iEB Expo Reviewed (Ouch); Selling to Online Merchants; Speaking Gigs

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MarketingtoWebMarketers From MarketingSherpa.com
======================= April 9, 2001 - Vol. II, Issue 13
Subscribe free at http://www.MarketingtoWebMarketers.com
Please forward *without* cutting.

1) NEWS: Selling to Online Merchants; Local Speaking Gigs; Jad's
Anti-Internet Party

2) SHOW REVIEW: Internet & E-Business Conference & Expo … Ouch!

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* Online Merchants Wary of Software & Service Supplier Claims

Are you trying to sell software or services to online merchants?
Lauren Freedman, CEO the e-tailing group, who has been consulting
for dot-com and brick-and-click merchants since 1994, warns that
your potential clients are increasingly wary of supplier claims
these days.

She says, "They don't believe anybody anymore. They've been
stiffed too many times. It's now a show-me world. Show me this
works, show me case studies, show me somebody else's site where
this works." Two critical elements: 1. you must prove that you
won't go out of business, and 2. prove that your level of
customer support is superior.

Although Freedman says CRM and various merchandising technologies
are "pretty hot right now", sales reps must realize their
prospects are getting hit with loads of sales calls every day.
To stand out, you must be exceptionally clear on exactly what
your service actually does (no buzzwords please) and how it will
help merchants solve problems. Freedman says, "Don't come
unprepared because they will call you on it." In other words,
don't bother with phone banks, and don't call anybody unless
you've already surfed their site extensively -- this is a job for
a highly educated sales rep.

Last but not least, these days online merchants are predisposed
more than ever to buy from name brands they know and trust. Hot
new tech companies are definitely not in style anymore. So, if
your company is a relative newbie, it's time to line up some biz
dev partnerships with old established names merchants trust.
http://www.e-tailing.com

* Local Speaking Gigs Still Pulling New Clients for Agencies &
Vendors

While the national trade show scene is languishing these days, it
may be worth your while to investigate speaking gigs at smaller,
local events. Anthony Muller, CEO of search engine optimization
firm ZenHits, told us he recently got three solid sales leads
from a speaking gig on Long Island. He says, "There were only
about a dozen attendees, but I delivered an interesting
presentation and got three people who wanted to know more about
my services." Since that speech about a month ago, one of these
leads has already turned into a paying customer.

Carol Crowell, Publisher of the print newsletter Software
Success, says that the key to a successful speaking gig is in
making your sales pitch at the end of your speech -- rather than
at the start. She says, "First use your speech to establish
credibility, to give the attendees useful information about your
topic. Only after that should you talk about your own company or
services. Then they are prepared to believe you."

You have to be proactive to get local speaking gigs. Local
associations and ad clubs often are staffed by volunteers who
have little time to line up speakers or think up topics. So,
you'll need to invent your own topic, contact the local club with
a prospective summary plus your bio, and follow-up tenaciously.

One new resource is AIM's new OnetoOne connect service. This
site lists hundreds of speaking gigs in upcoming Internet
marketing-related shows. It's free to AIM members (otherwise
membership is $795 a year.)
http://www.zenhits.com
http://www.softwaresuccess.com
http://www.onetooneconnect.com


* BYOB to Jad Duwaik's Anti-Internet Party Tuesday Night

Has your company (or your career) had a hard time in the new
economy? Jad Duwaik, previously CEO of GreenHouseforStartUps.com
and well-known dot-com-guy-about-town in SF, is hosting an "Anti
Internet" party for you tomorrow Tuesday April 10th. Duwaik who
used to publish Optink, one of our favorite ezines on privacy
issues and marketing, now publishes "Lies, Damned Lies" a self-
help ezine for dot-com entrepreneurs who are feeling depressed.

