by Tim Hughes | @Timothy_Hughes | LinkedIn
We live in a world that offers more opportunity than ever before. (Most) barriers are broken down, pretty much any of us can do what we want.
We can travel the world, get access to pretty much anything through our mobiles… we live in a world of great choice and options.
25 years ago when I started my life in sales, we organised events, we gave away pens, had jars with business cards and told people we were better than the competition as we had nice people.
Today I went to #SIE2017 #B2BUK and found nothing had changed in that time. Bored salespeople, people handing out leaflets, pens, stress balls and more brochures. We walked onto a stand and asked one company what their USP was and they said they were nice people.
One of the most ironic areas for me was CRM companies talking about themselves and not me (the customer).
In the world of the iPhone, Netflix and Facebook. Has nothing changed? Where is the innovation?
While sitting in Costa we brain stormed these ideas….
- Have an phone charging station, key is you have a captive audience to talk to for ten minutes.
- One company had a driving game, people eagerly queued for this, the sales people didn’t talk to the people as they stood there. An opportunity lost?
- Get your customers to go on the stand.
- Use a mixture of “analogue” and digital. Don’t just hand out leaflets, drive people to your website. Offer an eBook so you get their email and cookie.
- Of course you could move your budget to where your customers are, on social.
Love to hear your thoughts and if you have any innovative marketing ideas. Please cheer me up.
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