by tradesmeninsights | Apr 21, 2015 | Events/Trade Shows, Traditional Marketing
Source – Messe Frankfurt Exhibition GmbH / Pietro Sutera
By Matt Sonnhalter, Vision Architect
I recently attended the ISH Show, a biennial show, which took place in Frankfurt, Germany in March. This was the first time I was able to attend this show and it sure did not disappoint. I guess the one word I would use to describe this show would be overwhelming!
Here are some of the amazing statistics from the show:
- Over 850,000 square feet of exhibit space – sprawled out over 11 buildings, most with multiple levels
- Almost 2,500 exhibitors – representing over 50 countries; and this number is not nearly as impressive as the individual sizes of their booths; 61% of these exhibitors came from outside of Germany
- Nearly 200,000 visitors – from plumbing and HVAC professional tradesman (accounting for around a third of the total), architects and engineers, to distributors, service providers, public authorities and more; 37% of these visitors came from outside Germany
Source – Messe Frankfurt Exhibition GmbH / Pietro Sutera
This is by far the world’s leading show for the combination of water and energy topics. Everything one could possibly imagine for these industries was covered under the following five product groups:
- The Bathroom Experience – think of KBIS on steroids…Grohe and Hans Grohe even had their own buildings
- Building and Energy Technology – everything from boiler and burners, to heat pumps and components for heating equipment
- Efficient Systems and Renewable Energies – all the alternative energies were represented from solar, rain water, biomass and geothermal, plus there was even an entire floor dedicated to stoves, pellet burners and fireplaces
- Air-Conditioning, Cooling and Ventilation Technology – this section was comparable to the entire AHR Expo in U.S.
- World of Installation Technology – covering plumbing techniques, tools and systems for surface mounting, pipes, fittings and fasteners
Source – Messe Frankfurt Exhibition GmbH / Jens Liebchen
The overall theme for ISH 2015 was “Comfort meets Technology” where the world’s leading companies covered future-oriented issues such as resource conservation and renewable energies. Here are some of the other broad themes covered during the show:
- ISH Water: Interior + Technology – Design and Function in Harmony. Topics covered included: the multi-generational bathroom; bathroom architecture in the light of demographic change; hygiene requirements for drinking water and efficient use of water as a resource
- ISH Energy: Energy Efficiency Plus. Topics covered included: energy efficiency in the heating market; hybrid systems; using a single room fireplace to provide comfortable warmth and holistic sustainability
- Future Buildings: Topics covered included technology, comfort and energy efficiency in harmony; integrating automation of interior spaces and energy efficiency and smart living – the networked home becomes an everyday reality
Amazingly, this show is really equivalent in size to 4 or 5 of our major U.S. professional tradesman shows. The show was five days in length and you needed almost all of it to walk the entire show. And the booth traffic was tremendous, and not just on the first day of the show like most U.S. trade shows, seeming to build each and every day.
If you’ve never been to the ISH Show and you are involved in any part of the Water and Energy fields, it’s definitely worth attending. Just make sure to book your travel accommodations early and wear comfortable walking shoes!
Want to keep reading about ISH? Check out these links:
Holy cow! ISH Show continues to amaze
6 plumbing trends from ISH
The show that is del-ISH
ISH Frankfurt 2015 Recap from Eric Aune
ISH 2015 — Day 1
ISH 2015 — Day 2
ISH 2015 — Day 3
by tradesmeninsights | Jul 17, 2014 | Public Relations
By Rosemarie Ascherl, PR Foreman, Sonnhalter
Industry trade shows are much more than just a chance to get out of the office and mingle with prospective customers, answering questions about the newest product launches with aching feet and dry mouths. Industry trade shows are actually terrific opportunities for connecting with industry trade editors who are attending the trade shows to report on the latest and greatest happenings in their markets.
Here are a few ideas to take advantage of the editors’ presence:
1. Schedule editor meetings at your booth. Contact the trade show management a couple of months ahead of time to obtain its list of registered media. Review the list and identify editors who are key to your industry or who are unfamiliar with your products and services, but should be familiar.