Despite its title, Duwaik's party is not supposed to be negative.
He says, "I'd prefer to celebrate everything we accomplished --
and learned (i.e. don't work 80-hour work weeks and don't put
your life on hold.)" The BYOB party starts at noon for the
unemployed, 7-9pm for the employed, at the Paragon Restaurant at
2nd & Townsend in SF. For more info:
http://www.evite.com/jad@greenhouseforstartups.com/tokyojad
http://www.liesdamnedlies.com


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By Claudia Levine, NY Correspondent

Our mothers raised us to be polite. “If you don’t have anything
nice to say, don’t say it.” Well, this puts us in a bit of a
bind.

Industry powerhouses Advanstar Communications and Gartner were
gracious enough to offer us free reign of their co-sponsored
Internet and E-Business show and yet … Well, there’s that nagging
admonishment from Mom.

“It’s as if the attendees were beamed up to some mysterious
planet,” said an exhibitor with a huge booth just inside the main
entrance. “We don’t totally get it. Last year at this show, they
were literally lining up to get into the exhibit hall. This year,
we’re pulling people into the booth just to look good.”

From our perspective, we’ve never seen the exhibit floor of New
York’s Javits Center look so empty.

OK, you want numbers? All the exhibitors we asked – large and
small – thought they were getting about 10% of the traffic they
did last year. Without prompting, they all agreed on the same
magical number – traffic was down 90%. According to show
spokesperson Rachel Honig Peters, there were 11,000 show
"registrants" this year but she wouldn't remark on how this
number compared to last year -- or how many were paid attendees
vs. free walk-ins, or how many registrants actually showed vs.
just registering to show. Peters did say that exhibitors for
2001 were up to about 400, compared with 350 in 2000. So, it
looks like more booths competed for fewer prospects.

Why was attendance off? Stunned exhibitors shrugged their
shoulders. Our non-scientific poll came up with these
possibilities, with the most often cited listed first: shakeout
in the industry … new focus on ROI leading to smaller T&E budgets
… and too many conferences now that cover the same/similar
ground.

Attendees added that they felt the sessions were “dumbed down.”
Those attending the tech track in particular were disappointed.
We attended a couple of sessions ourselves and would reluctantly
have to concur.

Fine, so the quantity of leads was down, but how about the
quality? One exhibitor said, “Worse than last year. I think the
show sponsors must have just advertised for a sleepover. Anyone
from the neighborhood could show up.” Other disappointed
exhibitors didn’t show the same degree of vitriol, but this
smaller exhibitor seems to have shot their wad to be at this show
– billed as the largest e-business expo in the world.

Now how to avoid a similar fate. Well, we would never have
guessed that this show would be a bust – especially with the
Gartner co-sponsorship. But in hindsight, perhaps a good rule of
thumb before exhibiting at shows that have been held before would
be to get back to direct marketing basics: Start With The Lists.

Ask to see a list of attendees already contracted to attend,
compared to those contracted at the same time before the show
last year. To get an idea of lead quality, ask to see a
representative sample of companies sending attendees this time
around, along with job title. Also, be sure to ask for the total
attendee count to be broken out by paid vs. free. And remember,
unless there’s truly a compelling reason like booth placement or
price break, perhaps you don’t need to be among the first
exhibitors to sign up.

No show wrap-up would be complete without our tschoice tschotske
award. This show’s winner is … Intershop’s mini etch-a-sketch on
a key chain. A relatively inexpensive yet compelling piece of
swag that seems likely be kept and used by qualified prospects.
We chose it because of what we perceive to be its tschotske ROI –
long-term logo views divided by cost. Well done, Intershop!

But this said, we still needed positive feedback about this show
so we could look Mom in the face.

We asked the attendant at our favorite parking lot in that
neighborhood (36th Street and 10th Avenue). “People came in, they
stayed maybe an hour, if that, then they’re out. Great turnover.
Hey, what are they doing over there today, anyway?”

http://www.iebexpo.com
http://www.intershop.com

Claudia Levine, claudial@rcn.com

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