Getting Sales And Marketing To Cooperate for Trade Shows: Can’t We All Just Get Along?

The extent of a company’s trade show success can be directly linked to in-house collaboration with colleagues, departments, management and at times outside consultants. Unless there is cooperation and communication with all key stakeholders within a company, a trade show initiative has no chance of achieving its full potential.

Sales and Marketing: The “Primary Players”

While there are many departments which participate and contribute to a company’s trade show success, the primary players are the sales and marketing teams. The interactions of those departments are vital because although they are the two departments that should work the closest on trade shows (and other projects), they also commonly have the biggest “disconnect” between them.

This recurring problematic theme among exhibitors in almost any industry is what I have coined “The Great Sales and Marketing Divide.”  All too often, marketing departments move forward independently planning shows, delivering sales with limited results. Upon show completion, they are overly giddy, pleased with their achievements while sales concludes it was all a big waste of time and money.

The first reason for this is that marketing people tend to be a more creative bunch; they like to think out of the box in ways to get their message out, to create a buzz with branding campaigns, promotions and events. Although these measures prove to be valuable in the long term, they are nowhere as quantifiable as sales results. Sales people, by nature, are required to operate on an entirely different dimension. They must be methodical and learn how to be assertive without being pushy gagging each individual client’s needs, budget and personality all while having to meet strict quotas. There is generally good reason why sales people are not in marketing and vice versa. Very often, marketing and sales have fundamentally different expectations from the same show. That is why it’s paramount for these departments to learn how to effectively communicate so mutually anticipated results can be achieved.

Following are examples of key topics departments should jointly consider:

• Key prospects and profile
• Lead qualification strategy
• Follow-up strategy
• Lead coding
• Trade Show goals that align with sales goals
• Messaging that reaches the different types of key prospects per show
• Setting pre-show appointments
• Pre-show marketing
• Pre-show networking opportunities

Marketing Managers – Step Up to the Plate

Generally trade show strategy, planning and execution fall under the marketing manager/department’s umbrella of roles and responsibilities.  So although it is imperative for sales to cooperate, it is predominantly marketing’s job to make the first move.

Communication, the Key to Any Good Working Relationship

The first and essential step to bridging the gap in communication and expectations is for the marketing manager to work closely with the sales department through direct correspondence and verbal precision. Marketing needs to allow sales to educate them on exactly what kind of show results they anticipate as well as express an understanding that a trade show is not just for networking, a pretty booth display and promotional water bottles — all which translate to costs. Ask what needs to be done to help meet sales goals and increase company revenue.

Listening to sales’ needs and implementing new processes to support those needs can advance trade show results from mediocre to outstanding!

A New Mindset: Sales is Marketing’s Client

While this can be a challenging, in some cases possibly frightening, thought for some marketing departments, it can be done. A new mindset: Think of the sales department as a client.  After all, that is ultimately what they are and a change of thinking can mean a change in approach which in turn can mean a big change in results.  Just as any customer has particular needs, so does the sales department.

Leads Can Be Misleading

Likely the most common and detrimental misconception marketing people have is that there is a correlation between the number of leads collected and the success of a trade show. If the leads don’t meet the criteria of prospects outlined by the sales department, follow up and closing attempts will prove to be efforts in futility!

Since the sales department depends on marketing to deliver them with qualified sales leads, one of the first things to determine is how to collaborate in improving and redefining the quality and quantity of leads. Surprisingly enough, even too many qualified leads can be a bad thing assuming you spent extra dollars to generate them but don’t have adequate sales reinforcements to properly follow up in a timely fashion.

The Bottom Line

Coordination and cooperation between the two teams is essential for the bottom line. If you want to succeed, pre-show meetings with sales and marketing team members have to become a routine part of your company’s trade show planning process.

About Linda Musgrove

Linda Musgrove is the founder and president of TradeShow Teacher, a full-service, result-driven trade show management firm based in South Florida. Her brainchild was the culmination of 14 years of extensive ‘hands on’ experience in marketing, advertising, and graphic design.

Her interest in her field started at age 16 and she later attended both Art Institutes in NYC (Center for Media Arts) and Miami (International Fine Arts College).

Musgrove’s passion for all that is trade shows was a result of inheriting the trade show responsibilities of a client when she was doing corporate work in marketing.

She has been quoted as saying, “It was then, I fell in love. The creativity and buzz on the show floor is invigorating . . .It is extremely gratifying and fulfilling to be able to use my knowledge and skills to help businesses make their trade show programs successful and in turn grow their business and revenue.”

Widely recognized as an industry expert, Musgrove is a regular contributor to trade publications and authored The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Trade Shows, published in 2009 by Alpha Books/Penguin Publishing.

Musgrove has contributed to thousands of shows combining her business edge with a creative flair. She has worked on trade shows in a vast range of industries including organic and natural fare but predominantly specializes in the hi-tech and healthcare industries.
Trade publication Exhibit City News honored Musgrove with the award of “Top 40 Under 40 in the Trade Show Industry” in 2009 for her dedication in providing clients the tools and strategies they need to be a trade show success.