search the Kompass Database www.kompass.com it lists 2.3 million companies in 70 countries. It is a wonderful resource for companies doing international business. 

In PCMag.com for December 26, 2008 they gave us the first look at what we can expect for 2009. At the Consumer Electronics Show on January 8-11 2009 at the Las Vegas Convention Center as well as the Sand Expo and Convention Center the “Carputer” will be debut. Check it out! 


In PCMAG.com they have listed some of their favorite products –road tested, PC magazine Labs approved. 

Go to www.UrbachLetter.com and get the latest issue of The Urbach Letter published monthly by Victor Urbach a nationally renowned business strategist and Founder and President of the Optran Group. 

Asian Trade Shows – There are many companies considering exhibiting in foreign trade shows in 2009. Many have the attitude that after the show is over they will rent a car and do some sight seeing. In some foreign countries driving, even being a passenger in bus or other mode of transportation can be dangerous or even life threatening. Countries in Asia have a dreadful death rate. Being killed in a road crash can be 20 to 80 times higher in some Asian countries than in the U.S. ASIRT: the Association for Safe International Road Travel www.asirt.org is a great resource for travelers. It offers a series of Road Travel Reports which can be downloaded from the organizations website for a suggested contribution of $30 per country. I suggest anyone who is considering going to Asia, or any other foreign country, for a trade show or even vacation take the time and visit the ASIRT web site before you make the trip.

FITA Issue 200 - WHERE TO FIND COMPETITIVE INTELLIGENCE
Know Your Competitors
If you want to get established in a new market you'll need to do some competitive intelligence gathering, to see who your competitors are and what they're up to. Finding Competitive Information is a well-written article with lots of links to sites where you can find competitive intelligence. The article is a good how-to about the process of finding competitive intelligence, and the links connect to sites that are full of solid information. Some of the sites are subscription-based databases, but others are free. This is a good place to spend the initial stages of researching a market.

Dear Trade Show Coach:

When is the best time to buy a trade show booth? I was told that you can get used booths at a premium if you shop around. We are a new company, and since I have been reading your newsletter and passing it on to the powers that be in my company they seem to be interested in participating in a trade show in our industry. Can you make some suggestions as to where to purchase some used trade shows booths? Or just to but a new booth?

Harold D. Assistant Marketing Mgr.
Salt Lake City, Utah

Dear Harold:
I believe any time is a good time to purchase a booth. What I suggest to my clients is to attend a trade show, look at some of the booths that are displayed, look at what it takes to put up the graphics, and find out how easy it is to assemble and take down. More importantly, are the carry cases build well enough to withstand the rigors of shipping to many trade shows without falling apart. Since I do not sell booths, graphics or tag lines I suggest you talk to some of the exhibitors at a trade show and get some suggestions or “Google” trade show booths. I am sure you will get a lot of information to review. With regard to used booths; I always say, “You get what you pay for” What you don’t want is to have a booth that look worn and really been through the wars. It certainly gives the attendee that comes up to your booth a very bad impression. If the booth doesn’t look good perhaps their equipment or service is not that good either. A trade show is a place where you want to put your best foot forward. As a company, you want to look sharp, and be sharp because you never know who will visit your booth. 

To continued trade show success,
John Hill, Trade Show Coach

Find Your  Trade Show

Trade Shows in the U.S. Trade Shows in Australia Trade Shows in Canada Trade Shows in China Trade Shows in England Trade Shows in France Trade Shows in Germany Trade Shows Hong Kong Trade Shows in India Trade Shows in Italy

David I. Gussin’s www.631ads.com and www.516ads.com great Long Island resources’ for Advertising – Networking and Web Design

Trade Shows at Javits Center-New York City www.javitscenter.com/events

Check out KIOL.org which stands for “Keep It On Long Island” it covers a variety of business, general, social information that can be another reference site for what’s happening on Long Island.

Execuleaders - Event Calendar
Click Here!

LISTnet – Long Island
Software & Technology
Network - Event Calendar
Click Here!

Hauppauge Industrial
Association- Event Calendar
Click Here!

LIFT –Long Island Forum For Technology – Event Calendar
Click Here!

Long Island Association –
Event Calendar
Click Here!

Association of information
Technology Professionals –
Event Calendar
Click Here!

LIMBA- Long Island Mid-
Suffolk Business Action
Click Here!

