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MAXIMIZING YOUR MINEXPO INVESTMENT

Mine Expo Article by Harold Hough Aug/Sept 2008

MINExpo is nearly here. You have spent thousands of dollars on exhibit space, a display, brochures, gifts, hotel rooms, and airline tickets. Yet, if you haven’t mapped out your MINExpo strategy, much of that money will be wasted.

On the positive side, MINExpo is your quadrennial opportunity to reach the American and international mining market. It brings tens of thousands of mining industry people to one place to look at your product. And, since mining is going full bore right now, this is a rare opportunity to expand your business.

But, there is a down side. Each of those tens of thousands of people will be seeing hundreds of exhibits, including dozens of your competitor’s products. If you want to be successful, you have to make sure your exhibit successfully attracts your potential customers, while keeping your current customers from being seduced by your competition.

In order to give you an idea of what you should not be doing, here’s an example of a booth that we have all seen at previous mining shows. The exhibit is non-descript with a few generic mining pictures on the wall. There are few, if any brochures at the counter and no one is there to answer any questions. There are a couple of bored executive types sitting around a table drinking coffee and talking. One of them briefly looks at you before returning to his conversation. Sound familiar? We have all seen them. And, the great irony is that those executives will go back and complain that the show was a failure because no one was interested in buying their product or service.

Exhibits have to meet the needs of the exhibitor and their clientele. And, there are generally four different types of companies at these shows – The New Boy, the Product Roll Out, the Competitor, and the Big Dog. Each has different show strategies and exhibit needs.

THE NEW BOY. This is either a new company or a company that is expanding into the mining sector. Their strategy is to establish a name for themselves and develop contacts in the industry that will lead to business. The focus isn’t orders as much as it is contacts.

The goal is to get as much product literature out as possible and develop a list of potential customers. This is where the giveaways are important. If you can give something to everyone who passes (along with some product literature) it will guarantee that some potential customers, who are so overwhelmed with the number of exhibits as they are walking by, will have some of your literature in their bag at the end of the day. Since you will be giving away thousands of gifts and brochures, the key is to make the gift interesting enough to make them stop and the literature eye catching enough so they will look at it briefly that evening as they are sorting through their bags of swag. If the brochure is interesting and offers a solution to their needs, it will make their first cut, which means it will make it back to the mine. Be sure the literature has your booth number in addition to contact info. They might want to come back the next day to talk.

The other method to increase your customer base is through the drawing. Customers leave business cards for a more desirable gift. These are best for developing lists of prospective clients and can be pure gold for a company trying to make inroads into the mining sector. One warning on these drawings. One sees a lot of drawings for limited interest gifts like golf clubs. Unless you know that all your potential clients are avid golfers, you might be better off picking something more interesting to everyone. A half ounce gold coin would attract more interest and give you more client names.

THE COMPETITOR. Most companies at MINExpo fit into this category in one way or another. You already have good clients in the mining business, but you need more. In many cases, you will be going up against your competitors who will also be exhibiting at the show. You strategy is to maximize floor traffic to get new potential customers, outshine your competitors at the show, and be able to meet current customers and possibly get more orders.

The rules for increasing floor traffic are the same as for the new boys – give out gifts and literature. The problem is that this interferes with the other goal of the exhibit; meeting and making deals with current clients. Imagine this scenario; a valued client comes along Monday morning while you and your staff are besieged by traffic. You are too busy to notice him as he hovers at the edge of the throng and after a few minutes he leaves. Hopefully he will realize that he caught you at a bad time and he comes back later. At worst, he thinks you don’t care about him or his business.

Taking care of your current customers begins before MINExpo. If possible, call them before the show and make an appointment for them to come by – preferably in the afternoon, when exhibit floor traffic is slower. Then, after they come, take them elsewhere for coffee, a drink or a bite to eat. That moves you out of the exhibit distractions and gives you a chance to give your customer your full attention. It also makes them feel much more important. If you want to show them something at your exhibit, first take them out for that cup of coffee, explain your product, and then bring them back to show them. They won’t be as distracted.

The final goal of the competitor is to outshine the competition. You don’t want any potential customers leaving the show with better thoughts about your competition. For potential customers, an attractive exhibit with a good attentive staff that answers questions will leave the best impression. Although it may seem more economical to bring a small staff, these long shows will quickly wear them out. Your exhibit staff needs to be fresh enough to identify potential clients as they walk along and engage them in conversation. That can’t happen if they are dog tired.

THE PRODUCT ROLL OUT. MINExpo is a common format for product rollouts. But, if that product is hidden amongst the tens of thousands of products seen on the exhibit floor, it will be barely noticed. Here, the strategy is to highlight the product to potential customers.

Although every new product should expand your customer base, the chances are that the first buyers of the new product are established customers, if for no other reason than that they are familiar with your company and trust its products. That is where your focus should be. While you will want to expand you customer base by getting literature in the hands of exhibit visitors and building a list of new potential clients, you will want to focus on current clients.

Again, a key part of your MINExpo preparation will be to contact you customers to encourage them to stop by and see the new product. Mail an invitation to them that they can turn in for a nice gift when they stop by. If you can make an appointment for them to come by in the afternoon, when things are slower, so much the better. Make sure that they meet someone who knows their operation and who can show how the new product will impact their operations.

One warning on new product roll outs – make sure that they actually roll out. There is nothing worse for your reputation than to promise a roll out of a great new product, only to have it not make the show. It’s better to not promise anything and bring it to a show than to promise something great and not deliver.

THE BIG DOG. In the mining industry, one of the Big Dogs is actually a cat, Caterpillar, that is. Everyone knows Caterpillar and what they sell. These companies don’t have to sell themselves or establish a reputation. Their exhibit strategy is to impress and educate.

The big dogs are easy to recognize. They have the exhibits that seem larger than some small European duchies, with promotional budgets bigger than some Third World GDPs. Tens of thousands of people will go through them, stare in awe at the massive equipment, grab some literature, and maybe watch a short movie about how a product is used in mining. Then, when they go home and someone asks what they saw at the show, they inevitably mention these massive displays (I know I do).

Most of the business done by the Big Dogs doesn’t take place at the exhibit. Hospitality suites, off site demonstrations, and dinners are where clients and sales people do their work. But that doesn’t make any difference. The display has done its job by letting everyone know that when it comes do dominating the mining sector, the Big Dogs rule.

So, before you set up at MINExpo, make sure you have a defined strategy and a plan to maximize your MINExpo expenditures. A little work now will make a lot of difference, especially if your competitor has a bad exhibit.