Contact the editors to determine if they are interested in meeting with a company representative. Chances are they will be. Editors want to make the best use of their time at trade shows to gather information that they can share with the readers of their publications, e-newsletters and on their websites, to showcase the latest industry trends. Make sure you are prepared to walk the editor through a short presentation and demonstration of your company’s products or services at the booth and then leave them with a thumb drive or a link to follow-up press materials.
2. Press events. Have a worthy product introduction or key company news? Depending on its newsworthiness [see below], a press event, in the form of a media breakfast, media luncheon or media cocktail hour, is an extremely effective method for conveying important company information and building favorable media relationships.
Depending on the trade show’s rules and regulations, the event can be held at your company’s booth before or after show hours, or at a nearby hotel or restaurant venue. A short presentation by company executives, demonstrations, networking, socializing and the all-important leave-behind press materials can make for a very valuable hour and a half event for key media contacts.
3. Press conferences. Reserved for only the most important of company announcements, it is recommended that press conferences be planned judiciously. While we like to believe that our company’s product improvement is extremely important to the industry—in perspective, it may not be perceived as quite that important to busy editors that are shuffling through multiple invitations and parceling out their precious time.
Make sure a press conference is warranted, because an empty press conference room will be a disappointment to not only the team that planned it, but also the company executives.
Are you taking advantage of these trade show opportunities with industry trade media? If you’re not, you should be!
by tradesmeninsights | Apr 29, 2014 | Marketing Tips, Traditional Marketing
I don’t know about you, but we go to lots of trade shows during the course of a year, and I sometimes scratch my head as I walk by some of the booths and say,“What were they thinking?”
Either they haven’t had a new message in years or they are talking so much about me, me, me that I wonder why anyone would walk into their booth. I’m not talking about small companies either. I’m sure some of them have seven-figure trade show budgets. I always wonder what kind of metric they use (or are forced to report to management to justify ROI)?
So let’s step back for a minute and assume that you have a great product, customer service to die for and a sales staff that understands and can articulate your value proposition. My question is, “Does your trade show booth tell a compelling story of why folks should be doing business with you?” If that value proposition doesn’t stick out and scream at potentials, then you may be wasting valuable time, talent and resources that can be put to use elsewhere.
Your pre-show checklist should include:
- Defining the show objective based on the target audience that is attending the show. Highlight what’s in it for me, the customer.
- Defining the types of leads you want to come out of the show with. (Remember, quality over quantity.)
- Defining how to qualify them as to where they are in the sales funnel.
- Communicating your trade show objectives with the folks that will be working the booth. Let them know what is expected of them.
- Have post-show follow-up all ready to go before you go to the show so it can be implemented as soon as you get back. Thank you note, phone scripts and who’s doing what.
- Review the content you’re sending out after the show so it corresponds with what the prospect is looking for (product info, distributor, local contractor).
- When sending something, make it be something of value – a copy of your latest e-book, a competitive crossover chart. Something that will help them do their job better and make them feel good about you. Sales will follow.
Trade shows are so expensive, and to make the most out of them, you need a plan.
What kinds of things are you doing to maximize your trade shows?
by tradesmeninsights | Dec 2, 2010 | Traditional Marketing
Most of our clients have trade show schedules and are reluctant to give them up. The costs for most shows are in the tens of thousands per show which doesn’t include your sales people time.
According to the trade show bureau, it takes 3.6 touches to make an average B2B sales from a trade show lead rather than 6.7 touches from other leads.
So are trade show leads better than other leads you pass on to your sales team? I’d like to get your input.
by tradesmeninsights | Nov 9, 2010 | Marketing Trends, Traditional Marketing
Everyone is talking about ROI especially when it deals with social media. What I would like to know is what/how are you currently dealing with what I call Traditional leads from ads (print and electronic), trade shows and websites?
Can you take a few minutes to answer our survey? Click here to take the survey. We’ll be happy to share the results.