 
January 2009

To My Clients, Friends, Associates, 
and future Clients:

As we kick off 2009, the trade show season is still moving forward. I received phone calls telling me that trade shows are now on the back burner, and that no one will spend money on trade shows in 2009. The trade show that these callers were quick to point out to me was the Boat Show at Javits Center in December 2008. Yes, the attendance was off at this trade show by 25% to 40%. But what these soothsayers and voices of doom and gloom forgot was that the Boat Show is a luxury trade show, and these shows do suffer in any recession or turn down in the economy. But business trade shows, shows where people go to find out about new equipment or services that will help their business grow have shown an increase in both attendance and exhibitors sign up. Is it that they are finally realizing that trade shows, regardless of the state of the economy is still the most cost effective way to generate business opportunities?

Companies are realizing that they can send an engineer or programmer to a trade show and have that person be able to see and discuss products or services with over 25 different vendors at a minimum. Statistics show that the majority of attendees spend at least 10 hours at a trade show and visit at least 25 booths. For some trade shows, such as the medical field, attendees, on average spend over 14 hours at a trade show.

Many major corporations have increased their trade show and event participation. You will also see and increase in seminars, networking and other events where business people or prospects will in attendance. Please look at News You Can Use for the seminars for the coming months.

Speaking of seminars, I am scheduled to do a number of presentations in February. See “News You Can Use” One seminar that has generated a lot of excitement is the seminar that I will be doing with John Mangione, Marketing Expert and Owner of the PR Store located in Hauppauge. This seminar “Trade Show Marketing - How to make your trade show experience work for you” on February 17, 2009 at the Courtyard by Marriott at Republic Airport in Farmingdale.

January is a very busy month, both on the political scene, as well as with companies putting together their business and marketing plans for the coming year. Many companies look at their company in a 90 day window with a trend analysis for those three months. Considering that it takes 3 to 4 months, to plan for, and have a successful trade show it really makes planning challenging to say the least. Since I am committed to helping companies to survive and grow under these present economic conditions I am available to review your plans for the coming year and make some suggestions based on my years of experience. I look forward to hearing from you.

To continued trade show success,
John Hill, Trade Show Coach
 

When I consult with customers, as I’ve been doing for the past 30 years, I always start with listening to their problems. Some of the most common complaints I hear revolve around delays in responding to customers. Here are some typical problems: 

• The sales rep wasn’t in the office and the message to call back that customer to save the deal didn’t reach the rep until too late. 

• The manager didn’t listen to that voice mail or see that text message and critical time was lost with no decision.

• Field staff spend too much time at headquarters. They don’t all really need a desk, and I wish some of them could work at home, but then they’d be out of the loop, unable to retrieve messages, see files, etc.

The solution to all these problems is ditching that old telephone system and never having to buy another. Instead, jump into the 21st century with VoIP services. The only new hardware you’ll need is a VoIP phone that plugs right into a data jack. Voila! Anyone who is out of the office as well as employees with home offices can retrieve their calls and text messages wherever they are. But your customers will not be aware of anything being different. They dial the usual number of your headquarters, but if you’re not in, the VoIP system will forward the call to a cell phone, a home number, anywhere. It will also be programmed to display the name of the caller so you can decide whether it’s important enough to interrupt what you are doing. 

And, this system will function in a black-out or any disaster. The power may be off at your headquarters, but the VoIP system, which is powered remotely and redundant, will forward the calls to your cell or other location, keeping your business up and running! 

Here’s the Green bonus: your VOIP system will reduce the need for trips to headquarters either by field staff or employees who can work from home.

What about retrieving data and records? Right now, if the power goes off and your headquarters is shut, you’re stumped, out of business. But you’ll still be up and running if you automatically store your data digitally. With digital online storage, there’s no need to worry about keeping data storage servers going, using both energy and the services of an IT employee or outside service. 

You can also store your records like customer digitally, allowing you to operate with less physical space (if you’ve been using file cabinets of your own) or eliminating the need for storage services like Iron Mountain. 

File storage companies use energy when they come to pick up your files and transport them to a central location that must be heated and protected—at a significant cost to you. Digital file storage, in contrast, costs less and makes your files immediately available (and easily searchable) by any authorized employee. You’ll save time, paper and a forest of trees, too.

For years, experts talked about the day when voice and data services would be joined together. For years, it all seemed like a pipe dream or certainly a very expensive one. Now the dream is real, the savings are real—and, you bet, it’s a green reality too. 

By Harry Whittelsey, President 
NBC Solutions, Corp. 
HWhit@NBCSolutions.Net

Important note: The Tips from the Booth is not a commercial publication but primarily for my Clients, Subscribers, Prospects, Suspects and anyone interested in trade shows. I am not compensated in any way by the providers of the products or services mentioned in this Newsletter (except for John A. Hill & Associates, Inc. (H & A) They are recommended because I know them, or have used them personally, believe them to be the best or think they will be helpful to my readers. If you haven’t done so, please add jhill@johnahillandassocaites.com to your address book.