Every Step is a Dollar

Imagine yourself at your most favorite trade show, doing demos of your product in your booth to walk-ins. Despite it having been 2 tiresome days, you are excited and are in your "zone" showcasing the latest and the greatest.

After what seems like ages, you get a "coffee break" and walk fast navigating the crowds, to the rest room, much to your relief. Strolling back to your booth, you sense the aroma of popcorn wafting through the air, and instantly crave for some food.

You instinctively take out and munch a Clif's bar that you'd carried in the morning while coming from the hotel, and could see yourself patting on your back for being so thoughtful. A glance at your shoes reveals what 10K steps each day for 2 looong days looks like (that foot massage kiosk is one you plan to hit tomorrow evening).

 You pass by the booths of 3 companies that have been on your target account list for a while, somewhere down in the pile. Been a minute since you would've reached out to them. Just then a brainwave - you take a detour, walk over to one of those booths, meet a Solution Engineer there, introduce yourself, and chat about their product launches and business updates.

The Solution Engineer shows you the latest in their product, as well as indicates some new partnerships they have gotten into recently. Your face tries hard not to show disappointment at the partnership - had it been followed up more regularly, you would've been a very strong contender for their partnership :(

You head back to your booth, flummoxed how you would've missed this, and pick up the insights booklet placed in the corner table that contains 1-pager insights on each of the target accounts exhibiting at the trade show. Funnily enough, this company is showing up in the Top 50 for you all to engage, and the insights talk about an impending partnership for them with a solution provider like yours.

You have often heard from sales leaders that compelling events taking place at your target accounts are often the case why a deal gets done - it was such a narrow miss that keeping eyes and ears open could've made the difference to you. But the show must go on - you go through the motions rest of the day, and towards evening, your watch congratulates you on yet another 10K Steps day!

You know that your 4 people squad at the 3 day trade show will complete at least 30K steps each by the end of the event. Including the booth, decoration, marketing material, swag, the party, travel, hotel and incidentals, your company has invested $120K in this trade show.

You have a fleeting thought that comes back to float again "Every step is worth a dollar!!"

What would be your pipeline worth at the end of this trade show?

The phrase "Luck happens when preparation meets opportunity" has been etched in me since many years. And to every person we prospect at B2Brain 🧠 , our conversation invariably gets to "how can we get you prepared, when there's an opportunity?"

This series of conversations between Billy Sturgis and I is a culmination of those learnings and ways by which we can be helpful to people. Before you head out for the next big trade show, take 17 minutes (not 27 seconds IYKYK) to watch these videos.