Selling in the new economy

Selling in the new economy

Words by Janis Birch, HVAC&R Centre

IRHACE was lucky enough to be invited to attend a recent XPO exhibitions seminar held for upcoming show exhibitors to get a fresh focus on sales and marketing in this new economy. It was a free-to-register event and was sold out quickly, which was evident when I arrived to find the place packed full of keen exhibitors. This indicated just how motivated companies are to get the knowledge and skills to move forward in their business this year and to have a great show. The upcoming shows represented were The Boat Show, EMEX and the great combo event where the HVAC&R HUB is – BuildNZ, Facilities Integrate and The Safety Show.

There was a healthy dose of information shared by the speaker, but here are three nuggets I pulled out from my furiously scribbled notes to share with you.

Triumph in the tough times

The game has changed, the world has changed and even the rate of change has changed. Let’s accept it and chase the new cheese…

Presenter Mark Windust described a parable by Spencer Johnson called ‘Who moved my Cheese’ which is all about change, how we deal with it and how to respond successfully. It follows a couple of mice and two small people who enter a maze every day to find their cheese –until the day when the cheese disappears and they each deal with it in a different way. The mice, aptly named Scurry and Sniff, immediately rush to find a new cheese source. The men, Hem and Haw, rant and rave about the injustice of someone moving their cheese but eventually, one of them realises he needs to get moving and find his pile of new cheese. It was such a great analogy for business, and not just because I love cheese!

Expand your influence

We all have influence on the circle around us for good (or bad as the case may be) and this is 100 per cent true in a business.

Mark shared a model called ‘The Circle of Influence’ created by Dr Stephen Covey (author of The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People).

To expand your influence in your life and in business, first you have to focus on the middle bit – YOU. You are the only thing you can truly CONTROL.

Only then can you effectively influence the things around you and in turn, this will expand your circle of INFLUENCE.

Outside the circle of influence are the things we just have to ACCEPT. There is nothing you can do to change them, so don’t put any energy there. The truth is that if you have the middle bit sorted, you and your business can stand firm amongst these annoying outer circle issues.

Side note; I guess it’s human nature… but please can I just have just a little winge when I fill up the ute…?

Key business takeaway… to achieve business strength and growth the key thing to control is YOU.

Want to make the most of being in a show? Play the bigger game…

Research tells us that trade shows are a crucial sales and marketing tool producing growth, strength and resilience in a brand. We do them for this reason.

Taking a stand at a show is an interlocking three-part thing – just like a rugby game, it has pre-match preparation, the game itself and a post-match debrief. These three things work together to improve the win. Research into the effectiveness of exhibiting backs this up – it’s all three parts done well that maximise the results for sales and the visibility of the brand.

Mark Windust also gave exhibitors a list of the seven deadly sins when marketing at an exhibition, I may not have them down using his words exactly but this was my list…

7 deadly sins of exhibiting:

1. Throw a whole bunch of products and a banner on a stand at the last minute

2. Scrounge around for some random staff and forget to give them a uniform

3. Don’t train staff in your products or services

4. Allow staff to scroll their phone, lounge on chairs and chat to friends to pass the time

5. Judge who is worth talking to by what they look like

6. Pack up early and chuck it all in the cupboard at work

7. Forget about de-briefing, doing anything with the leads and planning anything for next time

Anyway, I hope you got something out of this. I might see you at the cheese station!

For further info you could check out the following:

HVAC&R HUB in BuildNZ https://buildnz.com/2024-special-features/hvac-andr-hub/

Speaker Mark Windust www.markwindust.com

Build NZ / Facilities Integrate / The Safety Show https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=m6vGOZjmTDc

Register to attend for free - 2024 Build NZ / Facilities Integrate / The Safety Show https://buildnz.com/visitor-information/register