Comments on: Getting Demonstrative at Trade Shows http://crankypm.com/2007/08/getting-demonstrative-at-trade-shows/ Product management and the ugly side of software product development. Thu, 11 Mar 2010 09:34:59 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=abc hourly 1 By: 10 Things The Cranky Product Manager Has Learned About Product Management | The Cranky Product Manager http://crankypm.com/2007/08/getting-demonstrative-at-trade-shows/comment-page-1/#comment-3929 10 Things The Cranky Product Manager Has Learned About Product Management | The Cranky Product Manager Wed, 30 Sep 2009 05:10:29 +0000 http://crankypm.com/crankypm/2007/08/getting-demonstrative-at-trade-shows/#comment-3929 [...] reads data sheets…. but that doesn’t stop product marketers from producing them!  And trade shows do almost nothing to drum up qualified prospects, yet even in this crap economy companies are still wasting man-years of time on them.  Nowadays, [...] [...] reads data sheets…. but that doesn’t stop product marketers from producing them!  And trade shows do almost nothing to drum up qualified prospects, yet even in this crap economy companies are still wasting man-years of time on them.  Nowadays, [...]

]]> By: Cranky Buyer http://crankypm.com/2007/08/getting-demonstrative-at-trade-shows/comment-page-1/#comment-3730 Cranky Buyer Thu, 30 Jul 2009 13:51:27 +0000 http://crankypm.com/crankypm/2007/08/getting-demonstrative-at-trade-shows/#comment-3730 The other side of the coin: I've gone to trade shows, and found products that I wanted to buy immediately with a corporate card. Did the "sales" people at the booth take my order? No, they didn't know how to take an order. Way too advanced for their skill set. Did the company contact me in the week after the trade show and offer to take my money? No. So I called them. Did they have the business card I left with their "sales" people at the show? No. No record of it. Did I want to place an order now? Wow, that's a toughie. That is, did I want to buy from a company that has wasted my time and pissed me off *before* a sale, thus giving me intimations of the living hell I would endure getting support *after* the sale? Or, instead, did I want to crash the phone down, badmouth their products for years to come, and buy from a competitor? Gosh, which to choose ... The other side of the coin: I’ve gone to trade shows,
and found products that I wanted to buy
immediately with a corporate card.

Did the “sales” people at the booth take my order?
No, they didn’t know how to take an order.
Way too advanced for their skill set.

Did the company contact me in the week
after the trade show and offer to take my
money? No.

So I called them. Did they have the business
card I left with their “sales” people at the show?
No. No record of it.

Did I want to place an order now?
Wow, that’s a toughie.

That is, did I want to buy from a company that has
wasted my time and pissed me off *before* a sale,
thus giving me intimations of the living hell I would
endure getting support *after* the sale?

Or, instead, did I want to crash the phone
down, badmouth their products for
years to come, and buy from a competitor?

Gosh, which to choose …

]]> By: Bill_The_PM http://crankypm.com/2007/08/getting-demonstrative-at-trade-shows/comment-page-1/#comment-2964 Bill_The_PM Tue, 10 Feb 2009 21:31:09 +0000 http://crankypm.com/crankypm/2007/08/getting-demonstrative-at-trade-shows/#comment-2964 Totally agree. I've attempted to say "let's skip the demos" and have a booth for meeting people, meetings, networking, etc. "No! We always have demos, otherwise people won't understand what we have!". Demos and trade shows in general are dinosaurs. Unfortunately, every time we threaten to pull a trade show the sales team mutinies. As you say, the leads are crap and no one can ever prove a trade show lead to sale connection. Trade shows, are by orders of magnitude, the highest cost per lead. Humbug! Totally agree. I’ve attempted to say “let’s skip the demos” and have a booth for meeting people, meetings, networking, etc. “No! We always have demos, otherwise people won’t understand what we have!”. Demos and trade shows in general are dinosaurs. Unfortunately, every time we threaten to pull a trade show the sales team mutinies. As you say, the leads are crap and no one can ever prove a trade show lead to sale connection. Trade shows, are by orders of magnitude, the highest cost per lead.

Humbug!

]]> By: peter.kerrigan http://crankypm.com/2007/08/getting-demonstrative-at-trade-shows/comment-page-1/#comment-756 peter.kerrigan Mon, 14 Apr 2008 22:51:24 +0000 http://crankypm.com/crankypm/2007/08/getting-demonstrative-at-trade-shows/#comment-756 <p>You have nailed the whole trade show scene cold. Like you, I wonder why companies sponsor this massive waste of time and money instead of targeting decision makers. As evil as lead exchange sites of the likes of Jigsaw.com are, I'd rather generate my leads for a pool of decision makers than random doofuses out for a junket.</p> You have nailed the whole trade show scene cold. Like you, I wonder why companies sponsor this massive waste of time and money instead of targeting decision makers. As evil as lead exchange sites of the likes of Jigsaw.com are, I’d rather generate my leads for a pool of decision makers than random doofuses out for a junket.

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