2016 ASIS Show Preparation

Do It Yourself (DIY) Show Preparation

As mentioned in the Avoid Key Vendor Mistakes Article

The 3 Key Questions

The purpose of this review is to catch any wrong, missing or unsubstantiated messages and fix or update them. Don’t assume that anyone has done this, unless you yourself have personally done so as specific separate step!

1. Do you have a list of key messages for the ASIS 2016 conference that specifically target integrators and end users?
   1. If you don’t have a list of key messages for integrators and end users, make one.
   2. Are there any specific cloud and/or IoT messages on the list? If not, consider what could or would be appropriate.
2. Has anyone outside your company done a validity check on these messages? The checks needed are:
   1. Technical accuracy. Sometimes things get lost in the translation between the tech folks and the marketing/sales folks.
   2. Meaningfulness. One idea is to eliminate or fix anything that could possibly be seen as puffery. A harder one is to identify generalities that mean something to your people, but won’t necessarily mean much to integrators and end users. Third is to drop meaningless buzzwords, but lead meaningful buzzwords in place.

   Usually there are key integrator and key customer contacts you have whom you can do these checks with conversation-style. Be sure to take notes on the feedback you get. This is not necessary a rationality thing; general impressions and a sense of the impact are also very important. Sometimes people have a hard time articulating exactly how something strikes them as good or bad, but they definitely know that was the impact.

3. Have the messages been tested for reseller resonance and user resonance?
   1. Do they strike a meaningful chord? If not, is it a matter of no interest, or does the message just need revisions to be more directly relevant?
   2. Are any messages vertical-market-specific? If so, be sure your people know to qualify booth visitors before using those messages.
   3. Do they lead to a decision or action? Be specific identifying the decision or action, and make sure that integrators and users have a way to follow up as a result.

Independent 3rd-Party “Eyes of the Customer” Review – $495.00

You have two “customer” types—integrators and end users. Because the bulk of the work I and my colleagues do is for end-user clients, and because we also collaborate with integrators on client projects, we are very familiar with their thoughts and feelings on various subjects. There is a lot of feedback that customers don’t provide to vendors. Some of the reasons are:

• They are uncomfortable saying that they don’t believe you, or that they find your assertions to be doubtful.
• They sometimes don’t know what you are talking about, and they don’t want to admit that they can’t follow what you are saying. They just nod.
• They are sometimes unsure of what they do and don’t know compared to what they should know, and since you might know more than them, they don’t want to look stupid.
• They have had a bad experience that relates to what you are saying, and they don’t want to discuss it.

We can help you see your products and messages through the eyes of your customers. It’s a specialty thing that we do.

You may not have time to change your collateral material before the show, but you can sure be prepared to speak to it well and work around any flaws or weaknesses in it. And of course, after the show you will be able to update it.

If you are short on time and want assistance with the Do-It-Yourself Review above, we’ll help you with that review.

Additionally, we’ll walk you through the Top 20 Vendor Mistakes List and help you see these like customers do. We’ll also review your collateral material—whether show-specific or general—and walk you through our findings and recommendations. PowerPoint presentation reviews are a little extra, but still reasonable in price.

How this Works

1. Get Started. You call us and pay with a MasterCard, Visa or Amex card, and provide us with the materials to review and an NDA if you like.
2. Perform Initial Review. We’ll review your materials, keeping notes.
3. Do Collaborative Review. We collaborate in a GoToMeeting session (generally 60 minutes), and we’ll walk you through the analysis elements and the recommendations. We’ll record the session.
4. Get Results. We email you the GoToMeeting session recording and our review notes.

To discuss this more, or to get started, call Ray Bernard or Pamela Peak at 949-831-6788.